Blog – Page 38 – Babak Fakhamzadeh

Sights of Mexico City

August 09, 2008 • Blog

World » Mexico » Mexico City » Zocalo

The last day of the IAC conference ended early. Judging by the activity on the conference floors, many attendees had already left the event by Thursday and many more had not decided to show up on the Friday.
My meetings were wrapped up just after noon, which was about the same time Rouzeh was ready with her last session.
Afterwards, taking a shuttle to Auditorio Nacional, we visited the crowded zoo, where pandas munched bamboo and tigers basked in the sun. Just outside the insect pavilion, where billboards advertised huge spiders on display, employees were playing around with a huge Madagascar cockroach, which you could let walk on your hands.
These things were seriously huge, so imagine my reluctance. But, as fears are there to be conquered, I bit the bullet and let the bugger walk over my hands. Nothing but a small tickle.

On Saturday, we did the almost obligatory tour past the city’s most important sites, starting at the Placa de la Republica, where the impressive Monumento a la Revolucion now houses the remains of the national heroes Pancho Villa, Francisco Madero and others.
The most prominent site is of course the Zocalo (“the base”, after a major independence monument remained unfinished in the 19th century), the heart of Mexico city and one of the biggest city squares in the world.
Dominating the square is the Catedral Metropolitano, which has been slowly and unevenly sinking into the underlying muddy ground ever since its construction started in 1573. A pendulum in the middle of the huge church marks the tilt of the building.
Also on the square is the Palacio Nacional, home to the offices of the president as well as some very nice Diego Rivera murals. Diego Rivera, if your memory fails you, is the lover of Frida Kahlo.

On the square, we enjoyed a display of conchero dancers, in feathered headdresses and with shells, concha, on their ankles and hands.

After quick visits to the not-so-impressive Museo Nacional de las Culturas and Museo Jose Luis Cuevas, even though the latter had a Sala de Arte Erotico, we headed to the Torre Latinoamericana, the tallest building in Latin America when it was constructed in 1958, for some wonderful views of the city.
The Torre is right across from the neo-classical and art nouveau Palacio de Bellas Artes, which houses a few more impressive murals by Diego Rivera, including El Hombre En El Cruce de Caminos, which was originally commissioned for the Rockefeller Center in New York, but then destroyed because of its anti-capitalist themes (remember the film?).

In the next door park, the Alameda Central, we listened to Stultiferaz Naviz, a Mexican goth/punk/ethnic Viking-looking band with several bagpipes as the main instruments.

Back to the hotel, the last on Saturday’s list was El Caballito, a huge yellow abstract horse’s head on Paseo de la Reforma.

Conference over, time to party

August 08, 2008 • Blog

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World » Mexico » Mexico City » Centro Banamex

Observacion numero uno: There’s an unholy amount of ancient Volkswagen Beetles on the streets of Mexico City. Most of them are cabs.

Observacion numero dos: Mexican chicks are quite hot.

Observacion numero tres: Regularly, you can see a Mexican face which would have been just as easily at home in south east Asia.

It’s over and I have mixed feelings about the World AIDS conference. Obviously, a large part of this humongous meeting of 25000 AIDS professionals, an event with a budget of, I’m told, 53 million euros and a combined estimated spending of the delegates of around 100 million, is primarily creating a conducive environment for face time with known and unknown potential clients, partners, customers, friends and whatnot. In short, a bloody expensive high school reunion, of sorts.
Then, there’s a lot going on of people patting themselves on the back. Primarily in the shape of demonstrations (typically in front of the media center) or self promotion in front of an audience which really doesn’t need to be convinced of anything which is promoted on the conference floors. Of course no one disagrees that HIV is not a crime and that PLWHA (that is, people living with HIV/AIDS) are not victims.
But, of course, having so many professionals in one particular field in one place does allow for some extensive networking possibilities. And that, I suppose, is what it’s all about. And, indeed, why I was attending, selling a platform which soon will be available at NGOspace.net.

Meanwhile, Rouzeh slipped and fell, resulting in a traumatized tendon in her left arm. WIth a nice big piece of bandage wrapped around her underarm, she’s a bit of a Robocop.

In transit from Bangkok to Mexico City

July 30, 2008 • Blog

World » Mexico » Mexico City » Your home B&B

For one, my luggage actually arrived at the same time as myself. I left Chiang Mai on the evening of the 29th, after a thorough going away grooming by Vlekje, I arrived in Mexico City in the evening of the 30th. Only a day, you say? Not so. I traveled accross the dateline, meaning that in this direction, I lived one day twice.

Odilon, working for HDN, left on the same Bangkok – Tokyo flight as myself. Turned out he had found an affordable hotel close to the airport, to at least catch a few hours of sleep before our ungodly 6:50 AM departure.
He was kind enough to share his room with me, though I came in so late, my night's sleep almost wasn't worth it. Almost.
I arrived at Bangkok airport at a 11:45 PM. I arrived at the hotel, a mere 3.5 kilometers away, according to the brochure, at 1 AM. First, my taxi driver believing he was the third of the Schumacher brothers, then, when he had lost the plot, standing in a circle of bystanders all knowingly pointing him in another direction for getting to my hotel.

