Back in Fiji and, I guess, back 'home'. And since this is going to be my base for a while, I am now going to make a determined effort to make it more like home. Starting with my apartment. I am feeling quite pleased with myself because I've finally managed to get a whole bunch of things for the flat, including a very important item: a desk. Well, it's a table but it's definitely being used as a desk. I've also got a fully equipment kitchen now and most of the things for the bedroom and bathroom. What's left? Well, [View Full Entry]

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A week ago I was in Palau, then I spent a couple of days in Fiji before flying back to the UK because I had some work to do in Nairobi, Kenya. Of course to get to Nairobi I had to come all way back from Fiji to the UK and then a couple of days later fly from London to Nairobi. That's a lot of flying hours, the air miles are certainly piling up and I am getting suicidally bored of hanging around in airports. The security procedures are also starting to grate on my nerves...but I guess the [View Full Entry]

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Let me explain the title. What was unexpected was finding this huge, brand new, pseudo-classical building up on the top of a hill in the middle of nowhere on the main island of Koror in Palau. This is the new government building, which has been designed so inefficiently from an energy view point that it is costing the government tens of thousands of US dollars a month to maintain! That's money they don't have...nevermind...you can't tell people how to spend their country's money... Enjoy the photos... What was pretty close to a paradise on earth was our visit to the Rock [View Full Entry]

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My second day of travel to Palau takes me to Guam. A tiny island in the middle of the North Atlantic through which most flights to places in the North Pacific seem to go. It was a strange, strange experience, as I had to go through U.S. immigration (always a bundle of laughs), only to find myself emerging from the arrivals onto a hot and rainy tropical island! I didn't know what to expect but it definitely did not feel like I was in the U.S. Nonetheless, what I got was a little slice of America, with the massive roads, MacDonalds, [View Full Entry]

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First part of the two day trip to get to Palau takes me from Nadi in Fiji to Brisbane, Australia. After a four hour flight, we have a 7 hour stop over in Brisbane so we check in our bags and hop into a rental car to go into town to see something. This is my first time in Australia and I am determined to see something other than the airport. It only takes about 20 minutes to drive into town and find somewhere to park - easy! We end up in a lovely pedestrian area, which seems to be in [View Full Entry]

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Well, it's now been a week and a day. Am I settling in? Well, kinda. I've got a trip coming up this weekend and another one after that, so it's hard to think about getting furniture and stuff for my apartment when I know I'm not going to be here for the best part of the next month! I can't even go food shopping because I am afraid I will not eat everything I buy and it will go off in the fridge (lovely) by the time I get back. And there's so much to prepare of these trips that there's [View Full Entry]

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Wow! What a first week. Straight off the plane in Suva and into a four hour meeting where I was taking the minutes. Things continued much in that vein for the rest of the week. The work out here has been intense. The project is very interesting and exciting but I've hardly had time to do anything apart from work, eat and sleep. It is definitely not just fun and games. But I guess I knew it was going to be a challenge. I have managed to find time for a run, a cycle and a couple of swims, plus a [View Full Entry]

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Ah yes, another airport to add to my list of airports I've visited (this is not a real list, I am not that sad). Time to wander around aimlessly for a few hours while waiting for my transit to Fiji. So much fun. I staggered from gate to gate zombie-like and bleary-eyed, telling myself this was the only exercise I was gonna get for 48hours so I might as well make the most of it. At least I did manage to take a picture of the sunset. And to reward myself for my stumbling around, I bought myself a little tub [View Full Entry]

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And this one starts in good old Basingstoke...two days to go till I fly out to Fiji, so I decided to get started with writing this thing. Feels wierd. This is the first time I do something like this (write stuff that's going to go up on the web for anyone to read). Obviously there not much to say apart from I think the excitement is starting to manifest itself as a vaguely nauseous feeling in my stomach. But I still don't think I've fully captured that I am going out there for 6 months (maybe more!). I get the feeling [View Full Entry]

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