The National Trade Show at KG VI and Independence Celebration Pictures

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Solbrew Blow UPs

The show

Welkam Sign

Government Village

CUltural Performances from Chubikopi Culture Group of Marovo Lagoon. Represent!

Nice Bola Traditional Princess Joining in the Float to the Show on Friday 4th July

The Float Show to Trade Show Ground Starts From Bishops Dale Tandai to KGVI SICHE ground!

More Photos Coming Soon!

There is a inconsistent high costing of food and other items crisis at the moment in town. Finding a shop that has affordable, quality and top service is a pretty hard in Honiara, not that the town is big, it just not planned out well. Most shops  only sale general goods and are scattered around and only a few took the risk specialising in a certain item. For example its very rare to find a shoe shop here , most shop selling shoes also sell clothes, bags, and other accessories besides. Supermarkets are also unpopular in town as well I can probably name three places that qualify as supermarkets. Most town dwellers prefer the small convinience shops at the corner to get their daily groceries. This is propbably more for the reason that it is pocket friendly besides many other points. Food, Clothes, Shoes, Hardwares or those other small things that holds households together this is my top 5 shop for the average pocket in Honiara.

5.Come View, China Town

A Chinese owned shop in China Town that has a lot of goodies clothes, electronic, hair products, bags and kitchen utensil plus other food, toiletries, and hardware products.

4. Barak Stop Shop, Ranandi Highway

Like a Mini Supermarket it is conviniently located at Ranadi Highway and is currently undisputed in quality food porducts. It is also clean and spacious enough to shop. Unlike the traditional method of shop keepers and food behind counter genereal shop feel, it has the supermaket alley and choose at your own pace feel.

3.Pinnacle Shop, Point Cruz Stretch

Located at Point Cruz Shop Stretch its just one of those shops that have everything you just happened to need on the way home or during those shopping days. I especially like thier affordable deodorants and food shopping section.

2. Nicky’s Fast Food Bar and Toy Land, Town Ground.

This is the utlimate quality and service shop. There is a great and I think best food and drinks takeaway or “eat here” section that has some of the best Asian cooking, originating from Thailand, with my favorite White boiled rice with Beef Mushroom Oyster and and a another part selling almost every thing one will need from Coffee Mix Satchets to Frozen Food, Conditioners to Sunglasses, Toys to Pot Plants, I think you get the picture. The best thing is that most of the stuff in the shops are supplies from a different sources in Asian unlike the other dozen ships in Honiara who have a single supplier.

1. Abundance Life, Chinatown

There is something about this shop that makes everyone visit it everyday. It is a cornershop that is still easy on the pocket of the working person supporting a full household. Although the downside is that it has a very narrow space for customers, the fast service and affordibilities of food and toiletries items compensates for that.  I go there almost everyday not because it is along my street, there are many other shops along there, but because I spend less on the things I bought in Abundance Life and because of the daily fresh supply of bread.

Now that I have a list, if anyones unhappy their favorite shop is not inlcluded they can put up a complaint.

In a series of photos showing some changes in the physical environment of Honiara, I have taken up a camera and walking slippers to get you some shots of the changing faces of Honiara. I might say Honiara is not your average fast changing city in terms of infrstructure it usually takes 5 years or so for any changes to even start becoming visible.

You might remember the article about Town Ground and the National Rugby Association, a few days back, now I’m going to give you the ambitious deluxe apartment plan from the National Provident Fund ( NPF). They are planning on building a luxuxry apartment rumoured to be $SBD 15 000 a month for one unit once completed. I dont know about this. So construciton is now under way, mostly foundation laying or something like that. Just a few history though. The site where they are building now was used to be the National Bank Of Solomon Islands ( NBSI) Hostel for single staff back in late 70s. This is at the Mud Alley Street. On a personal side, I just want to say that that hostel played a big part in the romance two person who are responsible for this blogging girl. Yep, Mum used to be a bank teller for NBSI and met handsome dad and…ok ok you get the picture…

Hope you enjoyed those very very amatuer shots of the site of  excavation taken this morning.

One of Honiaras major facelift ( or facedrop whatever makes you happy) is slowly taking off at the moment. Everybody in Honiara loves Townground it is a rare open and free space available for sport, recreational and music events where other parts of the town fail to offer. It was with grievance that the local Rugby Association has acquired the land ( not going to get into how and why) and are planning to build a rugby stadium right at the spot that would be carried out by a Chinese Developer.

