I need summer!

December 31st I will continue my travels. South Africa this time, with my mother whom I take on holiday every two years or so. Last time (Kenya) she fell in love with Africa, so there we go. We start with new year's night in London, albeit at the Sofitel airport hotel there. Never been much of a holidays person anyways, so I don't care. Overnight to Jo'burg in style and after one night in yet another airport hotel we fly to Hoedspruit to spend 5 days in the Elandela Lodge. From there we fly to Cape Town to do a 4 day tour of the province and we end wit 8 days in a house we rented in Houtbaai.

If you like safari pictures etc. keep an eye on this place.

Meanwhile I hope you won't be too cold here.

Looking forward to SoCal

I have decided to extend my stay in Southern California by 2 days. I am still not sure what I would like to do best. I would love to simply hang out with Suzanne and the kids for 6 days, but I would also love to go and visit Utah or Joshua Tree Ntl Park. The South West USA still is one of my favourite parts of the world and I wish I had more time to visit...



Joshua Tree Ntl Park is my bet...

Next stop Santa Monica

What is it with me and travel? Why can't I simply stay put for a while? Ah well, no harm in seeing the world I guess and especially not in seeing good friends. I had missed Suzanne and her kids when she visited NL so I decided this was a good enough excuse for a long weekend in LA. I needed one more BA flight to retain my status in their frequent flyer progam anyway. It will be slightly scary since I will be flying economy out to LA for the first time in many years. I am sure it will be fine. Leaving November 18th!

Still looking for an interesting overnight trip out of Santa Monica. I have done the highway 1 multiple times so I want something else. Maybe to the south? Maybe to Joshua Tree National Park? If you have any suggestions not involving the coastal route, I am game!

Bye Bye Bali

The last 4 days I had in Bali were not the most relaxed ever. The hotel I stayed at (The Breezes) should be avoided like the plague. Way too noisy with drunken Australians and they really don't have a clue how to run a hospitality business. Luckily the GM of my 'regular' Sofitel allowed me to use their facilities during the day. I am covered with either mosquito bites (hotel's reading) or bedbug bites (my reading). Thank God I am not too itchy.


Image for illustrative purpose only :)

I have also decided that I have had a Bali overdose in the last 5 years. I need a change of scenery, especially since it is now extremely busy here once again. Good for the locals, bad for the regulars. It also changed a little. It reminds me more of India now. Traffic is an absolute pain and I have now realized that by staying in 5-star hotels I have been missing some of the complete incompetence that is also present here.


Balinese traffic

The problem is that I really liked Timor Leste and the best way to get there is via Bali. Ah well, I will take one for the team!

I am now in the lounge at Denpasar airport. It will take me around 19 hours to get home. Not too bad. Tomorrow at 15:00 I will collect my new Mini Convertible. I fully expect the sun to be shining. See you later!

Bye Bye Timor Leste

It was a hectic week, but a successful one. I think we have succeeded in what we wanted. It is all down to the slow wheels of the unpredictable bureaucrazy (no typo). I hope Logica and the WFP will get their ducks in a row quickly.

Whomever the architect will be who goes to Timor Leste for at least 4 weeks: I envy you! I wish I actually had some IT skills so I could do the work myself. Unfortunately I can't even program my way out of a VCR so fat chance. This is where he/she will be working.




The WFP Timor Leste Field Office

The last couple of days were rather nice. I met some more interesting people like Bas, a Dutch former teacher who advices the minister of education. With his length of 2.07 meters he stands out rather a lot. It was good to talk to him and hear that he ministry of eduction is interested in our solution too. I did not get a chance to meet that minister. Who knows, maybe next time. Bas is a really nice guy and he has some great ideas. We need to keep the plan simple and not include more stakeholders than absolutely necessary though. In round two we will include the distribution of school supplies. I promise.

I also met the local 'geeks' from an NGO called Catalpa. They are doing some really cool stuff on Timor Leste, half of which is too complicated for me to understand. I am glad I met them since they bring a lot of local expertise to the table!


In a meeting with the resident geeks (self proclaimed) from the NGO Catalpa International.

I won't put you to sleep with a summary of all my meetings and more shoptalk. What was nice was the day before last. We took a nice drive to Manatuto, which is about 2 hrs east of Dili. Unless you are being driven by the driver of the WFP. He is a regular Louis Hamilton on these roads and averages about 90km/h on winding, narrow roads full of potholes. I never felt unsafe though. He knew what he was doing.

I will let the pictures do the talking from now on. Please remember they were all taken from the passenger seat of a car bouncing around and doing at least 50kph...









Sometimes we went a bit slower...













The intention of the trip was to visit one of the regional warehouses. It was a surprise to see that they already used computers and Excel to manage part of the process. No connection to the Internet though and conditions were rough, to say the least.







They did their job pretty well considering the circumstances. They fill and empty this warehouse a couple of times per week.






These are the people doing all the hard work.


Louis looking for spiderwebs... :)

It is important that the 'Malai' (foreigners) show their face every once in a while, since this makes the local workers appreciate how important their work really is. They are a proud people but they can be in need of a bit of encouragement too...

