Weekend in Uganda

Beautiful Airport besides Lake Victoria!

The Nile meets Lake Victoria

Lunch at Lake Victoria

My dream - Bath looking over Lake Victoria

Nice Japanese Lunch!

Another my dream - BBQ at home!

I spend this long weekend in Kampala to meet-up my friend who used to work in Juba.
It was great reunion and refreshing time for me.

Returnees' Transit Site

Food distribution at Returnees' Transit Site

Ladies continue their daily duties at the transit site

Even such a small girls, too

I joined food distribution monitoring at Returnees' transit site in Juba.
Life continues anywhere you go...

Iftar

Special Muslim dinner after fasting

Today, I joined a Muslim dinner called "iftar" with a group of colleague who tried fasting for one day(I didn't try fasting though).
The colleague who tried fasting told me that thirstiness was the biggest challenge. No wonder they happily finish a glass of juice. :-)

At the local market in the village

I bought some Okura.
When I tried to carry that Okura without any bag, a local woman, who was not the lady I bought the Okura from(!), approached me with very old plastic bag with some small holes and gave it to me. So touchy moment.

I think she used the bag for long time for several uses but decided to give it to me. So kind of her.


I cooked that Okura into Japanese style and enjoyed it! ;-)

School in a village

They call this place "school" with only one tents for 2 classroom spaces.

Tomato?

I thought this was tomato. But villager told me it is not tomato but fruit.
What does it taste like?

BTW, I don't consider tomato as fruit being against majority.

Tree of yellow juicy fruits

Not Orange, but Mango tree!
Can you believe that big Mango trees even start from such thin brunch(?)?

Site Visit

with gov officials.

Toyota v.s. Toyota

Toyota Land cruiser v.s. Toyota Pick-up for 3 hrs road trip.
Of course, Land cruiser.

I saw a big difference!!

Local handmade blocks (Juba)

Currently South Sudan is in rainy season.
July and August is the peak of its rain. During the rainy season, our activity become slow and inactive compared to the dry season due to inaccessibility to sites mainly.

I met this gentleman near the custom market in Juba.
He was building thick walls with this handmade blocks.
Once dry season starts, we can see block/brick making people here and there all over South Sudan.

Today's Way Station (as of 17.July.2012)

Brief stop in Tokyo

I found these cute package of crackers ;-)

After I visited China, I made a brief stop in Tokyo a couple of days.
And again flew back to China to spend another couple of days. Then  finally flew back to Juba yesterday.

Yes, now I'm back in the reality!

Beijing to Shanghai

We traveled from Beijing to Shanghai using Chinese bullet train!
Surprised to see the suburb area of China along the railway since I could hardly find people on the ground. I could find farming lands/plots and houses but hardly find real people on the street or land... Where are the 1.3 billion population??

Break in China

Wow! Really??

Currently, I'm on leave in China.
I arrived in Beijing via Addis Ababa where I could meet up with my former colleague for couple of hours.
It is always very nice to have chat with colleagues who are in the almost same stage of our career.

Ethiopian traditional food 

Ethiopian music & dance

Ethiopian coffee

On JP news

 

My baby project was on Japanese news!

http://news.tbs.co.jp/20120707/newseye/tbs_newseye5075062.html