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Archive for May, 2008

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Asia Bound

Friday, May 30th, 2008

Another long flight tomorrow to finally get me into the real Asia.  I think I am past the travel burnout and I am looking forward to seeing something new.  It will be hard to leave Pamela, but she has things to do in June, she is healthy and she now has a Thailand visa so we have July 6th-29th to look forward to when we will see Thailand together.  I need a break from Kenya so this is good timing.  I struggle with the Kenyan culture almost daily and this will give me a breather.  Kenya is very ethically-challenged that has tired me of late so a little distance will allow me to come back fresh and start again at getting use to the place.  I think when I get back I will start reporting the contents of the Kenyan news so we can have some good laughs.  You will see that it is no joke that almost everyday includes stories of crazy deaths, lynchings, witchcraft, police abuse and government corruption.  I stopped reading the papers for a couple of weeks because they were depressing me, but this past week I have been able to handle their news better (maybe because I am leaving?) by distancing myself from their craziness.

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Bricks and Charcoal

Friday, May 30th, 2008

I would never have guessed the two most common commodities in much of the world are bricks and charcoal.  Country after country has shown some aspect of the bricks and charcoal manufacture, market and use.  If you are thinking of a baked, red brick sold at Home Depot and a square of Kingsford… those are proper and a little too removed from the real things.  Charcoal in the world of Latin America, Africa and Middle East is wood sticks and chunks that have been cooked in a kiln.  I am really not sure what that stuff is sold in USA, but I only hope it is pure cooked wood compressed into convenient bite-size cubes.  I wish I had a chunk of it so I could show an African and get a good laugh.  Bricks are rarely red unless the clay is red and even then it isn’t the hue of USA bricks.  They also never come in the size that is so common in America.   Bricks and charcoal have a commonality in that charcoal is often used to bake the bricks and the bricks can be used to make the charcoal.  I can’t travel a hundred kilometers anywhere in the countries outside of America and Europe without running into a pile of fresh bricks and/or a large bag of charcoal for sale next to the road.

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Violent Nations

Sunday, May 25th, 2008

I was listening to the TV in the background when they said “foreigners were being attacked in South Africa”.  I did a triple flip with the fear that went through me.  “Foreigners”, “attacked”, “Africa” ... [Continue reading this entry]

No Longer Homeless!

Thursday, May 22nd, 2008
Pamela and I moved out of the temporary furnished apartment this past week and into our new (literally) apartment.  My original idea was to get a small, cheap place that Pamela could use for moving permanently to Nairobi and give ... [Continue reading this entry]

Kenya Safari

Wednesday, May 21st, 2008

I think it is about time I write about safari destinations in Kenya since I just wrote about Ol Pejeta Conservancy and Pamela and I toured many other parks in November.  I’ll skip the ... [Continue reading this entry]

Sleeping in Khashoggi’s Bed

Sunday, May 11th, 2008

Pamela and I spent last weekend at Ol Pejeta Wildlife Conservancy otherwise known as Sweetwaters on the northwest side of Mt Kenya near Nanyuki last weekend.  Kenya tourism has a lot of great specials ... [Continue reading this entry]