Time is Precious

 

Day 102: The weather cleared. The picture above is the Florida Road side of our Airbnb in Durban, South Africa. We walk up the stairs right over the Pic 'n Pay grocery store to get to the apartment lobby. Today's view from the balcony is below.  

Most human lives can be measured with fewer than 33,000 days. I'm happy to have been right here for this one.

   

Plans and an Activity

Day 101: This morning, we started to check on tours available from Durban. We set our sights on finding out about two, different, over-night trips. We have time enough to try to take an African safari. It has been a long time since Jay and I took a proper one.  We travelled to Kenya in February of 1994.  That happened 31 years ago.  Oh my!

   

We'd also like to spend a night in country of Lesotho. We want to arrange both when the weather looks better. So, at this point these are simply ideas. 

Our activity this morning included walking to the large supermarket down at the mall that we can see from the balcony. You can see the Checker's sign in this phone zoom shot. It's about a kilometer from this Airbnb. The distance isn't far but it is quite a change in elevation.

Durban on an Overcast Morning

Day 100:  Wow.  We've been away for the winter for a hundred days today!  We took another Uber downtown and asked to be dropped off at Durban City Hall. 

It was dark and overcast this morning but we figured we could still see some of the city.  We walked up West Street to the Golden Mile Beach.  Surprisingly, not many folks were around on a Tuesday morning in mid-summer.

I like adding a mental picture of the layout of another world city.  Durban's streets are really wide and it makes for a lot of walking between locations.  We put on around 5 kilometers on our little morning walk.

Seeing Downtown Durban

Day 099:  This was the first complete work day that we've been in Durban, South Africa.  Not that the term work-day means much to us since our early retirements.  Anyway, we can clearly see a large part of the central area from our Airbnb apartment in Morningside.  Yet, this was our first time seeing it closer up.

 

We clicked for an Uber to take us to the Victoria Street Market.  When looking for it on Google Maps, I read all sorts of scary comments about the area.  Ah, whomever wrote those has not travelled extensively.  I didn't need to be any more cautious as I am in any urban area.  We spent some time in the market and each bought African-style short sleeved shirts from a vendor.  Jay also selected a  bolt of cloth with an African print as a gift for his sisters.

The city did feel a lot like Colombo, Sri Lanka because of the heat, humidity and general, low-key chaos.  We noted that just about every need could be satisfied along Victoria Street as we walked a bit around town.  As we have sufficient time to explore the city, we didn't try to buy lunch at any of the copious small restaurants.  We didn't make it to the stately and grand City Hall nor the waterfront and its Miracle Mile.  We can do these at leisure, later.

The returning Uber also cost around 50 SA Rand for the distance travelled.  That is about $US3 for two even with a bit of a tip.  So, we will probably spend a fair amount of time down exploring the area section-by-section.  Today was a good first exposure to the city named after the governor of the Cape Colony, Sir Benjamin D'Urban in 1835.

Not Chomping at the Bit

 

Day 098: Part of the enjoyment we get from our winter travels involves getting to know new locations. We have only been in Durban a short time. Yesterday was a bit misty and we didn't venture far. However, we did buy some take-away food last night at the Istanbul restaurant practically across the street. Restaurants in South Africa seem to have good prices compared to those at home. We ordered and had to wait for our food but it was wonderfully wrapped and delicious.

   

Yesterday and today, we started to stock up on our provision in the supermarket that is right in our Airbnb's apartment building. It is convenient but we noticed there were not a lot of customers. There weren't many options for many products. 

On the way out, this morning, we brought out a bit of garbage for disposal. On the seventh floor, one below us, we discovered the swimming pool. After, we walked down to the Checker's supermarket. We can see it and the entire shopping mall from our window as it's probably a kilometer away. It was a great market full of options and being a Sunday morning it was very, very crowded. We will probably only buy staples downstairs and do most grocery shopping in the place we visited today.

   

Although we've not made it downtown yet, we're not worried. This is why having nearly a month here is good. We can set our own timeframe. Sundays are typically not a good day to see a city. I'm sure we will walk around Durban's famous Golden Mile during the upcoming week.

I Don't Think We're in Cape Town Anymore!

 

Day 097: All right the title is not what Dorothy said to Toto, but we were a little surprised by something we saw this morning. Neighbhourhood monkeys were showing off! 

The weather here surely seems right for it.  It is warm and humid. I mentioned in yesterday's journal post that the weather in Durban seemed more like Colombo than Cape Town.Today started off overcast and misty. We noticed the streets and building were wet. During our recent month in Cape Town, we didn't see rain at all and deep blue skies were visible every single day. 

Yet, when I first saw a single monkey on the wall on the other side of the street I was surprised. Later though, families of vervet monkeys appeared. We probably saw around a dozen at the same time on different roofs and walls and trees. Some of the babies were tiny. They were fun to watch even though we're in an eight-floor apartment. On a clear, sunny day, I will shoot a bit of video of the antics.  

We knew there'd be a view from our Airbnb's windows just not that monkeys would be a part of it. This type of monkey is common down the southeast coast of Africa. They are adaptable and can happily exist in urban neighbourhoods.

 

A Big Change of Scenery

Day 096:  The day really couldn't have gone more smoothly.  We got up at 6:30 am, called an Uber at 8:00, got to the airport and checked in by 8:45.  Boarded and took off at 10:25.

It was a pleasant flight a little less than the two hours documented.  As it was a domestic flight, when we got to Duban it was a breeze too.  We had to wait about 6 minutes for an Uber and travelled a half an hour to town quickly.  Ubers in South Africa are pretty cheap.

We got to 262 Florida Road in Morningside at a bit after 1:30 pm.  We took the afternoon to stock up the fridge.  There's a Pick and Pay grocery store right under the building.

We walked a bit and the temperature surely seems more like Colombo's than Cape Town's.  Jay noticed the familiar vegetation.  We are set but I'm surprisingly tired for what little actual work we did.

Packing for Our Month in Duban, South Africa

Day 095:  We're packing today.  Our time in Cape Town is ending.  When we were doing our initial planning for this winter away, we decided to fly between here and Durban.  The distance between the cities is around 1650 km by road.  The schedule to the right was copied from part of my eTicket and shows it'll be about two hours in the air.

We've been here for exactly four weeks.  In my opinion, this is the bare minimum to actually feel as though we've stayed in new city.  Anything short of one month only provides a cursory view.  I always want to shop like the locals and see the local sights leisurely.

We have had a fair number of hours in the air since our November departure from Vancouver, but we were last on an airplane from Madagascar to Mauritius back on December 9th.  I'm a bit excited about moving back to the Indian Ocean side of South Africa.

Jay and I have been happy with our Airbnb choices so far.  We liked the beach in Flic en Flac, Mauritius.  We've also enjoyed being right along Long Street in the bowl of Cape Town, South Africa.  I'll miss the convenience and views here.