Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Vacation here and there

Obudu Mountain Resort, Calabar, Cross River State of Nigeria.

Day 1: April 2011. This particular vacation involved my pastor and 8 members of my church. We set out in a hired 13-seater  coaster bus at 10am from Ibadan hoping to get to Calabar same day. Little did we know that I was joking (looolz).

At 10am on "Good Friday" (It was Easter period) we left Ibadan facing Ondo state. We got to Owo town in Akure  at exactly 1:46pm. I had purposed in my heart before trip that I was going to document the timing and all. It was the farthest I have ever gone besides Abuja by bus and I was really impatient and nervous. There were so many views along the way. Got to Benin City at 3.10pm and from there we moved on to Sapele and from there Bayelsa state. By this time I was really uncomfortable and fidgetting in the bus. Majorly because I was tired, aching all over (it was a bus for crying out loud!). I kept on picturing myself enjoying myself in Calabar because all I had during this long trip to console me was that I was sha going to arrive at my destination.

We got to Effurun- Sapele in Benin at 3.55pm and discovering how big it was. It was like entering a part in Lagos because it was so busy. One disgusting thing I saw on the road was of an ökada"rider carrying about 10 smoked monkeys tied together! OMG! It was really nauseating and it took awhile for that picture to be erased from my mind (poor dead monkeys). At a point I had to look away from the window so as to avoid such pictures.

One major and scary thing that happened on getting to Benin was that we ran into some touts who called themselves vigilante. I almost ran out of the bus through the window (so funny but I kept up a calm front but deep down I almost peed myself). Those thugs were brandishing guns, cutlasses, juju, etc. They just rushed out from nowhere to stop our bus from the bush and the first thing that came to my mind was...Oh Lord! we will be kidnapped today! Funny because those men looked like kidnappers (I am serious!)

We drove into Yenogoa in Bayelsa state at 6:35pm , didnt see much of the town anyways and continued on towards Port-Harcourt and that was one nice city. It was full of activities. We opted to spend the night there. We partked and stretched our limbs and some of us ate there excluding me. I was still tensed up and food wasnt on my list at that time. Pastor now said we should continue the journey as part of our excursion all through the night. By that time it was getting to 9 pm.

Onward soldiers...we drove on towards Onne nroute Akwa Ibom hoping to get to Calabar before the day breaks. Akwa Ibom state was a clean and beautiful town too. The roundabout was so beautifully sculptured and neat!

Before then the driver had been saying he does not know his way to Calabar. We were so angry and shouted at him. Apparently we had asked the booking office for a bus driver who knows the way but we were given one that doesn't and that wasnt funny at all. We had to ask people at each town to give us directions. Another funny thing was that we got lost after Akwa Ibom. It was already past 11pm and we were on the road. Few cars were on the road at this time and I had no battery left on my blackberry! It got to a point that soldiers had to show us the way to Cslabar. We made sevearl wrong turns but God helped us!

Finally finally we entered Calabar at 1:24a.m! The street lights were up and running, road very neat. It was a quiet town unlike Lagos that does not sleep. We saw a few people on the road as we drove into the streets who gave us directions to a nearby hotel. Meennn! I couldn't wait to lie down and sleep and that I did!

Day 2: We drove into town towards the Marina Resort. It was a slave museum with archived stories on slave trading in Nigeria before it was abolished. That place was ëmotional for me as I saw the chains, masks, and other horrible equipments used to tie slaves in those days. We were told stories, shown pictures and matetial on slave trade.

We left Marina Resort to go to Tinapa centre. That place was cool but we had to rush in order to continue our journey towards Obudu Resort and that alone took us some 6 hours! It was a bumpy ride due to major road construction.

Got to Obudu town at 8.00pm and proceeded to Obudu Mountain Resort. This was another journey because we spend a long time driving up the hill (80km). It turned my eyes at some point and the slopy drive was scary!. At last we got to the TOP! Ultimately we had a wonderful time and will do it again soon God willing.





 Goodbye Obudu...goodbye Calabar ...until next time #winks






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