So for those of you who haven’t seen townground for a while and still think of it as the open and free spirited place it has been …think again. The picture above is shot only from one angle because  s you can see its kind of hard to access it from any other angle.

I havent wrote anything inspiring the past posts except for news. I was just thinking about that plus other hundred things at once when I came upon this very interesting article. Like it or not our world is coming to a turning point in modern history. The life of technology, medical and science are changing so fast that it overwhelmed apparent human existence and adaptation. In Honiara we are also experiencing rapid changes, mainly in social and culture arena more than ever in our peoples history. As Islanders we are penetrating into the unknown realms of dominant Western culture while unconsciously modifying our traditions with our current social experiences. But one thing for certain, technology and medicine are very slow in development for us. We depend very much on the changes and discoveries of the outside and powerful countries who can afford to pile resources, land and money into these sciences, for us to even take a plunge into a small change that can improve or burden us. With the recent hikes in prices of two of the most vital human need, Food and Fuel, maybe we should be not be frustrated becuase of slow technology changes but be glad that we have not come to depend on them as much as some our brothers and sisters of earthly inhabitants have come to be. For example the bicycle. We might not discover the power of the most fastest and efficient vehicles ( im talking about the second hand and cheap cars congesting Honiara) but we can improve on the ever present bicycle for our health, budget and attitude towards life. I mean we are getting lazy people, wanting to seat in a machine to get to some palce as soon as possible just to go and sit down and waste time again. Check this article Popular Vehicle in the World Today should give you another perspective… a better Solo Pespektiv maybe…That not all is worse off. We are still slow on treading the wheel but then it might be for the good. For our rural neighbours this idea of using bicycle to power water pump is not bad too. Pass the word okay, thats what we do, there is no telephone, mobile or email to reach them. Go on.

Solomon Islands National Futsal Team Kurukuru have won the Oceania Futsal Tournament in Fiji qualifying them to go to Brazil for the Futsal World Cup Champions in September! See here for the news coverage and some rather nasty comments.

While I am happy for the team and its hardwork to put little known Solomon Islands on the FIFA map, I am realistic about the great challenges and teams that they are going to meet in the World Cup. For futsal history in Solomon Islands is relatively infant in comparison to the rest of  Europea, Asia and South America. I remember quite clearly when futsal was introduced in Honiara around 2002 most of the team members of the now Kurukuru were the pioneers of the game. I think most of them joined in first for the fun, but later found the fire for their passion of the game in Futsal. Now they are representing the country in a prominent FIFA Tournament coming up. It won’t be an easy task and more pressure for the boys to continue practice after their celebration will be called for. Even trial games won’t be a bad idea before september.

While I am typing out this blog the Kurukuru team are being paraded around town. As is the tradition of welcoming back soccer heroes the traffic in Honiara is temporarily disrupted and shouting are tolerated for the moment. A pick up truck has picked the boys along with families, supporters and fans ( some of them leaving work to go celebrate for a while) and shouting up and down the towns one way main road. Everyone is happy. So should they be. This country have very little to celebrate about so we are making noises today. This is how we do it.

Of course in the back of our minds we are aware of the scale of the coming events, but for now lets just be happy. Last words. Oceania unite in support of Kurukuru.

We are having two saturdays this weekend, with friday starting off as a public holiday to mark the Celebration of Her Majesty Queen Elizaabeth II its going to be a long weekend. Honiara mayor hosted the celebration as is the past practice over and over again at the beloved one and only Lawson Tama, which include a parade, from police force and prison service, girl gudies and scouts, speeches and the important presentation of medals such as Order of the British Empire and and Brtish Empire Medal. Gosh it all sounds too pre- Independence, but what can we say.

On the other hand not everybody in Honiara turned up to Lawson Tama to see the celebration. Most prefered to laze around their house the whole day. In my neighbour hood since it is the beginning of the mid term school holidays children are ganging up with each other for the two weeks spell. The houses have DVD movies and TV turned up to the maximum volume and laughter spread around every corner of houses and side roads. Even if it is the Head of States Birthday , most people are clearly detached from the archaic of how states and nations become or even modern history just to live the moment. And the moment now is tough and people just appreciate whatever free time they have to celebrate their own lives even if its small and struggling.

