I haven’t written for quite a while, I guess this is because the longer you have been in a place the more normal things seem, hence less worth writing about. The minutae of everyday life in South Asia aside I have actually done a few things that probably are worth writing about so I’ll try to describe these all briefly.

England

On Boxing Day I flew out to London for a couple of week’s holiday.  I got an amazingly cheap deal on the flight (only paid $270 US return) so I thought it was worth dropping by for a short visit.  Did all the touristy stuff, big ben, London eye, the tower, st pauls etc etc.  All ok but somehow less awe involved when you’re in a country that has a culture similar to your own.  Inner city London basically feels like Melbourne only 4 times as big and with far more McDonalds (and an “Angus Steakhouse” on every bloody corner – In Australia we don’t have to worry about what sort of cow the steak comes from – it’s all just good.  Apparently the English don’t have the same luxury).  While I was there I did mange to catch up with a mate from Sri Lanka, Matt, who was home for the holidays and had a few big nights out – many beers, a jug of long island iced tea, some dodgy latino nightclubs and dinner with Oxford girls, pretty good really.  Also caught up with Mim out at oxford itself (note:Mim is separate to aforementioned Oxford Girls).

France

Also managed to head over to Paris for a week which was great, the city looked just like you would imagine paris to be.  Had an absolute ball there.  Had another big night at an Australian bar where the barstaff (aussies)  gave me free drinks all night because I was the only other Australian in there (lots of French men drinking rather feminine cocktails for a so called pub).  Vaguely recall discussing French politics with two guys I met there and possibly dancing on a table with some polish girls.  Felt very very sick the next day.

After that I stayed with my Cousin and his wife for a few days. They live in paris, quite close to the arc de triomphe, very sweet deal.  Another sweet deal is the working conditions in france (socialism sounds very good to me now), 8 weeks annual leave, subsidised canteen where you can get a 3 course meal with wine for around5 euro for lunch, it’s perfectly acceptable to turn up to work around 10am (although you do work until about 7 in the evening – but so do plenty of people in Aus) and an office concierge who takes care of all the boring stuff like getting your drycleaning for you.  Brilliant.

Colombo (not quite the same really)

Back in Sri Lanka I managed to get around the country a bit for my last couple of months.  A group of us hiked up to Adams peak, one of the highest mountains on the island at 2200m and a sacred site for Buddhists.  At the top there is a tiny temple with a Buddha in a glass case where locals pay their respects.  There is (or would be) an incredible view from the summit except that this is mostly obscured by buildings, tv antenna’s and water tanks (there is a monastery up there too).  The monks that built the temple obviously so devout that they considered all the focus to be inward toward the temple rather than out toward the view.  Despite this if you cram onto the stairs leading up to the shrine you can get pretty amazing view of the sunrise.  To get there in time for this we had to leave our hotel at 2.30 am and at 2200m the summit of adams peak in the one place in si lanka that is actually cold, particularly at 5 in the morning.  This did provide us with one of the more amusing sights of my stay in Sri Lanka which was the sight of hundreds of locals who had made the pilgrimage wrapped in towels and sheets attempting to stay warm.  Most Sri Lankans have likely never experienced temperatures below 25 degrees let alone the 6 with a cold wind at the top and thus a) have a look of fear and bewilderment fixed on their faces and b) they don’t own anything even remotely resembling cold weather gear hence the towels in a rather futile attempt to keep warm.  I’ve never seen any Sri Lankans move so fast as those that practically started running downhill as soon as the sun was up.

Otherwise I have mostly been up to the following;

All you can eat (and drink) champagne brunch at the Cinnamon Grand.

Jazz at the rugby club on Sunday afternoons (usually following the aforementioned brunch – had a few very rough Monday mornings)

Met Hayley and hung out with her quite a lot.

In Feb (I think) we went to Elephant polo at Galle – very slow, very little skill, quite boring but they did have a beer tent so things ended up ok there.

Went to various Colombo casinos – felt important with my thousand rupee notes – unfortunately did not run into “john the bookie” who was a regular at some of these places a few years back.  (cricket people will know what I’m talking about)

Watched a lot of cricket and drank a lot of beer.

Played golf at the best golf course in South Asia. Rich organised a trip up there with a great bunch of people – very swish cabins and an amazing course – the pictures do not do it justice.  We each had our own caddy – all golf pro’s and ball spotters who would plunge headlong into dense snake infested scrub and come out soon after with any mis-struck balls that we had given up on.  I managed to shoot a 99 (which is actually pretty good for me), mostly due to the coaching of my caddy and possibly due to some dubious score keeping on his part too – I’m claiming the win though as it was a hard fought day out between Byron and myself.

I also had a weekend away with Hayley at Amanwella which is THE BEST resort on the island (at US$800 a night it would want to be).  I didn’t pay anything like that amount of course – I won 2 nights there at a ball held by the british high commission last December.  Can’t really describe how good this place was, you are treated like royalty the whole time.  Whenever you begin to think about ordering a drink or some food a waiter would mysteriously appear from around a corner and offer you a drink.  If you sat down by the pool someone would bring out a glass of water within seconds, this was then replaced every time it got below half of if the ice melted.

The only down side about this place is that it was 6 hours drive away (and it’s so expensive that I’ll never be able to afford to go there again).  We stopped at it’s sister resort Amangalla (in Galle) for dinner on the way down and bumped into Scarlett Johansen who was having a drink at a table near us.  She kept making eye contact with me but I think she was a bit too shy to come over and say hello – I can be intimidating like that sometimes.  Also the fact that I was having dinner with Hayley may have had something to do with it.

Anyway, that about wraps up my time in Sri Lanka.  Back home now and could write a whole new blog about all the weird stuff I’ve noticed hear since I’ve been away.  Don’t worry I won’t though.  Seriously though, have Australian men gotten a lot more gay since I’ve been away? What’s up with that?

Nepal November 10^th – 25^th

I had a 3.30am flight to Nepal (actually the first of 3 flights to get to Nepal via India) so I did what anyone would do ant went out to dinner and then to the pub before getting a taxi to the airport just after midnight.  My first flight went to Chennai in southern India then it was on to Delhi and finally Kathmandu over 12 hours.  Despite the fact I was flying with the same airline the whole way I was they wouldn’t link check my baggage to Kathmandu so I had to collect it and recheck it each time.  After clearing immigration in Chennai, picking up my bag, walking 300m to the domestic terminal, re-checking my bag, being frisked, scanned, searched about 5 times and waiting 2 hours I was put on a bus and taken back down the tarmac to board the same plane I’d arrived on for my flight to Delhi.  I went through this process all over again at Delhi only this time it was a different plane and I got absolutely fleeced by the taxi driver who drove me between terminals (it was a fair bit more than 300m at Delhi).  When I finally arrived at Kathmandu I was exhausted, I didn’t really sleep much on the plane although I do vaguely remember being woken up for a meal on one flight with drool on my chin so that was fairly embarrassing.

Kathmandu is situated in a valley at 1350m above sea level so the cool weather was great after living in Sri Lanka for 7 months (32 degrees… every… single… day…).  There are also lots of cool restaurants there and Thamel, where I was staying is a great little tourist area in the city.  Every second shop sells climbing and trekking gear and the others all sell souveniers.  The place is full of travelers either embarking on or returning from trekking tours or people hanging about pretending they are alternative and cool because there doing nothing in Kathmandu instead of Thailand.  There also seems to be a mindset that it is also ok for men to where tights as an outer garment here, especially with hiking boots and a polarfleece jacket.  This crime against fashion is mostly perpetrated by Europeans and is even more common once you get up into the mountains but I think is especially unforgiveable in a city.

Our trek started with a flight into Lukla at 2800m which is the starting off point for all trekking & climbing in the Everest region.  On the side of the steep hill the runway at lukla “airport” is about 200m long and runs up hill so that the plane stops almost as soon as it touches the ground, quite an experience to land on as it feels like you’ve just dropped out of the sky and landed on the spot.

It took us 7 days to reach base camp with a couple of acclimatization stops along the way where we would stay in the same place for 2 nights but ascend 4-500m during the day and come back down.  The landscape was quite different to what I had expected, the path very dry and dusty and vegetation larger than a bush disappeared above 4000m.   The snowline didn’t begin until almost 5000m and even then it was patchy  and only on the shaded side of the valley.  The trail was crowded with hundreds of trekkers, Yaks, porters and Sherpas going about their business.  For the first few days there were villages every few kilometers but the higher up we got the less common these became.  Similarly the price of food and water increased the further along we got.  There are no roads anywhere in this region and everything is either brought in by porters carried on their backs or by Yak.  Obviously the higher and further someone has to carry something the more expensive it will be.  After seeing what these guys do every day any pretense of toughness I might have had previously has definately vanished.  Most of the porters are little over 5 foot tall but carry between 40-70kg on the back, walking for up to 9 hours a day in high altitude.  This trek was hard enough carrying a day pack with a couple of bottles of water and a camera.

The altitude started to affect me at about 3400m, I woke up one morning in Namche where we had stayed 2 nights with a light headache which gradually got worse the further up we went, the day we reached base camp I had completely lost my appitite (though whether this was altitude sickness or the quality of food I am not sure) and thought I was going to throw up just walking along a path.  I had thought beforehand that the altitude would simply mean it was harder to breather and it would be more of an effort to walk so the headaches and nausea were definitely unexpected and very unpleasant, particularly when added to the effects of some more common travelers afflictions.

Base camp itself is a fairly plain place despite being at 5363m, at the bottom of the Nuptse, one of the peaks that shares a ridge with Everst it is basically just a rocky patch of glacier that is cleared every spring when the climbing expeditions arrive.  The only sign of its existence on our visit is a small monument (which must have to be moved every year to prevent it gradually being carried away by the ice flow) and the wreckage of a crashed helicopter that no-one has bothered to remove – understandable given it would have to be carried out by hand.  You can’t actually see Everest from base camp either, the peak is obscured by the surrounding ridge but the scenery is spectacular none the less.

The following day before beginning our descent we climbed to the summit of Kala Pattar which is 5545m and has the best views of Everest from the Nepal side (the Tibetan border was quite close by – but is former by a ridge about 6500m high so couldn’t see much).  This was pretty much the hardest thing I have ever done.  We left at 5.30am for the 2 hour climb to the top, the overnight temperature had been -12 but when we left had warmed to around -8, I had a throbbing headache and could barely breathe with the cold and low oxygen.  By the time we neared the summit I was almost crawling over the rocks and was breathing like I had just finished a 400m sprint but it was well worth it for the view at the top.  Out of 12 on the group only 5 of us attempted Kala Pattar and thankfully we all made it (although one girl did get a lift on our guide, Gelu’s shoulders for a couple of hundred meters along the way).  All of us could barely move up at the top while our guides looked like they had just strolled down to the shops.

