Its hot as hell in Dar and Ive been taking more showers than I can count. Yesterday I walked back from the local craft market and my shirt was completely soaked through with sweat. I finally broke down and hopped in a Bajaji driven by a skinny guy wearing a Michael Jackson tshirt. And when the electricity goes out its especially lovely because so does the air conditioning in my room.

I made a short business trip earlier this month to Jakarta. The first time back after perhaps 10 years. Interestingly the city looked a lot the same perhaps more shopping malls. But Jakarta was one of the first Asian megacities to start building upwards so the skyline was familiar. For those that like night life Blok M is still thereI stayed at Le Meridien Jakarta Hotel on Sudirman whic

I returned and you werent here just a note. Not even a note as such. You opened the door to me then left with your dog taking the dog cage too. I noticed the things that you had left and taken. For an hour I repeatedly looked for you in the same places in the note on the sofa in your room on the phone screen and in the absolute emptiness and silence. You are not here to hear the new

In den 10 Tagen die ich nun schon hier bin hatte ich ab und zu das Gefuehl dass ich hier meine Zeit verschwende. Wir haben nur wenig im Garten gearbeitet und ich hab geglaubt dass ich ausser aus den vielen spannenden Buechern hier nicht viel ueber Permakultur gelernt habe. Inzwischen habe ich aber gemerkt dass ich einiges in der wohl wichtigsten Disziplin in Sachen Permakultur und Oekodoerfer

HelloWe currently have viruses on both our USB and memory cards so we havn't been able to update the blog. Two weeks ago we travelled from Chi Phat to the southern coastline of Cambodia. Our first stop was sihanoukville for some much needed relaxation and sun to burn off our leechbitten ridden bodies We loved it here and spent 4 amazing chilled out days lying on the beach and drinking 50cent b

I choose to do a tour out to Tam Coc the collection of Karst outcrop that shares similarities with Ha Long bay but on land. A trip to Ha Long bay is the usual tour out of town but given the weather I am inclined to give it a miss. I later find that Ha Long is so touristy that I am glad for my choice.The tour is with the Sinh Tourist and involves a 3 hour bus trip down to the town of Ninh Binh.

Het leven is vooral een gebeuren op straat. Je ontmoet er mens en dier.

Before leaving Australia I had booked a guide for my first day in Hanoi. I met up with the guide Rosie at the Hanoi Guesthouse. Rosie Huong is her Viet name is a member of Hanoi Kids. HK is a free guide service run as a club of university undergraduates who are keen to practise their English language. Rosie is 21 in her 3rd year of a four year degree at Hanoi University of Business Com

We have been extremely busy planning all of the fun stuff like hostels on the beach Nile Cruises Abseiling Skydiving Bungy Jumping shopping in London etc. We have been so busy that we have forgotten to organise the important things like finances something to sleep onin for a month on the safari and some warm clothes for camping in sub zero temps in Germany during Oktoberfest. I don't think

The morning is spent with last minute shopping for Mary before putting her on the plane back to Australia. That done we checked out of the Thanh Thuong guesthouse. The guesthouse gets pretty good reviews from Tripadvisor but despite the newness of the hotel I got a smelly room. The family who run the guesthouse were not overly friendly. That done we head out to Tan Son Nhat Airport with plenty of

En dan de laatste dag vrijdag 11 maart. De kers op de taart ht memorandum. Werken werken ... tot op het laatste moment werd het document gepolijst onder meer door onze fantastische secretaris Walter. De samenwerking tussen KeMoPoDi en LoWaZoNe is nu een feit Ons logo werd in de vorm van een zandschilderij cadeau gegeven aan alle betrokken gemeenten van Senegal en Vlaanderen.

Tijdens ons verblijf konden we genieten van enkele feesten. Op straat uiteraard waarbij de gehele gemeenschap betrokken is. Wat een ritme spontaneteit en sierlijkheid Daar kunnen we nog wat van leren...

Het logo waar we reeds jaren mee werken werd omgezet door een kunstenaar in Dakar tot een schilderijtje gemaakt met verschillende soorten natuurlijk zand. We hebben deze techniek gedemonstreerd gezien in Gore.Met de hulp van Ibrahima Ciss Bieke's gastheer vonden we iemand die voor ons 7 dergelijke schilderijtjes wou maken. Donderdag rond 12u leverde Ibrahima de 7 exemplaren af in ons verblijf

WE packed and left by 930am this appears to becoming our regular move out timeThe road way taken was easy going and long straight stretches of highway.No trouble to our rig and we made good time. We came alongside some more tennis balls growing in the paddocks and being an hour on the road we decided to pull over for morning tea and check it out. After our long discussion on the co

We bezochten ook een aantal scholen op niveau van het kleuter lager en secundair onderwijs. Ondanks de grote infrastructurele en materile noden water sanitair gebouwen klaslokalen didactische materialen ... weten de scholen en de leerkrachten op een creatieve wijze om te gaan met deze beperkingen. De kleuters leren er al Frans vanaf de kleuterschool. Het onderwijs verloopt er gedisciplin

We've let the blogging go off the boil a bit but have kept on full steam traveling North and we've seen a lot. From the beaches of northern Karnataka and Goa where the accommodation is cheap the beer cheaper still and the warm sea perfect sand and overrelaxed atmosphere made us lose the best part of two weeks we headed to Hampi which is the nearest you can get to playing real life Indiana Jones

Een land leer je kennen door de eetgewoontes van zijn bewoners heb ik ooit gehoord. Als onderdeel van mijn aanpassingsproces meende ik dat het tijd was om een deel van deze eetgewoontes eens uit te proberen. Daarom ter orintatie de dieetkaart van de gemiddelde Namibir in Kunene ontbijt vlees met een vettige melkpap lunch vlees met maispap als ze eens gek willen doen avondeten vlees

Op 8 maart was er internationale vrouwendag. Ook in Senegal lieten de vrouwen dit gebeuren niet zomaar passeren. Toespraken werden er afgewisseld met muziek en dans.

It's that time again. Sunday is almost over in fact so it's time for another update.This week was mercilessly short thanks to the Labour Day long weekend and my class for whatever reason were on their best behaviour. We had lots to keep us occupied in class this week including making pancakes for Shrove Tuesday Ash Wednesday Mass our Senior Swimming Carnival on Thursday and all of a sudden it

After the 2 day milk run through Seattle Dallas FortWorth and Miami we finally arrived in Quito. Immediately we felt the altitude. We arrived in the dark and rain thankfully a driver waiting for us at the airport with a sign. On the way to the hostal the streets were EMPTY in the Old Town everything sealed up for the night. Hostal Quito Cultural is only 2 blocks from Plaza Grande right on th