Uganda - "Hey Muzungu, how are you?"

Above - The happy Rice Bubbles, loving their life in Uganda.

Above - Typical housing area in the capital of Kampala. Lots of poverty in Uganda, yet after so much hardship as a nation, things seem to be looking more positive for the future.


Above - Think you've got a bad job? These ladies use a metal mallet to pound large rocks into small gravel. A tonne sells for about 40,000 Uganda Shillings, that's about $20 aussie! Now think how long it would take you to pound a large granite rock into a tonne of 50mm gravel?

Above - Taking the boys to see their relatives, Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary.

Above - Feeding time at the sanctuary. About 40 orphaned chimps have been relocated to the island after habitat destruction and illegal animal trading rescues.

Above - FS in the morning...i mean, a chimp yawns.

Above - The lush green fields of Tea production on the drive from Kampala to Jinja.

Above - Off to market to sell some corn and sugar cane.

Above - Mbiro Rain forest, a large ficus reaches for the sunlight.

Above - Ugandan kids roadside near Mbiro Rain forest. Word gets around that a Muzungu is in town and kids come out of the jungle from everywhere. Really gorgeous kids, all of them.

Above - Jinja town main street. Very colonial feel about it.

Above - The funny face family about to launch themselves down the River Nile on some white water rafting, Jinja.

Above - The River Nile opens up so many exploring experiences. Here B3 checks out the day's catch with a local fisherman.

Above - We jumped out of the rafting just before the grade 5 rapids at Bungali falls. Our raft guides were top notch blokes.

Above - FS and NS, Bungali Falls, River Nile, Jinja.

Above - Local school kids chasing the car. There are kids everywhere in Uganda, not sure what the ratio of kids to adults is, but I'd guess 20:1. Remember your oldies telling you as a kid how they walked with bare feet, 10 miles to school and back; well most of these kids do, they have brilliantly coloured uniforms, bare feet and massive smiles!

Above - NS chilling at The Haven. The photo doesn't do nearly enough justice to the back drop and scenery of the surrounding falls and landscape.

Above - Rural Ugandan family. We were lucky enough to come across a lovely little tribe, kids running everywhere, the men digging mud pits to make the bricks, and the women breast feeding whilst sweeping the yard.

Above - A Mum and baby.

Above - FS with some of the village kids.

Above - NS with Ugandan family. We're all laughing because the women sent FS away and wanted me to stay.

Above - Security is everywhere, every shop and house has an armed guard and the police are on every corner. A little intimidating at first, but i guess that's the result after so much conflict.


Uganda did not disappoint! From the second you step off the plane in Entebbe, dodge the pot holes on the runway and make your way through visa ques in 95% humidity, this is Africa in your face, and what a great feeling.

We were met at the airport by Rachel 'are you a runner too' Rice, wearing her best African dress and smile. It seems the Dark continent had really made a bright impression on the Rices, very happy and satisfied with their relocation, even if their tans hadn't improved any.

We were not even 2 km down the road, and I'd just cracked a joke about the donkey and cart on the side of the road travelling faster than RR would drive, before we had our first introduction to the corruption of the police. A couple of AK47 slinging coppers stride over to the car, tell us we were speeding and produce a radar reading which is timed 10minutes earlier than when we'd even landed in the plane. RR knew the scam and ruffled through her purse, slapped 50,000shillings into the officers hand and he wished us a good day. This is Africa in your face. We all had a great laugh and now had fodder against our 'proper' school head for bribing the cops.

The drive from Entebbe to Kampala was a real eye-opener; the red/orange soil, the dark green lush jungle crawling over everything, people everywhere, kids carrying 5 gallon drums to collect water, women carry baskets on their heads on their way to or from the market, Boda Bodas zipping between cars and trucks, lean-tos held together with mud and sticks, new buildings being built with flimsy cut sticks acting as scaffolding, men carrying hundreds of shoes or plastic balls to sell as street hawkers, the delivery men from the grocery carrying 2 x 50kg bags of rice on their bike sweating profusely as they push the load up the hill on a sun scorched and humid day, and of course the roads. There's maybe a couple of dozen asphalt roads in Kampala (the capital city of Uganda), and even these have massive pot holes every square metre. The roads are just wide enough to fit 2 passing cars, or in Ugandan terms... a large lorry, a 4x4, 5 Boda Boda, 10 cyclists and 50 people crossing the road...everyone is then swerving to avoid the worst of the pot holes, so you can begin to picture the scene on the roads...This is Africa in your face.

