A trip down memory lane

On Tuesday I arrived in the Netherlands from New York having spent three days in personal development workshop using concept from theatre to expand the range of accesible movements and vocalizations. That was a great and empowering workshop which gave me a whole stack of new tools use in in life. I also met some very impressive and well known actors who gave a us a personal performance that reminded me again of the full power and drama of the theatre. Overall the three days were an awesome experience.

Back in holland, we did some final planning for the cycling trip that I have been planning for the last six months. Living in Australia makes it difficult to get a sense of the childhood lives of my parents, on a rural island in the Netherlands. So I decided to spend three days riding across the island with my brother and retrace the lives of my parents.

So you can imagine my excitement when I walked into the living room and see my mother there wrapped up as a Christmas present. Secretly arranged between my mum and her sister, she surprised us all by discreetly making her way to holland to be here for this trip. This was fortuitous as she was able to provide a real personal touch to the trip.

The following day we left Delft and headed through Massland south toward the Rhine delta that makes up the southern part of holland. Travelling across dunks and through fishing villages we started to collect the many stories of how the Dutch and reshaped the landscape and brought the waters under control trough dijk's, locks and windmills. After a brief coffee, tea and rain shower in Maasluis we headed across the river toward Brielle and Hellevoetsluis where the weather looked clearer.

We stopped briefly outside of Brielle for lunch before heading into the fort to have a look around. We didn't stay for long as we had a log way to go.

Cycling through the field and agricultural regions we started to get a taste of life on the island but we had to get through Hellevoetsluis and over the artificial sea wall that had been part of the Deltawerken. The Deltawerken was a large construction project put in place after the floods of 1953, which my mum experienced. This, the worst flood in Dutch history did huge damage in the islands of south holland and killed more the 3000 people. So this wouldn't happen again the Dutch spent billions stregthening the dijk's and sea walls that essentially separate the delta and the sea into two system which the flow between them can be controlled.

Arriving on the island we reached our destination for the day , Stellendam. This village was wiped out in the flood and so there is little left over from the past and is now a popular weekend destination for sailors, wind surfers and other water loving people.

We checked in at our privately run B&B before jumping back on our bicycles to the coast. On the west (coastal) side of the island are dunes where my mum used to go walking with the family. We cycled there as the afternoon sun faded. Arriving at 't flauwe werk' as the evening sun was setting and the lights of boat waiting outside of port started to light up.

We cycled back in the dark stopping at a lit up windmill in Goederede were we chatted with Tom whose friend is the manager. He, clearly on the way home from the pub, invited us around for a cup of tea. Unfortunately it was late and we had a big day tomorrow and so we headed by the shortest route back to our waiting beds.

The following was the first of September and my mum arrived at the B&B to join us for breakfast. The hostess was happy to add another plate. Breakfast was a plentiful continental breakfast like I had never had one!!

It just happened to be my birthday that day, and so the attention was squarely as my mum gave me a beautiful photographic book as a present and that was just the beginning.

We left as a pack and headed toward Mellisant where an old family friend managed a nursery setup to give mentally disabled people meaningful work. The nursery setup from scratch over fifteen years is testament as to what is possible with a little leadership. We sat and had tea and chatted before getting back on two wheels.

The day was filled with many moment of which three stand out. Firstly, going to a narrow lane only to emerge in a graveyard that contained the grave of my mum second brother who born in the war died after 9 months. To everyone's surprise the grave was still there and had a new plaque on it. It is a mystery as to who created the plaque.

Second was walking up past the church to the town hall alongside my mother. The same path she walked with my dad 30 years ago the day they got married. I could imagine them all walking together like a parade garnering to attention of the whole village.

Lastly it was the afternoon drinks along the harbour of Middleharnis. Sharing a drink there with loved ones was splendid, radiant that we were, in the summer sun.

The evening capped off what was a majestic day as we are near the restaurant (it was closed) that my grandmother took me when I visited some years ago (kofje kookertje). To my surprise, our little tour group was joined by my Aunt, cousin and friends. The meal was great and the atmosphere fulfilling. The staff there were excellent. When it came to dessert mine was the last to arrive. When it did finally come it arrived with dimmed lights, and small flaming firework on the plate and with Stevie wonder singing happy birthday just for me. It was a moment not to be forgotten! No words can ever capture the thanks I would like to give to all for that experience.

But it wasn't finished yet. While my mum returned home with the my aunt and family, our little tour group continued on for another day. This time starting in Oude Tonge where my dad lived in his formative years. We had stayed in a country B&B that included 'bedstee', which is a bed in a cupboard that was used to keep warm in days gone by. Sleeping in here was quite fun. In the morning we ate breakfast in the fields next to the goats and chickens and overlooking the endless rows of corn.

