live from ghana
(15:01 local time)
who would've guessed? me in ghana. just a couple of weeks ago a group of us were talking at tam’s 21st about going overseas, and i was one of the few who had not left sa. i mean, it would be nice i thought – but it was one of those things that would happen ‘one day’. and then this happened. now, my first choice was definitely not ever going to be ghana. but it’s a freebie, so i guess we take what we can get... and what you’re reading now we will refer to as ‘the collected and yet-to-be-completed travelogue of one hilton marc (with a c - carc) ‘bob’ tarrant. internet is up and down here. we might have five minutes of high speed access in the morning. or a couple of hours worth of excruciatingly slow access in the afternoon. but never uninterrupted access. right now, we are internet-less (again) as the organisers and government have not paid the service provider that connects this bloody building to the outside world (apparently we’ll have internet after lunch?). yesterday (sunday) was particularly bad. seeing as it was sunday, no-one (and nothing) really works. not that anything works on weekdays either. right now, the internet is down at the conference centre seeing as the organisers haven’t paid the internet company :) can you see the irony? no internet at an it conference… and to add to it all the electricity was on and off the whole of yesterday. at the country’s international conference centre. across the road from central government. how? that’s the simplest question i can ask. minz and i have vowed never ever to complain about waiting in queues in south africa ever again. home affairs in sa would win a five star service commendation if it had offices in ghana. that’s how slow things are here. to illustrate, while waiting for 10000¢ change from breakfast this morning, i had to ask the waiter (if you could call him that) three times for my change. as my boss chris says, everything here is a procedure. everything will take “another 15 minutes”. and in everything there is process. and white pieces of paper. if you ever ask about/for anything at any counter, the person there will hand you a blank white sheet of a4 prinitng paper and tell you to write your name and country down. no-one (not even the person who’s helping you) knows why you have to do this but i guess some manager somewhere told them to do it, so they do. we’ve asked many of these people why we should write down our name and we’re told that we just should. questions that will never have answers… i was chatting to my editor, steve about the total disorganisation at this conference yesterday and i figured out what frustrated me. in town, at private internet cafes, etc. there is electricity all the time. and high-speed internet. that’s the thing that pisses me off, cause you’ve expereinced world-class infrastructure a few blocks away, yet you have to deal with crap and beaurocracy here. my cellphone got stolen this morning. but i’ll sort out a new one. was due for an upgrade before i left anyway. so it’s not pissing me off as much as it should have. the exchange rate here is (yet) another screwed up thing about the country. r6 = $1 = 9100¢ (cedis). so things always cost a couple of thousand, from 5000¢ for a coke on the street to 200000¢ for a sim card. the single reason why i don’t have a reachable number that you can sms yet. not that i have a phone anymore, so that doesn’t matter anymore. i am a millionaire here. how cool is that? change $105 and you could be one too :) and to get these magical cedis, you have to go to shady forex bureaus dotted all around town. or do it at your hotel, but then the rate drops to 9000¢ (you lose 100¢ for every dollar). or better yet, do it at a bank in town (barclays, standard chartered) and you’ll get 8900¢. this place is crazy. during all the internet failures yesterday (but when we did have power) i amused myself with the vast assortment of windows games that come preloaded with xp. most of you will realise that by the time i start playing spider solitaire (which i’m doing again now), i am beyond bored. totally and utterly bored. there is waiting involved in everything here. now, the town is not actually that big. kotoka international airport has a total of one runway (used for take-off and landing). we waited in the airport for about an hour on arrival for our visas. to get anywhere, you need to find a taxi (pronounced tuck-see - note the break). or some locals call them kubbs (cabs). these rogue drivers (mostly driving scrapped old opels or hyundais) will take you anywhere for between 5000¢ and 20000¢. the cars are messed up and i don’t think that any taxi cab here has cv joints or a clutch in good working condition. rattles, bumps and noise all the way. last night we went for dinner at paloma – a touristy kind of outdoor restaurant (think a rural moyo)… very nice food, a live local band and some cold coke. it was good. after dinner we walked down the road to the 24 hour total. you’ll be able to find the weirdest stuff at the shop there. beer, spirits, car parts! (oil filters, spark plugs, and other little bits and pieces) and then the normal stuff we have back home (like chocolates, toiletries and cooldrinks). i also saw the first packet of simba chips in ghana at the total – and they’re like r3. granted they look like they were imported 2 years ago, but i shall try them :) kay – that’s all for now…
what made my day today: nothing. seeing as my phone's gone. nothing at all :(
