The adventures continue

Not a Good Time to be a Cow, or a Goat, or ...

2011-11-07T00:45:00.000-08:00

As Tom and I have driven through rural Bangladesh we’ve noticed cows and goats everywhere. A lot of the time they’re standing in the middle of the road and we have to slow down and treat them as roundabouts. As we got closer to the end of the first week in November the number of animals increased dramatically. Many were in small markets like the one shown. It turns out there was a reason we saw so many.

Word of warning: All vegans, vegetarians, animal activists, and animal lovers in general may want to quit reading now …

On November 6 and 7 Muslims celebrated one of their most sacred holidays called Eid al-Adha or Festival of Sacrifice. One of the main customs on the morning of the second day (the 7th) is for each family to slaughter a cow or goat or both. This is usually done on the street or road in front of their home and as one person told me “blood is everywhere!” The slain animals are then butchered with one third going to the family that owned the animal, one third going to relatives and friends, and one third going to the needy.

This is a three to five day holiday here in Bangladesh so Tom and I are not working. On Sajit’s advice we are in a resort town called Cox’s Bazar and have escaped all of the slaughter. I’ll report on how much of a resort Cox’s Bazar is in another blog entry.

Now I know I’m hypocritical as I’m a meat eater and I know that animals are slaughtered back home in terrible conditions but I don’t want to see the actual death of the animal. As we travelled over the last week or so the worst thing was to see all these animals enjoying their life and us knowing they only had days to live. I’m sure the last few days of these animals lives was far better than what their cousins face in the feed lots and slaughter houses in North America.

Cricket - a National Obsession

2011-10-28T08:33:00.001-07:00

You cannot go anywhere in Bangladesh without confronting Cricket in one form or another. For those who have not heard of Cricket, or do not understand the game, here’s a clear explanation from the bastion of British Cricket – the MCC, or Marylebone Cricket Club – sort of the St. Andrews of Cricket.

"You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that's in the side that's in goes out and when he's out he comes in and the next man goes in until he's out. When they are all out, the side that's out comes in and the side that's been in goes out and tries to get those coming in out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out. When both sides have been in and out including the not outs. That's the end of the game."

Now that you all understand how it’s played let me tell you how the sport is dominant here. First off, on TV there’s a “Cricket Channel” 24x7 Cricket. Secondly, if you see a large group of men crowded around the front of a store chances are good there’s a Cricket match on. Thirdly, if there’s a “Test Match” going one (an international match between two Cricket loving nations – right now it’s Pakistan and Sri Lanka) then the major sports channel also carries it live. Fourth, and perhaps most important, you see young boys playing Cricket everywhere.

The bat may be a piece of wood with a flat side or cut from a plank of old wood, the ball may be an old tennis ball, the wicket (home plate) may be a piece of tree bark stuck in the mud, and the pitch (field) can be anything from a small deserted parking area, a small city park, a clearing in a village to a small piece of mud bank in a river – anywhere you can bowl (pitch) a ball to a batsman. The boys don’t have a decent pitch to play on, don’t have decent equipment, don’t have uniforms, don’t have managers, and there are no parents to be seen. So how come they all seem to be laughing and having a great time. Don’t they know how sports for young boys are supposed to be played? Minor league coaches of North America, we have a country to save … or, maybe these young Bangladeshi boys can save us!

Cyclone Sidr Man

2011-10-27T04:05:00.000-07:00

In November 2007, Cyclone Sidr, the equivalent of a category 5 hurricane, slammed into Bangladesh and left in it's path as many as 10,000 dead. In the Amtoli district one man tirelessly made his way through the area on a bicycle equipped with loud speakers warning the villagers on the incoming storm. Most people in these areas do not have the benefit of radios and televisions to give them advance warning. The Cyclone Prepardness Programme (CPP) relies on 50,000 volunteers to get the word out. As a result of his incredible effort no one in the immediate area was drowned.

As a reward the local government presented him with a new motorcycle which he proudly rides every day wearing his Red Crescent vest. He goes by the name of 'Cyclone Sidr Man'. We were told that the BBC did a 30 minute documentary of the remarkable job he did to save so many lives.

Two Good Days in Amtoli...

2011-10-16T17:55:00.000-07:00

(Photos promised but will have to wait for bandwidth to upload)

After arriving at the Amtoli upazila (district) office late Saturday morning we began work on the radios. Saturday we tore down the existing antennas, replaced one of the coax cables, installed the new VHF and HF antennas on the mast, got the VHF radio up and running, and assembled the HF radio. The first test of the new VHF radio had us scratching our heads for a bit until we discovered an error in the software. A quick fix later we were communicating with other CPP VHF stations in the vicinity. General consensus was that the quality had improved.. that’s good.

Sunday we trained 15 radio operators and finished the installation of the HF antenna. This was not without a challenge. Tom asked for a ladder to get up on the roof of a building to anchor one of the ends of the antenna. Three long pieces of bamboo were delivered along with a length of rope. Apparently the best they could do for a ladder was to lash the three lengths of bamboo together. Ladders as we know them are not available. After completing the preliminary install we tuned the new antenna to optimize the operation, connected the HF radio to the new antenna and tested it. The test back to Dhaka was excellent and another test to a remote HF station was also excellent. Both stations said the quality of the communication was much better than before.. let’s hope it was our work and not a sunspot cycle!

Some final work on grounding and we'd completed the work at Amtoli on schedule. Now we've moved on to Barguna where work starts on Monday.

Dhaka to Barisal...

2011-10-16T17:53:00.000-07:00

(Photos promised but will have to wait for bandwidth for uploads)

A long day's drive over rough roads took us from Dhaka to Barisal, one of the district capitals in the delta region and home of one of the zone offices for CPP. We left Dhaka shortly after 7:00am and arrived at the hotel at 5:00pm – a long day in the back of a Toyota Hilux. Mid-morning we stopped at a 'rest area' for a cup of tea and the equivalent of a muffin.

Tom and our driver Osman are standing beside our trusty Toyota. There really is nothing to compare to the rest areas we have back home but what more do you need: food, drink, and a toilet.

Late morning we boarded a ferry crossing one of the big rivers. The ferry in this photo is the same as the one we were on. The roadway for most of the trip is a levee sitting 6 to 12 feet above the surrounding land and water. Even so they told us that the road floods regularly in the monsoon season.. glad that’s over. Road conditions range from silky smooth (very little) to total pothole hell (much). Traffic is steady but you have to share the road with everything from rickshaws to passenger busses, and when those busses lean on their horn and pull out to overtake it’s everyone for themselves. Osman’s a good driver so not worried!

The land is very flat and water is everywhere. We saw mostly rice fields but there were a few patches of other crops; bamboo, sugar cane, etc. The trip through agricultural land is broken up by small towns and villages where the traffic gets real crazy for a while.

Lunch came at Fahridpur at a Chinese restaurant. Since it was Friday we had an extended lunch stop as our driver Osman needed to attend the Friday afternoon prayer meeting at the local mosque. Friday is the most holy day of the Muslim week and Friday afternoon prayer is not to be missed.

After checking in at the hotel in Barisal and meeting up with the rest of the team we went down to the CPP zone office and identified the equipment and supplies needed for shipping to Amtoli in the morning to begin our radio rehabilitation work. Then back to the hotel for a short rest and dinner. Two of the Bangladeshi team accompanied us to dinner and after we were settled they asked if we would mind if they ate later. Apparently the normal time for the evening meal is 9:00pm or later … not sure if I’ll be able to adjust to this. I’m an early eater … and so is Tom.

The DBB...

2011-10-10T17:44:00.000-07:00

When all the equipment and supplies purchased in the US by the American Red Cross National HQ team were assembled in Washington, they were all packed and shipped to Bangladesh in 11 separate boxes. Ten of the boxes were large black plastic Pelican cases and the eleventh was a large wooden crate.

When we arrived at the offices in Dhaka Maliha, one of the CPP Project team said to me, 'We know what kinds of things are in the black cases but what is in the dead body box?' After the confusion we guessed what it was. Much laughter followed. Here it is.

The case was built by the manufacturer of the VHF antennas we are installing, B-Square Engineering. We had ordered 120 J-pole antennas built to match the frequencies used in the CPP and B-Square offered to build a shipping crate.

I now refer to it as the DBB. If anyone needs a cheap burial solution please contact the CPP Project team. After all of the antennas are installed it will be available to the highest bidder!

What a Difference a Day Makes...

2011-10-09T07:25:00.000-07:00

Anyone who’s ever worked in a project environment knows there are ebbs and flows that can leave you thinking you’ve either taken on an impossible task - or, raised you to new levels of optimism. Leaving work yesterday I was more of the former state of mind, tonight I’m much more of the second! Yesterday was one of those days where nothing seemed to be falling into place: rain kept us off the roof for most of the day, unable to make the progress we would have liked on the radio system...

This pile of boxes is a shipment of radios from Geneva. Unfortunately, they came without packing lists so finding components to build one HF radio was a box search. One time I was convinced we were missing control boxes and connector cables but found them buried under totally non-related equipment. Then the project officer we'd sent to the market to purchase supplies came back with only 50% of what we needed. And, the pièce de résistance - we'd brought a beautiful Makita hammer drill from the US that we assumed was dual voltage. I checked the bottom of the battery charger and saw 120 – 220, plugged it in and heard a loud pop followed by an acrid smoky smell.. not good. On closer inspection the label read 120v 240w.. Oops.

The task of sorting all of the shipment from Geneva along with 11 boxes of equipment and supplies shipped from the US plus the locally purchased supplies got quickly overwhelming. Office and table space are in short supply, we had no idea how we were going to pull this off.

Fast forward 24 hours: Although we had more rain today we made good progress stringing a guy wire and coax for the new antenna.

We were given permission to use the BDRCS training room for the next 4 days, perfect – a large space with empty tables. We had some of the staff haul all of the equipment over and we assembled all of the parts for 41 HF radios. We now have a perfect room to assemble kits based on each location’s needs that we can send out ahead of our travel.

In the middle of the afternoon I had to run back to the main office and asked that the VHF radios (only three components per radio) were put in three boxes: one for the radios, one for the power

cables, and one for the microphones.

When I returned I found my instructions had not been very clear - the photograph shows what I found. It wasn't what I wanted but it turned out to be a beneficial step!

Returning to the main office to wind up the day, I found the project officer was back from another day's shopping with everything we needed.. and, to really make my day, he had a new 220v battery charger for the Makita!

Roll on tomorrow!

The Work Begins...

2011-10-08T17:45:00.000-07:00

After a few delays getting the right equipment and supplies, a National holiday on Thursday, and the Muslim holy day on Friday (the first day of their weekend), we finally got stuck into the rebuilding of the radios in Dhaka. It’s going to be a challenge to source some of the parts primarily because the people doing the shopping have never seen the items we want.

Tom is showing one of the radio operators and the telecom technician what can be learned from their new antenna tuner for the HF radio.

As a teaching exercise we assembled a VHF antenna and mounted it to the top of the mast on the roof of the IFRC building. The local staff were only too willing to let Tom go up!

They do have dedicated mast climbers but apparently they were not available. We were assured that once we leave Dhaka for the delta region we will have a mast climber along with us. Truth is, Tom really enjoyed the climb.

As a footnote: One of the staff said, 'You should see one of the mast climbers. He’s really old. He must be at least fifty five.'

It’s great having someone along to share the experience. We’ve ventured up the road from the hotel, dodging potholes, massive traffic, motorcyclists driving on the sidewalk, various rickshaw and tuk-tuk type vehicles. Yesterday we found a Chinese restaurant that had the closest thing I’ve had to Chinese food since Ann and I left Beijing. Tonight was Italian – pizza 'quattro formaggi' that was very good!

All's Well That Ends Well...

2011-10-04T17:31:00.001-07:00

As some of you already know I'm on a two month assignment in Bangladesh to continue the rehabilitation of the Cyclone Preparedness Program (CPP) radio network. This time I'm traveling with Tom Worthington who has left his island paradise of Maui to work on this project. It's good having someone to share the experience with. His vast knowledge of HF and VHF radio communication will be invaluable.

Cute story - I'd hoped Tom and I'd be able to fly out together or, meet at an asian hub and enter Bangladesh together. Instead, our flights had me fly through Hong Kong and Tom through Japan. I was scheduled to arrive in Dhaka at 12:00pm and Tom at 2:00am. United Airlines to the rescue! After boarding the flight from Chicago to Hong Kong (15 hours) they announce a ground delay due to a cockpit panel that needed replacing (it took 2 hours). In Hong Kong my flight was rescheduled through Bangkok - right onto the same flight from Bangkok to Dhaka that Tom was on! Exhausted, we arrived in Dhaka right on schedule and, with all our luggage. Thanks United!

In Dhaka they x-ray the luggage before you clear customs. Tom had two cases of radio equipment, tools, etc., and I had a supply case, along with two other cases of personal equipment and gear. One of the customs agents asked, “Are you Engineers?” I explained we were with the Red Cross, he nodded, spoke to his compatriots and said no more. We were in. Next we found the hotel shuttle bus and by 3:30am we were finally in our rooms.

That afternoon after catching up on some badly needed sleep, we went to the Red Cross/Red Crescent compound. After preliminary introductions Tom was given a tour of the radio setup. Then that evening Sajit Menon invited us to his home for a wonderful dinner (Sajit is our project leader and project coordinator for all of the American Red Cross efforts on CPP) and so ended a good first day.

We’ll probably be in Dhaka this week then we'll head down into the delta region to visit all six CPP zones. We’ll begin radio rehabilitation and training of CPP technical staff to continue the work after we're gone. We will also be training CPP radio operators how to use and maintain their equipment.

Stay tuned for more...

One extra unplanned night away from home

2010-12-07T01:20:00.000-08:00

It’s 4:00am in the morning and I’m here in an airport hotel two flights away from home … wide awake … ! I’m safe and sound, and got 7 hours sleep. So why am I here and not home …

Bangladesh isn’t the easiest place to travel to from Appleton, WI. A month ago when I made my travel plans I decided to travel through this city for reasons at the time were perfectly logical but which, in hindsight, were flawed. I have become aware that there is only one direct flight to Appleton from here and it’s in the evening … if it gets cancelled your options are very limited. As my flight approached yesterday evening the departure time kept slipping – first 15 minutes, then 30 minutes, then another 30 minutes, then an hour, and finally 3 hours after I was supposed to depart they cancelled the flight – a “mechanical” problem - and here I am, a guest of Wyndham. At least the airline had the decency to put us up at a hotel.

I wonder why the phrase “all my eggs in one basket” didn’t pop into my mind when I told the travel agent this itinerary was fine … Duh! You would have thought I’d have learned this lesson a long time ago, but “No”, I had to save this one for later in life. Chicago's looking good as a hub for future travel. At worst it's only a three hour drive in a rental car.

All things considered I’m a very lucky guy. I’m warm, I have a roof over my head, I’m not hungry, I’ve had a good sleep in a soft comfortable bed, a hearty breakfast awaits, and I’ll be home by noon. In the grand scheme of things really not too bad … I just hope my checked bag makes it!!

A Sombre Message

2010-12-04T05:33:00.000-08:00

The following just came over CNN while I was working at the desk in my room. I wasn't really paying attention but all of a sudden I was transfixed by the words. It certainly makes you realize how fortunate we are to be born in countries where the 'c)' thoughts don't even arise.

She is born. Do you …

a) Celebrate your new daughter

b) Paint her room pink

c) Curse that she was born a girl

She is six. Do you …

a) Open an account for her education

b) Buy her that pink dress

c) Get her up at dawn to fetch water from the well

She is twelve. Do you …

a) Consider that first sleep-over

b) Buy her a mobile phone

c) Sell her into marriage to pay for her brother’s education

Poverty gives some people few choices and unfortunately it’s the girls that suffer most! It doesn’t have to be that way.

Didn't want to be depressing but it's such a powerful message I thought I'd pass it on.

2010-12-02T06:06:00.000-08:00

Here are a few photos of the various forms of transportation I've used in Bangladesh ... and I these are ones I actually used.

First a small river ferry that takes passengers across the many rivers that flow through the country.

This is a tom-tom.

The tom-tom with us on board.

A chartered trawler with our deck chairs!

The trawler from the back.

A small coastal passenger boat. 70 cents a trip.

A 100cc motorcycle

Our trusty Toyota Land Cruiser.

The 'SS Unreliable.'

Another chartered trawler.

And finally, Shank's Pony!

