Caffeine High and Long Days

I'm relearning a lesson that I've learned a hundred times before; never drink a triple espresso drink in the afternoon, because you will never be able to fall to sleep.  But I just had to have it!!!!!  Jokes on me as I sit up writing, knowing that I should be sleeping as I'll have another hectic day tomorrow.

I've been in Afghanistan for nearly three months now.  Life has taken on a Groundhog's Day likeness that can be almost scary.  In a country as unpredictable as Afghanistan it is odd how everyday has become the same.  Nearly!! 

Every day here has been hot and dusty.  The dust works its way into just about everything.  There is no point cleaning your shoes, as dust coats them in seconds.  On days when the wind picks up a little the sky appears as if cloudy through the fine dust in the air.   On the dustier days the helicopters can't fly so my flights get canceled and there are more insurgent attacks.  The insurgents know very well when the weather weakens us, the coalition.

There hasn't been a day below 100 F for at least two months now.  The warmest days have been right around the 120 mark.  It is amazing how you get used to it. I know it is hot, but it doesn't really bother me, and since I've got air conditioning in my office and room, I'm fine.

The workload is incessant, but that is all right as there isn't much else to do.  So far, I haven't taken a day off in three months.  But that will change next week as I'll run off to Istanbul for a short break.  What I'm looking forward to most is the coffee, the freedom to roam, and the food.

The food on base has grown pretty monotonous.  There are seven dining facilities all slight different from each other, but serving somewhat similar food.  It is nourishment, but it gets pretty old pretty quickly.  However there are a few gems.  The cherry and pecan pies are delicious.  The pumpkin and potato curry is quite delicious over rice.  Even the occasional potpie is a nice surprise.  I still can't wait for some good food though.

Maybe it's good I'm not writing in my blog too often, all my posts would be about the same things: heat, dust, bad food, and monotony.  At least the work is challenging and I'm really pushing my comfort zones, really gaining a lot of experience.

Ultimate Sacrifice, Monotony, and Canadians

Last night the reality that I'm in Afghanistan, a place where we fight a war against an insurgency, set in.  I went to a ramp ceremony.  This is where the bodies of the fallen leave the battlefield.  Four soldiers, all from an engineer's battalion, died as the result of an IED.  The bodies were brought to Kandahar Air Field (KAF), where I'm at, to be placed on a C117 that will fly them to the States.  Officers from all nationalities at the base gathered on the tarmac to march out to the yawning backside of C117.  A chaplain led a solemn ceremony in a prayer and a reading of a psalm.   "Amazing Grace was played, and six soldiers carried each of the flag draped coffins into the cavernous interior of the military's largest cargo plane.  The coffins, small against the interior of the plane, were the sole cargo for the flight, as if the fallen soldiers were a cargo so large that nothing else was needed to fill the giant plane.  In fact, nothing else was needed, their sacrifice was enough.

 

Life in general has entered into monotony. The Taliban shoots rockets onto KAF somewhat regularly, but usually to no damage.  The DFACs (dining facility in Army speak), there are at least six on the base, are running together, as I quit caring where I'm getting my food.  The days are hot and it is difficult to tell the difference between 100 and 110.  The scenery alters between this concrete wall and that one.  The 24 hour air show doesn't turn my head away from the gravel I'm walking on.  And the different nationalities standout as I can differentiate between all the different camouflages.

 

One of the nationalities I work with most closely are the Canadians.  You can't help but love them.  I can always pick them out by all the "proooooo-jects" they are talking about, compared to our American "praaaa-jects."   The Canadians present one great difficulty for me, spelling my last name.  It is that "a" at the very end of my name that gets them every time. I will spell it for them "v" as in victor, "e" "v" "e" "r" "k" "a".  "a"…… "a"…..  No, I'm not saying "eh", I mean "a" as in my last name ends with the letter "a."  It usually takes a minute before they realize that my last name ends in an "a" and I'm not just giving them an agreeable Canadian "eh."  Oh, the challenges that come working with Canadians.  J

Living on the Air Field

I finally made it.  I'm working on Kandahar Air Field (KAF).  It has taken me months to get here and for what?  To work twelve hour days seven days a week.  To cook in 100 degree heat in May.  To not see any green vegetation at all, I mean none, big fat zero.  Actually life on the air field is not so bad.  It is a melting pot with armed forces, civilians, and other personnel from more than twenty countries.  I estimate there to be 30,000 people on the base.  There are enormous dining halls all catering to different tastes.  There's European, British, Canadian/American, and South Asian dining facilities.  There is a really nice gym, and one not so nice one.  There is a large store, a TGI Fridays (built out of containers I think), and other restaurants.  The thing that is most absent from the base is the Afghan people.

