A Life Far Removed from Durian Trees

Arggghhhhhhhh! Internet has been very slow these last few days and this is why: Undersea cable breaks cut Internet in Mideast, Asia

- Malaysian restaurant found! - Shipment has arrived! The Malaysian restaurant. Oh yes, baby! Tucked away somewhere near the Old College, with no sign outside yet (“waiting for that licence”), this is like a Malaysian gerai . Opened in March. Authentic Malaysian food (more northern because the cook is the owner’s Thai wife); local prices; outdoor setting; can do takeaways; most of the customers are Msian students (all guys so far), Indonesians, Yemenia staff, Msian businessmen in town, and locals who’ve been to Msia. It’s basically a villa with the restaurant in the compound. The owner, a guy from Sarawak who used to work as a trader, lives on the upper floor of the house with his family – wife and two kids who are studying locally. They rent out the lower floor to students and someone gives English lessons. They grow kai lan and strawberries in the garden. Lots of ‘Visit Malaysia’ posters and brochures – donated by the tourism board because after all, it’s the ‘Malaysian Tourist Rest...

I recently joined Facebook, after years of being wary of leaving an e-trail that will forever be cached somewhere. What the heck... I must say, it's an excellent way to look up people from the past. I spent hours looking at friends' profiles, their friends, and their friends, etc. and found SO many people that I know/knew/completely forgot about! Most of my friends are married with kids. A few have passed away. It's funny how people from different circles know each other from elsewhere. All that browsing and catching up with long-lost friends have made me somewhat pensive, thinking about the past, present and future all at once. Would I let people who've hurt me in the past into my life again, and vice versa? I've certainly changed - at least, I think so. With past regrets, how would I have done things differently? Would old friends look at me now and expect me to have achieved more/less in life? Where should we be now, as thirty-somethings? If I were to compare my ...

I don't really read motivational/love-makes-the-world-go-round/cheesy messages from people but this is a good one... A Mayonnaise Jar and Two Cups of Coffee A professor teaches his students a lesson about what's really important in life. By Laura Bankston When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember this story about a mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee... A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was. The professor next picked up a box of sand and po...

Found it! Finally decided on a sofa set at Turkish City, in the Al Asbahi area. It'll be made locally and delivered in a week. We picked a pattern and sent a chair from the dining table so they could match the wood. It's a little kitcsh but I'm happy we found something comfy, in the same colour scheme, nice pattern (S' choice) and not overkill. Our driver M was impressed by S' negotiations skills, and couldn't believe the discount we got. "Boss, I learn a lot from you. Next time I go buy furniture, you come with me." Next project: carpets & curtains. But that should be easy. Our shipment should leave the UK soon, by air freight, and customs here usually takes a day (vs. 4 months++ in Angola) so I'm optimistic for December. Ten days until we go on holiday! And then a few weeks of work and the year is over. Can't believe how quickly it's gone by...

Did quite a few things over the weekend. On Thursday mornings, I go to a pottery class. Here's my first creation. It's made from Yemeni clay and should be done next week. It'll be sent to a local kiln when it's done. I find it really therapeutic, especially after sitting in front of a computer all week, crunching numbers and writing market reports. Afterwards, we went to KFC for lunch - S' favourite restaurant in the entire world (really!). They even had Hot & Spicy! Slightly different from Msian Hot & Spicy but still pretty good. Very clean, bright and airy. There is a Baskin & Robbins and a nice park next door. On the way home, we drove by the new Al Saleh Mosque, which is absolutely beautiful. At night it's lit up beautifully as well. I haven't been inside yet. It was officially opened this last Friday. Some famous sheikhs from Saudi Arabia came - we saw their convoy making its way from the Movenpick Hotel to the mosque on Friday. We were at t...

Hmm...a little disappointing. First of all, the sushi "spread" was tucked away in a little corner on the eighth floor of the Sheraton Hotel and you had to eat it in the smoke-infested Hollywood Club, which is what you would call a nightclub in Malaysia. Secondly, there were only about 10 sushi items available, six of them containing crab sticks, which S hates. But otherwise, the fish was fresh. Then, at about 8 p.m. a Filipino band with two very sexy (and talented) singers comes on stage so if you're hoping for a quiet, romantic meal, this ain't it! On top of all that, the clientele at the pub are horny blokey guys who are openly ogling the Filipina singers. Between songs, the ladies would walk the floor, flirt with them and rub their bald heads. After dinner, not keen to go back to a TV-less house, I watched S play pool...by himself. Are we lame??? S said if there was one thing he learned at university, it was how to play pool. And I think he's good. The Sheraton...

