We (brother and I) have opened a joint saving account at ANZ main branch early August (18th to be exact). I’ve asked the lady who opened our account when we will get our ATM cards; she said “should arrive to you post box after two days”. I knew when they say two days that means two weeks with added “Fiji Time” but I wasn’t worry about it as long as I get the cards after two weeks.

We usually check our post box three or four times a week and there wouldn’t be a week we forget to check it. I was anticipating the cards should arrive after two weeks but no sign of them, not even a note to collect from their branch after four weeks. So, on 17th Sept, I looked for some contact details on the ANZ Fiji website and used the general enquiry form to email regarding the lateness of our cards.

They responded my email after 25min, requesting the account number as they were having some problem with the system and could not search by name, which was surprisingly fast and I was happy about their prompt service. After I sent the account number, the “Electronic Business – Fiji (ebusfj)” forwarded our cards numbers to “EBS HelpDesk HUB” asking for the cards’ despatch date as “ebusfj” couldn’t retrieve the action date due to the difficulties on beam (whatever the beam is).

“ESB HelpDesk Hub” then replied that both cards were posted out on the 28/08/09 to our post box. I replied them confirming the post box number is correct and we never received the cards. Local mails should not take that long and I wondered the cards were sent from overseas. I then requested for their advice on what action to take.

“EBS HelpDesk Hub” did not explain why the cards did not reach us or where they were sent from. But they replied “the only action we can take now is to order new cards for both of you. Please advise if we can proceed with this request.” Of course, what else should I have done since that’s the only advice they gave, so I gave a green flag, go ahead, order away; and asked how long will those take this time. They replied saying the orders have been placed, both cards and pins can be collected on Wednesday the next week.
Okie! I was all cool about it, I shall get my cards next week. Now, this is where the major problem starts.

On Friday 18th Sept, the cards reached our box. I was a bit confused; I thought we were suppose to pick up from the main branch; anyhow I did not mind receiving them in our box. On 22nd Sept, I prepared to pick up our pins at the branch and before doing so, I happened to logon to internet banking page and check my balance online. There was $10 shot in my balance.

I told my brother, who is the joint partner of the account, what to do about it but the arse ignored me and tell me to forget about it as it’s only a merry 10 bucks. I disagreed, arguing it was unacceptable to waste money like that and we should do something about it. I then realized that it definitely was not a merry 10 bucks but added consequences we might have to suffer for his so called merry 10bucks. We might lose on the monthly interest as the nature of this particular saving account only gives interest if we deposit each month and do not make a single withdrawal. The thoughtless brother did not seems to realize it and even fought with me for fussing and picking on him.

With no help from him, I had to take things into my own hand and sent the following mail to “EBS HelpDesk Hub” and “ebusfj”.

Hello XX,
Thanks for the help.
I’ve received the cards in my post box last Friday; it has 17th Sept 09 stamped on it.
It is very clear that ANZ has never sent the cards on mentioned date ie. 28/08/09.
With these new orders you just made, you have charged $10 stating: 21/09/2009 DEBIT REPLACEMENT DR CARD FEE 18/09/09 on my account.

It is very unfair and unacceptable that you charge us for your insufficient service.
I can bring the stamped envelope and letter as an evident to you to prove that you only sent our cards after I made this email enquiry on the 17th Sept.
It is not our fault that you delay your posting but why must we be charged for your lack of commitment?
I demand that you do something about this unfair charges and like to have my $10 back!
We do not need extra cards and only requested what we should have received 3 weeks ago.
If you have sent us the cards as promised date, we would not have wasted our time emailing back and forth plus this kind of situation would never happen.
Failure to provide the service is very unprofessional and on top of that charging customers for your failure is unacceptable.

Tomorrow I’ll have to come collect the newly order cards + PIN and like to talk to relevant personnel for this matter.
Kindly let me know who to talk to in order to explain this situation and make a proper complaint.
I must say, trying to claim back this merry $10 seems foolish but this is very important to point out ANZ lack of professionalism in their services and customer care department.

Regards,
May

PS. I forgot to mention that due to this implication, I might lose on my monthly bonus interest fee since Fast Saver account requires no withdrawal in a month to have a bonus interest rate. So, please take this matter very seriously and let me know the best solution to solve this.

After that I had to shoot two emails before they replied me admitting that it was their mistake.

“EBS HelpDesk HUB” replied:

Hi May,

Thank you for your email.
I sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused.
Could you please provide your account number so that we can attend to the reversal of your card fee today.

“Electronic Business – Fiji” replied:

Hello May,

This is an error on our part and we apologise for the inconvenience caused. We will confirm once the reversal is carried out.
As for the interest for the month of September, we will manually calculate this and credit your account by the end of the month.

Kind regards
XX

Alright great, as long as they know their mistake and fix it the next day. But I have my doubt that the implications in Fiji never resolve that easily. So I waited for end of the month to check my account balance again. And of course, I was right about never resolve easy part. Here is what I saw in my account and what I emailed them on 1st of Oct.

Hello XX or YY,
Could you check my account again and explain why the promised action has not been performed?
You haven’t fixed my interest manually as you mentioned in the previous mail and on top of that you have charged $5 for withdrawal fee.
I like to know what that withdrawal fee is about and why there is no interest added to my account.
I have deposited $__ on 1/09/09 and made no withdrawal the whole month, which means I’m entitled for 5.25% interest rate September.
Now, kindly explain why in the name is wrong with all those transactions shows on my account and how to fix all those mess up!!!
Please see the attached screenshot. I would like this fixed by today and don’t want to keep wasting my time following up this issue again next month.

Thanks.
May

I got no respond from them after a few hours. So I made a call and as expected, the phone service was worse than the emailing. The call handlers were very impatient or rather rude about it and never listen to what I have to say but keeps putting me on hold and transferring among themselves. After 5th round of transfers, they won’t even say Hello anymore as they recognized my voice and put me on a long wait. I got so fed up had to hang up.

So, I shot another email:

Hello,

I called this number: 679 3213 000 and asked for one of you and they keep transferring me back and forth, putting me on queue for more than 10min and I got no one to talk to in the end hence hung up. This is outrageous!
Could you give me the direct contact number or person full name to talk to regarding this issue please.
You should at least help me properly on this part as nothing has been working out well with contacting anz via emails.

They then replied:

Hi May,
We are working on your interest today as its the 1st of October since we need to sight all your transactions from 01/09/09 to 30/09/09 respectively. We will advise you by EOB once the credit is done.
Regards

To reply to that, I sent:

And plz explain what is that $5 withdrawal fee is about.
I also need a direct contact person name and phone number.