Tokyo airport was boring in that it looked like any other major airport, though much better than LAX, which really could use a major upgrade. Though, at Narita, Tokyo airport, they did have a small branch of Akihabara, *slobber*, though not even with any gaming devices or really low prices.
Before touchdown in Tokyo, I was wondering if I could withstand the pull of a DS Lite or a PSP. For both, only one shop had a few units around, more out of necessity than anything else.

Odilon went and took the flight to San Francisco, I went to Los Angeles. There, having to go through customs even though I was in transit, my passport was checked by a friendly coloured lady wearing blue surgical gloves. And, of course, the fingerprints of my two index fingers were taken.
The last leg of my trip, from LAX to Mexico, though still on United Airlines, like the previous two legs, felt more like being on a budget airline: the food and alcoholic beverages had to be purchased.
A good thing that, before boarding, I had gotten myself a Grande Latte from Starbucks. At 4 USD only 2 – 4 times the price I pay for a good latte in Chiang Mai.

Then, at Mexico airport, the shocker of the trip.
Mexico is a big city, and although I'm here for a conference, I suspected I also would want to be able to get 'out' once in a while. The online booked Hertz 'guaranteed rate' was 273 USD for 16 days.
Last time I rented a car, in South Africa, the rate I was given at the agency differed significantly from the rate I was quoted online. But because I had thrown away the quote, I only had my mind to rely on. Now, I had the quote with me. And, indeed, the online quoted prices was again not exactly the same as what I was about to be charged at the Hertz office: 273 USD online, over 950 USD at the airport. Yes, that's more than three times the quoted price.
Turns out they slap on a few extra taxes as well as insurance. And as 'CDW', Collision Damage Waiver, is 'only' just a bit over 30 USD per day here in Mexico, that quickly ads up.

I made it clear that 1000 USD really wasn't going to be an option. Haggling for a better price also didn't seem right, but the agent went and laboured away at his computer and a pocket calculator, to offer me a significantly better price after ten minutes of pounding away on his keyboard: 720 USD.
Indeed, a significant discount, but still way over budget.

So I said I wanted to cancel the deal. But that, surprise, was not an option. I was only given the full price after the whole contract had been put together. Now that it was 'in the system', it couldn't be taken out again.
So, the agent, a boy, who had a truly gorgeous Mestizo sidekick, went and slaved away at the keys some more, to try and quote me a new price.

Meanwhile, the sky had turned dark and I was not really looking forward anymore to renting a car and driving it around this huge Latin American city in the dark of night.
Then, the agent wrote down a new price for me. Just over 300 USD. Seriously. Almost a 70% discount.

No complementary map, however, just a crappy copied A4 piece of paper with what seemed like half the American continent on it.
I was given directions, but quickly lost my way. Asked for directions again and lost my way again, asked for directions again, lost my way, asked, lost, asked, lost, asked. At a gas station which was selling street maps of Mexico City. Finally!
From that point on, it was still a struggle, but at least I was able to truly figure out where I was going. And a friendly customer of said gas station was also able to tell me where we were the moment I purchased the map.
I arrived at my hostel at 11pm, a mere 4 hours after arriving in Mexico.

Groggy, half broken, thirsty, the next step was a stopover at Rouzeh's. In Mexico both for a pre-conference and the actual AIDS conference itself, and on a scholarship, she's been put up in quite a nice hotel, not too far away from where I'm staying. Okay, okay, so I knew what hotel she was assigned to before I booked my place.

You are always on my mind

July 29, 2008 • Blog

World » Thailand » Chiang Mai » Baan Chinnakorn

Every new beginning is also a departure, a Janus-headed event.

With the clock ticking away, as always, there’s so much to do and so little time. But there will be only one thing I’ll miss.

Packing my stuff, Vlekje on multiple occasions tried to stow herself away in my backpack.

Hash

On Saturday, I attended another CMSH3 hash. The chapter’s 863rd run. It was a bit of a party, as Superman celebrated his 800th run. In Chiang Mai. Something of a legend, he’s been running since 1969, starting at the 4th oldest chapter in the world (but at a place I can’t remember). The man has around 2500 hashes to his name.
For me, having hashed since 2001, my hash count is probably only just a bit over 100.

Quiz!

We managed to come in second on this Monday’s quiz at Tusker’s. That’s unheard of! And there were even more than two teams!

On eating

I have read on multiple occasions that it’s considered rude to eat with a fork in Thailand. Particularly the part when you stick the fork in your mouth.
The cheapest noodle buckets, just add hot water, come with a fork.

Smooth criminal

July 23, 2008 • Blog

World » Thailand » Bangkok » Central Lat Phrao

Leaving for Bangkok on a few hours notice because, surprise, I can get the required journalist visa for Mexico, for which I need to be finger printed at the Mexican embassy.
A little bit more diligence by the right actors would have saved me a lot of last minute headaches, but, fingers crossed, as I still have to get my passport back, it seems I will now be able to hang out in the media section at the Mexico International AIDS conference. Also, I will be a real journalist. Take THAT, second grade Dutch school teacher!

