This is turning out to be a very nice trip so far, and as always when I settle down a little, I wonder whether I really do want to set out just yet. Even when I do decide i want to, I get nervous before I depart anyway, so thats the expectation Im starting to feel over the horizon. Beginning to cram all the things I feel I have to see and do before I have to leave, gone were the days of wandering through the streets and carelessly letting everything happen to me. Well, its not all that bad...Im [View Full Entry]

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It's been a nice first 10 day or so. I cold see myself getting a habit. First impressions first I guess. Crazy. Thankfully my fears of the border guards was not fulfilled. Though they were not the friendliest by any means. And I guess I was pretty drunk from the plane... good old British Airways. Great company too, as me and the guy next to me had a great time chatting and exchanging ideas. He was an architect and a pleasure to talk to really. Oh my god! the trains were so dirty! rats everywhere, seriously. After designer subways in Bilbao, [View Full Entry]

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I was so excited conming here...more excited than I have been in a very long time. A new air company... Air Iceland... all so new. I got so many lovely insights...the scale of time, volcanos, hundreds of years of continuous written history, almost no carbon footprint, everyone we met has been so nice and helpfull, lovely food, not so expensive, fantastic landscapes... and the list goes on and on. This is just a note from the spot, i hope to elaborate when i get home, so keep tuned. Doug. [View Full Entry]

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Oh well, I might have been expecting too much, or maybe my better grasp of English was to blame, and I expect all manner of reproachment for such sweeping cultural judgements, but hey, I can't deny that an unusual number od people were just plain rude to me in hotels, street outlets and transport booths in Ghana. The country is beautiful, to be sure, and as a greatly redeeming feature the kids were extra nice and sweet to me in the street, so I guess my cousin Lyndsay, who spent some weeks at an orphanage got the best of the country [View Full Entry]

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Today I left Lome, the capital of Togo, and came north to Kpalime. I struggled to find things in Lome worthwhile staying for. I went to a great sounding restaurant, which was quite dissapointing, I wondered arround everywhere looking for interesting architecture, and I found very little. I ended up staying two nights just outside of Lome, in this very eccentric plce called Chez Allice, in Aveposo, 12 east. A german couple, now middle aged, but with a very hippy sense of dècor, monkeys dogs, cats, parrot bat colony and the lot, were company to me and th other guests in [View Full Entry]

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Benin, Benin, a stable democracy and what seems to be a good president investing in healthcare and education. lots of NGOs working all over the place,roads are crumbling and it doesn't seem any much better than it's dictator ridden neighbour that get no funding whatsoever, ok, not looking at numbers, just the visible signs. Granted, Lome in neighbouring Togo is really not tidy, if you see what I mean. Throughout my journey in Benin though, I was constantly bugged by one statistic, all the economic progress made by it is rendered null on a per capita basis because they have so [View Full Entry]

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When I crossed the border by buss I was really positive and meditative. The hot wind blowing furiously in my face, as the bleached scenery rushed by, drenched in the strongest Sahelian sun. It was a pleasure to see slight hills, and eventually a valley in which the Niger flowed, as we drove into Niamey, the capital. This is Niger, remember, not Nigeria! This is a country of some 14 million people, considered to be the poorest country in the world for third consecutive year, and there were no severe droughts those years, so one can see the state of things [View Full Entry]

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Burkina Faso, the former Upper Volta, which was linked to Ivory Coast at one point, and still feels inextricably linked to. We arrived though Bobo-Dioulasso from Mali, on a long road journey, which felt like we sere covering the whole country, but was probably the fresh wind rather than the speed, as we only covered little more than 200km in some 8 hours or so, Trvelling took the whole day, and we arrived late at night. Bobo Dioulasso turned out to be a very relaxed town, and a good base to explore the surrounding region. we rented mopeds for a day [View Full Entry]

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Mali, the land of Gold and now the land of music. The time I spent in Mali was very short about two weeks, but I saw a lot and managed to relax very well in a few places. I spent a nice 5 days in Bamako, the capital, a very messy but lively busness, went to a cool night club, very local, lets say. Another highlight was cruising up the Niger River for 3 days on our way back from Timbucktoo!!! a great place to have managed to get to, and YES it was still hard to get to and an [View Full Entry]

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Yep I made it, thought hours of waiting at the border, no I mean HOURS, really, in hte very baking sun, thankyou very much, a stint in no mans land, with with the three good friends I've made on hte way, and am still travelling with, we claim sovereignty over, call it Dayvéque, in hnour of Quebeqois friend David, and roll out a surprisingly american sounding constitutuion, for a great laugh, and we make it though to Nouadhibou. mmm what a wonder of a place. Sure, the road from Dakhla was LONG, but very scenic, did I say long, well there [View Full Entry]

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