The Night Launch From Barisal

2010-11-29T18:00:00.000-08:00

After two more days visiting shelters in the delta region we planned our return to Dhaka. Rather than a 7 hour bumpy Land Cruiser ride on over-crowded roads we opted to take a night launch. The launches are large passenger boats that offer a limited number of air-conditioned cabins. Bangladesh is riddled with large waterways so river travel is an excellent way to get around.

We were lucky to secure three A/C cabins or we would probably have opted for the Land Cruiser.The main deck of the boat and every conceivable nook and cranny on the cabin decks become full of people who need to make the journey but cannot afford, or don't want to pay, the fare for a cabin. I'm guessing 200 people in cabins and 1,000+ sleeping wherever they can. The photo was taken in the morning after half of the passengers had already arisen and left. Some people continued to sleep on board to wait for a more decent hour of the day to depart!

The boat leaves Barisal at 8:30pm and arrives at 5:30am in Dhaka so the journey is entirely at night with nothing to see on shore except the occasional light. We boarded at 7:30 and were led to our cabins which were on an narrow interior hallway half of which was occupied with people sleeping along the wall across from the doors. The cabins were literally just big enough for a single bed. Our host in Barisal, Rashid, was disappointed in the accommodation for us, especially since we had to use communal toilets and disappeared. I assured Sajit the room was fine as I planned to sleep all the way.

Rashid came back a little bit later to announce that he had managed to acquire a two bed cabin that became available when the person who had reserved it failed to show up. What a difference! We went from overcrowding in interior rooms to a suite of two rooms with a small balcony and a private toilet. All for the price of $20 per person.

I went to bed expecting a wake-up call near 5:00am when we neared Dhaka. Lo and behold a bump on the boat, a change in engine noise and lights being turned on, and I woke up at 3:15am to discover we were over two hours ahead of schedule and we'd arrived in Dhaka.

While we standing on the dock the cabin boy who had been looking after us at came running up with my Red Cross ID badge which had fallen on the floor. I was totally surprised as it would have been so easy for him to throw it away, but instead he had tracked us down on the pier so he could return it. An IFRC driver met us and dropped me off at the hotel and the journey was over.

A Busy Two Days

2010-11-25T18:00:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday we took a coastal passenger ship to an island in the delta to visit three radio sites at cyclone shelters. When we arrived at the dock we used motorcycles to get around the island since there are no roads, only dirt tracks on top of levees that keep the salt water from the ocean out of the fields. Not only are there no roads there is no electricity as we know it, and no running water. Solar panels provide DC electricity, if you're lucky enough to own one, and the water comes from the community well. The people live a simple existence very close to nature. The land is totally flat and probably no more that one or two feet above sea level. The levees are critical. It's easy to appreciate the devastation of a tropical cyclone and the flooding that occurs each monsoon season.

In true Bangladesh fashion we had three people on each motorcycle and I became the meat in the proverbial sandwich between the driver and my colleague Hasan. Not the most comfortable way to ride but it got us where we needed to go.

Just after we left the third site the motorcycle's rear tire went flat … one American + two Bangladeshi's was probably too much. As we waited for a replacement bike a crowd gathered as it always does around westerners on these islands. It was mostly young high school boys on a break. They stood and stared, so I said “Hello”. Hasan explained who I was and why I was near their village. I asked if they had any questions about America and they got shy when put on the spot. At that moment a young man, probably late twenties or thirties, wearing nothing but a sarong, probably a farmer, asked a long question which boiled down to, “Why does America keep forcing itself on other countries and is so heavily involved in Iraq and Afghanistan?”. Not what I was expecting - and not an easy question to answer. Hasan explained to me that even though these people live a simple life, disconnected from the world as we know it, they definitely know what's going on ... and have an opinion.

Yesterday I had a day on the “SS Unreliable”. We chartered a wooden boat to take us down river to two islands to visit three more radio sites at cyclone shelters. Half way down river the engine quit. It took about 15 minutes but the captain got it running and we headed for the first island. As we approached shore I could see no dock or pier of any kind so the captain headed the boat in towards the river bank. Unfortunately the tide was low so he couldn't get close. Some fishermen pointed out a small inlet and we headed in and managed to get within two feet of a log that we used to get ashore. From there we walked about ½ mile into a village and found the cyclone shelter. After checking out the radio (the coax cable was perfectly cut in two when they moved to this building a month ago) we attended a meeting of all the village men so my compatriots could explain why we were there and to listen to requests for additional equipment.

Back on the boat we attempted to leave but got stuck in the mud twice before finally escaping back into the river. At times we had two people on a long pole and the captain in the water pushing. This whole episode gave great delight to a group of small boys watching from the bank. Once underway we crossed the river without incident and pulled up along shore so we could hop off and visit two more shelters. This time I had a motorcycle to myself!! After tea and a very late lunch at the second village we headed back to the boat. As is typical, a huge crowd gathered in the village as we settled up for the motorcycles and had another cup of tea. Most of the crowd accompanied us down to the boat to see us off. The tide had fallen by now so we now had to walk about 10 yards across a very muddy and slippery river bank to get aboard.

We headed back to home port and got about a quarter mile from the dock when the engine died yet again. This time it appeared to be a bit more serious as the captain had his mate lower an anchor. So there we sat as the dusk came and went. We had called ashore for a boat to come and get us and while we waited the captain finally cleared a blockage in the fuel line and we made it in without further incident. As part of the routine we had a cup of tea and a crowd formed as we settled up for the boat. A short ride back in to Golachipa in the Land Cruiser and our day was done!!

A Multi-mode Transport Day

2010-11-23T16:36:00.000-08:00

Today I traveled down from Barisal to Olachipa and began the radio assessments in this area by visiting a couple of cyclone shelters on one of the myriad of islands that make up the coastal area of Bangladesh.

The day started off in the trusty Toyota Land Cruiser and the main part of the drive was broken up with three major river crossings on small vehicle ferries. When we arrived in the Olachipa area we chartered an old wooden coastal cruiser (do not develop any visions of grandeur here – it was basically a flat topped boat with a one-lunger and a large tiller) to make a 60 minute crossing of a major river delta. At the dock we rented a "tom tom" which is basically a moped with a flat wooden bed on the back that the four of us sat on, legs dangling, and made a 15 mile circuit of the island to visit two shelters that are equipped with VHF radios. Both radios would turn on but they've been unable to reach anyone. I suspect a cable problem. It should be easy to fix in the Spring.

We got back to the dock right at dusk and the boat took us back to where we started but in a very circuitous route since it was now low tide. One of the dangers of having a GPS is the "limited knowledge" problem. I could see the route we had taken to get to the island but couldn't understand why we were heading up the river way beyond our outbound track. When I later spied some mud banks all was revealed.

When we got back to the shore the boat owner insisted we take tea in a local cafe which generated a large crowd as this lone westerner shared tea. We then returned to the Land Cruiser to head into Olachipa for dinner and our hotel.

(I promise to add photos later. Just don't have the time right now.)

Go Take a Cold Shower

2010-11-23T16:31:00.000-08:00

There are various times and situations in a person's life when they've been told “Oh go take a cold shower!”. Well here it's not suggested, it's the way of life once you leave Dhaka and head into the smaller towns. A couple of nights ago I was staying in a hotel that had two taps at the sink and two near the shower head. In addition, it had a large tank mounted on the wall that said “Hot Water Heater”. This all sounded promising until I tried to find some hot water to shave and then subsequently to shower. No go … I finally relented and went ahead and quickly showered in cold water. I talked with Sajit when we met for breakfast and he had the same problem.

Last night I stayed at a hotel that saved the frustration in the morning by simply having one tap at the sink and one near the shower head and it wasn't a Delta Scaldguard. At least I was mentally prepared for the initial shock. I'm now in another hotel that also embraces the one knob philosophy. Since I'm here for at least 4 nights I'll have to get used to trying to wash my hair without splashing too much cold water on my body. It's not easy! But at least when you finally get used to the temperature you know you'll be awake for a while.

It's another case of realizing what we take for granted in our way of life.

Who Needs Utensils

2010-11-22T05:47:00.000-08:00

I'm learning how to eat with my right hand, and I do mean my right hand. The standard method of eating here is to do everything with the fingers of your right hand. I'll spare you the photos … As you may be aware the left hand, especially in muslim countries, is considered unclean. Also, by tradition, implements are seldom used to eat. They say that the finger tips of the right hand are the first receptor in tasting and enjoying your food. Given a plate of rice, vegetables, and a curried meat or fish dish along with dal (lentil stew) and some chutney you mix a small ball of rice with whatever else you want with it and deliver it to the mouth. This requires two very necessary things to take place. First you need to wash your hands before you eat and second you definitely need to wash your right hand after you eat! It's actually very enjoyable and I'm getting the hang of it. Tearing of a piece of paratha (bread similar to a tortilla) using only one hand is still a trick but I'll keep practicing.

Here's a few pictures:

The first is a cart loaded with long bamboo poles in the town of Faridpur. I'm not sure where they're going but probably to a construction site.

Here are parathas being made at the cafe where we had our breakfast of parathas, vegetables, and a fried egg.

This picture is four of us in front of a ferry that take passengers and vehicles across the Tetulia River from Barisal to a large island in the delta. Two of the team are heading to Bhola.

This final picture is of a pedal rickshaw repair service across the road from the Red Crecent office in Barisal. Note the brightly colored paint jobs on the rickshaws. These are some of the more understated ones.

On the Road

2010-11-21T17:19:00.000-08:00

We kicked off the assessment project at the Red Cross compound with some orientation meetings and then it was time to hit the road. We had planned to be on our way by 1:00pm but finally headed out of Dhaka at 3:00 – Sajit had warned me earlier that things don't always happen as planned so I was well prepared for some delays - this forced a change in plans for our overnight stop which will now be the town of Faridpur instead of Barisal.

As we left Dhaka we saw a lot of brick works – it's hard to imagine where they can use so many bricks but they sure have a pile. I had seen the chimneys as I approached Dhaka on Sunday morning, though they looked like brick works, but dismissed the idea because there were so many.

The roads were completely jammed. The most common vehicles were buses of all descriptions followed by an assortment of trucks. Motorized rickshaws were next with motorcycles and cars bringing up the rear. The roads are narrow and everyone fights to make two or three lanes on each side of a two lane road. Horn honking is constant. Almost every bus and truck I saw had scrapes down the side. The drivers are amazing as they fit 6 foot wide vehicles through 6.1 foot gaps and never miss a beat. This is a small country about the size of Iowa or England+Scotland but with 165,000,000 people so you can picture how crowded it is in places. Given the busy nature of the roads and the constant struggle to get past slower vehicles you might expect carnage but I didn't see one accident.

We made fairly good time and arrived at our first major ferry ride of the trip across the Pradma River (aka the Ganges) just below where the Pradma and Brahmaputra Rivers meet. Our timing was good as we only had a short wait before boarding. We were on a small ferry with just a few cars and some buses but there were also a large number of bigger ferries and a myriad of small passenger boats carrying vehicles and peoples – boats were everywhere. I always enjoy being around water and boats so this was a treat. Unfortunately it was too dark to get any photos that would do the experience justice. The backlog of traffic on the south side of the river went on for miles, again mostly buses, as people were returning home after the Eid religious holiday.

We travelled on to Faridpur where we spent the night at Raffles-Inn – definitely not to be confused with it's namesake in Singapore but clean and friendly and a bed! Apparently Jaridpur is famous for jute so maybe I'll see some as we head on to Barisal.

A Great Time to Arrive ... Or Not

2010-11-20T09:49:00.000-08:00

I finally arrived in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, after a LONG journey from home. In Bangladesh time I got up at 4:00pm Thursday and arrived Saturday morning at 8:30am. I'm exactly 12 hours different from home so my brain is definitely 180 degrees out of whack and my butt has been reformed into the shape of an over-used airline seat.

As I sat in the airport in Dubai waiting for my flight to Dhaka I quickly concluded that a lot of men from Bangladesh work in Dubai. It was a Friday night/early Saturday morning flight and most of the people waiting at the gate had at least one huge duty free bag, and many had two – this on top of their regular carry-on. I made sure to get on the plane as soon as I could to make sure I had a place for my backpack. I then sat back and watched how the other passengers and the flight attendants crammed everything somewhere. At times it resembled a commercial on American TV where a flight attendant repeatedly slams the overhead locker door to squeeze everything in.

Clearing immigration was a slow process that speeded up a little when the 8 policemen clearing Bangladeshi's back into their country began helping the 2 policemen taking care of all of the visitors. I don't have any problem with a little national favoritism but this may have been a bit too one-sided. I'm sure that never happens in the USA … grins!! After clearing immigration I went to claim my checked bag at carousel #2 as instructed only to find they were also putting some of our bags on #3 as well. After a lengthy wait and no sign of my bag I took a walk around and found it laying on the ground at the end of carousel #3 where it had obviously tumbled off but no one had bothered to lift it back on! Oh well, at least it was there.

Sajit, my lead in Bangladesh, met me at the airport with a driver and took me to the hotel. I had met Sajit previously on some training I took in Malaysia so we had quite a bit to catch up on. He is an Indian gentleman who is employed by the American Red Cross as a delegate to the International Federation of the Red Cross to head up the Cyclone Preparedness Project in Bangladesh. Got that!!

The reason for my title is that I had been reading about the horrendous traffic jams they have in Dhaka. My trip to the hotel and then a subsequent trip to Sajit's for lunch were easy – no holdups anywhere to be seen. Then I talked to the driver who explained that 1) it was Saturday and 2) this was the end of a major holiday and that many people were still away. “Wait for tomorrow” I heard more than once. A trip that took 5 minutes today will easily take 45 minutes tomorrow. Their work week here is Sunday through Thursday, Friday being a holy day for muslims is the first day of their weekend. I'll have to remember this in two weeks when I need to get back to the airport on Sunday and the trip that took 30 minutes this morning will probably take 2 hours. I think I think I've been spoiled ... :-)

My first impression of Dhaka is of a hustling, bustling city that obviously needs repair. Like many cities in poorer parts of the world almost everything is covered in a layer of dust and many of the buildings could use some exterior repair. Traffic seems to be chaotic but it works … at least on weekends. Rickshaws, both pedal powered and engine powered are everywhere. I'm sure I'll see many, many more tomorrow. Whenever you get stopped in traffic there's almost always at least one person either begging for money or trying to sell you something. You have to learn to turn the proverbial 'blind eye' or you'll be beseiged. The few people I've met so far are friendly as can be and I'm told this holds true for the entire country. The food, albeit based on a small sample, is delicious. In fact I had my second best ever airline meal this morning flying from Dubai which was a heavily seasoned vegetarian meal … I almost asked for seconds – and it was a coach-class meal as well. In case you're wondering my best ever airline meal was a dinner of chicken kababs as an appetizer followed by chicken tikka masala served on an Air Malaysia flight many moons ago in my former life. Business Class definitely offered some perks.

I'm staying for one night at the Washington Hotel, how fitting. It's an older hotel but seems to be well kept and has good wifi in the rooms … what more could you ask for. It's located in the diplomatic area of Dhaka called Gulshan and I'm told is a safe area to walk around.

Tomorrow I start my field trip. I'll be based in Barisal for 10 days or so to conduct radio assessments in that zone. We'll have 5 other teams doing the same in the other five zones. Much more to report on life in the Bangladeshi countryside later. And I'll try to include some photos ...

For now it's time to go to bed and try to convince my brain it's 10:00pm at night and not 10:00am in the morning. Maybe I can find an American football game on TV – Ann's convinced that can send me to sleep quicker than anything even though I claim I never nap.

A New Challenge Awaits

2010-11-11T15:39:00.000-08:00

I've been asked to go to Bangladesh and evaluate their radio network that is part of a Cyclone Preparedness Program (CPP). The flights are booked - I leave next Thursday (18th) - and I'm waiting to receive my visa. It will prove to be a very busy two weeks assessing the current status of the radios. This project is very similar to the work we did in Indonesia and their Tsunami Early Warning System.

One of the deliverables from this trip will be a list of equipment and supplies that I estimate will be necessary to bring all 125+ radios back into operational status. If all goes according to plan I'll return in 2011 with another volunteer to train the local staff and begin the repairs.

I'll hopefully be able to make posts to this blog as the trip progresses.

