Year End Review 2008

This year has come and gone and now I’m looking back at what has to have been the most exciting, challenging, and rewarding year I have had.

From skiing on snow covered mountains in Norway to partying with friends back in Toronto at the Unicorn to swimming in the Gulf of Thailand, I’ve have seen a great deal this year and had the best time doing so. I completed my Masters and have begun an international career volunteering with the UNDP Regional Centre in Bangkok.

I began the year in the Spanish Canary Islands off the North West coast of Africa where I had travelled to for the 2007 Christmas holidays and spent a month there. Although I spent a lot of time on the beach and had a lot of fun during the night, I still (and will always maintain) that I also did a lot of school work while there.

At the end of January I made my way back to Norway which at the time felt like I was going home. Although the weather was cold and snowy after a month on the beach believe it or not you get to miss those types of things that, because of growing up in Canada, bring true feelings of what winter should feel like. After moving in to dorm life again I quickly joined the International Student Union and with encouragement from my brother (still owe him for that advice) ran for a spot on the board. Little did I know that I would end up Vice-President. Being on the board brought with it some challenges but also more importantly it gave me an instant social life which I enjoyed very much. Themed parties, club nights, ski trips, or even just playing poker there were a lot of good memories.

On the academic side of things, my peers and supervisor were the best. Spending time in our office working on our papers was actually some of the best times spent in Norway. Lots of coffee and lots of interesting conversations every week kept the dull of research at a minimum.
At the beginning June it came time for the dissertation. For nearly a week straight I was rehearsing my presentation. Cutting out bits, adding some and practicing it over and over until I could recite it word for word while listening to loud music and walking. In the end all went well. At the time my parents were in Trondheim and although I did not allow them to sit in on the defence, I still remember having to recite my part of the dissertation to my father afterwards then having to remember all the various questions and my responses to them. In hindsight it may have been better had I let them sit in. What a journey it was to receive my Masters. It is perhaps the thing I am still to this day most proud of.

Shortly thereafter I gave my biggest piece of luggage to my parents and head to London for just under a week. Although I had been to London before it was good to go back and see some of the sights again especially since shortly after my first trip there my camera was stolen while I was in Paris.

London was great and I had a good time but being so close to home and having been away for nearly a year I was anxious to get back and see my family and friends again.

Once back in Toronto my friends and I quickly got caught up and got back to doing a lot of the things we had before. The Unicorn became “our” bar, a kind of Cheers for us. When a friend of mine from Germany came to visit it was in fact the Unicorn which I took her to first.

During the day I worked at the TD Bank while I awaited the final decision of when and where I would be placed through CANADEM. Having looked into CANADEM before leaving Norway I had my hopes set high for possibly volunteering through them with the UN and this excitement kept growing until I finally found out where I would be going and what I would be doing. In the end it was with the UNDP in the Regional Centre in Bangkok working with Pro Poor Public-Private Partnerships.

So I packed up and left Canada again not knowing this time when I would be returning.
Bangkok, Bangkok, Bangkok. There is a lot to be said about Bangkok and Thailand in general. I’ve tried to write as much of it down as I can in this blog but I feel that it is perhaps impossible to really get a true representation of the experience. Perhaps I’m just not a good enough writer and my vocabulary is too basic but I like to think that perhaps some things need to be experienced and not read to fully understand it, even if were a Pulitzer prize winner author.

Although office life is interesting and lots of very important things are happening through this office it is not what I prefer to talk about. Instead it is the night time, after work, when all of us get together on the weekend enjoy some Thai food, or if bored of that Indian is always a top pick, then venture out to the discos and bars.

On weekends or holidays there are always a group of people going to one of the popular beach destinations. Hua Hin is good but my new favourite has to be Koh Samet where I just spend the Christmas holidays. The sand is like flour and the water is a clear turquoise blue.

I am ending this year off in a place where the food is good, the people are friendly, the scenery is out of this world, and the temperature is perfect.

What a year! This year like last I do not have my sights set on anywhere in particular perhaps Africa, who knows, certainly not me.

Now you will have to excuse me I have to prepare to celebrate bringing in the New Year.

Wishing everyone happiness and good health in the new year.

