Friday, December 22

Coming Back to Durban

Our time in Durban, largely by design, was very social, very lazy and very domestic. It was kept so firstly to recover from the intense tourism of the past few weeks but also to leave space for the respective socialising my parents and I wanted to do. That said, it was less of a social whirlwind my previous stint here was (and for the better). In summary:

  • On my first full day here I went to three nikkahs and a Jummah. That's so Durban.
  • I visited the African Art Centre to check out the work of an artist friend (as one does in Durban).
  • North Beach evoked good memories, but new was La Lucia Beach where we had a decent little family chill out.
  • We were able to take a mini tour of a clothing factory (via family friends)
  • We finally got to have some South African prawns, as well as some Bunny Chow (which was more novelty than I remember)
  • At great personal cost I managed to grab a Crystal Steak Sandwich, which for me was the clear winner of this year's South African junk food trail
  • I even managed to get a dive in which gave me sharks, an amazing reef and some excellent visibility.
  • And finally I spent a lot of time (read: eating food and cake) with friends first met in both continents, including a meeting that made skipping ticketed cinema screening look easy.
That last point made me both regret not managing to do the same in Johannesburg and Cape Town, but also even more appreciative that I was able to find it here.

Other comparative observations: Durban seems less tolerant and more segregated than I remember it being, but that could be due to the nature of my trip being more family than friend orientated.

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