It was already dark by the time we arrived at our Airbnb about a 15 minute drive from Port Elizabeth, called Breaking Waves. When we walked into the house, despite our exhaustion after a full day on the road, our eyes lit up and in unison, we exhaled an elongated “Wowwwww!”.
Breaking Waves is the beach house of our dreams. It is a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom home with so many special features. The open kitchen, living room and dining room all look out to the ocean through a wall of cafe windows that can be completely open to the outside in good weather, removing any barriers between the outdoor and indoor spaces. The gourmet kitchen has an extra-long counter, top-of-the-line appliances and cabinets with drawers full of cookware for every purpose and plates and glasses for all occasions.
The kitchen and braai were just perfect for our family, as all of us love to cook. In addition to the regular kitchen, there is a washing up area behind with a larger sink and dishwasher, thus the kitchen countertop was never cluttered with dirty dishes. We had been craving Chinese food for a while. In a supermarket called Pick and Pay, we managed to get some Chinese ingredients like Chinese dry noodles, jasmine rice, ginger and soy sauce. I cooked stir-fried chicken and green beans (四季豆炒鸡肉) and egg and tomato (番茄炒鸡蛋) with rice. This was the first Chinese meal that we have had since our trip began. The kids gobbled it up and said it tasted like home.
Every Chinese family has a rice cooker at home. A rice cooker is a convenience appliance and it guarantees perfectly cooked rice every time. Before this trip, I had never even attempted to cook rice without a rice cooker. I thought cooking rice in a regular pot was something that was time consuming and required great skill. After experimenting with cooking long-grain rice and basmati rice in Kenya, and now jasmine rice, in whatever kind of pot was available (aluminum, stainless steel, ceramic, cast iron), I now know that cooking rice in a regular pot is not something that is difficult to master.
The next day, I cooked Chinese-style chicken noodle soup (鸡汤面) with stir-fried cabbage (炒包心菜). These are home-style meals that we used to eat regularly in Shanghai. During Covid, I often cooked this combination because they are simple to prepare and the ingredients were relatively easy to procure, even during the three-month lockdown period in Shanghai. After over a month of not having the home taste, these two Chinese meals satisfied our craving.
Beside the main living area, there is an entertainment room with a pool table, bar area and wood braai. Leo used to have a pool table in his childhood home in Littleton, Colorado and he was happy to have the chance to teach the kids how to play pool. To our frustration, the kids sometimes preferred to use the pool table in an unorthodox way, creating their own games and rules. RY loved using the braai and one night grilled steaks with roasted potatoes and broccoli. He experimented with a dry brine and the results were exceptional.
Outside, the patio area is an outdoor dining area and pool overlooking a large lawn area where the kids ran around and played soccer. We also found a giant snail nearly the size of DY’s shoe. Just beyond the lawn area was the beach. The beach has a sandy strip but most of the beach is rocky. AY loves this kind of beach because there are tidepools. We spent many hours at this beach looking through the tidepools, collecting shells and examining our discoveries. The kids made a hermit crab habitat in a large glass bowl that housed five hermit crabs that they caught. The hermit crabs were named Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hermes and Artemis. They caught a lone sand crab and named it Athena. They put a few empty shells in the habitat and to everyone’s delight, after a day in our homemade aquarium, Hades upgraded to a larger shell.
Although Kini Bay felt quite remote perched right on the rugged coastline, it is actually conveniently located about 15 minutes’ drive away from Baywest Mall, the largest mall in the Eastern Cape. There were so many options for shopping, many that were just like shops we are familiar with in California. Woolworths is just like Target, Checkers is just like Walmart and Pick and Pay is just like Food 4 Less. We couldn’t resist buying 3 cinnamon rolls at Cinnabon to share for dessert one evening.
Each Airbnb that we have stayed in has been unique and special in its own way. Each home has elements that appeal to one or more of us for various reasons like Mara Moja’s special kid’s room and safari atmosophere, Amboseli Bush Camp’s rustic tents and communing with nature, Mwanana House’s patio and pool. There have been many homes that we simply didn’t want to leave. Breaking Waves ranks right up there among them. There were so many parts of Breaking Waves that let us experience our dream home like the gourmet kitchen with the indoor braai, the ocean sounds and views from the house, access to the virtually private beach and the entertainment facilities like the pool table and swimming pool.
Wherever we go, Leo and I always enjoy browsing home listings and visiting a few for-sale homes when we can fit it in, to get a feel for the residential real estate market. It’s more of a hobby than anything else. The home next door to Breaking Waves had a for-sale sign in front and that piqued our interest. We didn’t have a chance to arrange an appointment to tour the house but we managed to find the listing online. Maybe we will find ourselves back in Kini Bay one day.
