A Life Far Removed from Durian Trees

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???