Day 1 in Accra

The first day on my trip have always been exploring the surrounding neighborhood, Accra is no exception.

The dirt in the neighborhood is red.

Few things I noticed :

1) I stand out like a sore thumb, everyone stares and points. This is something I'm not use to since most of stare/point treatment were saved for the white folks, I tend to blend in at most places, but not in Accra. There are Asians communities (mainly Chinese businessmen) in Ghana, but they tend to live and social in their own group, it is rare to see an Asians walking around by himself.

2) There are no coffee shops,  no Starbucks, no Peets, no coffee shop period. If you want coffee, it is instant coffee and you brew it at home. For a daily coffee drinker like moi, this is a major problem.  Then I learned that Coca-cola is the best American export ever.  It has enough caffeine to stop me from being cranky and the sugar keeps me full. Since toilets are hard to find, it is easier to pee in the bushes than looking for a place for #2. I was on the Coca-cola diet for quite few days when I down 2~3 2 liter bottles a day and I didn't eat until late night.

3)There are alot of hair salons and barber shops, at least 3 on the same street one block from me.  Ludacris and Beyonce are popular *spoke person*. Being a SCU MBA student, I wonder if they have customers to survive and maybe few M&A wouldn't hurt.

This is just Ludacris!

Two colorful events:

1) A woman approached me when I was walking through her neighborhood, she asked me where I was from, I said America, she said Ahhh, I can tell (gesture to my sizable belly), are you walking to lose figure (weight)? Thanks for making me conscious about myself, lady. =/

2) Walked into a gas station to get red bull, the female clerk asked me if I want to marry her, I laughed and she said it in a serious tone, don't you think I'm beautiful? Out of shock, I repeatedly said no no no. It came out sounds like I don't think she is beautiful. Can someone say AWKWARD?. I ran out ASAP.

TuoZafi (TZ)

I know the national dish in Ghana is Fu-fu. But I have no idea what it looks like. I stumbled into a small restaurant, following a customer and ordered what he ordered . I thought it was Fu-Fu, but it turned out to be TuoZafi (TZ). It is a type of food from Tamale region, they are dried beef organs, the meat is very hard to chew.

Fu-fu and Banku from street vendor

Since TZ was so hard to chew, I couldn't finish my meal. Still hungry and being my first day and being adventurous, I bought a fu-fu with banku to go from a street vendor and I ate it in my room. Since they didn't give me a fork, I have to eat with my hand and it is MESSY. 















After 4 + hours walking in the sun, I returned to the hostel to relax on the roof balcony. Great view and I get to meet fellow travelers from UK, Ireland and Germany. The youngest one is 19 and the oldest is 24, I felt so old, heck, I was giving them the life lessons talk, sigh...

View from the Hostel balcony

Kids are playing near the hostel

Still hungry (yes, I'm still hungry), my fellow hostel travelers and I decided to go back to the fusion place and I ordered diced beef and fried rice (I can't get enough of the fried rice). The peppers in the beef are so fresh, I can smell and taste the flavor. Yummy!

Diced beef/fried rice and Black bean sauce..it is the bomb!

The hostel owner, whom everyone calls her Aunty, is wonderful. I asked Aunty if she knows any taxi drivers since I want to do a city tour the next day, she said she knows a really good driver, he charges 15 cedi a hr, but she talked it down to 12 Cedi a hour which is about $9 a hour. I'm getting my own private driver, now I know how rich people feel!