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tea pluckers

Posted on February 25, 2006 @ 5:42 pm by massimo | Filed under: blog, people, travel, wordpress

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teapluckers plantation malaysia aynaku illustration adobe

In 1985 I went to Cameron Highland the renowned, Malaysia’s most extensive hill station, at an altitude of about 1500 mt. A trip to Cameron is not the same without visiting Boh Tea Plantations in Tanah Rata. These are beautiful and idyllic settings. The rolling green waves are neat rows of tea plants. The green waves dip and swell to reveal winding brown roads lined by eucalyptus trees. Birds chirp overhead, squirrels dart between the bushes and water hens wander about the streams. The tranquil scene belies also the female tea pluckers’s tough livelihood. Pluckers work from 7 am till noon, six days a week, and each kilogram fetches less than 50 sen (local currency is called ringitt, which is divided into 100 sen). A plucker gathers at least 50 kg of tea leaves daily (it takes five kg of leaves to make one kg of tea…); There are collection points besides the roads and the women work their way to them along near-vertical ledges. Curiously enough I found out that many of them came from Indonesia and Bangla Desh…

Illustration Friday’s topic is tea

nigi nigi noo noos

Posted on February 19, 2006 @ 10:00 am by massimo | Filed under: blog, mythology, philippines, wordpress

niginigi mermaid chant philippines illustration adobe

Homer’s Odyssey, the classic epic poem about the travels of Ulysses, is possibly the most ancient report on the enchanting songs of sirens, songs which charm the sailors and cause their destruction…
Since the first time I read the Odyssey – as a tender schoolboy- one of my dreams was to travel by sea and listen to that elusive song; now that I know where my eyes have been, I realize that every sailor follows his own song, which necessarily sounds different to anyone…
So it happened that I read, painted upon a wooden signboard of a cosy beach resort in Boracay, a mysterious slogan: Nigi Nigi Nu Noos.
Nevertheless its meaning (maybe a long and complex acronym), the sound of this phrase simply excited me at first: for some reason it suddenly reminded me of the truly exotic and enchanting sound of mermaid’s song…

Illustration Friday’s topic is song

a simple soul…

Posted on February 11, 2006 @ 6:56 pm by massimo | Filed under: africa, blog, travel, wordpress

baringo lake kenya rowing bilharzias aynaku illustration adobe

In 1981 I was travelling East Africa. Life was easy for me! On my way to Uganda I stayed at Lake Baringo, the northernmost lake in the beautiful Rift Valley, at the threshold of northern Kenya. The lake lies off the beaten tracks, in an area that was little affected by tourism. The lake itself was truly beautiful, surrounded by volcanic ranges that stretched as far as the eye could see. A t the lake heart, I noticed several small islands: they were worth a visit! Nowadays there are boat trips ideal for bird or hippo watching, but then nothing similar was available (thanks God!). I could nothing but hiring one of those little, unsafe canoes that natives - the Njemps tribe - make use of. I approached a young and smiling kid who owned a canoe and - after a long, funny and friendly dealing - we sailed to a rocky island home to his relatives. It was a bit exhausting for me to paddle under the hot African skies and, despite my young vigour and the insane feeling of being part of a Karen Blixen’ tale, I was damned thirsty! I had carefully avoided to drink the lake freshwater, notoriously polluted by bilharzias. As matter of fact, I could hardly stand my thirst when we finally get the tiny island. Nothing there, but a couple of rustic huts where my guide’s relatives lived. He asked water for me and I got it: it was such a muddy water… I drank it and I drank it, again! We rested for a while, I presented my hosts a brand new pack of biscuits, we had a precarious conversation about the tribe I belonged to, ( “Italy” was my simple answer…) and then was time to say “good-by” , getting back to the mainland…
Such an unforgettable day, as unforgettable is the taste of the water I swallowed! On the way back, my smiling guide –recklessly- explained to me, that the very famous water came straight from the lake! I’m such a simple soul…

Illustration Friday’s topic is simple

fish feeding

Posted on February 3, 2006 @ 6:16 pm by massimo | Filed under: animals, blog, diving, fun, wordpress

I worked as a dive master for a few months. Basically I wanted to dive for free. Truly, I wasn’t too much concerned about those training exercises and problems solving abilities, a dive master has to deal with…
So …