Since this is my last post on this  particular trip, I thought the priest walking down the trail seemed somehow appropriate. So, til the next trip, and the next sequence of posts, happy trails.

Airplanes are beautiful aren't they? I know I keep coming back to  this topic from time to time, and the technology itself does inspire me. But I  think I am also  inspired  by the grand vision required to create a world wide transportation system that is based on flying machines. All coordinated, reliable and safe.  I know everyone has had a bad airline experience, but when I think about what it would take to bring together all the pieces needed to make a system like this work, it kind of boogles my mind.

The Kuala Lumpur light rapid transit system, KL LRT. Clean, easy to use, and I spent no more than 50 cents on any given trip--in air conditioned comfort. Tokens, such as the one below are purchased using machines with touch screen and I had no problem selecting the stop I needed and paying. The token is then swiped at the gates in the background to allow you into the system, and then when you reach your destination, you deposit the token in a slot in the same gates to exit. I thought I was going to be able to keep one as a souvenir. But this is much better since the tokens are recycled. And I seemed to be able to get anywhere I wanted to get. I would have to say this makes this city a definite recommendation as a tourist destination. If only Toronto could figure out how to do something like this. Ironically, the trains in the KL system were built in Canada.

Petronas towers, Kuala Lumpur. Another one of my, I'm not sure what to call them, micro-vacations maybe.  Passing through a place leaving just enough time to meet all those qualifications I have for saying I've genuinely been in another country, ie. got the stamp in my passport, taken local transportation, eaten a local meal, and used the local facilities. So far I've only done the first two, but it's 2:30 am here so the other two will have to wait til tomorrow. These buildings used to be the tallest in the world. Truthfully, it was about the only thing I knew about this place. But I have to say my first impressions are good. The airport was clean and well organized, passing immigration was fast and pleasant. It made me realize that there are sort of three categories of country immigration officers. Those that seem  like they don't want you in  their country, those that seem completely indifferent and barely acknowledge that they are dealing with another human being, and those that seem to actually want you to visit their country. I would say Malaysian immigration fits the third category, based on this one experience. Some other countries (which shall remain nameless), not so much. I actually think the immigration experience can tell you quite a bit about a country. So kudos Malaysia.

I think these single pole bamboo bridges are pretty cool. Just like balancing on a log to cross a river, except with handholds. Very minimalist, very cyclone adapted (ie easily replaceable). My apologies if this shot is slightly blurred but I took it from the window of our speeding van. The problem is I see cool stuff about every 5 minutes, so if I asked people to stop, I would pretty soon be walking. Somedays I wish I my job was to just  take pictures of cool stuff. 

This is a beach town in the western part of the country. Some would call it sleepy I suppose. But as I walked along this strip of small traditional shops and homes, there was construction and renovation going on at probably a dozen hotels or so. Some would call  the pace  furious.  Even  the place I am staying at, the paint was still wet on the windows of my room, and the manager himself arrived  2 days ago (from somewhere in Europe I  would guess). If there was ever a sure sign of impending change this would be it. If I am  fortunate enough to return here someday, I am  guessing that this strip will be full of flashy hotels and tourist distractions and look nothing like the photo below.

I am stranded on the beach for 24 hours. Kind of a long story but has to do with places I can't travel that are otherwise on the agenda of places to visit, etc, etc. I'm not minding. My daily to do list suddenly shrunk to almost nothing and included things like ordering a cup of coffee and going for a swim. When I went for a walk on the beach I noticed that there were all these circular patterns in the sand. At first I thought maybe they had combed the beach with somekind of machine that had spinning brushes but that didn't make sense since there's no tourists on this beach. You can see in the photo, all the little holes and in one hole near the centre of the shot there's actually a little tiny crab. At first I thought it was a spider, but it actually has little tiny claws. Around each hole are concentric circles made up of those tiny mounds, and alley  ways in  between I guess for ease of movement. I they do move fast. As soon as I start walking towards the holes, there's a blur as all the spider-like crabs head for cover.