*Note: This joke may backfire if not equipped with local knowledge.

Last nights party animal male of forty woke up from his drunken stupor in another part of town. Digging into his pocket he  came up with only $2. He needed to catch the public bus to get back home. With the recent rise in public bus fare what he got wasn’t enough. Cursing his luck and head ache. He waited around just in case he spotted anyone he knows to top up his money, but since he was in a another part of town, it was unlikely.

So when the next bus came to stop he hopped in. The Bus conductor started to collect the fares. When the bus conductor came to him he handed the $2 to the conductor avoiding eye contact and having sudden interest of the passing streets outside.

“Ahem”, bus conductor cleared his throat and tapped his shoulder. ‘Brada, you only gave me $2. The  bus fare is now $4 for adults and $2 for students.

“Seeehh…I know that!”, the accused hissed back. “I’m a former student.

Apart from the current food price hike there are other things buzzing Honiara at the moment. Soccer, Soccer and Soccer.

Yep with the National Club Championship Final between Makuru and Koloale coming into an controversial end. There is talking and shouting on how the referree handled that intesive game. This is still a touchy subject but lets just say for this blogs sake and as a KOSSA fan, I really dont care… CongratuIations Koloale.. I am mad with dissapointment because KOSSA did not even get a medal for third place ( losing out of the bronze game). SO I will leave it just like that. For the record and gameship: …FAIR PLAY… :0)

On the other corner, the Kurukuru National Futsal team currently participating in the Oceania Futsal Tournament in Suva, Fiji, just seem to be making headlines everyday with their continuing winning streaks. Beating New Zealand, New Caledonia and Fiji already is a major achievement! They have 3 more games with Vanuatu, Tahiti and Tuvalu and the trip to Brazil for the Futsal World cup tournament will be closer. God bless Kurukuru and may they be the light in this nations darkest hour.

By the way its officially declared a public holiday this Friday 13th June 2008 ( yes Friday 13th!!!) to mark the celebration of Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeths II Birthday. It is beyond me apart from the fact that She is the Head of State of Solomon Islands- know more about Monarch of Solomon Islands and get confused-and because of some Colonial Empire Kingdom that exist in history that we should put resources and time to celebrate this Birthday. I took this event as casually as possible, almost like watching a satirical play by life on us ordinary human beings. But I don’t mind a public holiday. You guessed it, this weekend just might start a bit too early for some. So its not too bad. A couple of bands marching, a governor general host function, wine, drinks…not to forget the Queens Speech…the lady is not that bad..its not her fault shes head of state of some rusty old sovereign nation smack in the middle of the ocean…oh well..God Save the Queen.

Honiara is going through some rough patches at the moment in its daily running. First there are the huge price hike in Rice and Public Bus Transport!

The price costs more than double and is disruptive of most already tight family budget. The Bus fare for example did not change by means of any law but was only tempered with by general consensus of most private bus owners ( who manage and run most town bus transport in the town). The cost of $2 for adult and $1 for students and children was announced and confirmed by the town council this morning as as effective is $4 for adults and $2 for students and children! While the main argument by the bus owners is the increasing fuel cost and vehicle maintenance and parts there are concern that the doubling price increasing of bus fare is unfair and unrealistic of current livelihoods and earnings. This means that a returning cost for a working adult of one stop is $8/day. $48/week. $152/month!That is too much! There were some temporary civic disturbances that occured in public buses, with those boycotting bus rides and walking to offices and schools. For some its just a good excuse to be late. But seriously there is no Act to control such public transport price. But in true Honiara style it will absorb into daily routine soon.

The Price of food is also climbing. Rice price however is causing more waves because most people nowadays regard rice as main staple diet.The usual buying of rice is in its bulk form of bag. The 10 kg bag of rice is most popular and affordable by the family standard in Honiara  and can often last a family of five up to the next pay cheque. So with the price of a 10kg moving from $55-60 to $100-120 nowadays life is getting tough here for food. Not to mention that the 20kg bag of rice has climbed to $200. There goes the money.

There was a sense of panic in the first few days of the price announcement. Although there were protests and outrage from individuals in media, there was no marching and placards display. People  just quietly took in the bad medicine, becuase for most they see that all of these changes are beyond the governments control. This is a global crisis so what is a poor country like Solomon Islands can do.  We do best what we always do in these situation. Adapt and improvise.