Blogs from Asia - page 13075

Greetings from South Korea!! Well we're not bad children (taking so long to contact you) but for some random reason there is no phone service here?! So now we're back at the airport for day 2 and we thought we'd give you a little run down on The A team's adventure thus far..... Ok so the flight over was great. We got under way right on time and the plane would have been less than half full. None of the middle (4 seaters) rows were taken at all so it was a free for all amongst those "polite" people to grab them willy nilly. Adam and I were quite happy with our seating (Adam got the window seat) because we weren't over the wing not to mention the fact that there was copious amounts of leg ... read more

Later in the morning we visit another slum where WaterAid have been able to intervene and build a community sanitation block. Obviously in these settings there simply isn't the space to build household latrines, so different solutions are required. The sanitation block, with ladies' and gents' latrines, and showers, and a child-friendly latrine area too, is run by local people, and there is a small charge of 50 paise (half a rupee - less than 1p) for using the toilets, which pays for their cleaning and maintenance. Such a system also ensures that communities take ownership of the facilities and it provides a source of income for some. It's early days here and old habits die hard, but progress is being made, with open defecation now cut by around 50% here. At the third slum of ... read more

These are some pice from my train trip to tiruppur to attend a wedding. Some of the landscape reminded me of Africa with a few Acacia trees and dried bushes everywhere. ... read more

The merriment of yesterday could not have been more greatly contrasted than with today's visit. Nothing I have seen last week could have prepared me for the dire situation that thousands of people face in the slums of Cuttack city, living in extreme poverty. Many of these slums have been here for decades, expanding over time. Often they are on Government-owned land which is vulnerable to reclamation for growing industrial uses. Unfortunately, the government simultaneously represent many conflicting interests, not least the need to grow this area economically by encouraging the development of industry, whilst at the same time the welfare of families who have made their homes here in these slums, desparately in need of safe water and sanitation. Some of the slums are officially recognised by the government, whilst others are not. Slum-dwellers are ... read more

Hi there! Just a quick report about our short stay in Malaysia & Singapore. We had to rush through Malaysia in about a week so we only had the chance to see the capital Kuala Lumpur. The climate gets very tropical the more you go south: it's very hot and humid and every day at exactly 3pm you get a nice cloudburst to cool things down. Luckily the city is crammed with huge shopping malls which have an AC that makes a fridge look like an oven. So we sheltered during the daily shower by playing snooker, bowling or doing anything else we could find in the malls (even Imax theaters and rollercoasters...) The main attraction though in Kuala Lumpur is of course the Petronas towers or twin towers. Having been the highest building in the ... read more