I arrived in Funafuti on Thursday to negotiate our proposed grant for upgrading the Funafuti runway. The timing was perfect as Tuvalu had declared an emergency due to no rain for 10 months and the New Zealand Air Force had been flying in desalination plants and other emergency supplies. I was interested to see what had happened to the runway, and the news was not good.

The Funafuti runway was built by the Americans during World War II on reclaimed land. Resurfaced some 20 years ago, the chip seal pavement has shown severe wear, with depressions where there was poor compaction (or even worse – underwater caves) which have been patched. The surface is cracking and we are planning on spending some US$ 4.5 million to provide a new surface.

On Saturday there was another C130 flight and, like many people in town, I went out to watch it land. Not a lot to do in Funafuti. It was pretty scary watching them land: they appeared to only barely cleared the trees at the end of the runway. When I saw the air crew going for a walk along the runway I joined them to try and get some more information on their loading etc. The first question the pilot asked was ‘how close were we to the trees’. So I wasn’t the only one concerned. He was pleased to hear that we were planning on undertaking an Obstacle Limitation Survey which would lead to some trees being removed.

They told me that the runway had a PCN rating of 8 which is a very, very weak pavement. What was more disconcerting was their comment that the minimum PCN was 18 for the C130. So that meant every time they were landing they were overloading the pavement. In fact, they were going to see what the effects were.

The photo below is an example of what happens when a C130 turns around on the runway. It is not a skid mark, it is where they have ‘scrubbed off’ part of the surface of the runway. There was similar damages at the points of impact, but it was most obvious where they and the other flights had turned.

They parked the C130 in the middle of the runway, and it was unloaded by some NZ servicemen/women. The pilots commented that the lack of an apron was a major concern as were a plane to break down, the runway would be closed.  We are looking at a new apron but I had to admit that I hadn’t thought about the need to cater for emergency flights with large aircraft such as this.

As I wandered back I had a look at the fire tender. We are buying a new one on the project, which will be designed to run off salt water. I took a photo of the gauges which show that there is no water in the system. Doesn’t give a lot of confidence, even though the operators assured me that the did have water.

We are going to have to ensure that we look carefully at the pavement strength when we upgrade the runway. I can just see the headline should they continue to land C130’s on an under strength pavement. Not the sort of PR that I would like to have on one of my projects…

Since Marta was with me I arranged for a VIP reception and while she waited in the lounge I went out to have a look at the runway which is deteriorating very quickly. The photo to the left shows the high quality of the middle of the runway. I paced off some 350 square metres which we need to get fixed very soon.

We went to the east end of the runway to look at some of the issues there. I noticed some debris on the runway and asked them to clear it. Even though I’m a very keen cyclist the idea of having an old rusty bike wheel on the runway when a plane is taking off is a bit of a worry.  Debris on the runway caused the crash of the Concorde in Paris, and we could spend a lot of time picking up things off this runway. I do wonder what the impact of all the small stones, dust and other detritus being sucked into a jet engine is.

After a full day of meetings on Thursday – I’m also doing a major road project here – we negotiated on Friday. It was a long and intense day but we managed to get through everything. Compared to my negotiations for the road project this was much easier. Those were done with me in D.C. and the government team here in Kiribati. Definitely an advantage doing it in person.

Daniel and Marta were keen on taking a break so on Saturday I took them to North Tarawa where there is a resort. I crashed in the hammock for a few hours and then we went for a 1 hour walk north to ‘Broken Bridge’ where there was a good swimming spot.

The tide was coming in but even so the water was like a bath, very warm. Swimming against the tide was like being in my ‘Endless Pool’. Very hard work and good exercise.

Since the tide was coming in I decided it was timely to head back. As you can see from the photo to the right, it was a good thing we didn’t wait much longer as what were knee deep fords between the islands were now chest deep.  Marta commented that she had not been on a mission before where she had to do anything like this.

We got back to the resort and then went to get a boat across the channel to where our car was parked. There was quite a queue of people waiting and we decided to be patient rather than contribute to the overloading. There were some very large women who almost tipped over the boat!

A nice bit of downtime from what is usually a very hectic mission schedule. Now if I could only catch up on some sleep I’d be in good shape for heading to Tuvalu next week.  

