Every now and then, I get sent off on an adventure to some far away land. Recently, my adventures took me to Cameroon–West Africa for those who don’t know where this is. I flew international business class–which I love–and took some pictures to show others how wonderful it is. Sure, you might think it’s silly of me to be so excited about traveling, but I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth, so I still look forward to the perks of int’l business class.

Not a lay-flat seat, but I still managed to sleep well

(Frequent travel sometimes complain about the downward incline)

Built-in back massage was nice during the long flight

Air France’s smaller lounge, but it still had a shower

The accommodations in Douala were not as nice as Nigeria. It’s not that they were terrible, but I didn’t enjoy sharing an apartment with 3 random strangers. There was one communal shower, a kitchen, dining room, and living area. I was mostly displeased with the fact that there was no Internet (it was turned off for visitor apartments) and no phone. In Eket, Nigeria, I at least had WiFi (which I could use for Skype) and a private room.

I was a bit naive and didn’t realize I’d be sleeping in an apartment that required mosquito nets

View from COTCO HQ

My daily  walk down the street to “home”

Lots of slums around town

African Market

Market when it wasn’t raining (as much)

Reasonably good traffic, but when it gets bad, people *create* lanes as needed

Wood carvings at a hotel in the countryside

I like my shrimp with Cajun seasoning…none to be found, though

The people of Cameroon are very nice and pleasant to be around. I enjoyed walking around the neighborhood and eating out at local restaurants (all pretty good). Across the street from the company apartments is a delicious bakery and small grocery store. I had my share of chocolate croissants and other goodies.

I spent the 2nd week on August in a small village called Dompta. Technically, I never saw was in the village from the ground–just from the air. I stayed at our pump station. It’s a relatively small processing area where crude flows through, gets sorted out into various products and then put back into the pipeline.

Me at one of the airstrips

Somewhere near Dompta

If you look closely, you’ll see some traditional African huts that people continue to live in

Sanaga River goes spans the whole country, all the way down to the hotel where I had shrimp

After about two weeks, I was ready to return home. However, I had one last stop in Charles De Gaulle where I enjoyed endless quantities of chocolate croissants and cookies among other things.

One of my staples

Cookies at 6:00 AM? Yes, please!

So good!