Lungile Lodge, Port Elizabeth

It turns out the reason the bus was late to Chinsta was because it was dying and we got to East London before it finally died a long drawn out death on us. At first hills were a slight issue and then all of a sudden we had complete engine failure in the middle of East London in the pouring rain. 

We broke down outside a hostel named Sugarshack. I would say luckily if it were anything like the other hostels we had been to but unfortunately this place was a dump. It has a good review in Coast to Coast and is on the Baz Bus recommended list and I have absolutely no idea why. It was dire. I did use stronger words to describe it at the time but they probably aren't blog friendly. We went in to get a beer and the roof of the bar was leaking. Upstairs where I went to seek out the free tea the kitchen was disgustingly dirty. In the end the conditions were so appalling we took a unanimous decision to relegate ourselves back to the broken down bus. 

Eventually we got a replacement bus from someone the driver knows, not even the bus company! Although at that moment in time I didn't really care as I was having nightmare visions of having to stay in East London and the Sugarshack. No thanks, I'd rather sleep on the beach in the rain. We finally left East London at 9:30pm (we were meant to arrive in Port Elizabeth at 10pm) after stopping for a KFC dinner... Delightful. Nowhere else was open though. We arrived in PE at 2am finally and I gratefully crawled into my hostel bed, thanking everything under the sun that I was not still in East London. The only good outcome of the break down was that it meant everyone on board mingled and talked to each other. Normally on the evening buses everyone just goes to sleep so it was good to be social.

I stayed at Lungile Lodge, changing it last minute due to the bus fiasco but it was a great place to stay for two nights. I didn't want to be in PE for so long but the next bus left at 6am on Friday and I only arrived at 2am so I opted for the one the day after on Saturday. The lodge was clean, homely and the staff were friendly and helpful. I loved the large pool too but only ended up dipping my feet in it as the water was cold and the sun was once again nowhere to be seen. 

The lounge and reckon area of the lodge. The door up the stairs was the dorm where I stayed. 

The lovely pool.

After visiting the Spar with the company of Anna, a Finnish girl in my dorm, I decided to go and check out the beach front. The beaches near the hostel didn't turn out to be that fabulous. They were small and right by the main road. Nothing like the ones in Durban, another city for comparison, whose beaches and promenade were actually quite nice. Obviously both places have nothing on the Wild Coast but that is to be expected. 

One of the beaches. 

I walked down to the pier to get some photos and because it was something to do, rather than being couped up in the hostel all day. I would have had to get a taxi to the city centre and so opted for the cheaper option. It turned out that I met some Mormon missionaries at the end of the pier who kept me company for half an hour or so which was pretty crazy. They were both from Utah and we discussed travelling, where we wee from and what we were upto etc. it was nice company at any rate and they gave me a Book of Mormon to take with me after finding out I didn't know too much about it (when he asked if I'd heard of it and I gave a pretty vague answer he said he didn't mean the play... My bad). So, that's currently residing in my handbag for a rainy day. After my Mormon encounter I treated myself to lunch and a glass of wine overlooking the pier which was lovely. At least travelling has taught me one thing and that is how to enjoy your own company and not be so reliant on being around others. 

View of the pier. 

Looking back at the coast from the pier.

The city centre is towards the right and just out of sight in that direction are all the docks.

Back at the hostel we had a couple of drinks and relaxed outside by the pool with a fire. Out of some crazy coincidence the staff that I met at Buccaneers showed up at the same hostel and so we decided to go out for a couple of drinks at Barney's which is a bar on the beach. They had a live band who were pretty good and we partied to hits from bands such as ACDC and Guns and Roses which was brilliant. Been a while since I've heard that kind of music on a night out. We ended up kicking off our flip flops because they hinder dancing to no end and we partied away. 

Dirty feet after the removal of flip flops. Oh dear.

After finally going to sleep around 2 it was a bit of a mission to get up for 6:30 to pack. The bus rocked up at 7:30, 45 minutes late, but I fitted in a snooze on the sofa whilst waiting. There were some familiar faces from the last disastrous bus journey so it was nice to catch up with their activities whilst on the bus to Jeffrey's Bay. 

Until next time.

A x