So it's April 28, and even today I got a coupla notes and comments that brought back some memories.
Last year my friends Brian and Becca traveled around the world. They didn't hit Africa, but overall it was a much more extensive trip than mine and I'm still jealous.
Their blog is well worth reading, but for now you should really read some musings they posted while in China:
Read this
Then read this
Once you've done that, this might make more sense.
ia,
sg
When we left off, I was heading to Semuliki National Park. I headed to Semuliki National Park.
Semuliki is an extension of the "vast Itumi forest" of DR Congo. It's in extreme western Uganda, contiguous with the DRC border along the East African Rift Valley.
The drive there is absolutely gorgeous. I was in the foothills of the Rwenzori mountains, but if the road had been paved and if I hadn't been in a matatu with 23 others I might have thought I was in New Zealand.
Semuliki park itself is renowned for its diversity of flora and fauna. There are over 400 different bird species and 63 different mammals (including 9 different primates). And almost 400 different butterfly and moth species, most of which I bet I saw--they were _everywhere_. And I don't have numbers, but I know I saw oodles of lizards. Unfortunately, most of the park isn't really accessible to most visitors. Most of it is lush tropical forest--there are no roads or paths through it, and it's maybe not safe in the lowlands because of those darned Congolese rebels. So for the entirety of my visit I was within a mile or two of the east edge of the park.
There's a pretty big security presence in the park--only once did I walk between the main gate and the campsite (about 3km) without an escort. At one point several soldiers suddenly appeared in the campsite. Most had rifles but at least one had an RPG. They talked to one of the rangers and then disappeared back into the woods. I wanted to take a picture but really didn't want to ask them for permission (I wanted to keep my camera) so I did what I could on the sly. Then I altered the settings on my camera so there wouldn't be an audible click when I took pictures in the future...
I did see lots of different primates, especially colobus (black-and-white and red) and red-tailed monkeys. And baboons, though it might have just been one baboon that I saw several times. The monkeys hang out in the trees. And they're pretty shy, so they take off when they see me around. To travel, they take these flying leaps from tree to tree, grabbing hold of whatever leafy branch they happen to jump to, or the one below it if it's not sturdy enough. And these are big leaps, like over my head across the road, not just gingerly hops to the something a foot away.
The other thing the park has: hot springs. I took a nature walk with Bosco, who was born on 7/7/77. But we basically just walked to the springs. Did see lots more monkeys, lots of agama and monitor lizards, our baboon friend, and some birds. Didn't see any of the elephants, leopards, crocodiles or buffalo that are deeper into the park. I almost fell into boiling mud.
I left the park and headed back into Fort Portal for yet another night of transit. I stopped in Hoima the next day, and the day after that finally reached my final destination on my tour, Murchison Falls National Park. Murchison is Uganda's biggest park. It's bisected by the Nile and is named for the falls, where the Nile is squeezed through a channel about 20 feet wide. The water doesn't fall very far, but the resulting pressure creates what's said to be the most powerful natural water flow in the world.
My intention was to head first to Kaniyo Pabidi, close to the park entrance, where the forestry department offers the cheapest chimpanzee tracking in Uganda. I got to Masindi, the nearest town to the park, and hung out by the side of the road trying to catch a ride--it's about 35km to the park entrance from town, then another 8km to Pabidi. I thought I had a chance,
especially 'cause it was Friday afternoon so I figured people would be coming through on their way in for the weekend. But...nothing.
A motorcycle driver asked where I was going. I said "Too far. There's no way I can afford you." He insisted. I told him. I asked how much. He said "80,000 shillings." Almost $50. I laughed. "I might give you 10,000." "Okay." The other guys thought he was nuts, but he apparently wanted to drive the white man.
But when we got to the park gate they told me the campground at Pabidi was closed because there were a lot of lions there. And the huts had burned down and they hadn't built the new ones yet, so there was nowhere there to stay. My best option was to hang around and wait for a park vehicle that'd be coming through to take me to the campground by the main park headquarters at Paraa, about 80km away. So I did that. There's essentially no way to do the chimp tracking if you don't have your own transport. Rode the 80km in the back of a pickup, watching hundreds and hundreds of monkeys and antelopes scatter as we drove down the road.
I stayed at the campsite. Met some people who were there as part of a group tour--one was originally from Minneapolis and knows some people I know. The next morning I hung around the campsite and did some laundry. While the group tour people were on a nature drive--most of the animals are in the part of the park north of the river, while the campground is just south of it. The park has a huge number of leopards, lions, elephants and giraffes, but you can't really see them without going on a nature drive.
I did see an awesome spider (I think...it's called a velvet mite) all over after the rain. It looked like a raspberry with legs. (Even if you normally think spiders are icky or don't look at my pictures you should check these out...)
In the afternoon I went with the group on the boat trip up the river to the mouth of the falls. Just like on the other boat trips (Lake Mburo, Queen Elizabeth National Park) I saw lots of birds and animals during the 2-hour trip to the base of the falls. In this case, storks and geese and kingfishers and bee eaters and hippos and baboons and buffaloes and crocodiles.
I left the group when the boat dropped me off near the base of the falls so I could hike up to the top. Only about 40 minutes, but it was really hot out. Much sweating. I spent the night (alone) in a campsite near the top of the falls, much of the time huddled in the gazebo avoiding the big storm.
The falls: wow. It's pretty impressive. The total volume of water that passes through is tiny compared to something like Niagara Falls, but Niagara Falls is I think more than 20 feet wide. Well, I've heard--never actually seen it...
I went back to the falls in the morning when the tour group came through. And here's where I'm really an idiot: I'd left a bag at the main campsite so I wouldn't have to carry it with me up to the falls. So instead of being able to catch a ride to Masindi, or maybe even Kampala, at 9am on Sunday, I stayed around the top of the falls waiting for a way to get back to Paraa.
At 10:15 one of the rangers got a call that there was a morning boat trip. "What time does the boat get there?" "Oh, any time after, say, 10:30." So I hiked (quickly) back down the to the base of the path and waited for the boat. It came by about 15 minutes after I got there and picked me up. A small one this time, just one family, but they were nice enough to let me stay on instead of having to transfer to the really crowded big public boat. The ride back took about an hour. We did spot some elephants, but otherwise uneventful.
I got back to the campsite and grabbed my bag and ordered lunch. After lunch, maybe 1:30 or so, I headed over to the park HQ to wait for a ride. The HQ is right by the ferry, so any park vehicles or any others that are on game drives or such would have to pass through. But, yup, no ride. I waited until about 5, when a HUGE rainstorm came by. I moved inside and waited until about 6:30, by which point the rain had let up.
