Your problem: you’re running Ubuntu and your current Firefox 3.0.11 is not offering you the much anticipated, very exciting upgrade to Firefox 3.5.  So you’ve downloaded the firefox-3.5.tar.bz2 file and now you want to know how to install it.

Well, if that’s not your problem, it was mine, and as I’ve solved it, I’d like to share (because I can’t code, this is how I give back to the community). Anyway, not sure if this is the easiest way to do it, but it worked for me.

I’m running Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope and I”m more of a visual user than a command-line user, so I’m going to tell you the way I did.

Rest assured, doing this you will not lose any bookmarks or settings from your current browser. But backup just in case.

1. If you haven’t yet, download the new Firefox 3.5 from Firefox.com to your desktop
2. Right-click the file (firefox-3.5.tar.bz2) and choose Extract Here
3. You will now have a new folder on your desktop called Firefox. Rename it to Firefox-3.5
4. Open a terminal window (just this once) and type sudo nautilus – this will launch your file browser with root privileges
5. Navigate to File System -> usr -> lib ( /usr/lib/ ) and copy the folder Firefox-3.5 into this directory
6. Open the folder Firefox-3.5 and find the file called Firefox.
7. Right click and Make Link. It creates a file called Link to Firefox
8. Cut and paste this link to File System -> usr -> bin ( /usr/bin/ )
9. There is already a link called Firefox so rename that to Firefox.old (if there isn’t, don’t worry), rename your new Link to Firefox to just Firefox

All done.  Now close down all your current Firefox windows, and restart with the improved Firefox 3.5. Tada!

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With a few consecutive celebrity deaths this month, some people may be prone to believing a report of yet another. But when Twitter lights up with tweets that specifically Rick Astley is dead, your first response surely has to be that of suspicion.

Having made a comeback of sorts in the last couple of years thanks to the now-well-known internet phenomena, the Rickroll, Rick Astley although unintentional participant, is no stranger to successful viral campaigns.  But good turned to evil as somewhere in a forum in the dark underbelly of the ether, somebody decided on this viral misinformation campaign.

And as every lover of urban legends know: nothing cements the reputation of an urban legend as well as a credible source.

And credibility to Rick Astley’s supposed death was given a ton of cement by one of Malaysia’s biggest national newspapers, when TheStar.com.my posted a report of his death, accrediting it to AP (Associated Press) no less. Don’t bother looking for it now, it’s gone.

However, as many teenagers who sent naked pictures of themselves to their friends know, once it’s on the Internet, it’s never really gone and in what must have been minutes on their website before TheStar.com.my realised they’ve been epically Rickrolled, someone savvy and knowledgable took a screen-grab of the ultimate in careless journalism.

When I saw the first tweet, I did what I usually do with urban legends – refer to Snopes.com.  However, as this is fresh news, the official source was the only place to look, and in this case it was Rick Astley’s official website, which predictably said nothing of the singer’s death.  And I bet this was one action more than what whoever posted the story on TheStar.com.my took.

Unsurprisingly, my friend tweeted shortly after that the story disappeared off TheStar.com.my’s website – unfortunately for the heavily dented reputation of TheStar.com.my, it’s still stuck on the Internet. Tsk. Tsk.

Although it’s gone from their website now, the result is also still stuck in Google. For the time being.

Oh, and if you didn’t get it: Rick Astley is NOT dead.

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For our Cape Town holiday we had compiled a list of things that we simply had to do, most of them, as you’d expect, quite touristy.

Today was Cape Point day, a journey which pretty much takes the whole day if you go about it nice and slow.  It involves cruising along the toenail of Africa, the actual peninsula of the Cape Peninsula.  We headed out along a part of the M2 highway, up towards where it makes a t-junction at the foot of The Mountain and headed towards Muizenberg on the M3.

Boulders Beach – Jackass Penguins in Cape Town

Muizenberg is, in my mind, a bit of a surf spot, although I believe the waves are small, but abundant. It was sunny, yes, but warm it was not and none of us had any aspirations to go in the water. I’m sure Muizenberg has other things going for it also, but we skipped it anyway and headed on past Kalk Bay and Fish Hoek towards Simons Town, home of the famous Boulders Beach Jackass penguin colony – the Journo had her heart set on this one.

Guided by plenty of penguins-this-way signs, we had no trouble finding the place.  It has changed much since the last time I visited some 4 or more years ago.  There’s a dedicated parking lot for one, but one small tourist van and a Malaysian-made Proton Gen2 aside (about which we were well excited), it was deserted.  The usual array of hawkers exhibiting their non-unique wares were lining the side-walk, clearly with no business, but not looking as keen as you’d imagine either.

Getting to what is now a fenced-in beach requires a short walk through a quiet neighbourhood. Entrance is R40 per adult, part of which, they say, goes to the conservation of the penguins. You never actually touch the beach, and of course, neither do you the penguins, although The Journo tried aplenty.

Wooden walkways guide you amongst the dunes and above the nesting penguins.  Some are in natural nests they’ve fashioned out of holes and rock spaces for themselves, and others make use of more modern conveniences in the form of fibreglass jars, planted in the ground to provide shelter against large seaguls eyeing a penguin egg for breakfast.