There are many quirks/oddities living here.  First, the few women that are here, maybe ten percent of the total, are treated like queens.  But they do so while tolerating a lot of stares.  So good for a one to one ratio.  A brightly colored reflective belt must be worn at night or you will get fined.  No alcohol is allowed.  A veritable air show is constantly going on overhead with several different fighter jets zipping around, the occasional predator drone humming lazily by, and fat cargo planes barely getting off the runway.  The loudspeakers for incoming or rocket attack are called either "the big voice" or "the giant voice"  and speak in a British lady's voice.

There is one stinking oddity about the airfield.  The "poo" pond was built upwind of the camps (the Russians seem to be to blame, or at least that is what I'm being told). The stink has been pretty bad some days, so I can imagine it will only get worse as it gets hotter.  And to think, the pond was designed for about half the population that is currently using it.  I think nose plugs might be more important than ear plugs here.

Rocket attacks are a fairly frequent event on the base, though I haven't experienced one yet.  The base is pretty easy to hit since it covers some thirty square miles or so.  Since I haven't experienced an attack yet, I don't know what they sound like.  I have been getting laughed at, because I keep ducking when I hear fighter jets hitting their brakes overtop of the base.  To me it sounds just like a rocket coming in should sound.  At least I haven't hit the deck yet for no reason.  

Kabul

I'm safe and sound in Kabul.  In route, I stopped for a night in Dubai.  Though I didn't have much time to get out and see the city, I got a comfortable night in the five star Intercontinental Festival City.  I just wish I would have had more time to go and see the world's tallest building up close.

Flying into Kabul the next day, we flew directly over Kandahar, the area where I will be working.  The whole south of Afghanistan was a large sand patch with a vertical green swath of agricultural land surrounding the winding Helmand River.  The closer we got to Kabul the taller the mountains were and the more snow there was on the mountains.  On our final approach into Kabul we were on the edge of the Hindu Kush Mountains which were blanketed in solid snow.  The highest mountain in Afghanistan is well over 18,000 feet tall, though it is quite far from Kabul. 

We were picked up at the airport and deposited at our compound where I'm undergoing some more training.  Since housing is tight and there hasn't been time to build physical structures, I'm living in a shipping container.  It isn't as bad as it sounds.  It is quite similar to living in a mobile home.  The containers are prefabricated as homes with two rooms in each container.  I share my half of the container (a single room) with Doug, who I've been training with since February.  We have a bunk bed and a bathroom, as well as 2 chest-o-drawers, a desk, a tv, and other important stuff.  Put it this way.  My living conditions are much better here than when I was living in the dorms as an undergraduate.  Overall life is a little boring as we are restricted to the compound except if we are out on official business.  The excitement revolves around the dining halls, the lone bar (The Duck and Cover), the gyms, and trying to figure out who might be in the many helicopters landing on the sports field.

As you may have guessed, I haven't seen much of Kabul.  I've been out all of two times, though I do have to admit that I'm already forming some opinions.  The traffic may be the craziest I have ever seen.  Pedestrians are constantly running out in front of the vehicles without looking, cars are cutting you off. Everything from donkey carts to big trucks are using the roads.  Making the matters even worse there are many blocked roads and check points, though this is presumably good for safety.  Houses are almost universally made out of mud with walls around them.  There are very few structures of more than two stories that I have seen in the city.  The best part is the beautiful and cool mornings as I have dramatic views of snow capped mountains.  But my mid-morning the temperature is up over 90 and the view has smogged over with the smoke from dung fueled fires and automobiles.  