After Kala Pattar we began our hike back towards Lukla and some form of civilization, dropping from 5545m down to 4060m in a day definitely helped with the altitude sickness and arriving in Namche at 3400m the next day was even better – not least because that was the only place where we could have a hot shower, our first in 6 days and because we could finally have a beer.

A few days later and we were back in Kathmandu, luckily we got out of Lukla on our scheduled flight, the airport had been clouded in for 5 days before hand and there was a backlog of people trying to get out (scheduled flights have priority but if you are not able to depart on the correct day you go to the back of the queue).  Lots of very anxious travelers at the airport when we departed who were no doubt keen to get home, many had missed international flights out of Kathmandu, one group we met had even charted a helicopter to pick them up that morning at US$600 each.

From Kathmandu (after a hot shower, a decent meal and a few quick stops at  Durbur Square and the Monkey Temple) it was on to India for my 24 hr stopover in Delhi.  After all the horror stories I’d heard about India I was dreading spending a day there but was pleasantly surprised to find that the place is actually really nice (at least the bits I saw).  I didn’t have to be at the airport until 3.30 in the afternoon so I crabbed a taxi and went around to see a few sights in the city and found the place really clean, no-one hassled me, the taxi driver didn’t rip me off and when I went to a temple or monument “guides” would ask if I needed help and then simply say good bye and walk off when I said I didn’t.  It was all very weird compared to the usually treatment you get as a tourist in this part of the world.  What was also a bit weird was the chicken maharaja mac I had at McDonalds but better than getting delhi belly on a one day stopover.

Back in Colombo now with about 3 weeks to go before I finish up and head to Europe for a couple of weeks so probably won’t write again before I’m home.  For anyone else reading this thanks for putting up with my blogs/winges while I’ve been away.

Cheers, Sam.

Thailand, September 14-17^th

I’ve been in Sri Lanka about 4 months now and it seemed like it was time to get off the island – 18 million people in a place little bigger than Tasmania can get quite crowded – so I planned a trip to Thailand for a 4 day weekend.  Now when I say planned I am being a little generous with the word – what I in fact did was book flights to Thailand and buy a copy of lonely planet.   The extent of my lack of planning is demonstrated by the fact that I woke up last Wednesday morning thinking how good it would be tomorrow when I was on my way to Bangkok.  I got to about 11am that morning when I realize my flight was leaving at 1.25am Thursday and I actually had to be at the airport that night.  Still I managed to get there in the end despite leaving packing until after work and turning up the airport with little more than a plane ticket and an overpriced guidebook.

My lack of foresight again shone through when I arrived at Bangkok International and it occurred to me that maybe I should have looked into this visa thingy that lots of countries get hung up about.  Luckily though (or so I thought), there was a big sign which said “Visa on arrival” so I filled out a form and lined up.  An HOUR AND A HALF later I was nearing the front of the queue (this was the queue to be let into the waiting area where you took a number and waited to have your visa processed) when another Australian got to the front, showed his documents and was promptly told “oh your Australian – you don’t have to line up just go straight through the immigration counter”.  Five minutes later I was in a taxi on my way into town.

On a different topic I can’t say I think very much of economy class on international flights.  Until now the only other times I’ve flown overseas has been business class thanks to some good luck on my part and company policy regarding flights longer than 3 hours.  You don’t get your own TV, the in flight movie is shit and there’s no-one to bring you a Johnnie Walker Black whenever you want it.  I’m spoilt I know but when you’re used to something it’s hard to adjust.

Back to Thailand, for some reason I was expecting it to be pretty much the same as Sri Lanka, I was very wrong.  People in cars are civilized, bus drivers aren’t trying to kill you, even tuk tuk drivers are reasonable, if you don’t agree on a price they leave you alone to bargin with someone else – not tell you their life story and the history of the petroleum ministry.  The infrastructure there is also fantastic, trains run every few minutes, they’re all clean and never crowded, all the streets are wide, clean and well maintained.  It’s also possible to get real ham (not fake chicken ham) and orange juice for less than the price of a bottle of grange.  All this might seem pretty normal to people back home but after living here they are definitely luxuries.  Someone in Thai Government got a few things right a while back.

My first day, I did very little apart from find a hotel (hadn’t organized one of those before I left either) which I did in Koh Sarn Rd, the backpacker hangout in Bangkok.  I have never seen so many people who exactly fit the “traveler” stereotype in one place.  If I had one baht for every person with fishermans pants, dreadlocks and braided hair I would be very rich – exchange rate and all.  I also did a bit of shopping, mainly for my trip to Nepal in November so got some decent shoes and a warm jacket (this may not seem relevant now but will make slightly more sense later on).

Friday I did a tour to Kanchanburi province which is about and hour and a half west of Bangkok and is where the bridge on the river kwai is located.  The tour took us to an allied war cemetery and the bridge itself.  This is not the original bridge of course but a slightly newer one built in the same place.  I actually went whit water rafting on the river where the movie was filmed the weekend before (it was filmed in Sri Lanka) so have been very involved with both cinematic and wartime history recently.  We also took a ride along the railway that allied prisoners of war and local labourers built for the Japanese during world war 2.  This is known locally as the “Death Railway” as something like 120,000 people died during its construction, 80,000 of which were locals.  Until now things had been going pretty well but after these attractions however the tour fell into disarray.  When we were all picked up that morning, we were loaded into 4 or 5 minibusses and all given different stickers which we had to put on our shirts to indicate what tour we were on (I had a pink triangle).  I suspect this was ruse however as the tour people seemed to be making it up as they went along.  There were some people who though we were going to see some temple where Buddhist monks keep tigers as pets and you can feed them (literally perhaps you feed them) and some going to the war memorial at Hellfire Pass.  Both of which I had hoped to see.  What I got however was a crappy elephant ride which went about 400 metres in a circle and took half an hour and put on a “traditional” raft with no engine and one paddle and pushed down stream in the rain.  I think traditional might be another work for shit in Thailand – there was a token shelter on the raft but it did absolutely nothing to keep 6 of us dry for the 30 minute trip.  After that we were taken to some waterfall which was pretty good but waterfalls are always good so nothing particularly special there. 

That night I went to a night market in Pattaya in Central Bangkok which gets a good write up although as with any market it’s basically the same 5 stalls repeated over and over.  The interesting/weird thing about this market was that it was located down a street which has “go-go” bars lining each side.  In Thailand a “go-go” bar is pretty much a table top dancing club, the doors to which are all wide open so you can see exactly whats going on inside from the street.  As you walked along guys would come running out and try to convince you come and see one of the “shows” on offer – as this is a family blog I will not go into any further detail about what these shows purportedly entailed. 

The next day I took the train up to Ayuthaya, which was the country’s capital for 400 years or so about 90km north of Bangkok.  Here there are ruins of many of the old Khmer temples which are quite spectacular and the city itself is an island surrounded by a river so you have to take a ferry across from the train station.  There were bridges but they were a fair way away.  I saw about 6 temples in Ayuthaya and ended up getting motorcycle taxis around most of the day – you just jump on the back of a motorbike or scooter with a guy in a green vest and they take you wherever you want to go for about a $1.  All this was pretty good but once you’ve seen 3 or 4 temples they all kind of look the same.

On Sunday, my final day in Thailand I raced around Bangkok trying to see all the big tourist things before I had to head to the airport that night and my feet gave out.  First thing in the morning I went to the Grand Palace and the temple of the emerald Buddha.  If a Thai person ever describes something as “grand” to me in the future I will certainly take notice, this place was amazing.  All the buildings were covered in gold and glass mosaic and ornately decorated and the gardens were immaculately kept.  The Thai’s have a fair eye for landscape gardening too it seems.  As for the interiors, where Sri Lankan Buddhist temples are a bit garish and over done, Thai temples are amazingly extravagant yet tasteful and understated.  The intricate patterns in the ceiling and columns and painting on the walls were impressive enough but the emerald Buddha itself (actually it’s made of jade but someone thought it was emerald a long time ago) is fantastic despite its diminutive size.  Unfortunately you’re not allowed to take photographs inside the temple so I have nothing to show for all this talking up of interior design.

IT was then on to Jim Thompson’s’ house who was an American who moved to Thailand after the second world war.  He is almost single handedly responsible for the revival of the Thai silk trade and had a vast textile and fabric empire until he mysteriously disappeared while on holiday in Malaysia, back in the 60’s I think.  In addition to being a silk merchant he was also a trained architect and he build his house from traditional Thai homes which he took from around the country and rebuilt and joined together in Bangkok.  The house is now a museum and has some great artifacts of Thai culture that this guy was able to acquire. 

Finally I went to Chatuchang weekend market which in the largest in Thailand, again basically the same 5 stall repeated, just about 500 times over.  I would estimate (conservatively) that this place was at least 4 times the size of the Queen Vic market (and had a lot of the same stuff).  By this stage my feet were more sore than they had ever been.  The first day I was in Bangkok I wore thongs around all day and did a lot of walking, by the time I got back to my hotel that night I could barely walk because my ankle was so bad.  Hence I decided o wear my new walking shoes I had just bought (I told you that was relevant) for the rest of the weekend which of course were not worn in.  So in addition to having a badly swollen ankle it felt like the entire soles of my feet were turning into one huge blister and here I was in the biggest market I have ever seen.  Luckily there were no women with me and I was able to do a quick lap and get out of there.  I cannot imagine the pain if I had been dragged around to every clothing store in the place by some girl on a bargain hunting spree.

From there I had a few hours to kill (which I did sitting down) before heading to the airport for the flight back to Sri Lanka.  I would definitely like to head back to Thailand and actually get around the country a bit more as there is so much to see.  I didn’t even get near any of the beaches or to Chiang Mai in the north.

The other thing I should mention is that a day after I leave the place the military comes in and takes over the country.  Although from what I can tell it is the softest coup of all time – not shots fired and everyone loves the army now.  The Thaksin guy who was PM must be feeling a little unpopular right now.  Despite the travel warnings now is probably a really great time to go to Thailand if anyone is considering it, the crowds will be down and you can probably pick up a good deal on flights and a hotel.  One thing I’ve learnt from living here is the Australian Government (through DFAT) always overstates the danger and are pretty much just covering their arses when the say not to travel somewhere.

Anyway that’s all for now hopefully I can get the photo’s uploaded and there is something a bit more interesting than me saying everything is amazing or spectacular all the time.

Cheers, Sam.

Tuesday August 22^nd – Colombo

So it has been some time since I last updated my journal.  The reason being that nothing of note has happened lately, at least not that I was directly involved in.  Mostly my life has been fairly mundane, going to the office and the gym every day and back to my modest 3 bedroom “fortress of solitude” in a nearby suburb. 

