We have breakfast in the hotel, during which time we get a briefing on what is going on with the truck. Mark and Rick had returned late last night with the truck under tow. We are told that the spare part is coming from London and should arrive this Friday. At that point in time, they would see how long it takes to install and whether the truck is operational. We also need to apply for our Gabon visas.
At this point in time, several of us decide that we would rather head into Douala and Yaounde then spend more time in Limbe. It is a nice town, but a bit small. We organise our stuff, putting what we do not need on the truck. While we have lunch, we arrange for a taxi to take us to Douala and change some more money. We are finally on our way around 2:30 PM. It takes a bit less than two hours to get there. We have one police check point stop us - he asks our driver (after realising that he is not going to get anything from us) for some money for a beer. We hang around for a while and the driver gives him something - one of the costs of doing business around here.
Once in the city, we spend some time looking for a place to stay. Our first choice turns out to be too expensive. The next three places are full. We finally get a room at the Catholic Mission. It is a nice place - very clean with air con rooms. after settling in, we head out to check out the neighborhood.
We find a great ice cream shop - and of course grab an ice cream. After wandering around the streets for about an hour, we find a restaurant where we have dinner. It has Mediterranean food and we sit outside. It is very nice and the food is excellent, with the only problem being the price of the beer. Once finished there, we wander back into the streets. While walking along, we are stopped by the police who want to check our IDs. We have copies of our passports to show - they did not really like that, but when they realised we would not give them anything, after 15 minutes they let us go on our way.
After a quick snack at the bakery, we headed off to a night club for a drink. We found a great place that had a live band that played quite good music. While the beers were a bit expensive, it was worth it. The bouncer was very friendly and got us a good price for the beer. Once the band finished at midnight, everyone moved into the disco. And was this an interesting place. There were all types of people there. We had a great time people watching and telling fantastic stories about ourselves to some of the locals that approached us.
We got back to the Mission shortly after 2 AM - the guard was not too happy (he had been sleeping), but he let us in. We then headed off to bed and sleep.