Durban host some great shopping centres. Gateway is a R50 ($5.00) taxi ride away from Umhlanga Sands Resort – I bought my new camera from there prices are comparable to Perth if not slightly cheaper – it has many shops very similar to the ones we have in Perth. It is comparable to Garden City or Morley Galeria. It also host several restaurants as you walk into the shopping centre – I have tried two so far, I usually buy a meal around 3-4pm then have something light if I’m hungry later. My bug bear is restaurants who say they are Italian just because they cook pasta  and it tastes awful, they have used to much sauce with little flavour – so now I have gone for steak meals or my mothers favourtie peri-peri chicken – the other food I really love and had forgotten how good it tastes – is samosa’s mince samosa’s – they just taste devine and I have only ever tasted good ones here in SA…… 

This afternoon I met a friend who lives in Bellair took me to this shopping center – it was lovely smaller than Gateway but shopping I’m used to – we had lunch at Mugg & Bean and I had my first real coffee from Gloria Jeans. I also bought my Big 5 African charm – LOOK a pandora – and Ian they even had a Jeep store. My friend lives in a secure complex with a secuity guard, she shops at this shopping centre and never goes far from home. Her friends and family all live in the same complex so she rarely has to travel far, she has created her own little world within the complex and she is happy. She rarely travels into Durban due to the crime rate and when she droped me back into Durban she was accompanied by her friend so she did not travel alone. 

Things I noticed; when I got into a car the doors where locked, handbags went in the boot or when I was in the taxi never on the seat, windows were never opened fully and you never stop for anyone – you never stare at anyone, and everything takes a long time to get done……A different way of living.