fly mango

south african airlines have finally released the name of their new low cost airline in south africa which will compete against kulula and 1time. it has been rumoured for months that the new cost airline will be called mango – and it is – the website is www.flymango.co.za although it doesn’t seem to be live yet.
mango will apparently have flights from durban to johannesburg for less than R200, but it is not clear whether these amounts include airport taxes.

so the main websites to visit for flights in south africa are now:

www.flysaa.com – SAA

www.kulula.com – Kulula

www.1time.co.za – 1 Time

www.nationwide.co.za – Nationwide

www.ba.co.za – BA

and now…

www.flymango.co.za – Mango

there is an option which helps you to find the best airline price.

A company called Travel Start lets you search through all the different airlines such as fly mango, 1 time, ba, saa and kulula to find the cheapest prices.

Try out Travel Start?

saigon vietnamese restaurant

8 of us went for dinner to saigon restaurant last night, and true to form, the restaurant was full!

perhaps the great consistent food, excellent service, and views of table mountain can explain why it gets a full house day after day.

before i forget, always remember to use the term “interval” when describing the break in the middle when going to the theatre, rather than “half time” – apparently it’s essential to use the right terminology…

saigon restaurant is described as a vietnamese restaurant which is different to many of the other asian restaurants around cape town such as chef ponds asian kitchen in gardens which caters for all, by offering vietnamese, alongside mongolian, thai and a number of other asian areas.

the vegetarian spring rolls i shared as a starter, was nice but nothing to write home about, the pumkin soup was steaming hot when it arrived, and tasted good, but was missing that kick that would have made it memorable.

the rest of the table tried various of the meat dishes, and i didn’t hear a single complaint.

dessert was incredible – most of us opted for sharing the chocolate mousse, and the white chocolate is worth a visit to saigon restaurant alone – but be warned – it’s RICH!

also try the green tea, as it’s comes in a traditional cast metal tea pot and carved tea cup – with fresh tea leaves in a strainer in the cast metal pot. it was enough for 3 small cups of green tea and is the perfect way to end the meal.

try get to saigon when there is not too much cloud in the sky as it was difficult to spot the moutain amongst the haze.

we all placed money in the middle for the bill, and were just right – but no tip – we were all about to start adding more, when we realised the tip was included in the bill – i wonder how many parties of people don’t realise this and double tip.

overall, saigon restaurant is consistently good.

Butch Kerzner killed in helicopter crash

About a year ago, I remember waking up to find the message boards fulled with stories about Corey Rudl, who is one of the most famous internet marketers around the world. Corey had been killed in a motorcar accident. He was young, wealthy and full of life.

I always get a strange feeling when life is cut short for someone in their prime of life.

In the last 24 hours, there have been 2 similar situations.

Last night, Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle (how similar is the name Cory Lidle to Corey Rudl) was killed when his small plane crashed into a New York high rise building – Corey Lidle was 34! CNN is covering the story in depth…

Then this morning, I had just settled down with a cup of coffee to check my email, when I took a look at the headlines on IOL

Howard “Butch” Kerzner, the son of casino tycoon Sol Kerzner was reported to have been killed in a helicopter crash on the Dominican Republic’s north coast – he was 42 years old.

“It is with great sadness that the entire company mourns the tragic loss of Butch Kerzner,” Kerzner International Holdings Limited said in a statement.

Message to myself -live every moment.

Sinn @ Wembley Square

Wembley Square has become high on the list of “must visits” for Capetonians. It’s an old building in the Gardens area, which has been renovated, and which houses the trendy new virgin active gym (yeah – the one which everyone is buzzing about as there are tv’s on the running machines! ps: take a video ipod to the gym and you’ll be entertained for hours).

Wembley Square also has a number of trendy clothing shops, including the first “Tough” store (I have a tough belt which I was actually wearing tonight), and a number of other boutique type shops.

And Wembley Square has a few trendy (okay – just a little pretentious!!) restaurants.

I was at one a few days ago, and it was pleasant, but quiet.

