Internet Café s – The Saga Continues….

I noticed that I have not had a chance to write about my ongoing quest for the ‘best’ Internet Café, so here it goes…

India: The café was hidden in the back of a shopping mall. Once you saw the sign, you had to go up a narrow flight of stairs to a space no bigger than a single small room that was divided among 6 computer surrounded by flimsy partitions. The place was packed due to the fact that it was Sunday and the very low cost of per-minute use (about $.5). From giggling girls chatting online with prospective groom overseas to job applicant filling out online application, and – of course – bewildered tourists who barely fit their bag and themselves into the make-shift cubicles, coming in seemed like bad timing… However, when approached by the guy-in-charge (holding an old notebook with a written log of the cubicles and the computer use), I told him I wanted to use my flash drive to upload stuff to the Internet. He gave me a dirty look, took away my flash drive and proceeded to plug it into a computer to run a scan on its contents (this was a first!). When he accidently click on doing a FULL system scan, the compute came to a screeching halt…So he pick up the flash drive and told me to move to another computer (not an easy task with the impossible small maneuvering space and so many bags everywhere) where he re-booted the computer to start the scan and walked away… Running out of time by now (I told my colleagues that it will ‘only take 30 minutes, so go on shopping,’ I used the opportunity when he had his back to me to move to yet another computer to try and get onto Blogger where I wanted to upload my pictures. Well, off course he had the last laugh! The minute I put in the URL address into the browser, the browser, moving at turtle speed, froze! Disgustingly I paid him $1 and dashed out of the place…
The next day I went shopping with a friend from our staff and as she was browsing and bargaining with the shop owner, I noticed his laptop sitting on the table. I politely inquired whether he has a ‘fast Internet connection’. He said “of course’ and turned back to my friend. Well, that was all I needed to hear! I approached him with the best smile I could muster and asked will he PLEASE let me check my email. Not wanting to stop his negotiations with my friend, he patiently let me get on the Internet and I logged into my Blog immediately and started uploading some of my pictures (I did not trust I could sit there long enough to also write a posting without him getting suspicious as to what the heck I was doing). Luckily my friend ended up purchasing some of his merchandise so my only ‘real’ Internet use in India last a blissful 20 minutes! Needless to say, when he looked up and what I was doing, hoping, I am sure, that I will myself make a purchase to justify ‘high jacking’ his computer, I smiled again and told him I will try to come back the next day since there were many things in his store I wanted to buy. I never went back…

Seychelles: I was so very much looking forward to the opportunity of coming to the islands and finding a cozy Internet café on the beach with great speeds so I could merrily write my blog, upload my pictures, and get a great tan – all at the same time. WRONG! By the time I finally let a group of students to the only Internet place we could find quickly, I ended up sitting across a computer at the local telecommunication company’s offices that was so SLOW, that all of us almost had tears in our eyes L Furthermore, Blogger was BLOCKED! So much for tanning and surfing the web simultaneously!

South Africa: OK, here was finally a country that had a good telecom infrastructure and we were docked near a mall! First thing fist – is there and Internet Café there? And the answer is………..YES! HOWEVER, with 9 computers in an open space to the mall area that were filled ALL THE TIME with other tourists and our wonderful students, sitting there for long stretches of time was not a great possibility. The only time I sat there, there was a Dutch lady speaking on the phone OUT LOUD to someone for 30 minutes while looking at something on the web! Time to find a different solution… My spy network of students that always try to inform me of good Internet access spots informed me that the beautiful hotel next to the dock has FREE Internet! Have I died and gone to heaven??? On the last day of our stay, I dressed nice and walked into the hotel lobby with my laptop. Looking around I noticed a few students trying to look like hotel guests working quietly on their laptop. I found a spot near the registration desk and off I went, FINALLY, being able to do my Blog at a normal speed…UNTIL…my computer ran out of battery and I found out that the type of electrical outlets they have in South Africa did not fit my converter! By that time the lobby filled out with our students some of whom were able to get a converter from the hotel staff. What’s a professor to do?? I tried sweet talking to the students, but they were all so immersed in their own Net browsing, that they barely look at me..ouch! Finally, I marched to the reception desk, asked for a convertor, took it and hastily found a corner near the bar with an electronic outlet that I could hide at…6 hours later, the hotel was swarming with our students all trying to catch some free web time before we had to get back on the ship and sail out of South Africa… The hotel staff looked at us with exasperated looks… I made sure to tell them that we will all turn to pumpkins at 4 PM if we do not leave the hotel and get back to the ship, and they smiled wearily… This is what I call a true Cape Town Hospitality!! By the time we all got back on the ship, we were all in agreement – WE LOVE CAPE TOWN!