Centre Court B&B Durban

... in Durban is limited. Despite almost constant rain, I've enjoyed walking around the city a bit and visiting several small museums.

Tomorrow I'm heading up into the northern Drakensberg mountains, where I hope the weather will be good enough to hike and ride horseback over the next couple of days.

... father worked in the mines near Johannesburg and had forged a lasting friendship with a man from China. Hence, he named his son after this dear friend. China drove us to our hotel, the Tropicana, which was located right on the oceanfront. It was across from a decent shopping area, the Marine Parade, in an area called "the Golden Mile". Our room had a fantastic view of the beach so I promptly took out my camera and got ...

... plenty of time before our 2:50 pm departure for Durban, and we had a chance for a quick stop at the Donkin Reserve in front of the row houses sloping up Donkin Street. We also had time to stop at the Boardwalk before going to the airport, and the sun started to break through a bit. I was glad that the rest of the group could see PE’s main tourist attraction in semi-decent weather

We got to the Port Elizabeth airport in plenty of time, and ...

... meeting people and socialising. We met Chime, Clare and Shaarad here and the five of us ventured out into the city for a night on the tiles, only the once though! We started off in the bar of the hostel as Durban can be a bit dangerous. Then we got a taxi to Casablanca ~ a nightclub in the party district of Durban. Casablanca was like any nightclub in any major city ~ the locals were very dressed up & we rocked up in flip-flops! Shaarad had trouble ...

... map. We saw the massive market area, with permanent stalls set up along the pavements, and eventually dropped down to the marina. Here we tried to find the boat tours we had heard about, but a wrong turn led us to the Bat Centre instead. Surprisingly this had nothing to do with bats (a useful detail left out by the hostel staff), but was instead a centre that supported the performing arts for the area. We had a little look around and stopped for a ...

South Africa is really... white. Durban is dangerous at night and there
is a huge mall. They have blackouts every day for two hours at two in
the afternoon, and even the malls shut down.

... for a while with two Australians who were on holiday in South Africa for a friend's wedding. We spent the rest of the evening just lounging at the Backpackers. On Sun. morning, we went for several smaller hikes in Tsitsikamma National Park, first to see The Big Tree with a girth of eight adults and second in the Marine Reserve. Tsitsikamma National Park was designated in 1964 and is ...

... staff members of iThemba Lethu. She was truly an excellent presenter. Her teachings were grounded in scientific theory and less in religious beliefs. She referenced the same theorists and theories on behavior modification that I studied at UT over the past year and a half. We talked briefly about the recent trend in master's level psychology programs of addressing spirituality in the practice setting. I told that the same trend is ...

... of my things and I'm fine. Hopefully this won't happen to me again!! After that drama, we went straight back to the hostel and stayed there until my taxi came to take me to the aiport. Meegan and I were both crying, hating to say bye after 9 days together and all the laughs and recent trauma we experienced together! But she lives in Melbourne and I will be there in December and will definetly have to stop for a visit. !

... then Butha Buthe to Mohotlong! It was a long day! We bargained for a couple cheapo beds at a local place and took a bus the next day from Mohotlong to Sani Pass. Sani Pass is a really spectacular place where the road is over 9,000 feet. It is the most rugged border post between South Africa and Lesotho and was a famous smuggling place for opposition leaders during South Africa's Aparteid. We decided the weather had gotten warmer ( it hadn't but the bus rides made ...