Hi everyone, well i thought i would provide another quick update as i dont have anything to do today except play around on the internet! I go to the airport this evening but my flight isnt until 11pm. I am going to go quite early because from what ive heard checking in can be a very long procedure!On Saturday night I met up with David, the South African guy I met at my hotel when I was here 2 weeks ago. So I went out for dinner with him, his girlfriend (who was absolutely gorgeous!!!!), one of his work collegues who was Spanish, and their driver.We went to a really nice restaurant and it was nice to be driven in a comfortable car where we weren't all squashed together! At the restaurant only me, the Spanish guy and the driver had dinner, the driver took ages to order, he just couldn't decide, he was really sweet and giggled a lot. When his food arrived he picked up his knife and fork and asked what to do with them, most people here eat with their hands or with a spoon, I don't think they use knifes very often, but he was determined to use it and it was quite funny when he tried to cut his meat! The Spanish guy was really interesting and has worked in lots of countries in Africa. Recently he had been in Lagos so I got to hear more scary stories about that city, one of them he told me, he said one of his work collegues got killed in a shoot out on the street in the city centre!!That was at night, but it sounds like such a dangerous city!Speaking of danger, I re-read my blog from the other day and changed it to that it is not as dangerous as it is perceived to be here, saying it is not dangerous is not correct, as there is an element of danger in most places you go in the world, it came out different to how I was thinking.And there are definitely no-go areas of Cotonou, mainly the beach and port area, in most cities here the beaches are hotspots for muggings so its best to avoid them, its not like they are beautiful beaches so you're not missing much and there are usually some parts of the beach that are safe to go to. Although David was telling me he went to the beach here and had no problems, so I guess sometimes it is just a case of wrong place at the wrong time.After dinner the driver was literally falling asleep at the table so we left then and David and the Spanish guy very kindly paid for dinner which was really nice of them.On Sunday i went to Porto Novo for the day, that is the capital city of Benin and is only about 45 minutes away from Cotonou. I left my hotel at about 9am and Cotonou was like a ghost town! There was no one around, no cars on the road and only a few motos driving past. I wondered for a minute if I would even be able to get a moto to take me to the grand marche (market) to get a bush taxi to Porto Novo! Luckily I got one, at the Grand Marche there was a lot more people and lots more going on, the Marche is huge, it is next to the river that comes inland next to Cotonou and as you cross the bridge you can see an overview of the whole market and it is just massive!! I found a bush taxi very easily for Porto Novo and didn't have to wait long at all. On arrival in Porto Novo it was so different to Cotonou, it is a much quieter more relaxed city and there are lots of old colonial buildings everywhere. I took a moto to the Ethnographic museum, the streets were still really quiet there, but the people you did see were all wearing their Sunday best. The Museum was really interesting, my guide was very good and spoke a bit of English. The most interesting thing about the museum were the mask displays where they had masks that were over 200 years old, they were quite amazing! After visiting the museum I went to a lagoon side restaurant for some lunch which was pretty average, then went to the old Royal Palace of the kings of Porto Novo, they were one of the longest running kingdoms in West Africa and ruled from 1648 to 1974 when the last king died and no one could decide who should replace him so they let the ruling of the kingdom end then. My guide was very interesting and even though it was about 1pm I was the first visitor of the day, so him and I both had to leave a gift to the ancestors.The palace looked a bit like roman baths, the guide had some interesting stories though. After that I went back to the Gare Routiere and took a taxi back to Cotonou, I went for a walk to the hub of the city centre which is not far from my hotel and it was deserted!! Everything was closed, a moto driver saw me standing outside a cyber café wondering what to do and told me he knew of one that was open, so we drove for ages and when we got there the man told us that there is no connection on Sundays in Cotonou, I couldn't believe it, imagine having no internet connection for one day a week every week!So that was fine, there wasn't much else to do so I went and had a drink at a hotel across the road from my hotel (cause I knew they had Malibu there and that has become my drink of choice lately when I can find it) and they show CNN there, but they had really bad mosquitos in the restaurant so I only stayed for one drink then went to this Lebanese restaurant to get some dinner but then the city had a power cut - there seems to but power cuts every night here. So left there and went to a different place further up the road that had a generator.

Well my internet time is running out, maybe I will write some more this afternoon. Take care everyone!