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.

Climate change; I'm a believer

September in Bali should be dry and sunny. It has been that way for as long as mankind and travel agents can remember. However, contrary to my normal sun-god-status I have no acquired rain-god-status. So far it has been raining almost every day. Some days it is just in the late afternoon and the evening, other days (like today) it will be Dutch weather all day long. It is not even hot, it is warm. It is also unusually windy. Never have experienced this on Bali before.



It is great in a way, since I can relax, watch movies and do some reading but I would have preferred to do that poolside.



I am lucky that I got upgraded to the presidential suite here at the Hyatt. That makes it less of a strain on my good mood. The room is fantastic with its own terrace, outdoor shower and ocean view. Also everyone here treats me like I am royalty, which I kind of like. I am getting spoiled.







Sunday I will be leaving for Timor Leste, where I hope the weather is slightly better and I look forward to seeing Maarten again, meeting his wife and experiencing a non-tourist destination. Of course we need to get some work done too. I will stay there for 5 days. I will keep you posted.

PS

They do serve delicious sate on board Malaysia Airlines. I gained about 4 pounds eating these...



The Beef Rendang was good too.



Just so you know it wasn't all bad... :)

Honey, I am home!

Yesterday I arrived at my hotel in Bali after a very long journey of about 25 hours. Normally I sleep like a baby on board, but the slanted seats of Malaysia Airlines combined with the 12:00 noon departure meant I had hardly any sleep. After about 7 hours at KUL airport (including a delay of about 90 mins) it was time for the 3 hour flight to Bali. It was just me and one other man in business class so I was certain I could at least catch some z's.

About 10 minutes after takeoff a woman and two children appeared and settled into the empty business class cabin. The FA spoke to them and I found out that a) they were French and b) he was traveling on a business class ticket but his wife and children weren't. I find that unbelievable. Are you really going to sit in business class while your wife is slumming it in economy with your two children?



Anyways, as I expected a very long discussion started where the man was claiming that since the cabin was empty anyways it would be no problem if his family joined him. I could see he was going for the 'I am going to nag and nag until the crew gives in' tactic so I decided to butt in. "Listen sir, you and your family are disturbing my flight. Either you downgrade yourself to economy or you pay the price for the upgrade, which you can do on board at about $400 per person (not true, but what does he know?). Your choice." That more or less ended the discussion albeit that his children kept running back into the cabin and using it as a playground. I had had enough, spoke to the purser and had the man downgraded to economy for the remaining 2 hours of the flight. By now I was too annoyed to sleep though. What a prick...



Bali is nice as always but I am prone to something that might be labelled as 'holiday fatigue'. I was here only 5 months ago and honestly... I am sure that will improve. I am looking forward to East Timor. It is harder than I imagined to buy the ticket though. It can only be bought from a Merpati sales office and they are trying to scam me. I know for a fact the regular price is $360 but they keep coming up with rates between $550 and $700 whilst refusing to show me the price in the system and they prefer cash... Yeah, right. I hope my contact on Timor can arrange something. Merpati Airlines, what a great outfit!



Meanwhile, it will be diner at the fantastic hotel restaurant and a movie later tonight. Selamat malam!