The most likely medical condition you will get whilst travelling in SE Asia is diarrhoea. Here are some tips from my doctor: Read the rest of this entry »
Archive for Overseas Gaze
Xmas Letter 2006 Philippines
The Xmas Letter. The Xmas Letter is meant to be a communication device, an expression of one’s self to those whom they love who are far from them at a time of family, closure, reflection, and pause. It is with grandiose vision in mind, that I’ll try to lead you through my life as it has been lived this year. I will try and share what I can of myself to make up for what have not been able to share with most of you because of distance. I’ll aim for the goal of imparting to you the essence, feeling, flavours and my reality, but will settle for someone actually getting to the end of this email Like the State of the Union address, this is a State of the Soul letter, and as it unfolds you will see my thoughts and environment are invariably intertwined. Read the rest of this entry »
The guy who ruined my day (and night)
Jollibee is an indigenous fast food chain in the Philippines. The popularity of Jollibee makes Ronald McDonald and his band of franchise holders look like the fat kid who couldn’t run and was always last to be picked for teams in gym class. Philipino’s like it because it’s Philipino. Supporting your own bourgeois is always better than supporting the foreign bourgeois. Read the rest of this entry »
Crying in Singapore
The actual logistical part of leaving Indonesia was a failure. A complete and utter failure. I was leaving Indonesia for a week holiday in Vietnam before starting work again in the Philippines. Let the record show that the disaster begun on the morning of March 7 2006. Read the rest of this entry »
Goodbye Indonesia
WARNING: The following post contains relatively unprocessed inner thoughts regarding the experience of leaving one country (Indonesia) after 6 months of living there. Parental guidance recommended. Read the rest of this entry »
Lamno Road Dialogue
The Lamno Road is the only road one needs to walk down before being called a man. That’s right, the answer to Bob Dylan’s question is “one”! Read the rest of this entry »
Jantho tenda
My new home is in Jantho, a small town 1.5 hours outside of Banda Aceh. Jantho seems like a place in the middle of nowhere, and my home is on the outskirts of this of nowhere. We aren’t the original inhabitants of this town, and our location on the town’s edge reminds us of that fact. Read the rest of this entry »
Pulah Weh/Sabang
There are those with a vested interest who make claims that Aceh, wrapped in the blanket of sariah law, is a haven for peity and dignity. That Aceh’s upstanding citizenship are a breed who dare not stray far from the policed boundaries of “polite” Muslim behaviour. The rest of the Acehnese, who don’t make such claims but nevertheless follow the rules, either just get on with living because they don’t care in the first instance, or when they need to take their “un-polite” behaviour to “liberated” zones. Read the rest of this entry »
The last day of 2005
7:00am The cook arrives whilst I am still sleeping, lets herself in, prepares breakfast and sets the table.
9:00am Check email, and see the following message from Upik:
“Hellooo…
its now 9 am and its… new years eve…
if you have any interesting plan, lemme know… =)” Read the rest of this entry »
Bringing the ruins alive…
Today is Dec 26, the 1 year anniversary of the tsunami. Read the rest of this entry »
Sumbawa
Sumbawa – an Indonesian island east of Lombok, which is east of Bali. The only reasons to go there are if you are
- a volcanist studying the eruption of Mt Tambora, the greatest volcanic eruption in recorded history, although you would be 200 years late as it occurred in 1815.
- a Newmont mining company executive involved in resource extraction or other forms of ‘maximising shareholder value’
- the 1 expat who lives on the island. His name is Scott.
- visiting a microfinance organisation to evaluate their information system
KFC Banda Aceh
On the official FrogInMyThroat IFFR (international-fast-food-restaurant) development scale, Banda Aceh can boast one KFC. Why is it that the Colonel always pops up before other fast food chains in remote places, like Te Puke in New Zealand? Read the rest of this entry »
Video: Aceh Daredevils
Aceh kids playing with fire.
Click to see the video (1.5MB). You will need the DivX video codec to view it. Read the rest of this entry »
Ramadan
Once the rain had abated and the frogs had come out to sing, I left the office and caught a labi-labi (an incredibly regular and comprehensive form of public transport that puts Auckland’s system to shame) to the shopping district down the road. I needed to return a rented VCD to the local video store. The video store has middle to upper class customers and from my random population sampling I have concluded that the incidence of English speaking persons in the video store is higher than the general Acehenese population (std dev 2.4, r co-efficient > 1, sample size 2). It may be the place to meet the local movers, groovers, and schmoozers. Read the rest of this entry »
Photos from the tsunami aftermath, Banda Aceh
Suggested music to listen to whilst viewing these pictures – something slow and contemplative. Read the rest of this entry »