The park guy told me there'd be a park vehicle heading to town in the morning so I should try again at 9am. I headed back to the campsite, set up my tent and had some dinner.
In the morning I ate breakfast and went to the park office at 8am to be sure to catch whatever I could. The 9am truck left at about 10:30. We got about 20km out and...broke down. I dunno, something about a pickup truck carrying 23 people up some big hills... We all got out and they sent some students to find a water hole. When the truck cooled, the driver headed back to HQ while the rest of us hung out. A couple of us started walking towards town--a couple of miles ahead were the turnoffs to the top of the falls and one of the lodges, so we wanted to get on the other side of those to increase our likelihood of finding a ride as quickly as possible. The new park vehicle got there about three minutes after we'd stopped. On our way out we passed Pabidi, and what looked to me an awful lot like several tents in the campground...
The park guy let me off in Masindi and I headed to the taxi park at about 1:00. It was probably 3:00 by the time we left. We went about 25 miles (in two hours) to get to the main road. Then waited another 45 minutes or so for another taxi that was heading to Kampala. I got to Kampala at maybe 10pm, then had to get all the way across town to PABs' house. I arrived, probably 32 hours later than if I'd come down Sunday with the tour group.
So now I'm back in Kampala for a little bit, planning my swing east through eastern Uganda and Kenya and Tanzania and Rwanda and maybe even Burundi.
For now, pictures are up of Semuliki, Murchison, and my entire swing through the southwest.
Hasta,
sg
Saturday, April 7:
In the morning, I had this weird sense that there were people standing around talking about me outside my tent. Not so weird: there were people standing around talking about me outside my tent.
The tour bus that was staying at the same hotel/campground I was had arranged a show for 8am, before they left town. Basically dancing, singing, native dancer orphan fundraisers. The show field was to be where the manager had had me set up my tent, and they got there an hour early for the show.
Wound up taking a motorcycle out to the park in the afternoon and I camped right outside the park gates.
Sunday:
Turns out, I'm very irresponsible. Remember Allen E., my favourite travel companion/pillow? I left him on Peak 2 on our way down.
I climbed Mt Sabinyo in extreme SW Uganda. At the top--the junction of Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. To get to the top--not easy. Through acacia forest, really cool bamboo forest. Totally steep in parts and the ladders, OSHA may not approve. Plus, we're at altitude. We (me, Mike the Canadian medical student, a guide, a guard) start at about 2300m (7500 ft) and climb to 3669m (1200 ft, more than 2 miles up). And with three different peaks to get to, there's a bit of down, too, so the total amount you need to climb is almost a mile.
We went up in about 4 hours, which I guess (and I think) is pretty quick. We went slower on the way down, in about 3 hours. With time at the top, the total trip length was about average. I had not the easiest time, and I was pretty sore.
And, again, I left Allen E at the top of Peak 2.
Headed back to town. I finally met Joseph, the local tour guide who Lonely Planet says can be found around town--it took him a full day to find me. I didn't have time to do some much needed laundry, but I got a room anyway to sleep in a bed, which cost me an extra $7.50.
Monday:
The bus picked me up at 5am. We got to Mbarara at about 11am, right about when Phil and Paige passed through on their way back from Queen Elizabeth National Park but we didn't connect. I checked my email to get some financial details from George and filed for my tax extension--I hope the Uganda postmark shows the date... I bought some groceries.
Took a taxi to the town near the main gate of QENP. Up to 22 people, with bags, including 7 people in the first row of benches. The chatter, with thanks to
Then I got a shared ride to the park. Nine adults and one baby in a compact hatchback
It's kinda weird bargaining with a guy, saying you can't afford $17, or even $12. Then, when you agree to pay $3, the whole carload of people has to wait around while I paid my $40 to get into the park--they all probably work there for like $2/day and get in free.
I was alone at the campground. Briefly. Then, just as I was figuring out where to put my tent a busload of 14 year-olds showed up, I paused in my deliberations and let them set up first.
I had a fight with a
At night I finally did some seriously necessary laundry using some tubs the ranger left for me. I looked over--there's a hippo! Wandering RIGHT by my tent! Hippos look a bit ridiculous, but they weigh about four tons and run faster than I do. They kill more people in Africa than I think all other animals combined--both upending boats and accidentally trampling people when they get freaked and try to get back to the water. (And if you don't die, they may spray dung all over your tent.) So I was a bit nervous camping in their path.
I headed to the bar to ask someone whether I should be worried. The bar was closed, but I got there at the same time as three Ugandan guys.
Ug: "Hey, aren't you that crazy mzungu that walked from Bunyanyi last week"
sg: "Uh, yes. Should I be worried about the hippos?"
Ug: "No."
Ug (to friends): "blah blah mzungu blah Bunyanyi"
friends: [laughter]
sg: "Okay, thanks. See you later."
So I went back, and went to sleep. Fitfully.
Tuesday:
I kept hearing animals grunt, walk past, etc... I assumed it was the warthogs.
At, I guess (from phone records) 4am, I heard more. I peeked out: "hey, that looks like a feline, with babies." I pulled out the Lonely Planet, turned on my headlamp, and looked at some mammals. No spots...nah, couldn't be. LP again. "I think it's a lion." LP again. Peeked out again. Lay down.
Now they're playing with my laundry tubs. Hey, those are, like, four feet from my head....
I tried to take a picture through the ceiling webbing, but it didn't come out.
I saw the campground manager in the morning. "Yeah, it's probably a hyena." "I don't know, it looked awfully feline." "Well, there is a lion around with two cubs." He finds the second tub off in the grass, with bite holes. Lion bite holes.
Wow.
Oh, in the morning I heard the "warthog" grunt again: Nope, they were mongeese.
I wrote some postcards, some with diagrams, some with a list of my activities in a busy first part of the week.
In the afternoon I took a boat ride in the channel. Not overly exciting--I saw some birds I'd seen before, and LOTS of buffaloes and hippos. Some kob. Some waterbuck.
I ate two dinners, and drank a lot so I could maybe actually fall asleep. Then I had to find someone to drive me the 200 yards to my tent because there were four hippos in the road...
Wednesday:
I caught a ride out to the main road with some local university students. They dropped me on the main road. I caught a taxi to Kasese, then a taxi to Fort Portal.
Thursday:
I saw a really nice bus, the nicest I've seen in Uganda, full of Japanese tourists. They came to the restaurant where I was eating lunch and were all dressed in identical jacket/vests and hats. Weird.