The sun was bright and glaring off the white beach sand, and there were penguins everywhere. But everywhere!  The Jounro was excited and kept on asking how we could touch them, the Sausage was amused and I, well, the novelty of the penguins wore of quickly for me. Especially after taking pictures from every conceivable angle. A penguin is a penguin is a penguin.

Cape Point Nature Reserve

Having had our fill of penguins we headed towards the Cape Point Nature Reserve a 20-minute-or-so drive away.  Several sightings of baboons and sweeping views of the blue False Bay merging with the even bluer skies made the trip a visual feast.  Entry to the park, if I remember correctly, is R60 per person.  Inside the park we saw more baboons, but for the wealth of animals there aparently is in this relatively remote part of Cape Town, this was all we saw.

Our brief (and expensive) lunch at the restaurant was entertaining.  Cape Point Nature Reserve Tip: Sit inside, because outside they only serve really expensive starters. The waiter was kind enough to point out that the starters are about as expensive as they are small.  Inside are bigger and undoubtedly more expensive main courses.

Another reason to sit inside is that sometimes they have operational challenges with baboons and birds, who are regular attempted-diners at the restaurant. I.e. they will come and hijack your food.

On this particular cold and breezy afternoon we only saw birds.  Clear signs warned not to feed the animals, especially the baboons, as they can get quite aggressive.  The birds, however, don’t wait to be fed. The Journo was about to finish the last bite of a sandwich, when a black bird swooped in, experty weaved his way through the umbrellas, and snatched the last bite out of her hands literally just before she bit into it. We weren’t quite sure whether to be shocked or amazed at this bit of real life National Geographic happening right before us. The Journo certainly wasn’t amuzed.

During our meal there was also some other commotion as people peered over the cliff down to the ocean below.  Far below us we could make out a whale.  It’s not quite whale season yet, but clearly there are some around and we were very excited to be seeing this one, albeit at such a distance.  We watched in awe for a bit and managed to get a few shots in which you can at least imagine seeing a whale.

We still had the actual point of Cape Point to reach, but by now we were cold and lazy, so we decided to take the Funucular up the steep hill. You can’t actually walk to the very south-westerly tip of the African continent, but we damn well went as far as we could, enjoying the absolutely breathtaking natural beauty of our surroundings.

The sheer cliffs plunged into the ocean some 100m below us, covered with greenery that dropped starkly into a deep blue ocean below.  On one side waves crash ferociously against the cliffs and on another it becomes saffire blue as it washes onto a bright, white beach. Cape Point must be one of the most spectacular scenes of nature on this planet.

Staying with spectacular, our return journey was supposed to include a drive along Chapmans Peak, a scenic drive as famous for its sweeping views of the Atlantic ocean as it is for rock-falls and avelanches. Unfortunetally, to prevent this very threat of rock falls, it is closed for maintenance, and, says the locals, God knows for how long.  So we had to drive through Constantia and Newslands to get to Hout Bay, which is where we wanted to sample supposedly famous seafood.

Hout Bay, seafood and Soap (Girls)

Being from Kota Kinabalu, the sea-food capital of Malaysia, the Journo and Sausage had no low expectations.  We parked near Hout Bay harbour and walked around a bit to explore and this is where me met the Soap Girls. But that’s a whole post by itself, although I will say this, I will go back to Hout Bay for the sole reason of meeting up with the Soap Girls again.

So what about the seafood, man?

Based on a recommendation by the Soap Girls we chose the Lookout Deck, situated on the Harbour Front near the yacht basin (if I was the Mariner’s Wharf, the other seafood restaurant, I would do something to impress those convincing girls). The portions where generous (the 3 of us were stuffed from 2 portions) and the fish was tasty, but did it beat the seafood in Kota Kinabalu?

Well, this entry is about Cape Town, so let’s move on

Cape Town Travel Tip 3: If you’re going to go to Betty’s Bay, I would recommend the Jackass penguin colony there over Boulders Beach. It’s cheaper (R10), less crowded and the walkway is closer to the ocean so there is a lot of penguin-in-the-waves action.

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Our first full day here in Cape Town, and although the skies are blue and it seems like a sunny day, it’s still freezing for our Borneo-warmed bodies.  We dressed-up as if for the ski-sloped and took my mom’s energetic dog for a walk, using him as a means to explore the neighbourhood I haven’t seen in 4 years before picking up our Cape Town Rental Car.

I lost my driver’s license some time ago and I was unable to get it replaced while in Malaysia, so before we could pick up our rental car, I had to get that sorted.  The plan was for the Journo and the Sausage to hang about the local mall, N1 City, whilst I crossed the road to apply for a new license and get a temporary one for our travels.

Driver’s License Shuffle

N1 City has changed much  with loads more parking and shops, so I knew the 2 of them would be occupied for at least as long as it took me to get sorted.  We also had our first South African breakfast at Maxxi’s, a place my mom visits every now and again for breakfast.  It was clearly popular with the retired crowd.  Breakfast chips also featured on our plates for the first time here. Yup, chips for breakfast.

