Right, well. For all of you nay-sayers that thought this little piece of Mr Lee couldn't last, I have an update!
The last we heard from this intrepid soul was a lot of whinging about being back in Australia and working. Well as you might imagine a lot has happened since then and to cut to the end credits for those short on time, I'm in Ethiopia currently wondering if I'm getting paid enough to get shot at by ONLF rebels. In a little place called Shilabo, (not even the bulk of Ethiopians know where it is) flying a couple of weeks of survey behind a wall of two foot thick sandbagged walls. A three course dust meal is standard and sleep only occurs once the sun goes down and the sweat stops dripping off my elbows. All in all a charming place, if only for the 300 odd army soliders stationed around us to ensure we don't add to the body count of 2007.
Back tracking a little, (yes it's a way back) I had a pretty uneventful Christmas and New Years, most of which was spent in the motherland eating copious amounts of wonderful food and pretty much doing whatever I damn well pleased.
Click foward a couple of weeks and I'm back in my most favourite of African haunts, Centurion, again eating copious amounts of wonderful food interspersed by sessions at the local powder range. Managed to catch up with a few new/old friends from my last tour there before shooting off to the ass of all places, Mbuji Mayi in the DRC.
Man I thought Kananga was bad. This place made Kananga feel like a Bahaman holiday retreat in comparison. Hand over fists with the green paper Benjamins and we mangaged to start work so we could the get F out of there as soon as possible. But of course as is the way in this God forsaken land, delays and extra flying caught us for a good 2 and a half weeks there.
After managing to escape with almost all my undies, it was off to Dar es Saalam for a quick tune up to the plane and then off to Ehtiopia. Sorry? What was that? Forgot to factor in the Africa time?
Well a scheduled 4 day stop blows out to almost 3 weeks, with bad head winds, Mr Leader of the Free World and landing permits all contributing to the extension. Did get a rather nice stay in Zanzibar out of it though. Just think Thailand where the resort staff have seen waaaaay too much sun, and the patrons are waaaaay to Gucci and you've got a picture of what North West Zanzibar beaches are like. Seems that the Italian run and owned resorts there are a draw for all those bronzed bodies seeking something a little less salsa and a little more rumba for their annual summer sojurns.
What results is one thinking they've teleported to a parallel universe where all the establishments on the Amalfi Coast source all their staff from up and coming East African nations. Actually, it's probably not that far off reality really...
So finally after some wonderful days of beach and salty water, we're whipped off to another kind of sand and salt water. Just this time without the cocktails and thong bikinis.
"If the camp does get sucessfully raided, don't run around to get shot. Knee down in the corner of the camp with your hands up and show that you're not armed. You're no use to them dead."
Hmmm I think there was something missing from the office breifing that I got. Actually there was no office briefing. And here's me without my kevlar undies.
Wind back a year, 14 chinese nationals were killed when the ONLF raided a Petronas owned and run sesmic camp in North Eastern Ethiopia. Ramifications of this raid resulted in heavy action from the Ethiopian army, 'cleansing' various areas of Ogaden and ONLF supporters resulting in a standoff situation where potential trouble could occur, but no one knows when or where. Slide Google Earth a few hundred clicks south and you'll find a little town called Shilabo where another unrelated Malaysian oil company hoping to strike the oily pipes of wealth. Of course before you go randomly pounding the ground to find echoes of oil, you want to get a general idea of where to deploy the big toys. Enter stage right the aerial survey company and of course as my work history would have, I'm thrown in with about as much prep as chef making a green salad and expected to swim.
So yes, lots of sand, lots of salty water (table water is brackish) and no, no bikinis. Although considering that I'm about 2000 kms away from anything that I would remotely want to see in a bikini, I'm counting my blessings.
Not much else here expect for the snakes, spiders and scorpions, none of which I have seen. The highlight so far was building an inclinded set of monkey bars from eucalypt trees which although looks great and sounds promising, I am totally too fat and unhealthy to utilise properly.
Back to the top for a re-read and you're up to date (more of less, I'll save the really cools stories to share over a Coopers Pale).
My only sanity is that we should be out of here soonish, and I'll be on to Morocco before getting some R&R back in Sydney around late April.
Oh and to the bugger who stole my wallet from my hotel room WHILE I was in it having a shower, may the food you buy with my money give you the squits, the gifts you send be lost, and the riches you hope for arrive in in the form of a falling safe. Allah be with you, coz if I ever get my hands on you, you'll want all the help you can get.