who would've guessed? me in ghana. just a couple of weeks ago a group of us were talking at tam’s 21st about going overseas, and i was one of the few who had not left sa. i mean, it would be nice i thought – but it was one of those things that would happen ‘one day’. and then this happened. now, my first choice was definitely not ever going to be ghana. but it’s a freebie, so i guess we take what we can get... and what you’re reading now we will refer to as ‘the collected and yet-to-be-completed travelogue of one hilton marc (with a c - carc) ‘bob’ tarrant. internet is up and down here. we might have five minutes of high speed access in the morning. or a couple of hours worth of excruciatingly slow access in the afternoon. but never uninterrupted access. right now, we are internet-less (again) as the organisers and government have not paid the service provider that connects this bloody building to the outside world (apparently we’ll have internet after lunch?). yesterday (sunday) was particularly bad. seeing as it was sunday, no-one (and nothing) really works. not that anything works on weekdays either. right now, the internet is down at the conference centre seeing as the organisers haven’t paid the internet company :) can you see the irony? no internet at an it conference… and to add to it all the electricity was on and off the whole of yesterday. at the country’s international conference centre. across the road from central government. how? that’s the simplest question i can ask. minz and i have vowed never ever to complain about waiting in queues in south africa ever again. home affairs in sa would win a five star service commendation if it had offices in ghana. that’s how slow things are here. to illustrate, while waiting for 10000¢ change from breakfast this morning, i had to ask the waiter (if you could call him that) three times for my change. as my boss chris says, everything here is a procedure. everything will take “another 15 minutes”. and in everything there is process. and white pieces of paper. if you ever ask about/for anything at any counter, the person there will hand you a blank white sheet of a4 prinitng paper and tell you to write your name and country down. no-one (not even the person who’s helping you) knows why you have to do this but i guess some manager somewhere told them to do it, so they do. we’ve asked many of these people why we should write down our name and we’re told that we just should. questions that will never have answers… i was chatting to my editor, steve about the total disorganisation at this conference yesterday and i figured out what frustrated me. in town, at private internet cafes, etc. there is electricity all the time. and high-speed internet. that’s the thing that pisses me off, cause you’ve expereinced world-class infrastructure a few blocks away, yet you have to deal with crap and beaurocracy here. my cellphone got stolen this morning. but i’ll sort out a new one. was due for an upgrade before i left anyway. so it’s not pissing me off as much as it should have. the exchange rate here is (yet) another screwed up thing about the country. r6 = $1 = 9100¢ (cedis). so things always cost a couple of thousand, from 5000¢ for a coke on the street to 200000¢ for a sim card. the single reason why i don’t have a reachable number that you can sms yet. not that i have a phone anymore, so that doesn’t matter anymore. i am a millionaire here. how cool is that? change $105 and you could be one too :) and to get these magical cedis, you have to go to shady forex bureaus dotted all around town. or do it at your hotel, but then the rate drops to 9000¢ (you lose 100¢ for every dollar). or better yet, do it at a bank in town (barclays, standard chartered) and you’ll get 8900¢. this place is crazy. during all the internet failures yesterday (but when we did have power) i amused myself with the vast assortment of windows games that come preloaded with xp. most of you will realise that by the time i start playing spider solitaire (which i’m doing again now), i am beyond bored. totally and utterly bored. there is waiting involved in everything here. now, the town is not actually that big. kotoka international airport has a total of one runway (used for take-off and landing). we waited in the airport for about an hour on arrival for our visas. to get anywhere, you need to find a taxi (pronounced tuck-see - note the break). or some locals call them kubbs (cabs). these rogue drivers (mostly driving scrapped old opels or hyundais) will take you anywhere for between 5000¢ and 20000¢. the cars are messed up and i don’t think that any taxi cab here has cv joints or a clutch in good working condition. rattles, bumps and noise all the way. last night we went for dinner at paloma – a touristy kind of outdoor restaurant (think a rural moyo)… very nice food, a live local band and some cold coke. it was good. after dinner we walked down the road to the 24 hour total. you’ll be able to find the weirdest stuff at the shop there. beer, spirits, car parts! (oil filters, spark plugs, and other little bits and pieces) and then the normal stuff we have back home (like chocolates, toiletries and cooldrinks). i also saw the first packet of simba chips in ghana at the total – and they’re like r3. granted they look like they were imported 2 years ago, but i shall try them :) kay – that’s all for now…
what made my day today: nothing. seeing as my phone's gone. nothing at all :(
* now listening to: the sound of a fan (bigger than 'that' huge one in pop-art humming in the corner.
posted by BOb at
17:01
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