Final Thoughts on Indonesia 2009

2009-05-05T09:19:00.000-07:00

What a treat this morning … I checked email and found two short emails from the Indonesia Red Cross (PMI) IT/Telecom technician in Banda Aceh, Pak Adi who was my right-hand man. He’s the glue that will hold the radio network together. The first email only contained two words but was a thousand words strong for me. It simply asked “How aryou?” The second email duplicated the first but in Bahasa Indonesia. Pak Adi has minimal English and 99% of our communication was through Salman, our interpreter. Still, somehow, we had a bond that I thought was more me than him. Of all the people I worked with in Aceh he was not one I would have expected to hear from. So you can imagine my delight to see his question. Today is going to be a good day!!

As I reflect on my three months in Indonesia (I’ve been home for two weeks now) it’s almost always the people I worked with that come to mind:

- PMI technicians: Pak Adi, Sayed,

- IFRC technicians: Pak Edho, Andrea, Alex, Helmi,

- Interpreters: Salman, Jumari,

- IFRC HQ staff: Bu Dian, Tina, Ari, et al

- Drivers: Dharnisal, Muslim, Mursalin, et al

- IFRC delegates in Aceh: Susil, Shesh, Odette, Andy, et al

- American Red Cross delegates in Aceh: Ken, Dr. Ayham, et al

- My partner for the first month: Glen

- And, last but certainly not least: Sarmad

My view of Muslim people, primarily formed by the western media, has been forever changed. Everyone I met was friendly. I wonder if “radical Islam” is present in Aceh. If it is, I sure didn’t see it. Then it could be the ‘rose-colored glasses’ I usually wear!

The next thing I remember is the wonderful food – everywhere I went we ate very well. I love spicy food so I was in heaven.

And of course, the scenery – what a magnificent country from the coastal beaches to the high altitude mountain vistas.

I miss Indonesia already, especially Aceh where I spent the bulk of my time, and hope to get back there sometime.

Emails, like the one I received this morning, bring it all back. Thank you Pak Adi.

It goes without saying that life goes on. I mowed the lawn for the first time this year; I’ve scheduled some work to be done on our boat; the motorcycle is in the shop having all of it’s bodily fluids refreshed; and the long list of projects around the house looms!! Before I get started on the list however Ann and I are making a trip out east to Virginia and DC to first visit with some friends and then to call into the Red Cross HQ and complete my debrief from the Indonesia mission.

I'll close now, I don't expect to make any more entries but you never know...

It's Over!

2009-04-20T04:38:00.000-07:00

My Indonesian adventure came to a close last night at about 9:00pm when I pulled in to my driveway after renting a car and driving the final leg from Chicago to Appleton. Mother Nature had the final laugh as she gave Chicago really bad weather that resulted in all of the Appleton flights being cancelled. It was only 3:30 pm in Chicago and the thought of getting this close to home and having to spend another night in a hotel with no guarantee of a seat this morning made me decide very quickly to call the Red Cross travel agent and rent a car. I wondered if I might be too tired to drive safely but a large coffee did the trick and it was an uneventful trip up the interstate.

The final week in Jakarta/Banda Aceh/Jakarta went by in a blur. I'll have time to reflect on everything over the coming weeks and will make one final post before I close this blog down. If you've been following along I hope it gave you a small sense of what I experienced. For friends and family that I'll be seeing in the next few days/weeks/months prepare be deluged with stories!!!! How long does it take to look at 1000+ photos anyway ...

I've Been Pocari'd

2009-04-20T04:33:00.000-07:00

After I posted the entry on Pocari's wondering if anyone had ever seen one, a friend our's from Arizona issued a "challenge" daring me to try the Sweat of the Pocari. Here's evidence, un-PhotoShop'd, of me finally succumbing and trying the stuff... It's actually very good!!

The Size of the Effort

2009-04-16T23:40:00.000-07:00

In the Jakarta newspaper this morning there was an article reporting on the wrap-up of the Aceh-Nias Reconstruction and Rehabilitation agency commonly referred to as BRR. BRR was created as a four-year entity to oversee all of the 15,000+ projects that arose after the tsunami and subsequent earthquake on Nias. They coordinated all of the efforts of the Indonesian government, donating countries, UN agencies, and the NGO’s. NGO’s are “Non-Governmental Organizations” such as the many Red Cross National Societies, Habitat for Humanity, Feed the Children, etc.

The following numbers from the article give a dimension to the size of the undertaking here that we have been just a very small part of:

BRR had a US$3.25 billion budget.

Projects Overseen by BRR Built:

• 140,304 Homes.

• 13 Airports and Airstrips.

• 23 Seaports.

• 1,115 Medical Facilities.

• 1,759 Schools.

• 3,696 km of Roads.

• 363 Bridges.

• 996 Government Buildings.

BRR also:

• Assisted 195,726 Small and Medium Sized Businesses.

• Trained 155,182 Workers.

• Trained 39,663 Teachers.

• Rehabilitated 101,240 hectares of Farmland.

Numbers that boggle the mind …

The article made no mention of the 40 radios rehabilitated by the Red Cross recently.. but that's ok! :-)

A Day Off in Jakarta

2009-04-14T18:44:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I had a day to myself so I did a little research and headed off by taxi to the Maritime Museum. First I should comment that Jakarta hasn’t really invested heavily in tourist sites so you have to take what you can find. My first clue was when the taxi driver first asked for directions from the hotel staff and then stopped again when we were close to get further directions. The areas we passed through from the hotel to the museum had declined from relatively modern, to old but nicely looked after, to derelict. The driver’s last request for directions had the comical result of the person pointing across the road at a long white building and saying in Indonesia “That’s it!”

I was a little nervous at the location and wasn’t sure what I should do when a very nice man, Catur (as in "chatter" - a good name for a tour guide), introduced himself in English, he asked where I was from, and told me he would take me on a tour. We walked through the Maritime Museum (it needs a lot of work) and he gave me the full history of Jakarta: Dutch rule, British influence, independence, Japanese occupation, etc. One of the main themes was foreigners profiteering from the natural wealth of Indonesia at the expense of the native population.

From the Maritime Museum Catur took me through some narrow back alleys full of small shops selling everything you can imagine.

We ended up down on the banks of the old harbor where the traditional wooden schooners that still carry goods to the other islands are all tied up. A boat tour in a boat resembling a dugout canoe into the harbor was offered but I gracefully declined.

We then backtracked to the museum where I thought my tour was over when Catur asked me if I liked motorcycles. When I replied “Yes” a helmet was quickly produced and we were off on a riding tour of the old city, including Chinatown.

Lots of small streets away from the main traffic and into parts of Jakarta most visitors wouldn’t get to see. Riding as a passenger on a motorcycle in Jakarta was an adventure all on its own. Along the way Catur stopped at a Chinese temple and was a little disappointed that I didn’t take more photos. I didn’t have the heart to tell him of our years in Beijing.

The tour ended up at another museum that occupies the old City Hall. It also needs more investment to bring it up to be a true tourist destination. It was good nonetheless. The main features Catur pointed out was the place where executions were performed (beheadings), the dungeon where the prisoners were kept prior to execution, the balcony where the Governor stood to watch to executions, and the sword used in the beheadings … Oh, and the stairs that someone had to climb to ring the bell announcing the executions. Have you got the main theme of the museum tour!!

This photo was taken from the balcony looking down at the place of execution.

I bade farewell to Catur and thanked him for an enjoyable couple of hours. He insisted in hailing a good taxi for me (blue taxis are good as are white ones – avoid the others) and instructing the driver where I needed to go. I have his number if anyone needs a guide.

I guess, thinking back, there was a certain element of risk involved in joining up with a complete stranger in a very poor part of Jakarta but my faith in basic human nature prevailed and it was a great way to pass a part of the day.

I'm now back in Banda Aceh for two days before starting my homeward trek through Jakarta - Singapore - Hong Kong - Chicago - Appleton. Home Sunday!!!

Getting Gas ... The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

2009-04-12T04:38:00.000-07:00

In Aceh on the main coastal highways they have some of the best looking gas stations you could ask for. They match anything you can find in the US and even include “mushollas” or prayer rooms for the Moslems to use when they travel. Snack shops aren’t quite up to western standards, but maybe that’s a good thing. They all appear to have been built since the last tsunami.

In the cities, towns, and villages there are thousands of scooters on the roads that need only a small quantity of gas. There’s a good income to be made catering to them and you’ll see these “gas stations” everywhere. The gas is in small plastic bottles and you simply pull up, empty a bottle into your tank along with some oil, if it’s a two-stroke, and you’re on your way. Not the safest way to handle gas but it works.

On the island of Simeulue there’s not enough traffic to spend cash building a gas station so they handle it in bulk. The gas arrives in tankers, gets offloaded into storage tanks, is then piped into open top tubs, and then ladled into buckets where it’s poured through a funnel into your vehicle. I would not recommend smoking anywhere near this station!!

Adapting to Life in Indonesia.

2009-04-08T20:58:00.000-07:00

Here are a few questions, that come to mind, as someone adapting to life in Indonesia ...

Question: You have a breakfast buffet at the hotel to choose from including dishes from around the world. You choose:

  a. An egg omelet with bacon and toast
  b. Fresh fruit and yogurt
  c. Ham, cheese, and bread
  d. Rice, spicy chicken, and bok choy

Answer: (d.) – The Indonesians eat very similar food for all three meals. There are some things specifically eaten at breakfast but the meal can often resemble lunch and dinner to Westerners.

Question: You get back to your hotel room after a particularly hot and sweaty day. Your hotel room offers both a shower and cistern full of cold water and a ladle. You …

  a. Take a hot shower
  b. Take a cold shower
  c. Reach for the ladle and start pouring cold water over your head

Answer:  (c) – It’s unbelievable how good this feels …

Question: On an airplane your meal is served and it’s spaghetti. You have a full complement of cutlery. You ...

a. Take the fork in your left hand, knife in your right,

and eat with the fork.
b. Take the spoon in your left hand, fork in your right,

and eat with the fork.
c. Take the fork in your left hand, the spoon in your right hand,

and eat with the spoon.

Answer: (c) – Most Indonesians use a dessert spoon for eating things like fried rice, noodles, etc. They will often, especially in Aceh, eat plain white rice with the fingers of their right hand. Eating with a spoon is easy to adapt to.

Question: You’re dressing for work and know you may be visiting a Red Cross branch or Indonesian Office. You …

  a. Wear your work boots
  b. Wear your best pair of shoes
  c. Wear Crocs
  d. Wear flip-flops

Answer:  (c) or (d) – You’re probably going to be taking your shoes off when you enter the Red Cross branch or office and walking around in bare feet. Easy to remove footwear makes it much simpler.

Question: Your meal is served and you immediately …

  a. Reach for the salt shaker and sprinkle some all over your food.
  b. Dig right in.
  c. Reach for the sambal bottle and squeeze a teaspoon size

dollup of sambal on the side of your plate – or all over your food.

   Sambal is a hot spicy sauce with the consistency of ketchup.

Answer:  (c) – It's second nature!

Question:  After getting dressed and before leaving for work you …

  a. Liberally cover all exposed flesh with suntan lotion

   and insect repellant.
  b. Grab a hat.
  c. Make sure your mobile phone is in your pocket.
  d. Make sure you’re carrying your passport.
  e. Make sure you have a pocket-pack of tissues with you.

Answer:  All of the above! And (e) refers to the fact that many Indonesian toilets do not provide tissue – bring your own.

Question: You see an Indonesian man wearing a sarong and you think …

  a. Why would a man wear something akin to a skirt

(Scots are included here as well)
b. It’s looks very comfortable for the environment but you’d

   have to be Indonesian to wear one
  c. Damn that looks comfortable and I think I’d look good in one!

Answer:  Maybe (c) but (b) is the best answer!

Question: You’re getting ready to go in for a swim at a local beach. You …

  a. Strip down to your swim suit and walk into the water.
  b. Remove the legs from your convertible shorts,

leave your shirt on, and wade in.

  c. Walk in to the water wearing long pants and a shirt.

Answer:  (c) is probably most correct but (b) is OK too. (a) is definitely out especially if you’re a woman. I’ve seen the men remove their shirts once in the water but put it back on to walk back to the beach.

Question: You’re out on the street and need to find a ride to another location. A becak comes by and slows down. You …

  a. Wave the becak on by and wait for a taxi
  b. Wave the becak on by and start walking
  c. Hop in the becak, say a quick prayer, and head off
  d. Hop in the becak and don’t think about it

Answer:  (d) Note: If you read my comments about the becak you may be inclined to think that (a) is the right answer but, what the heck, go local!! You may be inclined to offer up a prayer mid-journey!!

Question: You want a cup of coffee and go the kitchen area to find Indonesian coffee, Nescafe instant coffee, powdered creamer, and sugar. You …

  a. Make a cup of coffee with the Nescafe instant and powdered creamer
  b. Put a table spoon of finely ground Indonesian coffee in the mug,

add hot water and two teaspoons of sugar
c. Opt for tea

Answer: (b) -- The Sumatran coffee is delicious if you don't mind a pile of grounds in your cup. And it does taste better sweet.

Top of Indonesia - The Final Chapter ...

2009-04-05T17:42:00.000-07:00

I've just returned from a visit to an island off the northern tip of Sumatra call Pulau Weh.

Just outside Sabang, the principal town on the island, I visited my final Red Cross chapter in Aceh Province, the 22nd of 22 chapters. The radio work went well and they now have a fully functioning setup.

The town of Sabang is on the northern side of the island. When I went for a swim off this beach I was about as far north as you can get in Indonesia, not the furthest, but just about. In the foreground you can see a father teaching his small son how to fish off the beach.

The island is very different from the others we've been to. It’s only a short 45 minute express passenger ferry ride from Banda Aceh and so it’s a major “get-away” spot for people needing a break from the city. The streets are all well maintained, lots of flower plantings, and all of the streets are tree-lined. It does offer some fine diving and snorkeling – I had to settle for a short swim! But don’t come here if you’re looking for a tourist center like those offered in Florida, the Caribbean, or the Mediterranean. The places I’ve visited on this trip are “un-touristed”. It’s life as the Indonesians live it. I love that so I’m in heaven but many people would go crazy looking for western-style restaurants and bars – there aren’t any outside the large cities!! One or two resorts on the island tucked away from the town of Sabang cater more to a western clientele but it’s still a very simple lifestyle.

Here's a photo of a street sign. If anyone has any idea what it’s meant to indicate I’d love to know. Strong winds maybe ...

As a follow on to the election coming up next Thursday, that I commented on earlier, I saw another poster recently which outlined 44 political parties registered. I guess 6 of those don’t have candidates in Jakarta as their poster only showed 38.

Have You Ever Seen a Pocari?

2009-04-04T19:28:00.000-07:00

Neither have I ... and I don't want to. There are either a lot of these beasts or the ones they have farmed have a perspiration problem. Either way they sell this stuff by the can and people love it. Apparently it's a very refreshing drink.

I think I'll add it to my list of things I've seen but have never tried ... like sea cucumbers!!

Simeulue Island

2009-04-03T02:09:00.000-07:00

I’m running out of superlatives to describe the scenery one passes by as you travel around the coast of the islands. I’ll let the following take care of 6,000 words. The village ladies in the final photo are sweeping dead leaves off the grass and the bunker in the background is Japanese from WWII.

The Becak

2009-04-03T01:56:00.000-07:00

One of the cheaper forms of transportation available throughout Indonesia is the becak (pronounced “beh-chack”). It’s essentially a small motorcycle with a two-seat sidecar bolted on the side.

The number of people who can ride on a becak at one time is only limited by the size and flexibility of the passengers. One morning I saw four high school girls in the sidecar and two more behind the driver. They run the range from well-maintained to “take your life in your hands”. The photo is of a becak we rode back to the hotel after dinner on Simeulue. You can see it was badly in need of a wash. The headlamp put out all of one candle power. It was a good job that the roads on Simeulue are pretty much deserted after dark. I rode behind the driver on the motorcycle and my two travelling companions rode in the sidecar.

They're Getting Smaller

2009-03-31T05:20:00.000-07:00

On Monday we travelled to Simeulue another large island off the west coast of Sumatra. Earlier in the trip we had travelled to Nias on a 50-seater Fokker. The plane we flew to Simeulue in made that look like a 737. I’m not even sure what make of plane it was but it was a single engine, 12-seater, with no facilities.

Cabin service was a bun and a small container of water on your seat. The plane had four rows of seats, three in front of the stairway and one against the rear bulkhead.

I was sitting in one of the bulkhead seats and could stretch my legs out - nice. Some of our luggage was lying on the floor by my feet. One of the best things about the flight is I had perhaps the biggest window I’ve seen on a plane – it must have been 1.5’ x 2’ – made for great views when I could see the ground.

