accra accra bo baccra

a refreshingly small journal entry, without the usual overwhelming amount of images!
a cultural snack, if you will.

it's a small entry because i didn't do too much in accra.
anyone who knows me well knows that i don't necessarily possess a massive love for africa - it has nothing to do with race, and everything to do with my own ignorance.
many of my colleagues will disagree with me, but of the seven or eight destinations i've been to in africa, none of them seem to have much for me to do in a short 24-hr time slot; or in some of those cities we're advised to stay in our hotels because it's too dangerous outside -- and judging by the fact we have armed guards in our hotels in those cities, i'm inclined to take their advice.
i'm sure if i came to any of those safer destinations on holidays, and was able to go on safari and really experience those places, then of course my love for this continent would grow.
hell, one sighting of a big cat at close proximity would have me sold.

in the mean time, i'll satisfy myself by laying by the hotel pool, and going to the local markets.
to all my mates who do my job and STILL manage to go on safari on a 24-hr layover, well, hats off to you.

on this particular layover, there was no poolside reclining, but we did visit an orphanage to donate a whole bunch of pre-loved clothing, a donation that was received as though we'd handed them the remains of a carrot we'd partly munched on.
must've been a busy week in Donations Receivable department.

then over to a market place, where i acquired a new brother-in-law: one of the stallholders had a pen-pal living in Australia, and one day he hoped to move to Sydney and marry her, which of course makes me his new brother-in-law.
hey, if it means i can bang on some bongo drums with my new brothers, and pretend like i have any rhythm at all, then i'll go along with it!

here are the photos:


stay tuned, next week: TORONTO, CANADA!!!


let the good times roll!!

be sure to wear some flowers in your hair

much of how i feel about this city can be summed up by the fact that i'd like to spend at least 1 - 10 years of my life living here. no, actually that doesn't adequately sum it up at all.

i'm incredibly fond of this city. the last time i was here was back in 1998 (?) with Kristen Tomlinson, Sophie Carmichael and Abby Farmer when we were just 16 years old and were here on a school trip.
so it was amazing to get back to a city that we had all instantly fallen in love with, and in fact, was the first city in the USA that we'd ever set foot in.
as far as first impressions go, it's impossible for san francisco to disappoint. she's breath-takingly beautiful, the people are friendly, and the whole city is so laid-back.

i won't outline my every move that i made here, because i think i took a photo of everything i did.

needless to say, i left my heart in san francisco
here are the photos:
(please do yourself a favour and keep an eye out for the photo of a rat, which is riding a cat, which is riding a dog. how does one even learn that you can train a rat to ride a cat that's riding a dog?!)


for those of who you missed these bad boys the first time around, here's rat/cat/dog once again when i encountered them before jumping back on the cable cars:



stay tuned, next week: ACCRA, GHANA!!!


let the good times roll!!