26th May, Transkei
Another day on the Baz-Bus, this time for 13 hours in a row, I passed some really nice beaches and sometimes I just wanted to jump out of the bus to join the others that where leaving. But lucky me, about half way through I met a Australian girl, Kim from Cairns, again, who was travelling with me on the Baz-Bus when I first left Cape Town. She had been in the Transkai for a couple of days to teach at a small school and now was also heading for Durban. We where the only passengers on the bus, so we had plenty of space and lots of time to talk and watch movies.

The Transkai is a very hilly area, with little round huts virtually everywhere. At one point of the trip, Kim and I where just jumping around in the bus, filming and taking pictures of the beautiful scenery. She had a video-camera and a Rexlex-camera just as me and we started laughing at each other because we felt like Japanese tourists. The driver (Jetty) was very friendly and since neither Kim or I had made a reservation he called Banana Backpackers and made the booking for us.

Funny little storie upon my arrival in Durban:
Can you tell the nationality by someone else's shoes? A German guy thought so and when I entered the Banana Backpackers claimed that I'm Scandinavian. Well, I might be tall, and at the time I was in South Africa I even had bleached hair, but that doesn't make me Scandinavian.27th May, Durban
After the 13 hour trip on a bus on the previous day there was nothing to keep me away from spending the day on the beach, doing nothing but watching surfers riding the waves and catching a tan. At night I went to cinema with a South African girl. First the bar-keeper told us to not go to the cinema and take a taxi instead, but then the receptionist told us that it would be fine and we should just carry the money for the movie's. I guess thats kind of a South African paranoia... Instead of taking a 2 minute taxi-ride we decided to run to the cinema. We left the hostel and started running when a truck stopped next to us and offered us a ride to the cinema. We hopped on the back and arrived at the cinema in no time. Since there was no one selling tickets at the cinema, we just walked into a movie called "Half Past Dead" (I did not talke that as a bad sign) and didn't pay at all. That's what I call a cheap night out. Unfortunately, two English travellers got mugged that night at 4 am in the morning, just outside the hostel. But they where also lucky, the robbers where friendly, told them their names and asked kindly for their money and even gave them back their drivers licence.

28th May, St. Lucia
What a day! Fist I thought it would be just another boring day on the bus, but boy I was so wrong. As I previously wrote, usually there weren't lots of people on the Baz-Bus, but this time was different. When we left Durban, all of the seats where already taken and almost everyone was heading for St. Lucia Backpackers. An American girl (Katherine) was supposed to leave the bus just outside Durban but decided to stick with us since we were already having great fun just after 30 minutes on the bus. A group of eight complete strangers from around the world who didn't know each other when getting on the bus. So the whole bus ride. was just a "Where are you from, what are you doing etc. kind of thing. Soon after my arrival in St. Lucia I realised that they probably picked the wrong name for the hostel since I would rather call it St. Weed Backpackers then St. Lucia Backpackers. But that's about all I'm going to write about this subject since I don't want to get into legal troubles. The hostel was an excellent choice, not only the location was great and the facilities were in good condition, but they also offered different activities during the day and some times also at night . Right after our arrival they took us to the beach and organise a volleyball game. And at night you could hang out at the bar and "get pissed" as Katherine called it. And there was braa (South African for Barbecue) every night. You just bought some steaks (incredibly cheap) at the local supermarket and grill it.

29th May, Morning walk with Zebo, Beach time. One of the activities offered at the hostel was a two hour morning walk with "Zebo", a guy from the Transkei. But only for those who survived the drinking competition from the pervious night. It was a nice walk but we didn't get to see lots of animals except the very common antelopes and a few zebras from the distance. Not to forget about the skeleton of a hippo. Afternoon was beach time, including the usual beach-games, some swimming and plenty of exhausting tanning in the sun.

St. Lucia was a save heaven in terms of getting mugged at night but instead you could easily loose your head if you would get into the way of a hippo. Hippos might look nice, but you better run when you feel that they don't like you. Not to mention that 90 % of the crocodile population of South Africa live in and around St. Lucia. So going for a swim in the river behind the hostel also might not be a very refreshing idea.