The trip started out quite nicely with smooth air, then we got to the mountains… a line of thunderstorms had developed in the early afternoon and although the pilots tried to avoid the big ones they still had to fly through some thick cloud and one heavy rain storm. Suffice to say that it got a little bumpy and cork-screwy for a while. Some of the cloud formations were spectacular.

The air cleared as we left the coast of Sumatra and the rest of the flight was good. When we arrived on Simeulue and deplaned one of my two travelling companions said he was still shaking. I don’t think either of them will make the afternoon flight again!!

Staff from the local Red Cross chapter picked us up and took us to the hotel and I had to chuckle when I saw the name of the hotel, “Wisma Hallo Mister”.

Indonesia Red Cross (Pelang Merah Indonesia)

2009-03-29T20:28:00.000-07:00

As I’ve travelled around Aceh province and to some of the outlying islands I’ve come across a variety of Red Cross chapters. By and large all of the chapters in Aceh are either already in new chapter buildings or are planning to move to new chapter buildings within the next few months.

Many of the new chapter building follow a standard blueprint providing excellent work space for the staff. All of them are being funded by other Red Cross national societies including Canada, France, Japan, and others.

For those that have not moved yet their existing accommodations in city centers can best be described as extremely crowded and bordering on marginal accomodation. The new buildings are often being built outside the main city center on large plots of land allowing the chapters room to grow and provide additional services.

The chapters run the gamut from “almost empty” to very, very busy. Most are on the busy side delivering programs like avian influenza and HIV-AIDS awareness, and providing ambulance services to the local community. Some chapters also run the regional blood banks. In Tapaktuan I was asked for my blood type as they urgently needed some blood. Unfortunately my type didn’t match.

One fact that you cannot help but notice is what these dedicated people are doing with a very limited amount of money. It’s true that a great deal of money has flowed into Aceh because of the tsunami but most of this money has gone to infrastructure building like new homes for the survivors, the chapter buildings, chapter vehicles, water and sanitation projects, agriculture and fishery projects, EWS radio network, etc. Money for ongoing programs is still very much in demand.

And of course Aceh is only a small part of this vast country.

BTW – speaking of vast countries I’m visiting another island this afternoon when I travel to Simeulue on the west side of Sumatra, north of Nias, the other large island Glen and I visited.

Want Another Political Party?

2009-03-27T17:22:00.000-07:00

Indonesia has a national election on April 9th. There are many people in America that wish we had at least one more legitimate choice other than Republican or Democrat (apologies to Ralph Nader, Ross Perot, and others who have tried). Well, be careful of what you wish for. This photo displays a list of the 38 different political parties that have candidates running for election in Jakarta. Can you imagine trying to sort out who to vote for?

This election is to vote for three representatives: municipal, district, and provincial. The Indonesian people will return to the polls later to vote for a new President. As I understand the current President can run for re-election as many times as he wants, no term limits like the US.

Regarding yesterday’s object: It’s a tool for grinding out the inside of coconuts to remove the hard, white flesh for cooking. Split your coconut in half and grind away. The shell of the coconut protects your hands from the spiky reamer.

What is this?

2009-03-26T23:06:00.000-07:00

Here’s an object for sale at a local market. You see them being used in many places around Banda Aceh. What is it? I’ll provide an answer tomorrow.

Hint: It’s nothing medical … :-)

I just got back from a stay in Jakarta where we installed two radio systems at the PMI (Palang Merah Indonesia) HQ.

The antenna's were installed at the top of this four story building occupied by PMI.

Wonderful view looking down from the roof.

The HF antenna was hoisted up using a commercial tower and the VHF antenna was mounted onto the top of a standard IFRC 30’ mast which we put up on the top of the structure covering the (blue) stairwell. The antenna cables were fed down to ground level and then across to the radio room in a converted sea container (top of the picture) next to the HQ building.

All went as well as can be expected, without the assistance of my expert installers in Banda Aceh, with 90 degree temperatures, and 90% humidity - talk about sweat – I drank a lot of water, nobody wanted to sit beside me on the trip back to the hotel! The VHF radio tested fine but the HF radio is giving me problems. All of the equipment is new but the radio just won’t produce anywhere near its rated output. Unfortunately I had to leave to return to Banda Aceh so I’ll be debugging the HF radio when I return to Jakarta on April 7th. Obviously, the problem lies in one of the three major components: radio, antenna cable, or antenna. It's figuring out which one that will be the challenge.

Very frustrating.

Today and tomorrow I’ll try to wrap up some sites in Banda Aceh then it’s off to the island of Simeulue to move an HF radio from the Australian Red Cross HQ to the PMI chapter building.

Jakarta Traffic Observations

2009-03-24T17:12:00.000-07:00

Spending a fair bit of time in Jakarta has presented a few things that strike me as "funny haha" or "funny peculiar" - your choice.

On Monday I had to run out to pick up some grounding wire and during the trip we had a tropical downpour - comes on fast and the drops are big. Needless to say all of the people on scooters and motorcycles are caught without rain gear on. As we proceeded down one street I saw all of the traffic moving over to the right-hand lane and could see a mass of stopped traffic on the left that I, at first, thought was an accident. As we got closer I saw that there were about 30+ motorcycles stopped, side by side, blocking the inside two lanes - most strange. Then I realized that they were all stopped under a bridge affording them some protection from the downpour. The rest of the cars, buses, trucks, etc. just moved to the right and funneled around them with minimal horn honking. Must be a standard procedure. Try that one in Milwaukee or Chicago!!

Yesterday morning I saw a man standing beside an on-ramp signalling with one or two fingers, then I saw another, and another. Sarmad asked me if I knew what was happening and of course I didn't. He explained that ahead the road system provided an HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lane much like you see in many US cities. These young men were signalling to the drivers that they were available as extra "passengers" to make up the HOV minimum. True entrepreneurship at work. He thought they charged one or two dollars for the service.

And lastly, if U-turns in heavy traffic bother you, don't drive in Jakarta. At a lot of intersections there is no easy way to install a flyover for traffic wanting to turn right across the flow of oncoming vehicles (remember they drive on the left hand side of the road here). To turn right you first turn left, proceed anywhere from a few hundred yards to a 1/2 mile or more and then you make a U-turn from one heavily trafficked roadway through a gap in the median, onto an equally heavily trafficked roadway heading in the opposite direction. The oncoming cars know this is happening and allow the cars making the U-turns to filter in ... eventually - but it does require a bold driving style. Tentative drivers wouldn't last long.

In Jakarta

2009-03-22T02:55:00.000-07:00

I’m spending a few days in Jakarta installing two radio systems at the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) headquarters, one of which will allow Jakarta to communicate directly to Banda Aceh, all part of the Tsunami Recovery Project.

It was quite a shock to arrive in Jakarta, Thursday night, to discover a city of anywhere from 9,000,000 to 23,000,000 people depending whether you’re talking about Jakarta proper or great Jakarta. Either way it’s a massive population. The expressway coming into town from the airport, albeit later in the evening, flowed well and we got to the hotel quickly. Friday was totally different. Jakarta is known for its major traffic problems and I got to see it first hand as we slowly worked our way to the IFRC office building.

On Saturday Sarmad and I had a few things to pick up for the radio installations on Monday and we spent a long time stuck in long lines of backed up traffic. They do have white lines dividing the road into lanes but these are largely ignored, the number of lanes is more dictated by the width of the vehicle. When we got back to the hotel one of the staff commented how lucky we were to actually make it to the places that we did on a Saturday.

Sunday was my day off so I took a taxi to try and locate the only two geocaches in Jakarta. If you haven’t heard about geocaching it’s basically a treasure hunt using a handheld GPS to locate items that have been hidden by others. It first started in May 2000, when Dave Ulmer from Portland, Oregon, hid some trinkets in the woods outside Portland posted their coordinates in a newsgroup posting and challenged people to find them. As of a few minutes ago www.geocaching.com, the center of all things related to geocaching, are reporting 752,612 caches worldwide. Better get started soon!

The first cache in Jakarta was placed within a national monument, called Monas, located at the center of the city. It’s a 450’ tall tower topped by a huge flame with a central elevator. Unfortunately, it had a very long lineup waiting to get to the top. I declined to wait in the heat and humidity, so I didn't get to answer the question that I needed to claim that cache.

The second cache is what is known as a ‘traditional’ cache located in the Tarman Prasati Museum where they have collected grave stones and monuments from all over Jakarta, one dating back to the late 15th century. The cache was a small container hidden at the base of a tree. The geocaching experience is searching for caches that take you to places with interesting features that you would not otherwise see. You then log your find's so that the owners of the caches have a record of everyone that has found it.

BTW – the Sunday traffic was much better!

In each hotel on my tour of Aceh province I found that the only TV channels available were Indonesian. But, here in Jakarta I have found channels from Australia, UK, USA, France, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, China (mainland), China (Taiwan), Hong Kong, and Japan, perhaps an indication of the international nature of this capitol city.

At the IFRC on Friday I met up with Bob McKerrow again, whom I'd first had the pleasure of meeting last week in Banda Aceh. Bob is the Head of Delegation for the IFRC in Indonesia and as such he coordinates the work of the dozens of Red Cross and Red Crescent national societies working in the country, a huge task. He’s a fascinating man with a wide range of interests and experiences. He’s also a writer and a blogger and his site is well worth a visit: www.bobmckerrow.blogspot.com. Check it out. Bob has a background in radio communication (13 months in Antarctica to name one) and has taken a keen interest in our work. He’s an avid supporter of what we’re doing so we are thrilled to have his enthusiasm on our team!

Some Traveling Left To Do..

2009-03-19T17:25:00.000-07:00

I'm writing this entry from Java, my fourth Indonesian island. Some years ago Ann and I had the good fortune to visit Bali (#1) for a vacation, my project here has been primarily in north Sumatra (#2), and I did get to travel to Nias (#3) to check some radio installations. I'm now in Java (#4) to visit the IFRC headquarters in Jakarta and install a radio for the early warning system.

Checking Wikipedia I only have 17, 504 islands left to visit!! Wish me well ... only about 6,000 of the islands are inhabited so it may be a bit lonely.

And as an aside I'm now in the southern hemisphere having crossed the equator on the flight from Singapore last night.

Back in Banda Aceh

2009-03-16T17:22:00.001-07:00

The long road trip ended on Sunday afternoon when we returned to Banda Aceh – 14 days, 1,300 miles, 11 different hotels, and ten Red Cross chapters.

The final stretch of the west coast road lived up to its reputation by providing some of the most stunning coastal scenery tempered by a mostly dirt road that is either washboarded or topped with very bumpy rocks. The stretch of road down the west coast from Calang to Banda Aceh is under repair. The tsunami washed away major sections of the road and all of the coastal bridges.

USAID has stepped in to fund the reconstruction but it’s a massive task that will take a couple more years to complete. Different sections of the road were allotted to different companies for reconstruction – some got relatively flat terrain, some got mountainous terrain. At one stretch we dropped out of a mountainous section to find a new smooth, wide, level road, and just when we thought we’ll be back in Banda Aceh in no time - the wheels drop off the tarmac and it's back to rough, slow going again.

To bypass the washed out bridges they’ve built a temporary dirt road for much of the route. The dirt road snakes its way back into the interior adding miles to what will eventually be a relatively short distance. When completed I think you’ll be able to drive the distance in a couple of hours. It took us six!

As I mentioned above the condition of the road is totally offset by the scenery. Some of the best looking beaches are right beside the road with clear ocean water breaking on the shore and totally deserted. One wonders how long it will be before they get developed. The Aceh people and Sharia Law will certainly impact the pace and scale of development but if you want to “get away from it all” it’s hard to imagine a nicer place.

About two thirds of the way to Banda Aceh you have to climb up over a mountain with hillsides that drop straight down into the sea. The road is built into the edge of the mountain and at its highest point we came across a row of coffee huts built on the cliff side of the road. It’s mandatory to stop (of course) …we sit on a covered deck that is suspended out over the hillside and enjoyed a cup of coffee while gazing at the vista – a great rest stop!

Yesterday I caught up on some paperwork and documentation and today Sarmad is here so we will take the day to plan the final four weeks of the project. Tomorrow I fly back to Singapore to get my Indonesian visa renewed for the last time. The first two months have flown by and I’m sure the final month will do the same given what Sarmad would like to get done. We’re adding a few things to my “to do” list.

The West Coast Road

2009-03-12T23:38:00.000-07:00

My Indonesian companions on the trip are taking a break at a mosque in a small village for a special Friday prayer service that is important to Muslims. While sitting in the Land Cruiser, I though I’d use the time to post a quick blog. Thanks to Ken for the Telkomsel flash wifi card.

What a treat the west coast road has been after the rough roads in the mountains. The road is primarily flat and well-paved although they did throw in a few hill climbs, curvy sections, and some pot holes to keep the driver on his toes. We’ve been able to make good time between site visits. When the road passes close to the

sea it's very beautiful - there are some great beaches - but no time to stop.

This morning, as we left Meulaboh, the road quality took a bit of a downturn but still it was mostly good pavement.

I’m told the final section which we should traverse tomorrow from Calang to Banda Aceh is another bad stretch so I’m preparing for more hand grip holding. (BTW - Indonesian “c’s” are pronounced like the “ch” in “chapter” so Calang is pronounced “Chalang”.)

The east coast road is the primary route between the capitol of Sumatra, Medan, and Banda Aceh, so it’s full of cars, buses and trucks. The west coast road is much less travelled, that makes the going much easier – although being a quieter road it seems to attract many more animals, especially cows, who use the road like the rest of us.

After the lofty heights of 6200’+ in the mountains I’ve spent the last few days at 50’ or less. The land along this coast is very flat and low until it reaches the mountains to the east where it shoots back up again. Much of this shoreline was badly damaged by the tsunami, particularly the cities of Meulaboh and Calang.

Back on the Good Side - and a Wonderful Surprise

2009-03-11T07:48:00.000-07:00

Things got back on the positive side of the ledger as we finished our work at the Aceh Selatan PMI chapter in Tapaktuan and both the HF and the VHF radios worked fine. I took some time and set up the bad radio from Singkil just for a test and, lo and behold, it worked just fine The problem back in Singkil must have been the antenna. The PMI technician will have to replace it on his next visit.

On the way to our next stop in Blangpidie we passed by the home of Sayad one of the PMI technicians that are along on this trip. He invited us to stop because he wanted to get us fresh coconuts. No sooner had we climbed out of the vehicles when Sayed shot up to the top of a tall coconut tree and started throwing down coconuts into a small stream that ran in front of his home. An older man who I later learned was Sayed’s father hopped down into the stream to retrieve the coconuts. Two other men with knives then hacked off the tops and bottoms of the coconuts, made a hole in one end, and handed them to us to drink the freshest coconut milk you can get. After the milk was gone they split the coconuts in two, handed us spoons, and we scooped out the flesh from inside – delicious. A cup of sweet Aceh coffee followed and we were well refreshed for the rest of the journey. What a treat! Definitely one of those moments that makes me realize how lucky I am to have this opportunity.

The area around Sayed’s home was very beautiful. They are a little inland from the sea and are surrounded by rice paddies with high hills rising in the background. His father told us that it looks peaceful now but 10 years ago during the separatist war between the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Indonesian government it was a very dangerous area with soldiers from both sides firing from the surrounding hills.

In the afternoon we stopped at the Aceh Barat Daya (aka Abdya) chapter and were told the radio had been broken over a year ago and that no one had replied to their requests for help until we arrived. It took them about 30 minutes to locate all of the parts and then it took us about an hour to get the radio operational again. I think they were pleased.

Tonight we’re staying in Blangpidie and then tomorrow we head to Jeuram to the PMI Nagan Raya branch before heading to Meulaboh for the night.

The First Failure

2009-03-09T17:00:00.000-07:00

Up until Singkil we'd had a perfect track record for getting the radios working. I expected the run to continue but, alas, today it ended. After we had completed all of our other work to get the radios up to a decent operating standard - we successfully tested the VHF radio but the HF radio wouldn't cooperate.

The Codan HF radios we're using here are designed to output 150 watts of power. The one in Singkil would only push 10 watts and no more. The radio appears to be faulty so I'm bringing it back to Banda Aceh for repair.

I trust we'll get back on the good side of the ledger today as we work on the radios here in Tapaktuan at the Aceh Selatan branch.

Tapaktuan is a small town stretched along the west coast of Aceh with a hill rising up immediately to the east. I can see the waves breaking on the rocks across the street from our hotel. We got here yesterday after lunch and since Monday was an official Indonesian holiday I gave the team a well-deserved afternoon off.