Ebusfj replied and explained:

Hi May,
Please call my direct line on (___)_____ and I will assist you.
Thanks
XX

———–

Hi May,

The $5.00 fee will be reversed as well as it was the result of the second debit on the account (Acess card fee)
Regards
XX

Since, she’s care enough to respond my emails, I gave her a chance to do her job and planned to wait till end of the day to check on the account again.

During this time, I had to go to ANZ for another matter and happened to meet the Branch Manager Sales. I was not there to see him in the first place but to see another personnel.

The personnel I went to see has yet another bad attitude such as making annoying/impatient faces and tassking at me on my previous visit. She ignored me, who made a prior appointment with her before coming, and carry on chatting on the phone joyfully, then 5 more minute doing her own business after hanging up her phone. She saw me waving at her and she waved back; even after, she carries on ignoring me. I’m not sure if she was waiting for me to jump up and down insanely or call out to her to grab her attention. Finally when I get to see her, she showed more annoyed face and tassked at me. I consider “tassking” a very rude thing to do especially in this kind of customer service environment. Ok, that’s another story for another time. Back to the main topic.

This time round, she was not even in the office and I planned not to wait but to see whoever for my matter. I walked in the first opened door and let myself be seated while wait for the person to finish with the call. Lucky enough, I wasn’t chased out but he kindly asked me for my business and quickly helped me with it. I happen to see his business cards and found out that he’s a branch manager sales. I quickly asked him where the customer complaint section is and how to go about making a formal complaint. He was a bit surprised by my sudden request and asked if I want to complain about him. I told him it’s not about him but about my unresolved account issue of two months and briefly explain the implications. He then gave me a contact detail to lodge the complaint in writing plus his business card. I thanked him and left planning to write a formal complaint to mentioned address if my problem was not resolved by EOB.

At 4:28pm, “Ebusfj” emailed to inform the account updates.

Hello May,
We have reversed the $5.00 fee and credited the interest for September, 2009.
Kind regards
XX

I checked my account again and confirmed that all has been corrected. I made another deposit for this month and replied her mail:

Thank you XX.
I was going to call you around 4:30 if the issue hasn’t been fixed. I guess I don’t need to anymore.
I just checked the account and glad to found out that I’ve received the interest and reversed $5.
I’ll do a deposit for this month and hopefully no such implications should arise for next month.
Thanks again for your help.
May

Case closed. The point of this long story was to note down how ANZ do their business and handle their customers’ issues.

I learnt that I should never trust their word and keeps following up on them till the end. I also wonder that how many of ANZ customers have encountered this kind of implications and never get to go about resolving them. Many might not even realize that some unreasonable fees or charges has been applied to their account without their notice and those of who noticed (such as my brother) have never care enough to make a complaint thinking it’s just a few bucks which needs not worth wasting his time upon. But I was stubborn enough to care for merry $10 and have managed to keep/save our monthly interest of $129.45 + regained $5 the unnecessary withdrawal fee. Now it’s not “just a merry figure” anymore isn’t it?

Finally, let me share those of you out there like me who did not know where to make a formal complaint, you can write a letter to the following address.

To: Lilian Alfereti
ANZ Customer Advocate,
7th Floor, ANZ House,
Suva.

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• online shopping (general, hosting, domain, etc),
• online membership/subscriptions fees (World of Warcraft subscriptions, etc),
• online visa application fees (not necessarily a travel visa),
• online education fees (MS Certs/Distance education)
• and many other expenses

And why do we have to send the bank statements and stuffs – “for our confirmation that card has been used in line with the new guidelines”. What a bother!

I don’t understand what’s going on with Fiji economy and foreign exchange policies. I don’t study economics, I don’t care about it; what I don’t care, I don’t want to know. But what I do know is that I want to use my own money in any way I like and I want no restrictions placed upon it.

The main reason I got myself a Credit card was to use it overseas related expenses and online payments. I don’t need a Credit card for any of the local transactions. I’m really unhappy about this new rules; first they rob us of 20% of our wealth (via devaluation) then they want to say I can’t buy stuffs with my own money. Ridiculous!

Dear Customer

Use of Personal and Business Credit Cards Overseas

We advise that the Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF) has recently reviewed its exchange control guidelines in respect to the operations of Credit Cards when used overseas and has made the following changes with immediate effect:

• The Credit cards are to be used only for travel related expenditures which include reasonable expense for shopping etc, and to pay for small amounts of miscellaneous imports;
• A cash drawing/cash advance limit while overseas has been set at FJD1,500 per month;
• Credit card payments via Internet or Phone banking are limited to only $5,000 per month. You are required to forward a copy of the Bank statement to Customer Relations, 7th Floor, ANZ House for our confirmation that card has been used in line with the new guidelines;
• Business Credit Cards – are exempted from restriction on usage, however, RBF’s prior approval is required for any payment in excess of $5,000 for a purpose other than ‘travel’ related;

The monthly repayment limit delegated to commercial banks remains at $5,000 per month for overseas transactions for personal credit cards and a new limit has been set at $20,000 per card holder for Business Credit cards. Any payment above these limits must be referred to RBF for approval. To this end, customers are required to submit the original bank statement fo the cards account to RBF and seek their approval before payment can be effected by the commercial bank. Please note you would have to get this approval as RBF may seek clarification on overseas transactions.

In the event you breach any of these new guidelines, you would be reported to RBF. This could possibly lead to the cancellation of your credit card facility. Please call Contact Centre on phone 132411 should you require any clarification in respect to these advices.

Yours faithfully
Haroon Ali
Head of Retail Banking

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As planned, I woke up at 4:30am, got myself ready and revised my training manual while I was waiting for the pickup. They (an Indian driver and a Fijian gal) got to my place at 5:15am and stopped at service station for coffee and hot bread before we left Suva around 5:30am.

It was a cold and drizzling morning with a pitch black sky and not a single soul on the road until we pass Lami. We had a small chat on the road and found out that the driver is very fluent in Fijian. He conversed with the girl in Fijian nonstop to keep himself awake or just being his talkative nature.

They laughed their heads off several times in their conversations and checked back at me a few times to see how I was doing. Myself being a quiet nature, I didn’t/couldn’t join in their conversation and just dozed off at the back.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t doze for long as I had to catch my breath on these lumps on the road where the car just practically flew over them. I noticed then that the driver was driving with a scary speed of 160km/hr and would not slow down near the turns or on the road block lumps.

I hurried to belt myself up but I couldn’t pull out the seat belt as it stuck to the wall and wouldn’t budge an inch. I started getting sick in the stomach on every jump and kept checking the car speed meter. It reached over 175km/hr almost right to 180km/hr mark.