It’s not easy working in Kiribati, and to spend several years there managing a major development program is quite an achievement. On September 12, 2011 Rob was interviewed on Radio New Zealand and this interview really captures Kiribati’s challenges. As Radio New Zealand notes:

Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully has described the job of High Commissioner to Kiribati as the toughest assignment in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Rob Kaiwai talks about the challenges of representing NZ in one of the most remote and geographically dispersed countries in the world, and the challenges Kiribati faces from climate change and population growth.

I love is way of describing Tarawa: imaging standing in the middle of a motorway with nothing but ocean on either side. Brilliant. And very accurate. Listen here and learn.

http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/ntn/ntn-20110912-1014-feature_guest_-_rob_kaiwai-048.mp3

This was brought home to me by a recent post at the brilliant blog www.politicalmathblog.com. The author notes:

… But the problem I’ve found is that people on both sides of the argument don’t really give a crap about credentials or scientific rigor.

What they care about is simply “Did this guy end up on my side of the argument?” If he did, he is a real honest to goodness scientist. If he didn’t, he is a hack, a washed up old know-nothing, a dishonest tool for religious environmentalism or a shill for the oil companies (depending on which side you’re on).

It may not matter whether or not your arguments are valid, if you are not with me you are wrong.  The irony is that there are very well formulated arguments on both sides and surely those of us trained in the sciences should be prepared to listen. It’s almost as bad as the US political system.  For this reason I love the web site www.climatedebatedaily.com which has two columns: ‘Calls to Action’ and ‘Dissenting Voices’. The only place where one can find both sides of the story.

Anyway, the politicalmathblog has the following brilliant chart which summarizes the challenges the skeptics have. It could, unfortunately, equally be done the other way around. Makes me worry for the future of scientific reasoning.

As regular readers of my blog know, I had the pleasure of working in China for about five years. It was impossible not to be impressed by the rapid progress being made as the country modernized at breakneck speed. Every six months I would see huge changes in terms of new infrastructure, more traffic, and other signs of progress. Of course it was also impossible not to notice the negative impacts, particularly with regard to the environment. I worked in places such as Taiyuan where ‘blue sky days’ were an extremely rare event: all you had were smog laden skies.

Even though I am no longer working in China, it is still a place that I hold in high regard and have a lot of interest in. For that reason I was very keen on the new book by the Guardian’s China environmental correspondent Jonathan Watts ‘When a Billion Chinese Jump’. As he journeys the length and breadth of China he observes the impact of China’s—and the world’s—development on the land, flora and fauna. It is a very sad and worrying tale, which fills in many of the pieces of the puzzle that I saw while working there.

I didn’t appreciate that while we were busy planting trees on our road projects, that they came from but two types of poplars and the lack of biodiversity is having a major negative impact on the bird life. While I saw the grim conditions of many workers, I didn’t know that much of what we recycle in the west ends up in these dark, dank factories in China where it is processed with no regard to the workers or the environment. I knew that by building improved infrastructure we were permitting factories to relocate inland, but I didn’t appreciate that this was also transferring the pollution problem inland. I always was worried about the quality of the vegetables and other products, now I see that there was good cause to be.

After cataloguing the litany of problems faced by China, the author turns to the possibilities in terms of the adoption of green technologies, etc. Unfortunately, against the backdrop of the problems one has to wonder whether China has passed a point of no return with addressing its environmental issues. I do hope not, but the signs are not good.

This is a must read book for anyone involved with development in China, or who are interested in the environment and sustainability. Both fascinating and disturbing, the author deserves credit for the breadth and scope of his work.

Decision Meeting

In order to negotiate we have to undertake ‘Appraisal’ of the project. This is where we advise our management that the project design is complete, all issues raised have been addressed, and that we are ready to negotiate. Before we can appraise we have to have a ‘Decision Meeting’ which reviews where we are, confirms that we are ready to appraise, and confirms the readiness of the project for appraisal and negotiations.

I tried unsuccessfully to have the Decision Meeting in December but key people were travelling so it got pushed back to January. Unfortunately, with a Board date on 1 March, we were going to be very tight to have enough time to get everything done. It became complicated when my lawyer told me his daughter was being called to the Bar on 20 January. Kiribati was out—only two flights a week—and while he offered to come to Sydney to negotiate, we agreed that it was too risky because it was a long way to go and, being winter, there was a distinct probability that there would be a flight disruption so he would miss this important event. Since Raj wanted me to be with him, I came up a plan …

On Tuesday the 11th at 07:00 Sydney time we would have the Decision Meeting. This would be via videoconference with Washington D.C., and others connecting via audio—including myself from New Zealand. While the Decision Meeting was taking place, my irreplaceable consultant Colleen would be travelling to Tarawa in Kiribati. Assuming the Decision Meeting authorized negotiations, I would hop on a flight at 13:00 to Washington D.C.  While I was travelling the 24+ hours to D.C., Colleen would appraise the project, and I would address any issues arising from the Decision Meeting. Thanks to the International Date Line (remember Phineas Fogg?), I would arrive Tuesday night in D.C.  I would then have Wednesday and Thursday morning to get the necessary clearances. We would start negotiations starting at 15:00 on Thursday, and hopefully finish by Friday.

