70,000 cedi for a G&T? In Accra?
Posted with some regret as it contains more questions than answers,
Yes, it's possible.
Before I left the states some posts regarding available white(er) women reported ladies in a club located below the Niagara Hotel (girl friendly, like every hotel I know in Ghana, provided you are paying for a double) 100 usd was reported as the going rate.
As it only required me to walk downstairs, I poked my nose in to see what's what for the enlightenment of the membership of this board.
The lay out reminded me of some of the smaller clubs in BA, A bar on one side and sofa sets and tables on the other walls. Fairly plush, it was very clean and tidy. I was there on a Thursday and it was early. Signs outside claim some rather respectable middle eastern dinner specialties are on offer. No cars in the car park. No cover charge.
One or two other guys at the bar and about 3 or 4 women dressed for success. A Ghanian lady took my drink order, as none of the white(er) staff seemed to speak English. She muttered something about gin costing 2 units and tonic costing one unit. Units? What's this? 3 units became C 70,000! Simple cocktails at the high end Monsoon run about C 40,000. Admittedly, they poured a stiff drink but the place looks like it's set up for the lady drink system and that I avoid if possible. I am a cheap SOB The tab can reach the moon very quickly at a talking bar.
The girls were short, a little pudgy, and quite cute. I suspect they are about a 7 on the Arabic beauty scale. A Lebanese bar with lady drinks is actually the work of geniuses. As anyone who has been here for a short time knows, the Lebanese guys seem to spend endless hours in (pointless?) conversation over a cup of coffee. This club can harness a cultural characteristic to the goal of ever increasing profit, as long as the girls bladders hold out,
This post contains quite a bit of speculation as I did not and could not talk to the ladies and did not attempt a take out. Any details about the payment system, how the club functions, would be helpful. Are they counting units for a bar fine? Are the girls drinks as outrageously expensive? It did look like the tea or fruit drink business was operating.
Enjoy!
Kumasi - Vienna Bar - Pink Panther - others
Took the STC to Kumasi. A/C bus ticket was C 50 or 55,000 So it's still cheap but between traffic and road work it took about 6 hours for a 4 hour trip.
I suppose it had to happen some day. The Ryan's Pub here in Kumasi (no relation to the one in Accra) has undergone a serious remodel. It was a rather simple pub, saloon or tavern when I saw it last year, stocked with furniture that had seen a lot of hard use. This bar is located in the same compound with Rose's Guest House and is very easy to find. Use the guest house name with the taxi drivers.
It is now a smaller version of Jokers, without the dash hungry, menacing, F'ing security guys. It is how Jokers should be. Did I mention how unimpressed I am by Jokers in Accra?
Ryan's is now called the Vienna Bar. It has added pool tables, a small casino, new bar lay-out and new fixtures. New everything really, neon all over. Food is served. With the name change there should be no confusion with the Accra Pub of the same name.
Fortunately, what it also has, is a fair number of working ladies inside and more who make the small area outside the entryway home. Several more were killing time near the vehicle gate. Payment in the 20/25 usd range accepted with out question so local rates may be lower. I did not set a price first but but paid in the morning.. In Accra this may be a bad idea.. There are nice chairs and a sofa or two set outside the entry for whatever conversation is needed, but it would seem that very little of that is required. The Vienna Bar seems to have action available most nights. Other locations seem to be weekend locations for the most part. So said my taxi guy and I think he is reliable. He turned out to be very good indeed.
This evening (Friday) I will be attempting a short tour in company with another member of this board. We hope to check some of some of the available night life in this town. It's Friday so I expect that many of the places that were dead yesterday will be showing signs of life. As it turns out, we have a hell of a rain storm come in this afternoon, about 5 o'clock, and though the the downpour and lighting has moved on by 9 o'clock it did affect the size of crowds out for the evening.
The Pink Panther Hotel, was checked due to jazz music on offer most nights and my sometimes foolish theory that music would tend to draw the girls. My companion wonders about my sanity dragging him out here. Dead, very dead. Music ends at 10. Semi-remote suburban location.
Spice. A building, car park dance area combination. Outdoor sound system permits dancing anywhere within about a half mile. Gut level vibration before even getting out the taxi. Local people out for a bit of beer, food and music. On a good night this may work for meeting the non pro. Not a large crowd tonight but remember the rain.