Because I realized recently I have only a few more months here (it is only 7 1/2 weeks now) I’ve been trying to get out a bit on my weekends.  Mostly I have been heading down to Unawatuna, a beach resort about 120km down the coast (it takes three hours to get there though) which has been pretty good.  There are a lot of travelers there and there is a beach party on every Friday and Saturday (at the same 2 restaurants – and with the same DJ with the same playlist) so it’s a pretty good night out.  Plus the place where I stay is next door to Friday nights venue (the Happy Banana) so I don’t have much choice but to go along – I can’t get to sleep until the night winds down anyway.  Accommodation here is ridiculously cheap – my usual room is $13 US a night but last weekend I upgraded to a $20 a night room with air conditioning, a standard meal costs around $3 and a longneck stubbie $2 so it’s a fairly idyllic place.  I will try to put some photo’s up of the area – some of it is pretty nice. 

One of the interesting “cultural” quirks of Sri Lankan beach towns is the population of “beach boys” (not the Californians who sing in harmony).  Beach boys are young Sri Lankan males who hang around the beach all day, smoking marijuana (among other things) and trying to pick up white girls (which to be fair they are reasonably adept at – more so than me anyway).  They are most active on Friday and Saturday nights at whatever venue is hosting that nights’ party.  No sooner has a girl or group of girls stepped onto the dance floor than they are surrounded by long haired locals in tight t-shirts trying to dance in close.  They are also quite “protective” of what they perceive to be “their” girls (any girl in the place).  Last Friday I was standing at the bar when waiting for a drink when a girl stood in the spot next to me to order.  Within 10 seconds a beach boy had wedged himself into the non-existent space between us with his back to me to make sure I had no chance of starting a conversation with “his” girl.  It’s pretty funny to watch if you stand back and observe how they operate. There must not be many groups of blokes traveling through Unawatuna though because I’m sure these guys would get beaten up pretty regularly if there were.  Getting sheparded away from any girl that walks past – especially when you are just talking to someone else (or if the girl is good looking) does get on your nerves a bit.

I also spent a weekend at the Cinnamon Grand – my favorite hotel here.  It’s a bit more expensive but still very cheap by Australian standards – probably on a par with the Hyatt but for $70 a night (with my UN ID special discount)  The South African Cricket team was staying there at the same time I was and mostly they could be found at the bar by the pool drinking beer.  Surprisingly it was Castle Larger – their sponsor – not sure how they got that over here – the hotel must have stocked it specifically.  I only left the hotel once over the weekend and that was to get lunch so it was pretty relaxing – the pool there is great and because the lobbies and all the restaurants are air conditioned its nice to walk around without sweating for a change.  The hotel also happened to be just across the road from where Friday night drinks were so it was an easy stagger home.

Back in the real world there has been quite a lot of violence in the North and East of the country.  It may have been reported back home about the Tigers closing off a sluice gate which supplies irrigation to a government controlled area to the south.  This has triggered a month of fighting which doesn’t look likely to end anytime soon and has meant that I am unable to travel to Jaffna, Trincomalee and Killinochi where I was due to do some field visits over the last few weeks – coincidently Jaffna and Trinco are the towns where most of the fighting is taking place and Killinochi is usually described as a “rebel stronghold” so I might be sitting around the office waiting for a while yet. 

The sluice gate that was at the centre of all this is the most pathetic looking thing to fight about – it’s just a small valve in a canal that looks more like an open drain.  I’m fairly sure if the army had anyone who was a decent shot with a mortar one round would have destroyed the weir, water flows again, problem solved.  Unfortunately no-one seems to think like that here.  The army has been just as big a cause of the problems as the Tamil Tigers, at one stage the Tigers were on their way to open the gate with the head of the peace monitoring mission (who had informed the army he was on his way) and the army opened fire with heavy artillery and nearly shelled his 4wd.  Both sides blatantly lie about everything from casualty figures to who started what and there is a lot of blame being passed back and forth over 17 aid workers who were executed in Trinco.  Personally my money is on the army given that 16 of them were Tamils and the investigation has basically been swept under the rug.  I’m painting a bit of a bleak picture about this but for the most part life goes on as normal in Colombo and we just hear half fabricated reports from the mostly government controlled media.  It’s almost as if it’s all happening in another country, certainly at no point have I felt in any danger. 

We’ve even had 2 bombs go off here in Colombo in the past fortnight (thanks no-one for checking if I was still alive) but even then I tend to view these things with a sense of detachment.  The first was a few km’s south of here and I happened to be meeting some people round the corner from where it happened later that night.  It was a bit weird walking across the intersection where it happened – there was glass still on the road and a bit of police tape – but everything else had been cleared away and traffic was still going through.  My tuk tuk driver had been a bit nervous though when I told him where I wanted to be dropped off. 

The second was quite close to the office – about 1 ½ kms away and along the road I go when I head into town.  It was reported as an attack on the Pakistani Ambassador but I’m not sure that the LTTE (Tamil Tigers) are that organized – I suspect they were just trying to get the army truck that was escorting him – the army barracks is just down the road and there would be trucks heading down there all the time so probably just bad luck on the Pakistani’s part – although he was unhurt.  Again everything was cleared away and life returned to normal pretty quickly.  Sri Lankans seem to take these things in their stride and don’t get too worked up about them.  This incidentally was the blast the made the South African Cricket team decide to abandon their tour which they have been absolutely slated for in the press here.  The media in Sri Lanka is not above mudslinging, particularly when it comes to foreign sporting teams.  The South Africans have been called cowards, it’s been suggested they left because they were worried about losing the one dayers, the Australian team has even been dragged into it for their refusal to come here during the 1995 world cup after a similar blast.   In fact every cancelled tour or match for the last 20 years has been blamed on foreign teams not being man enough to come and play here (that’s the description used in the papers). 

Another interesting aside to this whole ”civil war” thing is that there was a peace rally here the other day organized by anti war Buddhist monks.  The demonstration was then disrupted by (I shit you not) pro war Buddhist monks who got up on stage and tried to take over.    Who has ever heard of pro war Buddhist monks.  I like to imagine they are like those Shoalin fighting monks who are all kung foo experts but unfortunately there was no Jackie Chan style action on the TV coverage.  Only in Sri Lanka.  I wonder if the pro war monks also like to go deer hunting and get in bar fights.  Perhaps George Bush should get some of these guys when he is up for re-election – I mean if a Buddhist monk says’ it’s ok…..

I will leave it there for this entry.  Am hoping to get to some of the more interesting (less civil war type) locations in Sri Lanka before I leave so will write more when I have seen some of those.

Wednesday 5^th July

Finally I have something a bit more interesting than the oddities of life in a foreign country to write about.  The last two weekends I have done some traveling and got to see a few of the more picturesque and culturally significant locations that Sri Lanka has to offer.  First we headed to Unawatuna on the south coast just a few minutes past the city of Galle (we being myself and Sam who dropped by on her way home from Europe – not talking about myself in the third person or making up imaginary friends – not yet anyway).  Unawatuna is a beach resort that during the tourist season is packed with backpackers and surfers but at the moment is relatively quiet.  It is a small bay crowded with restaurants and bars on the beach and home to many small hotels and guest houses.  There looked to be a half decent wave off the point (next to the Buddhist temple) but I didn’t take the board down so didn’t get to check it out for myself – will have to go back sometime soon – a room at one of the little hotels on the beach can be had for about $15 US at this time of year so it’s a good option for a weekender.  We spent most of our time here relaxing and took a walk around the Galle fort on Sunday before heading back to Colombo on Sunday afternoon.

The fort is pretty cool and I think was first constructed by the Dutch around the 1500’s and then later added to when the British took over.  It sits immediately adjacent to the Galle Cricket Ground which is well known to cricket fans as where Warnie took his 500^th test wicket.  You can see a large section of the fort walls in the background on TV when international matches are played at the ground.  Inside the fort the old town is still thriving and the mix of Dutch and English buildings still present gives the place a nice feel.  The fort is well known as a tourist destination – we saw several busses of people driving around with some bloke at the front with a microphone pointing out places of historical interest. This however brings its own hazards, such as the constant barrage of locals trying to sell you souvenirs, be your guide or just bail you up for cash.  Almost as soon as we stepped out of the car we were offered “rare” Dutch coins at a bargain price.   By the time we had walked a quarter of the way round the fort walls we realized that the coins were neither rare nor a bargain – apparently the Dutch were not too fussed about taking their currency with them when they left town.  Out of curiosity Sam (other Sam – not me) made the fatal mistake of asking the price of a dress one lady was trying to flog us.  Evidently this gives the seller free reign to hassle you incessantly no matter how much you tell them you don’t want it.  The woman followed us for 200 or 300m in spite of our polite requests to leave us alone before I had to firmly explain that she had to go away now.  Her response was that “Madame”  had asked the price and therefore wanted to buy the dress  (I’ve always said being polite gets you nowhere).  We were hearing “Madame” quite frequently (much to Sam’s frustration) as a tall white girl seems to attract plenty of attention here – am now more comfortable with the level of hassling that I endure – it could be lot worse. 

            A less historical but equally apparent feature of the fort is the amount of couples “canoodling” under a virtual sea of umbrellas along any and every corner, rampart, crack, rocky outcrop, and structure on the fort walls. This is quite frustrating when you’re trying to find a place to look out at the view – I nearly tripped over several people tucked behind walls when looking for a good spot to take a picture. Why couples choose to do this under an umbrella rather than at their home where they may have some actual privacy is a mystery to me.  PDA’s (public display’s of affection) seem to be actually illegal here – I have heard that police hassle people – hence the umbrella’s but still it would seem more logical to go somewhere less public.  Perhaps Sri Lankan parents are particularly strict about having girls in your room (no wonder there is civil unrest) but most of the people we saw looked well beyond their teens.  Just another unexplained cultural quirk I suppose.

            Back in Colombo we moved into the Cinnamon Grand for a few days (my house being located well away from any places of interest and my kitchen ill equipped to prepare a decent meal) which is a fantastic hotel – If anyone ever comes to Colombo you should definitely stay here.  From here I went back to work during the week and Sam found Odels – the Sri Lankan equivalent of Myers except that just about everything is under $10 in our currency – and shopped up a storm.  On Monday night we headed to the Australian embassy to watch the socceroo’s get absolutely robbed by the Spanish referee who I believe has since been sent home from the world cup and I suspect is now relaxing in a nice little villa somewhere in Tuscany.  Apart from the result a pretty good night.  I am almost as sad about no more embassy bbq’s for a while as I am about us being knocked out of the cup.