Up till now, at least, I’ve been feeling a mild form of dread for this upcoming trip. It has to do with the rather tumultuous last few months, the closing of a reasonably large project, but also very simply because it’s yet another move into the great unknown. Not just Mexico, but also after Mexico.

Driving from Bangkok airport to my hotel, looking out of the taxi window into the rainy night, I realised that part of the dread comes from the internal realization of the end of the mystery in travel. There is none left.
Not only is all information at your fingertips wherever you are, the information is so tangible, there’s almost no reason anymore to do anything but armchair traveling. Wherever you go, you meet the same people doing the same things anyway.
For me, this year so far, I’ve been on three continents and will take in one more, at least.

Back in 1991, before going to university, I spent a week with two friends on Crete (where I forever lost the desire and nearly the ability to drink Ouzo). Crete, on the edge of Europe, with me on my first flight since the 1970s, was as exotic as my travels got, in those days.
Now, with more budget airlines than inhabitants of a small independent nation, travel to anywhere in the world is so cheap and so common, nothing is really exotic anymore. How many people do you know who’ve visited Thailand? South Africa? Ghana? All truly exotic locations just twenty years ago.

I predict a time, not even a few decades away, where people will actually travel less, because of the lack of the challenge. Back to the local.

There is a (DDR) god!

Though he’s a bit on the slow side. Central Lat Phrao mall, in the north of Bangkok, on one of the subway lines, has a DDR machine, DDR Extreme (I was tipped off).
It’s in good condition, single games, four songs, cost 20 Baht, around 40 euro cents. Double games are double the price.
I sweated like a pig and was a happy man.

Jesus vs Hitler

It’s toasted

http://i.dmdentertainment.com/DMVideoPlayer/player.swf

These were the nine months that were

July 16, 2008 • Blog

World » Thailand » Chiang Mai » Baan Chinnakorn

We had some bigwig visitors last week from the UK. One of them was from Wales. It was a guy, but it was like listening to Gwen from Torchwood.
These fantastic five came in, for one whole week, from the Alliance. It’s still not very seemly to divulge their purpose, so you figure it out.

Leaving

Yesterday saw my last proper day at HDN. Of course, during my last two weeks or so, the number of small things that suddenly came my way increased significantly. Suffice to say that that resulted in me having little time for the larger bits, such as making HealthDev.net multilingual. Then again, I’ve been waiting for a Malaysian translation for many weeks anyway.
I have now officially followed my time at HDN up with a financially rather uninteresting support contract. Hence the bigwigs mentioned earlier.

One of HDN’s employees has a tendency to make videos for employees leaving…

http://www.youtube.com/v/CNuyfXiM2NA&hl=en&fs=1

Mexico

Meanwhile, in keeping with earlier traditions, my obtaining an HDN-arranged Mexican media visa (yes, I’m supposed to be going as a journalist) is still hanging in the balance. Not that I won’t go, I might just not go as a journalist.
Gonzo journalism is much cooler anyway.

Hash

And I managed to do a hash again last Saturday. I brought in Amber, who ended up with tonsillitis, or strep throat.

Pie on the fourth of July

July 05, 2008 • Blog

World » Thailand » Chiang Mai » American consulate

As my time in Chiang Mai is drawing to a close, major things are afoot at HDN, but more on that later. Much later.

That is not to say that decisions related to my work are any less ad hoc than before. Au contraire. It means for example that although it was scheduled for months for me to do a training in Malaysia, my going has now been cancelled. Not only will I now have to pay myself to check out the Petronas Twin Towers, my last day at HDN will be July 15th, next Tuesday.
This will leave me exactly two weeks before I depart for the IAC, International AIDS conference, in Mexico, where I’m supposed to be meeting a bunch of bigwigs to intimidate them into using a collaborative web based platform based on Blogger, Flickr and the other usual suspects, which I’ll be setting up for them through Inis.

The good thing about this trip is that it allows me to take breaks in both San Francisco, which beyond a doubt will see me visit Los Angeles, and Tokyo, dream of dreams. You see, being an IT freelancer isn’t all bad.

Meanwhile, after celebrating my first Thanksgiving ever, last year, I know celebrated my first fourth of July, ever. The American consulate threw a party and through Todd and Felicia, I was invited to attend.
I just learned that the US has an obesity rate of around 25% and that recently, for the first time ever, there are more obese people in the world than there are people starving. Well, these demographics were very obvious last Thursday. Yes, you sharp bugger you, that was July third, not fourth.

Having attended quite a few Dutch queen’s day celebrations abroad, this July 4th felt a bit like a poor cousin’s happening. Remember this was invite only, passports were checked at the door against a guest list, but still you had to pay to get in. Then, McDonalds, Subway and a few lesser known joints were selling typical American foods, at regular prices! Now, seriously, how’s one supposed to get plastered?
On the upside, there was a pie eating contest as well as a dance-a-thon. I think.