Going to Afghanistan

I will be leaving for Afghanistan soon.  I have taken a job with USAID as an infrastructure advisor.  I'm excited and a little scared for this opportunity. I'll be working in a combat zone, where I will travel by helicopter or military cargo plane from area to area.  On the ground I will be in a hot (ready to shoot) convoy of armored humvees and MRAPs (mine resistant vehicles).  The days will be long as most days I will work 12 hours or so.  I'm not sure how I will cope with all this.

Why am I going?  I'm not really sure.  For one part I see this as an opportunity for my future.  It will provide valuable experience for securing future jobs as well as making me financially secure in the present.  I partially see it as a challenge, something new to be tried.  There is also a part of curiosity, where I want to know firsthand what is going on in Afghanistan. 

Many people have expressed concern for my safety.  For certain, my safety is at greater risk in Afghanistan than in most other places, but I have looked into and feel fairly certain about the measures which are in place to keep me safe.

I will be writing in my blog regularly and will have good internet access. 

BANGKOK, ALWAYS INTERESTING

Bangkok is a city of chaotic contrasts.  It is both beautiful and wretched.  The rich cruise expressways in their Rolls Royces and the poor amputees choke in the gutter begging to maintain their existence.  The traffic of the city creates a hum and buzz found few other places, but around each corner are tree filled alleys without hardly a sound or movement.  The sweet aromas of food waft over large areas competing with the strong smell of raw sewage emanating from canals and sewer grates.  The beauty of new skyscrapers prick the sky, while decrepit shanties hide in their shadows.  The beauty of the temples and monuments leave you breathless, as well as does the choking air pollution.

Bangkok has changed a lot since I was last here six years ago.  There are many new skyscrapers, and many more are going up all over.  The pollution has lessened as many big vehicles have been switched over to liquefied natural gas but it is still the worse I have experienced (Lima gives Bangkok a run for its money).  I have even seen some tuk-tuks running on LNG. 

Tourism is more plentiful than ever.  It seems as if Bangkok captures the travels who are interested in partying and other pleasures of a new and exciting place, but at the same time accepting them for all the tattoos, piercings, and shocking clothes choices they may wear (there would have been a scandal in rural Honduras if I had the accessories that many tourists in Bangkok have).  Though I have to admit that I'm surprised again by the number of Caucasian white males with their rent-a-girlfriends.  Prostitution still holds a significant place in Bangkok's tourist industry, a hold over from it being the closest safe big city to South Vietnam during the Vietnam War.  Who knows, maybe it even goes  further back.

The openness of the city may bring about a lot of drugs and prostitution, but it also allows a mosque, catholic church, and a Buddhist temple all to be located with a block or two of each other.  I have been few places where I have seen so many people of different backgrounds.

International business is in full force in Bangkok.  The number of western businessmen (oddly, I haven't seen that many western businesswomen) is astounding, with major international business areas of the city seeming to be completely western. 

Shopping malls here in Bangkok are confusing.  There are many varieties, and they all look architecturally amazing from the outside.  What is odd is how different the insides are.  Of course there is the super high-end luxury mall with Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Rolex, and other stores that I can't even afford to enter.  There are other malls with their food court with McDonalds, KFC, Krispy Kreme (it had the longest line I've seen in Thailand) and others.  However, most malls here look more like the market of yesteryear.  The architectural skin will be beautiful and modern, while the inside is full of shops set up over a lettered and numbered square on the floor, much like the booths at a convention.  I went into one mall that was six stories tall and just had booths/stores selling electronics.  Most of the stores sold knock-offs, but there were legitimate ones as well.  I found these malls interesting as they didn't just replacing the average local tenant in the name of big international tenants, but actually accommodated them many times alongside a McDonalds or Starbucks.  It makes the mall experience a little less sterile than I would normally have expected.

I have been taking Bangkok's local buses instead of taxis or tuk-tuks.  One reason is to save money, but a bigger reason is that I'm always interested in seeing how the average person gets about.  Bangkok's buses run the gamut of beautiful luxury to ancient diesel belching rattle traps.  I have been riding on the rattle traps as they run the shorter routes.  Initially, I had some difficulties with the buses as I couldn't read the destinations written in Thai.  The Thai alphabet looks more sanskrit than Roman, leaving my illiterate.  I started by having the woman at my hotel write the name of a major site near where I wanted to go in Thai on a piece of paper.  I would just show the name to other transit riders who would tell me when the bus I needed arrived.  It worked surprisingly well.  Now that I know the buses that run to the areas where I need to go (this is only two or three buses) so I need very little help.  It was also nice to get away from all the mean tourist-dependent Thais and around the wonderfully gratious and friendly average Thais.