            On Thursday I knocked off work early and we caught the train up to Kandy, the capitol of the hill country, where we were staying for a night before heading further north.  The train ride was spectacular, the track winding up the side of steep, rocky mountains and the landscape changing dramatically from the Palm and Banana trees at low altitude to the far more diverse rainforest in the hills.  On the train itself we were seated in the “1^st Class” observation carriage which is at the back of the train and all the seats face a large window which in theory looks out over the tracks and the fantastic scenery behind the train.  Sri Lanka being Sri Lanka though the railways staff had attached the carriage the wrong way so the full height window gave us all a great view of the back of the carriage in front.  Still, the view from the side windows was pretty good.  Also with a more relaxed approach to pubic safety all the doors to the carriage at the rear of our compartment were wide open and you could stand on the step and hang out the side of the train which is pretty good for taking pictures (you have to watch out for tunnels though – the walls can be pretty close sometimes).  The toilet in first class (I suspect the provision of a toilet is pretty much the only thing that sets 1^st and 2^nd class apart)  consisted of a pan which led directly to a hole in the floor so anything deposited down there would end up straight on the tracks which can’t be too pleasant for the hundreds of people who use the railway line as a walking track and thoroughfare and who had to press themselves against rocky walls or wade into chest high grass when the train comes past.  Also worth mentioning is that we were traveling on the “intercity express” – the “fast” train which covers the 120km in around 2 ½ to 3 hours which probably makes it comparable with Melbourne’s public transport system (only there’s probably more chance of the Kandy train stopping at east Richmond and less blokes in Collingwood jumpers)

Friday morning we headed out to the Pinnewella Elephant Orphanage – 25km and AN HOUR AND A HALFS DRIVE!! From Kandy (roads here are shit – and that’s a generous assessment).  The orphanage though is amazing, being skeptical I arrived expecting to see maybe a dozen but when we reached the river (it was elephant bath time) we saw a heard of about 50 playing in the water.  Because they are used to people you can go right up and stand next to them, pat them on the head or side depending on their size and walk in amongst them when they are out of the water.  The younger ones are quite playful and if you stick your arm out they will wrap their trunk around it.  They will also grab onto you with their nostrils which are quite dexterous and almost like a hand.  Sam’s arms were covered in mud from the river after one of them took a liking to her.  For their size they are quite nimble – they all stepped up out of the water and made their way up the steep banks with ease (apart from some of the younger ones) when bathing time was over.  As soon as they were back on land most would pick up loose dirt with the end of their trunks and throw it on their backs  - I imagine this helps them keep cool but perhaps they are just like giant dogs and hate being clean.

  The Elephant orphanage takes in elephants who are found injured or whose parents have been killed or taken away to be used as working elephants.  They have a total of about 70 elephants and since it began in the 80’s they have had several births in the orphanage.  We were lucky enough to be there about 3 weeks after one such birth and got to see the baby who was about the size of a large dog or maybe a particularly fat 12 year old on all fours.  The sense of family the elephants have was clearly evident as the newborn was always surrounded by at least 3 or 4 fully grown elephants who kept a constant watch – I would not like to try and get close with those guys protecting it.   Consequently I wasted plenty of shots trying to get a clear photo of it through all the legs and trunks – thank god for digital cameras.

After an hour and a half at the orphanage we realized we had little chance of making it back to the hotel before our already extended check out time of 2pm (it was about 1.30) so we found our driver and got back in the van to make our way back to Kandy.  We had organized the driver through the taxi service we had gotten from the train station the night before – primarily because he was about $30 cheaper than the car the hotel could provide.   Things looked promising initially – we were making good time and it looked like we might be back not too long after 2 when the driver pulled over and stopped halfway up the mountain.  When asked for an explanation we were told we would be waiting half an hour then heading back. The language barrier proving to be difficult to overcome, we persisted for several minutes to find out why we had stopped, as it turned out that the driver had been drinking Arrack (a local alcoholic beverage made from coconuts – very potent) and was either worried about police so wanted to wait a while or was too drunk to drive and wanted to sober up.  Once we had extracted this information the driver put his head on the wheel and promptly went to sleep.  Feeling that the level of service was somewhat lower than we had hoped we abandoned the van minus the $10 we had paid in advance (we never paid the other $15 for the total we were quoted so it wasn’t all bad) and flagged down a tuk tuk on it’s way up the hill.  The tuk tuk (pretty much a lawn mower – maybe not that powerful – with seats) struggled a bit up the hills with the two (relatively) large white people in the back.  Still the view was probably a bit better from the more open 3 wheeler and as people keep telling me – travel ling’s about the experience.  When we finally reached the hotel we hurriedly packed our things and checked out – receiving some not so friendly looks from the staff – and waited for our next driver (also from the same company as our friend sleeping halfway down the hill) who was to take us to Dambulla, our next destination.  Thankfully he arrived and this trip was made without incident – 70kms in a tuk tuk would have taken the whole weekend. 

At Dambulla we were going to visit Sigiriya a palace/fortress constructed on top of huge rock in the 5^th century BC and the caves at the Buddhist temple in town.  Our hotel here was one of the most spectacular I have seen.  Designed by Sri Lanka’s most famous architect, Geoffrey Bawa, it is set against a mountainside and covered in vegetation so as to blend in with its surroundings.  The interior is very minimalist with black tiled floors and white walls broken up with natural rock protruding in from various directions – definitely a place for architecture buffs.  Our room had amazing views over the nearby lake and the from the hotel dining room you could see the rock at sigiriya in the distance.  In the trees around the hotel there were families of monkeys playing and fighting.  They would also get up on the ledges outside the hotel windows where the vines and creepers grew.  All guests are instructed to keep their windows closed when not in their rooms because the little buggars get in and steal everything.  One time when I was in the pool (which is perched on the side of a cliff and overlooks the lake)  a group of monkeys crept up behind the pool ledge on the cliff side and would jump up and stick their heads over the side to drink then quickly dart away again.  The pool, which has no edge above the waterline on the lake side so it blends into the horizon, was one of the best things at Kandalama (there are 2 other pools but one had a leak and was not in operation – the other was good but not a patch on the main one – ckeck the photo’s in the Sri Lanka Album) in the evening when it was just starting to get dark the hotel had some guy dressed in white wonder up on to a nearby rock and play the flute while the sun set.  A bit over the top for me but it did create a tranquil atmosphere.

On Saturday we headed out early (7.15 – that is early for me these days) to Sigiriya about 45 minutes drive away.  Once you get past the “guides” at the entrance and manage to persuade them that you don’t want to pay $50 US for them to point to things for you it’s a pretty interesting place.  There are 2 moats – an inner and outer, separated by an earth wall.  I am told that there are small crocodiles in there but unfortunately didn’t see them – there was plenty of fish though and a few monkeys nearby which would have made a good meal if they do still exist.  To get to the rock itself you walk through the remains of the water gardens which are in pretty good shape for something built 1500 years ago.  These are made up of many pits and small lakes that would have once been full and small winding streams all constructed from bricks through which water would have flown.  You then pass through the rock gardens which is a series of terraces dotted with huge boulders. On the top of some of these flat surfaces, seats and altar like structures have been carved.  There are also small holes everywhere where timber posts once fitted that supported buildings above.  Once you’ve made your way up several steep brick and stone staircases you get to the rock itself, an enormous boulder, probably 3 or 400m high.  There are narrow iron stairs and walkways that have been placed there more recently but you can see ledges carved into the rock which once formed the stairs or places where timber structures literally hung off the side.  The wind up there was really strong so I’m glad I didn’t have to make the climb on some rickety timber thing. 

 Part way up there is a wall which protects a path carved into the stone.  The wall looks oddly out of place as it is rendered and looks like it should be around someone’s house in Brighton.  At the time of it’s construction it had a mirror like glaze finish on the inside which of course everyone vandalised and scratched writing into – not that you can read it, it’s in Singhalese  - but some of it is over 1000 years old.  When you finally reach the top it is obvious why  this place made a good fortress, you can see for miles in all directions so if any invading army where approaching you would be well prepared by the time they got there.  Or at least you would think so.  Back a thousand years or so there was a king (the bastard son of the former ruler)  who, instead of staying put in his impenetrable palace, rode out in front of his army on an elephant to meet the opposing force (his half brother, the legitimate son of the former king).  He subsequently got stuck in a marsh, his army abandoned him and the palace was retaken by the rightful heir.  Just remember that next time you are facing an army and you have an impenetrable fortress at your disposal – stay in it! 

On the way back from sigiriya we stopped at the Dambulla cave temples – built by Buddhists sometime in history – I was historied out by this stage.  The caves were slightly disappointing after sigiriya, they look spectacular from the outside, a collection of white doorways and terraces that lead directly into the rock.  Once inside however they almost look a bit tacky and overdone, 20 golden Buddha’s in a room and the ceiling covered with the same painting of Buddha over and over was not particularly awe inspiring. 

            The rest of our weekend was spent relaxing by the pool back at the hotel and making the most of probably the only time I will ever stay at a truly 5 star hotel.  Ordering drinks from by the pool, room service in our suite, breakfast at the dining room with one of the best views in the world (I’m kind of rubbing it in now).  Generally a pretty relaxing weekend.   The trip back to Colombo was fairly uneventful except that I hadn’t booked tickets on the train back from Kandy and it was full so we ended up on the bus.  After that it was back to work on Monday, Sam headed home Monday night and I’m back to life as normal in Sri Lanka.  I’m heading over to the east cast next week to a place called Ampara, which is in Tamil Tiger controlled territory so should have some interesting stories to tell after that.  Well done to anyone who has actually bothered to read this whole thing – if I can get the photo’s uploaded you can actually see some of what I am talking about too and it won’t be quite so boring.

Friday 16^th June – Colombo

A short one today (at lease I anticipate it being short – I haven’t written yet have I?).  The soccer on Monday night was amazing.  Watched the game at the Australian embassy which is just across the road from my office.  They had a big projection screen set up and both an Aussie bbq and Japanese food for the occasion – and of course Australian beer.  We had the Japanese embassy over as guests, (hence the food) they are about 200m down the street and are a very passionate bunch of people.  About 30 of them turned up all dressed in the same blue T-shirts and quite fired up.  There were many chants of Nippon! Nippon! after they scored first.  Everyone knows what happened in the match so I won’t go into that but with 10 minutes to go I was finishing up what I thought would be my last beer – about 2 hours and several beers later I finally staggered home.  Tuesday was not a good day at the office.

            Have finally managed to get the rowing club to let me join and have been out in a scull the past 2 mornings.  I am extremely unfit.  I rowed about 8km yesterday and about 7 today and I am exhausted (this is not very far for those non rowers).  The lake is only a bit over 1000m too so I’m not even paddling for very long before I get to have a rest.  The lake itself is a kind of luminous green colour from all the algae – have been very careful not to actually touch the water at any stage.  I suppose you’re going to get a fair bit of growth in the water when it’s 30 degrees all the time and there’s no flow.  From what I’ve seen of the club rowers here we won’t be seeing Sri Lanka when any Olympic gold on the lake any time soon.  I’ve been out when the clubs 1^st & 2^nd fours are on the water and they struggle to pass me in a scull at times.  Speaking of the scull, the boat they’re letting me use is am empacher (non rowers, this is a particularly good brand of boat) unfortunately it looks like its from the 60’s – I think it’s and old training shell.  It feels very heavy and slow but that could also be because I’m as weak as a little girl at the moment having done no exercise for 2 months.  Still it is good to be doing something again.

