Scott and Becky go East

Today we took the ABC bus to from Accra to Cotonou. The bus cost was 79 cedi each (about $40). We also paid 20,000 CFA for Togo visas (about $40 each). The bus company guy did a really good job of guiding us through the visa crossings – which was really nice – it made the process feel much less stressful.

Before the bus departed, the pastor for the bus company came onboard and conducted a short prayer services – this was a bit interesting. At first we were afraid it was going to last the entire journey, but alas, it was a quick 10-15 service involving some preaching, a mention the Jesus was driving the bus, and a hymn in which many of the people on the bus joined along. After the prayer service was over, we enjoyed some African music for about an hour or so, then a couple of African style Bollywood movies played – the first involving a lot of women beating up men (I didn’t really get the plot to this one), the second involving an old impotent king and his harem of beautiful young ladies. The production quality for the movies was not particularly good, with uneven audio (clearly filmed using shoulder-mounted cameras) and cheap often very fake looking props.

When we reached Togo, we needed to purchase a Togo visa. This cost us a little more than expected, but also it got a little confusing. Just as the customs guy was telling us the cost, which was more than we expected, so we had not changed enough money, a gust of wind picked up and spread sand through the air, which was soon followed by down-pouring rain. In the flurry of making sure passports didn’t fly away, we lost track of 10,000 CFA (about $20). I suspect that when Scott thought he was passing it to me, he was actually passing it to someone else, who, in the confusion just pocketed it. Oh well, lesson learned, we need to be more careful with money around border crossings. Overall, the visa process was pretty painless. The amount people pay is based on nationality, and it appears that Canadian’s get one of the higher prices

In Togo, we saw beautiful sandy beaches (alternating with piles of plastic trash), with roaring surf – you certainly would not want to even try swimming in it. There were people lined up on the beach, such that it looked like they were playing tug-of-war (20-30 people on each side), but actually they were trying very hard to pull in some fishnets. We saw very few people out-and-about while in Togo, perhaps because it was raining.

Overall, the bus wasn’t as nice as I had been lead to believe by what I had read, but it was quite nice by African standards. The seats were a little cramped (my knees often hitting the seat in front of me), but the air conditioning was well set (not too cold, which is a common complaint on the VIP buses). The on-bus toilet was clean and stayed clean throughout the journey! This was partly because of the design – the toilet seat has a spring that help it in the upright position, keeping it clean, but also because the bus attendant informed everyone at the beginning that the toilet was to be used for urination only and that the red button was to be used to flush the toilet (not everyone understood the latter point). Compared to bus travel in the Middle East, it was not nearly as nice as Turkey, but much nicer than Syria and Jordan.

The roads alternated between nice pavement, not-so-nice payment and potholed mud. It was much muddier in Togo than in Ghana. In Ghana progress was slowed by traffic, where in Togo progress was slowed by the large puddles and potholes in the road.

Our first impression of Benin is that it appears more developed than Ghana, but our hosts tell us that Benin is actually much less developed. We have only seen a small part of Cotonou. Whilst visiting last night we were encouraged to try out taking a bush-taxi (shared) for our return to Ghana. We can taxi from here to Lome (the capital of Togo, right on the border of Togo/Ghana) and then hop onto a tro-tro or shared-taxi in Ghana. Logan gave us a few tips on how to do this on a more reasonable budget (when using shared transport everyone pays the same amount, unless you buy an extra seat, but the price is fixed per seat making it much easier to not be overcharged), but it sounds like we don’t even need to be that good at negotiating to do the trip for much less than the cost of the bus, and it gives us more control over where we end up and when we leave (but does mean there are no toilets on the bus). When I requested our Visa, I had thought we had given ourselves a lot of time in Benin, but it turns out we must leave by the 29th (the date on our visa). So, we shall plan to leave Benin on the 28th or 29th and travel to a bit of Eastern Ghana before return to Accra for a day and heading out to the Green Turtle for a few nights. We might spend one night in Lome – we will see how adventurous we are feeling.

We completely missed the time change when we arrived in Benin. It wasn’t until we went to bed that we realized that half our devices were on one timezone and the other half were on another! Benin is 5 hours ahead of Eastern Canada at this time of year, Ghana is 4 hours ahead.