Worth a look see. No cover charge
Cheers. A dead night at this indoor, upstairs club or tavern. Another bad sign, not a lot of seating. No cover charge. Taxi guy said it opened recently and may not have a clientele yet (or ever?) Relatively close to Rose's so someone might check it out from time to time.
Several other drinking / music spots of 30 plus seats that fall into the general category of the white plastic chair, outdoor or street bar so common in Ghana but of larger size. If you want to meet real people and can budget the time involved, your can network a nonprofessional at these places.
At the end of our expedition we return to the very active Vienna Bar where the ladies are not a problem. A rapid conclusion to our investigations.
The Vienna Bar has a dress code it seems, no shorts or sandals for men, but with mixed feelings I report this may not apply to oboni and it may be a kind of riffraff defense by the bar. Some girls told off over bare midriff outfits. No cover required.
The bar crowd had several young Ghanian couples of the well-off class in addition to the usual working ex-pat types, tourists, and odd cases like myself. All together about 90 percent locals. It was a very good mix of people.
I used City Link to fly from Kumasi to Accra today. Very happy with the service. (US pilot) One way ticket C 615,000. Round trip tickets at slightly better pricing I believe. The luggage allowance is low on these small aircraft. I paid C40,000 for excess baggage. The dollar still rising relative to the C. Offered 9300 on a weekend, when rates are usually worse.
Always agree to the price before hand even if you insult a non-pro.
You are exactly correct about agreeing to the price beforehand. If she is a non-pro it can be quite delicate since she may be insulted that you are offering to pay her for sex but the entire country knows that even if she is a non-pro there is that expectation of payment. Another option is to clearly state before the sex that you will give her 'x amount' for the taxi home and that way she may not be offended but you can at least agree on the amount.
If she starts complaining in the morning, just remind her of what you agreed to. Another option is to get her out of the room (e.g. for breakfast) and pay her in public. If she goes ballistic be prepared to catch a taxi and split fast.
Ghana Travels - Cape Coast and Elmina
Around 170km west of Accra lies Cape Coast and 8km further on, Elmina. Both towns most noted for their old colonial slaving forts. I stayed at some pretty run down old beach resort called Oyster Bay, just off the main highway between the two towns. It must have been a nice resort once, on the coast, big airy chalet style rooms but the air con had long since fallen into disrepair and a serious overhaul of the whole place is needed. It had a wierd "Mad Max" type of atmosphere as my travelling buddy and I were pretty much the only people in evidence and the place felt fairly desolate. Still it would do and it was only 150,000 cedis a night.
Cape Coast is a major University town and there are literally thousands of students from all over Ghana here so the possibilities are huge. I was only staying a couple of days however and hooked up with one of the said students, Sandra, I had met on a previous trip to Ghana, for a days sightseeing. We took a taxi out to Kakum National Park, around 30km outside of CC which is a protected area of rainforest most notable for it's canopy walk, a series of walkways suspended high in the forest canopy, certainly worth a visit, stunning views. We then headed back to CC and took a guided tour round the old slave castle which was fascinating, the guide basically giving us a history lesson on this areas tragic past, apparently 4 million slaves passed through this place on their way to the Americas in a 200 year period.
There is another slaving fort at Elmina which is also worth visiting but as far as I can see the town holds little other attraction.
Sandra had been invited that night to the opening of a new club called Oasis run by a Lebanese called Ali which is situated very close to the castle, an open air type place so we went along, the place was packed and rocking, great fun and many possibilities, so many sexy ladies but I was with Sandra and I knew she would look after me!
I only really scratched the surface of this town but I'm sure there are many opportunities to have fun here, I certainly did, and there is certainly no shortage of sexy available women though a little more research is still needed on alternative night spots however Oasis I am sure will develop in to a popular place, it has a great location.
Ghana Travels - Busua and Axim
Further down the coast again and around 25km west of Takoradi (I didn't bother checking this large town) and 100km from Cape Coast, lies Busua. Busua is a wonderfully laid back little town with a fantastic beach, maybe the best beach in all of Ghana and safe for swimming. I stayed at the Alaska Beach Resort, a rondavel style place with around 10 or 12 rooms and a nice beach bar, rooms between 85,000 and 160,000 cedis per night depending on facilities. From the door of my room I was around 15 paces from the sandy beach, lovely!