            One other good thing (if you call getting up at 5.30 in morning good) about going for a row is that you get to see Colombo with no traffic and no people.  It’s actually quite peaceful and some parts much more beautiful at that time.  It’s certainly more pleasant on my bike than during peak hour.  That’s another thing – Sri Lankans seem to find a white man on a bike hilarious (I may have mentioned this before) whenever I ride anywhere people point and laugh from cars.  Not doing wonders for my self confidence.  Will try to get down to the club and have a row about 3 or 4 times a week – that way when I get back to aus I might not be a fat bastard with flabby arms.  Have to row in the mornings though as the lake is closed after 6pm because it abuts a military base and the army is very nervous about attacks – not sure how lethal a schoolgirl four or a coxless pair is going to be but you don’t argue with the guys with AK47’s.  Whoever sell’s AK47’s must be making a killing by the way (no pun intended)  Every police/army guy here has one and there are usually about 5 of them at every intersection – wonder if you can buy shares in Kalashnikov?

The security situation here continues to deteriorate – not that it affects us here in Colombo very much.  A bus was bombed in the north central area yesterday and the government responded with aerial bombing of tamil tiger strongholds despite the fact that there was no evidence that they were involved and they publicly denied it.  While the message to the world is that both sides want peace it is increasingly looking like they want to get back to killing each other full time instead of doing it in bits and pieces while the so called ceasefire agreement is in place.  Sadly this is already having an effect on people we are trying to help with shipments of concrete to tamil controlled areas in the north banned.  The government is worried about the tigers using it to build bunkers – still it makes it a bit hard to rebuild peoples homes without it.  The word is that the tamils are going to walk away from the peace process and formally declare war in two weeks when the university entrance exams are over.  Not sure why that is a trigger, perhaps they are a terrorist organization that really cares about education.  If this does eventuate I don’t expect it will cause any problems down here – we are a long way from where the fighting is and the tamils don’t target foreigners.  All it will mean is that we can’t get work done in the field in some locations and there is already a travel ban in place for locations to the north.  Hopefully this is all here say and everything settles down, don’t want to get pulled home just yet – it’s 12 degrees there and it looks like being a shocking ski season (oh yeah and I kind of lied about this being short didn’t I).

Monday 12^th June – Colombo

To anyone reading this other than myself the following entry is fairly bleak and I do not anticipate it being particularly entertaining.  I wrote it mainly for myself to remember things as they are but to those that wish to read it feel free.  Just don’t complain to me when you get bored.

 Settling in to Sri Lanka is taking a bit longer than I had hoped – speaking from a personal point of view rather than physically.  I have a house sorted out and pretty much everything I need but adjusting to the culture here and the way of life is a bit more difficult than I first thought.  One of the things everyone had told me about Sri Lanka was how friendly the people are – which is true to a point.  Everyone I’ve met through work has been great but they only represent a relatively small sub section of the population, by necessity they are well educated and this generally means that they are upper class, often having spent significant time overseas.  People you meet in the communities where we are working are also fantastic, they are friendly and motivated and generally appreciative of the work what the various aid agencies are providing them. 

What I have found quite confronting though, is the people on the street.  There is much poverty here, many people have no home and keep all their possessions in a kind of cart that they push around from place to place.  Often you will see whole families living on the street under a tree or a shop awning at night.  The prevalence of this kind of poverty also means that begging is common.  I am often asked for money, being white makes you a target for all kinds.  Often they are people with detailed and well rehearsed scams (it is amazing how many people are running schools for the blind), usually they will ask what country you are from and have built up a vast knowledge of facts about a range of western countries to keep a conversation going until they hit you for the cash.  For instance a reply of “I’m Australian” is usually met with “Ahh Australia – Good Cricket! Ricky Ponting” and so on.  I have tried being kiwi too which got “Ahh New Zealand – good dairy” which struck me as a bit odd that the con artist should feel that knowledge of good dairy products was a good way to bond.  I suppose it is also a rather damning commentary on the state of New Zealand cricket too. 

 Mostly though, the people who hold out their hand are just so poor that they have little option.  The equivalent of a dollar or two from a westerner is enough to provide food for a family for a couple of days.  Unfortunately you can not give money to everyone and sometimes it is hard to tell those that are in genuine need and those who are seeking to take advantage.  What this means though is that I often find myself staring at the ground as I walk around, not wanting to make eye contact lest I be hassled every 20 paces.  A behavior which makes me feel sad and a little guilty about the comparatively privileged life that I have.

An extension of this perceived affluence of westerners also means that people like tuk tuk drivers will try to rip you off at every opportunity.  Sri Lanka is very much a country where bargaining is accepted and expected.  Once you have been here a while you pick up an understanding of what the genuine price should be.  Not being accustomed to bartering however I find it quite insulting when the first price quoted is 3 or 4 times the usual, this is the reality though and is something I will just have to get used to. 

In general doing anything here is fraught with frustration.  I have been trying  for a couple of weeks now to join a gym and the local rowing club because I have not done any exercise since I got here and I am sure that this is a factor in my less than ecstatic mood of late.  In this endevour I have been completely unsuccessful – when I can find a decent gym they are “not taking memberships right now” or will not let you take out a 6 month membership (everything here is long term).  At the rowing club the manager seemed almost distressed that I wanted to join – like the paperwork would all be too much.  “I’ll have to speak to the secretary – he’ll give you a call”  - after 2 weeks of calling I finally spoke to the captain the other day who said he’d speak to the secretary and give me a call back tomorrow – this was 4 days ago – I have not heard back.

I am beginning to appreciate things about the Maldives that I hadn’t realized were a blessing until now.  In Male things cost the same for everyone, people weren’t particularly friendly but they also pretty much left you alone to do your thing.  Joining a gym or a club there (there was only one and I never got round to it) was simply a financial transaction – pay your money and your in – there was no administrative headache. 

The other thing about Male was it’s size – both a source of frustration and an advantage to people in my situation.  Because everyone was squeezed into such a small place there was a small but strong expat community.  There were a few people younger people and lots who surfed so there was always someone to hang out with and always surf not far away.  The closest surf here is 3 hours by car and it is now out of season.  In Sri Lanka there are many expats but in Colombo they are mostly older – I have not met anyone else under 30 here & many have come with wives or partners.  There are a few young people in volunteer roles but they are based out in regional areas and don’t often make it into the city.  So it is a very lonely existence in Colombo at the moment. 

One positive though is the Australian embassy “social club” which meets once a month and I only first attended last Thursday.  For the first time since I’ve been here I felt relaxed and at home.  At the back of the embassy is a large outdoor area adjacent to a swimming pool where once a month there is a bbq and the bar is open with Australian beer and wine.  It certainly felt good to have a VB for an change (they have fosters too but I’m not sure why they are wasting their time with that rubbish) and was good to meet some other aussies (although Australians were possibly still outnumbers by the kiwi’s and Canadians who were there – it’s good to know Australians enjoy a reputation for throwing a good party).  At one stage I was chatting to the Australian Consul – a woman whose name escapes me at the moment – but unfortunately for all my charms I was unable to swing a deal to come and use the swimming pool on a regular basis – a shame considering my office is directly across the road.  I have also been talked into having a run for the “Puffins” an expat rugby union team over here.  We are taking on a New Zealand navy team from a ship that is docked here next weekend.  Hopefully those boys have had a few days drinking under their belt before they turn up because I’ve lost a couple of kg’s since I’ve been here and don’t fancy taking on a fired up kiwi navy team in my new far less muscular form.

Because of the world cup there is another function on tonight – they have a big screen set up and have invited the Japanese embassy over as well so I will be heading over this afternoon (the game starts at 6.30pm here – bar is open at 4) to watch the soccer and drink Australian beer.  Hopefully they do this for all the socceroos games.

I was told by someone who had lived in London for a couple of years before I left that the homesickness and the feeling of isolation was the worst at 3 months.  It looks like I have another month to go and things will have to get worse before they get better but I am sure they will.  This has been a very negative and probably depressing entry but it is a snapshot in time and merely reflects my mood at this moment.  There are things going on elsewhere in my life at present which have perhaps tainted my mood, I will not go into them here.  For those that are reading this, it is not intended to provoke sympathy.  I certainly would not be sympathetic to anyone who has been handed the opportunity that I have.  I always write simply my observations on wherever I am – primarily so that one day I can look back and remember my experience.  I post my journal so that I do not have to write emails to everyone back home all the time (this is pretty lazy I know).  So to those that have made it this far I apologise for the depressing nature of this entry and thanks for putting up with me having a whinge – It probably won’t be the last.

Tuesday 6^th June – Sri Lanka

Where to start – I think it has been a month since my last entry – this is definitely my first since arriving in Sri Lanka anyway.

            Things in the Maldives didn’t quite work out as planned.  A combination of Politics, lack of funding & some high level personality clashes meant that there wasn’t a whole lot for me to do in the Maldives.  Consequently I was shipped off to Sri Lanka at short notice to work with UN Habitat on tsunami recovery projects here.  Because I’ve left it so long it is hard to accurately recall my first impressions of this place but I will give it my best shot – I am well aware that my feelings towards Sri Lanka have been altered somewhat by the reality of actually living here rather than seeing through the eyes of someone who is just passing through.

            My first thoughts on arriving here and leaving the airport (apart from “damn, it’s still hot) were of relief to be somewhere with roads & cars and a more recognizable form of civilization.  For our first night  (I was traveling with another Lend Lease person, Tim Leathes, who was also relocating to Sri Lanka), we had arranged to stay with one of the expats already here in Colombo and we had a car waiting to collect us at the airport.  Now Tim had warned me that traffic in Sri Lanka was not like back home in Australia or the UK but I was definitely unprepared for the 30 minute ride into town.  I had thought and have written previously about the crazy traffic in Male – that is nothing compared to here, where drivers actually have enough space to get up to high speed before they cut you off/push you into oncoming traffic/overtake on the inside etc etc.  It is definitely the law of the jungle on the roads here.  Busses & Trucks do basically whatever they want – they’re the biggest vehicles on the roads and the most aggressive – they will think nothing of pulling out onto the wrong side of the road and forcing the opposing cars to pull off the road to avoid them (they will beep their horn loudly and constantly to warn you that they’re coming though – courteous chaps that they are)  The situation is not helped that busses are run both by the government and by private operators along the same routes – whoever reaches the next stop first gets the passengers and hence, the money.  This means that there is sort of a mad chase down the road – often with 3 or 4 busses trying to get past each other – is quite a site provided you are a safe distance away.  So the busses own the road and push everyone around, the next in the pecking order are the cars – they push the tuk tuk’s (3 wheeler things) around, the tuk tuk’s push the motorbikes around (only when there’s heavy traffic because tuk tuk’s are painfully slow – I think they must run off a lawn mower engine) and the motorbikes push the push bikes around.  Anyone brave enough to ride a push bike on the open road (I ride mine around Colombo where traffic is congested and relatively slow) has my sincere admiration – it must truly be a sense of achievement when you arrive at your destination alive.  Using the horn is also widely accepted – mostly just to let people know you are there – often I have been walking down empty streets when a solitary car has driven along beeping randomly at nothing – I thinks it is a second nature type of thing – kind of like checking your rear view mirror.   Drive, check mirror, beep horn, answer mobile phone, beep horn again, adjust radio, pull into oncoming traffic, beep horn and so on.  Also I am not well versed on the actual road laws here but based on observation It would appear that traffic pulling out of a side street onto a main road has right of way and red lights are a nice change of ambient lighting every now and then.  Anyway that is traffic in Sri Lanka, despite all this there does not seem to be a huge amount of accidents – I had initially though that Sri Lankans were the worst drivers in the world but am beginning to suspect they may actually be the best.  In any case there is no way I will be getting behind the wheel whilst here.