The last we heard from this intrepid soul was a lot of whinging about being back in Australia and working. Well as you might imagine a lot has happened since then and to cut to the end credits for those short on time, I'm in Ethiopia currently wondering if I'm getting paid enough to get shot at by ONLF rebels. In a little place called Shilabo, (not even the bulk of Ethiopians know where it is) flying a couple of weeks of survey behind a wall of two foot thick sandbagged walls. A three course dust meal is standard and sleep only occurs once the sun goes down and the sweat stops dripping off my elbows. All in all a charming place, if only for the 300 odd army soliders stationed around us to ensure we don't add to the body count of 2007.
Back tracking a little, (yes it's a way back) I had a pretty uneventful Christmas and New Years, most of which was spent in the motherland eating copious amounts of wonderful food and pretty much doing whatever I damn well pleased.
Click foward a couple of weeks and I'm back in my most favourite of African haunts, Centurion, again eating copious amounts of wonderful food interspersed by sessions at the local powder range. Managed to catch up with a few new/old friends from my last tour there before shooting off to the ass of all places, Mbuji Mayi in the DRC.
Man I thought Kananga was bad. This place made Kananga feel like a Bahaman holiday retreat in comparison. Hand over fists with the green paper Benjamins and we mangaged to start work so we could the get F out of there as soon as possible. But of course as is the way in this God forsaken land, delays and extra flying caught us for a good 2 and a half weeks there.
After managing to escape with almost all my undies, it was off to Dar es Saalam for a quick tune up to the plane and then off to Ehtiopia. Sorry? What was that? Forgot to factor in the Africa time?
Well a scheduled 4 day stop blows out to almost 3 weeks, with bad head winds, Mr Leader of the Free World and landing permits all contributing to the extension. Did get a rather nice stay in Zanzibar out of it though. Just think Thailand where the resort staff have seen waaaaay too much sun, and the patrons are waaaaay to Gucci and you've got a picture of what North West Zanzibar beaches are like. Seems that the Italian run and owned resorts there are a draw for all those bronzed bodies seeking something a little less salsa and a little more rumba for their annual summer sojurns.
What results is one thinking they've teleported to a parallel universe where all the establishments on the Amalfi Coast source all their staff from up and coming East African nations. Actually, it's probably not that far off reality really...
So finally after some wonderful days of beach and salty water, we're whipped off to another kind of sand and salt water. Just this time without the cocktails and thong bikinis.
"If the camp does get sucessfully raided, don't run around to get shot. Knee down in the corner of the camp with your hands up and show that you're not armed. You're no use to them dead."
Hmmm I think there was something missing from the office breifing that I got. Actually there was no office briefing. And here's me without my kevlar undies.
Wind back a year, 14 chinese nationals were killed when the ONLF raided a Petronas owned and run sesmic camp in North Eastern Ethiopia. Ramifications of this raid resulted in heavy action from the Ethiopian army, 'cleansing' various areas of Ogaden and ONLF supporters resulting in a standoff situation where potential trouble could occur, but no one knows when or where. Slide Google Earth a few hundred clicks south and you'll find a little town called Shilabo where another unrelated Malaysian oil company hoping to strike the oily pipes of wealth. Of course before you go randomly pounding the ground to find echoes of oil, you want to get a general idea of where to deploy the big toys. Enter stage right the aerial survey company and of course as my work history would have, I'm thrown in with about as much prep as chef making a green salad and expected to swim.
So yes, lots of sand, lots of salty water (table water is brackish) and no, no bikinis. Although considering that I'm about 2000 kms away from anything that I would remotely want to see in a bikini, I'm counting my blessings.
Not much else here expect for the snakes, spiders and scorpions, none of which I have seen. The highlight so far was building an inclinded set of monkey bars from eucalypt trees which although looks great and sounds promising, I am totally too fat and unhealthy to utilise properly.
Back to the top for a re-read and you're up to date (more of less, I'll save the really cools stories to share over a Coopers Pale).
My only sanity is that we should be out of here soonish, and I'll be on to Morocco before getting some R&R back in Sydney around late April.
Oh and to the bugger who stole my wallet from my hotel room WHILE I was in it having a shower, may the food you buy with my money give you the squits, the gifts you send be lost, and the riches you hope for arrive in in the form of a falling safe. Allah be with you, coz if I ever get my hands on you, you'll want all the help you can get.
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