We bush camped the night before getting to Kumasi, with the aim of getting to the city in the morning and therefore only needing to spend one night there. The attraction in Kumasi is the market which is said to be one of the largest in Africa.
This was our first taste of a Ghanaian city. Compared to everywhere else we have been this is by far the most civilised place with a lot more businesses and homes being a reasonably built brick structure rather than a shack. It was busy, and very humid making walking around the market which was absolutely crammed with people a challenge and at times not the most pleasant of experiences. It was very fast paced and the locals obviously new exactly where they were going as they navigated through the endless amount of stalls which sprawl both sides of the railway and on the track itself! There was no stopping space at all so buying anything was hard work but at least we can understand what people are saying now we are in an English speaking country. One of the big problems with this market though is the fact the Ghanaians aren't the skinniest Africans we have seen and the route through the stalls isn't big enough for 2 average sized Ghanaian ladies to pass each other which leads to lots of pushing and shoving and squeezing whilst you wonder whether the stuff on the head of the person next to you is going to fall on your head!
One of the things that we noticed as we travelled through the country was the large number of churches. They are everywhere and range from huge, elaborate buildings to tiny shacks. One thing they do have in common is that you could probably listen to the service a mile off as the noise coming from them is like an amplified commentary from horse racing. They really do love God as pretty much every business as a religious based name like "Gods with you beauty salon". I wish I had started taking photos of the signs as some where pretty clever.
A brief but good stop in Kumasi as we left to head towards the coast.
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