Indonesian Hotels

2009-03-09T16:56:00.000-07:00

The hotels we’ve stayed at have run the gamut from very nice to adequate. The hotel we use in Medan is up to par with many of the better western hotels including a gym, swimming pool, tennis court, etc. The hotel I stayed at in Singkil was much, much smaller but very clean and pleasant and somewhat representative of what you find when you leave the big cities.

The following contrasts are meant only to illustrate the differences and are not meant to criticize the hotel I stayed at in Singkil because I enjoyed my stay there very much. The owner was very pleasant but spoke no English so we exchange pleasantries and that was about it. It’s a shame I was only there for two nights.

But, if you really want to do Indonesia on the cheap, there’s one type of overnight accommodation that is very basic called a “losmen”. I haven’t stayed in one – yet. But, I’ll let you know if I do.

Toilet:

• Medan - The same flush toilets as we would find back home.

• Singkil - The toilet was a porcelain fixture, sunk in the floor with places for your feet. You flush it by pouring ladles of water into a bowl from a giant tub of water in the corner of the toilet room. Interestingly enough this enamel insert in the floor was made by American Standard.

Shower:

• Medan - In the bathtub with shower curtain - nice clean towels

• Singkil - Using the same ladle mentioned above, you pour water over your head, lather up, and then ladle more water over your body until you’re clean - nice clean towels.

Bed:

• Medan - King size with nice sheets and a blanket.

• Singkil - Queen size, no top sheet, but a nice quilt.

AC:

• Medan - Yes, with control in the bedside table.

• Singkil - Wall mounted type that does a good job of cooling the room and it has a remote control.

TV:

• Medan - lots of channels including CNN.

• Singkil - All Indonesian channels – I get to catch up on my reading.

Restaurant:

• Medan - Several.

• Singkil - None.

Bar:

• Medan - In the lobby

• Singkil - Don’t even think about it with Sharia La

Cost Per Night:

• Medan - US$95

• Singkil - US$15

• Travelling around Sumatra for the Red Cross – Priceless!

Dining With Cats

2009-03-08T16:50:00.001-07:00

So there I am enjoying lunch at a local restaurant when I notice a cat between my legs. There were at least five cats roaming the place. I’m sitting in a very low chair and leaning forward across my lap to eat and the cat is right beneath me looking up.

I took a photo because he was so cute and meowed nicely for food. He must have known that I very seldom feed animals from the table because when I leaned forward to take the next bite from my piece of chicken the little terror stood tall and gracefully removed the chicken bone from my hands and ran off with it! Good job I was almost finished.

A typical lunch in this part of the world is to be given a plate with a serving of white rice on it and then helping yourself to whatever takes your fancy from bowls lined up on the display shelf, usually several different kinds of chicken dishes, several fish dishes, maybe a beef dish or two, and one or two vegetable dishes. Most of them include either green or red chilies so your taste needs to lean towards the spicy. I’m in heaven! The food and one or two Tehbotols and I’m ready to start work again. Tehbotol is the name of a very popular bottled cold tea drink served everywhere I’ve been so far.

p.s. I'll try to post some photos when I get better access. Right now it's back to dial-up speed of 54 Kbps through a Telkomsel Flash wireless drive. Slooowwww!!

I'm Over The Hill(s)

2009-03-08T09:16:00.000-07:00

My trip through the central highlands of Aceh province has ended. Friday night was spent in the mountain town of Berastagi at almost 4800', last night we slept in the west coast town of Singkil at 15'.

Berastagi felt wonderfully cool after the heat of the lower ranges, it's a town where people from the biggest city on Sumatra, Medan, go to get away. It's a busy market town and small tourist center with many hotels and small B&B's. There are two active volcanoes nearby, Sibayak and Sinabung, unfortunately I didn't get to see the smoke as the peaks were hidden by clouds. It's a reminder that I'm sitting on the "Ring of Fire" as this volcanic area of the world is known.

The road from the river valley, south of Kutacane up to Berastagi, could perhaps be the worst road I have ever travelled over, if not, it's in the bottom two. The pot holes along this mountain highway weren't just big, they could swallow a VW Beetle, and some of them were filled with water making it an adventure to drive in and "test" the depth and what we might hit beneath the water. I can definitely certify that my spine has been completely realigned and my left arm, after long hours hanging onto the handle above the window, is now stronger than my right. We did find some well-paved sections, and some sections that were old but still in good condition, but these were far and few.

On one section we passed through an area filled with oranges groves. We stopped at a stall being run by one of the local farmers to try some, I think we ended up purchasing about 20 lbs between us.

Yesterday we traveled from Berastagi to Singkil, mostly downhill, but we still had some passes to cross over. More beautiful views and one good waterfall helped the trip go by. We got in late so I haven't seen much of Singkil but it's very flat and barely above sea level. I believe Singkil's main claim to fame is being the ferry port for trips to Simeulue Island.

Today we'll be working on the radios here at the Singkil Chapter and on Monday we'll begin the journey NW back to Banda Aceh.

Back in the Mountains

2009-03-06T06:04:00.001-08:00

I’ve travelled back into the mountains to revisit the sites at Takengon (4000’), then on to new territory to the town of Blangkejeren (3100’), and then on to a town in a river basin (Kutacane). The driving has been spectacular. The one and only road winds its way along the mountainside and I swear, over the last 300 miles or so, I saw less than 1 mile of straight road and less than one mile of flat road. We were continuously winding left to right or heading up and down. From Takengon to Blangkejeren we had to cross over two mountain passes at 6000’ and 6200’ and between Blangkejeren and Kutacane we went back over 4200’. The road is paved but has rough patches where landslides have taken away the road bed, and in some places parts of the road! Along the way you pass through small villages strung out along the roadside which at first look idyllic with the streams and mountain vistas but the reality is that life here has to be very tough. The primary source of income is farming where fields are cut out of every conceivable piece of arable land. I’ve even seen a few small corn fields – nothing like Wisconsin. Try to run a John Deere down a 45 degree slope!

In the Takengon area they grow a particularly fine coffee bean which is the prime ingredient of the Aceh coffee I’ve mentioned before. One of their main customers is Starbucks, so if you order a cup of Starbucks Sumatra coffee, this is where it comes from. And Starbucks, if you’re listening, I can buy a cup of that same coffee here for about a quarter.

Yesterday, on the mountain roads, we passed through two roadblocks set up by the police (or whomever) and we were waved through – having large Red Cross and Red Crescent signs all over the vehicles works like a charm. There is a respect shown to the Red Cross. Anyway we didn't know what they were looking for until we got down into Kutacane and saw a drug bust in progress – we didn’t stop! It seems, along with fine coffee, the mountains are also a great place to grow marijuana. I didn’t get a price on that!

One last comment – I think the first two words taught to Indonesian children must be, “Hello Mister!” If we slow down anywhere children are present, or pass by children walking on the street, especially in the more rural areas, we almost always hear, “Hello Mister!” along with a wave and a smile.

The trip is going very well. We’ve taken care of business in each of the above mentioned towns, and later today, after some wrap-up work here in Kutacane, we’ll be heading towards the most south-west part of Aceh province to a town called Singkil.

Can You Speak Bahasa - Does Air Mean Water?

2009-02-28T05:08:00.000-08:00

I had first thought that the language spoken in Indonesia was Bahasa. I got educated today by my interpreter and, the news is - everyone in the world speaks bahasa because bahasa simply means language - and everyone here speaks at least one language. In our case we speak bahasa Ingres (English) and for Indonesia the official language is bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian). Locally, in Aceh Province, they also speak bahasa Aceh (Acehnese). So, if someone asks “Can you speak bahasa?” simply reply “Of course!”

Now a test to see if you can speak bahasa Indonesia. Look at the following list of words and see how many of them you understand. I think you’ll be surprised.

Foto

Fotocopy

Brokoli

Computer

Laptop

Kamera,

Coklat (In Indonesian the “c” is pronounced like “ch”)

Es krim (think Baskin & Robbins)

Hamburger

Radio

Taksi

Villa

Violet

Video

And you thought you could only speak English. I'm learning a few phrases to get me by and, at a minimum, allow me to say hello and goodbye. Greeting someone can be confusing because you have to know what the time of day is. There are five different expressions. They are 'pagi pagi' (before 7:00am), 'pagi' (7:00am until 11:00am), 'siang' (11:00am until 3:00pm), 'sore' (3:00pm until 7:00pm), and 'malam' (after 7:00pm). If you want to say "See you tomorrow." you have to include the appropriate word for the time of day you expect to see them.

One of the things that still makes my brain spin is the number one. The Indonesian work for one is 'satu' which is pronounced like 'sah-two'. As soon as I hear the second syllable I’m already one numeral too much.

And, if you are wondering about the title, the Indonesian word for water is 'air' and is pronounced like 'ah-ear'.

Two final words to leave you with, that tickle my western funny bone: Doorsmeer and Pispot. Doorsmeer means carwash - do you want your doors smeared? and Pispot is a store that sells car parts - not what you were thinking.

Please Send a Money Sack!

2009-02-28T05:05:00.000-08:00

Bring a money belt they said. It will help secure your cash! On Friday I received US$600 for expenses, and a US$700 advance for the upcoming trip to the highlands and west coast. This amounts to IR13,800,000. Here’s what it looks like...

...now I don't know about you, but a money belt with this amount of paper cash in it looks obvious. The note on the top of the pile is a IR50,000 note, which is worth about US$5. Does anyone know where I can get an inconspicuous money sac?!

Colors, Colors, Colors

2009-02-28T01:34:00.000-08:00

Traveling around this country I'm impressed by all the vivid colors, both natural and man-made.

First the colors of nature: in a tropical setting, like Indonesia, the many shades of green. Green is everywhere, from the rice fields to palm trees, to banana plantations, to jungle shrubs, to majestic trees. Interspersed with all of the green is the blue of the sky, the blue-green of the ocean and dotted amongst all of this are the tropical flowers: all shades of reds, blues, pinks, and yellows.

Next to grab your eye are the flags. There’s a general election here in April and it seems the standard method for advertising your party is to put flags up along the sides of the road and down the median. There are a lot of political parties so there are a many different colored flags, all shades of red, green, yellow, white, and blue.

Finally the colors of buildings: the most common form of construction is reinforced concrete resulting in a cement gray structure. To brighten the finished buildings they paint them in a wide variety of colors, in amazing combinations that we from the west would find clashing. Pink, in all shades from coral to shocking, and orange, in all its varying shades, are most popular as are blues, greens, yellows, and reds. I especially like the Green Bay Packer décor. The most clashing combination I’ve seen, to date, is a building with orange walls and pink trim. Sorry I didn’t get a picture.

Last week I travelled 8 hours down the east coast for one final pass at all of the locations there to fix sites Glen and I hadn’t got to and to make a few final repairs to sites we'd visited but didn’t have the necessary supplies to complete. I also reprogrammed all of the radios with new and old frequencies. They’re going to reprogram all of the repeater radios with different frequencies so I want the radios to continue working after the change.

Places visited included Tamiang, Langsa, Lhokseumawe, Bireuen, and Sigli. One of the more amusing things I came across was a repeater radio that was double-locked inside a steel cabinet mounted on the wall inside a small toilet, inside a locked office, inside a government office building. No one is going to mess around with that radio!

For the next two weeks I’m going to make a swing back up through the central highlands and drop down to the far SW corner of Aceh Province to a town called Singkil. I’ll then make my way back up the west coat to Banda Aceh visiting all of the radio installations on the way. It’ll be 15 straight days on the road. As soon as I get back to Banda Aceh it will be time to leave for Singapore to get my third, and final, Indonesian visa.

Driving In Aceh

2009-02-24T04:19:00.000-08:00

As I’ve been driving around Aceh province with skilled local drivers, I’ve been trying to determine why there are not more accidents on the roads. The traffic appears, at first glance, to be a chaotic mix of scooters, motorcycles, cars, SUV’s, trucks, and busses. I’ve come to some conclusions as to why it works. Everyone knows “The Rules”.

First, Indonesians drive on the left side of the road, not the right as we do back home, so take that into account when I mention left and right turns. And understand, as I write, that my tongue is firmly planted in my cheek …kind of…

1) You are responsible for nothing behind you and everything in front of you. Assume that everything coming at you from behind will avoid you. Whatever happens in front of you, react accordingly, avoid them and move on.

2) If you want to make a left turn just go ahead, assume the traffic coming from your right will avoid hitting you as you merge into their lane. This happens all the time as scooters appear from the left and simply turn on to the side of the major road without looking to the right at all. Cars and trucks do the same.

3) Assume everyone coming towards you might cut across in front of you to make a right turn. This happens a lot in the cities.

4) If you’re crossing the top of a “T” junction and the traffic light is red, ignore it. It’s only for people wanting to turn.

5) If you are coming to a very busy intersection, turn on your warning flashers, they will protect you.

6) Assume the road is wide enough for a car and at least one motorcycle each way, if you need to overtake - straddle the white line, if there is one, and go for it.

7) If you think you have enough clear road ahead to overtake, just go ahead, any traffic coming the other way will slow down and let you complete the pass.

8) Any animals wandering onto the road are fine, just avoid them.

9) There is no limit on how many people can be loaded onto two wheels. It’s not uncommon to see dad driving, mom on the back sitting side saddle cradling an infant in her arms, and an older brother/sister sitting between dad’s legs on the gas tank. Three on a scooter or motorbike is commonplace.

10) There is no limit to what you can carry on two wheels.

11) If your vehicle has a serious breakdown leave it in the middle of the road, erect some form of warning “triangle”, and proceed with repairs on site. I saw a truck this morning stopped in the middle of the opposite lane with its drive shaft laying on the road underneath it surrounded by tools.

The marvelous thing about all this is that it works. People don’t seem to get upset. You don’t hear angry horn honking although a gentle toot-toot is used all the time to let others know you’re passing by.

I wouldn’t fancy my chances of not having an accident here if I were behind the wheel, so I’m happy to sit in the passenger seat and watch.

Beef On The Hoof!

2009-02-22T16:17:00.000-08:00

I didn’t think I’d be writing any more animal stories, but……… On Sunday, three AmCross folks, Ken (from New London, Wisconsin), and Fred and Anne (from the UK), picked me up and we went up near one of the NW beaches to a restaurant called Joels. To get there, you pass through an area that had been completely leveled by the tsunami except for a mosque. The aerial photo of that solitary mosque centered in a wasteland of destruction was one of the more popular photos in the post-tsunami days. The area surrounding the mosque is now a brand new village erected by the Turkish Red Crescent.

At the far end of the village is Joels, a restaurant aimed at expats serving pizza, spaghetti, seafood, french fries, and cold liquids of the western variety.

To get to our seating we passed by ponds containing goldfish. And as we’re eating our food we were entertained by a herd of cows that walked through the village and came to drink from the fishponds. I’m really happy that Joels is not a steak or hamburger place because this could have put me off my meal.

After their drink two of the cows and a calf decided to form a new roundabout at the junction of three roads, totally oblivious to the traffic.

This morning, Monday, I’m back on the road to hopefully complete all of the radio installations on the east coast. There are some sites that Glen and I didn’t get to and there’s some reprogramming and light maintenance to do at another. I should be back in Banda Aceh Friday afternoon.

Time For a Haircut!

2009-02-20T17:35:00.000-08:00

So the time came to get a haircut, but where to go. My regular barber (Ann) is back home in Wisconsin, waiting for my return, and there is no way I can hold out for two more months, I'm already tripping over the ends! :-) Sarmad tells me he’s ready for a haircut too, so off we go to his local barber. Well, it isn’t like a haircut back home.

The barber shop had five chairs in an area about the size of a single car garage and the front is completely open to the street.

The barber spoke absolutely no English so I made some motions about trimming the sides. He made a comment, smiled, and dove in. He trimmed the sides with an old motorized trimmer and a comb that came from a pile of tools on the counter and then finished it up with scissors. As he took the drape off I thought he was done so I made some more motions indicating I wanted the top thinned out.

He said something that indicated he was only half way through. Next thing I know the back of the chair was lowered to a horizontal position. More of a position to have dental work done than a haircut! A drape was spread over my chest and he finished the top while I lay prone in the chair.

After trimming the top he put some lotion on my forehead that contained a high percentage of menthol and proceeded to give me a head massage. Very nice! Up went the back of the chair and I got a shoulder and arm massage. Some final trimming and I was done.

Now, during the haircut the barber had sprayed some water on my hair and during the massage it had dried so that I now had a spike of hair on my forehead sticking straight up. The barber handed me the comb and I tried my best to slick it down. I didn’t get too many stares at dinner so I guess it worked. And reflecting local prices the whole haircut cost me all of $1.50.

