Akwabah....Welcome to Africa Day 1

Akwabah...or welcome as the Ghanian's say....We had our first experience of Africa aswe looked out of our plane windows to see Africa's tallest mountain Mount Kilimanjaro....It's look just like I had read it in the novel " The Snows of Kilimanjaro"....Towering above the clouds , you can actually see a bit of ice on the top which is a volcanic crater...

After a heart breakfast ....we landed in the Jomo Kenyata airport...and were greeted by a weather very reminscent of the Bangalore of the old.....a nice nip in the air.....andof course the never ending undulating grasslands and the flat topped accacia trees....After about an hour of listening to music and generally walking around aimlessly....we were called for our flight to Accra....

It's is a 5 hour 10 minute flight to Accra from Nairobi and flies over places like Lagos,Douhala etc....The flight was very much reminescant of good ol' Jet Airways....and ourseat mate was a Sierra Leonian (of Blood Diamond fame).....The flight was largely uneventfulexcept that I was quite surprised that our mate actualy had a great deal of respect for India (He also knew about the under $ 100 Simputer) and said that we had moved beyond thedeveloping country bracket....Felt nice and proud...

Then came the biggest surprise and that was the food...The meal option was chicken and riceand guess what it was a straight lift of our traditional pulao and chicken curry...augurswell for the rest of the stay as food for me as you all know is an integral part of my life...

Anyway landed in Accra about an hour ahead of schedule and got through immigration without much difficulty...

Outside the airport, it was like Kolkata or Mumbai...people running around to help youwith your luggage for a tip of course....It almost felt like home....Danielfrom the Elking Hotel picked us up and after a 10 minute drive checked into the New ElkingHotel...

The part of Accra where we are staying is the East Legon part and believe it or not, itis a welcome change to see lovely houses as oppossed to just apartment blocks....It's a bitlike India small towns eg. Jamshedpur (where I grew up) or Ranchi (where MS Dhoni grew up) :-))....

After freshening up, it was time for lunch and I tried some African food - Peanut Soup with Chickenand Rice Cakes and lo and behold I was transported to Kerela because the food there is justthe same....great beginning as far the culinary journey is concerned.....

After the meal....Jet lag and big time Jet Lag hit in...(Ghana is on GMT so 5.5 hours ahead of India)and the combined after effects of beer and jet lag meant a long sleep.....

It's 4:30 AM and I am awake and listening to CNN, BBC, S Sports...Net Net cant sleep...Waitingfor daylight and a looksie of Accra....

It's finally daylight and me and Prasad have gone a for a short walk around the area...it'sgot a nice wind and is relatively cooler...Time for breakfast....

PS: The CDC folks Barbara and Edem are taking great care of us...We are waiting for the others to join in....

Keep checking my blog for daily happenings...signing off...Slum dog Millionairre time...