Lake Wanam


December 14, 2010 (2)

After the Eco-lodge inauguration, we headed back to NARI, only to find Markham Bridge was closed for construction work. So, we decided to go back to Gabensis and take a tour to the lake. That turned out to be an excellent decision because the beauty of Lake Wanam was outworldly! I found that even many of the NARI people visited this jewel of Morobe Province for the first time, although they always see it from above when the airplane approaches Lae Airport. I wished that the Eco-lodge was on the lake, but that might spoil the scenery, so let it be where it is.

The lake is home to an endangered fish species called Lake Wanam rainbowfish, which lives only in this small lake. I was told that there are many crocodiles in the lake but they usually stay deep in the water. (I hope so.) There is a sunken Japanese war plane somewhere in the lake, and visitors can dive into the lake to see it.

Wanam Lake. Water lilies.
Wanam Lake, small but pristine. Water lilies are common in the lake.
How about a canoe ride? Clean lake water.
How about a canoe ride? The lake water is very clean.

Inauguration ceremony of the Eco-lodge


December 14, 2010 (1)

The Eco-lodge, the centerpiece of the Korean yam eco-tourism project, was inaugurated today at Gabensis Village. The ceremony started with a “gate opening” of the site. The gate was made of the palm leaves and the Korean and NARI guests were welcomed by dancers after the “gate” was pulled down. I had a chance to see the inside of the lodge after the tape cutting ceremony by Dr. Kwan-Jin Chang , Dr. Myeon Choe, and representatives of Gabensis and NARI. The lodge is almost ready for accepting tourists. With the beautiful natural setting and friendly village people, I am sure the project will take off well. The main tourist attractions here are yam production and the nearby Lake Wanam. NARI and the Korean team will assist the village with the technical aspects of yam production, including irrigation and fertilization. If this model project is successful, it will prove that the Korean Saemaul movement is a universal concept that can be implemented in many developing countries.

Local dancers welcoming the Korean scientists and NARI guests. Inaugural ceremonay of Eco-lodge.
The Korean scientists and NARI guests were welcomed by the local dancers. Tape cutting ceremony.
Inside the lodge. Gabensis community will use the lodge.
Inside the lodge. It is a simple accommodation, but will be a comfortable place to stay. The lodge will be used by the Gabensis community as well.

Korean yam project


December 13, 2010

We have a team of Korean scientists here at NARI now. They are visiting PNG to inaugurate a lodge for eco-tourism. The concept of the eco-tourism is based on the idea of the Saemaul (rural village development) movement that has been very successful in Korea. In many parts of the world, rural villages are left behind from the economic progress in urban areas, and Korea was no exception. But with ideas, inspiration, and hardworking, the progress has been achieved there. Here, the Korean team has built a lodge where tourists can stay and learn how yam is cultivated and processed for unique products. Like ginseng, yam is considered to have great medicinal values in Korea. The Korean team reported in today’s seminar at NARI that PNG yam has much higher active content to promote good health than Korean yam.

They introduced some of their yam products in the seminar. One of them was a yam cup cake as you see in the pictures. The powder contains yam (20%) along with other ingredients, but with its unique stickiness, it is uniquely yam! Yam tea and yam bread were the other products they mentioned. It seems that nowadays, anything can be made into bread. I read that rice bread was gaining popularity in Japan. Maybe, the next will be yam bread?

The eco-lodge has been now handed over to the people of the Gabensis Village, which is not far from the NARI headquarters. Whether the movement proves successful depends on how well the village people manage the eco-tourism project. The Korean people, or NARI, can only help, by advertising the lodge in Korea, for example.

Dried Korean Yam. Korean yam mix.
Dried yam mix for cup cake. The yam mix is poured into the cup.
Egg added and microwaved. Sticky cake made from Korean yam.
Egg is added, mixed well, and then microwaved. The cake has a sticky consistency and tastes excellent.

El Niño and Papua New Guinea


December 9, 2010

Papua New Guinea is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to El Niño. El Niño is an anomaly of sea temperature in the tropical Pacific region. During the normal times, the tropical Western Pacific region is warm, creating upward movements of the air that result in precipitation. So, Papua New Guinea is blessed with rain and the landscape is lush green. Not so during El Niño. The sea temperature turns cooler, preventing the air to rise and the rain stops. In 1997, this caused a severe drought in PNG. The PNG subsistence farmers typically rely on freshly harvested root crops and vegetables and do not store their food. Or perhaps, it is difficult to store food because of the normally hot and humid climate. In 1997, people starved in the prolonged dry period for lack of food and water. Now, the PNG population has increased nearly 50% since 1997, and if another El Niño event hits the country, the consequence may be worse than that of the 1997 drought.

