Expensive Accra

Leaving Stone Village at dawn, saying goodbye to a very sleepy Rastaman, and leaving behind a few items of clothes in my early morning daze (D'oh), we got to Agona Junction and straight onto a tro-tro for Accra. We didn't really want to spend any time there - no need for a visa stopover at all - but did not fancy doing a REALLY long day to get to Lomè, capital city of Togo.

Somehow we were in Takoradi by 8:30am, and got on a bus for Accra by 9:30! A journey that went to plan, you'll all be glad to know (he says with a sarcastic smile)! Once there, our luck changed again, as every place we tried to find a room in was either shut, full, or out of our budget. Seems that the author of the guide book didn't update any of the 'Budget' accommodation in this edition. Most of them were priced at over $25 a night (almost our daily budget), and even the Catholic Mission didn't have any room...in the inn, but did have the same old Ghanaian service. After a lot of little taxi journeys in Fiat Cinqchentos, we found Ingot Hotel tucked away. It was good enough for one night's stay, but we had an idea of what kind of place it was when we saw a giant bowl of condoms at the front desk.

After some Internetting in a very plush setting, where I discovered I'd been banned from Facebook (grrrr, an inconvenience), we stopped off at a Chinese and had a massive plate of fried rice, sweet 'n' sour chicken and spring rolls for about £2, at a great little place called Wok Inn. Back at the hotel, we discovered that the televisions worked, if only for one channel, and relaxed by letting our eyes go square to some awful, imported American rubbish.