Then I took a taxi out to the Rwaihamba market, wandered for a bit, and walked the mile back to the Lake Nkuruba Community Camp Site on one of many nearby crater lakes. (And, as I write this Pastor Bosco is sitting next to me, so here's a link to the orphanage's site...)
Friday:
I'd planned, tentatively, on a (5-6 hour) walk to Muhoma Falls. But I was tired, so the walk was easily abandoned in the (at times heavy) rain.
My tent, which we're calling Doogie, he is not so waterproof. And thank god for earplugs--loud rain in a tin-roofed building, with school lessons for the orphans that seemed to involve a lot of screaming, was not that conducive to reading.
Saturday:
It started raining in the morning again at about 6. I quick grabbed my stuff and ran it to the covered area, then went and grabbed my tent and did the same. Then I hung out there until about noon, by which time the tent was dry, I'd eaten breakfast, and I'd finished my book. I packed up my stuff, slowly, and about 1pm started the 20km walk back to Fort Portal.
I got about half way, by which point I was close enough to feel not too bad about paying ($1.20) for a motorcycle to take me the rest of the way.
Sunday:
I took the day off to stay in town, maybe avoid some rain, make some plans, do a bunch on the internet, and maybe help TY with her taxes. (She didn't need the help.)
Monday:
I finished this entry and loading the pictures I've taken so far on my southwest swing. Now, I'm gonna grab lunch and catch a taxi to the Semuliki National Park.
This coming week I'll see monkeys, hopefully chimps, maybe giraffes, and the most powerful waterfall in the world.
Chao!
Have you been to Kisoro, Uganda? I didn't think so. I'm stranded here for a day, so I have time to write this, knit a sweater after learning to knit, whatever.
I started my swing southwest on Monday, catching a bus to Kabale. I sat next to Phionah, who's now sent me six text messages, in none of which do I have any idea what she's talking about. Got a hotel room in town (for $4) and went to sleep.
Tuesday I headed out to Lake Bunyonyi, a "magical place" with "beguiling beauty [that] defies description". I walked the 9km, more for the walk than to save $2.50. Camped out for two nights on the shores at the Bunyonyi Overland Resort, for which I spent $25 including food and drinks. On Wednesday I joined some people (Leonie, Louise, Tobias, someone else) who were on a group tour--we rented a boat and headed across the lake to Kyevu market, where we all shared 6¢ worth of sugar cane and sat there for an hour entertaining the villagers while we waited for the boatman to return. Leonie and Lou and I played cards (Five Hundred) that night. I lost, badly.
Thursday I walked back to town. I dawdled a bit and missed the bus to Kisoro, so I got my hotel room again rather than try to get a taxi. Friday I woke up too late to catch the first bus, and the second one was full (FULL), so I didn't actually leave town until 1pm. On another bus that was pretty full--maybe 80 people, and a LOT of stuff, on a 50 seat bus. As crowded as any bus or subway I've been on...I stood in the aisle, one foot on the ground and my other knee resting on my bag. For 65km, which took about 2.5 hours. Unfortunately, Kisoro is 80km from Kabale--we got stranded for hours when a truck got stuck across the road. I finally pulled into town at about 7pm.
So today I have all day to get out to Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, about 14km outside of town. (I may pay $6 for a ride, I may walk.) This is the one of the parks where the mountain gorillas live, and is contiguous with Parc National des Virungas in DR Congo and the Parc des Volcans in Rwanda. Tracking the gorillas is really expensive and you need to plan ahead, so I'll be climbing a volcano. The park has three, and I'll probably climb Mt Sabinyo (3669m)--Mt Muhuvura (4127m) is higher and might have slightly better views, but the peak of Sabinyo is where Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda all meet. So when you wake up Easter morning, I'll be in one of those places.
Chao!
sg
So one of the things I've been trying to figure out is what I'll do when my trip is over. Now, finally, I've got plans. (You know I love it when those come together...)
A few of you know that before I left I, because there clearly wasn't enough going on already in my life, spent my last week frantically scraping my act together to finally get people to write me some recommendations for graduate schools. Then, I spent much of my early time in Australia finalizing my applications. The results are in, and I've accepted an offer!
For a while I've been fascinated by the Metaphysical (and meta-Metaphysical) ideals of the pre- (and post-) Aristotelian Utopia(s), but I had a hard time understanding how to apply my ideas to my work and my life in any meaningful way. Well, starting this fall (late September...) I'll be attending the brand new program in Metabusiness at Harvard Business School! That's right, I'm moving to Boston!
And I'm super-excited about it. I'll surely miss Minnesota, but for now at least my intention is to come back at the end of the program. (Probably just the Masters to start, so just 2-3 years, though who knows what'll happen once I really get into it...) Robin's sister, the fool, agreed to live in my house while I'm gone, once Bridget and George go off ...wherever... for his program. Soon, my debt status will approach Andrea's!
In other, less exciting, news, I'm taking off tomorrow on a trip through southwestern and western Uganda, starting down by Lake Bunyonyi and hopefully ending up in a week or two or three at Murchison Falls. Then, I'll head back through Kampala to plan a more extensive eastern swing through eastern Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and maybe Burundi (if it's safe) and Rwanda. I'm not sure how the timing will work out--there's probably a pretty good chance I'll wind up extending my Africa trip, especially as I don't really need to be back now until September.
And, finally, there's no coherent story they tell but there are lots of Kampala pictures up for mom.
Chao!
sg
So I’m sitting down to write an email to Megan on her birthday. In the background I hear what sounds like an ice cream truck (which may have been that, or may have been an army transport vehicle...really) playing “It’s A Small World”.
When I pull up Megan’s contact info Google automatically shows me our communications history. Sure enough, last year, when she was about to run in the Walt Disney World marathon, I sent her an email suggesting that she sing “It’s A Small World” the whole time.
I’ll spare you a spiel about the probability of improbable events (with the implied Douglas Adams digression) or about correlations, coincidences, or any other co-s. Instead, I’ll just comment that it really is a small world.
My dad has maybe never gone anywhere without running into someone he knows. St Louis? Sure. Jerusalem? Why not. And it’s starting to happen to me.
My first night in Sydney we went to some bar. A guy said “hey, you played in Perth for Sub Zero, right? I did, and apparently I’d played against him. And last night, at pickup, Matt showed up. “You play for Sub Zero, right? I used to play for Union Crew, from Chicago.
