Postcard from Lesotho I

So my first thought as we were driving in to Maseru from the airport was, “WOW, I am living in Africa! AFRICA!” I’m glad that, at my age, I can still get so excited about stuff like this. :)

After checking in to the motel and getting settled, the Country Director (Wendy) took me to lunch at a fairly decent seafood place at the nearby mall, where I had a decent fish & chips. We chatted about general stuff, logistics/itinerary for my first week, and she gave me her major “tip” for Maseru: don’t walk outside alone after dark. She then added that if I were to be mugged – esp. by someone brandishing a weapon – to NOT fight it, and just hand over my stuff. On the flip side, she said if I were being kidnapped – that is, if someone were actually trying to take ME and not just my money, she said to fight that for all it’s worth. She didn’t bother to say why, and I guessed enough to not even ask. She then repeated this basic advice once more a little later, mentioning that a PCV had, in fact, been murdered back in 2010 not too far from our office. Needless to say, now I was REALLY excited about being in Africa! :)

With that being said, it appears to be safe during the day. At a hotel mixer, I met a woman doing intellectual property work who had been here about six months and she said she liked Maseru, overall, and one of the things she liked was that it was so ‘safe’ – and then she said, “Of course I wouldn’t go out walking alone after dark.”

 My hotel digs are pretty nice – it’s actually a “flat,” with a separate living room, bedroom, and dining room/kitchen. My bathroom even has a bathtub which I promptly took advantage of since I’ve been living for the past year + without one. I’ll be here for a couple weeks while the guy whose place I’m taking trains me and lives in the house. Friday, after my first week at work, he took me by the house to get a good look at it and I was shocked to see that it was even much bigger than the pics I was sent. There are three bedrooms, FOUR full bathrooms (plus a half bath), two living areas (one with a fireplace), a good-sized separate dining room, a big kitchen with another table in there for eating, a laundry room with W/D, and another small room currently empty/being used for nothing that may become my library. There is also a two-car garage, a large yard surrounding the house that has grape vines all along the back and one side wall, and a good-sized garden. The whole thing is surrounded by a stone wall, and there’s a gated entrance with 24/7 security. I have the option of getting another place, so right now I’m debating on the “pros” of having such a huge place to myself with the cones of feeling like it’s just a bit much. We’ll see.

The weather is awesome so far. It’s odd to be in a country where it’s “winter” in August, but so far the temperature has been pretty moderate/nice – like lower 60s during the day. But my sinuses and eyes are bothering me and I’m hoping it’s just a temporary thing as I adjust. It still gets pretty cold at night (like upper 30s).

On just my third day, we happened to be swearing in a new group of volunteers (see pics on FB). Their ceremony was significantly more elaborate than my own in Kazakhstan and involved quite a bit more “local color.” It was held in a village just outside Maseru, lasted for two hours, and included speeches from 3-4 local dignitaries – including the head chief of the village, a member of parliament, and one of the government ministers. The volunteers were sworn in by the new Charge d’Affairs from the U.S. Embassy as the Lesotho ambassadorship is currently empty. I was really “feeling” the local color when I heard the cheer/yell the local women give for certain dignitaries, or in response to speech highlights, or just to give a “shout out” to certain folks. It would be impossible for me to reproduce it. At first it sounded kinda scary, actually. It sounds a little like a yodel, except it’s the same two-syllable sound repeated many times – probably the closest I can come to describing it is….no, I just can’t describe it. I am impressed with these volunteers – while my group, too, lived with a host family during training, the Lesotho PCVs’ living conditions were/are much “starker,” and will be so in the villages in which they’ll be working. Most will not have running water, many will not have electricity, etc. I’ll really be curious to see what it’s like when I do some site visits.

As for my job, so far it’s mostly been reading up on manuals, signing boatloads of spending authorizations, and meeting folks. I’ve been reminded how frustrating it is to start a new job – not knowing anyone, anything, waiting to get up to speed, etc. I’m also one of the rare hires who is coming to country/post without first going through the Overseas Training (OST) in DC. Due to timing/need, I’ve started in country right away and will go to the next OST towards the end of October.

Here’s the first “culture thing” I am NOT appreciating/understanding: The drivers seem to honk just for the hell of it. Maseru is NOT a large city, and the traffic is not bad at all, and yet drivers will randomly honk or possibly in greeting. I HOPE I can get used to it, but right now it just seems incredibly stupid/lame and is very annoying. The Programming Director says it’s actually just to let people know they’re available. But there are tons of taxis and it’s not like it’d be that hard for you flag one down. The honking ones are called 4+1s (4 passengers plus the driver), but they are NOT metered, and you never know when you’d get to your destination, since they can still look for more passengers (beep beep! beep beep! beeeeeep!) until they are full. More expensive taxis can be hired for door-to-door. But the people are friendly enough (again, esp. compared to the Chinese), and I don’t get nearly as many stares as I did in China/SE Asia, though there appear to be just as few white folks here.