On the way back the weather had turned and I did not take too many pictures. We stopped at a local village to get some water and I had the chance to finally take a picture of the people we are doing all this for!



I am back on Bali now and relaxing at the pool. The report is ready and all I need to do now is nothing. I am good at that. I will try and post some more tomorrow.

Mosquitoes are SOBs

I love TL, really I do. The weather is nice, the island is beautiful, the food is excellent but I really wish they did not have so many goddamn mosquitoes. Aggressive sons of bitches too. The even bite through your shirt or socks and DEET does very little. Probably this typical type of mosquito is high on crack and will attack no matter what...



Too overcome this inconvenience and to recover from all the hard work we have been doing we relaxed in a nice bar on the beach a little this afternoon.







Afterwards I headed back to the house to finish my final report. All done now. It is a little bit of a nuisance that I can't really venture out on my own and will have to wait for Maarten, Louis or Annabelle. I guess I could take a taxi and just go into town but I haven't got a clue how to get back. No street names here and I can't speak the language and they don't speak English... Ah well, at least I have a comfy bed!

Timor: Leste is more

Bon Dia! Another day in Timor Leste and it is getting better and better. I can see how Maarten loves living here. I can also see how everyone here gets extremely frustrated every now and again. Things move slowly and they seem to have an almost alien way of thinking. Luckily I have worked with India quite a lot and since there are many similarities I am not too bothered. I can see how it is frustrating if you see your efforts to help the people are hindered by bureaucracy and incompetence though.

First item on the agenda was a visit to the Ministry of Tourism, Commerce and Industry (MTCI) who are responsible for rice distribution. Tomorrow is a big day for the TL government. There is a sort of parliamentary hearing on some matters I know very little about but it looks like some minister's jobs are on the line. Also another (or her husband, I am not sure) is being indited for fraud. Well, developing countries are never dull.


Maarten and I waiting to meet the minister

It was a short meeting where we discussed some interesting points. Some of us will actually help us with what we are trying to achieve here. He is also very clever... He was kind enough to pose for a picture.



We also visited the 'old' central warehouse location to see how things were before they started improving the logistics process here. I was a bit taken aback by the state of the warehouses. Luckily later in the day I would see how much things have improved.









We drove to the beach for lunch. I can honestly say that the food here is excellent. The restaurants and bars all look inviting and they serve delicious food. It is not extremely cheap, but $9 for a fish & chips and a coke is not bad either. TL is not a very cheap country by any means.





After lunch Maarten and I went to buy a new mattress for the (also new) bed that was delivered yesterday. As of right now I am sleeping on a very comfortable 140cm bed. Much nicer than the single cast iron bed I slept in on the first day.


The mattress store

After getting this delivered I went with Louis and two WFP employees to the Central Warehouse where they store the rice once it is delivered. This setting is west of Dili in a beautiful location and is clearly a massive improvement on the old situation.







It was a tiring day. A lot of impressions and a lot of things to think about. In the end it all comes down to one thing: how do we track one of these things throughout the distribution process?



I am looking forward to probably another wonderful dinner and an amazing night's sleep in the new bed.

First days in Timor Leste

Yesterday I arrived in Dili on a Merpati Airlines flight. It was about 90 mins late (as expected) and to my surprise completely full. Not 1 seat left. The flight was rather uneventful albeit that legroom was limited even to Indonesian standards. Trust me, these guys are a lot smaller than I am...

The arrival process in TL was rather lengthy. First you get you Visa on Arrival (20 mins) after which you join the line for passport control (30 mins). That is rather a lot considering they only have to clear one 737. After the customs check I walked outside to meet Maarten. It was immediately obvious that I was now seeing him in his natural environment. Much more relaxed than he ever was in NYC. :)



We drove to his house in Dili where has kindly offered to put me up for the four nights I will be staying here. He recently got married to Annabella whom I had hot met yet but I must say he did well for himself. Lucky man.



After setting me up in my room we went for a little drive around Dili. I am not sure what I was expecting but it wasn't what it was. Dili is beautiful. It is a lot like Bali but without the tourists and even cleaner. It does not look a country recovering from civil unrest. It feels very safe.





It's a shame I won't have more time to explore the country. It will also be a little difficult to do on my own. You really need a local guide I think, especially in the districts.





The next day was his birthday and since a lot of the expats here have returned from their summer holidays a rather impromptu barbecue was planned for my arrival night. One of the guys I will be working with here (Louis) is South African, so the Braai was on. I must say it is always a pleasure to meet all these different people who lead interesting lives and have great stories to tell.



The food was the best I had so far on this holiday. A large perfectly cooked cut of meat with blue cheese sauce, wonderful salad etc. Not what you expect here. Lots of beer and wine too. Probably not the best idea but we enjoyed ourselves.



Today I worked with Louis and I think we discovered a very clever solution to the problem of implementing new technology in a developing country. He is a very clever guy. I won't bore you with the details. In a minute or so I will be enjoying another great dinner and then it is of to bed early.