Laura works in the home office of Paige’s organization. We both went to school in Northfield at about the same time. As we were driving to Ssembabule last week I was discussing my plans to possibly visit Madagascar. Said Laura: “A friend of mine just returned from several years in Madagascar.” Replied Seth: “Scott? I ran into him just before I left town.” And Laura went to grad school with some other friends of mine, and we were both at Nina’s party last year.
On Friday we went to the market. I bought an elephant, whom I named Alan, who will be my traveling companion for many of my onward journeys. That night we went to a party, and when we walked in the host introduced us to his father-in-law, Alan.
In early October John and I, on our way to Madison for the night, stopped in at a gallery in Hudson, WI to see an exhibition of stuff by my friend Brita. Turns out, Brita’s stuff was in one gallery, while stuff from Nick was next door in another. He and Brita didn’t really know each other, but I’d met Nick earlier last year at the Excelsior Art Fair--he and my friend Phil are friends through skiing and woodcutting and such, and his booth at Excelsior was on the same row as my friend Colleen’s. When we got to Madison we described the coincidence to Kate and her roommates. Said a roommate: “Nick? I know Nick...”
Oh, and I think Laura knows Nick, too.
Apparently, my house was recently festooned with rose petals and candles. Congratulations, Bridget and George!
In other, less dramatic, news, the workshop is over now. I'm leaving tomorrow to visit Paige's field site in Ssembabule District for a couple of days, my first visit out of the city to a place where there's nothing touristy, just Ugandans living their lives.
When I come back to Kampala, I'll start making plans for the rest of my time in Africa. I''m not sure what comes next, but at some point I want to see (and climb) Kilimanjaro, I want to see animals, I want to see places. I might visit some of the people I met at the workshop, I might explore on my own, I just know I shouldn't treat these months as a Kampala retirement.
And on another note, the pictures are up for Fox Glacier, Copland Valley and Wanaka.
L8r,
sg
I left Sydney a day earlier than I'd originally planned, intending to go rafting on the Nile with PABs and some friends. We wound up going to Lake Mburo instead that first weekend.
We went the next Saturday instead. Phil already wrote about it, and what he says is true, and he was there, so I don't need to repeat his stuff.
My experience: We start out with a Class V right away. And it was no problem--we hit it, we stayed in the boat, it was great. Mostly because of the guides--the Nile is one of the safest white-water experiences you can have, but the guides aren't shy about telling everyone to "GET DOWN...GET DOWN", so for some of the most turbulent stuff we're crouched down and holding on while the guide does all the work.
The second rapid was only a Class III, but we went in and flipped immediately. The raft landed on my head, but it wasn't too bad.
The third, "Total Gunga", another Class V, was the only time all day I was a bit nervous heading in--it looked rough. And it was. The first big wave threw me and two others out, and the raft landed on my head again. We were quickly swept down to the bigger wave, "the G Spot", where the raft jumped and threw someone else out. I'd just come up for air when the raft landed on my head again, this time with me getting stuck underneath and needing to find my way out. I was in a bit of a daze for a couple of minutes, but after that I wasn't scared and I attacked and enjoyed each wave.
For a long stretch just before lunch we didn't even raft--we just jumped in, body surfed a light rapid, then floated our way down the Nile while throwing water hyacinth at each other.
After lunch we started by going over a ~12 ft waterfall, which was underwhelming as the raft's longer than that. We didn't lose anyone at the biggest of the Class V's, "The Bad Place", which I think may be the biggest commercially run eddy in the world. (And, of course, that's the only place the videographer failed to capture our ride...)
It was fun, and I even entertained the thought that I might want to go back later on before I leave Africa. We spent the night at a camp across the river and came back to Kampala early the next morning to get to work.
< insert week at workshop >
The workshop participants have Sunday off. On Saturday, when people were trying to figure out what to do the following day, Paige tells some people about our rafting trip. Sarah and Martha want to go but are a bit scared. Martha came to me to find out what it's like and for reassurance, and while I maybe failed to convince her not to be scared I did offer to go again to keep them company.
Paige spent all night working her network, trying to find us a 4th. We found a couple people who were interested, each of whom wound up not being able to make it. I headed over to meet Sarah and Martha in the morning, trying to formulate a backup plan if it was just the three of us. Luckily, Amini, a friend of Sarah’s from D(emocratic)R(epublic of the)C(ongo) whose name I surely misspelled, was gonna come with us. He doesn't know how to swim, and doesn't speak much English so he couldn't understand the guide that well, but there are lifejackets and he was willing to try.
This time, we were the only raft going down. (Though still with the safety raft, the kayakers and photographer.) The start of our introductory training on the water was fine, but the practice flip, not so much. Martha and Sarah were definitely scared and Amini was terrified. (As I imagine I would be if I didn't swim...) Martha begged the guide, Jared, to do it just one more time for practice but he refused.
So we started out, with me kind of excited, Martha and Sarah really nervous, and Amini in the safety boat, which at least takes the least turbulent line, hanging on for dear life.
I still wound up enjoying the day. Amini calmed down after a while and joined us in the raft for some of the smaller rapids, and seemed okay in the end. Martha kinda wanted to join him in the safety raft by the end but knew she'd regret not trying if she did. We flipped I think three times, with the one in the Bad Place being the worst. I'm not sure if "fun" is the right word, and I don't think they'll do it again too soon, but I think overall they're glad they at least tried it and everyone was at least sorta smiling at the end.
I have a DVD of trip the first week, and we got photo CDs for the second trip. So many of the pictures are up, most of which, including the one above, were taken by the rafting company photographer, though this one was all me. Sorry if they’re a bit jumbled—I still can’t figure out how to make Flickr display in the order I want.
chao,
sg
So here's one way to catch up on my blog entries: I've temporarily unretired to, last week and this, coordinate the Basics of Community-Based Family Planning and Program Design, Monitoring and Evaluation Workshop. Paige is one of the facilitators and the host; I am her errand boy.
I’m sitting in on some of it—especially the Design, Monitoring and Evaluation part. Otherwise, I work with the hotel to make sure lunch is on time, track down missing luggage at the airport, arrange cars and drivers for our site visit, find and remove the cricket that’s chirping in a box in the corner, provide general organizational and technical support (i.e., collate papers and plug in the lcd projector), and schmooze a bit with some of the participants. (Inside note: including Ophelia '07.) In other words, I spend most of my time sitting outside, reading. And, when I can borrow Paige's computer, playing solitaire, trying to fix a problem with her network card, and—and here’s where this is going—writing stuff to upload later.