Andrew

Koh Samet

For the Christmas holiday I went to Koh Samet, a nearby island turned nature reserve. The beaches there were incredible the whitest, finest sand I think I’ve ever experienced.

Getting there involved about a four hour bus ride followed by a half hour boat ride. Once on the island all visitors have to pay an entrance fee. For foreigners it is 200 Baht while for nationals it is only 40 Baht. The difference sounds a little surprising it is like that for a lot of things here in Thailand. Personally I don’t mind it that much although there is something to be said about the fact that such a policy would not go over at all in many other countries.
During the night time there was a lot to do. There were fire shows (very impressive) and you could also buy a fire balloon which was very interesting.


Most of the time during the day was spent just relaxing on the beach enjoying the sun and water.

I was a little worried about jellyfish even though I wasn’t told to look out for them at this particular beach. What I was even more worried about though (again over reacting) was malaria. I bought pills for it and took them religiously, even wore bug repellent. It seems to have worked, although I won’t know for sure until two weeks after coming back when I finish the last pill. I put on so much bug spray I don’t think a mosquito came within two meters of me.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Andrew

Christmas is coming!!!

Things are becoming fairly slow these days. Although several projects are still on the go most of them (at least the ones in my ToR) are at the stage where I have to wait for other people to contribute. Still, there are small projects such as work on the SNAP web tool and taking meeting minutes for different meetings.

From the sounds of the office I think a number of staff have already gone on holiday which only adds to a feeling that slowness. Even outside the office as a few of my friends have left for holidays one this week and one next, there is little to do on the weekends. As for myself, I’ll probably head to either Hua Hin again (third time for me) or maybe try Ko Samet which is west of Bangkok. I won’t be leaving though until after Monday of next week after a very important meeting with Delger. He will be away for at least a month so we need to go over how I will manage things in his absence and what he would like me to have ready for him when he returns. I have a feeling that January will be slow. In large part it will be because the template for documenting the PPP practices in Nepal will hopefully be in their hands for them to work on over that time, and with Marcia leaving for Geneva there won’t be anyone around to give me small day to day task. Who knows though I could be wrong. There was mention of me managing the programme while Delger is away which is probably still the case. If that is what happens I will most certainly be busy although I’m not sure what managing it for at least a month will entail. Part of the reason why I’ve been working on SNAP for the past two weeks is to provide an internet presences so that people who are looking into starting a PPP have somewhere to go to. Who knows what will happen really. If things do turn out to be slow I’ll work on fine tuning my resume and perhaps start applying to various job postings.

I’ve taken some pictures of the lights that are now up all over town. Very nice to look at.

On a bit of the interesting side I have learnt that many programmes that deal with climate change are actually intended to reduce the impact of climate change when it happens. The Bali Declaration is worth reading and is based on a nearly 800 page report by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Of the IPCC report I spoke with the team leader for Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development and he mentioned to me that the part of most interest to me is AR4 which is interesting. It is easily found on google for those who would like to read parts of it. Below is the Bali Declaration which in itself is worth a quick read.

Bali Declaration

The 2007 IPCC report, compiled by several hundred climate scientists, has unequivocally concluded that our climate is warming rapidly, and that we are now at least 90% certain that this is mostly due to human activities. The amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere now far exceeds the natural range of the past 650,000 years, and it is rising very quickly due to human activity. If this trend is not halted soon, many millions of people will be at risk from extreme events such as heat waves, drought, floods and storms, our coasts and cities will be threatened by rising sea levels, and many ecosystems, plants and animal species will be in serious danger of extinction.

The next round of focused negotiations for a new global climate treaty (within the 1992 UNFCCC process) needs to begin in December 2007 and be completed by 2009. The prime goal of this new regime must be to limit global warming to no more than 2 ºC above the pre-industrial temperature, a limit that has already been formally adopted by the European Union and a number of other countries.

Based on current scientific understanding, this requires that global greenhouse gas emissions need to be reduced by at least 50% below their 1990 levels by the year 2050. In the long run, greenhouse gas concentrations need to be stabilised at a level well below 450 ppm (parts per million; measured in CO2-equivalent concentration). In order to stay below 2 ºC, global emissions must peak and decline in the next 10 to 15 years, so there is no time to lose.
As scientists, we urge the negotiators to reach an agreement that takes these targets as a minimum requirement for a fair and effective global climate agreement.