Amazingly both the girl and the driver did not seem to care about how fast they were driving and enjoying their conversation. I normally get motion sickness after 1 or 1.5hr of normal driving. This time, it was not even 1hr yet and I started throwing up at the back. As usual, I prepared myself with tissue paper, plastic bags and a water bottle so I did not mess up the car. I rolled down the window and tried to get myself fresh air but the wind was too strong and I couldn’t keep it open for long. I didn’t make a sound on my first two throw ups so they didn’t notice me and I didn’t want to let them know either. Then a few turns before Singatoka, I couldn’t bear anymore and made a big puking sound and kept throwing up all the water I drunk after the first two pukes.

They then shocked to discover that I was very sick and made a stop near Singatoka temple. It was around 6:40am and a few shop already opened so we stopped for about 10min and continued to Nadi. I was a lot better after the stop and the driver did slow down his speed and drove around 125-140km/hr.

I noted that it was the fastest drive I’ve ever ridden in my life and the shortest time taken to reach Nadi. If I guessed it right, we took just 2.25 or 2.5hr to reach Nadi which normally takes around 3.5 to 4hrs. The driver mentioned that his normal record from Suva to Nadi is 2hr 20min and he can drive faster than that if the road is clear. I’m so used to my Dad’s driving of 60km/hr that I dislike speedy driving. I decided I refuse to ride his car ever again after that day.

As we get closer to Nadi, the weather is getting hot and the sun started glaring. We reached to Nadi around 7:30, picked up one of their staffs at his place and got to Namaka around 8am. We setup all the machines in the lab with the software and ready to start the training at 8am. They introduced me to their big boss (said he’s the new director) and he thanked me for the good work done with the project. We then started off the day with a somewhat long prayer. The director then made a short (15min) speech on this year theme, what they plan to achieve, how this system will help them etc. and left for his other appointments. Then I started with my training; there were only 8 participants in this session out of 14 from the previous one. There was one new face in the group and the rest attended the previous session so they all have the manual and CD with them except the new one. I’ve prepared a few extra manual print outs so it wasn’t a problem and commenced the training smoothly.

The TPAF trainers were very busy that day and every now and then, they went out of the room to attend their classes and pop back in after a few minutes. I find it annoying that people moving around while I’m talking but couldn’t do anything as they have their business to do. I tried to cover all sections in the manual and went through individually with late comers or those moving in and outs. We previously planned to have a whole day training in which I planned to go through both version of the system but they couldn’t spare the lab for the evening and I can only cover the administrator version of system. We finished around 1:30pm and waited for our pick up. One of the TPAF staffs showed me around their Namaka centre and we went in to one of the classroom commenced by one of the participants in my training. She introduced me to her students; they were roasting boneless chicken and baking some buns. It smelled really nice and I was so hungry as it’s passed lunch time. I guess she noticed me hungrily staring at the chicken so she offered some to taste but unfortunately the chicken wasn’t cooked enough yet and she asked the student to put it back in the oven for a few min again. While we were waiting for the chicken and continuing with their cooking session, my pick up arrived. I couldn’t wait for the chicken so just took a few buns, said thanks to the students and left the Namaka centre around 2:30pm.

They then took me to their office at Nadi Airport to pick up something. My dad called to ask how things were and told me to try out lunch at Ta Ta’s place. I asked the place to the driver but he wasn’t sure where so we drove around Nadi town and asked some policemen for direction. We found the place and had our lunch around 3:15pm.

We left Nadi around 3:30pm; we were supposed to come back together with their boss but we left the boss group and took off early to Singatoka for vegetable shopping. I bought a few heaps of oranges, cabbage and papaya. There were lots of good looking dalo bundles and some of them were purple. I remember mom loves purple dalo and asked the girl if that’s the right dalo but turned out they were not. The vendors told us to look for some on the way to Suva as they don’t plant purple type in Singatoka. We drove slowly and stops many times to wait for the group behind us. The driver got out and smoked on every stop and he told us that he love smoking and drinking grog. We quickly strolled into Outriggers for a loo and waited the other group outside.

Finally the other group caught up and took a lead in front of us. Their driver was driving with 120km/hr flat and our driver cannot over take him as the boss was in that car. So he followed behind disgruntled and making faces and fits at the driver in front via the mirror. As we get closer to Suva, the car in front slows down to 80-100km/hr and no more over taking at all as the cars from Suva coming nonstop from the opposite lane. It was raining and with a slow drive, I didn’t puke at all on the way home. We then saw some guys selling dalo at the road side and the girl asked for purple dalo. Luckily they got one last purple bundle and I happily bought it.

I got home around 7:35; the driver repeated his name 3 times and told me to call him if I ever need to drive to Nadi as he drives private taxi in his free times. I thanked him and the girl for the day and forgotten their names after 5min. I was so tired and sat around for an hour reporting back the day events to the family; had shower, dinner, check emails, wrote down a few lines for the post and slept. And finish up the post after a week.

The End.

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His very first blog, “The private life of a badminton maniac“, talks about all his passion on racquet sports, especially badminton and racquet breaking hobbies. I’ve posted some of his actions on the past Badminton games in this post and; photos and videos of his squash tournament here.

I’m sure he’s no stranger to mayvelous’s regular followers as he is mentioned many times in my posts. He has also written a few posts on mayvelous: KISS My Arse!, bugs and fixes posts.

Zatlite – “the guy in spotlight”

You can see some of his ramblings in these posts: A Corn Seed Story , Bulldozer, April Fools, Sister Hiring Hitman, and more under “Family“, “Brothers and Sisters“, “Conversation” categories.

Zatlite competes in Badminton games

Zatlite strips and plays Tennis too!

And he also plays Squash and broken 3 rackets.

So, Zatlite, the great “Genius Sama” (that’s what he calls himself), has started blogging about his antics on The private life of a badminton maniac“.
Do check it out and roll him along. You won’t get bored I assure you.

P.S. That’s it dude, I’ve introduced you quite well haven’t I? Now, go do my dishes!

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It was the very first squash tournament for my brother since he started playing squash a few months back. We use to play Badminton only and this year my bro started playing squash with some of his friends so he still has a lot to learn before he can compete in the tournament. Nevertheless, he signed himself up in B Grade thinking C Grade is for kids and he would do fine in B. Well the result was he got knocked down pretty badly; he wasn’t really in his best form also and the opponent was quite experienced player who knows how to make him run around in court. So he lost his game and went into Plate pool and will be playing again today at Victoria Park. I guess I’ll go watch again this evening.

Aung’s very first squash game

One of the Ministers, Mr. Kenneth Zinck (and a few other big faces I sometimes see on TV), came to play as well, I’m not sure he came just to play for fun or was in the competitions as I couldn’t stay long to watch his game. He was cheering his buddy’s game quite loudly/actively. I was taking a few videos of the game and itching to take him as well but that would be awkward to directly shoot at him so I was waiting for his game but I left early and missed the game. I think he wanted his picture taken as well cos’ he kept smiling at my way while cheering for his buddy (Ok may be just my thought) .

