On the street and in the dark E is unimpressed at the slow speed of my photo taking. Don't rush the process I say!

Because it's almost October and that means it's almost Halloween, here for your viewing pleasure, as seen in Paris, a tray of brains.

Yo, Internets! I've got me some film that I've been slowly taming. Straightening all those colours back into line and kicking out all those little devilish dust dots.

Somewhat slowly going through my Congo photos. They made some clothing and textiles in this little shop. That's why there's the sewing machine and the cloths hanging in the background. This lady also agreed to pose for a quick photo, one of the few that not only agreed to a photo but also smiled. So thanks to her!

It's F1 weekend here and instead of writing about or posting photos of said event, I will post a photo of a bedroom that I didn't stay in. It was down the hall though and there was nice light so it's not totally random. By the way, check out that barrel distortion!

Back in SG. Jetlag!

I went to the American Cemetery and down to Omaha Beach today (on the day I wrote this). It was sunny and it wasn't too hot or too cold, pretty much a comfy day. There were people windsurfing on the sand, something like windsurfing on water but it's in a little three wheeled buggy type vehicle on land. There were a few kids playing and running along the beach. The sound of the waves dominated the soundscape. The way things were today it's difficult to imagine the amount of death this beach has seen but the cemetery reminds you of past events. There are rows upon rows of graves, some of them without a name, their identity known by no one on this earth. 

Apple tree!

I went coriander picking in the garden this morning. The cold, morning dew soon made my fingers numb. I was accompanied by the sound of roosters waking the neighborhood. Back inside the hot water makes my fingers tingle. Later in the day I picked apples from a few trees in the yard and even took some from the neighbor's tree. There was crab for lunch. It was still alive on the chopping board, it's legs closing up as the knife cracked into its shell. Back to the city now.

And a photo to go with the last post.

Today I had my cup of tea standing in the balcony doorway. The sun was still low in the sky and the air had a soft coldness to it. On the street down below, parents slowly walk their children to school, hand in hand, bags on their backs. People on their way to work hurry past rushing on their way to work. Up in the sky airplanes are beginning to leave their mark. Their contrails crisscrossing the blur sky. I don't see contrails in Singapore. Here there are so many though. Right now I can see three, the morning sun catching the white tails.

I'm sitting on a balcony on the 5th floor of an apartment in a suburb of Paris. It's about 6 in the afternoon and the sun is already casting long shadows on the ground. Children are playing after school in a park across the street. Their laughter floats across the cooling air. This is the first time I've really had to sit down in more than a week. The Congo is a whole other world away. The contrast between Brazzaville and Paris is beyond words. They just can't be compared. Th Congo has nothing. Absolutely nothing. A civil war destroyed anything they had. The electricity still goes out today and many roads in the city aren't paved. I've met people in Singapore who complain that life there is bad. They have to rethink that thought because life in Singapore is in no way bad. Also life is not boring there. Go to a place with nothing and you can say life is boring. People have to also rethink their thoughts on the Congo. This isn't the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There is a huge amount of potential for development in the Congo because everything needs to be developed. In the week that I was there it was safe. We drove over a 1000 km in the countryside and there were no problems other than potholes and people walking on the road. 

I'm gonna stop writing now because I have to go. 

I'm in Paris. Wow what a difference from The Congo. Wow the Internet is fast here. Wow there are traffic lights. Wow streets haha. Wow the hotel room I'm in here. Wowed.

It's still the 10th where I am so the entry dates are wrong. Heading to Paris tonight. Au revoir Brazza et merci.

It's 5 am and we are traveling north in the pre-dawn darkness. At the edge of the city we pass a sign that pretty much marks the point where electricity from the city ends. As the sun rises I'm already deep into the countryside. The light reveals the beauty of the land first through a hint of purple then a glowing orange. There are rolling hills and mountains in the distance. The roads are for the most part in amazing condition. Of course there are sections where there are potholes that force us to the side of the road but for the majority of the time we're driving at more than 120kmh for long stretches. As we reach the flat savannah it's km after km of road. We speed past countless small villages and tiny huts by the side of the road. The land is filled with knee high grasses with small shrubs and trees spread out. We speed past people walking on the side of the road, past people selling produce, and past people working the land. Suddenly we stop. Some hunters have killed a small animal. We get out to look and after a few words the dead animal is being dropped into the trunk of a car. Hours later the plant life has changed considerably. We are closer to the equator and it resembles more of a jungle outside. 