Sing me to sleep

Back to my upcoming trip.
I’ve started Travelhog.net some seven or eight years ago and although, for a while now, it’s been on the back burner, some people still use it to book hostels.
Recently, I was offered the opportunity to put up a second hotel booking engine, besides the one I’ve got from Bookhostels.com, also used by the likes of HostelWorld, Lonely Planet and Hostels.com. I regularly get those requests and almost always decline because most of these accommodation search engines only return expensive or very expensive places to stay.

So, I was positively surprised when I tried out the booking engine of Hotels Combined. I tried it out for my upcoming trip to Mexico and found that the prices returned were very reasonable, starting at around 15 euros, for real hotels, not hostels.
To compare, the booking engine from Bookhostels returned cheaper beds, but only few cheaper rooms.

Likewise, for both Tokyo and San Francisco, the other two stops on my upcoming trip, Hotels Combined returned reasonably priced accommodation: 17 euros for a room in San Francisco, 38 euros for Tokyo (Tokyo is very expensive).
The search is a bit slow, but that’s, I presume, because the site compares a dozen or so online accommodation search engines before giving you any results. This meant that, for the hotel I was interested in in Mexico, it went for 17 euros per night through one provider and 60 euros through another. The benefit of Hotels Combined, right there.

In the end, however, I still booked through Bookhostels.com and ended up paying a bit more than the 17 euros, even. The downside with the cheap option through Hotels Combined was that I had to request availability which could take up to a day. I wanted to book immediately and be sure of getting a room, not having to wait and then, perhaps, having to book again.

Mentioning Lonely Planet, whatever happened to Rough Guides? Practically every tourist you now see anywhere carries a Lonely Planet, Rough Guides seem to have gone out of style.

No underpants

Meanwhile, I learned today that it’s illegal to leave your house in Thailand without underpants on. Imagine the risk!

Tigers and flat tires

June 29, 2008 • Blog

World » Thailand » Mae Rim » Tiger Kingdom

For months, the plan for HDN to have a retreat has been bubbling just below the surface. Then, quite a while back already, the realization slowly materialized that, in fact, HDN was short of cash and was probably going to be short on cash for a while. Hence, for example, no roll out of partnerships platforms in 40 countries as originally planned, no marketing campaign to launch HealthDev.net and no retreat.

As an alternative, a sports day was organized last week. All expat staff cringed at the idea, quite a few thought of calling in sick, and a few actually did. But I’m sure they were of course too sick to participate.
Turned out, the day was more than excellent, with very little sport, lots of a games and an excellent treasure hunt.
Wrap up with mooketa, conceptualize this by thinking of Thai barbecue, followed by free shots at Tuskers and too many Sangsom sets made for an almost painful evening.

My time here is coming to a close. I’ve only got two weeks left on my contract and although there has been talk of a (fairly unattractive) follow up contract, nothing is definitive, yet, and I won’t have to be based in Chiang Mai.
As an alternative, I’ve struck up a professional relationship with Inis, an Irish/Thai business which focuses on ‘communication’, particularly within the NGO sector. The founder, Tim France, also started HDN, my current employer.
I’ll be doing a short term but intensive project for Inis, web 2.0, which will see me going to Mexico at the end of next month, where there’s a big AIDS conference, and which will allow me to stop for a few days in both San Francisco and Tokyo.

Yesterday, I had decided to finally attend another hash. But it was not meant to be. First, waiting at the hash pub, the bus did not show up. Then, driving to the venue on my bike, half way but way out of town, I had to deal with a flat tire.
Tire fixed, two hours later, finally, I arrived at the venue, just in time for drinks.
Well, at least I was there for the more important bits. Besides the drinks, the ice. Of course.

A few months back, the Tiger Kingdom opened its doors just north of Chiang Mai. It’s run by a breeding program in the north east of Thailand and claims to have no connection with the Tiger Temple near Kanchanaburi, which was recently in the news for perhaps being part of a smuggling ring.
By no means is the Tiger Kingdom as impressive as the Tiger Temple. However, it does have an interesting business model. You can visit just for food as the decent restaurant surrounds the open air tiger cage, and you can enjoy the tigers for free. if you want to play with them, either with the 8 month olds or with the 3 month olds, you pay 300 baht (6 euros) for each experience.
I tried to understand the long term business model, but didn’t get satisfying answers. The story I got was that all tigers on the premises were actually born there, not in the related conservation project in the north east. However, they were also not planning to breed a new generation, which to me meant that in a few months, they wouldn’t have cubs for the tourists to play with, as I was also told they had no intention of bringing in new cubs.
Odd perhaps.

Like music to my ears

June 17, 2008 • Blog

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three-kings-two-models-one-fashion-show_2593164988_o.jpg

World » Thailand » Chiang Mai » Kad Suan Kaew

Ran into a new geo-based game the other day. Geohashing generates a new random location every day, for every graticule (that is, 1×1 degree ‘square’ on the globe) in the world, based on the date and the opening of the Dow.