We were on our way around 10 am where we headed east and off the island. Along the way we passed a 'gemaal' which was named after my grandfather how managed the dijk's of the area from 1925-1955. My dad also played there as a child.

We cycled in though the fields and through the smaller villages of the island before taking to long straight road and bridge off the island towards Willemstad, another fortified city. Along the way we saw more of the sluice gates, bridges and locks that form the deltaworks. Watching the many transport ship carrying goods every which-way.

Willemstad is one of the best preserved fort towns in holland and it is a beautiful city. I would want to be there o. The weekend as it would be packed. But being there on a Friday we stopped in for am ice cream and viewed the battlements. Renee particularly enjoyed the bunker which had been built over many years; most recently during the second world war by the Germans.

The rest of the afternoon we spent riding through the open agricultural fields of the region feeding sheep, horses and cows all while avoiding the rolling tractors transporting potatoes.

In the late afternoon we arrived and the train station of Zevenbergen, where a kind conductor allowed us on the trains with our bikes even though it was peak hour, so we where home early for dinner which was rice with meatball sauce that my mum had cooked for me on request.

The thing to learn from all this is that family is something worth exploring and holding onto!!

Sometimes things aren't as simple as they seem

So we retuned to the city with vague instructions about we needed to do. It would take a few days for thing to be clarified, but essentially, one village required a new set of 41 tables and chairs, and for the rest the standard educational supplies and a set of sporting clothing for the annual inter-village sports event. Having no idea how much this would cost, the next few days was spent answering these questions.

The first of the questions was how to build the tables and chairs they required. The village teacher and chief had indicated that they could create the tables and chair in the village using local wood. They estimated that they would be able to build all 41 tables and chairs to 6,500,000 Kip (815USD). Getting the village to build the tables come with some benefits; and sense of ownership, development of local skills, and more money going in to the local economy. However there are additional risks; the level of workmanship; controls on the expenditure of the money; availability of the people.

It was fortunate then that while I was in Pak Pong I noticed that World Vision had been through and supplied the village with new tables and chairs. So I went around to the world vision office in luang prabang and had a chat with one of the staff there. He proved very helpful in providing advice on suppliers, processes and other questions that he had. He even gave me his number to call if I needed any further assistance. Armed with this information we headed out to the furniture factory. Again discussion largely led by Thee affirmed what the staff at world vision had told me. Priced at approx $41 each the total cost of the tables and chairs was around the $1700. This was substantially more that the $815 quoted by the villages. After lengthy discussions it was decided to have the tables and chairs made in the village as it would be cheaper and encourage skill development in the area, which is inline with the objectives of the project.

The shopping for educational supplies was much simpler as it was a matter of finding out how much it would all cost and match that against the available budget. It took a few days to finalize but in the end for 550 school books , pens, pencils, paper, markers, scissors, glue, soccer balls, speak Takraw balls and nets for five schools cost less than $700. As a result we were able to meet all of need of all the schools in the budget. With money left over to support the annual village sporting event with uniforms for all participants.

This is an outstanding result for the project and provides the required operational support to the schools, allowing the teachers to teach more effectively. Unfortunately timing meant that I am unable to be present for the delivery of the goods to the villages as Thee has to work and then I have to leave to Bangkok.

So having bought most of the materials I have left the final logistics in Thee capable hands to deliver over the next couple of months. I look forward to the receiving photos and updates from him.

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The last two days

The last two days have been great and character building at the same time. Yesterday full of confidence I joined a cycling tour with Thee from Luang Prabang. 

The morning started well, meeting him for coffee and then helping him prepare everything as we left town. Due to the geography, the cycling doesn't actually start until about 70km outside of Luang Prabang, so there was a long scenic ride through the mountain before we finally got on our wheels.

But by 12:00 we were on our bike riding gleefully down the hill. Thee had put me on duties as an extra man on the road, so I kept an eye on the eight others and made sure they were all right. About 2 hours into the ride I descended down at a reasonable speed in order to catch up with one of the cyclist who was ahead of me. At various point there was water across the road and I new not to turn when going through them to avoid falling over. However eventually I came to one which was my undoing and my front wheel cam out from underneath me and I hit the ground probably doing 15-20 kilometers an hour. Being the cowboy that I also wasn't wearing a helmet. 

Well, I was shocked as I have had a serious bicycling incident in a long time and at first I was worried about my state. I had hit my head on the road so my first concern was whether my head was okay and was pleased to find that there was not blood coming from my skull. So the head was fine. A day later I don't really even have a bruise. SO then I checked the rest of my body and I was lucky to get away with a few scratches on different parts of my body, but nothing to serious. I also have some muscle damage in my should that bore the brunt of the fall. So we weren't off to a good start.

