Taiwan In Kiribati

Yesterday was a special day for Kiribati because the president of Taiwan arrived for an official visit. Everything was setup at the Otin Taai hotel to receive the Taiwanese delegation: the local operator worked all week-end to setup WI-FI access all other the hotel premises and a 1Mb satellite link has be contracted so that everyone could have a good internet connection (during the previous visit there had been complaints about the bad internet connection).



Sadly for my colleagues sleeping at Otin Taai they were not Taiwanese and they were asked to leave the hotel even though they had reservations for an extra night. They had the pleasure of having to look for a hotel room on the island at the last minute on the day of an official visit. One of them found a room with the missionaries of the Sacré Coeur and the other found a room in an empty house on the island; no need to say which one of them had the better night.



What was really funny yesterday is that the country decided to be clean for the president of Taiwan. You could see people with brooms sweeping near the road. I went for a walk before the arrival of the convoy to take a few pictures and I found a hole with garbage in it: instead of taking the stuff to the dump they had decided to burry it instead! It is true that it is quicker, I really didn’t think they would do such a thing. The inhabitants of Tarawa did something for the president of Taiwan that they don’t even do for themselves, I doubt that the president is aware of that.




La suite!

Week-end

Last week we moved from Otin Taai hôtel to the Fema Lodge, it is much closer to the office and I don’t have to endure the 30 minutes car drive on a very bad road anymore. In the Fema Lodge, I live in a 4 bedroom apartment where I share the bathroom, the kitchen and the living room. It is a real pleasure to be able to have a real breakfast in the morning and if you don’t feel like cooking the hotel can cook something for you.



This week-end we went to buy a few things with my colleague in the few shops we could find around our hotel. As there are very few things to do here, it is always nice to go for a walk, you get to see how and where people live and it is very interesting. On the way I saw that there were small houses in courtyards, looking more closely I found out that those were tombs. It seems that people bury there relatives on family ground. There is indeed a cemetery on the island but I think that it is a local custom to bury your elders where they have lived all their life. I was not at all surprised as I have seen the same thing in French Polynesia on the island of Raivavae. It is possible that this is common to all the pacific islands, anyway it is good to have your relatives close to you all the time. It wouldn’t be possible in France but I like the idea, here it is possible because the families never move.



The people are really nice and welcoming, some said hi to us on the way or waved at us. We went out to get some minced mint in order to cook some spaghetti bolognese but we had forgotten that it is not possible to find everything on this island. In one shop we found some frozen beef and some bags with frozen chicken legs but no minced meat. We then went to another shop where all four freezers were full of frozen chicken legs. We finally bought some chicken legs as well as some cabbage which seem to be very popular on the island. I had hoped to find some cheese but was not lucky, thankfully my stay here is soon coming to an end and I will soon be able to eat anything I wish.




La suite!

The Cook

Now that we changed hotel we have to have diner in the hotels restaurant were each evening there is only one menu (1 entry, 3 main courses and 1 desert): the dishes are not that good and are expensive. The Otin Taai hotel is lost in the middle of nowhere so we have no chance of finding another restaurant in the area. Luckily we discovered that the restaurant where we are having all our lunches stays open till 8PM and does take away. At the end of the work day before the driver takes us back to our hotel we go get our diner. Last Thursday as I didn’t want to eat a fried dish (most of the dishes are fried here) I asked if it was possible to the chicken boiled instead of fried.



I laughed hard when the waitress said that it was not possible, she didn’t understand what I wanted. I then explained what I wanted to one waitress who really understood English. She was surprised by my request so I told her that I could show her if she didn’t know how to do it. I was in the kitchen showing everyone in there how to proceed. They only had pans and woks which is normal as they fry almost anything. I grabbed a wok and put it on the burner, the waitress took some water from a bucket to pour in the wok but I stopped her to ask where the water was coming from. It was rain water which is quite commonly used around here, I told her to fill half of the wok with the water then to add the chicken only when the water would be very hot. It was quite a show for the other waitresses and their friends who happened to be passing by. It really looked like the women had never boiled anything before. When the chicken was cooked they put it in a Tupperware for transport added some rice and a spoon. I thanked them for the chicken and the waitress who speaks good English replied that she thanked me for teaching her how to boil the chicken.



In this restaurant you really have to be careful which word you use to order something. For example if I order some french fries I will get fried rice because I should have ordered chips to actually get my fries. When I order 2 slices of bread they will think I order two sandwiches and I will get one with butter and another with cabbage.
On Friday when we came to get our diner one of the waitresses asked me if I was coming the following week because she wanted me to show her something to cook. I will see how I can change the restaurants menu so that there is more choice.


La suite!