            While on my initiation to Colombo’s roads I was relieved to see that there were supermarkets with real food (not just frozen imported stuff like in Male), even fast food places like McDonalds,  KFC, Pizza Hut et al ( although I would later discover that not all is as it seems).  So my mood was quite positive.  We had also arrived on the eave of a celebration to mark the 2550^th anniversary of the birth/death? (one of those) of Buddha which was a 5 day event.  There were people setting up decorations and stalls for the festival to begin the following night so Colombo was looking pretty good at this point.  I then found out that during the festival it was illegal to sell alcohol – so no beer for a few days longer – I suppose I lasted a month in Male – a couple more days wouldn’t really matter. 

            Because we had arrived on the eave of a long weekend I got a good chance to relax and hang out by the pool at the hotel/apartments where we were staying the next day and then because Duncan (who we were staying with) is a mad surfer, we headed down the coast for a couple of days to a place called Hikaduwa, about 100km south of Colombo.  The 100km  drive took 2 ½ hours.  I was told that this is actually pretty good time for this trip such is the nature of Sri Lanka’s roads.

Hikkaduwa is a little resort town (I use the word resort loosely) with a number of small hotels and one large one up the end of a nice stretch of beach.  We stayed at one of the smaller places which had a good restaurant & bar on the beach – no beer though – anniversary of Buddha (who, by the way looks like he would have enjoyed the odd beer in his time).  So we spent the weekend surfing and in the end we did manage to get a drink – a place up the road was selling alcohol discreetly – have never seen so many blokes ordering a pot of “tea” each and drinking out of tiny little tea cups – complete with saucers.  The rooms we had were basic but fairly nice – overlooking the beach and the restaurant roof there was plenty of breeze which was lucky considering there was no aircon.  Also we had a pretty spectacular storm that night – heaps of lightning, thunder etc and a strong wind, which was nice and cool.  Unfortunately for me having left all my windows open to get the breeze through my room, I was covered in pieces of palm tree the next morning.  Nothing a surf couldn’t fix through.

            Since then I have just been settling in.  I have rented a house in Colombo where I’m living on my own (it has three bedrooms so if anyone wants to visit there is plenty of room).  It has a small front and back yard and is in a quiet street with an overgrown vacant block next door which is home to an abundance of wildlife (actually everywhere in Colombo is home to an abundance of wildlife)  the other morning I counted at least 6 squirrels in my front yard – they are quite small, more like chipmunk size and a couple of times at night have seen what I think is a mongoose running around but might be some kind of enormous rat – about cat size anyway.  There is also some other unseen creatures which makes a noise kind of like a seal every morning which can be quite annoying but given I don’t know what it is I can’t do much about it.

            Workwise, I have just moved into a new office and finally have my own computer – which is the reason for the lack of recent entries. For those that have been asking and in particular my grandfather who I am told when reading my journal remarked that he couldn’t find anywhere where I did any actual work (it’s my journal anyway – who wants to know about work?) I will try and describe what I actually do.  I am working with one of the Project Managers for UN Habitat who looks after jobs spread all over the country, all of which are funded my the government of the United Arab Emirates.   My job (as a “Project Management Consultant” no less – that will be an impressive business card when they finally arrive) is to make sure the regional managers are organized & are getting the funds they need and distributing them to the beneficiary families and reporting progress back to us in Colombo, I then compile reports for the UAE ( I wonder If I can swing a trip to Dubai out of this).  I will also be visiting most of the sites at least once a month to check on how things are going and I’m sure I’ll be taking on more work as things progress – new projects are about to start up in a few places which I’ll be involved with which will give me the chance to Fulfill one of my ambitions since I found out I’d be working for the UN.  I will finally get to drive around in the big white UN 4wd, complete with flack jackets, bomb blankets, bullet proof glass, etc etc.  All of this is fairly unnecessary of course – the Tamil Tigers are smart enough not to attack aid agencies (stop freaking out Mum) but as with any burocracy  there are guidelines to be followed – here in the great international public service there are more than most. 

            Speaking of the security situation there have been a few attacks up north since I have been here but nothing down here.  You know you’re in a country that has had problems in the past though when traffic cops are packing AK47’s (and the traffic’s still ridiculous).  On every major street corner there is a bored looking soldier with a machine gun – often holding a thumb or hand over the barrel so wouldn’t be surprised if the hospitals are full of 3 fingered army guys.  In the CBD most streets near major buildings are blocked to traffic during the day and everyone at night.  There are road blocks and sandbagged machine gun nests in front of the most important streets.  For all this though the place is pretty friendly and there is no problem getting anywhere – although the UN id doesn’t open as many doors as it did in the Maldives. 

 Will hopefully head out to some of the regional areas soon and have a bit more to write about the cultural side of things.  Until my next entry – Cheers.

Thursday 4^th May

Back in the office (again – this is getting repetitive) after four days on the islands, this time down south on Thaa Atoll with a quick trip to Dhambidhoo on Laamu Atoll.  We went down first thing Sunday morning to Khinbidhoo to prepare for a re-survey of all the houses affected by the tsunami on this island, but I’m sure I’ve written about this in my last entry besides which it is mudane and boring anyway.  What I didn’t write about was the flight down (and back).  Because these island are some distance away it is more practical to take a short flight and then a 2 hour boat ride than take 7 or 8 hours by boat from Male.  Now the plane was not the smallest I’ve been on (that honor goes to a tiny 4 person Cessna some years ago) but definitely the smallest commercial flight.  When we walked out on to the tarmac at Male airport the first thing I noticed was that the plane had propellers, now obviously I am somewhat spoilt having traveled over here business class on the company but anything old enough to have propellers makes me slightly nervous.  Also the plane had overhead wings, which I haven’t seen on anything other than a military cargo plane or on planes in movies from the 60’s.  Thirdly, once I got inside the plane (it had an odd kind of square body by the way – but that was the least of my concerns) I found that it was about as wide as a mini cooper (not the new ones), seriously, the whole interior could not have been a meter and a half it was that narrow.  There was room for one Maldivian sized seat either side and a narrow aisle – lucky I don’t get claustrophobic – so no dramas over who gets the aisle or window seat, everyone has both. Next I found that I had the frontmost seat on the right hand side of the plane, again, this would not normally seem like a bad thing however, the reason I have mentioned all of the above will soon be apparent.  The cumulative result of all these seemingly useless observations; propellers, overhead wing, tiny plane, window seat up the front; was that the propeller mounted on the underside of the wing was immediately next to my head.  I had weird daydreams of the thing dislodging from the engine and sawing through the side of the plane and then myself very soon thereafter – perhaps I have a fear of flying that I have just not accepted – I prefer to blame the dodgyness of the plane though.  On top of all this it’s a Maldivian airline so who knows when the maintenance people last felt like doing any maintenance. Being a smaller plane there was no separate cockpit so sitting in front of me were the pilots.  At least in the event of any mishaps I could pretty much just lean forward and have a go at flying the thing myself – also quite a good view out of the cockpit windows to the front.  To be fair I am making things out to seem much worse than they actually were, the flight was actually pretty good, you could see all the islands from the air and it all looked very beautiful from up there.  It certainly gives you a different perspective after just seeing everything from sea level for two weeks.  Despite my pessimism the flight passed without incident in a relatively comfortable manner (oh yeah – the cabin is not pressurized ant the engines are quite loud being immediately next to your head and all so they hand out ear plugs as well – knew I was forgetting something) and we arrived at Kahdhoo where we were picked up by our boa after a brief 3 hour wait (won’t go into that).

The next four days gave me a bit of an indication just how much I rely on email and the internet to keep myself in touch with the rest of the world.  Without either I was restricted to sending text messages on my mobile (not enough coverage to actually make a call) which were rarely responded too (thanks a lot everyone!) which is not particularly fulfilling.  The islands we were visiting are located toward the southern end of the Maldives – only about 250km north of the equator, mush more isolated than those closer to Male.  There are no resorts that far south and the effect on the economy is apparent, while most people were still relatively comfortable – there were no souvenir shops, boats were older and so on.  This also meant that foreigners, such as myself, are something of a rarity.  Being the only white person on each of the islands that I visited was a bit surreal – kids would point a laugh when they saw me coming, adults would mostly say hello and ask what country I was from – all were very friendly.  The downside was that for 4 days (which I know does not seem like much) I couldn’t have a fluent conversation with anyone because no one could understand what I was saying.  The  interpreters have a reasonable grasp of English but after a while you end up talking in broken, simplistic sentences – by Wednesday afternoon I was dying to have some communication with the outside world just so my ability to talk did not regress any further.  This has been a fairly gloomy entry looking back over it but it reflects fairly accurately how it feels being effectively alone out on the islands.  In any case, will try to avoid staying more than a night or two in the future.  Never thought I’d be glad to be back in Male. 

Sunday 30^th April

Where to start.  It’s been an eventful week (mostly the last few days really). Starting in chronological order we went to Muli in the Meemu Atoll on Wednesday, the speedboat that showed up to take us there was huge, with a fully enclosed cabin with seating for around 30 people – kind of like a bus on the water.  Apparently this was because the boat charter company though the seas might get a bit rough so they sent the fully enclosed boat.  Overkill really when there’s only 5 people traveling.  We did pick up a few passengers for the journey home, a couple of groups of islanders who obviously saw an opportunity for a free ride to Male when they saw only 5 of us get off. I expect it would have been considerably quicker than the 8 or so hours it takes to get there by Dhoni so I can understand the motivation. 