I'll be in Bangkok for a day or two more before I head south towards Malaysia.  I'm excited!

 

COFFEE, WATER, TEMPLES, AND LAND MINES

As always, I got too into my travels and have forgotten to write.  I'm currently in Siem Reap, the city nearest to the ruins of Angkor Wat and the dozens of other temples from the Khmer Empire.  Tomorrow, I will dive into the temples, coming up for air in three days when I head to Bangkok.

 

I last wrote from Da Lat, Vietnam.  After enjoying days of coffee drinking in Da Lat, I went to Saigon.  I met up with a fellow traveler, Rhino from South Africa, on the bus.  I had met him initially on the bus to Nha Trang.  We spent a day hanging out in the chaos that is Saigon before heading off to the Mekong Delta.  Saigon is definitely a metropolis on the move, with only a slightly smaller ratio of motorbikes to cars than in Hanoi.  The city is much more westernized than much of the rest of Vietnam, with more skyscrapers and international commerce.  But that isn't surprising considering that it is a metropolis of nearly 8 million.  There was a surprising lack of international chain restaurants.  I only saw one KFC.  

 

The Mekong Delta is the watery southern end of Viet Nam.  As the Mekong River enters Viet Nam on its way from Tibet to the South China Sea, it splits into seven branches; it used to be nine but two have silted up over the years.  The area is the rice basket of the country harvesting three rice crops annually and growing an enormous assortment of other fruits and vegetables.  The area also supports a surprisingly large population, 20 million or equivalent to the population of Southern California, despite it nearly all being swampy land.  The area is impressive for many reasons: the enormous expanses of water, the houses built on stilts, the markets created within the rivers channels, the bridges built to span the river channels, among others.

 

From the Mekong Delta, I took a really slow boat up the river to the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh.  The contrast between Viet Nam and Cambodia is drastic.  The people have a different ethnic makeup looking much more similar to the Thai than the Vietnamese.  The Vietnamese seem to more resemble the Chinese.  The food became spicier and more Thai-like (I guess the fact that the Khmer Empire ruled all of Thailand may have produced these similarities).  However, the most drastic change was the increase in economic disparity.  In Viet Nam everyone seemed to be at a relatively equal economic level.  I noticed very few super-rich, and almost no destitute. All in all, Viet Nam was poor by western standards, but the country was definitely middle income and it felt like everyone was going in an upward direction.  Cambodia, on the other hand, had rich driving around in high-end Mercedes visiting fancy restaurants, while the poor and destitute begged and slept in the filth just a few blocks away.  

 

That being said, Phnom Penh is a city of temples and monuments.  There are gilded Wats throughout the city and plenty of monuments representing one regime or another.  There are also many sites representing the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge.  The two most notable are the prison S-21 and the Killing Fields of Choeng Ek.  S-21 was a school converted to a prison for all those the Khmer Rouge determined to not be pure.  The Killing Fields were where the prisoners had their impurities beat out of them and were thrown into mass graves.  Many of the mass graves have been dug up and now there is a memorial with the bones of the victims.  The bones are on display to the public as a reminder of the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge.  The most disturbing aspects of my visit to the Killing Fields were the teeth and bones on the trail brought to the service by the annual flooding and the victims clothes still littered around on the ground.  

 

After Phnom Penh, I spent a few days in Battambang.  Battambang Province is a large rice producing area of Cambodia.  It is also an area riddled with land mines from past wars.  While visiting one of the many temples in the surrounding country side, there were signs warning me to stay on the path, due to mines in the surrounding forest.  I didn't have to be told twice.  I rented a motorbike for a day and toured the countryside discovering temples and villages as I rode aimlessly.  I could tell once I had left areas where tourists frequent as I started to receive double-takes from the locals as I passed by.  The people also became nicer, not trying to hassle me, but curious on whom I was.  Amazing, I wasn't just a money symbol any longer.

 

That is all for the moment.