For Christmas I will be heading to Koh Samet which supposedly has some of the best beaches in Thailand. Can’t wait.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Andrew

A Blog Without End

This will be the longest blog I’ll be posting so bare with me there is a lot of things happening and the posts are back logged as I am quite busy these days doing things instead of writing about them. Now that I have a four day weekend which I have devoted to myself I have the time to write down what I’ve been doing for the past two weeks or so (time is flying by) and what I will be doing for Christmas/New Years etc.

Going from most recent to oldest news.

A fellow CANADEM volunteer David was in Bangkok for a few days while travelling from Laos to Krabi province in Thailand. He stayed at my apartment and had some drinks talked about Canada, CANADEM, and the job search afterwards. I’ve helped him a little in that regard, talking to Marcia about what his next steps might be and providing some information on the Masters programme I was in.

The long weekend was really good. Very relaxing. The weekend started Thursday night with a dinner at Marcia’s followed by a Myua Thai boxing match. It was interesting to watch and as I entered the stadium I was told that if I could give them two weeks’ notice I can go for free with a group of friends. Supposedly they give this deal to all Westerners living in Bangkok.

I took my first boat ride through the city. It turns out there is a dock right near my apartment which means I can now go from my place to the centre of the city for 8 Baht instead of the 100-150 Baht I have been paying for taxi’s and tuk tuk’s.

Hua Hin

I went back to Hua Hin two weekends ago to visit my Aunt Tip who was there visiting family and friends. It was nice to get out of the big city of Bangkok, especially with the current political climate, and good to see my Aunt again.

Hua Hin is a great place to spend a weekend away from Bangkok. Only three hours away it is close enough to make the trip there pleasurable (just read a few chapters from a book, in my case “World Without End” by Ken Follett) but also far enough away to escape the hustle and bustle of Bangkok life on one of the very beautiful beaches.


While in Hua Hin my Aunt took me to see monkey mountain which is a Wat (temple) on the side of a large rocky outcropping where monkeys also live. We arrived somewhat late however so I only saw one monkey. Still very nice though.

I thought about heading back to Bangkok late on Sunday but the weather in the morning was cold with overcast skies so I stayed near the guesthouse. When the weather did finally warmed up and the clouds went away it was after lunch and by that time I just wanted to head back to Bangkok and relax at the apartment allowing myself sometime to prepare for this week.
As some of you may have already read the PAD were somewhat successful in dissolving the government. Somchai has left office and the PAD have allowed the airport to resume operations.

Thai Vineyards

On Saturday a few weeks ago I enjoyed a nice day trip into the country with some friends from work to tour vineyards about two hours north of Bangkok. We met at around 8:30 in the morning which was an early start for me on the weekend. The fact that I had stayed up late the night before did not help. After we met we jumped into the shuttle bus which we rented for the day at a very low price. It took nearly a full hour just to get outside of Bangkok which the size of still amazes me.

We arrived at our first stop which was very nice for the first vineyard I had ever seen. Although the fields were nice to see and the tour on how wine is made was interesting the wine itself was pretty bad. I don’t know much about wine but I know bad wine when I taste it. The wine had very little taste to it. This might be because of the low latitude in which the wine is grown or maybe something about the grapes used. Either way I didn’t actually buy any wine although a friend of mine, Johannes, bought two bottles. After the first vineyard we stopped at a Muslim restaurant for lunch while on our way to the second vineyard.

The second vineyard was almost identical to the first although considerable smaller. What little taste there was to the wine was not very good and I instead enjoyed a cup of coffee, one of the many I had that day just trying to wake up.

After the wine tasting and vineyard tours we stopped at a nice village a little further north that was designed to look like a Spanish community. It was interesting to see as I felt transported to Spain. The buildings had very nice architecture and the ice cream was supposedly very good, although I myself did not have any. This was how we ended the day. On the car ride home most of us slept while some of the lawyers stayed up talking about Dumping regulations or something along those lines. Apparently it is when a country exports products and sells them for less than they would in their own country. From what I heard it is a really big issue.

That’s all folks.


Andrew