Traveling on our own in Cape Town necessitated a car and mobile phone rentals. An offline GPS app made navigation simple, but driving on the left side of the road was a challenge. Upon arrival, we were relieved to leave the car at the Cape Heritage Hotel while we explored the city on foot. A trek through colorful Bo Kaap led us to lunch at Biesmiellah, where the delicate samosas and aromatic Cape Malay curries warmed our bellies. We admired the art deco architecture along the way to the Castle of Good Hope just before closing. Unable to locate the elusive entrance of nearby District Six Museum, we retired to the hotel instead before our dinner reservations. The restaurant turned out to be closed, so we instead found a table at Savoy Cabbage. Here, we enjoyed a twice-baked cheese souffle, veal sweetbreads, and gamey zebra, with a view of a flying Desmond Tutu sculpture beside us. The high-end decor contrasted with the locked gate and parking attendant outside, reminding us to be careful in Cape Town. On Tuesday, we were relieved to secure last-minute tickets for the afternoon ferry to Robben Island. After breakfast, we went to the Two Oceans Aquarium right at opening, which allowed us to beat the crowds and watch the curators take one of the resident penguins for his morning stroll. From there, we walked along the V&A Waterfront and filled up on oysters and mussels at Den Anker. A ferry took us from the Nelson Mandela gateway to Robben Island, where organized tour buses guided us through the sites before a past inmate took us to the actual cell where Mandela was jailed for 18 years. We were not disappointed when we finally made it to Aubergine, with exotic rabbit consume, octopus chowder, aubergine souffle, and blue wildebeest on the menu. We awoke early the following day to embark on a peninsula drive, starting with Kirstenbosch Garden, home to a variety of fynbos and the king protea, South Africa’s national flower. We drove further south to view the African penguin colony at Boulders Beach before arriving at the Cape Point Ostrich Farm. The farm tour showed us the breeding and hatching process, although we were disappointed that ostrich was not on the lunch menu. Instead, we got our first taste of the bird at the base of the Flying Dutchman Funicular, where we chowed down on ostrich pizza while awaiting our cable car ride up to the lighthouse at Cape Point. The spectacular views offered plenty of panoramic photo ops along the way down to the Cape of Good Hope, where tourists cared more about taking pictures with the big sign than the actual scenery. We raced through the rest of the nature reserve to get back to the Table Mountain Cableway, only to find that the attraction was closed for annual repairs. We were consoled with a sunset view, followed by a romantic dinner at the Roundhouse. The long day and fantastic meal put us fast to sleep in preparation for our long drive the next morning.

Our plan for an African safari vacation to celebrate our reunion had been 6 months in the making, and arranging it was no easy task amidst my job change, moving, and the new home buy. Beyond the hotels and flights, we had to account for visas, malaria prophylaxis, mosquito repellants, safari clothing, wildlife photographic gear, pet-sitting, and importantly, cost. Fortunately, our friends in Zambia helped us obtain local rates for the pricey game lodges, and before we knew it, we were on our way. Our flight departed from SFO, which gave us an excuse to dine in Millbrae. The painfully slow service at Hong Kong Flower Lounge led us to forgo our last dish and left us little time to park, forcing us to leave the car in a questionable spot in the airport hotel lot. The mood lighting and lounge music from Virgin put us at ease aboard our red-eye to JFK, where we shared a Shackburger before our connection to Johannesburg. On arrival, our jolly driver Collin took us to the Melrose Place hotel. There, we enjoyed a quiet breakfast amidst the tranquil suburban locale, then headed off into the bustling Soweto for an afternoon tour. Our first stop at the Apartheid Museum provided vivid though confusing insight into the evolution of race and culture in South Africa, with a terrific special exhibit on Nelson Mandela. The rest of the tour was disappointing, as our guide mostly pointed out the township sites from inside the car like an urban safari. We wrapped up with the local lamb stew and pap at Moyo for dinner. Our one-day layover in Jo-burg was ho-hum, but ultimately, was a mere prelude to our adventures ahead.

