Durban

I arrived in Durban on Friday evening (last week) after waiting around in PMB for the Baz Bus which was late - but this is Africa and nothing runs on time. I stayed at Tekweni one of the recommended  hostels in Durban and met a lovely, if slightly insane, group of people I've spent the last week with. Wolfpack, I'm talking about you.

On the Saturday Ladina and I went to have a look round Durban and ended up in the Victoria and Central Markets, browsing through the many stalls all selling very similar things. There is a large Indian community  in Durban so there were many spice stalls too. We ended up at Tourist Junction where the city hall, government buildings and art gallery are and it was extremely pretty, especially compared to the rest of Durban. 

Part of the Council buildings at Tourist Junction.

After seeing Central Durban we headed towards the beach front. We passed the marina on our way and went to Roma the revolving restaurant to see the city from the sky. At the beach we bumped into some locals we knew from the hostel and spent the afternoon swimming and chilling with them before getting a lift back and jumping in the pool to get rid of the sand. 

View from the revolving restaurant into the city. 

View of the marina from the restaurant. 

The marina is to the left and the beaches start where the sea is in the top right of the picture. There is a nice promenade which stretches for about 5km along the different beaches. 

Either South  beach or Bay of plenty, I can't remember but it was pretty. 

That night was party time but then again all the time is party time at Tekweni and we spent the evening enjoying Durban's nightlife, a highlight being Cool Runnings reggae club. 

Ladina and I enjoying Cool Runnings. 

On Sunday we visited the Hare Crishna temple which is just south of Durban. It was interesting going to learn about other peoples beliefs and joining in with chanting and dancing although it was a little bit intense for some of the more fragile members amongst us. 

The chant that was repeated and it is a form of meditation.

Worshipping the Gods.

Monday was a lazy day involving a few cocktails at House of Curries for lunch and then going back to the hostel for Eloy and Abram's acoustic gig which was incredible. It was a great way to chill out and spend the evening trying to recover. 

So that was my time in Durban. It's a gritty, dirty city by the sea and I'm not entirely sure whether I love it or not. The beach and the ocean are definitely plus points and writing this I'm back here for a second time so I clearly like it a little bit at least! 

Until next time.

A x