Ghana 15 More Polo and a break from Accra

.......THIS ON MY DOOR STEP......

Been a quiet month. 

Finally got a tower crane to get erected on site. Small step for mankind, major one for the contractor..... Say no more.

But before that, sitting on our deck at our Apartment.  What a sight. Polo just outside the room. Wonderful backdrop. Free entertainment. I've never been keen on horses. Bony creatures.... But this is exceptional.

Last week I had to go out and look at some erosion on a friends beach front property. But looking at the photos it does not look a bad place to have a swim.  Erosion and future coastal protection ideas will follow in due course.

We've now reached the end of our contract. So off to Thailand at the weekend.  Via Istanbul. A few days in Turkey. Been before but well worth a second trip. Wanna's first time so I get to be the guide. Well sort of. Just guide her past the shops!!!

       

Rayong Office Lunch

Just had lunch. Nothing special. Well by office lunch standards!

Think about it.

Boiled rice,
Crab cooked in coconut milk, with assorted salads and of course chilies.
Several "pastes" which are  northern Thai dishes complementing the salads.
Deep fried fish,
Stewed pork, slow cooked with sweet sauce and boiled eggs.
Pork cooked with Bamboo,
and
chutneys assorted pickled cabbages and greens.

-- My selection --

Oh yes I almost forgot......

Desert of water melon and some coconut milk with jelly.

Now back to work... well maybe first a quick nap !!!!

Beach Side Life

Today is lovely and sunny. About 30 degrees. Sun shining and perfect tourist weather. The wind is giving us a cooling effect and life is just, well things just "feel" good. However I'm not a tourist today but at work. So I'll enjoy as best I can, but no doubt someone will screw it up before sundown !....

The big ship in the background is an LNG tanker. Delivering LNG (Liquid Natural Gas is how we know it, but for it to be transport it must be cooled and then it turns into liquid. -163 Deg C.  Cold indeed.). In front of it are what appear small sticks you can see sticking out of the sea. These are the new piles we're installing to support the next jetty which we are building.

Looks good. Lovely day for fishing....

However while its good with the sun and breeze the down side  is it generates choppy waves. Translated means difficult for our barges and equipment to work offshore for pile driving and any other accurate work on the jetty construction.

So what to do. Not much is the answer. Just wait it out. Frustrating to say the least. I took a couple of photos and then found a few others from a few days past when  we were inspecting fabrication of some steel piles for the jetty. There are made from flat steel plate which comes in rolls from the steel mill. They are then "unwound" and spun out on a big rolling/turning machine and welded as they go along. Clever stuff. Welding looks impressive as the steel moves along. Pictures below show a pile being turned and also the welding sparks !!!!!

Also I've added in the standard photo of perception of construction site activities. Just so you know Thailand construction sites same as UK and the rest of the world.....i.e. two persons working and about 10 watching...... Actually it is a demonstration for a new mix for concrete. So we we were all ovbserves. Even more watching from outside of the photo....

Sunday On The Way To Work

Have not posted much for a while and was on my way to work quietly contemplating life ! Sunday mornings are normally much quieter on the roads. Little traffic but as usual the lights were on red. You know that feeling when stuck at lights, no other traffic yet you can't move ! Annoying to say the least. Still I was in my more philosophical mood so it sort of went over the top of me so to speak. Anyway while waiting along came a trader on a "saling", (three wheeler). He was selling dusters, feather dusters on long and short poles. Idea to reach those difficult to reach places ! There he was, a chap out early on a Sunday morning out trying to make a living. Optimistic or what ?  Indeed so he must be doing OK otherwise why bother. Especially on an empty road at 8.00am on Sunday morning. Got to hand it to him, keen to say the least.  Wish him well.

Normally I take this as one of the more normal sights, a fully loaded saling complete with overhanging stock, no forward or rear vision for the driver, let alone being able to see out the side to customers..... Just another trader.

