Ghana 2009: Road to Kumasi

So we got up on Saturday morning at 3:45am and Tetteh ran down the road to get us a taxi. I think Ghana is probably the easiest place to get a taxi in the world, day or night!
We arrived at the STC station around 4:40am for our scheduled bus which left between 5:30 and 5:45am...which is great because the bus on the way back was at least an hour late in leaving,

The STC buses boast about their air conditioning and their African movies but...NO BATHROOM on the bus. I think the Koreans who built these buses either didn't intend them for long journeys or they are playing a cruel joke on the developing world. The bus only makes one scheduled rest stop and the trip can take anywhere from 4-7 hours. Our trip to Kumasi took about 5 hours and the way back was about 6 hours.
Such a long trip wouldn't be bad on a nice smooth road but the link between the two biggest cities in Ghana is "under constuction"...I'm still not over the misery of the bumpy bus ride so I'm a bit of a negative Nelly....the bus driver has the challenge of navigating between giant potholes, slow moving transport trucks (with their loads bouncing around) and tro-tros and private cars just honking and passing whenever they feel like it.
There were times when you looked out the front window of the bus and you could just see a few headlights in the dust.
This road is notorious for having some bad spots but in the midst of improvement it is a nightmare.
The one thing we can be thankful for is that we were in that big comfy bus and not one of the folks travelling by tro-tro with a stranger squashed on their lap and dust blowing in the open windows.

The positive side of riding the bus is the great view you get. The scenery is great and you can see the changing landscapes as you edge farther north.
These are some snaps I took through the bus window...as you can see we had a few cloud bursts on the way up.