A Fabtastic Weekend of Adventures and Mountain Magic

Let’s start with the obvious; an invisible gun was held to my head to drive to this weekend getaway. 😂 And I mean it. Everyone and I do mean everyone knows I despise driving. I’m a professional passenger, highly qualified and highly experienced, with a passion for my craft. So, the fact that I “voluntarily” drove 3.5 hours to Clarens? I deserve an Oscar. 😂

Now that I’ve finished venting, let’s get into it.

One weekend. Two countries. A mountain or three, and a whole lot of steps and LOTS of pictures.

We arrived in Clarens, a beautiful accommodation spot, on a cold winter night, high up on the hill, the house was 2km away from the entrance gate. But who’s counting? We were ready to forget adulting for few days. Clarens is a beautiful small town situated in the foothills of gorgeous Maluti Mountains in the Eastern Free State Province. If you’ve never been to this town, you are missing out.

Our weekend was filled with laughter, hikes, spectacular views, and more walking than I do in a regular month. The plan was to hike a chilled 10km hike on Friday, get back for an early dinner, braai and conversation around the fire. The reality was we ended up hiking 24km, all thanks to those who were in front of us and holding a map. I won’t mention names. 😂😂

On Friday morning, we started with what was first in our agenda: hiking. First mountain we conquered was the Titanic.  It’s called Titanic because it literally looks like a ship. Seeing it from afar was amazing. We were all excited to see this mountain up close and be on top of it. We climbed it to the top and let me tell you the satisfaction was fabtastic. Our quads may have been screaming, but our spirits were singing. The rest of other mountains we climbed were not as “famous”.

So, picture this; we’re mid-hike, and the lead group (with the map, naturally) texts us the route we needed to follow. We were all not familiar with the route hence the map. We followed the instruction, and we walked, and we walked and we walked some more. Then we see a spot in the distance and tell ourselves, “there’s No way we’re going there; it’s way too far.” Spoiler alert: we were going there. And this probably happened to us three times. Like a great packet of slap chips, it kept pulling us back in.

But we pushed on, at no point did any of us think of taking a break because we had no clue how far we had left. Just fabtastic conversations, epic views, and the kind of exhaustion that made you question your life choices. lol

After surviving on the reserve tank, we strolled into town. “Stroll” being the lie we told ourselves. It was 2km downhill into town. And then, because life isn’t fair, another 2km back up to the house. At some point, we saw the house in the distance, just 50 meters away but it felt like 1,000km. Bless bra Vuyi, who came and rescued us with a car. From 50 meters away. Yes. It was that serious. Don’t judge. After all this we still had our braai and conversations, call us crazy but after good body, leg stretches and nice shower we forgot all about 24km.

The next day, we switched countries like true globetrotters and headed into the Kingdom of Lesotho for some snow filled fun at AFRI -SKI, a stunning 3,222m above sea level. If this wasn’t on your bucket list add it now. Even if you don’t ski, like me, just being there is magic, buzzing, seeing all people from different walks of life. We played on the snow, others were bum boarding, and I used many of my talents and took videos and pictures of them. So much happened here can’t put it in writing, pictures will be my reciepts.

YOH! The drive up; Hair-raising. Literally. I have never in my life seen so many hairpins turns on a single road. It was gut wrenching in a good way. Thank goodness I wasn’t driving (remember, I’m a professional passenger). I was doing what I do best: taking pictures, offering driver some snacks services, and clutching my seat during the sharp turns. The whole experience, border posts, the people, was amazing.  Muscles were sore, spirits were high and souls well fed.  All in all, this weekend was everything:

• Two countries ✅
• Mountains conquered ✅
• Snow experienced ✅
• Endless laughter ✅
• And memories for days ✅

We celebrated milestones, hiked more than intended, made it through dramatic elevations and emotions, and came back a little more alive than before.

On to the next adventure!

Until next time, my Fabtastic people
Moira

Modderfontein reserve

 Taroko Farm, Modderfontein, a trail so flat I call it a walk not a hike, heck I once walked the eleven kilometres with flip-flops. 😂. Yes, you read that right, flip-flops, it was not by choice, I have forgotten my hiking shoes on that day. Do not try this at home. Hehehehe. Eleven kilometres later, I lived to tell the tale.

This was a long soulful stroll. I’ve always said hiking isn’t just about burning calories or pretending you like granola bars or carrot sticks. It’s a full body experience, mind, body, soul, and occasionally, questionable footwear.  A glorious, chat filled, soul nourishing walk. I am time stamping this one 26.07.2025, we walked and talked for eleven kilometres. At one point, our amigos had to remind us that we were surrounded by nature, apparently, we were so deep in discussion we forgot to look up. Sorry, trees. LOL We’ll admire you next time. Not going deep into what we talked about; we talked about things we grew up hearing and doing. Some of it we are applying in our lives today. This conversation sparked beautiful memories of things my grandma used to give us and made us feel better, that being either having a headache or tummy ache. She was a legend. I wish I documented them because I have forgotten most of it.  We talked about the myths, truths, and how it will be forgotten 100 years from now because most of it is not documented. We truly went down memory lane, we had many AHA moments.

When I got home my brain was buzzing with ideas, reflections, and a desperate need to document it all. From that day on, I have been documenting what I remember for my kids and how it ties into my life now, That’s a start right…. Who knows, this podcast might just be on the cards. Bra Gab you will be my first guest!