I also went to my first classical concert in a long time. The Chiang Mai Youth Philharmonic & Symphony Orchestra was performing both European and Thai classical pieces at Kad San Kaew, one of the two major shopping complexes in Chiang Mai.
The show was quite reasonable, though most of the audience seemed to consist of moms, dads and siblings. At the end, the two conductors, the first violin player and the harp player were lauded with flowers. From behind the stage, a fresh young girl would show up with a bouquet of flowers. She’d give the bouquet to an older lady, who passed it on to an older man, who handed them over to the actual recipients.

How is it that when it’s European traditional music, it’s called ‘classical’ and when it’s classical music from somewhere else, it’s called ‘traditional’?

In two parts the first consisted of the orchestra performing three classical European pieces. These were the New World Symphony by Dvorak, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik by Mozart and The Beautiful Blue Danube Waltz by Johann Strauss.
The second part, after the intermission, five traditional Thai pieces were performed, the last two of which were supported by SMS, The Sacred Music Singer Payap University (sic.). The program only carried the Thai names of the pieces in the second part, so I was left in the dark as to the contents or origin of these.

The second part of the performance was more enjoyable but also better done than the first part. I suppose it was noticeable that the performance were mostly teens and early twentysomethings. But particularly the last two songs, with the 24 singers in the background was nice.

I wondered to what extent traditional Thai music can actually be played on European classical instruments, but, hey, it sounded good.

Meanwhile, at Central Airport Plaza, the three Guitar Hero II machines have been supplemented by a Guitar Hero III machine and a Rockband machine, which only allows for guitar playing. And, as of recently, there now is a proper DDR machine in Thailand. It’s in the Central Ladprao Mall in Bangkok.

Star Wars dance off

Wait for act number three.

http://www.youtube.com/v/UkTQwP2gFxU&hl=en

Thai TV commercial

http://i.dmdentertainment.com/DMVideoPlayer/player.swf

Mexicoooo… Mexiiiiiiiiicoooooooo

That’s a heading in the style of the Zangeres Zonder Naam. And Why?, I hear you ask. There’s a reasonable chance I’ll see the beaches of Mexico soon. Or at least experience the heat of Mexico City.
Yes, this AIDS/NGO sector I’m currently moving around in is not treating me badly.

Thaksin out?

June 08, 2008 • Blog

World » Thailand » Bangkok » Makkhawan bridge

My 'case' passed through the Dutch bureaucratic windmill and I was granted a new passport, picking it up in Bangkok on Friday.

Not having been too impressed with last time's hostel, I now opted for a room in the decent Asha guesthouse. Very reasonably priced at 350 baht (7 euros) for a room, though with shared bathroom, but with very decent breakfast facilities, a pool and an enjoyable bar in the evenings.

On Saturday, I went in search for the anti government rallies which have been going on for the past two weeks. They were surprisingly mellow, but the placards and banners were graphic.

Also, I tried to buy a bluetooth headset. Wireless headphones which would also allow me to use Skype, wirelessly. Convenient, but the model I bought didn't work on my mac. At least not properly. Back to the drawing board.

And I was also in my first car accident while in Thailand. Nothing major, just a small bumping into the taxi in front of us. We got out, stopped a second taxi and headed on.

Pass

June 03, 2008 • Blog

World » Thailand » Chiang Mai » Baan Chinnakorn

I learned something new about myself today. I did not have Dutch nationality at birth, which I’ve always assumed. Well, as far as I remember anyway. Apparently, back in the dark ages of 1973, having been born outside of the Netherlands, you apparently only automatically received Dutch nationality when your dad was Dutch, not your mom.
I found this out when I got a call from the Dutch embassy in Thailand, getting flack for not filling in my passport request form correctly.
Apparently, the law on this changed in 1984, and I do remember some legalistic wrangling at the time, having lost the details.

I also had to specify whether I had any other nationality, which resulted in more flack. According to the Dutch immigration service, it’s possible, and required(!), to renounce your Iranian citizenship, except for some specific exceptions, particularly related to military service, requiring paperwork.

So what does this mean? Perhaps no new passport this week. Perhaps no new passport? Watch this space.

Death

Chris, Ismail‘s cat, died yesterday. Sad.

Married, lucky and rich

May 24, 2008 • Blog

World » Thailand » Bangkok » Kao San road

Not having anything specific to do on Saturday, I took a boat on the Mae Nam Chao Phraya, the river flowing through Bangkok, and walked down Kao San road, probably the most touristy area in Thailand, where you can get anything from fake diplomas, to the latest DVDs, to the latest copied books, to any food your heart might desire.
Taking a one-minute break, munching down a spring roll, Mr. Suwali Singh, a Sikh fortune teller (+66 87 8205526, if you're interested), complete with turban and tucked away white beard, asked me if I wanted to know my future. I said I wasn't interested, but Mr. Singh was very persistent, claiming he knew my girlfriend's name, my mother's name, and much more. One of the first things he said was that I was a very good man. I've been hearing that a lot recently, so when he then claimed that, at the moment, two girls loved me, but I only loved one, putting a smile on my face, I gave Mr. Singh a chance to redeem himself. This is his list of predictions and observations:

+ Two girls love me but I only love one girl.
+ I will receive very good, or lucky, news in August 2008.
+ I never thought about marriage but am thinking of marriage now.
+ I will marry in 2009.
+ My marriage will be forever, that is, won't end in divorce.
+ I will have three kids.
+ I will become very rich in 2011 and buy a big house and a big car.
+ I should pray twice a day, in the morning and in the evening.
+ I work in Australia (or perhaps my fortune will be in Australia).