The Decision Meeting went fairly well. The discussions were dominated by an issue of how we proposed to co-finance the civil works with the Asian Development Bank. In the end it was agreed that the project was ready for appraisal so I finished packing and then headed out to hop the flight to San Francisco.

Preparing for Negotiations

It wasn’t a chilling out flight, as I had some important ‘homework’ to do on the trip from the Decision Meeting. As soon as I got to San Francisco it was onto the Internet to send my homework out, and address other issues which had arisen. Just enough time to do all of that before hopping the flight to D.C.—and more homework. At Dulles Airport the baggage was slower than usual—it was snowing—which gave me the opportunity to send out the next batch of homework while waiting by the luggage carrousel (and getting more homework). There was a long queue for the taxi and by the time I arrived at the hotel—22:00—it was two more hours before all was done and I could crash for the night.

The next morning I found the Appraisal Completion Note from Colleen and so after a bit more work I hit ‘send’ and out went the package for clearances. By 17:00 D.C. time we had the local clearances, and then it was off to Sydney for my manager’s clearance which came through very quickly so by 23:00 the package went out for the final clearances by the Chief Counsel and the Country Director.

Thursday was hopefully the day for negotiations. We got Chief Counsel clearance at 10 a.m. Raj agreed that we could start negotiations as planned at 15:30 so it was all set—good call: the Country Director clearance came through at 16:30

Negotiations

The Bank has a very sophisticated conference call system. When we were ready to start the problem was that they couldn’t connect with Kiribati. In the end we managed to do it, but we couldn’t hear them at all clearly. Thus started a series of permutations and combinations of communication techniques to get us through:

In the end Plans B and G got us through. Whew. Quite the challenge but we got there in the end.

Aftermath

Thanks to Colleen’s versatility, the support of the government, Raj, Thao and our entire team we met our goal and successfully completed negotiations. What a week! Now it is time to get the package ready for the Board and then—most importantly—to get the project under way.

Unfortunately I now have three more projects to prepare urgently to present to our Board 17 May. But that will be another story… and hopefully without Skype: I’ve told everyone to be in Sydney on 28 March. Much nicer to negotiate face-to-face than huddling around cell phones and computers.

For remote island countries like Tonga and Kiribati, airports are vital components of their infrastructure.  Maintaining sustainable internal, regional and international transport and communication linkages are crucial to their economic development and social well-being.

In Tonga the Bank has been supporting the government’s reform of the aviation sector through the ‘Tonga Transport Sector Consolidation Project’ (TSCP). The TSCP has helped the Ministry of Transport’s Department of Civil Aviation to become established, as well as the establishment of a corporatized operational entity called ‘Tonga Airports Ltd’ (TAL).  TAL has been very effective at establishing a professional commercial organization which is effectively running Tonga’s domestic and international airports.

Tonga’s government has requested the Bank to provide further support to the country by assisting TAL with addressing key infrastructure needs at its three main airports: Fua’amotu on the main island Tongatapu, as well as the airports on the outer islands Ha’apai and Vava’u. We mobilized a mission to identify the potential investments and how we could assist the sector reform program.  This meant travelling to the other islands on a small aircraft—providing us stunning views of the beautiful South Pacific. I couldn’t help but contrast this with just under two years ago when I was out in -20 degree C weather in Armenia looking at potential roads to rehabilitate. I’ll take palm trees and beaches over snow and ice any day …

We used the opportunity to assess some of the aviation investments we had made on the TSCP. It was fascinating for me to go behind the scenes at an airport and see the infrastructure up close and personal. Given how much I fly I realized how little I understood about airport facilities and their operations. I was fortunate to have the Bank’s aviation specialist Charles Schlumberger with me, as well as Vicki Brown a consultant from Canada (eh!) who specializes in airport facilities. Finally I could see up close equipment which had just been an acronym to me (such as ‘PAPI lights’). I was also able to see the fire tenders that are so expensive (just under $US 1 million each!).