A week was never really going to be enough time to spend in such a country, but having the Rices jungle abode set on acreage as our base was a great help and meant we were able to maximise our time to see and do as much as possible. We did plenty of walking through the nearby streets, the boys were fascinated how so many people were walking around with rifles and machine guns slung over their shoulders. Just a note on this, each guard is only given 2 bullets and has to account for both at the end of each month, unless of course they're trying to prevent a crime at the place they guard. Walking through a town is always the best way to experience the people, smells and sounds, and whilst it's impossible as a family of Muzungu (white coloured people) to blend in, we were able to wash away any of the interpretations we may have felt on our first day. Later the same day RR, FS and myself went for a jog through the surrounding streets, winding our way to the bottom of Tank Hill and through streets past market stalls, through a local quarry where the women and men use tiny metal mallets to smash bowling ball size rocks into tiny bits of gravel, and past the farmers working the crops. It was interesting watching a few Ugandans out jogging also; it is little wonder they have such successful long distance runners. As we clunked our way up the hills, they would seemingly glide past, extending the heel of their foot for what seemed like an eternity, but effortlessly flying by. We enjoyed a few icy cold Nile Specials that night.

FS spent some time at RR's school, helping with a couple of kids but mostly just observing and taking in the relaxed environment the school offered. We went to the Uganda National Culture Centre to watch the Ricicles successfully try out for the local production of The Sound of Music. The UNCC has played host to some of the most important and touching rehearsals and productions in Ugandans Modern Arts history.

Another day we took the 1 and half hour boat trip into Lake Victoria to the Ngamba Island, a home for orphaned chimps. The boys really enjoyed the antics of the chimps that we saw during feeding time. Like clock work, they all appear out of the jungle to be fed, and each has his own style for trying to attract the attention of the keepers throwing the food. B3 and B4 liked the chimp who made fart sounds the most, and of course spent the next week mimicking this at their own dinner times.

We took a road trip out to the Mbiro Rain forest for a leisurely stroll, coming across a few monkeys in the trees and then later that afternoon heading out to The Gately in Jinja for a fine feed and cool drink on a sprawling colonial property. The day after we headed back to Jinja, to go rafting down the River Nile. The drive out was filled with more rural landscape of sugar cane, tea, and corn fields. The road side stalls selling cooked corn and bottled water were eager for any business they could muster and as usual we saw hundreds of kids walking either to school or home for lunch, or working in the fields next to their parents. The white water rafting was a blast and we spent as much time swimming as we did in the boat. The rapids were pretty mild seeing we had some littleies with us, but B3 and R3 took on a larger rapid whilst sitting astride one of the support kayaks, with both completely disappearing under the rapid before popping up again, B3 holding on for grim life after slipping. The rafting also opened up a whole other side to life for the typical Ugandan. Almost like stepping back in time, watching the men fish from their traditional dug out canoes, the families washing their clothes on the river side rocks, all set to the back drop of thickly planted wild slopes and again the red/orange earth.

For me, one of the most special moments came one afternoon when we were way off the track on our way to The Haven...very aptly named. We were driving down a dusty winding road, more jungle and greenery either side of us and then lots of local village communities. The houses/huts were fascinating, all made from the mud of the red earth and tied together with stripped sticks from acacia trees. The roofs were thatched with palm fronds, banana leaves and sometimes a piece of old corrugated iron. These people appeared to have nothing in terms of worldly possessions, and people were busying themselves with the requirements of day to day life, like making bricks from the mud to either sell or use, the women kept their modest homes immaculate, free from falling leaves or other obtrusion and the kids when not on the end of a plough or garden fork were nursing a younger sibling. Still, when we slowly drove past, they all waved and smiled. Some of the kids yelled "Hey Muzungu, how are you?", in their perfectly practised way and held a hand out hoping for a shilling. Of course this is almost impossible to resist (although some people take offence at the term Muzungu, we were too naive to be bothered by this and the fact is, we really must have stood out and deserved to be called something i guess). Anyway, a couple of shillings to some kids and bang, 20 more kids appear and soon, you've got half a community of kids laughing and chasing the car for what seemed like kilometres. The whole experience was amazing; seeing people living so basically on what in reality must be for them a day to day existence, to seeing the smiling faces of the kids, witnessing the delight of a mother when we gave her a few shillings and a pineapple as thanks for letting us breifly into her family's lives, seeing that most of these kids and adults had barely a shirt on their back. Bang...this is Africa in your face, the good feeling, the bad feeling, the desperate feeling and the hopeful feeling.