And that is where I stopped writing.

I'm just over halfway through my stay in the Congo. It's been an amazing experience so far. I expected the worst and I'm happy to say things are very much better than what I expected. Yes it is poor here, it's dirty, and things are unorganized but there is so much potential here. The weather has been amazing so far. Of course I don't know how things are the rest of the year but anything somewhat similar means it's great. The river is an amazing backdrop and is an extremely important transport artery and source of food. I've seen the main cities and tomorrow I'm heading into the countryside where things will probably be different. 

oh yeah, here's a picture.

This is really supposed to go before the last post but I wanted to type out the last post before this one. Also the internet is just bad enough to make me not want to deal with changing the post times.

I'm in Pointe-Noire, Congo where I find myself...in the beach. Who would've thought eh? I'm on a beach in the Congo. Before today the Congo (also known as the Republic of and also Congo Brazzaville) conjured up images of deep, dark forests. Well it's true, there are forests here but there's also a sizable amount of coastline. So this is where I am. I just cross a street and the Atlantic is crashing into the shoreline. The temperature is still very comfortable during the day and comfortable with a light sweater during the night. This area has a few expats, mostly working in the local oil industry. At night the horizon is dotted with small orange dots, the flames from offshore oil rigs. During sunset the street has numerous people jogging in the cooling dusk air. With some organization and leadership there is some much potential for this area to develop by leaps and bounds.

Today's flight back to Brazza is operated by a plain white 737 sporting the name "Karen" in lovely italicized letters on the nose. At least people still give real names to their planes. All that's missing is a lovely pin up girl painted next next to the name already on the plane. This aircraft used to be all economy. The now converted to first class front section still has three overhead lights and the seat indicators still have three lettered seats for each row. The first row on the right has ridiculous leg room. A small bed could probably be fit in. They're really packing them in on this flight. The flight crew is all English speaking. I'm thinking South African maybe. The door closes. Here we go. The safety card says Quarius Air on it. I wonder if this is a Serenity type situation where the plane and it's crew go wherever there is work. The take off roll feels a bit sluggish but what do I know because the pilots choose what seems to me to be a quite aggressive climbout angle. Near the end of the flight one of the passengers quickly stashes away one of the flight safety cards in their bag. Considering that I'll probably never be on a flight like this again it would be a unique souvenir, but what would I really do with it? And I definitely don't need more junk. The crew has a pretty relaxed attitude to the whole flight. It's rather nice actually. After a smooth and interesting (for me) landing I'm soon off the plane.

Jump to a few hours later and I've done a quick internet search on this Quarius Air plane that I just rode. They're actually called AirQuarius Aviation and indeed they are based out of South Africa. Now here is where things get really interesting. This company specializes in operating in some of the most challenging areas if the world. Their crews flew the only passenger service into Baghdad during the Second Gulf War and they have planes and crew throughout Africa with mostly minimal external support. This is the real deal here. I guess after the type of flying these people do, 40 minute flights ferrying passengers between two quiet airports is rather pedestrian. I really wish I had the time to talk to the crew a bit. I wish them the best of luck and open skies ahead.

I'm sitting in an old -200 series 737 at Brazzaville's Maya Maya airport. Chances are this plane is older than me. The door is open and passengers are filing in. There is a loud whine as a Russian made freight dog rolls by. Through the window I see the ground crew loading luggage off a cart of suitcases stacked four high. It's time to go and two crew members lean quite heavily on the door handle to close it. The plane slowly moves along the bumpy taxiway and I look up and see that the safety sign is in a language that I think is Bahasa. I'm gonna straight say it. I'm not silently praying in my mind. I'm shaking in my little boots. Who is this pilot? What is this airline? And what am I doing here?! The answer? This is Trans Air Congo to Pointe Noire. Welcome to Africa. 

I'm in Paris where I've walked around a bit and also slept quite a lot but not enough. I've been to the Louvre which is very, very big and seen the front of Notre Dame. That's about all.

I'm going on a trip. If I can get onto the internet I might post some photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregorylam/
Byebye.