Getting used to the altitude and environment in Sana'a is not a trivial matter. S and I don't sleep well here, probably because of the thin air. I've had lucid dreams almost every night and S makes weird breathing noises when he sleeps; they get so bizarre and loud (like he's scared of something) that I have to wake him up. This morning I got my first nosebleed in my entire life. And a few weeks ago, I had a triple whammy infection (gastro-intestinal, bacterial and fungal) and the doctor sent me home with 6 types of meds that made me miserable for 10 days (water tasted funny, no appetite, gastric pain, headaches). On top of that I had to submit a stool sample! So since coming here, I've been googling all sorts of physical ailments to see if these things are normal. Today I learned that nosebleeds are normal, unless you get more than 1 a week. Thank goodness for the internet. If not, I would have gone to the doctor (again) and looked like a hypochondriac in overdriv...

For those of you who like pictures, we are BACK IN BUSINESS! No, our shipment hasn't arrived - I bought a memory stick reader for my camera (didn't realise they had invented those). Haven't had a chance to write these last few weeks. Busy with work and was in Dubai/Abu Dhabi for a week for a conference. Didn't take any good pictures unfortunately because then I hadn't discovered this neat gadget called the meh-mo-ri-stik-ree-derr. Anyway, back to today's adventure in Sana'a. We finally bought a dining table and it came today. Got it locally - couldn't get away from MDF but this is GOOD MDF apparently. I hate to generalise but this is a nice generalisation. The Chinese got it right. I love ROUND dining tables, because they are: 1. Egalitarian - who likes sitting at the head anyway? it sucks 2. Inclusive - you can see/talk to everyone and vice versa 3. Flexible - you can seat 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 people 4. Practical - for Asian dish-it-up-yourself cooking, i...

Read here on CNN. According to Wikipedia , the flooding was caused by prolonged/heavy rain as the remnants of a tropical cyclone moved over the area (see right). S and I were enjoying the rain in Sana'a - didn't realise how bad things were elsewhere. In the meantime, I'm recovering from a bad case of food poisoning...I think the culprit was Al Shaibani on Wed night, but then again, it could've been anything.

Then come to Yemen! On Wednesday night, we went to a famous Yemeni restaurant called Shaibani and had the most amazing (yet simple) meal made up of the national dish fahsa and grilled fish. Fahsa is a meat stew eaten with a flat circular bread that is oven-baked, tastes like roticanai and is served up in a HUGE piece about 1 metre wide. There is a green condiment that tastes like blended chillies but is not spicy. You rip off a section of the communal flat bread (need to look up name) and dip it in the green sauce and then scoop some fahsa and eat it. The grilled fish (again, name!) was marinated in a peppery sauce but wasn't spicy, and was very fresh and succulent. The fish in Sana'a is shipped daily from the coast. Afterwards, we had milk tea, which S obviously enjoyed because he ordered one and then another. Didn't have room for any dessert (a dish made from bananas and honey) but we'll be back! Shaibani has several chains but the driver took us to the one that had a...

I went to a ladies’ coffee morning...and came away with three things: There are lots of things going on: bridge sessions, sewing for a charity group, tennis, water aerobics, swimming, the International Women’s Association, pottery classes, ladies’ lunches, something-that-sounds-like-catamaran, etc. The ladies are making more of an effort to organise social events now that it is a smaller community (a lot of families left earlier this year after the bombings) The expats generally like living in Yemen, but a lot of the wives leave Sana'a during Ramadhan So I’ve decided to join the pottery class, which is also conveniently held during the weekend (Thursday morning). I was worried that I have no artistic talent whatsoever and that my pieces will be the ugliest in the class but was encouraged by this nice Scottish lady who said, “ I do a lot of things here, but I’m not good at any of them. Don’t worry, anything I do, I’m usually the worst one in the class!” But for some reason, she’s no...

