I was supposed to be in the jungle until next weekend but the weather decided that it had other ideas. Seeing as we get a heavy thunderstorm every night it takes fairly special weather to cause everyone to leave quite quickly at the first available opportunity. Apparently having trees fall over due to the wind quite nearby was the tipping point. Seeing as I'd barely slept for 3 days and had slightly messed up my legs (due to my apparent desire to convince myself that the shin bone is not connected to the knee bone but is instead repeatedly connected to various types of rock) I was not overly disappointed to come down.
The trek to the camp has changed slightly for two reasons, the first being that I've moved camp to our slightly bigger one further uphill. This means that the walk from where we get dropped off is now 5-7 hours. The second is that the loggers have really done their best to turn the trail into an assault course, in fact the 15 minute stretch where we have to scramble though branches of trees is my favourite, especially since one of the trees clearly contained a group of biting ants. On the plus side it always reminds me of Jonathan getting covered by them in Kenya years ago. Oh how I laughed (and still do...).
In an exciting turn of events we know have power at the camp thanks to the purchase of the generator you can see below being carried over one of the 7 river crossings we have to make. Sadly though as electric light seems to attract many more insects than candlelight I'm not really sold on the whole idea of it yet.
When I arrived at camp I got directed to where I was going to be staying with what struck me as being a slightly overenthusisatic fashion. As it turns out apparently going to the trouble of building a bed for the overly tall guy which is a couple of feet longer than the rest is one of the more amusing jokes you can make...
Others section:
Stats: - Top 5 Western artists over here judging by how often they get played:
5 Shaggy - Yes that rubbish guy who was popular in the late 90's as a joke. Similarities with Mr Bean's popularity over here too I guess.
4 Leanne Rimes - Just shocking
3 Gorillaz - Suprisingly good taste on this one
2 Shania Twain - This doesn't impress me much (do do dodo...)
1 Celine Dion - Specifically that arse wrenchingly bad song from Titanic. It would drive me to tears however there's something about wonderfully out of tune Indonesians who don't know what they're saying giving it all they can. Especially since "my heart will go on" just becomes myahhhhwwwiiggoooonnnn.
Apology: To anyone who I've ever said was stupid for thinking that a bat would ever accidentally fly into them. After one hit me on the side of the head a few days ago I've had to rethink my stance on this. At least it didn't get stuck in my hair which must be worth something.
Video - Finally let me treat you to a typical overtaking manouvre in Sumatra. Yes it may be raining and yes the guy in front may be doing a perfectly acceptable speed but you still have to overtake him dammit...even if it is on a blind corner... Also just to give you an idea of how common this is I took my camera out to film it as soon as I saw the car up ahead as I knew what was coming. Blind corner overtaking really is their speciality here.
Take that video down before Mutti has kittens.
ReplyDeleteThat was pretty crazy. I like the picture of the beds. It is amusing. A real life Gullivers travels. I have this idea of them all parading you around as their mascot.
As for Maaaahhhaaawwiiiiggooooooonnnn...
Get out.
Off to watch Dad's horse lose a shoe and eat it's jockey tomorrow. Should be fun.
Yesterday I was in a simulation of a conflict zone for a training exercise at the UEA. (The Bizarre things I do for money...) Anyway, I was a UN Military Observer, and had to learn a 30 page dossier and study a further 30 page peace treaty in order to realistically pull off the roll. I was given a UN uniform and an office, and held 6 40 minute meetings on the hour throughout the day, where I was quized on various aspects of the UN's role in keeping the peace in a made up country called Quasiland.
I adopted an "international accent" for the day, and called myself Col. Max Krivoshev, after a russian friend of mine. When people asked me where I was from I simply said Canada, and then continued to speak with an americanised eastern Europeen accent. The most worrying moment came when one girl said, "where are you form?" And so I trotted out: "Canada." And then she said, but your accent...? and I said, dismissivly, "Oh I've lived all over, and my dad is russian, so..." then, to my horror, she said: "Ochin Priedna, Mojna Gavaresh par Russki?" At this point my life flashed before my eyes and before I could think I had said the russian for "Yes, of course..." and then quickly in English, "Ok, who wants to ask me question?"
One testing moment came when being quizzed on the peace treaty by a young man who had served in Iraq. I'm not going to lie, that was quite a tricky one to keep the poker face on for. At one point he said, "does the treaty operate under a sector 6 or 7?" And I went, "I beg your pardon." and he said "Well, it's either a six or a seven, so which are you operarating under?" And I went, "you expect me to tell you that?" And he said "er... Yes?" And I went ".......(long pause)..... Ok, so you come off the boat, you pile into my office, you ask your questions abuot what you want and give me no indication about what you plan to do with the information. Unbelievable."
And then he said "I'm really sorry sir. Sorry."
(Phew.)
I kept using Paul Lambert as my inspiration. If I didn't want to answer a question I didn't. If I wanted to give a "management" responce, I did. Good fun all round.
Hope all is well. I'm painting my flat...
JEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaan.
What on earth? Did they realise that you actually knew nothing and were in fact a relative local who was effectively taking the piss? If they didn't that must have been quite good fun. Did you have a little picture of Putin hanging up behind you? I think that would've sealed the deal.
ReplyDeleteCan you talk to Dad and let me know how much money I should put on for tomorrow (ie whether he ahs any info) as I've texted him and he hasn't got back to me yet. He's probably still wondering why the phone is sending him unstamped letters so anything you can do to get me an answer by tomorrow would be ace.
Flat colour scheme yellow and green I hope? I know it'll be a flowery pink instead but there's always hope.
Enjoy the race tomorrow and say hello to anyone I might know. Also remember to buy an inflatible for the carlisle game in a weeks time.
Bon tucking,
Keg
p.s - It's clearly a sector 6 anyway, don't know why you made such a big deal out of it.
Basic colour scheme: Yellow and Green.
ReplyDeleteCorrect.
Earthquake?
ReplyDeleteLet us know if you were near...
Jean