I was here for a couple of nights midweek so things were pretty quiet, apparently the bar of the Alaska is buzzing at weekends and women are plentiful and I'm not surprised. Anyway this was a good place to unwind, and as you would expect, the young local guys walking the beach were more than happy to introduce me to some nice female company to stop me from being lonely! And that is how I met Ramat, a 19 year old student at college in Takoradi who was only too happy to ensure I enjoyed my stay, my trouble was getting away from her when I wanted some space! Well I fed her a couple of times and gave her around 200,000cedis I think after she stayed a couple of nights and she was more than happy.
Whilst in Busua I checked out a medium sized town called Axim around 45km away towards the Cote d'Ivoire border. It has another old colonial slaving fort but otherwise is best avoided, there is nothing worth going there for though 3 km out of town is another staggeringly beautiful palm fringed beach called Ankobra Beach with a small beach resort called unsurprisingly Ankobra Beach Resort which would be a nice place to take a girl for a couple of nights, as local possibilities might be limited here.
Man jailed for Africa sex tourism
[url]http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/beds/bucks/herts/4588496.stm[/url]
bbc news
man jailed for africa sex tourism
a sex tourist has been jailed indefinitely for making repeated trips to africa to abuse poor children.
alexander kilpatrick, a father-of-two, will serve at least five years and four months for 17 counts of sex offences.
the 56-year-old made "harrowing" films of the abuse, said judge roger chapple, at middlesex guildhall crown court.
kilpatrick, who was banned from africa and other sex tourism hotspots, is the first man to be jailed using laws to prosecute those who abuse abroad.
you plied them with meals, treats and alcohol and then you sexually abused them in the most appalling ways
judge roger chapple
he was arrested in milton keynes in a mobile home he used to tour england and where he had also groomed two vulnerable youngsters and sexually assaulted them.
judge chapple told kilpatrick his offences "are specimen accounts of a wider course of conduct representing a catalogue of manipulation, corruption, depravity and degradation that even these courts fortunately rarely hear.
"you took advantage of the abject poverty and the circumstances in which children in africa and other countries find themselves.
"you plied them with meals, treats and alcohol and then you sexually abused them in the most appalling ways."
the court heard kilpatrick transferred films of the abuse onto cd-roms before editing them, setting them to elvis songs, and then labelling them with his victims' names.
importing porn
a divorcee, he was arrested in may last year when a french holidaymaker from ghana spotted him handing out toys during his latest trip.
he was subsequently deported and flown back to heathrow.
in the uk, kilpatrick was accused of importing pornography and an international investigation was launched.
the internet is accounting for a lot of recognition of paedophile activity because of the nature of the internet itself
det sgt nick duffield
further pornographic films and photographs, some downloaded from the internet, were recovered from his mobile home.
his "obsession" with filming himself as he abused children helped police identify the two youngsters he targeted in britain.
the judge told kilpatrick he would have to register as a sex offender for life.
speaking outside court, det sgt nick duffield, of scotland yard's paedophile unit, said: "the internet is accounting for a lot of recognition of paedophile activity because of the nature of the internet itself."
he added that police had worked closely with agencies in the uk and in ghana to investigate kilpatrick's activities.
list of crimes
paedophiles who travelled abroad to carry out their crimes would "be brought to book", he said.
natalie cronin, nspcc head of policy and public affairs said the children's charity welcomed the prosecution.
"however, this legislation can only be exercised when the foreign country in question acknowledges child sexual abuse as a crime.
"the nspcc believes the law should be extended to allow courts to prosecute uk nationals who commit sex offences against children in any country," she said.
kilpatrick, himself a victim of child abuse, was now "deeply ashamed" of his behaviour and wished to apologise for the pain and distress he had caused, said his defence lawyer andrew vout.
the counts he pleaded guilty to last year included three [url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord124][CodeWord124][/url], three attempted [url=http://isgprohibitedwords.info?CodeWord=CodeWord124][CodeWord124][/url], two assaults, one assault by penetration, an offence of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, another of administering a substance with intent, two charges of taking indecent photographs of children, two of possessing them, and one of importing pornography.
they all took place between 1 october 2004 and 8 may 2005.
story from bbc news:
[url]http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/beds/bucks/herts/4588496.stm[/url]
published: 2006/01/06 17:39:30 gmt
© bbc mmvi
How is that relevant to us?
that guy is a ****, which is illegal in most countries around the world, let alone ghana. prostitution, on the other hand, is not.
judging by the tone of the article, the authorities seem to be far more interested in child molestors than mongers....
...as they should be. :)