Sorry for the long silence. Back in Yemen now after a two-week holiday in Msia. I STILL didn’t get to eat any durian. I did have a Thai pulut durian dessert. Even though it was gooooood, it didn’t count! The day after we got back to Sana'a, S flew to Amman for a conference. So I've been home alone in this dark house with many windows, thinking about the cerita hantu that my sisters/parents/sister-in-law shared with me last week. When the power goes out (which happens 2-3 times a day), I have to wait for the jaga to run across the garden and turn on the generator. A few days ago (in the afternoon, thank goodness) I had to wait 30 minutes because he went out for lunch. The electricity once went off at night when I was in the living room all alone...It was a long five minutes... So, S is coming back tonight. Flight lands in 30 minutes. Being the good wife, I've cooked dinner with time to spare. Dinner is nasi goreng with hot dog bits, in true urban if-you-don't-like-it-t...

We moved in today, yay! And in two days, we leave for Malaysia. Back on October 9.

Just to say we're both ok here. The US embassy in Sana'a is further northeast while our hotel is in town centre. From where I am, you wouldn't know there'd been an attack unless you turned on the TV. Everything seems to be going on as normal. From the BBC: Deadly US Embassy attack in Yemen

I was speaking to another expat yesterday about how everything changes in Yemen during Ramadhan. She told me this (true) story: Kid: "Hi, Coach, I just moved to Sana'a. I'd like to take tennis lessons with you." Coach: "Ahlan wa sahlan. You are welcome to Yemen, kiddo. Yes, I can teach you tennis. But it's Ramadhan now so we have lessons at two o'clock." Kid: "Ok! When can we start?" Coach: "Tomorrow." Kid: "Ok, see you tomorrow afternoon, at two." Coach: "Huh? No, two o'clock in the morning! Are you crazy, kid??? It's Ramadhan!"

I'm hoping we can move to the house this weekend. We spent the last few nights going to carpet and curtain shops, and after all that, brought home a sample moquette (wall-to-wall carpeting) that looks almost exactly like the one in the house already. Which I knew would happen, but S never makes a decision without going to at least 3 different shops. The old carpets have been torn up and the carpet guys will come tonight or tomorrow. Then the cleaners will come. THEN can we move in. We decided it was too much to try to buy new furniture right away - everything happens at night during Ramadhan and we're going home for Eid in a week or so. But after more shop visits, it looks like MDF is king in Sana'a. What worries me is that I have not found a single lounge set that I like, and that it's going to be either IKEA or palacial kitsch. I haven't seen much of the city apart from the shops. We've had dinner at the hotel every night, even though I would love to eat out,...

Day 5. Still staying at the hotel. Yesterday (Thursday i.e. "Saturday") we went to three furniture shops in the Al Asbahi area, but found that 99% per cent of the stuff was made from "high-quality MDF". Plus they were really ornate, like what you would see in a Marie Antoinette movie. We only had a couple of hours because shops open really late during Ramadhan (after 2 p.m.) and the driver wasn't available after iftar. Even though we could have gone out again after dinner with one of the standby drivers (shops close at 4 a.m.) , we weren't up for it. Didn't even have the energy to go for the outdoor concert downstairs at the hotel! At this rate, I bet we'll be in limbo for another week at least. Today the shops don't open until 4 p.m. and some won't open at all. S is working and I'm at the house now, testing out the internet connection and it sure is better than in Angola! I was supposed to measure the rooms etc. before we try some more f...

Greetings from Yemen! It took me a while to log in just now because Blogger appeared in Arabic. As usual, with my luck, I clicked almost every link on the page before finding the right one. ( Note to self: fix this) Day 1 in Yemen. As I write this, I’m in our new house, waiting for S and an IT technician to come back with the new password for my internet connection. Right now there is a man still working on the toilets; he brought along his son (~10 years old) Khalid - his little apprentice. It doesn’t look like we’ll be moving in right away – perhaps in a couple of days. I just can’t get over how lovely the house is – you can see beautiful flowery shrubs and greenery from every window in this place. Apparently we live next to a VIP working at the UN. (His house is in the middle of the street and they’ve cordoned off one stretch of road to his villa – using terrorist-proof concrete barriers, mind you – so we can only access our house from one end of the street.) Opposite, someone is bu...

