lostboy
Stephen Anderson Joined: December 5th 2006
Logged in: March 14th 2010
Logged in: March 14th 2010
I might be an aspiring writer, but surely an amateur. I like to read about other’s experiences so why not share mine? I also enjoy photography; another thing I need to practise more. I try to write for a wide audience and make a commentary on my observations and experiences, usually with a negative tone but anyway ...
Well, enough about me. I hope you enjoy my blogs, whoever you are.
Travel Blog Posts
Good morning Honiara
In 2003, the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) arrived in Honiara. Foreign troops and police quickly stopped the violence, restored security and disarmed the militias. RAMSI's nation-building efforts, however, have been less effective. Australia is now trapped in the Solomon Islands for the long haul. A new strategy is required and I propose a more decentralised government. For all its troubles, the Solomon Islands receives much foreign aid and assistance. Like many developing nations, the Government has become aid-dependent. 2008 estimated GDP for the Solomon Islands was US$642 million (nominal GDP). url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/islanders-look-for-ramsi-exit-strategy/story-e6frg7e6-1225804532935Australian aid was A$223 mil... read more
Sampah!
Indonesia has a huge garbage problem. On the streets, in drains and waterways, in the sea and on the beaches, I have never seen so much litter. Indonesian people have always littered but plastics have replaced biodegradable packaging. International Maritime Organisation MARPOL 73/78 Annex V prohibits dumping of plastics anywhere into the sea. Unfortunately, Indonesia, Timor-Leste, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei and Myanmar have not acceded to Annex V. I travelled on a Pelni ship from Flores to Timor and all garbage bins were upended over the stern and into the sea. Plastic bottles, styrofoam trays, plastic spoons, bags and wrappers, food waste, everything and a trail of garbage in our wake. Local television presents a fantasy world that is modern and ... read more
Hunter becomes hunted, Pashupatinath, Nepal.
Everyone has one, in the past three years digital SLR cameras have gone mainstream. So noticeable on my travels are tourists with their Canons and Nikons, snapping away at anything and anyone. Do they think that owning a big camera makes them pro and free license to shoot indiscriminately? Case in point is the curly-haired man I encountered at Pashupatinath, Kathmandu. It's a holy site for Hindus, a place for pilgrimage and also an auspicious place to die. We tourists, and more than a few Nepalis go there to spectate. Armed with both a video camera and a digital SLR, the curly-haired man was happy as a pig in shit, filming and shooting everything in sight. He snapped the fake Sadhus (for a fee), dying people with their feet immersed in the holy Bagmati River, wailing ... read more
Down and out in Manila
I can't see why the Lonely Planet says Cebu City is nicer than Manila. Arriving on a rainy Saturday afternoon, I found it dull and depressing. I walked from the pier to town, not stopping and staying alert. A woman sleeping on the sidewalk with a child lifted her head and looked me over as I crossed the street. She gave up, relaxing onto her makeshift pillow and cardboard carton mat. People stare, you look different, you have money, teenage boys taunting, "Hey, Joe”. I found a place to stay just as the afternoon rain set in. I researched my next destination on the internet and in the evening I spent a boring half hour in a noisy, empty karaoke bar with a litre of Red Horse strong beer. Returning to the pension house, there was ... read more
Huey
There are many interesting exhibits in the War Remnants Museum (formerly named War Crimes Museum), Ho Chi Minh City (a.k.a. Saigon). One that caught my eye was an M-16 rifle imprinted with “General Motors, Hydramatic Division”. That got me thinking, if defense is an industry then war is a business? I did some research on the internet and confirmed that General Motors did manufacture M-16s for the Vietnam War, about 1.4 million rifles, from 1968 to 1971 (source: AR Files). Today's list of the Top 100 United States Defense Contractors reveals many familiar corporations: Boeing, United Technologies, KBR, General Electric, Shell, Bechtel,... read more
The horror
April 1975 was certainly a historically significant month and not only because of my birthday. On the 17th of April Phnom Penh was “liberated” by the Khmer Rouge and on the 30th Saigon “fell” to the North Vietnamese Army. Not that I would remember but I’m sure most of the world soon forgot about the second Indochina war. America had lost and returned home, there was no more news to report. Too bad for the people left behind. With Pol Pot as “Brother Number One”, the Democratic Kampuchea (as Cambodia was renamed) regime imposed a version of agrarian collectivization with the goal of restarting Khmer civilization in "Year Zero". It was not for some years before the west learned of the horrors committed inside Democratic Kampuchea. Until the Vietnamese liberated Phnom Penh in 1979 and Pol ... read more
Bendy boats
Slow boating the Mekong River is another popular activity in Laos. I was doing it backwards, going upriver from Luang Prabang to Huay Xai in the Golden Triangle. There I would re-enter Thailand from the north. Our slow boat departed Luang Prabang in the morning and proceeded up river at a steady pace, relentlessly against the stream. The captain knew this section of the river and was constantly adjusting course, sometimes midstream and sometimes only 5 to 10 metres from the bank, weaving between rocks, past swirling eddies and running over ripples. Infrequently the engine would rev harder and the boat would roll slightly as we passed through a turbulent patch. The Mekong flows well in July and takes on a light brown colour like milky coffee. The boat pushed upstream through an endless valley of ... read more
Boy monk
The town of Luang Prabang is a UNESCO World Heritage site and everyone goes there. I took an ordinary bus from Vientiane, not one of those tourist buses I had seen outside the guesthouse every morning but was surprised to see were more than a few white faces onboard. The bus broke down halfway in Vang Vieng, a backpacker destination where western ‘kids’ flock to party on the cheap and go tubing down the river. Where there are cafés playing Friends non-stop everyday and comfortable places to nap - not a very cultural destination. Five hours we waited for a substitute bus, sitting on the roadside, on the grass and in the shade of some trees. We were a diverse bunch. I chatted with an unusual, past middle-aged, Malaysian-Chinese lady. She was a divorcee, alone and ... read more
The Queen of Tanganyika
It was past noon and sitting on the benches in the shade of steel-roofed gazebo was a small crowd of Africans and more white people than I was expecting. After the usual two or three hour wait, boarding was announced and we joined the queue that bottle-necked through the gate. Once onboard the MV Liemba we were assigned our berths and given our keys. The MV Liemba is a wonderful old iron ship and piece of history. Built the SS Graf von Götzen in Germany in 1913 for the colony of Deutsch-Ostafrika she was disassembled and transported in pieces from Europe to Africa and then halfway across the dark continent by rail to Kigoma on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. There the pieces were reassembled and she was commissioned in 1914. The SS Graf von Götzen ... read more
Not China
Preface It has been too long since I added another chapter to this blog. My excuse is that I have been burdened with work and writing presents another labour. Not to mention Iran blocking travelblog.org! This is likely my last entry from Tanzania 2006 and fills the gap between Zanzibar and Tanganyika. The three short journals are but fragments of my experience and there is more that could be told but there is more travel to be done. The bit in-between Leaving Amani, I found myself on the same buses on which I had come: Ndio Zetu to Muheza and then Tayassar to Chalinze. Here the bus turned left towards Dar es Salaam and the driver made an impromptu stop for me to jump off. After a quick lunch, I boarded a no-name minibus to Morogoro. ... read more