I know him as one of the most active sport lovers among Fiji Government Ministers especially on Rugby games. We are sure to see him cheering from the front row in almost every Rugby games, yelling and waving his things (the flag/the banners I mean) at the camera. LOL. So we normally search for him everytime there is a Rugby 7 game on TV. Quite a celebrity he is. I also remember him very well after seeing him wear Tweety Bird necktie on one of the interview sessions on TV. Quite a fashion for him. It was so funny to see a Minister wearing some childish necktie with big Tweety bird at the bottom. I guess it must have been a gift from his kids or something. But that was one of the unforgettable sights about him.

There were some players from Nadi and other towns participating in the tournament as well. I met 4 young guys from Nadi; their coach was pretty nice man who encouraging us to join their club and telling us about his 4 players. His son plays in A Grade and other 3 guys play in Bs. He was also coaching a Korean girl who lost in ladies game against a Fijian girl. He said he also will be playing in the competition but I missed his game.

Coaching a Korean Girl

The Game with a guy from Nadi

Well you see, I had some ulterior motives, it’s not just watching my brother’s game but I went there to check out some good looking players but turn out only the old men were there. The Nadi guys are quite cute but they’re just too young, under 19. hehe Oh but there is this handsome organizer, I heard he’s very good player and former Fiji representative or something. Aww but it’s a pity he got ring on his finger haha. Nah I’m kidding, I just went there to cheer for my brother’s first game and also getting some material for my blog (Ok there’s still a motive behind but good motive).

Here are some more short videos I took: Two Games Mix + Score Sheet | Another Mix Game | Practice Games | Game Sheets

I’m going to watch the games today also at Victoria Park. One of our colleagues is playing in C grade and I’m sure more games to see today. They are having this tournament in 3 different places, Victoria Park, Merchant Club and Defence Club due to limited availability of courts in each club. Anyways, I hope I can watch some nice games this evening and hope that my brother and our colleague play well in their game also.

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Most visa application takes 3 days to 2 weeks of processing period and 0 to 210+ FJD visa fee. Most visa application requires you to show the followings:

• 1 or 2 passport photos,
• Valid passport,
• Completed application form,
• Application Fee,
• Related documents
  • return flight itineraries
  • approved visa from final destination (if you are applying for transit visa)
  • bank statement, pay slip
  • accomodation arrangements in the destination country (hotel booking etc)
  • sponsor letter/invitation letter/leave approval form/support letter from your work if it is work related
  • program detail schedules,
• and any other requirements stated in the application form.

For the recent Bali trip, I had to apply for Indonesia visa, Malaysia Transit visa and Australia Transit visa. All three visas didn’t cost a cent for me and were done within 2 weeks time. It was a wonderful trip and I enjoyed it a lot thanks to all the help from Indonesia Embassy, especially Ms Lina Dilliane and the organizer Ms Oona Solberg. I sincerely thank you all for very smooth and fast processing with my visa as well as the trip plans.

I was invited for this year GV Summit which will commerce on 27th – 30th June, in Budapest, Hungary. My sponsor has sent all the required documents and flight itineraries. I had to apply for Schengen visa, British Transit visa and U.S Transit visa. They all cost a big sum and each application took 5 – 10 working days.
The fees are:

• Schengen visa – FJD 140.85
• British transit visa – FJD 150
• U.S transit visa – FJD 210 + $4 EMS

I was able to obtain Schengen visa and British transit visa but my U.S transit visa was rejected.
Due to unreasonable rejection from U.S embassy, I’ve:

• missed out a great opportunity to attend GV Summit 2008 in Budepest, Hungary,
• missed the chance to meet all those wonderful people from GV,
• the above approved 2 visas have been wasted,
• wasted the above visa application fees,
• wasted USD 3000 return flight tickets,
• wasted a great deal of time and afford on preparations eg. having done passport photos, prepare required documents, running around embassies,
• wasted a great afford/support (time + $) done by Ms. Georgia Popplewell (GV Managing Director),
• wasted time and afford of various friends and family (especially Sally and Mom) who helped me with U.S visa application and plan to rearrange flight route.

Most of all I’ve missed out the chance to learn the whole new world of citizen media and global voices community. It is very rare to get such kind of opportunity for me, as a Myanmar passport holder, to be able to attend such great conference and U.S Embassy has crushed all my hope and dreams down the drain.

The reason they gave for rejecting my 1.5hr of transit time in Los Angeles U.S.A is that I lack “TIES”, as you can see in the following letter.

During the interview, the interviewer told me:

• my passport is old and unreadable, (unreadable my arse! all other embassies approved of it and everyone can read it, only her god forsaken eyes are blind!)
• that my application needs to be applied from U.S Embassy in Myanmar, (how the hell am I suppose to apply from U.S embassy in Myanmar while I am in Fiji!!!)
• and Fiji embassy will take 2 or 3 weeks of further processing time. (normally 24hr processing time for transit visa, according to the visa officer on the phone and from website info page)

She simply refused to answer my question of any other document that I need to submit in order to speed up the processing and RUDELY reply me by saying “this application needs longer processing. I will deny the visa right now if you like”. There is no explanation of what kind of things they are looking for in that processing time and what I need to do in order for them to approve my visa. I have asked many times via emails as well as phone conversation on what more they want to see from me. I only get a response such as your application is not convince enough and refuse to tell me how the f*ing way to convince them. It’s like – my country, my rule, I don’t like you, you can’t enter, that’s it, F*off, kind of policy. Ofcos’ that’s the same policy for almost all the countries but at least be reasonable and give me proper reasoning/explanation for the worth of $210 fee for god sake!!! I tried not to write about this but just for remembrance I’m keeping my bad memories on this blog post. Excuse my bad language but I couldn’t find the better words to express my feelings. Arrgghhh I’m just seriously pissed!!!

Anyways, since I can’t do anything about it and my trip has already been canceled, now let me get back to my experiences with some embassies here.

Indonesian Embassy – Super Sweet and Fast
The embassy is very close to our office. When you get there, once of the officers will come meet you with application form. Fill in the form and give them the required documents. In my case, I told the officer that I need to apply for other transit visas as well so need to get this visa quickly. I lodged my application in the morning and in the evening I got a call from the embassy that my visa is ready to pick up. How sweet is that! Since my case is special, I don’t need to give any application fee. I was surprised and really lucky to get a visa within a few hour time. It’s very neat and well decorated with Indonesian handicrafts and you can view lots of country tourism related booklets and brochures while waiting. The ambassador is very nice as well. While I was there to pick up my passport, the ambassador came in and saw me so he asked whether anyone’s already served me or not. That’s just so sweet. Most ambassadors or big bosses don’t even bother to give a glance at visa applicants.