Let’s talk about the magic of writing things down, even if you’re just rambling. Whether it’s a blog post, a journal entry, or a scribble on a paper, documenting experiences is like bottling time. It’s a gift to your future self and a breadcrumb trail for future generations. Imagine your great grandkids stumbling upon your post and thinking, “Wow, grandma really walked 11km in flip-flops? Or grandma grew doing one two three…  Your thoughts today might be someone’s inspiration tomorrow. Okay I’m done being a TED talker.

Oh, and Taroko Farm is evolving! Trailwolf Padel coming soon; Yes please.  Theres options for everyone, cycling, fishing, bird watching farmers market, ceramic painting experience and more.

To my loyal readers, thank you for sticking around. To the new ones, welcome to the chaos. I never usually date my posts, but this one needed it. Some walks are just too good to leave undated. And while I won’t spill every detail (got to keep some mystery alive), I hope you feel inspired to walk, talk, and maybe even write about it.

So go on document your flip-flop moments. Your Bra Gab conversations. THANK YOU, Bra Gab. Because one day, someone might read it and smile, or laugh, or walk 11km just to see what the fuss is about.

Until next time Fabtastic People!

Stay tuned!

Moira

OLD TOWN, ISLAND HOPPING, BEACH and 7-ELEVEN

Welcome back to Part 2 of our Thai saga, If you did not get to read part 1, here is the link. https://fabtasticyou.wordpress.com/2025/05/25/phuket-unfiltered/

This part is about soaking in Phuket’s beauty and making you rethink your life. (winning the lotto and retire). LOL.  When I say we were at the beach every free moment we had, I mean every free moment. We arrived, checked in, showered and went to the beach, jet lag, what jet lag!. We frequented the beach to watch the sun set, it felt like we were in paradise.

For me and Bobo, it is not a holiday if we do not see the ocean. We have an unspoken pact that everywhere we go for holiday, our accommodation must be a walk away from the ocean. My family on board as well, LOL. That sand felt amazing under your feet and between the toes, best feeling ever. OMG the weather was amazing, hot and humid the water was warm. I don’t mind hot weather, especially when I am on holiday. We were wearing flip flops most of the time, the only way to survive the heat. Thai people understand that their place is hot, so air conditioning everywhere was on point. Patong beach had an amazing vibe. It was loud, bold and full of energy.

Old Town Phuket:

Old Town Phuket is full of history, Colourful, quirky cafes, and markets selling everything. Ok I must admit I have never seen so many beautiful crochets swim wear, at every corner. Souvenir shops everywhere, Thai people understand the assignment. We walked around, ate and shopped until we dropped. We even tried social media influenced food, drinks. LOL. We had the best driver, he was amazing, he would take us around places only locals know to get good food. He took us to a place called Wangtlang Gems International. It was lovely to see gemstones and handmade jewellery and how they are made.  We were overwhelmed by the size of the store, What I loved about the place is that no cameras/phones were allowed inside, so you get to take in the full experience without any distractions.

Phi Phi Islands: The Highlight of our trip

This was the part of the holiday that we wished we won the lotto and be on holiday forever. LOL. My friend and I splashed on this one, we took the best package. By far the best experience and bucket list moment ticked. We took a speedboat out for a full-day island hopping tour, and I’ve never felt so HAPPY. What a treat, the water was crystal clear and unreal, the views were out of this world, we felt like we were in a movie. The boat took about 2 hours to get to the first island. That two hours we could not stop saying “Wow” beauty everywhere, we were content. The service was top notch, from the transport that took us from our resort to the Royal Phuket Marina. The service in the boat was fabtastic, we were treated like royalty. First Island was Bamboo Islands. When we got here it was so hot you were better off in the water. Some experiences are better off lived, this was one of them. No matter how much I try to explain what we experienced, it’s never going to be enough.  This whole experience was insane.

Phi Phi Don Island, where we had great lunch on the beachfront restaurant. We felt like royalties, we were welcomed with open arms. As we were about to leave for the next Island, we experienced low tide, our boat had to move further into the water and we had to walk through the water to get to our boat, I was so excited like a child on Christmas morning, it was FABTASTIC. It’s the small things right! Off we went, headed to the Monkey beach. It was lovely experience, and again on to the next one, Viking Cave. Viking Cave is notable tourist attraction known for its unique paintings and birds’ nest of salangans. The cave is protected, and tourists can’t go inside, but even seeing it from the boat was amazing. This cave is known for two famous things:

1. Ancient drawings of ships that look like Viking boats.
2. The harvesting of bird’s nests, which are used in this fancy soup that’s apparently worth a fortune.

 On to the next one, Phi Phi Leh, others snorkel, others including myself, kayaking and others chilled on the boat and soaked in the beauty. Last stop was Maya Bay, the famous beach where “The Beach” movie was filmed. Walked through the spectacular nature reserve and again you need to be there to understand the EXPERIENCE that we had. After this even if we packed up and came back home, we would have been okay with it. LOL. At the end of the day, we were very satisfied customers.

7-Eleven was our playground. I kid you not, every time we were chilling, we were thinking about what we must go buy at 7-Eleven. We were like kids in a candy store, I blame social media influence😊. We were buying anything and everything we heard is good and cheap at 7-Eleven. From the famous toasted cheese to the face masks.

Would I go back? Absolutely. Would I pack lighter and shop in Thailand? Also, yes.

Until next time Fabtastic People

Khop Khun Ka, Thailand!

Moira

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