Charles even managed to get a ride in a fire tender on Vava’u, using the excuse that in his younger days he was a volunteer fireman in Switzerland.  We were concerned to see that the fireman still did not have the proper fire suits to protect them in a fire—they only had regular fire fighting gear.  The need for improved equipment was identified by our environmentalist Anil Somani on a previous mission as being important so we reminded TAL to procure the gear for the fireman. Still, TAL was much better than at Kiritimati airport in Kiribati where the fireman are in bare feet, without helmets and jackets! Not to worry, we will address that should we have a project there.

We toured the Fua’amotu airport perimeter and then to the airport control tower.  Definitely a candidate for investments: it was quite disconcerting to see how antiquated the equipment was. I must admit that it is quite self serving, but when one is flying into and out of a country it would be reassuring to know that they have up to date control systems. Charles was amazed to find some World War II era navigation control equipment still in use—but the Tongans said that it worked  fine so why change it. It transmitted a series of beeps which I thought I recognized as Morse Code. Sure enough it was! And I thought that Morse Code was no longer in use.

Perhaps it is my roads background but I was particularly interested in the runway pavements.  At all three airports they require some form of rehabilitation, but for different reasons. 

The Fua’amotu airport runway was very well designed and hats off to the NZ contractor Fulton Hogan for such excellent work. Although it was almost 20 years since it was built, the runway was only now beginning to show signs of deterioration. This is quite an achievement in a harsh tropical environment like Tonga where the sun’s ultraviolet radiation plays havoc with bitumen.   As the photo shows, there was also a need to remove some of the rubber  that is deposited when the aircraft tires hit the runway on landing.

By way of contrast, the runway at Ha’apai was very deteriorated and was requiring constant patching.  Even that was not adequate and it was disconcerting to see the extent of the deterioration. It is very important to repair this soon as there is a potential of ‘Foreign Object Damage’ (FOD) to aircraft, which must be avoided at all costs.

Ha’apai also was an excellent example of how bitumen pavements need to have traffic. The public road crossed the airport runway—not to worry, there were gates that they close when flights are arriving—so a 7 metre wide swath of the runway had vehicles crossing it regularly, while the remainder of the runway had only the occasional flight. 

It was interesting to see that the runway area crossed  by the road was in excellent condition, with no cracks, potholes or evidence of the oxidation so prevalent elsewhere on the runway.  This was a text book example of the viscoelastic behavior of bituminous pavements. Frequent loading and unloading makes it easier to recover from deformation.  Unfortunately, the less frequent cyclical loading of airfield pavements inhibits such recovery and the bitumen ages faster and becomes brittle.

I had not appreciated the damage that aircraft can do to a runway when they turn around. At both Ha’apai and Vava’u the turning movements had caused problems with the surface dressing. It is for this reason that they often put concrete turning bays at the end of the runways. Even they don’t always work: at Kiritimati they have the turning bays but some flights didn’t use them damaging the pavement.

At all three airports in Tonga what was most impressive was the structural strength of the runway pavements.  Had regular maintenance been done on the surfaces, with appropriate treatments used, it would not be necessary to undertake major improvements.  But this is also true for the paved roads in Tonga: they’ve generally done a good job of constructing pavements, it is just a pity that they aren’t properly maintained.

One of the areas that we were interested in investigating was the opportunities for us to introduce ‘green’ airport technologies which would potentially lead to carbon neutral airport operations. Vicki shared how simple improvements, such as replacing the runway lights with LED lights would reduce the energy consumption by 90%. One can install passive and active technologies to terminals which significantly reduces their energy consumption—and of course there is potential for solar lighting and solar power generation.

There are also opportunities for rain water harvesting. This would collect and store rain water from roof areas to significantly reduce the potable water demand and preserve natural water resources. The water could be used to service all sanitary demands and provide required collections for fire water for Crash Fire Rescue demands, and ground vehicle maintenance. Within all three airports water consumption will be reduced by utilizing fixtures and valves within the terminal buildings that are high efficiency/low consumption.

Our mission found ample opportunities to provide support to Tonga in the aviation sector and to help them achieve their goal of having safe and secure air transport operations with environmentally sustainable and efficient airports. The challenge now is for us to help Tonga achieve this vision, building on the success of the TSCP.