All in all a good experience and a better haircut than I've had in many places on the road. I'll have to make one more stop here before I leave for home.

On my return from Singapore, the remains of the week was spent planning for the next three weeks. The first week I’m going to return to the east coast visiting the sites that Glen and I missed the first time, wrap up any finishing touches to the other sites. For weeks two and three I’ve planned a trip that will take us up through the interior highlands, down to the deep SW corner of Aceh, and then back along the west coast. It’s going to be a lot of driving and 15 straight days on the go, but I’ve been told that the west coast is very beautiful.

Today I'm off shopping for supplies for the next week.

Singapore - It's Visa Time!

2009-02-17T01:50:00.000-08:00

On Monday Glen and I flew to Singapore. For Glen it's the start of his homeward journey. His four weeks in Indonesia have flown by - no pun intended. It's going to be very strange to wake up later this week and realize that I am now on my own for the duration. Glen was a great traveling companion and I think we worked well as a team. Glen's professionalism, dedication to the task, work ethic, optimism, and sense of humor will be missed.

The reason for flying to Singapore was to pick up a new entry visa into Indonesia. The Indonesia government will only issue an entry visa valid for 30 days. This means that on the 30th day visitors have to exit the country, pick up a new entry visa, and return. The IFR had arranged with a visa consultant in Singapore to turn our request around in one day.

This morning I turned over my documentation and US passport to the visa consultant then Glen and I went to visit one of the tech malls they have here - by lunch time we both had technology overload. We have never seen so many PC's, mobile phones, and digital cameras in one place - every make and model you can imagine, many not available in the US.

My passport with new entry visa was returned to the hotel at 4:00pm - I can make my flight tonight.

I got in last night - late last night, and am currently in the Singapore airport waiting to fly back to Medan. Tomorrow morning I'll fly back to Banda Aceh.

Note to US airports - I'm using complimentary wifi access that's freely available throughout the Singapore airport. Why can't we provide the same service! :-)

Going Ape in Bukit Lawang

2009-02-15T01:23:00.000-08:00

What to do on Sunday? There are only a very few places left in the world where one can still view Orang-utan apes in the wild. Luckily for us there is one about 2.5 hours drive outside Medan in Gunung Leuser National Park. The destination town is Bukit Lawang. Sarmad organized a car and driver and off we went. There has been an Orang-utan preservation program running there for almost 40 years and there are currently about 5,000 orangs in the park.

We were about an hour or so from Bukit Lawang when a stern man on a motorcycle flagged down our car. Some words were exchanged with the driver in Bahasa - we were beginning to wonder what trouble we were in - then the man announced that he was a guide at Bukit Lawang and would be happy to meet us there. A true entrepreneur, or - was it organized by our driver? We're not sure.

We arrived at Bukit Lawang and there he was waiting. Some good negotiating by Sarmad and we had a guide and three fore-runners for a two to three hour jungle trek to see the Orangs.

The initial climb up the hill was strenuous and by the time we reached the top we were drenched in sweat. I'm guessing we walked about a mile, or so, back into the jungle on a well-worn path.

At the top of a very steep slope the guide asked us to wait while the fore-runners descended. Much clapping and calling was followed by what we had waited to hear - a short whistle followed by "Come on down!"

So, we slipped and scrambled down the slope. Then he pointed off to our right and said "Orang come". We could see tree branches moving about 50 yards away, finally, we got our first glimpse - a long way off but definitely a creature of the ape variety. I tried to get closer but she disappeared. Was that it? Were we done? Not quite!

Cautiously, a female Orang was moving closer - hmmmmm, how close? She kept coming, closer, and closer, and we waited expectantly.

Real close as it turns out!

Next thing we know we have two female Orangs right above us. They took the small pieces of carrot we offered as a treat. Their faces are extraordinary. We spent about a half hour as their guests - a very special treat for us. Then, as quietly as they had appeared, they disappeared back into the foliage and we hiked back down the hill for a well-needed glass of fruit juice and rice/noodles for lunch.

The mountain river below the restaurant looked so inviting after the jungle trek but, alas, we didn't bring extra clothes, bummer! Hot and tired, the ride back to Medan was a lot quieter than the outbound trip - most of us took a nap!

Crocs On, Crocs Off

2009-02-14T07:02:00.000-08:00

If the title of this post doesn't ring any bells then please read down the blog list and read the blog with a similar title.

"Enuf said - I've been Croc'd!" - well, Croc'd with an Indonesian Croc-a-like!! :-)

Where's Roger

2009-02-14T06:40:00.000-08:00

If you're interested in where the places are that I have been commenting on in this blog then send me an email and I will send you a Google Earth .kmz file containing all the links. Unfortunately I haven't found a way to post the file on the blog! If anyone knows how please let me know.

Last Thursday we traveled back to Medan and on Friday we completed the installation of the two radio systems at the Medan PMI chapter office.

This morning (Saturday) Glen and I went through some Red Cross administration and this afternoon we visited a major shopping center that rivals anything I've been to - 7 floors containing shops of all kinds, food court, movie complex, etc. We went to the movie Hunting Party which wasn't too bad - English with Indonesian sub-titles. Their was quite a bit of bad language in the movie and we wondered if all of the words were translated exactly as spoken!

Tonight they had a major Valentines Day celebration spread throughout the hotel lobby so we had to wind our way through the party to get to the restaurant. Lots of pink decorated tables, hearts everywhere, and live music.

Tomorrow we're off to a National Park near Medan for the day. I'll report on that tomorrow night.

Teluk Dalam to Gunung Sitoli - The Better Way

2009-02-11T20:05:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday, after making repairs to the radios at the PMI office in Teluk Dalam we headed back to Gunung Sitoli along the 'good' road up the eastern side of the island. It was indeed better than the western road, but still every single bridge had been destroyed by the earthquake and some sections of the road had obviously been closed off by landslides or eroded away by the sea.

The major attraction is that long sections of the road run alongside the ocean where only palm trees separate the road from coral outcrops and breaking waves. The sea is a mix of blue's that give an indication of the depth of the water along the shore.

Along the way we stopped at a roadside restaurant so our two Indonesian travelling companions could get a bite to eat. The view from some of the seating on the ocean-side of the road was special. It’s a part of this assignment I guess I will just have to put up with it! :-)

Gunung Sitoli to Teluk Dalam - The Hard Way!

2009-02-11T16:46:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday Glen and I needed to travel from Gunung Sitoli in the NE of Nias, to Teluk Dalam in the south. Nias is approximately 75 miles long and 25 miles wide. There is a good road joining the two towns along the east coast. As part of our mission here we had agreed to visit a potential site for a repeater on top of the highest point on Nias called Lolomatua. This required us to take a road that crosses over the island from east to west and then travel down the west side to Teluk Dalam. The 'not good' way!

In 2005, a short three months after the major tsunami, Nias was rocked by a major earthquake that destroyed thousands of homes, killed hundreds of the islanders, and did severe damage to the roads and bridges in the interior. It did not take us long to find the damage.

As we drove up into the central highlands almost every bridge we had to cross was a one-lane temporary structure that required slow going. On many other sections the road bed had partially, or totally, collapsed and again the going was slow as we made our way through temporary lanes.

About two thirds of the way across the island we started our climb to Lolomatua. It was a one lane dirt road that led nowhere but up. Now, calling it a road is a stretch, the roadbed was severely eroded for almost the entire journey and basically varied between very bad to downright scary. I could not image trying to go up it in anything less that a Toyota Land Cruiser. Photos do not do the size of the ruts justice. It was a trip.

After checking out Lolomatua we descended back down the rutted road and rejoined tarmac – how smooth it felt. Going was good for a while until we hit the western side of the island where, for about 20 miles, the road was being repaired. It was not as bad as the trip up to Lolomatua but almost. For most of the way the road was torn up and the verges were being used to stack rocks, make bricks, pile gravel and sand, etc. More slow going.

We finally arrived in Teluk Dalam about mid-afternoon to begin our radio work.

Tuesday evening we checked in to the Sorake Beach Hotel which had, at one time, probably been a five star resort. At best it’s now a one star. I’ll write more about it in a future blog entry, it’s sad seeing such a beautiful resort fall into such disrepair. Of course the earthquake didn’t help!

There was no restaurant at the hotel so Glen and I walked down the road about a quarter mile to a restaurant overlooking the prime attraction of the area – a major surf break that attracts surfers from all over the world. Glen claims his pizza was one of the best he’s tasted. I claimed it was the company but he wasn’t having any of that! We had to walk back to the hotel down an unlit road in total darkness. Every single person we met, or passed by, shared a smile and a warm greeting.

Meet the Fokkers

2009-02-08T16:16:00.000-08:00

The time had come to fly from Medan to Nias Island. Nias is a large island off the west coast of Sumatra. Up until now the flights within the region had all been on medium-size Airbus-type aircraft. I had been told that the flight to Nias used much smaller aircraft and that it would probably be a Fokker. I had this picture of a small passenger plane with a minimal capacity flown by a pilot who looked way too young. The recollection of Bob Newhart’s famous routine about the “Mrs. Grace L. Ferguson Airways and Storm Door Company” also passed through my mind.

When they called our flight and we headed to board the bus it became quickly apparent that this was not a tiny aircraft – way too many people!

We were bussed out to a small terminal building where a Riau Airline Fokker 50 was waiting. Two aside seating and two flight attendants – much better than I expected. The Fokker 50 is an over-wing aircraft so we had great unobstructed views of Sumatra as we crossed over from east to west. It was a wonderful flight. The baggage claim area at the airport on Nias was nothing more than a low wooden counter – they really don’t need any more given the few flights a day that come here.

After landing we had a 30 minute drive north to Gunung Sitoli where we will be checking out radios on Monday. The staff of the PMI branch were all at a wedding so the office was locked for the day – Glen and I were forced to sit and read on the hotel patio.

One thing we noticed as we drove from the airport was the lack of roadside animals – none. But we did see goats on the narrow beach outside our hotel later. We also saw at least four churches. In all of Aceh that we have travelled so far we had seen only one church. I’m sure there are more – we just haven’t passed by. It seemed odd to see so many churches in such a short distance. A reminder that not all of Indonesia has such a large percentage of the population being Muslim as does Aceh.

Our hotel in Gunung Sitoli is right on the ocean so I can hear the waves from my room. Bummer huh! Rooms on the ground floor close to the beach were still available so Glen and I took those. Our travelling companion Pak Edho headed for the 2nd floor. Later we concluded that perhaps the memories of the tsunami are still fresh enough that some people are uncomfortable being low and close to the sea. We know that Pak Edho lost quite a few family members in the tsunami in Banda Aceh so he has a right to head for higher ground if it makes him more comfortable.

Sea Containers

2009-02-07T15:55:00.000-08:00

OK. So you have a number of sea containers and you're not sure what to do with them. As you may know, there's a business in it's infancy in the US where empty sea containers are being turned into homes. Well here at the Ajun compound of the IFRC in Banda Aceh they made use of several of them.

In these photos of the office buildings, you can see that sea containers are used as the prime building material. They're almost unnoticeable at first. No argument here as to how wide your office is. It's the width of a container.

In the first photo the lady in the foreground is Odette Cyr, a French-Canadian from the Gaspe area of Quebec who's been living in this part of the world for a long time. Odette was in Sri Lanka when the tsunami hit and got caught up in it, but luckily was one of the survivors. Since then she has been involved in the tsunami recovery programs in the region and currently works for the IFRC. She's very typical of the people you meet here, separated from their families but intensely dedicated to helping people less fortunate. Her husband is still in Sri Lanka. Odette is a hoot and I think speaks Bahasa with a French-Canadian accent.

Last Friday Glen and I went to the main Indonesian Red Cross offices in Banda Aceh and completed all of the work required to their radio installations. At the end of the afternoon we were able to declare that we had a working radio network as we had a clear conversation over the HF radios with the Red Cross branch in Takengon up in the mountains. As of right now we only have two radios on the network but this will change over the coming weeks.

Yesterday (Saturday) we flew to Medan, the largest city on Sumatra in transit to Nias Island today where we have radios to set up in two cities.

Mountains and Trees...

2009-02-05T17:27:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday and Thursday we spent the day in Takengon in the central highlands of Aceh. It was a spectacular drive up and back on a twisty two lane road that had some major washouts in the first 20 km or so. After that the road improved and wasn’t bad but the going was slow due to the many trucks making their way up the mountain.

In Yellowstone Park, years ago, Ann had bought a t-shirt with the slogan “Mountains and Trees are Good for the Soul” imprinted on it. The trip up to the mountains reminded me of it as there is definitely something restorative about high country. The views and the cool, clean mountain air are good for you. If only we had time for a hike!! The forest is nothing close to back home as it’s heavily dotted with palm trees. It’s really more of a jungle. The strangest thing was the lack of any wildlife. We saw minimal birds and nothing much else. Perhaps they have the good sense to stay away from roads with the trucks belching black smoke! :-) It was a little hazy but there were some beautiful vistas to see.

On Wednesday we went to the Aceh Tengah branch to check their HF and VHF radios. As we pulled in to the car park we could see no HF antenna. We asked the leader where the radio was and his response was “in the boxes”. A good project lay ahead as we had to install the complete radio system: Radio, power supply, mast, antenna, cabling and programming.

During part of the installation we needed to lower the mast to make one correction. Glen explained what he wanted and seconds later one of the local Red Cross team had shinnied to the top of the mast, made the fix, and climbed down. Glen made a comment that he was quick as a monkey and discovered that everyone knew the word ‘monkey’ and then joked with the climber.

Yesterday we drove down out of the mountains to rejoin the heat in Bireuen then back home to Banda Aceh. On the way we paused for a few minutes to feed some monkeys and to get a photo of an Indonesian elephant beside the road.

Shoes On, Shoes Off.

2009-02-03T15:39:00.000-08:00

One of the customs here in Indonesia is that people do not wear shoes into their homes. The shoes are deposited near the front door and you walk bare foot or in your socks. This custom is also observed in many of the Red Cross branches we have visited. When we’re working on the radios we are constantly going inside then outside, then back inside, on and on. Each time we transit the door we have to remember to shed the shoes going in and re-don them going out.

More than once I’ve found myself two, or three, steps into an office only to stop dead and beat a retreat to the door. No one has said anything but we’re trying to observe their customs as best we can. Fortunately the one pair of shoes I brought along can have the laces tied very loose so I can step in and out of the shoes easily. Glen brought along some Teva sandals and they work very well. A pair of Crocs would be wonderful.

In most branches the toilets are out of the back door and require shoes. Perhaps more on that in a future blog but then again that may be TMI. You have to remember to go to the front door, collect your shoes, carry them to the back door and put them on there before heading into the loo.

Today in the Bener Mariah branch the branch leader insisted that we did not take off our shoes and I can tell you it was a funny feeling to walk through the door into the inside of the building and walk around in shoes.

Today we fixed the radio installation in Bireuen then drove up into the mountains from sea level to over 5000’ over a winding, sometimes rough, narrow road full of trucks. The drive from Bireuen to Takengon is 101 km and took us almost 4 hours. The scenery was spectacular and the time went quickly. We kept hoping a Sumatran tiger would leap across the road but no luck. In fact we saw almost no wildlife at all.

We fixed the radio installation at Bener Mariah before heading to our hotel on the shores of the lake called "Danau Laut Tawar" some 4600’ up.

Animals, Animals, and More Animals

2009-02-03T15:30:00.000-08:00

Note: I only have a slow dial-up connection, so I'll add photos when I return to Banda Aceh.

Traveling the roads over the last week and Monday we’ve seen large numbers of domestic animals along the sides of the roads, mainly cows and goats, and a few sheep. They all are left loose to graze where they like. Some even graze along the narrow medians found in some towns. They seem to have good instincts around traffic, unlike our deer! They’ll wait patiently until you pass or, if they feel they have enough time, they’ll wander across the road. The cars avoid them with minimal honking of horns. Along with the fore mentioned animals we’ve also seen monkeys, chickens, and water buffalo, not to mention one horse, a few dogs, and some cats.

In Banda Aceh cats are everywhere. The people here seem to have high regard for the cat, so they are well fed and enjoy a good scratch if offered. Many of the cats have bobbed tails. When we questioned one of the IFRC staff, he told us (with a straight face) that the Indonesians consider cats to be perfect but since only Allah can be perfect they cut off the cats’ tail to give it a slight imperfection. When we tried to verify this with our two interpreters they laughed and said the cats have natural bobbed tails and that our compatriot was just kidding us. I'll have to do more research.