You know that feeling when you borrow something off someone and then it happens to break when you have it. Well, after the many millions of potholes that i'm sure MR would have encountered in their short-to-date living in Uganda, i was lucky enough to be able to loan his car for a few sight seeing trips during our stay. Sure enough, one afternoon, pop, the tyre blows, no need to panick for fear of losing control, as the maximum speed capable of any car in Kampala is about 40km/hr (because of the number of potholes). Before i have even stopped the car, i'm surrounded by a half dozen men in what must be the industrial side of town. Bugger, the only swahilli i know is 'Muzungu', and that's not likely to help. Then, before i have even got out and begun looking for where MR keeps his jack and tools, one of the guys is trying to get the spare off the back of the car and some others are jacking the car with bricks and iron bars. One man stands back, seemingly supervising the goings-on with a watchful eye and an occasional nod to anyone standing idle, so that before i know it, i have 8 guys working on the situation and none of them are letting me get an egde in sideways. It happens to be peak hour traffic, which shouldn't be confused with thousands of cars beeping each other at a stand still, but rather dozens of cars all trying to vy for a better position on the run into the next pot hole. I happen to be parked next to the next pot hole. Anyway, i'm finally allowed to help when it comes time to throw the dirty blown tyre on the back of the car, and even i wasn't naive enough to think i was the beneficiary of a dozen men's kindness. When all was done, the silent supervisor made his way to the front of the group and demanded 30,000 shillings. Now, whilst i usually love to bargain on something, this wasn't exactly a bargaining crowd i thought. I guess i was left with no option here and for the sake of less than 20bucks aussie, we all left feeling pretty happy. Except MR, who had a blown tyre as his spare now. I think i fixed you up for that MR, let me know otherwise.

Summary - Uganda...a bloody great place for anyone wanting some adventure and reality in their lives to visit.

Time Flies, Lots Happens & Some Special Visitors Arrive

Above - Dubai Madinat lunching on the canal. FS, B2, B3, Jakey, Poppy and B4.

Above - December: Poppy John, B1, B2 & J enjoying some golf at the Palm Sports Resort, Al Ain.

Above - Craig De Randt as Mr. C with B3, J, B1, B2 & B4.

Above - Chrissy morning, pressie time and the boys have hit the jack pot it seems. Mary watches on with excitement.

Above - B3 can't believe his luck and is over the moon that Santa delivered a new bike.

Above - NS and PJ washing the camp pots in a falaj system at Wadi Damm. The falaj is basically the irrigation system running through a palm oasis plantation, we camped the night at the mouth of the Wadi, and whilst it was the only sandy patch in site the sleeping was still a little rocky.

Above - Our majestic camp site in the foothills of some Omani mountains on a misty morning.

Above - PJ with 5/7ths of his grand kids posing in the rock pools at Wadi Damm.

Above - PJ enjoying the cool Wadi pools and waterfalls, Wadi Damm.

Above - B3, B2 and J checking out the 'Bee Hive Tombs' estimated at being built 3500 to 2500BC. Located in the Western Hajar mountains, the tombs are a must see if you find yourself this way.

Above - A spot of trekking through the Western Hajar mountains.

Above - Frosty the Snowman Archie. Year 1 school Xmas concert.

Above - FS, Mally & Lisa with their satellite class getting ready for the Xmas concert.

Above - Sand boarding stack! Maddy, B4 and Michael come flying off the board half way down the dune.

Above - Al Ain U/6 Champions Trophy winners of the Abu Dhabi Youth Tournament. Case, Sherrif, Callum, B3 and Katie.

Above - Try scoring machine B3 bolting for the line chased by the Dubai Hurricanes defence.