Timor‐Leste is a small and mountainous island country, with a population of about one million surrounded by Indonesia. It has a dramatic topography dominated by the Ramelau Mountains stretching across the middle of the island from the east to the west. About 44 percent of the Timor‐Leste’s total land area lies between 100 and 500 meters in elevation, and 35 percent above 1,000 meters. My trip took me across this mountainous spine towards the south of the country.

Now I don’t want to get into to the climate change debate. I know one of my readers (hi Ron!) is in the strongly sceptical group, and I must say that I have quite a few reservations about what is being put forward by the media and elements of the scientific community. Anyone who reads the objective ‘Climate Debate Daily’ web site would. However, what we do know is that the roads today are suffering from the effects of the climate, and there are changes happening in Timor Leste, no matter what is causing it.

For example, an assessment of the likely impact of climate change on Timor Leste in 2009 by the consultant Cardno Acil forecasted that rainfall would increase in the future. This may bring fewer extreme rainfall events but their intensity would be more important. I’m sure Ron with his mathematics background will have lots of comments on the graph below

Water and roads do not mix, particularly in mountainous areas such as in Timor Leste. This was obvious during my field trip where there was ample evidence of erosion, slope failures, and pavement damage from water. The photos below given a idea of the type of the types of issues encountered. It is clear that irrespective of what is predicted in the future, it is necessary to take steps to build some climate resilience into Timor Leste’s roads now.

Traditionally, the responses to hazards such as flooding and landslides was designing and providing additional or reinforced engineering structures such as more/better drainage, culverts, higher bridges and re-aligned road sections. However, it is now recognized that re-vegetation and bioengineering measures for water courses and road slopes are a key to implementing a lasting solution.

Bio-engineering improves slope stability, controls storm water and sediments, and helps adsorb pollutants through natural processes. There are a variety of measures that can be taken including tree and shrub planting on unstable slopes, and the use of vegetated erosion control blankets which are natural fibres able to retain soil and sediments while providing a medium for planting shrubs. The goal is to increase water retention capacity and slow infiltration through natural or bioengineered systems.

There is still a place for civil engineering measures—such as providing sufficient capacity longitudinal and transverse drainage, as well as improved retaining walls, gabions (i.e. stone filled nettings)—but without bio-engineering they are only partial solutions.

The Timor Leste government is already taking steps to address the issues, and there were quite a few locations where civil engineering works were going on. There were many good examples of well constructed gabions, as well as other examples where they had not been so effective.

There were workers constructing excellent quality retaining walls from local stone, one thing which there is an abundance of. It was impressive to see a crew quarrying stone from the side of the mountains, attacking large rocks with sledge hammers and then moving the stone around as if it weighed very little.

A major benefit from constructing stone retaining walls, gabions and stone drainage is that it creates work for local communities. This can provide much needed stimulus and support to the local economy. The team building the gabion below were all recruited from the local village. They estimated that it would take them a month to gather the necessary stone and construct the gabion, and said they were very grateful to have the opportunity to work. The ILO has been working on labour based methods for road construction in Timor Leste, and it is clear that there are a number of areas of success.

We plan on exploring how we can assist the government of Timor Leste with building resilience into their road network to better cope with rainfall. Relatively modest investments will yield major benefits not only in keeping roads open, but in saving on potentially large future maintenance or rehabilitation investments. It will also help to create employment which is sorely needed. It’s great to be able to work on such worthwhile projects.

The World Bank undertakes very thorough preparation of its projects, particularly with regard to minimizing the negative social and environmental impacts of our projects. We go to great lengths to support the client in preparing resettlement action plans (RAPs) which identify those impacted by the project, and outlines the compensation they are entitled to. The environmental management plans (EMPs) clearly identify the actions that civil works contractors are to take with regard to their operations covering everything from materials storage and disposal to noise impacts. These documents are usually part of the legal agreements and are binding on the government, the implementing agency, and the contractors.

Unfortunately, while the documentation is thoroughly done, there are often problems with implementation. People do not always receive the compensation they are entitled to; contractors cause temporary or even irreversible environmental damage; designs may sometimes not be fully appropriate since conditions may have changed. The challenge that people face is that they do not know who to complain to or, if complaints are made, they may not be acted on in a satisfactory manner. Some end up writing to the World Bank’s president—who, I can assure you, makes sure that the project team address the concerns!