But today stuck at the traffic lights the view of all overhanging goods for sale on this little bike come mobile stall suddenly became an interesting object for a quick photo and chance to share the moment.

Where is he ?

Life on the sea shore

Interesting we always hear talk about global warming and how time is running out for us all. The end of the earth is near etc. Then we hear the Antarctica ice plateau is increasing, getting better etc. All very confusing. This is all a bit philosophical for me but I post this for a simple reason.

Earlier today I was walking round our construction site and checking on the storage of some shore defense concrete units (Accropodes) we have. These are large concrete units designed to reduce the wave energy from the sea damaging our shore line. Quite common things and these ones will be reinstated once we complete our works. But back to the point I was trying to make. We are all worried about global warming and here the marine life does not have much choice. Needs to survive and get on with life. So looking below at the photos you can see we have new Accropodes units alongside some used units.

The Accropodes taken out of the sea have oysters and other mollusk growing all over them. These creatures have adapted to the concrete being in the sea and attached themselves, grown and survived. Just got on with life. We’ve disturbed them but the next lot will grow back again next year.

Makes me think it’s the logical way forward. Forget what we would like things to be and make the best of what we have. Adapt and move on.

All this a bit heavy for me... I'll get back to restaurants and travel items next !!!!

Finally Legal

Been on a business visa for last two months which is fine. But now I am working I need a formal work permit. Was finally processed and approved on 2nd Dec. Now good to go to work for next 12 months. 

Sights along the way to and from work

I’ve been taking a few photos on the way to and from work. Generally poor quality shots taken on the phone while driving. Not a good idea given the amount of motorbikes around...

The way to work takes me through a small village/market area and there is always something to see. Mornings the breakfast sellers and shops opening up etc. Coming home is not much different. Just the time of day has changed so some activities are starting up and others ceased.

One I particularly liked was of the dog looking out the window. Normally I would take that as  a normal sight but in this case it was a bit different.  He’s looking out of the right hand side. I.e. the drives side!!!

On my trip I normally stop off and use the local laundry service. Dropping stuff in the morning and collecting it the following afternoon.  Yesterday evening I got there a bit later than usual and the kids were already asleep. Crashed out on the floor… 

Back in Thailand

What a ride.  Since leaving Atyrau we have been to UK, Seychelles and now back in my old job at Map Ta Phut.

I’ll give a brief summary of events in the passing few months. Yes, two months passed since posting.

End of August, actually 25^th saw me depart Kazakhstan. Abet with mixed emotions. It was fun, working 6 weeks on and 2 weeks off gave me plenty of leave and a good salary. Added perk was the free travel. However the chance to come back and work in Thailand and be home in the evenings was a great draw. And it awon.

First stop after Atyrau was London. Called in to see the girls and then up to Thetford to see the olds. I’d hired a car which makes for a very easy life rather than waiting on buses and tubes etc, especially as I was lugging my guitar, a heavy suitcase and odds and ends. It’s not till you start using public transport you realize just how much rubbish you carry around with you on these trips. If I was residing in London that’s a different matter.

So I had a week up and around Norfolk and then off to Seychelles.
Lovely beach as always.

Sarah’s wedding planned for the 20^th September. Big day for her and indeed for me. Although for me easy, I only had to turn up and walk her down the aisle and do a speech. But preparing the speech took some doing. Needed to cover all bases and make sure at the same time I did not make it to long… Bit daunting but it was well received.  All in all the wedding was fantastic.  I gave it 11/10.  We even did a practice run the day before.

Then the real deal.................

Old Man giving his speach

We did while in Seychelles spend 2 weeks on La Digue. I do love it there. Relaxed, bar b q on beach, fly fishing, biking, back to the simple life. Had some quiet evenings and a Bar B Q with friends. Limited internet at the café only, and  no TV…. Wonderful.