The stadium in Cotonou. Although there was lots of water from the rains on the ground, there was no running water in the ABC bus station toilets

We were a bit more adventurous today. We were reminded of our friends in Turkey who once told us “if you don’t ask us for what you want, we will think you do not like us.” It reminded us that what we consider “polite” in Canada may not be considered polite elsewhere. We also realized that we had no idea what is polite in Ghanaian culture. Unlike other countries we visited, our tourist books and other reading did not tell us much about the culture here. We still don’t feel like we understand, but after talking to Aba for a while we at least feel a little less confused.

We asked Aba about hiring a taxi for a few hours to drive us and show us around Accra. Aba’s brother Kweku volunteered to be our tour-guide for the afternoon. He spent several hours of his afternoon graciously showing us all different areas of Accra. We learned that the different neighbourhoods change very quickly. There are many places where there is a poor neighbourhood right next to a more expensive one.

We are very glad we did not explore on our own. We are way beyond our comfort zone in some areas here. Things change very quickly from nice to not-nice without a lot of warning. We got out and walked a couple of places with Kweku, where it would not have been safe for us to walk without a local guide. We also saw some very nice areas, like the university and the more touristy area Osu. We are staying in a neighbourhood called Dansoman, which is an estate neighbourhood (middle class).

Today is Sunday which meant that many of the shops where closed. As a result, the streets were pretty empty. We were able to drive through the market area today, where we walked yesterday. It was so packed yesterday that it would have taken a long time to drive through the crowds of people.

Tomorrow morning we leave Aba’s at about 5am in order to be at the bus station for 5:30 am. Our bus leaves at 6:30, or at least that is what we’ve been told!

Aba in front of her house in Dansoman neighbourhood.

Fisherman at Jamestown (used to be the old port in Accra). It is not too safe of an area for foreigners to wonder without a guide.

Also in Jamestown – There were a lot of people, enjoying a warm Sunday afternoon. A bit of a football match was happening on the beach. Scott got caught by a wave and his feet were soaked. The lady in the foreground of the picture said that he was blessed. Kweku tells us that the women from that tribe are good at saying things to make people feel equal – so because we were not wet, Scott received the blessing.

The train tracks in the middle of a poorer part of town. There are many people on the streets here – many sit in front of their shacks or stores because they have no where else to sit. The density of people in the poorer areas is much greater than in the more affluent areas – you could use population density as a measure of the expense of the neighbourhood.

A hand cart used to bring goods to the market.

Saturday and Sunday night we are couchsurfing with a generous local host Aba. Aba’s family is from the Cape Coast area but her parents move to Accra so this is where she grew up. She runs a catering company, cooking food on contract for weddings and other special events.

Before coming to Aba’s house, we stopped by the ABC bus terminal to buy our bus tickets for Cotonou. We leave at 6:30 on Monday morning (needing to be at the terminal at 5:30 am) at a cost of 79 Cedi each (about $40). We were slightly delayed heading to the bus terminal by a rather quick approaching downpour. The storm began with a crash as one of the windows in the hotel restaurant suddenly slammed shut, shattering the glass. We decided to lounge around at the hotel for an extra hour in hopes that the storm would blow over – which for the most part it did.

Our taxi ride out to Aba’s was a bit of an adventure. She lives much further away from downtown than we expected. We tried to negotiate the rate down, but really, for 10 Cedi we got a pretty good deal – it was at least three times further than any previous rides which we paid 10 cedi, 6 cedi, and 5 cedi. Scott had actually negotiated down to 9 Cedi, but felt guilty after we figure out how far it was and gave the driver 10. The drive was also very interesting, as we passed out of downtown Accra into the less developed suburbs. Some of the areas we drove through were pretty poor, and seemed more like stereotypical Africa than downtown Accra.

We arrived at Aba’s (fortunately, Scott gave the cell phone to the driver, and Aba provided specific directions), to meet several friendly people: Aba, her sister Nancy, and neighbours and other relatives. The storm had knocked out the power (and we saw a some damage to billboards – some blocking streets – and houses as we drove). Apparently, the rain is normal, but not with such sudden winds. In addition to the power being out we were also without running water. Good thing we are adventurous, as this is definitely interesting.