A few years ago my resettlement specialist in China—Liu Zhefu—proposed that we put in place a mechanism which would allow people to send an SMS to a number, and that message would then be relayed automatically to the implementing agency, the roads department, the independent resettlement monitoring consultant, and the World Bank. I designed a pilot in China, but I transferred to the South Caucasus before it became fully operational. I decided that it was something worth doing again, so designed and implemented another pilot in Armenia for the “Lifeline Roads Improvement Project” (LRIP).

LRIP was an ideal project for SMS monitoring. The roads are distributed all over the country, often in very remote areas, and difficult to visit and monitor closely.  I used a local Armenian programmer who developed the system and provided local support to the implementing agency once it went live. The concept behind the system is shown below.

This process is termed a ‘Complaints Handling Mechanism’ (CHM). In addition to SMS, complaints could be lodged by e-mail or through a web form. The screen shot below shows the web site (www.lrip.am).

To ensure that the public knew of the way of making a complaint, we included in the bidding documents the requirements for the contractor to put in place signs at the start and end of the project. The signs contained the message to send SMS complaints to 055-33-55-33 (see the first picture above).

When complaints are received the business process is as follows:

• The complaints are automatically relayed to the Armenian Roads Directorate, the Project Management Unit (PMU), and the World Bank team.
• The PMU reviews the complaint and acknowledges its receipt. 
• It is assigned a priority (High/Medium/Low) and the type of complaint (e.g. Social, Environmental, Engineering, etc.)
• Once resolved, the date of resolution and solution is recorded in the system.

It is straightforward to monitor the time to resolution, identify any unresolved complaints, and to track the overall situation. Now that the system has been operating for a few months we are refining the system and including new features—such as the ability to plot on a map the locations of complaints. The system is designed in Joomla, an Open Source Content Management System, which means that it will be very easy to implement on additional projects or in different environments.

So what happened with our first (and to date only!) complaint? The PMU advised that the design was revised and an additional 132 meters of concrete drains had been installed. We will confirm during one of our implementation support missions that the complaintant is satisfied with the outcome.

Enjoying White Rice As A Starter

Many World Bank missions visit countries which are very impoverished and that is true hardship. Then there are countries like China where they take banqueting to unimaginable heights.  For most of us, the choices are somewhere in between those two extremes. And I’ve learned to live with that. But as a vegetarian I often have real challenges finding anything to eat, and I must admit sometimes it becomes a bit tedious.

As an island nation, fish forms an integral part of the Kiribati diet. Vegetarian? That is an old e-Kiribati word for “cannot fish”.  The fact that the islands have very little fertile soil which is so alkaline that few things grow well, does not help the situation. The main crops here seems to be cabbage and taro. Fortunately, there is the old fallback of frozen vegetables brought in from Australia, but if the boat is delayed they run out. Along with milk and other staples such as beer. But not Milo. There is enough of that on the island to last for years. And it qualifies as vegetarian. Just.

So over lunch I inventoried my meals since arriving 12 days ago. I bring cereal for breakfast so that doesn’t count. Of the 23 meals, I have had 9 x omelettes, 5 x chow mein with rice; 3 x breakfast cereal (days when I couldn’t face an omelette or chow mein); 2 x dhal with rice; 2x vegetable curry with rice; 1 x pancakes; and 2 skipped meals.  It’s no wonder than when I get home I hoover up my wife’s cooking like a man who has been on some tropical island …

Even my colleagues here feel sorry for my lack of choice. What is funny is that so do some of the restaurant proprietors!

We are still chuckling at our first visit to the Japanese Curry House. The fellow who runs the place happily took the order  of my colleagues but when I asked for something vegetarian this horrified look came over his face and he said “But it will not be delicious!”. I told him not to worry and to do his best. After giving up on persuading me that it would not be delicious he retreated to the kitchen shaking his head in dismay. As it transpired it was very tasty, even better than my colleagues meals. He was still concerned when we returned the next night and I ordered the same thing. Poor fellow will probably never recover…

However, in many respects I prefer this to what had happened to me in other countries such as Georgia and China where they take pride in the surfeit of food that is provided. I find it depressing how much is left on the table afterwards. But what I would give right now for some of that delicious Georgian bread.

So tonight was decided to head back to the Japanese Curry House. I may try and call ahead and see if they can do me a pizza. Failing that, it will be the “not delicious” delicious curry with rice.  Could be worse, I could have nothing and this time in two days I’ll be heading home. Yum.