and off we go again...

It has been a hectic return to Hanoi, which means that posting has been a bit neglected. Not to mention the flu that seems to have overtaken Hanoi, so there are a lot of vague and sniffly people wandering about, myself included. Luckily for Ash, he has departed once more. So our apologies for the silence, but at last, some photos from Palau! 

Sadly, our time in Palau was a lot of work and very little play, however the play we did manage was quite spectacular. There was also swimming in the blissfully temperate sea and some much needed sunshine, which makes for a good trip as far as I am concerned. The work in the field was not so bad either. At least for myself that got to tag along and snap a photo or two.

Part of the work aspect of the trip involved driving to the capital Melkeok. Palau is made up of a lot of islands, the capital, and where most people live, in Koror, as well as two other small islands are connected by causeways. The hundreds of other islands are accessible by boat and not very populated, although quite spectacular. The capital of Palau, is a rather peculiar. It is largely deserted. There is the capitol building, reminiscent of the White House (picture below) and in the tradition of western architecture, sits on top of a hill with magnificent views, and little to nothing around it. It seems, the capitol has not really taken. 

This is the area where the project is based, so amongst visiting numerous tanks, waste water treatment plants and investigating sea walls, we also trekked through stunning forest to view wetlands and the largest lake in the Pacific (not a hard feat with all of the island limiting lake sizes a lot, however it still manages to be crocodile infested - that we saw none of).

What I saw of Palau was lushness beyond imagination, the greenness that expands the islands, is spectacular and covers a spectrum of plants and colours that could keep one intrigued for a very long time. It was so green, even the tree trunks were green. And the water was just as colourful and vibrant. I will post pictures of our day off soon... but here are some from around the capitol. 

paradise drowning

The Marshall Islands make up the coral atoll geographic component of the grand Pacific adventure. One could say that the Marshall Islands has one real option for coping with climate change... relocation. It is probably time they follow the lead of the president of the Maldives and start buying up land in Africa. A very low and flat horse shoe shaped island, only as wide as a single lane road in parts, it will not take much for a strong storm or, wave even, to flood the island. For those it is not entirely obvious, understandably as an airport runway is not often separated from the ocean with a few mere rocks - perhaps sea planes are the only real future for landing in the Marshall Islands.

On the bright side, reprieve from rain and sunny skies with clear waters and white sands make for magnificent vistas. And the children are rather happy and fond of being photographed, they are also a lot better adapted to the rain. 

the dread of flying

By the time I joined the boys on the mission, it was fair to say that they had well surpassed being fed up with flying. Too many overnight flights and long wait times between flights and time in the airport week after week, there sentiments were rather founded. It seems that then travelling with Continental Airlines had pushed them collectively over the edge, and when combined with our increasingly postponed flight from Palau in the middle of the night... my how the ranting began. 
HOWEVER. It must be said that when looking out of the airplane window to this view, perhaps it is not as bad as they made it out to be. The flight from the Marshall Islands to Guam, is quite literally the island hopper as you take off and land on four teeny tiny islands in the middle of the Pacific ocean... quite spectacular!

and then some time later.

It was suggested in the aftermath of the last posting that perhaps it was a touch apocalyptic, so I returned to the photos from the time spent in the Solomon Islands in search of something representing the more charming aspects of Suva and its surrounds. I found none, so concluded it best that we simply move on.


Currently we are both in the Philippines and finally have sufficient internet to post once more. We are back with many-a-beach snap for your viewing pleasure. Unfortunately most of Ash's travels around the Pacific ocean has involved a disproportionate amount of work, work that involves time in meeting rooms, and field trips to see wastewater treatment plants, destitute communities, deforested and destroyed areas, wetlands, sea walls and roads. Lots of roads. The photos reflect this. So plucked out below are a few of the more pleasant snap shots (believe it or not) of the green surrounds and communities encountered in Fiji.


Over the next few days we will endeavour to post some of the back log of photos, including Marshall Islands and Palau - there are some seriously impressive shots in there I promise!