There are so many pictures I  want to show you,  or things I  want to talk about, but just can't because of lack of time, space, or other reasons. This is tamarind in the market, which is used in cooking. If you know about tamarind you know about tamarind. If you don't know about tamarind, then you probably know A1 steak  sauce, which has tamarind in it. This is the biggest pile of tamarind I've ever seen. Just before  they started packaging it as you see in  the picture, they were actually breaking it up--because it came as a big brick--with a large metal rebar like a tire iron. Didn't get my camera out in time for that.

This basket contains the ingredients that go into the chewing  of betelnut. Betelnut comes from a type of palm tree and is a mild stimulant. Add to this the leaf you see at  the bottom, tobacco (the  brown  leaf  at the top)  and the  betelnut itself (you can  barely see a few fragments of it on the right, plus the lime (calcium carbonate) in the little medicine bottle, and you get a moderately potent combination that is commonly used by lots of people here. You can tell because you  see the red juice on the street as well as the red stain on peoples' teeth if they have been using it for a long time. I tried it the other day just to see. It left me feeling relaxed and a little bit dizzy which was ok, but the taste was like chewing  a combination of toothpaste and aspirin. Not really for me.

This is the row boat I mentioned yesterday. And do you see that black blob in the sky? That's not a bird as I first thought, it's a bat. A big old bat. And there were dozens of them just after sunset (flying out of some cave I suppose) heading out to feed. They really were huge, like the body of the bat was almost chicken size. In fact locally they call them chicken bats. At first I thought they were seagulls.

Also, if these recent blog posts make me sound like I'm on vacation, I will admit that this trip is easier than normal, and technically, I am on vacation. The organization I work for is not actually working in this location. We partner with an organization that partners with someone. A bit indirect and convoluted perhaps, but then that seems like the most appropriate arrangement, at least at the moment. And the main purpose is a get-to-know-you kind of situation. Don't get me wrong, I do like the kind of intense (and hopefully productive!) trips that I normally get to do, but it is nice to be able to dial it back a bit, at least for a few days.

For some reason, photos aren't uploading from here. Don't know exactly what that reason is, but it is denying me the chance to show you some beautiful and interesting sites. Maybe you are able to see this, but I can't. The picture is of this golden temple spire, shining on the night shoreline of a river just after sunset. It was hot here this afternoon and still hot when I took this picture, but getting out of the direct sun was a bit of a relief. This shot I too from a small row boat where the rower stands and faces forwards. I have shots of that too, and tons of others. In fact I really had trouble today deciding which one to choose. Just sorry that it seems like I'm being denied the chance to share.

Hmmm. Doesn't seem like I  can upload a photo for some reason. So imagine if you will, and shot down and alley looking out onto the main street which I took leaning out the window of my hotel. Had a good but longish trip from the airport, and a really great meal last night which consisted of fried shrimp, baked fish , fried fish, vegetables, rice, and a locally famous soup. Waiting for our ride right now to take us out for the day. I am hoping to be able to upload photos later.

No photo this time sorry, since I'm using an airport computer and there doesn't seem to be an HD card slot. I discovered that Thailand now has a policy of requiring health clearance for travellers coming from certain countries in Africa and Latin America where Yellow Fever is a threat and you need proof of the vaccine in order to enter. I do have that, but then you also need a stamp from the health department in the airport before you pass immigration. That's the thing I didn't do, and only learned that I needed this after standing in the immigration line for 45 minutes. So for those of you coming from Africa or Latin America to Thailand, the Health office is just a few metres outside the entrance to the Immigration area. Go there with your completed health form (which they will give you on the plane most likely), and your yellow fever vaccine certificate, and your completed immigration forms (also from the plane). Get in that line and get the stamp. Then go to the immigration line. They do have someone checking to see if you have the required stamp, but only when you almost reach the immigration desks, not where you enter the line. I noticed a number of people from my same flight had to stand in that 45 minute line twice as a result. I hope this saves someone the same experience.