(And, last week, I helped the hotel security team catch a suspected thief who tried to join the conference under false pretenses. This man is no longer welcome at the Hotel Africana.)
So, New Zealand! Yeah, I hope my notes were good, because this stuff happened two or three months ago. But I had a fantastic time in New Zealand, and feel kinda guilty about not telling you about it. I’m sure I won’t do it justice, but I know that all (six) of you reading this will forgive me. The New Zealand posts are as follows (in the order they happened):
Adventure day in Rotorua (posted earlier)
Tongariro Crossing (posted earlier)
Wellington-Picton Ferry
Abel Tasman National Park
Lake Matheson and Fox Glacier
Benjamin and Elianna
Queenstown (posted earlier)
The trip through the South
Lake Mburo
A contest
Driving in Kampala
Wreading and Writing
So I was talking to a cutie in the hostel in Wellington while we waited for a bus to the ferry over to the South Island—she’d recognized me from the Tongariro Crossing walk a couple of days earlier. Then she sat down near me up on the top deck, and again when it got windy and we both went inside. Then, (and here JohnJohn will be mad at me but I think it worked out for the best), I abandoned her to sit with a coupla nice forty-somethings.
Beth and Lourdes are profs in the States who were in NZ for a conference. Beth, especially, knows LOTS of people around the world, and especially in Greece (which is why I went to talk to her) and, it turns out, Uganda and Kenya! She gave me several people to contact when I got to East Africa, and at one point even took my journal, opened her address book, and started writing down people and places.
(Lourdes knows more people in Central/South America; Beth’s computer is named Leroy, not George. They’re also recruiting—they think I should teach when I get back to the States…)
Anyway, I left the ferry and caught a bus to Nelson. It’s a nice small town, lots of artists and galleries and cafes and such. And the Museum of Wearable Art and Classic Cars, which I really wanted to see (for the Art, not the Cars) but didn’t get a chance to.
Pictures from the ferry are here.
[From The Joyous Journal]
12/8
I’m on a boat in a storm!
Yesterday was great. (Or at least good enough to miss Wellington for…) Went sea kayaking in Abel Tasman Park, up in the north of the South Island.
Group of 7. Holly, our guide, who kind of doesn’t like tourists but was pleasant enough. A nice family from Holland, mom + dad+ two sisters. My kayak was w/Caroline, from ~Paris. (27, in NZ for 1 year, used to work Paris/London@[her company], now working for a room at [her hostel] in Nelson)
My original tour was only me so I got ‘upgraded’ to the “seals + otters”, or something like that, tour. Started by catching a water taxi north to Onetahuti Beach/Big Tonga Bay in the Tonga Island Marine Reserve. Had breakfast (we’d all eaten, but it was part of the company’s ‘experience’), got instruction, then headed out to Tonga Island. Slow going at first—had trouble adjusting the steering to stay in a straight line, C + I weren’t in synch, whatever… But the island was amazing—seals just hanging out, catching some rays or cooling in the water. Some of the kids came over to play w/us + show off—I could have easily reached out to pet a couple of them. Hard to take pictures—unbind camera case, remove camera, wait to start up, find the mode, take picture, reverse, all while making sure not to splash at all.
Then continued down the coast, exploring lagoons, stopping for lunch (good sandwiches, hot coffee, muffins, juice, fruit…), eventually making our way to Anchorage to end the day.
Stayed on a boat.
Aquapackers is a floating hostel aboard a 22m. WW2 Navy patrol boat. Just 6 of us; me + C, Amy from San Fran, Adam/AJ from Wellington (by way of London and 26th + 6th), a German guy. And Chris, the innkeeper. We’re anchored 60 yards offshore (at low tide). Had a barbie—cole slaw (good w/ no topping!), a veggie casserole, sausages, steaks. Same meal for 9 mos. straight for Chris but I liked it. Beer + wine in the fridge.
Went to sleep about 10 and woke up to a storm. Surf’s not too bad (would kill a kayak, but the boat can handle it…we’ll see about the raft trip over a bit later…) but it looks yucky out there—sideways winds, pouring rain. (Okay, but you know what I mean). And yesterday was 25º, sunny, and really calm! But we only have a 3-4 hr walk through flat ground to do by 3:30pm today—even if I have to get soaked + be miserable for a coupla hours it’ll be fine.
We’ll see if I walk w/C, alone, or with the whole group…
(Oh, and…)
Swam over to the beach + took a walk last night (~6pm). Loads of cool shells, and the west end (we’re anchored on the east edge of this N facing bay) had this amazing area where the beach met the forest with lots of caves. And [a giant rock with a hole through it:]
I thought—wow, I’ll have to come back tomorrow (w/C) to explore + take pictures…lots of pictures…
Today, back to Marahau, then Nelson. Tomorrow, bus to Punakaiki. Need bus next day to Glaciers, and to hike one of them, then to Wanaka to relax for 1-3 days,…
[journal entry ends]
We all walked together to Cleopatra’s Pool, then Caroline and Amy and I went south while the others went north. C had to be sure to be back earlier and Amy and I turned out to have some common acquaintances and she’s in graduate program I was really interested in at one point so I stuck with her. She turned out to be just one of the awesome people I’ve met along the way, nearly all of whom I’ve had no further contact with since…but maybe I’ll send her a link to this entry… Pictures of Able Tasman are here, including the group from the Anchorage.
sg
At home, it’s usually pretty easy to identify others who play Ultimate. Even when meeting in a complete different context, you can often just tell. (Ultimatedar?). But backpacking through New Zealand made it tough—most backpackers look like typical Ultimate players. So at breakfast, when I saw this woman who really looked like one, I was still too shy to say hi. Even though she was wearing an REI sweatshirt, so I knew she was probably from the States. Even though she was wearing the same shorts I was—shorts that Patagonia gives to Sub Zero and other Ultimate teams. In some ways, I’m really quite lame.
I left to go on my day-long glacier hike. When I returned to the hostel that evening I walked in with Søren. Breakfast woman was sitting on the couch, talking to Ben. I know Ben from Minneapolis—he played for another local Ultimate team, one of his roommates is one of my teammates, and he was there when we made the Turducken. But I didn’t know he was even gonna be in New Zealand.
We hugged it out.
Ben introduced me to Ellie. They’d met at a tournament in Nelson, which I’d apparently missed by 2 days. (She’d played for a coed team in Perth.) They’d made plans to meet up at the hostel and hike for a bit together. They invited me along on their hike the next day, a planned overnighter on the Copland Track.