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner by candlelight with Aba and her sister Nancy – fried chicken, cabbage and carrots, rice and a red sauce that was like spiced ketchup. Nothing too spicy, which made Becky happy. We had some great conversation talking about politics, gay marriage, religion in schools – pretty much everything you are taught not to talk about – I think everyone learned something and had a good time.

By 9 pm we were getting ready for bed. Still no power, which is unfortunate, as it means we hear the neighbours generator and the ceiling fan doesn’t run. It also means the water isn’t running, so we are flushing toilets and washing hands using a large rain barrel (just like the ones we have at home), that was filled the last time the water was running.

We are starting to figure out how things work around here, but are still feeling pretty out of our element. Tomorrow, we are not at all certain what we shall do with ourselves. We do know that we need to over our Canadian sense of politeness and start asking more questions about what is culturally polite behavior.

The neighborhood where our hotel is very clean.

We went for a walk near downtown and saw many women selling things that they transported on their heads.

Wild rains with heavy winds.

A billboard that broke during the heavy rains and winds.

Dinner by candlelight.

I’m in denial. The reality started to sink in when we landed, but it hasn’t really sunk in yet. We are in Accra, Ghana – that is – West Africa! The smells remind me of a combination of Costa Rica and some kind of burning smell. Scott said it reminded him of diesel, I thought it was more like burning vegetation (like Thailand without the spiciness of Thailand) or burning coal. We can’t quite figure it out. Unfortunately, our flight was late leaving Washington DC, such that we arrived at our hotel at dusk. It’s not safe for us to wander the unfamiliar streets at night, so tonight we will forgo the walk downtown and eat at the hotel (after a quick swim in the hotel pool).

On the drive from the airport to the hotel, we got to see street vendors trying to sell various things whilst the traffic was stopped. The women selling things (water, some snack foods) carried the food on their heads using a special tray. Unfortunately, we didn’t get any pictures, we were tired. At major intersections, traffic was controlled by a policeman or some other uniformed traffic official. I don’t recall seeing any lights.

Getting through the airport reminded us how unpracticed we are at arriving at airports in developing countries – with the many touts that try to “friend” you by helping you with something and then try to separate you from your money. Today, Steve decided to be our new friend and offered to have us use his cell phone call the hotel for pick-up. Of course before long, we saw ourselves give him 20 Cedi (about $10) to recharge his phone (way more than he needed – he had asked only for $1 US but we didn’t have any small bills, and with a few switch ups we ended up giving him the 20). He did help us order the shuttle and took us outside to wait for it. He answered many questions, and he and the parking lot attendant kept us entertained while we waited for the shuttle. He made sure we got on the shuttle, but of course asked for another “tip”. Given that excessive overpayment for the phone, we were not about to give him more. The hotel shuttle driver was amused at his boldness (and perhaps impressed at our ability to say no). We did realize that we need to carry more small bills. It was a good reminder that we are naive, especially in airports. We are too accustomed to arriving on bicycle without the hassle of tourists and touts – such that people tend to be much more genuinely friendly.

Although we arrived late, we both got a reasonable amount of sleep on the plane. They had messed up our seats somehow, such that when we went to checkin we were not seated together. When we got to the airport in Ottawa, we asked them to put us together, but they couldn’t because all the seats were locked – something about an equipment change. By the time we got to Washington the plane was packed. There was a huge waiting list for seats in economy, and no easy way to move us. We went to the lounge (Scott is Aeroplan Elite, so we get access), and asked there if they could get us seated together. After several more gate changes, and flight delays, Scott went to the gate with our story, and somehow a gate agent took pity on us. Not only did we get seated together, but we scored a free business class upgrade! Thanks United! This certainly made for a nice start to our vacation, and made up for the three hour delay

Scott lying in his very comfortable seat. Looks a bit like a coffin though…

First dinner in Ghana – Groundnut Soup and “Red Red”

Roof of the airport as the sun went down (yes, not very exciting, but we were very tired when we arrived, and didn’t take many photos… more in the coming days)

When we were on our trip, I often found it difficult to get my hands on English books. When they were available in bookstores, they were horribly expensive (I paid 20 Euro or $30 CAD for a paperback book!). This was in the time before kindle, so there were limited options for eBooks – Scott had a bunch of eBooks of varying sorts on his Nokia handheld (mostly classics and fan-fiction sci-fi), but I didn’t have an eBook reader and the types of books I normally read were not available as eBooks at that time. Its actually hard to imagine life before Kindle!

