30th January 2007

Hi dear email bulk mail list, (part 2 after the power failure, apologies if you got this twice).

Jo and I have arrived in Pohnpei safe and well, and all is going surprisingly smoothly so far.

By way of update to those who have no idea what I am talking about, firstly I am sorry for being a crap friend and not keeping in touch about our move. Jo has started a job as a lawyer for the congress of the Federated States of Micronesia. We are now living on the island of Pohnpei (PO Box 2398 Kolonia, Pohnpei FSM 96941 if you want to send luxuries from home, non-starbucks real coffee would be a lifesaver!) We are planning to be here for 2 years (thats what the contract says anyway).

Pohnpei is in the middle of the pacific ocean, pretty much north of Brisbane about 7 degrees north of the equator. Hot, wet and steamy is the best description (and not just because of the huge array of slightly dodgy DVD's for $1 rental...) and things go pretty slowly here. There is a thin veneer of american western culture pasted over a rather shambolic developing country here, but many pleasant surprises have been found. The japanese also have an influence here, as it is their premier diving destination, with some of the best scuba diving in the pacific. Quite a few australians are here for similar reasons. I am hoping to get my scuba licence and get out to the reef, and maybe to Chuuk, which is the next island and has amazing diving.

Food is very acceptable, and the cheapest item is often large slabs of sashimi tuna. It is everywhere and excellent. A whole sashimi set dinner of 3+ courses is just a few dollars (US of course). Booze is temptingly cheap here, they have Kirin and Asahi beer going cheap, and we found Tooheys New and XXXX in a supermarket the other day. We are avoiding Miller and Bud Lite though, it is just too hard to stoop to that level. The fruit and vegetable boat came in a few days ago so their is a gluttonous feast of fresh things going on, but I suspect it won't last. The last boat came in November... There are bananas, mangoes, lime, coconuts and starfruit all over the place here and they are very cheap, so we wont starve or get scurvy. We have moved into our house (in the State of U, which sounds like a psychiatric disorder) just a few hundred metres from the best hotel and bar on the island (no accident there of course) which is an eco-tourism resort from the 70's (one of the first in the world I believe). We had a magnificent dinner to celebrate our arrival there the other night, in a huge thatched room (biggest in the pacific!) on tall poles amongst the jungle foliage overlooking the ocean. There is also a small room similarly positioned but further out over a cliff above the jungle, which I think will very quickly become my favourite place on earth.

One of the biggest influences are the seemingly endless variations on the catholic missionary theme. We are regularly surrounded by (actual) hordes of boys in white short sleeved shirts carrying backpacks doing the mormon conversion spiel. I am waiting to have an actual conversation with one of them to see if they are familiar with the mormon situation in canberra (not sure if it is a myth, but I heard that canberra was the only place on the planet where the mormons gave up after achieving a zero conversion rate in their time there). They are on fire here however, and their fleets of giant SUV's are a formidable force on the streets of Kolonia. If the several dozen other missionary advance forces get their act together similarly it could get quite tense. It seems souls are a hot commodity here...

It rains here every day, a lot. They get 5000mm a year where we live, and more than 10000mm a year in the interior. There are some spectacular waterfalls and the whole place is GREEN. If you stand still for too long something will grow on you, or perhaps a coconut will fall on your head, or a gecko will take up residence on your leg.

Everyone drives everywhere here, and we are going to have to get a car, as it is about 15km from home to Jo's work, and the public transport system mostly consists of walking. The rain makes it a bit tricky to get about under your own power. Everything metal here is rusting, so cars have a very short life. They only cost a few thousand dollars, but people don't bother repairing them and there are hundreds of wrecks along the roads, slowly being consumed by the jungle. Tyres are at a premium, and most local cars have at least one of those tiny space saver spare tyres permanently mounted. Luckily the speed limit is 25mph so the complete lack of grip results in only a few accidents. The usual 3rd world improbably huge buses and trucks are charging around the roads here, and the pedestrians and endless dogs and chickens seem completely oblivious to their impending doom, which makes for amusing driving.

Jungle

So much has happened since we moved here it's overwhelming trying to start this blog...
so in typical Jo fashion I'll put it off til later, and do a slap dash job for now.

I'm feeling Jungle-y today. So pictures of jungle it is.

Ben on a main road. (not kidding)

This doesn't look nearly as imposing as it is - the jungle looms up in a cliff about 100m high and the top seems to curl over like a wave. I live with minor background dread of a jungle tsunami.

Bananas everywhere. Unfortunately all trees here are privately owned. Fortunately a huge bunch costs 75c. Up yours, cyclone Larry.

I am so immature, but I giggle every time I see a banana flower leaf on the ground.

The harbour. The Rusty Anchor is around further to the right. I love the Rusty Anchor. It has $2 beers. All the time. There is this incredibly decrepit building on the ring road - you have to go though a broken door, head down some scummy stairs, then follow a huge old sailing rope through a myriad of disgusting corridors until.. you burst though into a room open to the environment, with a huge balcony overlooking the harbour and the jungle and the mountains and out to sea, and all the rusty old ship wrecks.

Hibiscus here isn't just pretty - it's essential for making Sakau. More on Sakau later.

Pretty.

Jo xx

First post

The fringing coral reef which surrounds Pohnpei and forms the lagoon. The surfing here is apparently excellent, but deadly to the inexperienced. Some breaks have only a few centimetres of water above the razor sharp coral. I had hoped to learn to surf here, but everyone I have met, including the guy who runs the local surf club, tell me it is not a particularly good idea. I will have to experience it vicariously when the professional tour visits later in the year. The guys who are posted here with the Navy are keen spectators and I hope to tag along with them.

Sokehs rock dominates the skyline above Kolonia, the largest town in the FSM.
Welcome! Kaselehlie! Etc… Everything here is Kaselehlie this and that, it is the equivalent of the Hawaiian ‘aloha’ and happens to make a good tag for the state number plates, the name of the main street, and the name of the local Phillipino karaoke café which serves quite a reasonable Pad Thai..



We are very easy to please, especially after 18 hours travel overnight with no sleep…Glad to have made it through rather unfriendly US officialdom. (no rubber gloves but if you looked at them the wrong way…)We are very, very lucky to avoid the majority of US neuroticism in Australia regarding air travel. Our travel from Cairns to Guam, Chuuk and Pohnpei involved multiple x-rays of carry on luggage, disposal of all liquids (we even had to discard water purchased inside the sterile area of the airport!), searching of the plane at the 20 minute stopover in Chuuk, and Guam requiring us to go through immigration after leaving the plane (with digital photos and finger print scans), then immediately re-enter immigration after walking 50 metres in a sterile area to go back into the airport! Various metal detectors, shoe removals and liquid confiscations later, and I get the feeling they are just causing more angst than they are preventing.

Ben