You see very few dogs around, it appears that Muslims don’t like the dogs. If a dog’s saliva gets on their hand they have to go through a ritual of seven washes to cleanse them. What must they think of us and our pets!

Monday was a good day on the road. We travelled from Banda Aceh to Bireuen with a stop at Sigli to properly ground their radio and antenna mast. In Bireuen, at an empty hotel, the girl behind the reception desk refused to rent rooms to Glen and I, she would not even make eye contact with us. This is very unusual as the Acehnese people have been very friendly, especially if you can say “Hello!” in Bahasa, their faces break into smiles. So, we went to another hotel that did welcome our business.

Breakfast is Served

2009-01-31T06:52:00.000-08:00

In the three nights that Glen and I have stayed at hotels outside our home base in Banda Aceh we have been served breakfast in our rooms. A knock on the door or a phone call initiates the meal. It is a brand new experience for me.

The typical breakfast comes as a neatly packaged brown-paper parcel on a plate, or bowl, along with either Aceh coffee or a sweet green tea.

When you open the brown paper parcel it contains a banana leaf on which a serving of rice was placed or noodles, then that was topped with a hard-boiled egg, various vegetables, rice crackers, hot sauce, etc. One meal also arrived with a plastic bag containing a delicious broth that I poured over the accompanying noodles.

One has to forget the concept of a typical western-style breakfast and get used to eating food for breakfast that we would eat at other meals. It’s lucky that both Glen and I enjoy the food very much.

Thursday was a very successful day at the Aceh Timur branch where we started by reinstalling the HF antenna.

Various other jobs were taken care of and at the end of a long, hot day we had both the HF and

the VHF radios working.

Friday was a long eight hour ride back to Banda Aceh in a Land Cruiser ill-designed for comfortable long haul travel. All along the road we saw cattle on the loose, grazing away, and taking their own sweet time to cross the road. The drivers are used to it and simply treat the cattle as a temporary obstacles that they drive around. When we finally got back to our hotel we both had a bad case of Toyota-butt.

Last night we went out with some of the AmCross staff to a BBQ restaurant down along the river. As we were shown to our table one of the guys ordered five “special Cokes”. Glen and I gave each other strange looks wondering what was being ordered. The cans of “special Cokes” were delivered and we got a big laugh when we realized that a can of another far more refreshing liquid was cunningly hiding inside a Coca-Cola sleeve. What a hoot!

Today we spent in an assortment of shops in Banda Aceh buying various supplies for a trip we are making next week up into the mountains of central Aceh: grounding stakes, clamps, pulleys, wire, connectors, etc. We also had five antenna mounting brackets cut and drilled at a local metal working shop for US$12.50. My highlight purchase of the morning was a Skype headset and microphone for $3.50. I'll test that tonight (morning in N. America) with Ann.

Lhokseumawe to Langsa

2009-01-28T06:14:00.000-08:00

Day 2 of this trip started out with an Indonesian breakfast that had been left outside of our rooms. It was comprised of rice, a piece of chicken, and some veggies. All in all a very tasty meal. It was washed down with a cup of Aceh coffee. Think of a quadruple espresso with two tablespoons of sugar: hot, black, thick, very strong and very sweet. Actually very good.

As we walked out of the hotel the school directly across the street was welcoming the children. There were two school teachers in lavender uniforms greeting each child as they arrived. Can you image the teachers dressing like this and greeting the children at the curb back home. Other teachers in the back were lining up the children and were keeping them entertained with songs and exercises.

We then visited the Kota Lhokseumawe branch to check their radio installation. It wasn’t too bad. Glen got an opportunity to download the radio programming onto the PC, make changes, and upload the changes to the radio. Here Glen does the work ably supported by Alex, the IFRC technician, the local radio operator, and Jumari, our interpreter.

After we had done some preliminary work at the branch we all went into the city center to do some “hunting” – i.e. shopping with a list and a time limit: grounding stakes, grounding clamps, solid copper cable, electrical wire, screws, butane for the soldering iron, etc! It was good fun shopping at a local store. Originally they only had three grounding clamps. When I asked them where I could buy more, one of the attendants disappeared out the back door and came back five minutes later with another four. They didn’t want to lose that sale.

Back to the branch office and we accomplished our first “real” work by pounding in a

grounding stake and creating a solid ground for the radio mast and the radio chassis.

Outside the office was this truck emblematic of the many Red Cross national societies around the world that have donated money, time, and materials to Aceh Province. This van was donated by the people of Taiwan.

After completing our work in Kota Lhokseumawe branch we headed down the road further east to the Aceh Timur Branch outside the city of Langsa, about 4 hours away. It’s another new building replacing an older one in the city center. The radio installation had just been moved here 2 weeks previous and they were having difficulties communicating with anyone. We checked out the installation and all of us got shocks off the

equipment - no grounding. That will have to be fixed.

We weren’t immediately sure what other problems were going on but when we left Glen looked up at the antennas and exclaimed “I see a major problem right here!” I know this photo won’t make sense to most of you, but trust me, this is NOT the way to install an HF antenna. One of the wires of the antenna is touching the mast and another antenna wire is touching the guy wires. We have work to do here tomorrow! This was a bit of a surprise as, by and large, the installations have all been very well done. We'll be sure to follow up the PMI techs who did the job and give them some training on these antennas.

We drove into Langsa and got hotel rooms for the night. I won the toss for a second night in a row for the slightly better room. Tonight I have hot water and being the true gentleman that I am I invited Glen over for a hot shower.

The Road to Lhokseumawe (Lock-sue-ma-way)

2009-01-27T06:15:00.000-08:00

Today Glen and I started out first road trip to visit radio sites on the east coast of Aceh. Accompanying us is Alex, the Sr. IT/Telecom Officer for the IFRC in Banda Aceh and Jumari, one of our interpreters. We had planned to get on the road shortly after seven but various delays had us finally underway by 8:45.

The road down along the east coast, mainly inland although there were a few times when we could see the Straights of Malacca, provided a wide range of experiences and scenery: rice paddies everywhere, palm trees, pine trees, monkeys (two), water buffaloes (a lot), hundreds of motorcycles and scooters, small villages, more rice paddies, loads of people, two Red Cross chapters (see below), one car accident, did I mention rice paddies, one golf course, and finally, Lhokseumawe, the second largest city in Aceh.

Our first stop after a couple of hours was in the town of Sigli to visit the Red Cross chapter at Cabang Pidie. Not too bad but we has a few things to fix that I will get back to later in my stay.

In the foreground you can see our RC vehicle, a Toyota Landcruiser, not the smoothest riding transportation in the world but it does the job. Glen and I are taking turns riding in the front seat to enjoy the better view and the better ride.

After our visit to the chapter it was lunch time. Our travelling companions took us to a local restaurant and as you can see we had no trouble finding something to eat. In this type of restaurant they load up the table with about 30 different dishes and you just pay for the ones that you eat. The others go back in the display cabinet for the next guests.

We saw many children coming from and going to school. Most wore uniforms, some did not. The color of this girls head scarf and the contrast to her tunic caught my eye.

Our second stop after another two hours was the Red Cross in Bireuen. They used to be located downtown but last year the Canadian Red Cross built them this wonderful new building just outside of town on some land surrounded by rice fields. This was the best installation todate. The PMI in Bireuen run two ambulances for the town and they staff the building 24x7.

The American Red Cross was also very generous to this branch by donating three pickup motorcycles (one of them seen here) and 10 scooters. The gentleman in the red shirt is the head of the Bireuen branch.

Speaking of scooters we asked Jumari how hard it was to get a driver's license for a motorcycle. "Not hard at all." he said. You go to the local bureau and pay $15 and that's it. No wonder you see them everywhere driven by people of all ages.

And in case I didn't mention it there were a lot of rice paddies. Jumari told us that they can produce two crops a year which I can well believe with the tropical climate. The fields were in various states of the growth cycle. Most of the plots in this photo are being prepared but you can see one patch in the middle where the rice is well on it's way. Sometimes from road to tree-line are solid green. I'll try to get a better picture.

Overall the road was very good. It's only two-laned and very busy. The surface was fairly smooth with a few rough patches here and there. They told me the road on the west coast isn't as good.

We finally arrived in Lhokseumawe around 5:30 and checked into our hotel. It's a bit older and a little run down but it will do the job for the night. One frustration I haven't solved yet is that all of the electricity (lights, TV, A/C, etc) is operated by one switch by the door. If you turn off the lights you also turn off the A/C! Hmmmmm - I'll have to work on this one.

What To Do For Lunch?

2009-01-26T01:04:00.000-08:00

Glen and I decided that we’d stay at the hotel on Sunday and do some work in the afternoon. When lunch time arrived it dawned on us that we haven’t made any arrangements. What to do? We think about walking to the fruit market but then decide to see if the gentleman in the office could order us some food.

He speaks very little English (more than my bahasa) but he understands what we need. Then he utters three very familiar words “Kay – Eff – Cee”. That works says Glen so we ask him to get us some. He dials the number on his mobile phone and then immediately hands the phone to me. My first words were “Hello. Is there anyone there who speaks English?” The man at KFC’s first words were “What’s your phone number?” Darned if I know, I thought, as it wasn’t my phone - so I told him I’d call him back.

Glen and I go back to his room and call KFC from Glen’s phone and get the same man. Now I can answer his question. Ordering isn’t the same as back home with “Two, two-piece meals, please.” After a few stumbles, and some choice's I didn’t recognize, I think I’ve ordered four pieces of chicken, two French fries, and two Pepsi’s. And he says they’ll be delivered soon.

About 15 minutes later the delivery man arrives on the KFC delivery scooter and, to our relief, we get exactly what we ordered. The one added item that you won't get back home is two packets of sambal, the local hot pepper sauce. A great meal - and we now have a phone number for another weekend when we don’t have a car and have a desperate urge for western-style food.

Our First Tour of Banda Aceh

2009-01-24T19:39:00.000-08:00

Glen and I decided to use Saturday afternoon to take a tour of Banda Aceh. Our first stop was lunch at an Acehnese restaurant. As you can see we won't be going hungry! I don't like everything but there's so many choices that there's always dishes to enjoy. I'm tucking into some satay.

After lunch we drove to see this fishing boat that ended up on top of a house. It’s now a monument to the tsunami. The plaque indicates 59 people were saved by the boat. The whole area swept clean by the tsunami has been rebuilt since 2004. The effect of the warm humid climate and ocean air have taken there toll on the construction so when you look at the new building they look older than 4 years. To drive down a small street and suddenly see this boat perched on top of a house is odd, to say the least.

From there we drove to visit one of the mass graves used to bury the many victims. The one we saw had over 14,200 people interred in it. It’s very sobering to imagine that many people buried in one small plot of land. There were a few small headstones that we could see from the path that we assume are memorials to family members killed by the tsunami.

Both of our interpreters were with us, Jumari and Salman. They both attended school together and seem to be good friends. I’m guessing they were both around 20 when the tsunami hit and were both living in Banda Aceh. Jumari said they heard a lot of shouting about “The water is coming!” and he and his family ran to safety. Salman said that his family stayed at home and that water rose gradually to about knee height and then receeded. The whole event only lasted about 2 hours but the devastation and loss of life was staggering. One of the primary reasons for the mass destruction was that the earthquake that caused the tsunami was very intense in Banda Aceh and it severely damaged and weakened most of the buildings. They provided little protection from the water that came ashore in the worst hit area.

From the mass grave we went to visit the large generator ship that was swept in 3km from the sea. Sarmad had taken us there before but this time we got to take some photos and climb aboard the boat. As we were climbing up the ladders we were asked by some Muslim women if they could have their photo taken with us, a flashback to my time in China where it was commonplace for the locals to want photos with us. We obliged of course. I took some video from the top of the ship that I will try to post to my Facebook page.

From the barge we went back into downtown Banda Aceh to visit the Baiturrahman Mosque, the largest in Aceh. We walked around the outside of the mosque and marveled at the architecture. We were not permitted to enter. Muslims are required to pray five times everyday: dawn, mid-day, afternoon, sunset, and night. The “call to prayer” resounds throughout the city prior to each of these times and can be heard coming from every direction, a clear auditory reminder that I’m not in Wisconsin.

Next to the mosque we walked into the Aceh Bazaar, a large claustrophobic collection of market stalls. It would seem to be a great place to bargain. For those who have visited the big market in Bangkok try to image Chatuchak but narrower, darker, and lower!! A good friend from Nashville, Barry, would be in seventh heaven. And Barry, you’d never find Ann in there!!

During the afternoon the rains came which was the first we’d seen since arriving. Big tropical drops of warm rain – it felt good. Some thunder and lightening after dark was wonderful.

After the bazaar we decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel. We made arrangements for Jumari and Salman to meet us again on Monday afternoon for a second tour. Monday’s a national holiday for Chinese New Year.

The Men Who Went Up a Hill...

2009-01-23T19:16:00.000-08:00

Glen and I began our radio installation inspections today. We started with the main Red Cross chapter in Banda Aceh where we noted several things that need to be fixed and improved. From there we went to the Banda Aceh Red Cross chapter to do inspection number 2. As I was walking into the building an elderly Indonesian man came over and stood in front of me and said “You like Obama?” When I responded that I was delighted in our new President his face lit up, he thrust out his hand for a firm handshake, and said “You good man! Obama good.”

We finished work at noon and because this is Friday we had to allow 2 hours for all of the local staff to go the mosque for special Friday prayers. Glen and I used the time to catch up on some paperwork.

In the afternoon the real fun began. We decided to do one more check and travel to a repeater installation at a place called Mata Ie. A repeater is a specialized radio installation that takes a signal on one frequency and rebroadcasts it on another frequency to extend the range of the network. They are usually installed on the top of a telecom tower. All of you pass by them everyday probably without noticing. As we drove out of town we would see a tower ahead and think it was ours only to drive on by. Several kilometers later we entered an army controlled area and Pak Edho, our IT Technician, got out and let them know we were going up to our tower.

A climb in the car up a steep hill then we pulled off to the side of the road. We had left the urban area far behind and we were now in the wilds. When I asked Pak Edho where our repeater was installed he pointed straight up towards the top of the hill. A series of concrete steps disappeared behind some shrubs. We were then told it was 600 steps!! And it was hot. And we hadn’t brought any water!! I really think no one but Glen and I wanted to make the climb.

Off we went and it was a tad strenuous (how out of shape am I!) but we made it to the base of the 120’ tower. The climb reminded me of some of the steepest sections of the Great Wall with more foliage and less wall! Glen and I looked up at the top of the tower where our repeater was installed and declared (or I may have gasped) “That installation looks good!”. After some photos and a pause to regain our breath we retraced our steps down the path and drove back to the office. On the drive back down the hill I saw a monkey sitting on the side of the road. When I pointed and exclaimed “Monkey!” in the hopes I could get a photo, no one batted an eye, the car didn’t slow down, and Pak Edho said “You’ll see lots of them!” And we did... but no photos... yet!

Dinner at a very good Chinese restaurant and a get-together with some of the other AmCross staff ended a great day. Now to bed to rest the legs!!

The Real Work Begins

2009-01-22T06:48:00.000-08:00

Enough with planning, it’s time to get our hands dirty and begin the real work of the project. Tomorrow we’ll be visiting three sites in Banda Aceh to inspect the installation of 4 radio systems including a repeater on top of one of the local hills.

Next week we’re going to cover all of the sites on the east coast of Aceh province visiting the towns of Sigli, Bireuen, Lhokseumawe, Langsa, and Tamiang. In total we’ll be inspecting 11 radio installations along the coast. These radios were installed back in 2005 and have been visited in the past few months by an Indonesian Red Cross IT/Telecom technician who has made any repairs necessary. Our job will be to inspect the work he has done and ensure the installations meet IFRC standards.

We’ll be travelling in a Toyota Land Cruiser and will be accompanied by Alex (an IFRC IT Technician), Jumari (an interpreter), and a driver. The Land Cruiser is decorated all over with Red Cross logos and has a VHF radio and an HF radio on board for communication. It will probably be a bit of a bumpy ride as the roads can be very rough in places. From Banda Aceh to our furthest point is approximately 10 hours driving and we will be home by 5:00pm next Friday.

The following week we are planning to visit several towns on the west coast including Calang, Meulaboh, and Blangpidie. More on that trip in a future blog.

I have no idea what internet access we’ll have next week so it may be a while before I update the blog.