He also did a trick which, in my eyes, invalidated most of what he had said. At the beginning, he claimed he would know the names of my mother and girlfriend.
Near the beginning of our session, he wrote something down, which I could not see, on a piece of paper, folded it up and gave it to me. Then, later, he asked me for my mother's and girlfriend's names, writing them down for me to see. He then went into a spiel of me having to pray and wrote 'God' on another piece of paper, which he also folded up and gave to me, in the same hand where I was holding the first piece of paper, followed by him mixing the two up a bit.
A bit later, still, I had to unfold the two pieces of paper. The one still said 'God', the other had the two names on it.

Obviously, this can only have been a trick. For if it wasn't, he should have given me at least one of the two names before I gave them to him, which would have completely convinced me of his powers.

When it became time to pay, he implied he expected, literally, hundreds of dollars in payment, making me wonder what service he actually thought he delivered, besides supposedly telling me what was going to happen anyway. He followed it up with a talk on how, in the Punjab, where he was from, he supported orphaned kids and swamis and sadhus, holy Hindu men.
I thanked the man, saying I would come and pay him a fare share in 2011.

The biggest drawing in the world

That's about the size of the world, aided by a GPS device and DHL. The artist: August Zachrisson. Bravo!

Backgammon

Meanwhile, I've been looking around for playing online board games. I've been playing Scrabulous a bit on Facebook, which is nice, but I'm also looking for alternatives.
One thing which has caught my eye is online backgammon, a very simple game to learn, but requiring quite a bit of strategy and insight to master.

It's hard to find non-commercial backgammon websites, the commercial ones, such as Backgammon online, Backgammon and Online backgammon being easy to find. Particularly the fact that you need to download software to play and the way these backgammon servers are presented for me let alarm bells go off which shout "SPYWARE" and feel a bit like the free packets of heroin or coke handed out by dealers near children's playgrounds.

Alternatives are The first internet backgammon server, online and non-commercial since 1992, and Java- and ActiveX-based games, meaning you can stay inside your browser, form Yahoo! games and MSN respectively.

Share the love

I don't own an iPod, let alone two, but the excellent application Misu let's you share your music library from iPod to iPod.

Penises and passports

May 23, 2008 • Blog

yes-those-are-penises-with-legs-and-penises_2521508836_o.jpg

World » Thailand » Bangkok » Dutch embassy

The penis, or lingam, shrine is packed with penises in all colors and sizes. Thin, thick, long, short, red, blue, white, green, covered with veins, penises with penises and legs, you name it, the shrine has it.
The fertility shrine was 'born' when some women made an offering to the residing spirit and shortly after fell pregnant.

No, not in Chiang Mai, but in Bangkok. Last time I got a new passport, the old one was completely full only when it expired. Now, only three of five years in, my passport is already fully stamped with visas and I had to go down to the Dutch embassy in Bangkok to get myself a new one.
What's more, in two weeks I can go back to pick it up.

Not flying, I'm taking two night trains, in and out of Bangkok. On the incoming train, a very touchy and giggly ladyboy, with surprisingly bad teeth, served food and drinks.

I'm not too much enchanted by Bangkok and have seen all, well almost all, I wanted to see in Bangkok on previous visits. Hence my visit to the fertility shrine.
I went in search for DDR again, with no success, but I did find plenty Guitar Hero II and Guitar Hero arcades. Guitar Hero, though easier than Guitar Hero II, has classics such as Killer Queen , Ziggy Stardust and Spanish Castle Magic

Close to the Dutch embassy, I'm staying at the Sukhumvit Soi 1 guesthouse. A hostel with only dorm rooms, its vicinity to the Dutch embassy and free wi-fi weighing in heavily for my choosing the place. It's not bad, as backpackers places go and has a friendly owner but an annoyingly arrogant and pedantic Australian teenage caretaker.

Thai food

Thai eat five times a day, be it sweet or hearty. On my way back to the hostel, I went for chopped up bread and sweet warm milk. At least, I thought. I expected fried pieces of bread, but got regular bread, chopped up. The sweet warm milk was to drink and to dunk my breadcrumbs, I ended up with a green sweet slimy goo.
But it was good.

Buddha Day

May 19, 2008 • Blog

World » Thailand » Chiang Mai » Chiang Mai Zoo

Today is Visakha Bucha, which Wikipedia catalogues under Vesak, a celebration of the Buddha, institutionalized as late as 1950, but celebrated across the whole buddhist world.

Here in Chiang Mai, seemingly everyone celebrates the day by walking from town up to Doi Suthep, a temple on the mountain next to the city. A decent 14 kilometer hike. What's more, they do it the night preceding the holiday, starting anytime from 6pm onwards.
Then, after celebrations at the temple, many walk down again, arriving back in town in the early hours of the morning.