We pick up with my journal, with a few red clarifications:
“Ben had to work at the hostel, so Ellie and I planned to hike in to the Welcome Flat Hut and meet him there later, then we’d hike out the next day.[journal entry ends]
WOW
So the Track, or at least the one-day section we’d done, was AMAZING. Ellie’s guidebook described the walk as ‘superb forest, river and mountain scenery…includes the natural hot pools at Welcome Flat.”
As Danny Devito in Romancing The Stone once said, “understatement of the year, asshole.” The first hour or so, once we’d crossed the river (cold water + sandflies suck) was along a path through a forest. There was some mud. (I stepped in to my calf. Ellie laughed. For a while. She went the other way and…stepped into mud.) We scrambled over trees and around streams and through very narrow cut paths. Then we walked along the Copland River. Absolutely beautiful blues and greens and greys in the water. We stopped for a long time just after the dog rock, by a small little beach w/ thousands of unique stones—reds and silvers and blues and blacks and greens, quartz and metallic flecks, sometimes all in the same rock. Some had multiple layers, and on lots of them the layers weren’t parallel or even crossed each other.
Then, scrambling over boulders. Then, along a shelf above the river. Then, a hundred yards up for a while, meandering along, crossing lots of streams and creeks. It started raining.
[Note that the entire time, we’re in this valley between two absolutely gorgeous mountain ranges, walking along the brilliant blue Copland River.]
A couple of creeks we had to take the flood bridges—ridiculously unstable 1-person-at-a-time contraptions that were often basically a coupla two-by-fours bolted together w/ some underwires for support and some netting or fencing for safety—_had_ to hold on the whole way across.
We sat for a while under one of the giant rock bivvies discussing Halloween costumes and such.
Eventually, Ben caught up just before we crossed the last creek.
We went up a hill. There was a phone there to ring the warden for some help w/ your bags.
Get to the hut—a big old [well, new] house. We’re all alone. Pay the hut warden. Just one other person there.
Hot pools: WOW. The source spring is probably 70º (which means 160º) at least. Burnt our feet a bit, but got in + it was incredible. We’re sitting in hot pools, in the rain. At one point I looked up—HOLY SHIT. Apparently, we’d been sitting basically a coupla hundred yards from huge mountains with jagged peaks, glaciers, 7, 8, 9, maybe 10 waterfalls, all hidden by the cloud cover. I’m pretty sure it’s the coolest place I’ve ever been, w/ awesome people.
So we decide to stay for an extra night. We probably have –just- enough food.
Next day we dawdled. Went to the springs—apparently, you can walk all through the area without walking through the red streams…
Went for a day hike towards the next (Douglas) Hut. Got stopped by an impassable creek so we sat by the riverside. They each napped. I read. We snacked. Took some pictures. I went for a swim in the Copland. Ben took some pictures of my willie. [Note: you will not see these.]
Went back, through the meadows and over the bridge. Now lots of people (lots of Israelis) in the hut—maybe 20 overall; it holds 31 or something and it was hard to tell.
Some time in the pools. Some reading by the river. A late dinner (more instant mashed potatoes in the dark!).
Went back the next day. Left the hut about 9am. Ate _all_ the food. Finished, just as my camera battery died, at 3pm. Waited for the bus a while, back to Fox and the Ivory Towers. Dinner in town.
Kereru all about, hanging out + posing by the garbage cans.
And then they invited me to spend another day with them. I cancelled my Friday reservation in Queenstown, tomorrow Ellie and I will bus to Wanaka; Ben will try to hitch and meet us later.
I took 10-day trip through the south part of the Southern Island.
With me:
Another American, an Aussie, three Swiss Germans, three German Germans, a Vanuatuan Dutch, an English, and André, our Kiwi guide. Ages ranged from 18-40. We were all attractive.
We rode in a 12-seater van, pulling a trailer that was specially customized with spaces for bag storing, food storing, preparation, and serving, boot drying, other stuff doing, ...
Day 1: We met on a Sunday morning in Queenstown and immediately took off for Fjordland National Park. One nice thing: I’d volunteered to be the group banker. Which was nice, because I got a pre-printed sheet with everyone’s name so I could keep track of who’d given me money and what we’d spent and such. By referring to the list as we drove, and taking advantage of the fact that our names were listed in the order we’d signed up so couples were listed next to each other, I learned everyone’s name that first morning. (Which is unusual for me—if you recall, I made it to Day 6 of my trip to the Outback without learning any of my fellow travelers’ names.)
Our walk the first morning was a “3 hour” return at the very beginning of the Routeburn Track. The walk wasn’t that exciting, and our pace is s..l..o..w, but we wound up in a beautiful place between 5 mountain ranges. Not overly challenging, but our guide was testing us to see what the group had.
We headed off to a Gunn’s Camp, an old (miners’?) site, for the night. We made dinner, ate, and introduced ourselves in one of the cabins.
Through the week we all had our chores--I held the money and kept the books, others made sure there was always soap and water available for washing, kept the water jug filled, the van clean, stuff like that.
Each meal, there were people responsible for cooking/prep and for clean up. Our menu (and associated shopping lists) was predetermined. Breakfast was usually cereal, fruit and yogurt. The lunch spread generally included bread, meat, cheese, veggies and condiments for sandwiches. Dinners included pastas (pesto & sun-dried tomatoes, marinara sauce), rice with chicken and vegetables, fish and chips and the like.
{anchor: Day 2}: We drive down into Milford Sound to kayak. We’ve got an odd number of people (and we’re in 2-person kayaks), so I join John from New York, who’s been traveling around for a coupla weeks with two co-workers. (Angie is cute, and she calls the boys Ace and Gary.) We all shared some potato chips.
Our weather: sunny and calm most of the morning, in one of the rainiest places on earth. At one point mid-morning, our guide said “At 11:20, a breeze will come in and it will get a bit choppy, but nothing too bad.” The breeze and chop didn’t actually get there until 11:25.
We didn’t see much animal life until the end—we saw 4 seals eventually, playing or napping. But our guide convinced the other group that we’d seen a shark.
My overall impression: it’s very pretty and the scale is impressive, but I don’t need to be there for days on end. It would be neat to see it from the air, and when it’s raining and the cliffs turn to waterfalls.
Then we drove (and I slept) to Monowai. We expected rain, so instead of camping we stayed in what I can only describe as a miniature village with shacks from the 1950s. They were $15/night, and I had my own.
Day 3: The weather report was bad, so we changed our plan a bit. We walked about 7 miles in to the Green Lake Hut and dropped our gear.