My experience with the whole embassy services and the staffs are just so great that I must say they are the best embassy in Suva.

Indonesian Embassy in Suva, Fiji
6th Floor, Ra Marama Building,
91 Gordon Street
Suva
(P.O.BOX 878 Suva)
Phone: (679) 331-6697
Fax: (679) 331-6696
Email: kbrisuva@connect.com

Website: Nil
Phone Support: Excellent
Email Support: Great
Walk in reception: Excellent (polite security, very helpful smiling visa officers, a nice ambassador)

Malaysia High Commission – Very friendly

I emailed them first whether I need to apply for the transit visa since their website wasn’t stated clearly on who need visa and things. I didn’t wait for the reply but I went down in person since the high commission is quite close and met with this very friendly receptionist.
I’m not sure she’s a Malaysian or an islander but she is pregnant and asked me lots of friendly questions. She told me about her high school days where she met some Burmese students and what she think of them etc etc while waiting to meet the proper visa officer. Five minutes later, the officer came to meet me with my email print out. He asked me a few questions about my trip. I told him that I’m only transiting in Malaysia, he said no need to apply for the transit visa since I’m an ASIEN member passport holder or something. I can get a visa on arrival at Malaysia airport and need to pay about $20 USD there. We talk for a while about my stay in Fiji and the family. Then we found out that he plays Badminton a few times together in a group so kind of remember the faces, he even sent regards to my mom. It was very friendly environment and the officer was very helpful in explaining visa related things. Their office is small but friendly staffs and I get what I came for so I’m very much satisfied with their service.

On the note of the visa on arrival transit fee, I didn’t get to pay anything. The immigration officer thought I was an Indonesian/Malaysian and greeted me in their language. Then he just quickly check my passport and didn’t ask for any $. How nice!

High Commission of Malaysia, Suva
5th Floor, Pacific House,
Butt Street, Suva
P.O. Box 356 Suva
Republic of the Fiji Islands
Phone: (679)3312166/3312617
Fax: (679)3303350
Web Site: http://www.kln.gov.my/perwakilan/suva
Email: malsuva@kln.gov.my
Office Hours: Monday-Friday 8.30 am-4.30 pm

Phone Support: Good
Email Support: Slow
Walk in reception: Excellent (very sweet-talkative-pregnant receptionist, very friendly handsome officer)

Australian High Commission – Strict and Uptight but good support
Australian High Commission, in my opinion, is the most busiest consulate office in Suva. Everyday it’s packed with long queues of various visa applicants. Previously it’s quite easy for Fiji passport holders but after the coup, due to bad relation between governments, they started to make things hard for all visa applicants. You have to fill in 4-6 pages long application form together with 16-18 pages long booklet about you and your whole family history. You need to state about your kindagarden, primary, secondary, your current address, your past 3mth address, 6mth address, 1yr address, your step parents, step mother’s cousins, your brother’s 2nd wife’s daughter’s date of birth, your cousin’s great grand father’s FNPF number, your 1st contact in case of emergency, your 10th contact in case you puke on flight etc etc. (ok I might be a bit, just a bit, exaggreating but still – ) After an hour or two sweating, pulling hair and rethinking/creating your whole life story, you then sign at the bottom last page saying – I swear I wrote all the truth and nothing but the truth and god mercy the bloody truth in this document. Finally you walk up to the reception, pay the fees and submit the application. You get a receipt number which you use to call and ask for your application status. Normal visa take 2 weeks and transit visa takes 3-5days.

Australian High Commissioner to Fiji
37 Princes Road,
Tamavua, Suva.
Fiji Islands
Phone: 679 338 2211
Fax: 679 338 2065
Web Site: http://www.fiji.embassy.gov.au/
Email: public-affairs-suva@dfat.gov.au
Office Hours: The High Commission is open from 8am to 4.30 pm Mondays to Fridays except for public holidays.

Phone Support: Many machine steps to choose but reaches to proper section
Email Support: Good (1 day response)
Walk in Reception: As long as you got your ticket, in due time you can talk to the personnels

French Embassy – Very quiet
This was the first time I been to French embassy and my first impression was quiet. It’s just too quiet. There is 1 security officer loging you in and out of the office. The receptionist/visa officer, Fiji girl, sitting and lazily listening to slow Fijian song from the radio. You don’t see any other officers at all. Anyways I emailed to the embassy before I go and when I got there, the girl sweetly says “Oh you are mayvelous, you emailed before”, I was really surprised they actually read their emails and actually REMEMBER who email them. She quickly explained me about procedures, check my application documents, write a receipt for the fee and said it will take about 10 days and I’ll call you when it ready. It took exactly 10 days for my visa and I picked up from the embassy. Everything was done quietly and sweetly.

Embassy of France in Fiji
Dominion House 7e floor,
Private Mail bag,
SUVA,
Fiji Islands
Ph. (679) 3310526
Fax. (679) 3223901
# Website: http://www.ambafrance-fj.org/sommaire.php3?id_rubrique=2

# Phone Support: Good
# Email Support: Good (actually they don’t list email address at all on the website but I somehow found it from main french site, and from there they direct me to proper personnel in Suva office.)
# Walk in Reception: Good (the receptionist/visa officer remember you from your email and she smiles)

British High Commission – An OK, stern face
When you get to the embassy, you need to talk with security first stating what you came to do ie. lodging or picking up the visa. They only work 8am – 12am and you can pick up your visa only after 10am. There is only 1 visa officer there. She is a Fijian lady, very stern face and doesn’t listen to you at all. She couldn’t find Myanmar in her system so she called up her friends and asked about it. I was telling her from the other side of the glass that it’s called Burma but she won’t listen to me and wave at me to be quiet. Gosh why can’t she just listen to what I say for a sec and she won’t have to wait 2-3 min asking her friend to search for the country name. Anyways I let her do as she wish and finally she found Burma and started typing things in. She then asked me to take my finger prints and also took the photo. Everything is done one word at a time and you cannot extra question at all or she will ignore you. Anyways the transit visa normally takes 5 days but I get my visa after 6 days. But it’s still ok, as long as I get my visa.

British High Commission
47 Gladstone Road
Suva
Republic of the Fiji Islands
Opening hours: (Mon-Thur) 1000-1200hrs
Telephone enquiries: (679) 3229100
Fax: (679) 3307118
Visa Email: visasuva@fco.gov.uk
Passport Email: ukpassportsuva@fco.gov.uk
Consular Email: consularsuva@fco.gov.uk
Website: http://www.britishhighcommission.gov.uk/fiji

Phone Support: Good (answer quite politely and transfer to proper personnel)
Email Support: Good (1 or 2 days response)
Walk in Reception: No ticket system, talk to security and he’ll let you in to the office. Only 1 visa officer there who manage everything. No smile, 1 question, 1 word answer, very stern faced visa officer.