And I found time for a lodge meeting. Now I’m back in my old stomping ground of Map Ta Phut. Thinking about it I must have worked here, on and off for a total of about 5 years. Long time but its good looking round and seeing the various project all up and running. I can think, yes I was a part of that. More importantly I’ve met several people whom I worked with during the course of these times. All seem to be doing well and enjoying life.

Let’s hope for this current project it wil continue and I’ll be able to say the same.

Oh yes. Bought myself a new bike so should be adding road trip photos in due course. (Next Blog post). Plan to try and keep a really good record of costs and see what it works out at Baht/kilometer. Interested then check my link to page the bolt.

Enough ramblings, but now you know I’m back….

I've added as "Spread Sheet on Bolt" in another page called Bolt ( I know original 1) in which I intend to keep going the running costs ...meanwhile the wife rides on.....

950cc of Raw power...

The Boss

Office Video...................Boring, you've been warned !

A few weeks back one of the lads at work showed me a youtube video of a rugby club celebrating their 125 years in the game. It was a sort of poem cum slide show etc of the members each reading a short line. Glyn the chap at work and I decided to do the same for our office. he wrote the poem following the form of the earlier one. We then selected people form the office to add one line each.

I post it here, not so much for you to enjoy as a memory in time for me! Selfish I know but where else does one put these things.  Polite answers on a back of a postcard... :)

Working for KPJV

Another Day At Work

Went to work this morning, bright and early. Whilst there, Jodie, our Environmental Officer informed me she had found a stranded turtle near our piling barge. She brought it back to the shore and has now taken it off to the local turtle rescue farm. So I decided it was worth a small mention. It's good to see people caring about the environment and in this case she thinks the turtle is probably starving. Why you ask? Well given all the heavy rains in Queensland over the last year the discharge of fresh water into the sea has killed off vast areas of sea grass and other veggies that turtles eat. (not sure which veggies exactly). I've asked her, Jodie, that is not the turtle, to provide us with an update, particularly if it is good news!! So following on from this little event I decided to go on utube and see whats happening with turtles in our area. Found a link to some people in Tannum Sands who had videoed a turtle as they put it back in the sea.
Tannum Sands is about 20 kilometers south of us. That operation looked successful. lets hope we are.

Helicopter Trip

Just been on a helicopter work trip to look at our project. We go every month to take some ariel views and measure progress. This time I took the opportunity to take a few shots of the town and even a shot of where we are staying. It has been a clouded day so poor quality photos. But at least it gives you some idea of the place. The red ship shows the open hatched of a coal ship. These ships are the big boys carrying over 100,000 tonnes of coal per load to various places around the world.
Gladstone as you can see is small with lots of satellite estates, a marina and lots of commercial shipping berths. All good. Nothing special to show just general shots to let you see the place and give you some idea of what’s here.

Real Men Use Real Bar B Qs

As I've mentioned several times I won't discuss work in my daily (now seeming to be more like weekly) musings. However this I could not resist. Walking round the site this morning I came across a super Bar B Q. I ask you 'What more could a boy want but a trailer with a double Bar B Q on it with plenty of room for a couple of Eskies full of ice and beer ? Wonderful. Unfortunately for all the tradies there in a strict no alcohol policy on the site. Still think positively, it is nearly the weekend. All we'll need to do it hook up the trailer and off we go. Lovely.

Sunday Bar B Q And The Prime Minister

I mentioned last posting about the Prime Minister being on our Construction site. Well l’ve located the photos. She’s the little on with ginger hair!!!! Unfortunately my photo shows her looking away. But believe me it was her!

Last Sunday we went to an old dilapidated garden and collected oranges. Followed by a picnic. Excellent.

Yesterday more food. We had been out buying a few small plants and then last night settled in for a Bar B Q using our new toy. Great way to cook. It uses any old wood we can find. And living next to a forest makes it a very simple job.

Also we seem to have been adopted by a large black and white bird. I’ll check the name this evening. He flies in and stays around. In fact I nipped home the other lunch time and he was about. He did not seem to mind me walking close to him and he was in no hurry to fly off.