Mabo-Not!!!
Maboneng was lively just as the blogs described with several restaurants on the main strip. Our hotel, 12 decades, was situated on the main strip as well. The 12 decades' design is modern, stylish and urban. It was apparently designed and conceptualized by some of South African famous designers and artists. Lots of different artists hang out there. We even met a couple of quirky artists who invited us to an exhibition but we did not get to go. We were starting to feel good about making the decisions to come to Maboneng until...well read on.
It was around 9:50pm when we decided to head downstairs for dinner after check in. First restaurant we went to said the kitchen was closed, the other two said the same thing. We were confused because our hotel told us they were opened all night. We then noticed that a group of people that walked in the restaurant after us were eating burgers, huge burgers at that! We were so pissed! We begged and pleaded with them for about 30 minutes and even found some locals to plead on our behalf but still they would not feed us. Our wifi wasn’t working and our hotel didn’t have wifi so we could not order out. We were starving and as many of you know, “You are not yourself when you are hungry” . We were very disoriented and had a very dumb idea to go on another block in search of food. Big Mistake! A quick walk down the block and we were in the ghetto. Almost looked like a foreign country. Something deep inside me kept saying “Turn around” but hunger kept us going. We first walked to a convenience store that was closed off with steel burglar guard bars. It was late at night so I understood but the owner was still selling things to customers through the steel bar doors. That should have been our red flag. Next to this store was a bar or pub or something of that sort. It was literally a hole in the wall. I couldn’t tell you what it was but they had security outside. We asked if they served food before we were padded down and allowed in and of course they said “yes”. We entered through this "thing" to stares from about 50 men cramped in this small building. It was very clear that we stood out. We were #teamoverdressed! I could count the amount of females I saw in there on one hand. There were two or three pool tables smacked in the middle of the building. There was something like looked like a dance floor because a bunch of men were showing off their moves on there. The music, I cant quite remember but the place gave me a bad feeling. It didn't help that we were being given dirty stares and poked by pool cues to move out of their ways. We joined a line infront of what looked like a bar closed of with steel bars again. That is not a good sign by the way but we stood there waiting to be waited on. For about 15 long minutes, people kept cutting infront of us in the line, they bumped into us without saying sorry or excuse me, and stared us up and down as if we were animals . I felt very uneasy. After a few more minutes, we finally decided, it was not worth it. The line wasn't moving and the locals were trying to pick a fight with us on purpose (or so it seemed). As we were walking out, someone threw a bottle cap at Chloe. That was it! We had enough!! We power walked ourselves back to our hotel room and locked it up. Paranoid as ever!! Oh not to mention that we heard something that sounded very much like gunshots during the night. We were praying just to make it through the night. Chloe wanted to leave that night but it was midnight and we didn't have anywhere to go so we slept with one eye open. lol
At 6am on the dot we were downstairs with all our belongings waiting on our uber to take us away from this place. Seeing the main street in the daytime wasn't so bad but as soon as you pass that street then you really see how the others live. It's really not a pleasant site at all. We saw piles and piles of trash on the side of the streets, buildings that clearly violate the fire code, ...it was very unkempt. Our Uber driver told us a lot of prostitutes hang out in that area. Don't get me wrong though, I would totally visit Maboneng again but probably only in the daytime. I would like to try some of those restaurants and bars that we didn't get to try out. It was just unfortunate that we had a bad experience and afterall every country has some sketchy parts.
Our next hotel made up for the mess we went through in Maboneng. The Four Seasons hotel in Westcliffe was our home for the night. It was a breath of fresh air to relax and not worry about looking over your shoulder!!