U.S Embassy – F* up Services, F* up Staff, F* up Policy
Everything about U.S consular service is a headache for me. You cannot call them, email them or walk in to get information at all. You have to check everything from the website. Fill in the application form online which creates a .pdf file with your info in it. You keep the bar code number from there and check the time for interview. There are very few slot each day. Some days, it only has 8am slot and some days none at all. Anyways I scheduled for 8am appointment and got there on time. There are about 15-20 applicants waiting across the road, outside embassy. Since it’s for my first time I went up to the security officer and ask when can I go in since I got 8am appointment. He told me to step back to road side and wait for them to call you. Around 8:15am another security came and asked to make a line. He then check out names and passport. There are quite a few old Indian couples who do not know what he doing so they went up to ask him but he rudely told them to go back in line. Then they call the applicant one by one in to the embassy. I was lucky to go in a second place. Inside they do the x-ray check, switch off your mobile or any electronic device and leave them at the counter. Finally you walk in the door. There are about 50 seats in line and 5 counters, non of them open yet. We have to sit in order, since I’m the 2nd person to walk in, I have to sit in the 1st row – 2nd seat. About 10 applicants are seated, the security officer turn on the TV showing how to take a finger print. Around 8:45am the first 2 counters opened and we have to go up one by one to lodge the application. One officer is a fair Indian lady and another is some islander lady. Both has totally stern faces. They talked very snappy and the islander lady even yelled at the old Indian couple for not being able to print their fingers correctly. There is another old man asked her what to fill in one of the questions. I guess he couldn’t read well or understand the question and wants her to explain a bit about it. But she rudely said “Read the question and answer Yes or No” with very stern face. I wished I could take some video or voice recording of how seriously unfriendly, rude service they were giving. Unfortunately we have to leave our mobile outside so can’t do anything about it. For my application, the Indian lady collected it and said I need to pay $60 something more once the application has been approved. I’ve already given $210 application fee and they are asking for more…it’s just ripped off. But I didn’t say anything and went back to my seat to wait for interview.

Around 9:30am they call me for interview. Interviewer was an old American lady. The first thing she says before even saying hello was, “Your passport is old”. I says hello and told her that it’s about 8yrs old now but it’s very much valid passport and showed her the pages with the renewal information. She briefly look around then says “it’s unreadable”. I asked her what’s she mean by unreadable, may be the cover is a bit old and worn off but you can read everything inside clearly and all other embassies give an OK to it. She then says I need to get a new passport and carry on with a few visa related questions such as where/why I’m going. What I’m doing in Fiji etc. I answered them all properly. She then paused for a while and said I have to apply the visa from U.S Embassy in Myanmar and Fiji embassy doesn’t work on my passport. I was shocked. How can I apply from Myanmar since I’m currently in Fiji and asked her that’s impossible and why can’t Fiji office process it. She then said it will take about 2 or 3 weeks and may be more. I was again shocked. I reminded her again that it’s only for 1.5hr transit time in Los Angeles and I will only stay inside airport. It’s very short transit and shouldn’t have any problem. The normal application takes 24hr processing time and how come mine need to take that long. She then said it’s simply cannot be done and need further processing. So I asked her what more documents do you need in order to process faster. She said she has to submit it to other officers above and they need to check things out and if I don’t like waiting she will deny the visa at this instant. I told her I’ve already got 2 other visa approved and all my flight and trip plans are ready. I just need this transit visa only. There is no negotiating or consideration about the loses from the applicant end at all if the visa is denied. After she said that she won’t say a thing no matter what I said. It’s like she simply ignoring me, so I finally summit to her and to let me know if they need any more documents from my end. She gave me the green form, stating “need further processing” and don’t response me at all and waiting for me to leave. I was standing there, asking what more do I need to do and requesting for her help but she was completely ignoring me and started taking away documents. Gosh I was like some crazy person talking to myself. The blood rushed to my face, if the glass is not there, I would start shaking at her but I kept my cool and walked out of the office, feeling very dissatisfied and depressed.

About 3 days later, I received my passport and all my documents back with EMS and yes, it was rejected. I called up and asked why my visa was rejected and how can I reappeal or reapply for it. The lady said my application was not convinced enough and I did not convince the interviewer during the interview. I asked what do I need to do to convince them or whether I can reapply it. She said I can apply for as many time as I wish provided I pay for the visa application. Until and unless I provide them with different situation/documents, the result will be the same. I asked what more documents they want but she only says I need to convince them and starting to hang up on me. So…, that’s it. In the letter it says I lack “ties”. I don’t know what the hell those ties are. My colleague said I need to have a husband and a kid back home to make sure that I come back here. Gosh it’s like if you are single, you can’t even enter U.S or something. Ok, I think I said enough and I’m sure you get the idea of how I’m feeling.

U.S. Embassy in Suva, Fiji
31 Loftus Street
P. O Box 218
Suva, Fiji
Phone: (679) 3314466
Fax: (679) 3300081
Email: consularsuva@state.gov
Website: http://suva.usembassy.gov/
Office Hours: Monday – Thursday from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m

Phone Support: The number mentioned on the website is useless, once called, tells you to call another number. Extremely RUDE and snappy response.
Email Support: F* up. I sent 5 emails; out of them only 1 got a automated reply saying it has been directed to proper section and will contact you soon. Other emails lost in the queue. Fax is not working as well.
Walk in Reception: Nil

For other consular services such as New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand and Myanmar, are done by my Dad so I couldn’t write about them here. We do not have SG, Thai and MM embassies in Fiji and have to apply via respective embassies residing in the closest neighboring country (Aus/NZ) or send to directly to the main land. There you have it, my experiences with some consular services in Fiji. I’ll update this post again if I get to go other offices in the future.

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It’s a wiki sort of world street map where anyone can login to add/edit the streets in your region.

OpenStreetMap is a free editable map of the whole world. It is made by people like you.

OpenStreetMap allows you to view, edit and use geographical data in a collaborative way from anywhere on Earth.

To edit, you need to sign in first. Anyone can open an account there easily. You can also export the chosen map area into a few formats, (png, jpeg, svg, pdf, postscript) and can play around with the size, scale etc under “Export” tab.
You can also write some diaries on it or do some GPS tracing.

Ofcos’ if you are confused with how to do the tracing, you can always check out their wiki help page. In the Beginners’ Guide, there is an very well explained introductory video for you to get started with. I’m also checking out the video and briefly reading through the steps.

I did ask my bro, who actually done editing on the map, to write a post about it since it’s quite interesting to play around but as usual the lazy slime just passed me the video and ignored my request. So here I am dropping a note to whoever out there love playing with maps to check this site out.