From there I rode to the bottom of the hill to clean myself and wait to get my bag from the support car to access my first aid kit. About 5 min later Thee arrived in the car and I told him what happened and that I needed my first aid kit. I went to the car to look for the bag that had some band aids and my passport and much to my surprise and horror, I couldn't find it.

I was then that I realised I had left my passport back in Luang Prabang and now needed to call people, but I had no reception. So there wasn't much I could do other than push on.

As a group we rode further and about an hour later arrived at a build up of traffic. Being cyclist we rode right up to the front to find that a landslide had covered the road and there was only one way traffic going through and every fourth truck was getting stuck. So we ended up waiting as a group for about 1 hour before we could get through. Mean while it was starting to rain so everything was getting wet an dirty.

I continued through the mountains supporting one of the cyclists that was coming up behind and we were doing really well until the rain really started coming down, at which point I jumped in Thee's car a wet, a little cold, annoyed and distracted about my passport. We arrived in the next town were the rest of the group was sheltering in a shop. There we had lunch were I continued to try to make calls but not having any success.

Eventually I enlisted the assistance of Thee who phoned a friend who owned a guesthouse down the road from where I stayed and got him to walk up the road to the guesthouse where I was staying. Luckily enough the bag was there and no-one had taken it. I took a while to confirm that it was my bag and what was in it. But eventually the bag was handed over to Thee friend has arranged for transport of the passport to where I am. I should receive the passport in the next hour. This all took a process of two hours to arrange.

After that my spirits were lifted but I still could handle descending more mountains so I decided to travel the rest of the day in the car. Before the end of the day we came across another landslide across the road, this time a truck was stuck and not going anywhere fast. The smaller vehicles had managed to create a risky but possible track to go around in and Thee successfully maneuvered his truck through the obstacle around to the other side. From there on it was smooth sailing through to the Guesthouse in Kasi.

So by the end of the day I was still a little battered and bruised from the fall and relieved that my passport was not completely lost and so I was able to enjoy a hot shower and dinner with reasonable grace.

Today the ride to Vang Vieng was beautiful though uneventful. It was more beautiful than I had thought having traveled this road many times. But Laos at this time of year is especially attractive. Tomorrow, more cycling a boat trip and a swimming pool to look forward too at the end. I am going to hopefully collect my passport shortly. 

 

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Website: http://ignatris@blogspot.com

Time to go shopping

We had made it. We had gone to the villages and obtained at least some of what they wanted and had left messages with the other teacher about how to get the messages to us.

Now it was just the long ride back to Xieng Ngeun. After some overcast days and plenty of rain. The return journey was cursed with blazing sunlight. As we made our way through the early village this was bareable as the roads were shaded. But after we had crossed the river to the other side the open roads provided no respite from the sun.

This new main road has been contracted for the development of two dams along the nam kan river. A road like this changes the game for many people in the villages as the time and financial cost to get to the main town is reduced. It also allow external people to get to the villages. It is probably a little fortunate that the road along the nam fen was not well made and cannot support cars and motorbikes. This way the local people get the benefit with out too many negative impacts apart from the great scar that is left on the landscape. It should also be made clear that the road is something that the local people generally see as a good thing.

The main road however is different. This is part of a very large engineering project operated by Chinese companies. They bring in heavy machinery and a different working style that has created tensions in the communities with fights breaking out. I have been told that Laos people have been paid compensation for incidents like these from the Chinese companies but over the longer term it will probably lead to a growing distrust between the two ethnicities. The whole operation is typical of a messy industrial site with very modest working conditions for the workers and is a big departure from the normal day to day living of the lao people.

The main road was much less challenging the road along the nam fen and we quickly made up the kilometers with long downhill section providing a little high speed enjoyment that made me a little nervous from having no protection on. But in the end the only danger was the sun that gradually turned me red. A lunch break at a small restaurant on the side of the road was welcome before we got back on the bikes and cycled the last two kilometers to Xieng Ngeun.

From Xieng it was five km on sealed road to Thee house were we recovered briefly before heading back to luang prabang. I should also mention that accompanying Thee and myself on this journey was a retired guide from the tiger trail trekking company. This well spoken lad had set his sights on travel and after saving some money is going traveling around his country and maybe further abroad. I had some very good discussion with him about a range of matters. But one that struck a chord with me was his interest in building a vocational college for under-privelidged youth in the luang prabang region. This would require a substantial amount of investment and money, but if there are any investors or philanthropists interested in creating such an institution. Let me know and we can start a conversation on how to turn this idea into a reality.

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