loser beats winner?

I totally agree with Namibian president on the current deadlock in Cote d'Ivoire. No power sharing deal.

In Benin, will head to Niger on Monday

I just arrived in Cotonou, Benin this morning. My rucksack got a bit soaked in the rain while it was actually stowed in the cargo/baggage compartment in the belly of the coach. The border crossings through Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo and Benin were swift and hassle free, though we were very lucky that the Togoless borders only just reopened today (they were shut for a few days due to Thursday's presidential election). Another coach from the same company had been stuck at the Ivorian/Togoless border since Tuesday.

Shall be in Benin by Saturday

Tomorrow I will take a coach from Ivory Coast to Cotonou in Benin. I'll pass through Ghana and Togo on the way.

44 degrees celcius!

Today is HOT!!!!

I love street food (2)

Smartly and skillfully peeled coconuts.

And super yummy grilled beef liver.

Boy scouts in Abidjan

Outside Cathédrale St Paul, these boy scouts asked me to take a picture for them.

My favourite diner in Abidjan

This is easily my favourite dinning place in Abidjan, where I always get dragged into locals' conversations or become the subject of them (either willingly or unwillingly). The two boys running this place are from Conakry, Guinea.

A simple menu but all the dishes are prepared to prefection. FYI, US$1 gets you about CFA460.

My 1st haircut this year was in Africa

Had a haircut today in Abidjan, it cost about US$1. They use numbers here also, so it was very easy for me to explain how I wanted it (most of my French is counting numbers).

Overlander

A brief summary of my overland journeys in the past 2 weeks:

• Bamako, Mali to Conakry, Guinea by bush taxi, 24 hours
• Conakry, Guinea to Freetown, Sierra Leone by minibus, 15.5 hours
• Freetown, Sierra Leone to Monrovia, Liberia by bus, minibus and bush taxi, 2 days
• Monrovia, Liberia to Abidjan, Ivory Coast by bush taxis, motorbike and bus, 2 days

All but one of the vehicles were without a working dashboard.

From Liberia to Ivory Coast

I crossed from Liberia into Ivory Coast on Friday morning, after having spent a night at the border.

(A 16-year-old boy named Justin Popo transported me in the last leg of my journey from Monrovia to the border)

Due to the fact that this stretch of the Ivorian border and much of northern Ivory Coast remains in the hands of the rebels, there're dozens of Bangladeshi UN peacekeepers stationed in the no man's land and a couple of UN armoured vehicles. The machine-gun on the UN's watchtower is pointed to Ivory Coast.

Surprisingly, the Bangladeshi peacekeepers were super friendly to me, and didn't mind at all that I was taking pictures of their installations. However, the Liberian border officials did come out later and stopped me from taking any more photos.

Exiting the Liberian post was simple. The officials did, however, asked for "something small" and "gift", I politely turned it down.

When I came to the Ivorian border post, I was made pay CFA1,000 three times to soldiers, the immigration and the customs respectively. When I refused to pay at the immigration and I slammed their desk really hard, someone who seemed to be the chief came to me and angrily told me that I had no choice but to pay up AND they were the rebels! So there I paid :)