In planning for our vacation to Africa this spring, I’m finding that what I long for most is the opportunity to sit on a beach (or by a pools or someplace quite) with no time pressures and read a book or two, just for fun. Interestingly, when I look back our trip, I have the fondest memories of the random books I read– the books of opportunity – ones that I likely would not have picked out on my own, but that I read because they were the only think available at the time.

Now that I have an eReader (iPad and Kindle), I can bring whatever books I want. But I find that I am missing the serendipity of the random books. The choice of books is paralyzing me – I can have any book, so how can I possibly choose! To help me recover the serendipity, I’ve decided to limit my vacation books to free eBooks. I’ve subscribes to pixelofink and free books for kindle, and over the next few weeks I’ll scan the free options and download some random books to read. From those, I’ll still have lots of choice, but I’ll be choosing from about 100 books rather than the 100s of thousands that are available on amazon. Who knows what I’ll find!

We had an Outrageous weekend – that is, we spent two days and one night enjoying Big Rideau Lake on our friends boat, Outrageous. It is a 32 foot Carver cabin cruiser – as they so aptly but it a “floating cottage”.

Life aboard is pretty relaxing – with a routine of swim, eat, chat, nap, and repeat at least twice per day. To shake things up a bit, we took the skiff out for an ice cream at Murphy’s Point Provincial Park on Sunday afternoon ($2 for a giant scoop), and went for a row around the harbour on Monday morning.

Thank-you John and Claire – it was delightful to visit you on your floating cottage. What a wonderful way to spend a weekend

Our morning view.

Scott reading the paper.

Claire out for a row.

Since I haven’t had much opportunity to get out on overnight tours this year, I decided I’d do a photoblog of a cycle tour along the pathways in Ottawa. I’d also like to put out a challenge to all my cycle touring friends out there – if you aren’t blogging and aren’t touring, then how about showing the world what your regular ride looks link? If you take up this challenge, please post a link in the comments.

When I decided to do this – and have some fun with it – I found myself slowing down and really appreciating the beauty in the ride. We are so vary lucky to have great urban bike routes that include to much nature. It is a rather lovely ride. Hope you enjoy the tour!

The first three photos are from the Quebec side of the Ottawa River, between the Champlain (Island Park) bridge and Alymer.

And here is a picture of the same rapids, from the Ottawa side of the bike path.

An now my photos get a little more creative. Starting with a bridge across the Pinecrest creek.

When I started to look for photo opportunities, I realized just how big the trees were on this part of the path.

The initial view of the Ottawa River (I live about 5 km from the River).

Rather than biking, some people enjoy the swimming at Westboro beach.

Each year, the NCC hires an artist who builds these statues in the river. The water is really high this year, so there aren’t as many as in years previous. I actually stopped and talked to the artist one year, and posted about it here.

A brief stop on Bate Island on the over the Champlain bridge to Quebec.

And Bate Island as seen from the bike path on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River just east of the Champlain bridge.

The parliament buildings from what I think is one of the prettiest stretches of the Ottawa River pathway (Quebec side).

And the National Art Gallery.

The paths follows along behind the museum of Civilization, providing another great photo opportunity.

Crossing back on the Alexandria bridge into Ottawa provides a great view of the Rideau Canal locks.

And a fun close-up shot of one of the locks with a bit of the Chateau Laurier in the mirror background.

A close-up the Rideau Canal above the locks.

Some folks choose to explore the Rideau Canal by kayak.

Unfortunately, I ran out of time and needed to get home. So I conclude this journey with a photo of the sunset from Britannia beach.

What do you think? Will you take up the challenge and show the world pictures of your regular bike ride? I, for one, would love to see it.

On July 7th, 2008 is a date that will forever be stuck in my mind, not only as my father’s birthday, but also the day we left home on our Going East journey around the world without airplanes. That was a long day of doing all the final bits and pieces of packing – making one last run over to the storage locker – and finally (at 8pm) packing up our bikes and leaving.

It has been three years since then. We made it around the world, and successfully returned home. We returned rich with experiences and a new outlook on life. In the almost two years since we’ve been home, I worked full time for 8-months and now I’m a full time Ph.D student. Scott took a year off to explore and is now working for Alcatel-Lucent.