Ciao!

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Tropical Cyclone Gene – Track and Threat Map

Fiji has been hit by numerous hurricanes and cyclones every year but this is the first time I’ve experienced the small glimpse of so call “Cyclone”. Most of the past natural disasters never affect much on our areas. Sometimes we didn’t even realize there was some cyclone passing through. The worst damage it could do to us is, some broken tree branches, wires and power/water outage. This is the first time I’ve seen many trees being up-rooted in our area. Seriously, the big trees just fell over from the very end of the roots. I tried to take some photos of fallen trees in front of our house while my dad was away. Took some videos with mobile camera as you can see below. It was very badly done and the quality was terrible. Lucky enough, PWD workers came the next day around 11am to clear all those trees on the road and we were able to use the drive ways.

Ok this is my first time taking video and it’s with a mobile camera, the quality is terrible, it’s shaky and dizzy to watch. Our dog running around and barking at fallen branches.

Fallen trees around our area. The wind was so strong, can even blown me away. Dad yelling at me to go back to the house.

After two and a half days of no water, no electricity, no phone line (not even mobile service on the first day), and no toileting/showering, we are back at work. Power came back last night and early this morning low pressured water started running again. The landlines are still down in our area but mobile signals back on properly. I just realized now that life without electricity and computers is utterly boring and you don’t know how to make use of those ample times. Life without water, is simply torturing ones physical and mental state. I can live without phone line, well not too long cos’ we need phone line to connect to the internet.

On the way to work this morning, we saw piles after piles of broken branches and trees along the Vua road and also in Domain areas. PWD has already clear some to keep the drive way clean but there are still a lot left for them to clean later; but I’m glad they clear the roads fast enough to keep the traffic running. Here are the photos I took around our place the day after the Cyclone. Very messy huh?

Damages around our place

Around the net, Fiji bloggers blogged about their days with Cyclone Gene.

• Sit at home and watch shit fly. Again. – Failed Paradise
• There was a hurricane in Fiji and yes I was wrong! – Sarnil
• The clean-up starts – Babasiga
• Cyclone Gene – Navinesh
• Cyclone Gene – Rizwan Dean
• Cyclone Gene video update – Oceanic
• and you can always check the latest updates on Fijitimes online.

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The guys are running a little competition for free T-shirt give away. All you have to do is email them your wittiest slogan to best describe their blog. Check out the design samples below and read about the competition rules and stuffs on their post entry.

I want one of those…wittiest slogan huh? Hmm…I’m not good at that. The due date is 1st Feb so I still got time; lets see if I can think of something by then. Well I’m just passing on the word for your chance to win one of those Tees. Geez I sounded like one of those Ads from TV.

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Bro: Do my dishes for me today.

Me: I was gonna ask you the same thing. Why are you always copying me? Come to think of it, you always copy me and follow whatever I do.

Mom: That’s right. He always follows you around when you were young. He repeated whatever you say and always following you. Lucky, he didn’t wear skirt but went for pants. LOL

Me: That’s right. Back in school too, you used all my books to study.
You took the same subjects as me.
You went to the same Uni as me.
You graduated with the same degree like me.
Now we work in the same company, doing the same thing!!
What’s wrong with you? Why are you always following me?

Bro: Hey, I’m not following you. I’m just treating you like a bulldozer.
Don’t you know in Chess, the pawns go in front and cover for the king.
The same thing applies here. I’m just using you to clear my path.

Me: You little!! @#$%#@$%#*!!!

Moral behind the talk: Being the eldest is such a pain especially with these kind of bad mouth siblings.

Regarding the matter of pawn and chess, I just read that the guys from Failed-Paradise were also cracking up about Chest and Porn.

I love the slogan for geek T-Shirt idea proposed by Digital Fiji.

“We are not chest porns to be played around with.”

There you go, I’m not your chest porn nor I the bulldozer. haha.
I’ll just wait and see how the designs come out as. Whoever wear them, go around in town and take some photo of yourself. If you’re lucky, your pic might even get into the next day Fijitimes post; otherwise you can always show off yourself on your blog.

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Note: Lightbox Enabled.
Click on any image and hover over the image to browse Next or Previous images.

Promises and Vows
When we arrived there late and, it was already started; we were about 45min late. We gave our gifts to the welcoming party, sign the guest sheets and quickly went in front to take a seat. Nobody was taking photos that time so I started to take some, shortly followed by some guests and friends photographers. There are some speeches and prayers in both English and Fijian languages. Bride and Groom exchanged Vows in both languages as well. Jachin had a hard time repeating the Fijian words but he managed to keep up and done quite well in the end. The guests applauded him for his effort. While exchanging Vows and rings, Alisi was crying, happy tears…oh just so cute!

Greeting Guests
The couple received lots of congratulations and blessings from the family, relatives and friends. They proceed to greet all the guests and went out to take some family photos. The session was halted for about 30 min to prepare for the next part.

Fijian Ceremony
Second session started with an exchange of gifts and formal greetings/welcoming in Fijian style. Both sides talked in Fijian. I think it’s something like bride’s family handing their daughter formally to the groom’s family and vice-versa. There is this thing called, “Tabua“, whale’s tooth which is used as a gift. I think it’s similar to olden days Burmese style engagement/wedding gifts where Burmese groom side has to give a set of cows and a set of coconut and bananas (Ok I’m not so sure. Different places have different way of giving gifts in asking for their bride’s hand) to the bride side. The more set of cows you give, the better for you. But nowadays, no more cows involved (may be coconut and banana are still used) and getting more materialistic, some bride’s side would ask for money or housing or jewels. Well don’t know properly cos’ I never get to see any close relative’s wedding yet. Same thing in Fijian society but instead of cows, they use this whale’s tooth. I think Jachin side offered quite a number of whale’s teeth during their engagement to Alisi family.

Honored Guests
There were quite a lot of guests attended the wedding. Many came from various part of Fiji and some from abroad. Some special guests are introduced; some came all the way from Tonga and Groom’s relatives from Brisbane Australia. There was a Tongan style food preparations ie. whole pig roasting and plenty of seafood. I forgot to take photos of the food. The meal was splendid with many courses. About 3 or 4 fish dishes, pork, Indian curries, salads, Lobsters, crabs and Fijian dishes. There were lots of food and many people took second helpings. My bro and I enjoyed a big plate full each.