Tonight, Wembley Square was packed – we ate at Sinn Restaurant which takes up one entire side of the atrium type space that the eating area is in. (the other side has Vida cafe coffee shop, a sushi restaurant, and a “fast fresh food” restaurant, similar to Rovuma which I was involved in a number of months back).

So about a third of the side is Sinn Restaurant and the other part is the S Bar – which is Sinn’s companion when you want to be seen, but don’t feel like eating (or splashing out).

Sinn Restaurant is very trendy – the right decor, interior design etc. I took my digital with to take a picture, and forgot to take – sorry!

The chef is a well known personality in Cape Town – but not being a fanatic “know the chef” type person, I was told his name, and it went straight over my head.

Pricy? Yeah – it’s not cheap if you go for the signature dishes, where they’re just under the R100 mark, but if you’re opting for a salad or pasta, the prices are extremely reasonable. I had a pasta, which came as a HUGE portion – a fetticini pasta with a sauce – lol – i can’t remember the name of the sauce. come to think of it, i’m sure my pasta was suppose to have cashew nuts, and i don’t remember any cashew nuts in the pasta.

Anyway, carrying on about Sinn, the waiter was slick (a little too self assured, but that’s expected at a place like this), and rattled off the most expensive “recommendations” and “specials” with ease. His favourite saying was “it’s too die for”…so I didn’t choose any of his recommendations.

there were 5 of us eating, and no complaints, which is highly unusual when I eat out, so that’s a 5 thumbs up.

And as you’re eating @ Sinn in Wembley Square, you can look up through the large glass windows of Virgin Active and watch the people training. I felt inspired to get to the gym, but I thought it would be a little rude to leave the rest of the table eating while I hopped over to the gym.

The bill came in a Gustav Klimpt covered box, and as one of his paintings was recently bought by the Nuwe Gallery and Ronald Lauder (son of Estee – I didn’t click till I read it a number of times) for $125M, it’s a finishing touch to a classy restaurant.

Rating for Sinn – will become the “IT” restaurant for a couple of months, and will coin it over the summer season.

the big issue – thoughts on the magazine and sellers

i try buy a copy of the big issue every now and then, but every time i see the guys on the street selling the latest copy, i feel that they are trying to sell “the big issue” in the wrong way.

the magazine should be WANTED. people should WANT to buy a copy every month, and yet the only place you can get it, is from the street sellers

sure, a number of people say they enjoy reading it, and i feel the quality has risen over the last few years, but the vast majority of people that purchase “the big issue” (and i have to admit that i’m included in that figure), buy a copy coz we want to help the sellers or feel sorry for them, and then:

1. either leave the copy of the “big issue” in the boot, as it’s not high up on our essential reading material OR

2. place it on the dashboard or on the passenger seat, so we can point out to all the other sellers of “the big issue” for the rest of the month that we already have bought a copy.

what should the content be? in my opinion, the best selling mags in the world / country are the gossip / entertainment type mags such as Heat, People, or YOU. I would have the content of “the big issue” 80% in this way (gossip, news, events etc) and 20% of the editorial can be dedicated to more serious type articles about world events, and also trying to show the “face” behind the sellers. or maybe 90/10 but you get my point!

the ultimate would be if people were driving around trying to get a copy of the latest “big issue” but they have been sold out as they are in such demand.

easier said than done, i know, and it’s still an INCREDIBLE achievement what the guys behind “the big issue” have accomplished!!!!

the other small gripe i have with the “big issue” sellers, is that they should never ask for small change, or cigarettes etc – if the people in the cars want to offer small change or cigarettes, that is wonderful of them, but it is downgrading the whole image of the sellers when they ask if you want to buy a copy, you decline, and then they start asking for change etc.

ENT Banquet

Last night I attended the ENT banquet at the Arabella Sheraton. The last time (and I think first time) that I went to a function in the Arabella grand hall was the Glendale function which took place in early August.

The Arabella Sheraton’s grand hall is majestic without any work being done to it, but at the Glendale function we had a HUGE table of Merle Rubin’s delicious food (think lots and lots of sushi) in the foyer and the hall had had the magical touch of an interior designer.