Looking back – and looking forward – the biggest thing I learned on the trip was a strong belief in fate. I don’t mean fate in the “I’m not going to do anything and see what happens” sense, I mean fate in the “looking for opportunities and taking advantage of them as they present themselves” sense.

So now, I think about putting it out my desires to the universe and if the support structures appear, then I know I’m making the right decision – if I’m blocked at every corner, then I need to re-evaluate. But looking back, fate always took care of me, and it still is.

After a much too long hiatus, I’m happy to report our site is back up. Sadly, we got hacked and recovery took much longer than we thought. Scott will share his reflections on this in the coming weeks.

With any luck, you’ll see updates of our summer cycling adventures.

We are just happy to be back!

It is cold in Ottawa during the winter time. We aren’t so adventurous as our friends Friedel and Andrew who cycle and camp out on snow days. Instead, we trade in our bikes for cross-country skis.  We often head to Gatineau Park, since it’s nearby, and has hundreds of kilometres of ski trails.

This year we decided to try out yurt camping – Becky booked us an overnight in the Taylor Lake Yurt up in Gatineau Park. Getting there required a 6 km ski involving a few rolling hills.  Not much distance, but we were carrying extra food, clothing and overnight gear, which added to the challenge.

Having never stayed in a yurt, we didn’t really know what to expect. When we arrived, what we discovered was luxury camping, although perhaps we shouldn’t really call it camping. Our yurt had a wood stove for heating – with a nice glass window so we could see how the coals were burning in the middle of the night, a propane stovetop for cooking, pots and pans, bunk beds, a fridge, and a picnic table. To top it off, there was a sky light in the centre of the ceiling, so we could see the stars at night and the trees above us during the day.

We enjoyed the ski up to the yurt, and upon arrival, quickly dropped off our heavy gear and went out for a bit more of a ski in the remaining few minutes of daylight.  By the time we got back to the yurt, we were happy to have our headlamps!

It took us much longer than we had hoped to get the fire going. At first, it just wouldn’t seem to stay lit. We were shivering and wondering what we were doing wrong. Fortunately, they had some directions on the wood storage box which explained that we should be using pencil sized kindling.  Our previous kindling was too big and we didn’t have enough of it. Scott went back outside to chop some smaller kindling, and with smaller kindling in hand, it only took Becky one additional match to get the firing going.  Clearly our Scout/Guide skills are a bit rusty!

While the yurt was warming up, our stomachs started growling so we enjoyed some baguette and brie while our dinner was cooking. It took about 90 minutes for the yurt to get warm – longer than Becky expected. We often go for a ski up to the cabins in Gatineau park, but there always seems to have been someone there before us to start the fire and warm the cabin – we have never entered a cold cabin!

Unfortunately, the struggle with the fire meant that Becky spent much of the night nervous about the fire going out. She was glad for the glass on the wood stove that allowed her to see how the fire was burning each time she awoke in the night. She got up several times to throw a log on the fire, ensuring that it didn’t go out in the night. The beds were quite comfortable, and Scott slept solidly all night.

In the morning, we took advantage of the sunny skies, and went for a short ski without our overnight gear. Unfortunately, Becky seem to be having some issues. She fell early on, then again whilst descending a hill. Eventually, she gave Scott her light backpack. She was not feeling quite right, so we headed back to the yurt. Once inside, Becky took off her ski boots to discover she had a US Quarter under her insole. No wonder her balance was off! It must have fallen from the shelf in the front hall and rested nicely under her heel for the ski up – once it got dislodged it moved to below her toes. Then it totally threw off her balance – at least that is the excuse she is using!

We stayed in the yurt right up to the last minute. A half hour before checkout time, the safety patrol arrived by snowmobile to ensure everyone was OK. It was quite funny to watch as the driver took off his helmet and exchanged it for a Santa hat. He came in to check that we were OK, then proceeded on his rounds. We suspect they do a survey of all cabins and yurts before the cleaning crew arrive. If we were unable to get out on our own, the patrol could have given us a ride on their snowmobile (or the sled they were towing).

It was a spectacular day for a ski home – sunny, blue skies and fast snow.  A wonderful early Christmas present!