The hike alternated between beech forests and low plains called Tussock Basins. (The party walks through these in The Fellowship of the Ring.) I stepped in mud up to my knee a coupla times with each foot. There was one tough ascent (I was carrying about 30 lbs), but overall it was pretty easy and the weather held off.
We took the entire 12-person hut. After dropping our gear, most of us went out for an easy ~2 hour walk up to the ridge to eat some chocolate. It’s there that we saw something I described in a bunch of postcards—a rainbow, sitting over a verdant valley with a lake on one side, mountains and forests and plains on the other. By any reasonable standard it was gorgeous, buy my response was “unhh”. New Zealand is chock full of those places, and I’d seen the something better the day before, and the day before that, and the day before that…
On the way up, Mike (a chemical engineer from Chicago and my science buddy for the week) asked if I know what “triskadicadecaphobia” is. I’m confused, but it turns out that he’d just gotten the word “triskaidekaphobia” slightly wrong. This starts a discussion in which I try to remember the word “sesquipedalianism”. But I can’t think of it, and it bothered me for days until I finally got a chance to look it up.
Day 4: We hiked out and drove east, leaving Fjordland and heading along the southern coast.
There’s a town near the coast called Tuatapere, or something like that. Population about 15, probably all in their 70s, but they had a Beth Shalom.
We stayed in a backpackers on a working sheep farm, about 4 miles from the southern point of New Zealand mainland. Our host, Justine, made us muffins.
Day 5: We visited Porpoise Bay (Curio Bay?) looking for dolphins. We didn’t see any dolphins.
We went to Slope Point, the southern tip of the South Island.
We stopped at a petrified forest. Okay, but neater than the pre-historic relics were the giant sea kelp attached to the rocks
We visited a forest and walked along the beach
We camped near another beach where there were supposed to be sea lines.
Dinner was a hangi, a traditional New Zealand dish where we buried our food in a fire pit with hot rocks. While it cooked, we headed off to see a spot where the penguins come in at night. It was pretty awesome—we saw 6 or 7 come ashore and…wander off into the woods in the sheep farm, as if they had to run to the store to pick up some milk or something. Eventually, they appeared up on the hill, where the sheep and the penguins just ignored each other. I kept thinking about how the sheep had no idea that most sheep would live their entire lives without ever seeing a penguin. So sad.
After dinner we took an awfully long walk through an invented path to finally find a sea lion. By the time we got there, it was too dark to see him. The walk back, over a previously existing path, was much quicker.
There was no hiking, but doing 10 small things in a day was much more exhausting than doing 1 big hike.
Day 6: We drove. Ate lunch and packed. Drove. Sprinted up a hill. Drove. I dozed off, most of the time.
Eventually, we arrived at Lake Ohau, near the Southern Alps. We hiked up about 2-3 hours to the campsite, during which Mike and I discussed googols and plexes and I tried to explain Graham’s Number. I carried lunch for the next day, for a total of 33 pounds. André said he had a surprise waiting at the top—it turned out to be a pot with a view. They’d built a toilet back in the woods—no walls, but great views of the mountains.
Day 7: A really cool hike.
We hit the bush line just above camp. As Mike said, “[I think] every state in the US is in New Zealand, too. We’re in Utah now.” We walked through desert, scrambled up rock and gravel faces, avoided the avalanches, hit the top. The weather—perfect. We had lunch on the top with incredible views of Lake Ohau, the Southern Alps, Mt Cook, Mt Tasman, etc… Came back down, broke down camp and came back to the bottom. It took all day; could have been 4 hours quicker if we’d hurried but that’s fine.
My trip down was the lightest yet—I’d had to carry lunch to the top, while most people just needed water, but without the food I only packed out about 24 pounds.
We camped for the night on some dude’s lawn. The dude was Tony, the place (Buscot Station) was weird. It’s like this stately (-looking) mansion on another sheep farm, but one that seemed to ooze Southern nobility. We were in the yard. Inside were Tony, a guy named Sam from Santa Barbara, an Israeli, an Irish guy, a Welsh~ish, and some of unidentifiable accents. Sam gave me a lot of whisky. The Israeli led…wait for it…a Havdalah service! (The ceremony to end the Jewish Sabbath.) It was my first in, like, 17 years, since my last time in youth group. Tony explained Sukkoth (the harvest festival) and Hanukkah to the Irish guy. We just missed Laura Veirs’ parents, Leslie and Val by a couple of days. It felt like the Twilight Zone, and not just because I drank a lot of whiskey.
Day 8: We drove off to Mount Cook Village for some day hikes, though first we stopped for supplies, and coffee and a bakery, in Twizel.
There was a hard walk and an easy one. I took the hard, which wasn’t that bad—something like 1200 steps up to the Sealy Tarns. From the top, great views of the Mueller and Tasman glaciers. With 20 minutes at the top, it took about 3 hours return.
Then, off to Fairlie. We stayed in rooms at a mobile home site, the Fairlie Top 10 Holiday Park. I did laundry while others cooked Christmas Eve dinner—spicy beans and rice with overcooked green veggies—spinach, broccoli, zucchini, bean sprouts, celery. The beans were too spicy for some so I finished 3 people’s dinners. Anita and Johannes made glug wine and we had a Pavlova for dessert.
Day 9: Off for our final hike, an overnighter up Woolshed Creek (by Mt Somers) to the Woolshed Creek (or maybe Pinnacles or Mt Somers) Hut. We walked up through the creek valley—a fun couple of hours of crossing back and forth as we worked our way up the valley, walking through water that hit waist level or higher at some crossings. We could have gone much faster with a smaller group.
Then we walked up to the crest(?) of the valley—we could have gone much, much, much faster with a smaller group. I got pretty frustrated, which definitely detracted from the hike. It’s kind of the nature of going on a group trip—you can’t go any faster than the slowest person, and if some people cross creeks slowly and others walk up hills slowly, the group will be even slower.
Dinner was the worst food yet, a pretty awful tuna-and-black-(Spanish)-olive-pasta. But, we had
-appetizers! Seaweed Rice Crackers w/cheeses (Brie, Camemberts, Blue)
- wine! André carted up a box.
- dessert! A cheesecake with chocolate.
Day 10: An easy hike out. We spent time cleaning the van, drying the tents, repacking all of our own stuff. Then we made our way back to Christchurch for the end.
We stopped at a bar for a beer (and to complete a survey, and have André sell us some shirts…). Then we got back to town. André drove off, to see his dad or his girlfriend or just get away from us. The rest of us had dinner together. (Most of us stayed in the same place, Linda was only two blocks away.)