Last night, the foyer was empty except for the piano (which we moved into the grand hall as it was used during the Glendale event), and the grand hall hadn’t had the touches added to it.

Nevertheless, it was a fun night – the speeches went over my head as they were all related to ENT, audiology and speech therapy (which is what the conference is focussed on), but the food was good (although my starter and main vegetarian course looked rather similar), and one of the ENT surgeons brought a guitar and played a “spanish type” solo which was brilliant.

One criticism was the DJ who played music that was out of place and had people leaving the dancefloor in droves, and returning every few songs when one finally was dancable.

whales in sea point

well, there are some amazing sights in sea point at the moment – whales (well, i think they are, although they could be dolphins) are jumping around in the sea around the sea point area.

i just saw a whale jumping right out the water

i saw whales in hermanus last year and it was an amazing sight – seeing whales in sea point from my apartment – well….

i was contemplating sitting with my camera for the next hour to try capture the scene, but i came to my senses in time.

customer service laugh

each month i have an amount which is debited manually.

i received an email this morning saying that i still owed the amount, so i dropped the company a mail to find out why they hadn’t yet debited my account. this is the reply i received back – it’s going to keep me chuckling way into the night:

“Patrick* deals with this – Patrick* is currently sunning himself somewhere – so this has not been done as yet – do not fret, it will be sorted shortly.”

*Names have been changed to protect the tanners!!!

upstairs restaurant asian fusion

it was cold in cape town last night – actually, it was freezing!

but i was meeting Lisa in the upstairs restaurant in claremont, just round the corner from the cavendish center.

so 2 things came to mind as i walked into the restaurant:

1. it was warmer than outside – now i was content!!

2. there was no-one there. – the restaurant was empty!!!

anyway, lisa was at a table round the corner and she was the only table full in the whole restaurant.

the food was good – i had a mild vegetable soup, and we all shared a wonderful strawberry type ice-cream – so the only explanation must be…

sunday night, cold cape town, still hibernating, summer hasn’t yet arrived, rather watch carte blanche and the 8pm movie on mnet.

scott cundill’s “how not to start and run your own business”

scott, an old friend of mine, sent me a copy of his upcoming book a few months ago.

i read the first couple of chapters, and really enjoyed it – it shows practical wisdom of what not to do when starting a new business. (rather than the usual to-do lists of most of the business management books). practical information given in a interesting and funny manner.

as i usually do when i read books, i was reading about 3 or 4 books at the same time, and i just realised that i never finished scott’s book – so it’s going to get placed back on my “current reading” shelf (there are more than 4 there at the moment though).

i got a mention in Scott’s book but i’m not biased – it’s a good read.

Here’s a summary scott sent me about “how not to start and run your own business”

“Scott Cundill tears apart the fabric of the entrepreneurial world in this hilarious, yet chillingly realistic “how to” book. Part instruction manual, part life story, part spiritual journey, How NOT to Start and Run Your Own Business is so far removed from anything in its genre that it cannot be ignored.

You need only flip it open to an explanation of why the book is printed upside down and chuckle at the disclaimer and preamble to realise that you’re in for one hell of a ride. By the first page of chapter one, “Just Do It”, Scott’s wonderfully natural and quirky style has you hooked as he sets off on a sensational read that just gets better.

There is very little that’s been left out of this 250 page rollercoaster ride of business madness. From starting out and financing, forecasting and budgeting to marketing, promotion and dealing with people, Scott speaks of a business world that will simply astonish you. Is it really that bad out there? According to Scott, it is – because in his very own words “everything in this book is true”. Then, just as you think you’ve got it all figured out, Scott hammers home a wonderfully enlightening twist that makes you realise that everything you thought you knew about business… was completely upside down.

By the time you put this book down, you will either immediately take the plunge and start a business or rush back to your day job with your tail between your legs, thanking G** that you read this before it was too late. Either way, there is not a soul on this planet who will not benefit from this uniquely insightful and, despite its deeply personal realism, immensely uplifting work.

Without any shadow of a doubt, How NOT to Start and Run Your Own Business is a must read for anyone who is even remotely associated with business.”