50 most expensive cities in the world

I am amazed by the following study done by Mercer on the most expensive cities in the world. have a look at number 2

For all of you still in doubt that Africa is the place to be read through the list and see how many countries have been investing on our continent.

Japan has a whopping three cities in the top 10, with Tokyo right on top, followed shortly by Osaka in number three and Nagoya in the number 10 position.Last year's surprising top spot, the Angolan capital of Luanda, has shifted down one position, while Russia's Moscow has stayed steady at number four. The rest of the top ten slots are filled from number five to nine as follows: Geneva (Switzerland), Zurich (Switzerland), Singapore, N'Djamena (Chad) and Hong Kong.

Australia is the country that boasts the most cities and these six are: Sydney (11), Melbourne (15), Perth (19), Canberra (23), Brisbane (24), and Adelaide (27). 

Runners-up include China, filling four slots, then Brazil, Japan, and Switzerland, each with three entrants. 

Interestingly enough the UK and the US each only have one city on the list, and also no surprises as to which they are: London (25) for the UK, of course, and New York city (33) for the US. Both these famous cities have, however moved down in the rankings: London from 18 to 25, and New York, only one slot from 32 to 33. 

Some of the most surprising cities listed include: Libreville (Gabon), Khartoum (Sudan), Yangon (Myanmar), Victoria (Seychelles) and Dakar (Senegal). The two latter cities share the 50th position. 

Paris, France and Milan, Italy also make a rather expected appearance, but at the surprisingly low slots of 37 and 38. 

Interestingly not one Canadian or German city made it into the top 50, as many travellers would expect. 

Take a look at the entire list:

1 Tokyo, Japan

2 Luanda, Angola

3 Osaka, Japan

4 Moscow, Russia

5 Geneva, Switzerland

6 Zurich, Switzerland

7 Singapore, Singapore

8 N'Djamena, Chad

9 Hong Kong, Hong Kong

10 Nagoya, Japan

11 Sydney, Australia

12 Sao Paulo, Brazil

13 Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

14 Bern, Switzerland

15 Melbourne, Australia

16 Shanghai, China

17 Beijing, China

18 Oslo, Norway

19 Perth, Australia

20 Libreville, Gabon

21 Copenhagen, Denmark

22 Seoul, South Korea

23 Canberra, Australia

24 Brisbane, Australia

25 London, United Kingdom

26 Khartoum, Sudan

27 Adelaide, Australia

28 St. Petersburg, Russia

29 Caracas, Venezuela

30 Shenzhen, China

31 Tel Aviv, Israel

32 Guangzhou, China

33 New York City, NY, United States

34 Niamey, Niger

35 Yangon, Myanmar

36 Kinshasa, Dem. Rep. of the Congo

37 Paris, France

38 Milan, Italy

39 Lagos, Nigeria

40 Bamako, Mali

41 Abidjan, Cote D'ivoire

42 Rome, Italy

43 Brazzaville, Congo

44 Djibouti, Djibouti

45 Brasilia, Brazil

46 Stockholm, Sweden

47 Noumea, New Caledonia

48 Vienna, Austria

49 Baku, Azerbaijan

50 Victoria, Seychelles

50 Dakar, Senegal

Source: SMH

Bruce Walsh - An inspiration to us all

Yesterday I was asked to MC one of the popular Dykes Van Heerden Slabbert events in Pinelands.

Bruce Walsh, a survivor from the Planet Hollywood bombing in the late 90's was the motivational speaker. Although I have heard him several times before, I cannot help but be touched by his courage and attitude and hope that I can display some of his fortitude and strength in adversity.

On August 25, 1998, Bruce Walsh’s world exploded. Literally…

Walsh was at a colleague's farewell function at Cape Town’s Planet Hollywood restaurant, and as luck would have it, they'd been placed at the table closest to the bar. Just after 7pm, he and two companions, Fanie Schoeman and Brian Duddy, placed a drinks order at the bar. Unwittingly, they'd placed themselves at the epicenter of a bomb that exploded moments later.

Fanie and Brian were killed and several others were injured. Bruce, who’d placed himself between the two, shattered an arm and lost both legs.

But Bruce refused to be a victim. Today he walks and even jogs with his prosthetic legs, and is in demand as an inspirational speaker. He’s also written an account of his life before and after the bomb.

He admits it was probably a sense of vanity, more than anything else, which drove his recovery. I didn’t want to be pushed around in a wheelchair and have people saying, oh shame, look at that man in the wheelchair. 

“We are the sum of our choices” He classified people into the category “winners” as those who set themselves goals and persevere. Winners are team players. Then there are those who choose to be classified as “losers. Who start but don’t finish, who promise but don’t deliver, who do not persevere and who are not good team players and do not set goals. When disaster strikes, winners pick themselves up and see the circumstances as a challenge. Losers, on the other hand, turn the experience into victimhood.

Bruce says he could easily have allowed the trauma to force him into victimhood. Ironically Bruce was a keen runner, having run the Comrades and Two Oceans race many times. He also played league squash.  He was there on company business and said he could still be blaming this employer and Planet Hollywood. If that was his choice, he would still be sitting in a wheelchair.

He says winners are team people. He relied on his family, his physiotherapist and a psychologist to help him deal with what happened.

“Most people are given one shot at this thing called life. I was given a second chance” says Bruce.  He asked: Are you a winner, or a loser, a whinger, a complainer? If you want to be a winner, you have to.

·         Acquire the skill of perseverance

·         Set goals

·         Be emotionally functional

·         Be emotionally consistent

·         You cannot be a winner unless you are intellectually challenging (looking for solutions not problems)

·         And he says you cannot be a winner if your relationship with your creator is not what it should be

If you believe in yourself, even when others doubt you, if you know where you’re going and you persevere, you can overcome anything.

Bruce -  you are a WINNER in my eyes