Just to see what the fuss was about, I threw myself in the crowds and walked up the mountain for a bit, only to get too bored and disinterested enough to come back down again after a kilometer or two.

Fish and Chips overload

There's a strong British presence in Thailand in general and Chiang Mai in particular. No, no military or political presence, it's older retired men with young Thai chickies. Testimony are the many pubs and the many pubs and restaurants selling (very decent) fish and chips, most of them claiming that theirs is the best in Chiang Mai.

Interlude

On a lighter note, some very cool photography (found through this blog post). And also a few interesting sex toys.

In the land of edible calves

May 12, 2008 • Blog

World » Thailand » Chiang Mai » Baan Chinnakorn

After doing some work for SAfAIDS, in Harare, a few weeks back, they wanted me to come back and do a follow up. And who am I do decline such an offer? Of course also because it meant being able to comfortably visit Rouzeh again.
The work wasn’t too taxing, a few connected IT assessments, but for the relative lack of internet connectivity. That, while Zimbabwe’s electoral process still hasn’t found a happy ending, or any ending for that matter.

Just when I arrived this second time, the central bank had floated the Zimbabwean dollar, presumably to get some foreign currency into its coffers, them having been completely emptied after the ‘harmonized’ elections back in March. This meant instant hyper inflation. Just two weeks ago, my room at the Small World lodge came in at a ‘respectable’ 2 billion. That is 2000.000.000. Now, prices had gone up a bit, to 6.8 billion. That’s 6800.000.000.
Two weeks ago, the largest note on the market was 50.000.000. Now, it was 250.000.000. It’s not unreasonable to expect one trillion notes before the end of the year as the Zimbabwean government is just printing paper disguised as money to make it appear they know what they’re doing.

The joy of travel

At Harare international airport, I wasn’t allowed to leave. The ladies at the check in desk, followed by the SAA, South African Airways, ground supervisor, claimed I had no more empty pages in my passport, which, so it seems, is a prerequisite for entering South Africa. I did, one exactly, but it was covered by a note, pasted in by the Thai immigration department. The note, just a note, could easily be removed, but when I did just that, the SAA ground supervisor claimed I had illegally altered my passport, making it invalid.
Only barely keeping my calm, barely. Well, not really, Josh, the SAA supervisor, couldn’t admit his absurd statement, so I had to produce evidence of my onward journey from South Africa, so that he could label the bags through and we could both pretend I wouldn’t go through immigration in Jo’burg, thus skirting the one-page-free requirement.

In South Africa, of course I went through immigration, as my layover saw me stuck at ORT for more than six hours. The transit lounge, from where checkins for my flight would only be possible after some four hours, was extremely bare bones and I was not planning on hanging around on one chair until Etihad airways, the national airline of the UAE, considered it time to let the poor sods from the transit lounge check in.

A good week earlier, on my flight from Johannesburg to Lusaka, Zambia, my luggage had been pilfered, things had been stolen. In one side pocket, a bunch of minor electronics (and my GPS) had been covered by dirty laundry. Upon arrival in Zambia, the dirty laundry was still in the pocket, but all the electronics had gone.
It had been quite a pain to get the paperwork in order, so now, between my arrival at ORT and the start of check in, I had plenty of time to be misguided from one counter, office and terminal to the next, in constant disorganized directional search for the right venue to hand over my paperwork. Estimated processing time? 21 days.

Then, when checking in for my flight to Bangkok via Abu Dhabi, I already should have known something was going to be amiss. The lovely girl behind the counter had trouble simply entering the number on my luggage tag into her system. She claimed finding it at some point, but upon arrival in Bangkok, my backpack had arrived at that great luggage depot in the sky. My luggage hadn’t arrived, location unknown.

So that saw my arrival into the land of edible calves. One more flight to Chiang Mai, a small compensation for the luggage lost and the suggestion that if I hadn’t received my luggage after three days, I should fill in a claim form. I was back at my guest house.
And where was Vlekje? In stead, I was welcomed by a spider the size of an outstretched hand on the wall opposite my room, gecko poo on my walls inside the room and a tiny gecko in my bathroom.

Then, very late, Vlekje stuck her head around the corner of my open door. Home at last.

Back in the RSA

May 05, 2008 • Blog

World » South Africa » Johannesburg » Fourways » Fourways mall

Killing multiple birds with one stone, I’m doing work for SACSIS in situ, while the plan was to also give a training on HealthDev.net. The latter doesn’t seem to be happening, but has opened up time for putting up the new collection on Varibel.nl.
Meanwhile, I’m drinking Wild Bean cafe coffee, eating bunny chow, running a hash and jumping around on a DDR machine for two hours in Menlyn Park, and meeting old friends of course.

Driving up to Pretoria for the hash, in the pouring rain, the landscape and weather very strongly reminded me of driving on the ring road around Brussels. Similar constructions, mostly newly build office space, car dealers and malls, with the same grittiness and not-really-up-to-date road system.

I’m staying at Ismail‘s sister, director of SACSIS. She’s living in an area of Jo’burg I’ve never really gotten into, but appears to be very nice. Interestingly, Stevan, who I know from my work in Mongolia and who’s moved back to Jo’burg recently, now also lives in the same area; Parkhurst / Linden / Greenside. Lots of nice little restaurants, bars and cafes.