Finally, a fun fact: they call hot dogs “Russians” here. Actually, they’re kind of in between a hot dog and a Polish sausage and are pretty good. But I can’t find anyone here who knows why they are called “Russians.” Sergei? Stas? Anyone wanna venture a guess as to why?

Bye bye long holiday! Notes on Yogyakarta and Bali.

Boy, do they love their strawberry soda in SE Asia (esp. Indonesia) – you can’t find orange soda, but everyone has got Fanta (or at the very least, Mirinda) strawberry soda!

Traffic was just as bad in Yogyakarta as Jakarta.  Honestly, you can’t brag about being the 3^rd largest democracy, 4^th most populated country in the world, if you can’t do a better job of un-snarling your traffic.  I know there are similar problems in some cities in the states, but honestly, the difference is still remarkable.  And it’s exacerbated by the sheer ignorance and pig-headedness of drivers here who clearly think lane markings are a very vague suggestion and honk and cram their way back and forth between/in the middle/around lanes to try and gain an inch or two.  News flash: that kind of incessant maneuvering makes traffic WORSE and makes it go SLOWER.  I noticed similar stupidity in Thailand and China.  I actually started to wonder if it’s a matter of education levels.  School doesn’t just teach you “stuff” – it teaches you to THINK: math teaches you to think logically, History & English to think critically and analytically, Arts & Music to think creatively and empathetically.  If you have vast swaths of a population that just haven’t learned to “think” (and then the ones who do get an education move, creating 'brain drains'), it’s no wonder when infrastructure makes no sense or is crap, that driving sucks, etc.  Think about the cleanest, richest, most smoothly operating and humane societies in the world – they’re also the most educated.  Race/ethnicity has nothing to do with it (IMHO), and as education “regresses” in the U.S. you see how the country itself is devolving at the same time.

On the whole, Yogyakarta was okay.  Again, no transit system, but the city's not that big (just over half a million), and really the main thing to see are the temples: particularly Borobudur.  But I did also get to Candi Prambanan (Candi means Temple), which was a convenient 30 minute walk down the road from my hotel – with a quick stop on the way (actually almost right across the street) to Candi Kalasan – very small and kind of odd to just see it right there, right off the street, tucked between housing.  Prambanan is a Hindu temple from the 9^th century and the only “downside” to it was the meandering way you had to enter – again, where is the thought process that goes into this stuff?

As for Borodubur – Mr. Toad had nothing on my experience seeing that!  First off, when I asked about a tour to see it at the hotel, I was told it would be 300,000 Rupiah (about $27) bucks, so I asked to book it for Saturday.  Then I was told, “Oh, oops, because it’s a holiday and the traffic is really bad, it will be 400,000” so whatever I said that’d be fine and booked it for 9am.

Turns out I was the only one going but the “guide” picked me up promptly at 9am and we were off (you’ll see soon why I put “guide” in quotes).  After traveling the main road for awhile, the driver then took a side road.  Then another.  And another.  Clearly he was doing this to avoid the horrific traffic headed to Borodubur on the main road.  But at some point, as we were bouncing and jarring our way down increasingly narrow and crater-infested “roads,” he got lost.  Luckily, it turns out he had not gone TOO far out of the way before doubling back, but with all his meandering around I had to wonder if he really was saving any time – particularly considering how slowly he had to navigate some of the narrow/bumpy/cavern-filled roads.  It ended up taking 2 hours to go about 30 miles.  Seriously.  And this was supposedly the quicker way.

When we were approaching the entrance to the temple, he turns to me and says, “Sorry, no free parking.”  I just looked at him blankly, he went a little farther, and as he got to the parking entrance, he turned again and said, “Sorry, 5000 Rupiah to park.”  I said, “Um, this is a tour, right? Why would I pay for the parking?”  I don’t think he understood, and so he just paid.  Then, after parking, we headed to the ticket booth where he then clearly expected me to pay for my ticket.  By this time I was torn between laughing and thinking, “WTF kind of ghetto ‘tour’ company did I end up with?” So I said, “Okay, I don’t understand. When I booked this at the hotel, I was told it was a tour to see Borodubur and they told me I could pay for said tour with my credit card at the end.”  Bless his heart, HE was confused, too, and clearly still expected me to pay, so I brought out my Visa and the ticket taker said, “Sorry, cash only.”  Yes, cash only at a UNESCO World Heritage Site, when Prambanan, much lesser known, and nearby, and costing about the same (200,000 Rupiah) takes credit cards.  I only had about 150,000 Rupiah on me at this point so the driver called his boss, whose English was a little better, I explained the situation, said I could get money if there was a BCA ATM nearby (the only one in Indonesia that takes my Chinese ATM – though, granted, I had not had much trouble finding BCA ATMs in Jakarta), but of course we couldn’t find one after wandering around in the 90+ degree heat and ridiculous humidity, so back on the phone with the boss who said he could arrange to have someone pay for me if I added it to my credit card when I got back.  So then we trucked around to some vendor booth near the exit where the driver got money, trucked back to the entrance to get my ticket, and then he ushered me to the entrance to the temple grounds and said, “See you at exit in one hour.”  So no guide.  In actuality, the “tour” then was really only “transportation.”  Actually, as he was leaving me at the entrance, there were tour guides offering their service, but I wasn’t going to keep adding on to the already increasing cost of my “tour.”

