Blogs from Afghanistan, Asia - page 2

In Afghanistan we have been working on a household water treatment, and community sanitation project, using a market driven approach, that focuses on using marketing techniques to create demand for water treatment and sanitation products, and then equipping local tradesman with the skills and tools to meet the new demand. The program has been highly successful and has attracted a lot of attention from UN who are now promoting this approach across all of Afghanistan. We have also worked with the Afghan government to amend its national policies to include household water treatment and community led sanitation, as acceptable strategies for meeting the water and sanitation needs of the country. In this latest trip I went to evaluate project progress in Jawsjan province in the north, and Kapisa province near Kabul. After flying into Kabul and ... read more

First of all, you might notice that it says above that I am in Bagram. I can assure you, I'm not in Bagram. I am in Munich, in fact. Long story short, for various reasons this website is difficult and rather infurriating to use, thus I have opted to just hit endless links until I am free to write what I want. So don't expect accuracy in my locations from now on. My computer time is far to limited to spend time fighting with bloody travelblog.org. Berlin is now long behind me. Sad. My six days there were the highlight of my trip, for sure. The hostel was great, met lots of great people, and saw A LOT. Although not everthing I wanted to. Strangely, I was more into the cold war history than I was ... read more

Next on our filipino adventure was the island of Palawan! We flew from Manilla to Puerto Princesa where we stayed for a couple of nights. Puerto Princesa is the main city in Palawan, it's capital if you like, but it's only the size of a small town and still has that 'local' feel to it. We found a great little guest house called Manny's and based ourselves there. We also found an amazing little vegetarian cafe that conjured up all kinds of meaty treats out of tofu for under a dollar so this soon became our local hang out! From PP we went to see the 'underground subterranean river' - a very popular tourist destination, especially with local Filipino tourists. The river basically runs through a cave (underground) and is supposedly the longest one of its ... read more

(I'm not in Jalalabad - but I can't get the computer to bring up Vietnam!!!) Well OK folks, you'll be pleased to hear that the holiday is back on track after yesterday's unpleasantness. Today I had the whole day to myself and I played the lazy hours like they were a saxophone. (I can't claim credit for that line I'm afraid). Anyway decided good policy decision for the day was to cover up as much flesh as possible as sunburn still pretty angry (don't tell my Mum). So I indulged in a little light browsing round the shops of Nha Trang - virtually burka clad apart from a bright, red nose peeling great tracts of skin. And a very pleasant morning it was as I doffled gently around the shops. Late morning I discovered a fabulous ... read more

In urma cu o luna am sarbatorit ziua micutei in Dubai. Pe motive de boala (sotul meu a facut o pneumonie foarte urata) a trebuit sa plecam din Kabul, in cautarea unui loc mai cald si cu aer mai curat. Cred ca prima data cand mi-am dorit sa ajung in Dubai a fost in urma cu 20 de ani. Un vis mai vechi, care s-a metamorfozat intr-o amintire aparte. Am asista la o cursa de cai, am vazut cum se antreneaza camilele pentru curse si am fost extrem de surprinsa sa descopar ca un soim are un GPS atasat printre pene. Citeam undeva ca un baiat continua sa se joace odata devenit adult, doar valoarea jucariilor se schimba. Dupa experienta din Dubai, am ajuns sa cred ca seicii au poate cele mai scumpe jucarii din lume. ... read more