My last post from Burundi. Sadly--it's been  a good trip. This is mixture of plantain--one of the disease resistant varieties I've been telling you about--and Mucuna pruriens (aka. Velvet Bean) which is a green manure crop, capable of producing high volumes of organic matter (as you can see), and nitrogen which makes it a natural fertilizer, increasing yields without addition of any chemical nutrients. This makes it cheaper for the farmer, more easily accessible, and is better overall for the health of the soil. The program here is just experimenting with this--a technology that has been proven in other parts of the world--but we need to work with it and make some adjustments so that it will be well adapted to the local situation. From this particular experimental field, generously offered to us by a local farmer, we are able to run such a test, as well as produce and multiply seed  to share with others.

Technically  this post is not actually from Burundi,  I'm in the Nairobi airport where they've given me an hour of free  internet. Thanks Jomo Kenyatta International.

This is a grey crowned crane hanging around at one of the nicer hotels on the beach on Lake Tanganika. Was in meetings again today, so we decided to have a change of venue at least to a scenic location. I think they feed  this bird or something in  order to keep it hanging around. Sort of a living lawn ornament.

There's  tonnes of valleys  and ravines here that are being farmed. They look  pretty nice so here's  the photo.  Actually today I  was in  meetings all day, so  this shot is kind of cheating since I took it yesterday on the way back to Bujumbura.

This is Nyakazu nature reserve, close by some of the communities where Floresta Burundi is working. These cliffs must be at least 100 metres in height, and from where I took this picture you are looking down on a dense tropical forest. The ranger that accompanied us told us there are chimps down there. I am hoping next time I return that we can hike down into the fault and exit on the plain in the background. It's pretty spectacular--an unexpected pocket of vibrant wilderness surrounded by otherwise typical farmland. I've been visiting farms only a few kilometres from here for 4 years, and had no idea this was hidden away in the nearby hills.

Real quick because I'm almost out of battery and I'm sitting outside the internet place which is actually closed on Sunday, but the wifi still works. Here's a picture from church (Catholic) this morning. Totally in Kirundi so I didn't understand anything. Since I had the time I worked out that there were probably 1100 people in attendance, plus or minus 50 babies on women's backs. And there's 3 masses on Sunday and one on Saturday. That makes somewhere around 4400 people attending every week. Just so you know.

Sorry that all my pictures are about banana propagation but I've been involved in trainings for the entire week and haven't got out much. This is one of our staff digging up a macro-propagated banana shoot which now has it's own roots and can be planted out in the field like any banana plant.

This is a banana propagation system being promoted by our local partner. I may have talked about this before, but this is a method which lets you multiply many times more banana shoots than  the traditional system. You can see several dozen in the photo. This is a particularly critical time for banana here since there is a disease, BXW which is devastating the older varieties. There are only a few varieties  around  which are resistant and getting those out to farmers is urgent.  We have trained local community groups to use this system and now they are able to multiply these seedlings to supply farmers in their area. This will restore the ability to produce banana since the traditional varieties are  being seriously threatened as well as  create on opportunity for these community groups to make some income from selling these superior plants.

After all this time, and all the flights I've  taken, flying still amazes me.  If you told people 200 years ago, that someday there would be big metal vehicles that weight thousands of tonnes and could carry 300 people many kilometres above the surface of the earth and cover distances that 'normally' take days or weeks, and on top of that you could get a hot meal and a cold drink, they just wouldn't believe you. Even now I don't believe it, especially when I'm standing in some farmer's field where they are barely scratching out a living next to a mud hut--well, it just doesn't seem possible that perhaps a few hours before I was on one of those giant metal  birds.

Just a practical note for those of you who travel to Burundi. I've discovered Brussel Airlines. Direct flight from Brussels to Bujumbura. Eight hours, no transfers, not waiting in some other random Africa airport. Plus the meal comes with all things Belgian.