When I first landed in Walvis Bay airport, which was about 12 years ago. It felt I was landing on the moon. Desert all around, no sign of life, no town, as I was twisting my neck from the plane’s window seat. Only the golden wind blowing sparkles of diamonds in the sun. As I disembarked from the plane, I eventually noticed in the distance the airport prefab building.

In that space of 10 years or so, the sand of the desert is still there but we are proud and thankful to now have a decent and modern airport building in Walvis Bay:-). President Hage Geingob inaugurated the new airport terminal building on the 23rd July 2016.

Coming from Poole with about 300,000 inhabitants in the UK, it was a bit of a shock to the system to adjust to Walvis Bay, with 65,000 inhabitants and only 5 restaurants to its name, at the time. Whaaa!! I used to enjoy eating and going out a lot and wondered how I would adjust. Food shopping was a rat race to collect ingredients from the 3 or 4 corner shops before you could gather all your goodies. In October 2017, we had a big event in Walvis Bay and we got all excited . There was a crowd like if the Royal Family had disembarked in Walvis Bay. It was the birth of our first Mall in Walvis Bay, and it is a nice one too:-).

I will write more about Walvis Bay, but for now, I will tell you one more thing that struck me when I first came here. A few weeks after I was living with Anton, we were in town and we met Anton’s previous PA. She kissed him on the lips. I was gob smacked!! How come? Was it a mirage or was it real?!!!

It was real and I then found out that it is quite normal here. Except for family members (they kiss on the lips), when men know each other quite well, they normally give each other a big hug. When, men to women, or women to women are friendly with each other (I am not talking about intimate), they generally kiss each other on the lips. There are exceptions to this and sometimes you stay mid air not knowing what to do:-)!!.

That is all from me for now….goodbye  

Murielle

www.alacartetravels.com