Last night, we had dinner at the best roticanai place in town: Suvay's Guys, it's as close as you get to the real thing in this part of the world! Ask for the paratha. Dinner for three (very hungry) people who ordered starters, two main dishes each, masala tea, gulab jamun and kulfi was...£23 Afterwards I asked the Suvay's people what CD they were playing - it was pretty good. It was the soundtrack to Bheemaa (a Tamil movie I haven't seen before). On the way back, we walked by an Indian music shop. - Hi, do you have the soundtrack for Bheemaa? - Yes. You want original or... (nervous blink, blink, blink) - Err, how much? - 6 pounds. (hands me the box, phone starts ringing and he starts chatting on the phone. Makes me wait until he's done) - But this is the movie, I just want the songs please. - Oh, songs! Here is audio CD. Three pounds. For three quid, you get three songs in iTunes. In East London, you get an entire "audio CD". Tonight, the Melati Restaura...

From the BBC (07:33 GMT, Friday, 5 September 2008 08:33 UK): Angolans vote in landmark polls Voting has begun in Angola in the first parliamentary elections for 16 years. Although 14 parties are taking part, the contest is primarily between long-term rivals, the ruling MPLA party and opposition Unita party. On the eve of the poll, the head of the country's electoral commission dismissed Unita's claims of unfair campaigning by MPLA. The poor but oil-rich nation has been at peace for six years, when 27 years of conflict came to an end. As the election got under way, people were reported to have begun queuing at polling stations in the capital, Luanda. Some eight million voters are registered in the country - more than a quarter of whom live in the capital's very overcrowded conditions. 'Safeguarding peace' The MPLA, which is the dominant political force in the country, is widely expected to win the election and consolidate its hold on power. The electoral campaign was...

Ramadhan mubarak to all our family and friends! For us this year, Ramadhan kicked off in Ilford, Essex where we're staying for a week (hubby's aunt's place) before flying to Yemen. I called up the Ilford Islamic Centre (after a quick Google) on Sunday night to confirm if we would fast on Monday, and a nice man said, "Yes, sister, Ramadhan is confirmed to start tomorrow, insya-Allah"...which left me a little confused. Is it confirmed or is it insya-Allah? Anyway, maghrib here now is 7:49 p.m. I think this is the longest I've ever fasted. Next week, we'll be in Yemen. Maghrib there is around 6:14 p.m. but I think the thirst will get you because it's so dry. During the last week of Ramadhan, we'll be home in Malaysia. As far as I remember, I haven't been home during Ramadhan since I left for college in 1994! A few years ago, we arrived in KL ready to raya because we had flown via Dubai where it was already Eid. But Malaysia was fasting for anot...

Last night, the Angola Field Group held another presentation at the Viking Club, this time a 1970s documentary/promotional video of Luanda in the colonial heyday. And what a place it was! The film was made in 1970 - just five years before the Portuguese upped and left, followed by the 27-year civil war. Luanda is eerily the same as it was 40 years ago - most of the buildings in the film still exist, but now run down and overpopulated. Luanda was once more modern than Portugal and among the top honeymoon destinations in the world for Europeans. It took the presenter 10 years to track down a copy of the video, which was released (in '96?) and sold out and never re-released (but a lady did say an almost identical film was made for Mozambique, even with the same narrator!). In the vid, you saw Portuguese people walking in the streets, eating at cafes, shopping, etc. There were also Angolans in the video, going to work, at mixed schools, etc. (apparently the Portuguese "brought in...

I will miss the halal beef burgers at BelFrance’s café near the Alvalade Hotel. Because we have a driver this week, I managed to pop by and pick one up during lunch hour today (first time!). Schweet! (As far as I can tell) the meat is good meat, doesn’t smell weird and doesn’t have bits of cartilage or other yucky stuff. They also put a layer of fries in the burger and then a fried egg on top. Add some mayo and ketchup, and it’s schmokin’! The burger is so good that I bought it even though I saw the guy wiping his nose with the back of his (gloved) hand. Now that's love!

Some contemporary art on exhibit at the Natural History Museum in Luanda. These were my favourites. On the top left is a kandongeiro , i.e. Angolan taxi. There is something really earthy and comforting about the one on the top right. As for the sculpture, I see the same expression on a lot of women here although I couldn't really tell you what it means. The one on the bottom right is made up of a series of panels.