            The visit to Muli had its own share of drama.  While our primary reason for being there was to review the UN grant system for dispersing funds (it is hopelessly flawed and is currently holding up many people trying to get on with rebuilding their houses but because someone in New York got worried with some negative press we have to complete this review and await some far off beaurocrats approval before we can continue) the islanders had their own agenda.  More correctly a group of about 15 were fairly unhappy with the UN and decided that they wanted a meeting with us despite our protestations that we were not actually in a position to help them.  We agreed to hear their concerns and pass on the message to the relevant people once we had finished our review with the Island Development Committee.  Another hour passed and the islanders lingered around outside the island chief’s office in the sun getting more and more impatient.  When the time came to sit down with them we were chastised for keeping them waiting in the sun for so long, despite the fact that we didn’t ask for the meeting, couldn’t really help them and had no idea of the history of the issues they wanted addressed.  Without going into the more mundane details of their complaints the meeting quickly degenerated into a melodramatic performance by the islanders.  A couple of times I had to suppress laughter and did not always succeed which I suspect may have made things worse but the sight of a dozen grown men (albeit short ones) carrying on like primary school children was quite amusing.  Particularly as they all spoke at once in Dhevi. Shaha, the poor girl who was translating for us had to try to keep up and tell 12 blokes to calm down and speak one at a time.  At one stage they even threatened to keep us from leaving the island should we return without having attended to their grievances.  Looking back it was all quite comical, it vaguely reminded me of program meetings at Bovis where 12 subcontractors would complain and all yell at the same time.  I guess there are parallels like that everywhere in life.

            We did manage to safely leave the island and Thursday in the office was a more mundane affair – as most days in the office here tend to be.  Friday was much better however being the first day of the weekend here.  I headed out to a resort – Club Faru I think – with Jen & Mandy from the office.  Club Faru used to be a Club Med and many of the “rules” remained.  This meant that the room price was all inclusive so with the three of us sharing a room and the 50% discount someone managed to swindle we were paying about $35 US for 3 buffet meals, a very retro Bond style room with curved roof and windows and most impressively, unlimited alcohol from any of the resort’s bars, any time of day.

The only thing lacking at this resort was the on island surf break that we’d had at Lohifushi the week before.  What this island lacked in location though it made up for in style.  Instead of just walking out to the surf break as we’d been able to do previously it was necessary to organize some transportation which the resorts watersports instructor (a Maldivian named Rwanda – who I’m pretty sure was trying to pick up Jen all weekend, probably why we had the room discount etc) was happy to provide.  Heading out to one of the nearby breaks in a sleek white speedboat meant we definitely had some of the best transportation going around.  Most of the other surfers had arrived by Dhoni, the large cumbersome boats used to ferry people around – not without their charm but no match for the speed and comfort we had at our disposal.  Sadly not everything went our way with transportation though.  The break we surfed on Friday was called Sultans and was a relatively slow fat right but still a good wave.  On Saturday we packed everything in the boat and were heading out to Jailbreaks (so called because it is just off the prison island – and no, the prisoners are not allowed to surf) when Rwanda, trying to take a shortcut across a section of reef managed to sheer off the guard below the propeller on a passing piece of coral and break the hydraulic jack that raises and lowers the engine into the water in the process.  Luckily we were not far from the resort (we had barely left) and after jumping out and walking the boat across the coral and into deeper water we were rescued by the staff Dhoni.  So surf trip seemingly over for the day we retired to the pool but Rwanda, ever keen to impress, hadn’t given up yet.  An hour later we were loading surfboards, bodyboards, flippers etc aboard a small hobie cat and we sailed out to jailbreaks.  I’m fairly sure that hobie catamarans are only built for two people so it was pretty cramped with the four of us plus gear, it also took quite a bit longer to get there than the speedboat.  Again we stood out at the break for our choice of transport – most people gave us funny looks this time and asked if we seriously sailed out on the cat, but it was sure worth it.  The waves at jailbreaks were definitely the best I’ve surfed since getting here.  It’s a fairly consistent right with a bit of speed and if you picked the right wave you could ride for 100-150m.  Around lunch time when most of the crowd left (by crowd I mean abut 20 people – pretty good by Australian standards) the swell started to increase and I managed to get a couple of 8-10 foot monsters – very awesome dropping on to one of those and to make it without getting worked (which happened a few times incidentally).   So a pretty good weekend and unfortunately a considerable contrast to the next few days(although this entry is headed Sunday the 30^th – which is when I started it, it is now evening on the 1^st May an I am sitting under a tree)  Sunday morning we headed out to Kinbidhoo where we are resurveying houses damaged by the tsunami because the original survey was inaccurate and caused many complaints.  Has been a challenging couple of days so far and t looks like I will be staying here another 2 nights at least while I visit a couple of other islands.  While this sounds like fun the islands are not always idyllic.  Again there are angry locals (although I think we have managed to reach a solution with these ones), its very hot, the island is surrounded by swamp so you can’t swim and with my aversion to fish the variety of food available extends to rice & bread (oh yeah and they have dengue fever here too so am paranoid every time I see a mosquito).  It is however one of the nicer looking islands I’ve been too, with some thick palm groves left and large sections of the island not yet built out so at least I have a picturesque setting to he hot and frustrated in.

Monday 24^th April – Day 11 – Back in the office.

Am back in the office today (actually was back yesterday) and don’t have much to do so am updating this.  Spent the weekend at a resort a Lohifushi, an Island not far from Male (half an hour by speedboat, hour and a half by dhoni – we took the dhoni).  Had a great time, lohifushi (or Lohi’s) is one of the only islands which has a surfbreak on the island itself – most others are only accessable by boat.  This consisted of a peeling left which would vary between 3-8 foot for the bigger sets and would tube when the conditions were good, managed to get slotted once or twice but mainly the bodyboard was a bit slow and I would often get caught in the close out sections – am looking into importing a surfboard but this could be a costly exercise.  Was still great fun – spent most of the weekend in the water and have the sunburn and board rash to prove it – by Saturday afternoon I could barely lie on my board and my left elbow was playing up – was basically waiting for the late take off as I was too sore to paddle very hard.  On shore, in front of the break the resort has built a “surf deck” where you can relax between surfs, there is a bar just behind here and the waiters will come out and take your order so there is always a good sized crowd on the deck – oftenfull of wives or girlfriends or surfers taking a break.  It’s a pretty good place to finish the day at sunset after coming out of the water.  There is also a sea turtle who obviously lives around the point somewhere because he would often swim up to people out the back and stare at them – not sure what he wanted – perhaps we were taking his waves, but very cool to see an animal like that in the wild. The only bad thing about the break is the strong current that picks up between 10am and 2pm which basically means you’re paddling the whole time to get to the take off point – very tough on the arms but it prepares you well for the buffet lunch.  

            The food at Lohi’s was another highpoint – the first decent meals I’ve had since I got here – not particularly special by Australian standards but much better than anywhere else here that I’ve eaten.  Unfortunately the only beer they has was San Miguel which is ordinary at the best of times and when served lukewarm even worse – still being able to have a beer is rare enough over here so you have to make the best of it. 

            Off the point a bit but refrigeration seems to be an unfamiliar concept over here.  At most shops there are drinks in fridges but the fridge seems to be set at about room temperature so they basically just keep things at the same temperature as they were when they went in.  Also rare is the availablility of ice and I don’t think Maldivians have even heard of the esky!  A shocking situation considering their climate, I suppose if you don’t have beer though an esky might not be much use.

            Back to lohifusi, the resort I very 70’s in décor with lots of timber paneling and high island style ceilings.  There are very few walls with most of the bars and dining areas open to the breeze, the whole thing looks like something out of a Bond film circa Roger Moore.  The clientle, apart from ourselves was mostly German and South African with lots of surfers – there is an Australian surf guid who lives at the resort for 5 months of the year and just organizes boats out to the offshore breaks nearby for anyone who wants to go.  Don’t think he gets paid much but what a sweet job, all your meals and accommodation covered and all you have to do is go surfing every day – tough life.

            On the way back to Male we saw a pod of dolphins playing nearby, several of them leaping out of the water a good 5 or  feet straight up, was amazing to watch.  Tried to catch on camera but all I managed was the splash as they re-entered the water.  Have been seeing all this amazing sea life fairly regularly so I hope I still appreciate it in a few months time, it would be sad to consider all these things as normal, I have never seen this level of ocean life back home.

            One of the other observations about life here (apart from people not understanding what a fridge is for) is that guys seem to hold hands a lot, given that Islamic law is not particularly tolerant of homosexuals I am assuming this is a cultural thing – still seems weird to me though.  Also the shops shutting for tem minutes at prayer times I is getting a bit frustrating as it is usually when I’m coming home from dinner so I have to hang around or come out again if I need anything (like drinkable water).  The reason I’m always coming home from dinner is that I’m still living in a hotel, the novelty of which is starting to wear a bit thin.  Having to pack up my bags every two days or so is pretty annoying but it looks like I might be moving into a place on Thursday so it will be good to be able to prepare my own food. 

            As for the rest of the week it looks like I’ll be heading out to the islands on Wednesday for a day trip and then possibly back out to Lohifushi on Thursday night again for the weekend.  The resort is shutting in 3 weeks for refurbishment and won’t be open again until October so have to make the most of it.  Once it closes I guess I’ll have to find somewhere else to spend my weekends or maybe I’ll look into those live aboard surfaris and cruise around in a yacht (I can dream any way).

The Maldives – How I got out of working in Construction for another 6 months.

17^th April 2006 – Fourth day in Male

In trying to put some order to my first thoughts of this crazy place I have used headings to organize what would otherwise be a confused rabble of observations.  This is by no means any guarantee that what follows will be at all coherent.

Male

Having seen his place from a satellite photo does nothing to prepare you for the reality.  The island itself is tiny, only a couple of kilometers long by 1.2 wide, still a lot is crammed in to such small space.  The entire island is a city full of apartment blocks and shops, shoe shops specifically, a disproportionately high number of shoe shops considering that no-one here actually wears shoes – only thongs.  There are some offices down by the main warf where boats leave for the airport every 5-10 minutes, the better of these belong to the government or to airlines.  The rest of the town is all low rise – the tallest building could be no more than 15 stories if that, which presents it’s own set of problems.   Walking around on my first day here I got lost for about an hour & a half, thinking that I could easily find my way back to the hotel from anywhere in the town.  Unfortunately given that the highest natural point on the island is about 2 meters above sea level and no building significantly taller than any other there are no landmarks which makes navigating your way around very difficult particularly if you don’t pay any attention because you think your sense of direction is impeccable.  My first day here was also a Friday which is the Muslim holy day which means that nothing happens until after 3 in the afternoon and loud music and chanting blares out from the mosques every hour or so which is quite annoying. Even more annoying is the break in TV broadcasting at prayer times for twenty seconds or so.  More annoying than this though is that as soon as even the slightest bit of nudity is shown on TV, even if it’s some arty film with no perve value whatsoever, the channel is cut and often does not return.

