The Ticket to Ride

NYC-JFK to Dakar Senegal:
Depart: 7/28/05 5:55pm
Arrive: 7/29/05 5:45am
Total flight time: 7 hours 50 minutes
Dakar Senegal to Jo-berg
Depart: 7/29/05 6:45am
Arrive: 7/29/05 5:05pm
Total flight time: 8 hours 20 minutes
Jo-berg to Durban
Depart: 7/29/05 9:00pm
Arrive: 7/29/05 10:10pm
Total flight time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Total flight and lay over time: 22 hours and 15 minutes
Movies I watched: Hitch, Drum, Pacifier (I admit only 10 minutes of it), and Coach Carter.

On the flight I met Courtenay Sprague who is moving to South Africa to begin her faculty position at an university in Jo-berg. She had lived in South Africa years before and had been living in Manhattan working with Carnegie Corporation of New York doing HIV/AIDS education.

Otherwise my entrance in South Africa was uneventful. I was picked up by Rajesh, the brother-in-law of Anil Mangla. Rajesh kindly helped me find a place to stay in Durban for the next couple of nights. We perused my Lonely Planet South Africa Guide Book for cheap accommodations. After some phone calls, we jumped on the left hand side of the road and drove away from SAA to the Tekweni Backpackers Hostel in the Morningside community of Durban.

The streets of Durban were vacant except for city street cleaners, occasional vagrants, and blowing litter. On a Friday night, no one was enjoying the balmy winter weather of Durban. Apparently people lock themselves in after dark and those who leave the vicinity of their homes are at risk for mugging or assault. Shacks line the gritty streets as shelter for the poor. Durban looks and feels like any other Westernized metropolitan area, but the bareness of the night makes the city look menacing to any foreigner.

After some mis-turns we landed at 169 9th ave, where the hostel was gated in with concrete walls and a secure metal door. I was not excited by the location of the hostel since it seemingly sat in the middle of nothingness. But I’d rather pay 80 rand (1 USD ~ 6.4 Rand) a night to sleep than 300 rand. I checked in, went to my six-bed dorm which already had two other occupants, and slept, while feeling anxious about the hostel, but relieved that I finally made it to South Africa. Watch out Ernie Els and Nick Faldo.