Day 11, that’s when we scattered. Linda and Mike flew north. Caroline caught a ride west with Anita and Johannes. Hannah made her way to Nelson to do another trip. (And she’s in Uganda now, but I’m not sure where.) And I spent one more day in town before flying off to Sydney the next day. I walked around town, bought some gifts (cds for André (Garden State soundtrack, Laura Veirs’ Year of Meteors, Lou Reed’s Transformer), fur warmers for the Ys (penis, nipple)), sat in the awesome Botanic Gardens and wrote postcards, and had dinner at a fancy restaurant with Sascha. (Who might still have your postcards, Julie and Susan and Kate and Sarah and Mike…sorry if you never got them…)
So, sorry that was so long. If _anyone_ is still reading this and is truly a glutton, my pictures from the trip are here.
(or just Milford Sound or just Lake Ohau)
Ta,
sg
Which is a good thing. According to the East Africa edition of Watching Wildlife,
"territorial male [hippopotami] back up and shower each other with urine and faeces as a sign of respect...".They also
"mark territories and grazing trails by spraying dung and waving their paddle-shaped tail at the same time, spraying it all over the place..."The book goes into more details, which you, gentle reader, will thank me for skipping.
A gift from Uganda (eventually) for the best answer to the following question:
This statue is available for sale at the equator. What is it supposed to be?
In Melbourne, at some intersections you can only turn right from the left lane. In Kampala, you can turn anywhere, from anywhere, at any time.
There’s at least one, maybe two stoplights in Kampala, a city with about a million people, but sometimes there’s just no power. There are no lane dividers, and, if there’s no median, no directional dividers. Passing is always legal, maybe even encouraged. So if you want to pass a car, and there’s no one within 20 yards coming towards you, feel free to just veer into oncoming traffic and you might wanna maybe hit the horn in case they don’t notice you. (You wouldn’t want to pass on the other side because that’s where the bikes and the pedestrians are—there are generally no sidewalks.) And if there’s someone passing _you_ at the moment, that’s fine—they’ll just move over further.
All the while, there are boda bodas (motorized scooters, many carrying a passenger or two, or three or four, along with bags, beds, whatever) passing in and out of all available spaces from who knows what direction.
Phil’s favourite phenomenon is the jailbreak—once someone gets through turning right, other cars will join in, following closely enough that cars trying to go straight can’t get through the line. This continues until someone isn’t aggressive enough, allowing the cars coming the other way to sneak in and break the line. When turning, Phil will never be the one to end the break.
Oh, also, when a cop pulls you over (by flagging you down) you give him a ride over to the police station so he can write you a ticket.
In White Teeth, Zadie Smith quotes P.G. Wodehouse: "...Samad was like Jeeves: if not exactly disgruntled, then some way from being gruntled." Or paraphrased, actually--PGW said "far from being". I know because I wrote that line down in my journal when I came across it in January. (Of course, maybe _I_ got it wrong…)
I was quite mathy in high school (no, go on, really, I really was), and pretty much in college, too. But, probably through a combination of living with Rocket for a couple of years and my more recent cruciverbalisticism (I do crossword puzzles), I've been concentrating more on my word side. So this might seem familiar to many of you who had to muddle through my early entries about Ultimate—a long entry, chock full of stuff you could probably not care less about. Here's some stuff I've read and thought about this trip, with some random observations thrown in:
Other Wodehouse lines I liked:
"He did what is known as struggling for utterance."
"Bertram Wooster is a man who knows when and when not to be among those present."
"She just missed being beautiful, and in missing it was not even pretty."
"It was the kind of party which makes you wonder why the hostess has troubled to bid her guests, and why the guests have troubled to come. There were ten people. They met with indifference, and would part with relief. It was, of course, a purely social function. The Stricklands 'owed' dinners to a number of persons, whom they took no interest in, and so had asked them; these person had accepted. Why? To avoid the tedium of dining tête-à-tête, to give their servants a rest, because there was no reason to refuse, because they were 'owed' a dinner."
I went to the bank and took out some money--one million Ugandan Shillings (Ush). Which is worth about $550US.
There are bills for 1000, 5K, 10K, 20K and 50K, and coins for 500, 200, 100, 50, 10 and 5Ush. The 50,000Ush note is worth about $30, the 5Ush coin about 1/3¢. And for some tourist~y things, the standard is US dollars--I don't think you can even get a Visa to enter Uganda using Ugandan money.
Some prices are extremely cheap by US standards, and many people make very little money. You have to try to make sure you use big bills where possible so that you always keep little ones available. For example, I tried to buy a Coke for 1000Ush using a 20,000Ush note, and the guy looked at me like I was mad. "I am sorry, I do not have change for a bill that large," where "that large" is worth about $12.
In a sense, though, I'm living like a millionaire--other prices are similar to what I'm used to, meaning that most packaged goods and restaurant meals and such are largely reserved for foreigners. A sampling, using rough exchange rates:
Soda (pint): 60¢
Beer (pint): $1.20
Gasoline (gallon): $4.50
Loaf of bread: 50¢
Eggs (dozen): $1.30
Water (5 gallon jug): $3
Latte: $1.50
Spanish "Omullet" with potatoes: $1.50
Ride in a matatu (shared taxi minibus): 40¢
Ride on a boda (scooter): $1
Night at a hostel: $4
Night at a nice hotel: $104
Monthly wage for a gardener (city): $100
Monthly wage for a gardener (country): $40
Daily wage for a former coupon industry analyst working as a flunky at an international health conference: $60
Mandatory Mastercard joke: Priceless
_sg
Ma and Pa,
I flew from Sydney to Bangkok to Dubai to Addis Ababa to Entebbe. I have arrived safely in Africa.
I didn't read much on the flight--the entertainment console at my seat for the first two legs offered more than 600 different options. Hundreds of films on demand, many in a host of different languages. I watched The Devil Wears Prada and The Departed and a coupla others (all in English). Hundreds of musical choices. Run DMC's Raising Hell? Had it. And hundreds more currents and classics. Prefer Mozart operas? There were three. Every Billboard #1 from the UK charts from 1952 til now? Yup. Audio books. Video games, some of which could be played against others on the plane. A flight status monitor. Cameras with live feeds looking forwards and down. You can make phone calls, including to passengers in other seats.
Okay, that may sound like an airline press release, but it was pretty impressive. And the food was edible, too.
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know I got here.
The Anderson Bowens say hi,
sg
