A night in Durban, South Africa 2015

I didn't stay long enough in Durban to be able to give a good review of the place. In my short stay, I'd say that it looks like a nice small little coastal town where people would build their vacation home in. Driving at night from the airport to the hotel could be quite dangerous though because the road was quite badly lit, if there is any road lights at all.

The Coastal Hotel itself is not very impressive. The room is spacious with a gothic design and for the worst, I spotted a cracky wall in my room.

 Luckily, it did not collapse during my stay..Ehem..I'm half-joking. Breakfast was decent and there's nothing to be complained.

 

The breakfast spread was okay and there was a minor hiccup during that though. My colleague spotted a strand of hair in her mushrooms and that set off my appettite...

Otherwise, my stay was good and I enjoyed the semi-sweet white wine at Primi Piatti (Gateway Theatre Shopping Mall). I am not a white wine person but I love that one from Primi and according to the waiter, it is a specially ordered wine which is exclusive to Primi. My colleague told me that he didn't get the same one from its Cape Town's branch. I guess it is exclusive only to this outlet in Primi. Do note: It is a MUST TRY if you are in the vicinity. 

What to do for a Half-day in Johannesburg, 2015

South Africa is located on the other side of the world and to reach there (from Kuala Lumpur), I would need to survive a journey of two flights (six and a half for the first flight and another six plus hours for the second one) and a transit layover of (yet another) six hours in Dubai.

As a hub to many transit flights, Dubai airport was crowded and my first time experience there felt so much like some random marketplace with plastic rest-chairs that resemble that which was used during a blood donation drive. Well,that is probably the next best furniture to sleep in if you don't have the luxury to access a lounge or hotel. 

Hours can snail by or it passes so swiftly...leaving you with a backache...and that was what happened if you don't take the option of the 'rest chair'. I slept on the normal chair...but the feeling of finally allowed to board the flight was such a relief.

I enjoyed my first leg of the flight with emirates Boeing 770-300er so much as I was able to get a two seater with a vacant seat next to me and the plane was equipped with a much newer entertainment system on board. My favourite part was to be able to fully charged my phone via its USB slot and watch a few episodes of Fringe. The second leg doesn't come with these features but it has good music album on board and of course, I was able to get a good view of the vast desert below since it is already morning.

I can't imagine the type of snakes species that reside in the desert. Such a huge sandy playground that can easily swallow the entire city if it wants to. Anyways, the sight is just lovely when you are looking from above:)  Hopefully, next time I will get a chance to get closer to the desert and maybe collect a bottle of sand back as a memorandum.

Coming back to my trip to South Africa, I touched down at Johannesburg and got transported to Premier Hotel which is located about 10 minutes away from the O.R Tambo International Airport. It is a conveniently located hotel especially for travelers who have had a long flight journey. The downside was that there is nothing much around this hotel and the nearest mall (eg Sandton City) is not within walking distance. Otherwise, everything is fine with the hotel. Spacious room, comfortable bed and (my fave) a good spread of choices for breakfast.

Work wouldn't start until the next day and I took this opportunity to visit one of the Cradle of Humankind site; the Sterkfoien. It is a good 45 minutes away from Johannesburg and I arranged for a half day tour with the hotel at R1480 ( inclusive of entrance fee). That is quite expensive for a half day...and you don't even get to visit the main museum. But, it would be a shame not to visit a world heritage site when you are just within the backyard of the place (literally speaking).

Depending on your taste for adventure, the drive to the Cradle site could be more interesting than the cave itself if you do not go with too high an expectation. I took the tour with another Brazilian visitor and it was great that our tour guide, Pike, shared with us interesting information of the country. The Sterkfoien cave might be a little tame for adventure seekers. I have been to different cave tours and by far, this cave is very much suitable for people of different age group. The trail is well lit and the path is well organized. You might need to do a little crawling and it may be a little tough if you are not physically fit because there will be some short flight of stairs to be climbed; but with that said, it is still an easy and short tour. 

The deepest area stretched 60ft below the ground and according to our cave guide, it is a dry cave and no part of the cave would be flooded. We were shown the different rock formations, brine shrimp and crystallined wall. We were told that this cave was where the early hominids were excavated. Looking at the pictures in the museum, one couldn't help but to link the excavation events to apartheid where the blacks were being abused and exploited by the whites. That goes without saying, the name of the site's discoverer was plastered across the little museum which was set up near to the cave's entrance. I supposed, no one would want to know about the team of workers who work under low light and in extreme harsh conditions to scout for the little human bones who was once whole in a body. 

Pitiful mankind...take human lives for granted but it is the very men who risked their lives that we get to admire or savour the preserved treasures.

This stone is particularly interesting. When light was shone through it, it glows like a dinosour egg in an incubator. I wonder what made this stone...it is seriously a beautiful creation which you never thought would exist in the deepest of a cave

I can never visualize how radiocarbon dating works...the whole idea of atomic decay feels strange to me even back then in school when the teacher was trying to teach us the formula

The trip down the cave very much reminded me of The Catacomb. What if our guide suddenly disappeared into the dark and we got mislead into the wrong route and deeper into the cave? The cave was eerily cooling. I'm sure that there was a lot of lives lost during the excavation and mapping of the cave.

Anyways, nothing weird happened and we exited the cave fairly easily. We even got the luck to see some wild mangoose during our drive back! <3

I was surprised to see this little mangooes...actually there's two of them and I supposed I would have to thank God for that. It was out of my expectation to be able to see the wild side of South Africa because (in additional to the fact that I didn't have the luxury of time) I can't really afford to go on a safari tour during my visit. It costs a minimum of RM700 for a safari tour. Yes, that's a minimum and the price goes up from that border. It will be worthy without a doubt but at the moment, I just can't afford it.  

One of my favourite in South Africa: the Skyline. Bold, peaceful and beautiful.

Another favourite would be its wilder side. There are many interesting plants which I would love to capture with my camera but I guess the area is not that recommended for a female tourist to wander around as told by a local elder man who joined us in our tour. I'm very thankful for him actually because he kept an eye on me throughout the walk back to the main area where the museum is. That is an act of a gentleman and he made sure that I walked ahead of him so that he can watch over me. I can't thank him enough and the modern world is in dire need of gentleman like him.

The drive back was the longest ever due to the heavy traffic. If I am to complain about the traffic in Kuala Lumpur, I supposed I am taking it for granted (again) because the jam happened right on the highway of  Johannesburg. Even the drive from Sandton back to the hotel was horrendously jam packed. The driver had to drive through some neighborhood area to get us back to the hotel within an hour...Sandton is probably a about 20km from the hotel..so imagine that!

A real huge shopping mall and a very disoriented one too. I used to think Mall of Asia, Phillipines, was huge - until I visit this one.

Cars are jamming the road as the day gives way to the evening. There were only 2-3 lanes for them...so I guess that's the reason why it gets so jammed up

You could get a cheap and light dinner there, yes; a decent chicken and avocado sandwich from Woolworths at only R50 and the fresh strawberries for less than R50 (promo price). For me, I saved half of the sandwich for breakfast (damned right, because my pickup to work happened to be really early on the next day. So, I wouldn't be able to make it for the hotel's breakfast at 7.30 am)