A couple of weeks ago, we went whale watching off Luanda. The first whale we came across wasn't too far from the coast, but further out, we caught up with a pair of whales that were moving in parallel with a third whale some distance away. We followed them for a while, with one boat on either side of the pair. They would come up every 3 minutes, sometimes you heard the whooooof of air being spouted out before you saw them. I think these were humpback whales. Black body. Bumpy heads. Small dorsal fins. I thought the underside of the tail for one of them was white. A few times, we also saw some shark-like fins in the water but these would disappear very quickly. They weren't sharks, but moonfish. The picture below is a preserved moonfish that is hundreds of years old at the Natural History Museum in Luanda.

With two weeks to go before we leave Luanda, I've been thinking about my three years here - experiences, regrets, people we've met along the way, etc. Awesome things about living in Angola : Great weather Great beaches & marine life Great seafood Beautiful unspoilt landscape Travel around southern Africa (i.e. Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mauritius, Ethiopia, Tanzania) What I learned from the Angolan experience: To appreciate the simple pleasures in life To re-evaluate my immediate reaction is about what is 'normal' (A little) Portuguese Greater appreciation/insight into African culture (have you ever watched any Nollywood, i.e. Nigerian dramas?) Regrets : Could've made more of an effort to socialise Should've travelled around Angola more - didn't make it to Namibe Wish we had discovered the Viking Club sooner - they organise really good field trips Doing more volunteer/charity work Should've learnt past/future tense in Portugue...

The packers have come and gone. Our stuff took up 59 boxes. Would've been less if I'd managed to stop hubby from packing everything e.g . instant noodles! Departure date is set for Aug 23.

Four days after the turkey roast, I still have a thigh and a wing left. (Note to self: do NOT cook turkey the night before hubby leaves for a one-week business trip abroad). I have had grilled leftovers, friend noodles with turkey, a turkey & mustard bagel sandwich and tonight I will make a turkey lasagne. No more turkey for at least six months. BTW the car has been sold. Big relief - we were worried about not selling it before we left Angola. Less than a month to go!

Today I am trying to roast a turkey. The bird is in the oven right now. An Algerian couple bought a frozen one for us a few months ago and I still hadn’t cooked it. When I took it out of the freezer this morning, I noticed: ‘ Expiry date 24 Aug 08 ’. Where has this turkey been for the last two years of its shelf life??? But, after ignoring the bird for months and getting the recipe several times from my Algerian friend and hints from hubby that he “feels like having turkey,” I thought I should cook it. So last night, I went online to look up some roast turkey recipes. Pretty daunting. Three days to defrost??? 24 hours to season? Where the heck am I going to get sage in Luanda??? What, I need an oven thermometer? Trusses? Cooking string? You gotta be kidding. But later when I looked closely at the frozen turkey, I was pleasantly surprised. Why? 1. The bird has been pre-seasoned 2. Comes with a non-toxic, oven-safe truss 3. A plastic thermometer pops up when the meat is cooked 4. Good in...

A sneak preview for those planning to visit! This is the house, with garden in front and courtyard at the back. The living area of a typical Yemeni house. This is the one in our house. Yemeni houses have beautiful stained glass windows and cornicing. View of Sana'a from the Movenpick Hotel. I think the land being cleared beyond the green bit is for a new shopping mall.

We are moving to Yemen! I was initially very apprehensive but we went there on a pre-assignment visit a few weeks ago and it ain't half bad... Some plusses: - Yemeni food is goooood (fab breads, rotisserie chicken, soups, meat dishes) - wonder why I haven't seen a Yemeni restaurant abroad??? - There is a KFC and Pizza Hut (not yet in Angola - there was a Nando's a few years ago but it closed down) - Temperate climate (it might be in the Middle East but Sana'a is 2,300m above sea level) - English-speaking! (but will learn Arabic) - In Sana'a there is the Old Town, which is beautiful and has a great souk, hotels and restaurants - Well-stocked supermarkets (trust me, it makes a difference when you can't get ginger/minced meat/etc for 3 months) - No traffic jams (everything in Sana'a is 10 mins away) - I don't have to drive (although women can drive) - Found a lovely house with a big garden and courtyard - Direct flights home twice a week and good connection...