Sarmad, the IFRC IT/Telecom coordinator left for his home in Jakarta this afternoon. He’s been the driving force behind the authorization and planning for this project. He has so much local knowledge it was hard to see him go. Sarmad is an Iraqi who lived in Baghdad during the two wars and witnessed the invasion of Iraq first hand. We have had some fascinating discussions with him about the wars from his perspective. He’s been great to work with. We’ll join up again in 2 weeks when we do radio installations in Medan and on the island of Nias.

Life at the Green Paradise

2009-01-21T07:37:00.000-08:00

While I’m in Banda Aceh I have a room rented for me at a residence compound called Green Paradise. I’m not sure which came first, the name of the compound or the color of the walls of the buildings. The residents of the Green Paradise seem to be all members of various NGO’s providing services to the area. The room is reserved for my three month stay so when I’m out on a multi-day field trip I can leave things in the room and not have to check out, a big benefit.

It’s very nice but not luxurious by any stretch. The rooms are fairly spartan but adequate. I have an air conditioner and a TV with about 15 channels including BBC Worldwide for news, a couple of movie channels, and at least one sports channel. The bed is made everyday and the towel changed. One benefit is that any clothing left in the laundry hamper is taken away, washed, ironed, and returned 2 days later with no charge. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with all of the laundry detergent I brought with me!!

Each morning there’s a simple, serve yourself breakfast, which is also included in the room charge. They have cereal, toast, fruit and a varied selection of things to put on the toast plus instant coffee. In the evening if you wish they’ll deliver a simple Indonesian meal to your room at 8:00pm for about $2.50. I haven’t tried this yet but will soon.

In the center of the compound is a small lap pool for anyone who needs some exercise – not me, of course!! I’ve only seen one person in the pool so we must be a fit lot. They also have wifi internet access. The connectivity at the desk in my room was very poor but I’ve discovered if I rig a temporary desk back near the washroom I get an adequate connection for Skype.

Speaking of Skype, my “old” account seems to be giving me problems so I’ve created a new one called “roger.frederick.palmer” that works well.

All in all the accommodation is much better than I expected. It will certainly suffice for my assignment here in Banda Aceh. Believe me it doesn’t quite live up to the image conjured up by the name but it will do just fine.

p.s. We had a long meeting today that included Pizza Hut for lunch. It wasn’t too bad and the Indonesians seemed to really enjoy it. It came with packages of sambal, a red-hot sauce, which added a nice kick. Sarmad doen't eat cheese so he ordered one small pizza for himself with all the toppings but no cheese. When it arrived he had loads of cheese and no toppings!!

p.p.s. I haven’t met anyone here yet who isn’t thrilled that “W” is gone and the Obama presidency has begun.

Lunch Near the Port

2009-01-20T07:40:00.000-08:00

At lunch today we went down to a restaurant called Banda Seafood which has been built near the shore overlooking the sea from where the tsunami had come. I cannot begin to imagine what it must have been like four years ago to be anywhere near here and see that wall of water rushing in. A chilling thought.

Sarmad told us of some homes that were built by Germany to rehouse some of the survivors. The outside walls were painted orange. But, when the people moved in, they painted the wall facing the sea black. When asked why they did this they said it was because that was the color of the wave that came ashore and doing this was showing defiance to the sea.

Heading back to the office we passed a large barge that housed an electricity generator. It's a steel hulled vessel probably 25' wide by 100' long and 25' high. The water line is well over 10' above the ground. What makes this vessel unique is that it's now 3km inland and now a monument to 24 Dec 2004. I'll get a photograph to add here.

Other than a couple of briefings (Admin and Finance) we spent the day becoming familiar with the project, what has been accomplished, and what is left to do. Tomorrow we will devote most of the day to going deeper into the current status and developing a plan to accomplish project deliverables.

Sharia Law

2009-01-20T07:37:00.000-08:00

The Aceh province on the north end of Sumatra is a very conservative Muslim area where over 95% of the population practice Islam. Sharia Law, which governs the daily life of Muslims, is not as widely enforced as it was before the tsunami but it still needs to be respected. Because of this there are some “Do’s” and “Don’t” that we must observe as we work in this area.

Do’s

• Wear discreet clothing covering shoulders and legs below the knees, even when swimming

• Always use your right hand to wave or point at someone or to pass something to others

• In general, address a person by their first name including their title such as “Pak” for men and “Ibu” or “Bu” for women

• If you drink beer or alcohol do it at your residence

• Be patient and polite at all times. Never lose your temper in public for any reason.

• Take off your shoes before entering a house

Don’ts

• Do not wave or point using your left hand. Do not hand over something with your left hand.

• Do not stand with your hands placed on your hips or waist when speaking to a person. Do not stand too close to someone of the opposite sex when talking.

• Do not hug or kiss people of the opposite sex when you meet them (this is really tough on the French!)

• Do not drink alcoholic beverages in public. Do not order food that contains pork. Do not carry around alcoholic beverages on the street.

• Do not schedule meetings during prayer times and allow work to stop during these times, especially on Friday

• Do not distribute reading material or children’s toys containing religious messages

• Do not display religious symbols other than those of Islam in public

• Do not spread views or issues that could be considered religiously offensive to the people of Aceh

International Travel - the Final Leg

2009-01-19T16:03:00.000-08:00

Great flight from Singapore to Medan, Indonesia. It was on Silkair, an airline I had never flown before and it was wonderful. Only just over an hour with great service. The sky in Medan when we landed was very hazy and when we disembarked you knew why – humid as all get out!

A little tension as I waited to see if my checked bag had made it after not seeing it for two and a half days but there it came. What a relief as I’m getting very tired of the clothes I have on!

After I claimed my checked bag I got my first dose of culture shock. There was no obvious way to get to the domestic departure terminal so I asked directions (Yes – it hurt!) and ended up walking down the road and hoping the directions I was given were correct. After a couple of hundred yards (and a good sweat) I finally found the Garuda ticket window and got a paper receipt for my flights. I thought it was the check-in window but it was just a ticket office. It was again not obvious where the departure gates were because everything was just a mass of shops, cafes, loads of people, etc. I headed in the general direction given by the Garuda agent and finally found my way into the departure hall and joy of joys it was air conditioned!

Couldn't check in yet ...... too early so they directed me to a "business class” type lounge where for R60,000 (US$6) I got to sit comfortably and use wifi, drink coffee, eat snacks, and got a ride out to the aircraft – no jet way.

It felt very good take the final leg of the journey to Banda Aceh. A Red Cross driver met me at the airport and took me to the IFRC offices where I was met up with Glen and Sarmad. The drive into town passed through a very lush landscape of tropical foliage, rice fields, and villages. The roads are full of every manner of vehicles and I decide immediately that I won’t be driving. We travelled across the area where the tsunami raged in from the sea and passed by at least one mass grave where 20,000 people are buried.

Glen and I swap travel stories. His travel was relatively uneventful other than getting stuck in Medan overnight due to overbooking of the flights to Banda Aceh. Given all of the things that went on with my journey it seems strange that Glen and I both left the US at about the same time and arrived at the Red Cross 3 hours apart!

Sarmad took us for lunch at an Indonesian restaurant called the Imperial Kitchen. Excellent meal of nasi goreng (fried rice), beef with ginger, chicken in palm leaves, battered shrimp, and mixed vegetables.

We then went back to the IFRC offices for a security briefing. This covered the basic things we needed to know about working in the region, particularly Shariah Law, which governs the day to day lives of the predominant Muslim population of Aceh (more on that later). We finally got to go to our hotel to check in and get a long overdue shower and change of clothes. Man, does a good hot shower after a long journey do wonders to restore the soul.

Sarmad picked us up in the evening for a dinner at Bene, a rooftop Italian restaurant in downtown Banda Aceh with Tom Alcedo, Senior Country Representative for the American Red Cross delegation. Tom oversees a staff of 300+ people who are providing post-tsunami relief to the region. Tom had been in Indonesia for many years and arrived in Banda Aceh 2 days after the tsunami to lead the recovery efforts. He had many stories to tell which I’ll cover in future posts.

We finally call it a day and I collapsed into bed. The long travels out to Banda Aceh are finally over. Tomorrow we have a couple more briefings and begin work on the project. I’ll try to elaborate of life in Aceh in future posts.

International Travel, Part 2

2009-01-18T10:13:00.000-08:00

The journey continues!

After a restful night in Anchorage we congregated back at the airport at 9:00am Saturday morning. The gate agents were very friendly and said all was well for a noon departure. We cleared through security starting at 10:00am and were positioned at the gate waiting for boarding... and we waited. Finally one of the gate agents announced that two parts on the plane had gone wrong and that both replacements had arrived... the bad news – one of the parts wasn’t the right one. The new replacement part was in transit from Seattle and was expected at the airport at noon. At 1:15pm, and that it would take about 30 mins to install and we will be boarding and on our way... almost. The part was indeed the right one but it took them a little longer than expected to install and then the boarding process was a tad slow... it seems they don’t get fully loaded 747’s on a regular basis. We finally got airborne about 4:00pm – smooth sailing to Hong Kong. I’m amazed at how well everyone took all of the delays, queuing for this and that, etc. Not one person got upset that I saw. Most of us just chuckled as the events unfolded.

The people I met in Anchorage were so friendly and the scenery this morning was spectacular. There’s a long ridge of snow-capped mountains to the north of the city. I’m not sure the photo I took will do them justice. I’ll post it here just in case.

Great flight to Hong Kong and although we were late arriving we all made our connection to Singapore. I literally walked off one plane, two gates down the terminal, and onto the Singapore flight. This one left right on time and we had a magnificent view of Hong Kong at night out the window. It’s an amazing sight. And Singapore at night wasn’t too shabby when we came in to land either.

Got to Singapore at midnight and I’m now waiting for my next leg tomorrow morning to Medan, Indonesia. There’s free wifi all over the airport so I’m happy.

I’m rich! I just exchanged US$100 and received Indonesian Rupiah 1,008,000 – I’m a millionaire! Bet it goes quick... :-)

And, I just realized, I’m definitely back in Asia – it’s not all of the Asian people – it’s the non-stop Kenny G that’s piped through the speakers at the airports!! He must be independently wealthy just on the airport and hotel royalties alone. The current tune is “Danny Boy” – not one of my favorites!! :-)

International Travel.

2009-01-16T21:26:00.000-08:00

OK - So, it was supposed to be a 15 hour 36 minute non-stop flight from Chicago to Hong Kong. Things change... shortly after takeoff they announced that due to the cold weather they couldn't put a full load of fuel onboard (Chris can explain that to me when I'm home) and that we would have to stop in Anchorage for a "top up". No big deal, I had several hours in Singapore to wait before flying to Medan. We had a nice landing in Anchorage, a one hour fuel fill and we were on our way... never made it to the runway. As we were taxiing to takeoff the pilot informed us we had a mechanical problem and that we would now be spending the night in Alaska!

Then Monty Python took over... it appears that when we left Chicago we were deemed to have left the United States. We had to sit on board while they found immigration officers, on a Friday night, to come to the airport to check us back into the US. And all of our checked bags had to stay on the plane. While we were waiting another passenger gave me the toll-free number for the Mariott and I made a quick reservation for an overnight stay. I can now officially cross Alaska off my list of visited states - I wonder how many I have left.

According to United we'll be leaving at noon tomorrow arriving in Hong Kong at 3:20pm Sunday afternoon then on to Singapore. I should get to Banda Aceh on Monday now, one day later than planned.

Believe it or not it's 40F in Anchorage right now - a 57 degree difference from Appleton this morning!! Perhaps the 747 couldn't handle the change in temperature. If it freezes up overnight it'll work fine in the morning.

I can see Russia from my room... NOT

One other humorous note - the last time I got food poisoning was about 8 years ago on a flight to Hong Kong when they had served smoked salmon as an appetizer. I blamed it on the salmon... You can guess what they had as an appetizer on this flight to Hong Kong - I didn't eat it!! :-)

More Info

2009-01-15T11:44:00.000-08:00

Just in case anyone is thirsty for more information here's two links Ann found relating to the Early Warning System being installed and the tsunami relief efforts:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/11/indonesia-tsunami-warning-system

http://www.adb.org/Media/Articles/2005/6618_tsunami_impact_Indonesia/

We're Going!

2009-01-13T12:51:00.000-08:00

I got word today that all paperwork is now complete and visas have been issued. The only thing left is to get confirmed airline seats. The staff at the Red Cross in DC are working on that. I chatted with Glen this morning and we're both excited about getting going. The travel will be long - leave Appleton Friday morning and get to Banda Aceh early Sunday afternoon. The international date line takes care of Saturday! Outbound route goes: Appleton - Chicago - Hong Kong - Singapore - Medan - Banda Aceh. No layovers, just airport visits!! Glen is flying through LA and we'll meet up in Singapore.

Sarmad Nafi, the IT/Telecom Coordinator for the IFRC in Indonesia has everything coordinated for kickoff meetings next Monday (19th) in Banda Aceh. I looking forward to actually getting going after postponements caused by the paperwork.

A little Red Cross history

2009-01-13T12:49:00.000-08:00

The Red Cross is comprised of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), and all National Societies around the world.

The Red Cross was founded in 1863 by Henri Dunant in Geneva, Switzerland, where the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was formed. The primary focus of the ICRC is humanitarian law embodied in the Geneva Conventions. Wherever armed conflict is happening in the world you can be sure the ICRC are present to protect all persons affected by the conflict.

The American Red Cross (ARC), one of the National Societies, was founded in 1881 by Clara Barton. The primary focus of the ARC is disaster response, helping people throughout the US handle the aftermath of natural disasters such as fire, flood, earthquake, tornado, etc. Other services provided by the ARC include blood donations, services to armed forces families, and shopping/errand services. There is also an international component to the ARC that provides services focused on disaster preparedness, response and recovery, disease prevention, family tracing, and the dissemination of international humanitarian law.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is an organization that oversees all of the National Societies. It is the world's largest humanitarian organization, providing assistance without discrimination as to nationality, race, religious beliefs, class or political opinions. It was founded in 1919 and comprises 186 member societies around the world.

Some Background

2009-01-02T19:18:00.001-08:00

On December 26th, 2004, an undersea earthquake estimated at a magnitude of 9.1 to 9.3 occurred off the west coast of Sumatra. The earthquake created a series of tsunami that killed over 220,000 people in eleven countries in the Indian Ocean basin. Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand were the hardest hit.

The most affected area in Indonesia was the northern area of Sumatra, Aceh Province. Reports list over 168,000 people killed or missing. Over 500,000 people were displaced, 110 bridges destroyed, and 5 seaports and 2 airports sustained considerable damage.

Since 2004 many humanitarian agencies from around the world have been working with the people of Indonesia to help them recover from the tsunami and to prepare for future events.

A tsunami early warning system is being put into place to monitor the seismic activity in the Indian Ocean and to allow for a rapid response when the next earthquake hits. Part of this early warning system is a series of radio stations throughout Aceh province equipped with HF and VHF radios. A start was made on the radio stations but was not completed.

This where Glen and I come in...

It's a Go!

2008-12-26T11:08:00.001-08:00

On Christmas Eve I received an email from Kate Wade asking if I had any airline preferences on flying to Aceh so it looks like the project is a go, a wonderful Christmas present. I sent her a few “wants” no “musts”. I’ll leave it in Kate’s hands to get us there in time to start on the 12th.

I can now begin preparation in earnest on my return to Wisconsin after the holiday in Canada. We had a huge snowfall in North Bay on the 24th and here’s a photo taken Christmas Day on a footpath about 100 meters from my sister’s home as we walked off all the wonderful food. It will be my wallpaper on the PC to remind me of cool temperatures while enjoying the heat of Indonesia.

The Beginning

2008-12-17T08:29:00.000-08:00

Greetings! I'm starting this blog in hopes that I will be able to post to it while working in Indonesia during the first quarter of 2009. I will be traveling, with another volunteer from Arizona, to the Aceh region of northern Sumatra, for a three-month assignment to rehabilitate an HF and VHF radio network installed by another Red Cross national society but not placed into operation. Our job is to get all of the radios back into working order and to train the local staff on radio operations. The radios are all part of an early warning system being put in place in preparation for the next natural disaster.

This, you know, was the region most impacted by the tsunami that struck on December 26, 2004. The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) have been doing great work in the area to help the Indonesian people recover. Our project is a small part of that overall effort.

At this time we're still awaiting final signatures on the project. If all goes to plan we'll be heading to Indonesia early in January. For now, I'm going to enjoy the Christmas and New Years holiday season with my wife Ann and my family in Northern Ontario.

Stay tuned.