To Kumasi

Day 3 – April 26, 2010

We woke up and set out to find a breakfast place called, Le Petit Paris, that in a travel guide had claimed to have a nice ambience while offering a delicious array of French baked confections. Who could ask for anything more? According to the map, it was only about a 15 minute walk away, right off the main road, so we decided to walk. It is strange, the things that I never thought I'd find strange, such as, relatively intact sidewalks. Yes, one can claim that in Lomé as well as a handful of other cities in Togo there are such things, but I find sidewalks in Togo convey to the user only the vaguest sense of what a proper sidewalk should look and feel like. However, the walk was pleasant enough.

Even after asking for directions after we couldn't locate it we ended up settling for a stand that sold some croissants and similar creations. Therefore, we decided to walk back to the main road to get a taxi and head to Osu to try out at place that sold smoothies, appropriately named, Smoothy. I got an orange-banana smoothie and it was delicious. Next, we walked to Koala, a grocery store I had heard so much about from other volunteers. It exceeded my expectations when I came across the free samples of freshly baked cookies, cakes and other such baked goods. Afterwards we headed back to the New Haven Hotel to collect our things, and then took a taxi for 3 cedis to the bus station. The bus to Kumasi was 9 cedis per person and 1 cedi for each persons' luggage.

It was a pleasant 4 hour journey; the bus was air-conditioned, everyone had their own plush seat to themselves and Matt and I were able to purchase 2 spring rolls each when we stopped at a rest stop halfway through our journey. That was another thing I found odd, they actually had rest stops in Ghana. By the time we found out how delicious the spring rolls were, the bus had pulled out and was on its way. Tragic. We arrived in Kumasi as night was settling in, but even though everything was shrouded in darkness we were impressed with the city. There were streetlights, to say the least, as well as large sculptures at a number of intersections, nicely paved roads and colonial architecture. Granted Kumasi is the second largest city in Ghana, apart from Accra, but it was impressive nonetheless.

Upon nearing the last stop I really found out how nice Ghanaians are. I had a hint of their thoughtfulness on the ride down. Matt and I befriended a Ghanaian who was sitting on the opposite side of the aisle. He was very nice. He assured us, before either Matt or I had even thought about questioning the integrity of his country's infrastructure, that the bumpy road would soon give way to a well paved highway. 30 minutes or so into the voyage he was totally right. His stop was a few stops before ours, in Kumasi, so we parted company then. As more and more people filtered out of the bus at their desired stops Lorena, Matt and I were left alone. Then the bus driver asked us where our hostel was. Surprised, but gratefully we told him that we are planning to the Presbyterian Hostel. He drove us to the front gate, bid us safe journey and left.

We ended up not staying at the Hostel because it was all filled up for the night, but we met a woman from Holland who was trying to get a room there as well. She is in Ghana doing some health volunteering in a small village somewhat close to Kumasi. We asked the reception for another place to stay close by and they suggested Guestline Lodge so we all headed there. It is a nice place and the guy who owns it is extremely nice as well. We checked in to a room that was big enough to put down another mattress. After we dropped off our stuff we headed downstairs to go out and get a bite to eat.

Originally we were going to a different restaurant, but the girl from Holland told us that the Café that is run by the guy who owns Guestline was really good. The owner said he was going there anyway, so we all hopped in his car drove down there together. It was a nice Café and we dined well. After we all just headed back to the hotel to sleep the night away.

Day 4 – April 27, 2010

The next day we got up and headed to New Queen's Restaurant. In the guidebook it claimed that it was ripe for people watching. On the way to the restaurant Matt and I stopped a woman with a plastic container full of spring rolls on her head to get some snacks for the road. Not more than 8 minutes later we arrived at the restaurant and finding it to be on the third floor asked till we found the steps that led to it. We chose a table on the balcony overlooking Kumasi and we weren't disappointed, there were plenty of people to watch. It was particularly enjoyable when, at one point, there was a sudden, unexpected downpour of rain. The food wasn't exceptionally delicious, but wasn't very expensive either. However, the interaction with the waitress made it memorable. It went something like this:

Lorena: "Hello"
Waitress: "Hi"
Lorena: "I would like a Spanish Omelet" Lorena points to the item on the menu.
Waitress: "We don't have that."
Lorena: "Ok…well what do you have"
Waitress: "We have eggs, onions and tomatoes"
Lorena: "Isn't that what's in a Spanish Omelets?"
Waitress: "No we don't have that."
Lorena: "What's in a Spanish Omelet?"
Waitress: "Eggs, onions and tomatoes"
Lorena: "Ok well I would like a Spanish Omelet then."
Waitress: "No we don't have that"
Lorena: "…But you have eggs, onions and tomatoes right?"
Waitress: "Yes."
Lorena: "…then I would like an omelet with onions and tomatoes."
Waitress: "Ok."

After breakfast we took a taxi to the Nationale Cultural Center. It was a nice place and there was a plethora of shops and workshops on could visit. Then in the center of the Center there was small museum explaining the history of the Ashanti people. There is still an Ashanti King, to this day, who still holds some sway over the government when there are matters that concern Kumasi and its surrounding villages. More information on the subject can be found here: www.website.com.

Afterwards we headed to the marché which is the largest in Ghana and one of the largest in Africa. It was indeed quite large with stairs winding paths through a variety of vendors. Another interesting part of the marché was the abandoned railway track that ran through the section used clothes sellers. We came across it accidentally and thought that if we followed it we would finally free ourselves from the tangle of colors, movement and voices that was making us exhausted.

Once outside we located a taxi and made our way to Moti Mahal, an Indian Restaurant that received rave review in our tour guide. However, when we finally tracked it down, it had moved to Top Martin's Complex which housed an array of fancy stores, the restaurant was closed and wouldn't open again for a few hours. So we killed time by using the internet, which was unbelievably fast in comparison with the speed in Togo, and after headed back to the hotel to regroup. In the evening we returned to the Indian restaurant and it was totally worth the wait. I can confidently say that I have eaten some truly excellent Indian food throughout my life, but the Indian food I had at Moti Mahal was some of the best I have ever tasted. It could be because I haven't eaten Indian food for quite some time, but I think that it was truly delicious. Also the people who run the place and cook the food are Indian so it is vrai (true in English) Indian food.

It was late by the time we finished and while we were waiting to hail a taxi a man in an old pickup truck stopped and offered us a ride to wherever we want to go. We looked at each other and looked at the guy, then got in. He was very nice and he dropped us off at a restaurant/bar we wanted to try called Vienna City Pub. It was an ok place. We were harassed by the bouncer outside, somewhat, for wearing sandals and he wanted us to give him a "gift" for entry, but after explaining to him very clearly that we would rather leave then give him anything he let us in. Although, in a last-ditch effort to try to glean something from us, he tried to persuade me to hand over the takeaway we got from the Indian restaurant, but we ignored him and walked in.

After a beer we headed back to the hotel because we had a long day of travel ahead of us. The next destination was Cape Coast.