Entertainment
There were three parts of entertainment. The first was a lovely song sang by one Fijian lady, the second was another song sing by Jachin’s younger brother (Jonathan or something) and his friend. I think they sang pretty well but there were some kids at the back screaming and playing and some people are not listening properly. I think the guy relized that too so he didn’t smile or say thank you towards the end of the song. But they did have some audiences, some girls came up in front to take a video. The last one was a dance performance by a young girl. I think she was one of the Bride’s maids too. It’s not a Fijian dance…Tongan?…not sure. The dance involves lots of hand movement and gestures with little head shakes and small footings. I like her costume and head part. She was very shy dancing in front everyone but she received lots of kisses from the audiences and some men danced along with her. It was overall a cute performance.

Speeches
Speeches were given by the fathers of both sides as well as the special speech by the Groom and the Bride. The speech by the bride’s father was quite amusing where he talked about how he remembered the newly son-in-law in their first meeting and their very first impression on Jachin when he was introduced to the family for the first time. I’ve finally found out the reason behind the disappearance of Jachin’s long hair and big beard from that speech. It was after all because of Alisi’s Dad’s ultimatum to cut his hair if Jachin wants to date the daughter. haha It must have been his family influence…I discovered those big beards run in the family. Check out his Dad and the brother. When I first met Jason, he got a big beard, mustaches and a whole lot of long curly hair. He was one of the guys to interview me for my job. I thought he was about 35+ or something because of his appearance. He did scare me a bit during interview compared to the 2nd interviewer, Ian, who looked quite well and keep scratching his head that time. Though Ian has a beard, he didn’t have a big hair like Jason so not that scary. hehe. I thought Jason looked like a grandson of Frank Einstein and I called him “Sir”. Later I found out that he actually was just a few years older than me and quite fun to work with once you get to know him. Apart from that, Jason’s Dad and the couple speeches are quite normal mostly thanking God and everyone. Jachin and Alisi said about 20 – 30 thank yous in their short speech. I think they didn’t prepare their speech properly. But it was fine.

Cutting Wedding Cake
Finally they cut the wedding cake. The cake looked cool and I like the porcelain doll at the top. They both look great posing in those photos.

One thing I noticed from the wedding was that there is no kissing involved after their exchange of Vows. It was absolutely PG rating. hehe The couple kisses outside while they are taking photos, just to pose. May be because the wedding was a mix styled, Fijian and Australian, some usual scenes are missing. Another thing is no throwing of flower bouquet from the Bride after the wedding…may be she did throw it before they left but I didn’t get to see cos’ we came back home early. Aww yah, I like the bouquet, it’s made out of “Tapa“. Alisi’s gown is also made of Tapa and is a beautifully crafted dress.

Anyways the wedding was great and everyone enjoyed it. Around 8:30pm, we came back home. We wished the couple many happiness and many many many children in their near future.

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Stained Sole is new blog by one of my colleagues writing about error reports, good readings and tips & tricks on his projects.

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Global Voices Online is a non-profit global citizens’ media project founded at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, a research think-tank focused on the Internet’s impact on society.

Global Voices seeks to aggregate, curate, and amplify the global conversation online – shining light on places and people other media often ignore. We work to develop tools, institutions and relationships that will help all voices, everywhere, to be heard.

More info check out the FAQs section.

You may or may not notice that authors and editors from GV has been aggregating your sites and occasionally featuring/linking to your interesting posts. Those who have wordpress blogs will notice it quicker than those of blogger as there is a link tracking feature WP provides to detect the back links frequently. Ofcos’ you can always check Technorati for back-linking and tracking conversations.

GV is very search engines friendly site. The post published there will be on google search hit within an hour or so. That means, your link will get a bit of search branches and link bites. GV is also an internationally well known center for collecting news hence whatever featured on the site will reach to a vast medium of global readers.
At the moment, my regions of interest are:

East Asia (rather South East Asia) – Myanmar
[ Direct Page Link ] [ RSS ]

Oceania – Fiji
[ Direct Page Link ] [ RSS ]

Global Voices Online provides “RSS feeds” of all its content as it is posted to Country, Region and Topic sections.

Here is a list of feeds they roll for each region. [ GV feeds on Bloglines ]

I guess they haven’t updated the list for quite sometime now cos’ it is an old, incomplete compilation. They got only a few Myanmar feeds that time and no feed from Fiji in there. But ofcos each regional author has his own feed list. I have my own compilation for Myanmar blogs and also quite a few Fiji feeds. Due to last year coup in Fiji, many political blogs bloom up along with a few personal blogs. There is a good possibility of more Fiji blogs to come as awareness of blogging has been spreading through media – newspaper, forums, social networking and among youth groups.

The main difference between Myanmar and Fiji blogosphere is that, Fiji blogs are excelled in English; almost all of them post in English language with a few exceptions of Fijian language blogs. Where else for Myanmar blogosphere, a lot of new blogs emerge in Myanmar language and also some of the formerly English blogs are now transformed into native language blogs. Each has its own pros and cons; I won’t go farther into that.

Anyways, GV is starting to get interested in Fiji and South Pacific blogosphere as well as Myanmar Blogs. So if you find any interesting blogs/news from these regions especially from Myanmar, just give me a shout. The world is listening, so speak up your voices.

Alrite it’s very sleepy, sneaky, slimy, stupid kind of gloomy weather here at Suva today, plus it’s Friday evening so I’m getting bored typing this up. That’s all folks!

Oh Lunchers, your Lunch in Suva blog has already been noticed; how about that huh?

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“Humans exchanging money for food in Suva between 1200 and 1430, and writing about it.”

It’s not a cooking/recipe blog, it’s about the lunches – the venue, menu, price and the verdicts. So just roll it along and for you next lunch, you can try out one of the places they mentioned.

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It’s been a decade our family is away from Thingyan. We don’t celebrate proper Thingyan in Fiji as there are very few Myanmar families, most of them caring only about work and daily routines that they sometimes did not notice Thingyan at all. The best we could do for Thingyan is to make lots of food and send to friends’ places.

We came here since we were too young age, (Me – 13, bro – 11, sis – 7), that we don’t have much memories about Myanmar Thingyan. The only thing I remember was throwing water at neighbours and whoever pass in front of our house. About two, three times we went to play water at a mandut built by my dad’s ministry. Since we are too young, our parents only let us play for a few hours then we were to sit and watch the shows quietly. We didn’t have an experience of driving around in city to get soak or fooling around with friends. Our Thingyan were mainly about food and play water with friends for specific time frame. So we lack certain feelings yet this time of every year we miss Thingyan…just miss it, don’t know why.

I was gonna write properly about Myanmar Thingyan and the traditions for my foreign friends but I feel very lazy rite now. We got a lunch party today, so may be I’ll continue later. For now you can read Thingyan round up post I wrote for GV here: “This week on Myanmar Blogosphere: Myanmar Thingyan 2007″.

Anyways hope you guys have a wonderful time.
Happy Thingyan and Prosperous Myanmar New Year 2007!!!

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