Category > Africa

Feb 20, 2014
Ghana
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Faith

Busua and Cape Coast, Ghana

After meeting Erik (Norway), Jessica (USA), and Felix (England) from my hostel in Accra, we decided to swap numbers and travel on and off together. So, Erik and I headed off to Cape Coast to meet Jessica, who was one day ahead of us. We caught a tro-tro (reluctantly, instead of a bus) headed to Takoradi from Kaneshie Market and went off on our way.

Well, off we went. So far that we ended up passing Cape Coast and not realising it until we asked the driver about 45 minutes after we passed it. Oops. We just decided to go along with the flow and headed to Takoradi instead, and from there, we made our way to Busua, the backpacker-friendly beach village of Ghana.
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Feb 17, 2014
Ghana
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Strangers

Accra, Ghana

From the streets of Accra.

“Welcome to Ghana!”
“Thank you for visiting my country!”
“Akwaaba!”
“Do you like our country? It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
“So what brings you here?”

I don’t know, actually. Ghana is not a country you come to specifically for touristic sites. Something drew me here, after reading about it, and I hadn’t and still haven’t really pinned it down. But I’ve received a heck of a welcome.
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Jun 7, 2012
Morocco
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Relentless

Marrakesh, Morocco

“Japon! Japon! Korea? China? Indonesia?”

Yeah…walking around the souks in Marrakech wasn’t my idea of fun, especially after Fes.  Sadly enough, I did not buy anything but a postcard (which I didn’t have to bargain for), let alone wander into more than 3 or 4 shops, in my entire stay in Morocco.  And those shop-wanderings were mostly in Chefchaouen!  I cannot stand being hassled, and I ended up not even trying to buy anything.  So much as a sideways glance at an item would have someone chasing me down the street calling me Japan or even yelling at me in Japanese. Continue reading →

Jun 4, 2012
Morocco
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Troubles

Tinerhir, Morocco

It’s probably better to travel by rental car in Morocco.  Taking public transport is a bit annoying – buses don’t run often and the only other option is grands taxis to get between cities: cars with room for four, but they usually carry six.  Since we were travelling as a group of four, we just chose to buy up the two remaining seats each time.

We took a grand taxi from Merzouga to Rissani, and ate lunch where we were dropped off.  Aaaand that’s where things started to go downhill for me.  I had a tagine that had sand in it…and I barely ate.  I felt rather bloated. Continue reading →

Jun 2, 2012
Morocco
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Labas

Merzouga, Morocco

We arrived in Merzouga at 6:30 am, and Hassan (a tour operator who I emailed prior) met us at the bus station.  We then had about 12 hours to wait before heading off on our camel safari.

Merzouga is a small town right on the edge of Erg Chebbi, a large sand sea (erg) on the edge of the Sahara, set at the base of the Chebbi mountains.  Upon approach by bus, the scenery was a world away from Fes and felt surreal – a giiiiiiaaaaaaant sand dune loomed over everything like a mountain. Continue reading →

Jun 1, 2012
Morocco
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Ba saha ou raha

Fes, Morocco

Bit of an early start – over breakfast with Inara and Leiko, I found out that for the past few days, I had my watch set wrong!  Morocco is one hour behind Spain and no one told me, nor did I glance at any clocks…so I woke up a little bit too early for my bus.  Well, at least it wasn’t the other way around! Continue reading →