Last Thursday, there was a presentation on ‘Tracking Palanca Negras’ at the Viking Club. The presenter was a Pedro Vaz Pinto, Co-ordinator of the Palanca Negra Conservation Programme and Environmental Advisor for the Catholic University Centre for Scientific Studies and Research. He spoke about the programme’s success in proving that the palanca negra (giant sable - endemic to Angola) has survived 27 years of civil war, through pictures and video footage captured using stealth cameras placed around the Cangandala National Park in central Angola. He also had pictures of the many beautiful plants, reptiles, insects, birds and the larger mammals that exist/live in the park – most of which none of us had ever seen before (e.g. mushrooms the size of a small umbrella!) and some have yet to be discovered. A bit of background on the palanca negra (hippotragus niger variani) – this animal is a famous Angolan symbol. It features in the logos of the national airline TAAG and national football te...

Last weekend was great. The weather in Luanda has cooled down for the cacimbo (winter), at a very pleasant 18-24ºC. It’s too cold swim so there isn’t so much beach traffic on the Samba road during the weekends. Traffic flow has also improved because construction on the narrow stretch of road near the President’s mother’s house is done. On Saturday, we decided to venture out for lunch for a change. Ate at a Lebanese place called Al Dar, near the Sagrada Familia church. The food is good but I don’t like the manager so we only go there when we have cravings for lots of meat! That afternoon, I made soya milk using beans that my husband brought from the US after a business trip. This turned out to be far too much effort for something you can buy at the store. (And one of my muslin cloths ripped so I sprayed soya mash all over the kitchen.) On Sunday, we indulged in a two-hour Chinese massage at the restaurant/massage place near ExxonMobil’s Imbondeiro compound. Afterwards, for the first ti...

This morning I woke up at 4 a.m. and went to the kitchen for a drink. Every few minutes I heard a rooster crowing in the distance. It must have been pretty loud considering our windows were closed. I opened the balcony sliding door and waited again. Yes, it was the Crazy Cock! Friends living in a nearby apartment have been complaining about this rooster for years. A typical conversation between residents of this block: A: Arrgh! I can't sleep with that cock crowing all night long! It's louder than the generator! B: I know. I turn up the air conditioning so I can't hear it as much. A: We should buy it from the owner and kill it. B: Tried that. Owner won't sell. A: Let's pay someone to kill it. B: Tried that also. No-one will do it. It's supposed to ward off evil. A: Merde! At least I'm going back to France next week. Looking forward to a month of peaceful sleep. B: I haven't slept properly in three years!

My tempeh heaven eludes me. The posting to Jakarta has fallen through due to a lot of political bla bla bla that I won’t go into. So there will be no spa, no durian, no weekend dim sum , no pisang goreng , no karipap , no shopping malls, no restaurants... Bummer.

Our elliptical trainer has been sold and will go to a good home. We'll miss you, buddy. Would've taken you with us to Jakarta but to be honest, I was worried you would disappear en route. I hope you make it in one piece after being put in the back of that SUV. Take care...

Got this via email today, apparently taken in Luanda last week. There are lots of badly maintained roads in Luanda. Sometimes sinkholes appear but get covered in water especially if a water pipe breaks or if it rains. So you should never go in the water unless another car has gone before you! The one below was taken in November 2007, sent by a friend. That's a big one!

A few weeks ago there was a presentation on landmines at the Viking Club by someone working with a Norwegian NGO called NPA (Norwegian People’s Aid). The talk was about a new approach to surveying land to clear mines and other explosive remnants (UXOs = unexploded ordnance) in five Angolan provinces within seven years (by 2013). Using traditional methods, it will take an estimated 50 years before Angola is mine-free. This programme is part of a ‘land release’ initiative so that the Angolan people can start using land for settlement, farming, etc. (The Viking Club is an English-speaking social group that meets every Thursday. Once a month there is a presentation of some sort about Angola.) Humanitarian de-mining is different from commercial de-mining – resources are limited for NGOs. NPA's ‘method’ is to start with a big area and narrow it down as much as possible before going in to de-mine (which I thought was kinda obvious but whatever). First they carry out a ‘non-technical surv...

I don’t understand why some people say durians smell like sh**. To me, they smell (and taste) like heaven. When I was in Malaysia last week, I met an Indian expat who'd been warned by a Malaysian friend that “eating durian is like eating chocolate in the toilet.” My only comment: who does that???