Solomons in August Day 2 080809

The skies of which I was sleeping under

I originally had in mind to visit some beaches, such as the ‘red beach’ where the Japanese forces landed during the WWII. But, things changed when I was pretty much stuck in the office all day! Mind you, today is Saturday. Littol and Delia was supposed to come between 8-8.30am but only arrived at 9.10am… Solomon time, indeed. Solomon Telekom took almost all day to install the phone lines. Though they work slow, they have a good time chatting, singing and hang around doing nothing at times. It is the work ethic here, but hey... on the other hand, maybe us Sydneysiders are too serious about work!

Delia & I

Scratchy - Our guard dog

Anyways, Delia and I went for lunch in a local shop (X Take away). 2 rice, chicken & beef; plus 2 drinks costs only SI$73. After lunch, I was so full I had to take a nap. Off I go into ZzzZZz on a chair, outside the office facing the sea and under a shady tree. It was a ‘wow’ sleep.

When they had finally finish the job at around 4, Delia & I caught a bus (only SI$2 per trip!) to Honiara Central Market. It is an amazing sight to see Man, women & children (mainly women & children) sitting in rows and row of the market selling bananas, coconut, ferns (which they eat as veggies), shell jewellery, etc. I walked Delia home that afternoon. She took me through the back lanes. It is poverty stricken.

Coconut & banana sellers

Jewellery section in the market

After dropping her off, I went to the cultural centre where I tipped the guide SI$100 because I had no change. I think he was happy…

Jack & the warrior figure

Enjoying the sunset before dinner

In the evening, as I was enjoying the amazing skies as the sunsets and the water beating the rocks, a lady came up and talked to me. As we talked we learnt that we were both fairly new in the country. Alison (a Kiwi) is on an assignment here with RAMSI, working with the Ministry of Finance in HR. She invited me to dinner and I went along to meet Gerard (an Aussie born 1975) who is a driven auditor, and Dominic (an American born 1960 but looks like a 30YO) who is looking at the reforming/streamlining the tax system. We had dinner @ the Taj Mahal. I was the youngest there; and was very impressed with their experience, confidence, interesting jobs, etc. Then we came back to the hotel to continue our chat over a banana split, which we split between the 4 of us… hehe Oh, I also found out today that I am due to check out tomorrow from this hotel…. But, to where I am not sure yet!