Photos - Our new abode

Hello everyone... just posted some photos of our new place. We're now staying at my boss's place with 7 other housemates, some birds, fish AND... a table tennis table! How could I not love the place :)

http://picasaweb.google.com/torsten.herbst/20101128AsylumDownHouse#5544614859124176386

Hope everyone's well back home, Kwame & Abena

Photos - Cape Coast

Visited Cape Coast and Elmina castle on the long weekend. Both castles were at the center of the slave trade from West Africa to the Americas which saw between 15-25 million slaves taken from their home countries under inhumane conditions. For those interested in some more history you can follow this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Slave_Trade

And here's the link to our photos... http://picasaweb.google.com/torsten.herbst/20101114CapeCoast#5542292555540655858

Ghana music 2

We were in for a treat last night. At the closing night of a music festival at Alliance Francaise, we enjoyed the smooth beats of Afrobeat legend Tony Allen. He was supported by a couple of rappers/singers from Guinea called Degg J Force 3:
http://www.deggjforce3.com/

Abena

So sweet...

So here's a quick wrap of my morning today... got up, checked my emails and the news, then did a quick workout in the house gym, which is essentially just a bench press and some dumbbells. Walked out of the gym and decided to ask one of the other guys in the house if they're keen on a game of table tennis. Turns out the reigning number two 'house champion' is always up for the challenge so we played a game in the morning sun, which to my surprise I won (bring on the house champion!!). Then I quickly jumped into the shower before firing up Skype to talk to Sylvia and my two little nephews - well, mainly I talked to Sylvia, while Jaden frantically waived his hands at the camera (which was highly entertaining) and Robin, well, not quite sure what he was doing... crawling around the floor mainly, and wondering why his mum was lifting him up to the glary screen every now and then. Once we had finished the conversation I had run out of time for breakfast and since we just moved into the new place we don't really have any supplies yet anyway. So what to do... well, this is where Ghana really shines: Walked around the corner on my way to work and discovered a lady pressing fresh oranges by the roadside, so I stopped by and had a glass of fresh orange juice in shade of the almond tree. Then I continued on along the road and bumped into a lady carrying pawpaw on her head. Being everything but poor poor, I bought one. Continued along and bumped into another lady selling beautiful golden bananas of which I bought a couple. I could have purchased a pineapple and watermelon from two other ladies, but declined the offer. Passed my coconut vendor in front of my office and told him that I had already had some orange juice but promised to come by in the afternoon. Walked into the office and prepared myself a fruit salad. So now I'm sitting here happy as a dog with two tails, thinking Ghana's got to be the best place in he world!

Photos - Wli Waterfalls in the Volta Region

Went on an excursion this weekend to the Wli Waterfalls in the Volta region. It's a beautiful region with lush green vegetation, wild bananas, papayas and pineapples and friendly locals in the most serene and tranquil corner of Ghana. Click on the link below to see the photos...

http://picasaweb.google.com/torsten.herbst/20101107VoltaRegionWliWaterfalls#5537071308013944802