Fit for a queen

April 30, 2008 • Blog

World » Zambia » Lusaka » Dutch ambassador’s residence

Partook in two days of training for HDN, in Zambia. The country coordinator did a very good job, but not everyone was as committed, and I am not talking about the trainees.
For the second day of training, which was my day to talk about and train on HealthDev.net, we obviously needed decent internet connections. The IT center we did the first day in had, for some reason, issues with their internet connection. I asumed we’d scout for alternative location after the training, but not so.
On the second day, the internet not having improved at the training center, the country coordinator and I had no choice but to scout around for an alternative location, with the regional coordinator being ‘held up’. In the end, we started the training at 11:30, at a local internet cafe. Only three hours late.

To compensate, the country coordinator and I, at the end of the day, decided to head over to the Dutch embassy to see if we could gatecrash a supposed party in honor of the Dutch queen’s birthday. Almost, as the party was at the ambassador’s residence.
Another taxi ride, and we literally walked in to a red carpet event. Hundreds of guests, including the former almost-dictator-for-life, Kenneth Kaunda, elderly African statesman if ever there was one.
Raw herring, cheese, bitterballs and more. A decent end to the day.
Until we chartered a taxi back to town, which saw us stranded in the middle of nowhere.

Kenneth was walking around in a black safari suit, with an AIDS awareness logo stitched to his lapel. Very cool.

Woe

April 28, 2008 • Blog

this-car-is-protected-by-the-blood-of-jesus_2462708846_o.jpg

World » Zambia » Lusaka » Chachacha backpackers

Rouzeh advised me to stay in the Protea hotel on Cairo road, where wireless internet is free and plentiful. However, at, as it turned out, more than 190USD a night, a bit above budget. My contact in Lusaka, Zambia, wanted to book me into the Silverline lodge, still hefty at 112USD per night. I myself asked if I could be booked into the Chachacha backpackers, reasonable at only 20 euros per night for a double, with, internet available in the lobby.
I assumed I was going to end up at Chachacha. I ended up at Silverline. Skype is working, yeah, but I can’t access any website. While virtually drowning in work, my hours are being stolen from me.

Then, to make things more in line with other long hauls, my luggage didn’t arrive in one piece. One of the pockets of the luggage I checked in was open when I picked the bag from the luggage belt. At the bottom of the pocket I’d stashed a bunch of electronics, cables, adapters, small stuff. On top of that, dirty laundry.
All the dirty laundry was still there, all the electronics was gone.
While notifying the lost luggage counter, one attendant showed up with -most- of the stuff that had disappeared from the bag, found in the luggage compartment of the plain. Most, but not all, as if the goods had just fallen from my bag. Unlikely, as a small bag which had also gone missing had itself been opened and emptied.

My first impression of Lusaka is of a South African provincial town. But I don’t think Zambians would appreciate that too much. All South African fast food stores have their branches, the roads are decent and empty.
Prices, on the other hand, seem surprisingly steep.

Online offline

April 25, 2008 • Blog

World » Zimbabwe » Harare » SAfAIDS office

With two days work as a consultant for SAfAIDS, one day work at SAfAIDS as a visiting HDN employee, regular work for HDN, close-to-last-minute work for a South African client, SACSIS and internet connectivity that makes connections in South Africa seem like extremely broadband, it’s been a hectic week. Not to mention the time I’m spending with Rouzeh.

I found it surprising to see that, on the surface, so little has changed in Harare. The streets are structurally more quiet, but that’s pretty much the only thing. After ten, nothing seems to be going on anymore, I haven’t seen the bar in the lodge open yet.
The same shops, some new ones, busy, even classy, expensive restaurants. And even a few wireless hotspots at surprisingly reasonable prices. ‘IB’, Italian Bakery, in Avondale, close to the lodge I’m staying and a favorite of mine four years ago, now offers wireless internet at 3 USD per 24 hours (over a period of 90 days). At black market rates of course. Then again, when I tried, I couldn’t get it to work here.
Close to Avondale, there’s ‘Cork’, a gallery and coffee shop. Wireless access is slightly more expensive, at 3.5 USD, but good.
Sitting at Cork one afternoon this week, I had to share the connection with six other pros. Six mobile offices.
The third and last, I was told, option for wireless internet, is a place called Gecko, apparently quite a bit out of town.

The Small World Lodge hasn’t change much, on the surface. The parking lot stores four cars by the new owner, none of the waterworks channel water, I have no water in my room, the three cats are no longer there, almost no guests even though HIFA is around the corner

Not that I see too much of the lodge, as the days are spent working like mad, well, if there’s a connection (and electricity), including the weekend days and the evenings are spent with Rouzeh, often at her place.
Rouzeh and I spent quite a bit of time together back in and around Chiang Mai, a few weeks back and had an extremely good time. Although Harare doesn’t currently have similar riches or opportunities to offer, we’re coping very well. Hey, you don’t always have to go out to have a good time.