Above - Al Ain U/14, 7-a-side Plate Champions, Al Ain Youth Tournament. Coach Piers, Jnr, Taylor, Thomasi, Cosi, Villi, Lachie, Owen, B1 and Delton.

Above - Al Ain U/10 team. B2 front row, third from right.

Above - MOvember, NS and B4 changin' the face of men's health forever.

Above - Kings of Leon concert following Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix; Mick, NS and Karla. Mick is really 6'5", just standing on his knees here!!

Above - Steve Tyler old school rockin' at Aerosmith's last ever concert, closing concert to the Abu Dhabi F1 Grand Prix. Smoke machines, fireworks, lights, leather pants and all...awesome!

Above - Yas Marina Circuit, F1 race won by Vettel, Aussie Mark Webber came 2nd.

Above - Halloween in Oyoun Village, B3 (at back), B4, Tommy, Maddy and Ailsa, using cuteness to scam lollies from neighbours.

Above - B4 pirate, Lovis under sheet ghost, B3 grim reaper, B2 Joker.

Above - Lorraine's 30th; bar wench and punk rocker Guy.

Above - The police arrive to breakup the party! FS on bike patrol.

Above - First of 2009/2010 school year. B3 (year 1), B1 (year 8), B4's first day at school (nursery), and B2 (year 5).

Above - Traffic jam in Oman.

Above - Wadi Madbah, biggest waterfall in UAE, not massive but a nice waterhole for swimming in 45c summer weather.

Above - Paintball skirmish for B1's very late b'day party.

Above - Sabrina, FS and Rachael "Are you a Runner Too" Rice after just completing their 22km run through the summer heat of June...43c even during the evening. Has not run a metre since!!

Above - More relaxing than running. Chilling out on a weekend to Fujairah Beach. RR and FS.

Above - Mussandan peninsula, view from the Dhow.

Over the last 6 months I've taken to a fortnightly ritual of heading down to the nearby Indian Barber shop for a haircut and shave. Sounds very simple, it is; it's a nice little perk of living somewhere where there are more barbershops on a single street than there are flies at the local camel market. Don't get me wrong, when i say i go every fortnight for a shave, it doesn't mean I'm not cutting my whiskered face before work each morning, and a haircut is probably an exaggeration, being that the hair on the barber shop floor at the completion of my service would be lucky to give a balding mouse some transplants. But here in lies the perk of the whole thing. You see, the UAE is synonymous with promising much more than it could ever deliver and more often than not, one is left feeling a little short changed, ripped off or maybe having paid for a quality that will never be there. On the other hand, you occasionally find these little gems, such as our little Indian Barber shop, where they know and greet you by your name, the same guy looks after you each time, and yes, the piste-resistance, the glassed off booth, like being seated in the owners box at a Man City game or maybe it's more like being put into a quarantined room in the hospital with a case of Swine flu...either way, you feel a little special.

So, for 25 dibs (about 7 aussie bucks), i get to have my noggin shaved from 1.5mm to 1mm, and whilst i know the job was completed in the first 45 seconds with the electric shaver, my barber man does his best to pretend he is then feverishly snipping loads of hair with his scissors for a further 10 minutes, i close my eyes and think back to the good ol' hair days where this would have actually been the case with 'Bob the Butcher' down on South Creek Rd, doing his best to give every Sydney northern beaches kid a bowl cut and straight fringe (at 14 years old this was compensated by the chance to read the stick mags in his waiting room). Just as I'm about to fall asleep in total relaxation, a sprayer is used to waft fine particles of water across my face in preparation for the facial shave. The cut-throat blade is then produced and like Edward Scissor Hands cutting an ice sculpture, Mr Ayub the Barber Shop Man has a two day growth under control and my face feels like a babies bum.

So where i am going with all this? Back up to my first sentence and the point is, we've actually begun to get into some sense of a routine with our hectic lives here. The quick synopsis of the last 6 months would have me saying that all the boys are all at school and going relatively well, FS is busy teaching at the same school and whilst only being part time, is spending more hours there in a week than she's paid in a month, but she loves it! I've had the opportunity to work on some nice projects

A couple of highlights since returning to the UAE from Thailand have been: FS and Rachael 'are you a runner too' Rice completing their half marathon run. After about 4 months of training (long gossip sessions with intermediate spats of jogging thrown in), they completed the feat one summer evening in temps of 43c. Not a single step of jogging has been completed since, instead the training sessions replaced with shopping sprees??