Civil unrest is not something I would normally associate with a supposed tropical paradise but in my first 4 days here I have seen two protests.  The first in the main street on Friday was relatively calm by protest standards.  A crowd of around 100 people walked up the street with banners chanting something I couldn’t understand.  A lot more people stood around and watched what was going on – standing around watching what is going on seems to be the national pastime here.  Some mean looking guys in army uniforms hung around the corners when the protesters got close to the presidents office – the presidents guards are your stereotype big black army guys.  They must grow them on some special island because everyone else here would be looking to be taller than 5’2” which is not bad because it means next to the presidents guard I am pretty much the tallest guy here.  This does make you a bit self conscious especially since there are very few white people in male and most are tourists.  Also because I stupidly didn’t bring any flip flops with me I’ve been wearing around my white Dunlop volleys which tend to stand out quite a lot and have been receiving a few bemused looks from the locals.  The second protest occurred yesterday afternoon and was supposed to be outside the UN office which wasn’t too bad because it meant we got to knock off at 3.30.  Apparently this happens from time t time although why they protest outside the UN is a bit lost on me.  One person thought it was because the opposition here wants the UN to be more vocal about the perceived lack of human rights in the Maldives and to get some exposure internationally.  I went for a run later in the evening and went back past the UN building where there didn’t seem to be any protesters but there was about 40 army/police in blue camouflage with full riot gear – a show of force perhaps, more likely as a deterrent than for any actual riot.

            From what I understand of the political situation which is not much, the same guy has been in power for about 25 years and there haven’t been any real elections for a long time.  This process is changing and I think elections are scheduled in 2007 or 2008.  An organized opposition party has only just recently been formed, previously people were locked up for years for speaking out against the president.  Unfortunately they are not much of an opposition as their only arguments are for better human rights, on any other issue they have no policies so they struggle somewhat in any sort of debate.  There also seems to be something of a culture of handouts from the government which means that people here don’t seem to be too good at doing thins for themselves but are good at expecting someone else to fix it.  This may be an unfair generalization though as it has only been a few days and I am yet to get out on the islands and see how the rest of the population lives.

            My other initial thoughts of the city was that it appeared quite poor with many dirty little streets and houses and many of the buildings run down.  This proved to be a gross misapprehension on my part, looking closer everyone has the latest mobile phone and a brand new car or scooter to get around on.  I’m not sure where all the money comes from as no-one seems to actually do anything.  There is however almost no extreme poor – everyone lives relatively comfortably and for the most part in harmony with their neighbours if not with their government. 

Traffic

            The traffic here is insane, you can walk anywhere on the island in under 15 minutes yet everyone either rides a scooter (all brand new and all exactly the same model – the guy who imports these – and I hear it is only one guy – must be making an absolute packet), catches a taxi or drives.  I ran around the entire island last night and it only took 28 minutes ( I reckon it would have taken 25 except I got held up at the fish markets) so driving anywhere seems like a waste of time and money to me.  Add to this that everything is new – no-one wants to drive an old car.  I’ve even seen a couple of Mercedes, a rover and tonight and Audi TT.  I can’t believe that people would spend the money to buy these cars, ship them to the island and never get to drive them above 50km/hr – what a waste.  The other thing about the traffic is that road rules and traffic signals are strictly optional, people often go right through red lights even when there is a policeman on the corner who of course does nothing.  You pretty much have to just walk around with an air of confidence as this seems to be the only way to get people to give way – just walk straight in front of the traffic and hope for the best – so far this is working ok.

Food

The food here is rubbish – a little unfair perhaps given I have been here only 4 days but I’ve eaten at a lot of different places in this time and the cuisine definitely sucks.  In the Maldivians’ defence the choice is actually a lot wider than I first anticipated although this may in fact be their downfall.  Every restaurant has pretty much the same menu, burgers, sandwiches, pizza, pasta, Indian, thai, steak, chicken and local dishes.  I went to an Italian restaurant the other night only to find they probably had fewer Italian foods on their menu than most other places they had just decided to market themselves that way.  In any case the pizza I had was shit, the burger I had at my hotel on the first day was worse – the club sandwhich I had for lunch on Saturday was passable at best and every time I’ve had chicken it has been grossly overcooked and quite dry.   I think the trick is to order foods at least similar to those that Maldivians themselves would eat, they have less scope to stuff those up – the butter chicken I have had at a couple of places was so good as to even be described as average.  Prices however are quite low, a main meal goes for between 40 – 150 rufiya which is about $4 - $15, most of the time a meal will cost around $10 Australian.  Food in supermarkets is also cheap – a bottle of coke goes for about 60 cents, chocolate bars the same (which I have been eating a lot of to substitute for the lack of easter – seeing that the country is strictly muslim –worried I will be a fat bastard by the time I leave)  Beef is very hard to get hold of and chicken is only available as a whole chook – frozen (in a packet – not with feathers etc)  which is about half the size of the chickens we have in australia – makes you wonder what kind of hormones we are feeding them.  It took me a day and a half of looking in every supermarket I went past to work out why no-one had any ham – muslim country again – so it looks like my lunchtime staple of ham and cheese sandwiches is going to have to change.  Also more concerning is the fact that you can’t buy alcohol in Male unless you have a special permit, which apparently soe people at the UN do which is just as well because here is a party Thursday night could have been pretty lame otherwise.  If anyone else feels like a drink however you have to catch a boat to another island, the nearest with a bar is the island where the airport is (about 10 minutes away) which is not too bad but I’m not sure if there’s much nightlife at that bar.  The one thing you can get here which I wasn’t expecting is Tim Tams so at least there is a touch of home if I need it.  I am already looking forward to the first time I get a real burger/steak/chicken parma although It looks like that is some months away.

Weather

Its hot, very hot constantly, unrelentlingly hot.  I am told that april is the hottest month of the year so hopefully it cools down slightly although it is rare for the temperature to drop below 20 degrees.  The only variation to this came in the form of a monsoon yesterday morning when it absolutely poured for about 5 hours.  Because of the rain all the taxis were busy and I had to borrow an umbrella from the hotel and walk to work (it is only about 5 minutes away)  I soon found that this was a foolish idea as I had to take off my shoes and socks, roll up my pants and wade down the street through 4 inches of water.  Because the island is completely flat the water has nowhere to run and quickly builds up, people were soon out with sandbags and the police started to pump the water away.  The rain cleared up by lunchtime though and by 3 in the afternoon you could barely tell there had been rain at all, everything dries so quickly in the heat.

Thursday 20^th April – day 7 (day 3 of3 day trip to various islands)

We’ve been traveling around different island for the past few days to ckeck progress on houses under repair and reconstruction as part of the UN shelter program here, progress is a word I use generously.  Very little has happened on these islands and it is now some 18 months after the tsunami.  For the most part th s seems t be a result of the way of life on these islands – wait around for someone else to do it.  Contractors have been appointed for most of the reconstruction work but they seem reluctant to commit much in the way of manpower to any of the islands.  Getting many of these house finshed in the six months I am here is going to be quite a challenge.

Apart from the problems with rebuilding work the trip has been interesting to say the least.  Island life could not be more different to Male.  On most islands there are few people around and life is very laid back and relaxed, some of the places we visited are no more than 400m wide and have a population of only a few hundred people. There does not seem to be much employment on the smaller islands but apparently people will go off to work for nearby resorts or on some of the larger ones there are organized fishing operations.  On one island, Dhigarhoo fish is dried, packed in boxes and sold to the Chinese, Sri Lankans & Japanese direct from the island (sounds like a good way to avoid tax).  In any case every islander has a brand new mobile phone $60 sunglasses and satellite TV so they are by no means living in poverty.  Things are very relaxed in most places often we would see people sitting around in the shade in hanging chairs for hours, they’d be there when we arrived and still there when we left the island later that day.  Not a bad life.

The natural environment out on the islands is also amazing, there is marin life everywhere.  While on the boat we would see pods of dolphins every few minutes and flying fish would jump out of the speedboats wake and fly inches above the surface of the water for 30 or 40 meters.  I have never seen flying fish before and had imagined that they only jumped out of te water for a few meters but to see them glide up close is incredible.  I am told than when the sea is choppy they can kick off a wave and continue their flight for much longer.  The variety of fish that canbe seen from the waters edge around the harbours and jetty’s is also amazing. Huge schools of small fish swim in big swarms to try to ward off predators which is usually ineffectual as I saw many of them get eaten by a passing barracouta or other larger fish (The maldivians call most fish “reef fish” for obvious reasons.  On the islands themselves there is often minimal vegetation, most of the trees having een cleared long ago to make way for housing, there still remain small groves of palm trees and pockets of jungle which would look perfect on a postcard.  Unfortunately what would be pristine beaches are usually filled with rubbish or rubble b ut I guess it is a case of when you have so much of something you don’t appreciate it to the same extent that an outsider does.  I found it sad to be cruising along in the boat watching out for more dolphins when we would pass plastic bottles floating in the ocean or bags of rubbish discarded from a passing ship.  Compared to the pollution we pump into the environment back home however this is probably insignificant, again a matter of perspective.

One of the best experiences from this first tripto the islands was going fishing last night on a small dhoni (boat) a few hundred meters from Felidhoo, the island where we were staying.  The construction supervisor from Keyodhoo the neighbouring island (it is about 500m away) organized the boat and some hand lines, made from old detergent bottles, and we headed out about 6 o’clock for a few hours of night fishing.  The barracouta we were using for bait would have constituted a good catch as far as I was concerned but we were catching 3 or 4 kg “reef fish” which we cooked up on the beach later that night.  I should also pont out tat I use the term “we” very loosely when talking about catching fish.  I didn’t catch anything, I had several nibbles and lost my bait a number of times (one bastard took my whole hook) before giving up trying to catch anything.  I spent most of my time untangling my line anyway and I am almost certain the Maldivians were laughing at the “stupid white man” and his hopeless attempts at fishing.  Regardless, just being out on the boat was amazing, it was still warm – probably 25 degrees with a warm breeze blowing and the boat rocking gently, I could have very easily gone to sleep out there.  The only thing missing from the whole experience was a beer, which of course you can’t get out here, oh well, I s’pose you can’t have everything.

I am writing this entry on the boat on the way back to Male, which I am almost looking forward to after 3 days of living on the islands.  At least in Male there is air conditioning so there is some relief from the heat.  Also I will be able to eat a full meal again.  On the islands there is almost nothing but fish which I don’t really eat so have been living off rice and “roshi” bread (like nan bread) for the last few days.  At least this might do something to curb the weight gain since I got here (no exercise – too many cheap big meals in Male).  The other thing they don’t have on the islands is toilet paper and that’s all I’ll say about that.  Tonight there is a BBQ for one of the girls in the office so I’ll get to meet a few more of the people and then tomorrow a group of people are heading out to one of the resorts for the night so I am looking forward to eating real food and drinking a beer.  It will be nice to see the tourists experience of the Maldives now that I have seen how the locals live, albeit briefly.