It has been 2 weeks since moving to Davis, and time has quickly flown by. Even before my stuff arrived, settling into the new house has been a massive project unto itself. I spent the first few days fiddling with the network wiring, mapping the light switches, replacing the bulbs with energy-saving ones, programming the thermostat, and installing new shelves for kitchen cabinets. I also learned many new things – like how to program the backyard lights, how to rekey a lock, and how to use a multimeter to test the limits of my electrician skills. Meanwhile, we had meetings lined up for a gardener, a pet sitter, a cleaning service, an interior designer, and a number of flooring contractors. We had not realized that replacing the entire house with hardwood floors would involve so many choices to make: the color and type of wood, solid vs. engineered materials, glued vs. floating installation. Ultimately, we chose Blue Valley Remodeling to install a Brazilian Cherry engineered wood from Kahrs, which including material and labor made for a nice dent in our already suffering bank account. Between frequent visits to Home Depot and Lowe’s, we took a few trips to downtown Davis to check out the food scene. The house-special tonkatsu ramen at Zen Toro was respectable, but the Korean tacos at Tako and beef noodle soup from Hometown Chinese Restaurant were uninspiring. To keep things interesting, my movers managed to lose a desk leg and the futon hardware in transit, adding to the chaos as we shifted all the furniture around in preparation for the flooring project. I did manage to escape day one of the demolition by braving the rush hour traffic into San Francisco to attend the 2014 ISER meeting. Unaware that the audience was primarily scientists (not clinicians) I was embarrassed to arrive in a suit, but quickly forgot about it when I smugly told everyone about my $16/day parking deal from ParkWhiz. The Embarcadero location of the hotel did make for an easy getaway to the Ferry Building for lunch with a collaborator. Now with our floors gone and the place a mess, I hope I can stay sane long enough to prepare for our trip!

After 2 long years, my Duke retina fellowship and my affair with the South has come to a close. My parents flew down from NYC to spend my last 2 weeks on the East coast with me. While I scrambled to hand off clinical duties and wrap up research projects, my parents kept me well fed at home. Last weekend, we went to browse the newest line up of home appliances at Best Buy, Sears, and Home Depot. With a little help from Slickdeals and CardPool, we ordered a curvey GE French-door refrigerator and a bulgy Samsung washer/dryer for the new house in Sacramento. This was perfect timing as we finally closed on the house on 6/30, which in retrospect seemed anti-climactic without the experience of sitting together to sign the documents in person. Having cleared out the pantry and fridge, I’ve also taken the opportunity to try out several remaining restaurants in the area. On Thursday, after saying our goodbyes at work, my colleagues and I met with the incoming fellows at Ed Mitchell’s Que, where we enjoyed lively conversation and whole-hog chopped BBQ, followed by a brief detour on the way home. Over the long weekend, I took my parents to Dim Sum House for a change of pace from our usual venue, introduced them to fried onion blossoms at nearby Texas Roadhouse, and had salty Mediterranean cuisine at Parizade. Our best meal was at Pop’s Trattoria, where the apple & brie wood-fired pizza, angel hair pasta with clams, and a succulent chicken cooked under a brick satisfied even die-hard Chinese food lovers like my parents. After dinner, we were surprised to catch the last few minutes of live fireworks from the Durham Bulls Park, since it was already July 5th. On Monday, despite a 2-hour delay in the movers’ arrival, I met with “Special K” back at work for some last minute DJ’ing tips. By the time my parents dropped me off at the airport this morning, I felt a sense of closure with the extraordinary experience I had received at Duke. At the same time, I was excited with the prospect of a new house, a new job, and reuniting with my wife. As I lugged my heavy bag to the check-in booth, I watched my parents wave goodbye and prepare to take our car back with them to New York. I looked up at the display – my flight is on-time. I proceeded through the security gate and did not look back.