I took me about an hour and 90 minutes to sort out my driver’s license – this includes a damn long walk to the Goodwood Traffic Department, which technically is just across the road from the mall, but practically has only one entrance, and as I walked the wrong way around the block, it was at the far end of the totally fenced-in property.  I also needlessly queued for 15 minutes in the wrong line because the signage wasn’t clear, and then had to wait about 30 minutes to get my eyes tested.  And now I have to wait 8 weeks for the actual license, managing with the immediately-issued temporary license until then.

With my license sorted we were ready to secure our Cape Town car rental.

Cape Town Car Hire With Aroundabout Cars

Even before we left Malaysia I did some research about car hire in Cape Town, because not only is car hire expensive, but often you’ll end up with a small car and limited mileage, which could seriously cramp your self-driving holiday style.  After much research, I discovered that the best-value car hire company in Cape Town is Aroundabout Cars.

With Aroundabout Cars car hire we managed to get the best rate for our 14 – 30 day rental period as well as unlimited mileage.  With the Sausage, being Malaysian, as the primary driver and our Super Cover insurance rate, we also got a total excess waiver.  Super Cover is simply a more complete insurance cover option, and the excess waiver means that, should the worst happen and there is an accident or the car is stolen, we wouldn’t have to pay any excess .

Oddly enough, if I, with my South African passport, registered as the primary driver, we would be liable for something like R2,500 in excess.

I had spoken to Megan, the fun and friendly Aroundabout Cars rep, via Skype (aroundaboutcars) to arrange the pick-up of the rental car.  She instructed us to go to Imperial Rent-a-car first and then come around to their offices situated almost on the corner of Bloem and Loop street. We wanted to rented a car with 4 doors as the Sausage and myself are tall people and 3 doors would be just too cramped. Plus, on our travels we would have a decent amount of luggage, so we needed to rent a slightly roomy car.

Our rented car, given the other options, was a Toyota Yaris, and we were expecting the hatchback.  However, after we filled out the necessary forms at Imperial, we were taken to the car only to see it was the bigger Toyota Yaris sedan. Bonus!  We drove over to Aroundabout Cars, sorted out the payment and were on our way with our rented Toyota Yaris 1.5 sedan for R225 per day with unlimited mileage and a complete excess waiver.

Cape Town Travel Tip 2: According to my research Aroundabout Cars has the best deals for car hire in Cape Town (and they do other parts of the country too).

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We arrived this morning after the flight, which didn’t feel as long as the 13 hours that it was.

I haven’t been on Malaysia Airlines in four years, in fact, I haven’t been on any long-haul flight in four years. It seemed less cramped, but that might just have been the excitement of going home. The in-flight entertainment is also way more advanced in that every seat can control every movie, which means at whatever time you feel like watching a movie, you go to the appropriate channel and if the movie is half way, for instance, you simply rewind it and watch from the start.

Previously I spent long-haul flights playing games, but this flight was ground breaking, because I fell asleep not too long after take-off and slept until two hours before we landed at Joburg. We were also lucky to sit in a section where the service was attentive and a super-friendly stewardesses brought us plenty of fluids.

We landed at Cape Town International Airport under clear blue skies, but icy cold weather. My mom, sister and brother-in-law met us at the airport and several rounds of hugs and greetings ensued and then introductions as I formally introduce the Journo and the Sausage to their South African hosts.

After settling in at home to the accommodations my mom prepared for us, we went to Cape Town’s biggest mall, Canal Walk, to pick up some braai supplies, but decided to go walkabout first before we buy things that would have to stay in the car. Whilst at Canal Walk we also changed some money, because we lucked out on Rands in Kuala Lumpur.

It was an exceptionally expensive exercise and we only did it once. In Malaysia there’s a rate on the board, which is a rate not far different from the international rates you can get from sites like xe.net for instance, and this the rate at which you exchange your money. In South Africa however, the poor rates displayed on the board is just the start.

Before we exchange money xe.net said the Ringgit vs. the Rand was something like 2.35 – we looked around the various exchanges at Canal Walk, but they were pretty much the same. Eventually we got a rate from Rennies. The board displayed something like 2.15 – but we needed money so took it. However, once they converted our Ringgit to Rand, they take a commission off the Rand they give you as well, so I worked it out that effectively our rate was something stupid like 2.05. That’s a big loss for your average tourist.

We decided then that exchanging money here like this is going to make our holiday more expensive and we would start using our cards wherever possible. Much later in the holiday I needed more Rand and drew money from the machine. I got a rate virtually the same as the xe.net rate and currently it doesn’t seem like I paid transaction fees, although that could still come at the end of the month.

Something else that also incentivised me to do this is that as a South African passport holder I must provide a utility bill with my name and address on it to prove where I live. WTF!? My Malaysian friends only needed to show their passports.

So Cape Town Tip Number 1 is don’t exchange money here: just draw it from the ATM.

As we went through the Waterfront looking at prices of stuff, I realised Cape Town has become a very expensive place, certainly much, much more expensive than I anticipated.

We had a BBQ that night, but the 3 of us were completely floored and had to cut it short because we simply couldn’t stay awake. The South African adventure begins.

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