We've done heaps more little trips including a couple of weekends to Fujeriah's beaches and into Oman, camping a bit in some isolated Wadis and plains, of course the only hassles with camping in the middle east, is the lack of avaliable fire wood, meaning most of the packing room in the car is filled with pre-bought piles of timber to ensure a nice camp fire for the marsh mallows. Wadi Damm remains our favorite spot to date.

A few trips into the desert outside of Al Ain with our mates has provided plenty of laughs too; one highlight being Guy and Lorraine taking their new 4x4 just metres off the dirt road into the sand, only to get bogged. Of course a good friend's misfortune like this is always a great excuse for a laugh and provides plenty of fodder for future ribbing. Adding insult to injury was FS leading a cheering squad during the rescue.

We weren't without our own sand bogging or two either; a quick dune bashing session with the kids after fishing at an isolated oasis saw me get my 4x4 bogged down to both axles and past the doors! After about 4 hours in the hot sun and finished of all our water, we were eventually semi rescued by a passing Pakistani guy who gave us his water, enough to keep us going until FS arrived with Mick 'i like wearing riding chaps' Mcdermott whose contribution was to catch everything on camera as future fodder no doubt.

We waived farewell to some of our friends who's contracts had ended in this largely itinerate environment, sadly this included FS's partner in many crimes, RR. The Rices and Ricicles leaving the UAE for the jungles of Africa, but of course this just gives us the excuse to travel there and say G'day and learn a bit of Swahilii.

The new school term started in September with B1 heading to yr8, B2 into yr5, B3 to yr1 and B4 joining the school in nursery. This is probably the only time we'll ever have all 4 boys at the same school together. B4 earnt the monicker of Part Time George, as the school is particular of all it's students attending fulltime, we chose to send him only 3 days a week and spend the balance at home with FS or with Mary.

The boys started rugby again with the UAE league coinciding with the slightly cooling weather. All the boys are playing good rugby, with both B1 and B2 being named captains of their respective teams and B3 turning out to be a try scoring whiz in the U6's. The rugby club has been a real blessing and a driving force behind keeping some of the homely aspects of living abroad.

Work wise i've been lucky enough to be involved with some great jobs including the Abu Dhabi Formula 1 circuit; lots of impossible deadlines and ridiculous demands all being made worthwild come race day/s. A great spectacular to be a part of, i'd highy reccommend anyone to go to at least one F1 event if given the chance. The post race concerts were great too, including Beyonce (i didn't actully go to see her, instead partying with our good mate Lozza at her cracking 30th/Halloween party), but was stoked to see Kings of Leon and Aerosmith, hanging out with Mick and Karla.

We setup the Middle East Mos for MOvember and raised a tidy 2 grand aussie for the cause. Funny thing was that as the tach' grew i found myself increasingly fixated with licking my lips brushing the hairy catepillar...unfortunatly FS was hardly licking her lips or salavating at the thought of kissing me with a MO, so come December 1 it was straight down to Mr. Ayub the Barber Shop Man for a shave.

The closing of the decade was rounded out for us with a visit from Poppy John and Jakey Ju. We were obviously stoked to have them come stay with us after a year and half since we were last back in Oz. It's a pleasure to have the oppurtunity to play host and tour guide, but most importantly just to hang out and catch up. Jake was full of questions and thought everything was "weird". Poppy couldn't believe how big the 4 boys were, standing on his tippy toes everytime he was near Zach. A back to back test revealing B1 a couple of inches taller! I took Poppy to my Barber shop, but obviously they weren't used to cutting anything other than a bald spike; as Linc said over the video phone during a Xmas day call, "he looks like a dunny brush". We took Jake to see the pet camel we 'bought' him a couple of years back, and the boys enjoyed riding around on 'Frank's' hump. All in all a great trip and we hope to see more family and friends coming over this way soon.

So 2009 is kaput and 2010 looks to have lots on store. We're busy making plans for a few trips including Uganda and Kenya in February and dependant on the work being here, will try to hang around to maybe see another year out and get in some more exploring and new experiances! Hope to see you all here soon, happy new year!!