Borobudur, as the largest Buddhist temple in the world, is naturally the most visited attraction in Indonesia.  And, as it was just after Ramadan, when Muslims could travel again, it was even more jam-packed than usual.  Combine this with the afore-mentioned double 90 heat/humidity, and I thought I was going to die.  I actually busted out my little silver umbrella like so many other visitors and used it to try and block some of the merciless sun/heat.  Needless to say, the temple isn’t quite so “enjoyable” when you’re moving along with a mob of people.  It was also disappointing to find that they had no “lookout” or anything to get a nice view of the temple as a whole – which is what really makes it look impressive.  I had to search on Google for a “bird’s eye view” to add to my own pics.  But, at the end of the day, I’m glad I saw it.  It’s pretty cool, definitely huge, and now I can say I’ve been to the 2^nd and 3^rd largest temples in the entire world (Karnak in Egypt is 2^nd) – but, based on the mass of humanity, and the stories I’ve heard of just as bad if not worse masses of humanity at #1, I don’t think I’ll be going to see Angkor Wat anytime soon.  L

And then, of course, when I came out to the exit after an hour, the driver was nowhere to be seen.  I waited 10 mins. then 20, and started to panic.  I was 2 hours from my hotel, with no phone, no numbers to call anyone anyway, and a flight that evening to Bali.  I waited another 10 minutes then tried to find my way to where we’d parked – hoping I could remember which gray van was the one we came in, when the driver popped up, all smiles, and asked if I was ready to go.  I definitely was.

I ended my time in Indonesia with a few days in Bali.  And, as mentioned on Facebook, Bali is to the rest of Indonesia as Hong Kong is to China.  Much cleaner, nicer, funner, prettier, etc.  But, on the flip side, it’s not like it’s that much more special (in fact, it’s not) than Hawai’i.  I guess living for three years in “paradise” makes it not really that necessary to see other ones.

I DID really like the hotel I was in, though – particularly the infinity pool.  I spent more time in that than on the beach, as it was cool to hang out at the edge of it, looking down on the strip and waiting for one of the passersby to happen to look up, figure out what it was and gawk/point.  J

Bali was also more annoying than Hawai’i due to the ubiquitous “Massage?” queries. I’d really be curious to know how many times I heard that one word question during the two days I spent roaming around Kuta.  Worse, some of them actually touch you/semi-grab your shoulder or arm as they make their “pitch.”  I’m not one of those people who really dislikes being touched, but I definitely do not “appreciate” being touched by strangers trying to get me to buy something I have no interest in.  But, at the end of the day, I’m glad I ended my Indonesian adventure with Bali.

But OF COURSE I could not escape Indonesia w/o more drama.  I had been “disappointed” to find that after you check in for your flight, you are then hit up by the airport for an “airport fee” before you go through security.  Yes, they add fees on to flights in the U.S., but it’s all on the ticket, you can charge it, etc.  I had to pay 40,000 Rupiah to go from Jakarta to Yogyakarta, 35,000 from Yogyakarta to Bali, and then 30,000 from Bali back to Jakarta.  To be safe, I kept aside 60,000 to leave Jakarta for Hong Kong, and then managed to spend the rest of my FRupiah so I wouldn’t leave with any.  But OF COURSE, they wanted 150,000(!) Rupiah to leave Jakarta.  I explained I didn’t have that much, and asked to charge it.  No dice.  I had not seen an ATMs in the departure terminal that took my Union Pay ATM card.  I asked them what I could do.  They were totally unsympathetic, blamed the “airport administration” and insisted that even tho I’d already bought/paid for a ticket, checked my baggage, had no more time left on my Indonesian Visa, etc., that I wouldn’t be given a boarding pass until I coughed up the 150K in local currency.  All I can say is: How. Fucking. Ghetto.  I had to truck to another terminal, arrivals section, to get the cash.  At this point, I could not WAIT to leave Indonesia.

And this isn’t even mentioning when my flight from Jakarta to Yogyakarta disappeared from the departure screen and I had no idea (along with the rest of the passengers) what was going on. Or how in Yogyakarta they had a SHITLOAD of Jakarta flights backed up, blocking everything else with WAY too many people crammed into a too-small waiting area.  Again, stop bragging about this being the 4^th largest country in the world!

At the end of the day, needless to say, I really can NOT recommend Indonesia – it’s kind of dirty, MORE than dirty in many places, the infrastructure is for shit, their tourism industry is woefully spotty and inefficient, and they have some “rules” and weirdnesses that make even CHINA seem relatively sane by comparison.  At most, if you really want to X it off your bucket list, I would suggest flying into Yogyakarta and seeing Borobudur just to say you did – and maybe checking out Prambanan, as well, while you’re there. Kind of a drag to have ended what was otherwise a fabulous 3-month globe-trotting adventure!

Final question from my year in China and sojourn through SE Asia: why do Asians hate carpet?