Shopping in Durbs
Day 236
We arrived in Durban late last night and checked into the Hippo Hide hostel. A decent place who’s selling feature is the pool. Durban is a large city of 4 million on the coast that has a huge Indian population. Once upon a time it was the largest Indian city outside of India. We plan on spending 3 nights here, not to see any sights really but to go shopping, do laundry and figure out what the rest of our Africa itinerary. Since we are travelling overland the options are exactly plenty. Zimbabwe is out of the question and while Botswana is safe its expensive. We want to see Victoria Falls but also want to head up the coast through Mozambique. So many decisions.
The Hippo Hide is only a ten minute walk to the Musgrave Centre, a large shopping mall where we hoped to get most things completed. We are in Berea, an upscale area outside of the centre. Pretty much no hostels exist in the centre, which is not the safest place at night. Walking down the street here reminded me of San Salvador. High walls topped with barbed wire and the clicking of the electrified fences. Every home is a fortress.
We reached the shopping centre which was a large place and pretty much like any other mall around the world. We purchased a map of Africa, backed up our photos on cd and did some internet time. We found out that flying from Johannesburg to Victoria Falls would cost us $1000. Much to expensive for 3 days. Jordana looked around for some pants, clothing is very cheap here compared to home. Average is about $20 CAD for a pair of womens pants. Eventually we finished with shopping and went for some OK chinese food down the street. Then back to the hostel for some lazing by the pool and a cool dip. Finally we are having some hot weather here, the temperature was in the thirties today.
In the evening we met up with the Brits, John and Hannah. We walked to a nearby Indian restaurant for dinner. Durban being a very Indian city is famous for its curry. We had a spicy fish curry and some different but tasty koftas. It was spicy and tasty food. After dinner it was back to the hostel where I sat staring at our Africa map, dreaming of so many places that I’d love to see. Yet so many places that just aren’t possible to visit due to war or whatever issue. Africa will be much different than Latin America, where we just picked a place and went.
Tags: Curry, Durban, South Africa
Michael Coroneos
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.