The good news is NARI and other agencies and groups are working hard to prepare people for the next El Niño. One way is to develop drought tolerant crops. I am thinking of developing sweet potato and aibika that can withstand dry periods. Sweet potato is the staple food for many communities in PNG, and aibika, a green leafy vegetable, is a good supplemental food that locals love. Drought tolerant and fast growing sweet potato and aibika should enhance the food security of the country during an El Niño event, which may be imminent.

Sweet potato at NARI Aiyura campus. Aibika at NARI experimental farm in Lae.
Sweet potato crossing experiment at the NARI Aiyura campus. Aibika at the NARI experimental farm in Lae. Aibika is closely related to hibiscus.

My first blog from Papua New Guinea


December 8, 2010

My wife and I moved to Papua New Guinea (PNG) in June, but we could not update this blog until now, due to the technical difficulties we face in this country. But now my wife has gone back to her native India temporarily. So, she is able to upload my blog entries from India for now.

Today, I would like to briefly introduce our life here. I was appointed as the principal scientist for biotechnology at the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) located just outside of the city of Lae. Our surrounding is very good, as you can see from the pictures. The Lae area is very green and rainy, maybe too rainy. We are so far very happy with our house. It is a typical house in PNG, with three bedrooms, and one living room. We use rain water stored in a big 9,000 liter tank. Because it is very rainy, there is very little chance that the tank becomes empty. But the problem is that the water is pumped from the tank every time we open the faucet. So, when there is a power outage, we can’t get water from the tap. In the garden, everything grows very well, so we are planning to grow vegetables here. But the nearby Ten Mile market sells very good vegetables and fruits quite inexpensively. One bundle of spinach costs just 20 toea (about 6 U.S. cents), and a very big and sweet papaya can be bought for 1 kina (30 U.S. cents) only.

NARI Headquarters. Our House.
NARI headquarters building. Our House.
Guava fruit in our yard. NARI surroundings.
We have guava, papaya, and mango trees in our yard. Village in the mountain behind our house.

Organic vegetables, Indian style


June 5, 2010

It is fun to shop at vegetable markets in India, and Gandhinagar has a very nice one in the heart of the city called Sector 21. We buy most of our vegetables and fruits there. There is a reason to believe that Indian vegetables are very safe in terms of residual pesticides and herbicides. Please look at the picture of the spinach we bought the other day. It has lots of weeds, mostly of grass species, among the spinach leaves. It may account for roughly 10-15% of the total weight of the vegetable. Also, insect damages are common on leafy vegetable. Okras and cauliflowers usually contain several worms hidden inside the vegetables. A big problem for vegetarians, but I take it as a sign that Indian vegetables are grown with no or only minimal amount of insecticide and herbicide. I hope my view is correct.

Gandhinagar vegetable market. Spinach leaves with the weeds.
Gandhinagar vegetable market. Spinach leaves with the weeds.

Monsoon 2010


June 2, 2010

I did not expect to stay in India to witness the onset of this year's monsoon. The first rain arrived here shortly after a sudden sandstorm.

In a short time, the sky was filled with yellow sand. The fine silt also came into our house through window gaps and settled on the floor. The wind was strong enough to strip off a metal sheet from a high-rise condominium next to ours. The thin but sizable metal sheet hit the ground with a speed of a meteor. Fortunately, there was no one there at the time.

The rain that followed the storm was not substantial but only wetted the ground, but the temperature fell sharply after the arrival of the cold front that brought the storm and the rain. The extreme Gujarat summer season is over.

A sudden sandstorm. Rain that followed the sandstorm.
A sudden sandstorm. Rain that followed the sandstorm.

Adalaj Ni Vav - A Stepwell in Gujarat


May 29, 2010

Adalaj Ni Vav is a stepwell located just south of Gandhinagar. It is only several kilometers west of where we live, so we visited the stepwell the other day. The trip cost us only Rs. 50 each way, yet we were able to experience a different world. For those who are not familiar with Indian stepwells, they are wells that are not just a deep vertical pit. Instead, the underground water is made accessible by stone steps. Many stepwells are multistoried in structure and highly decorative.

Such stepwells are found mainly in Western India where the climate is very dry most of the year. They must have served a role of oases in ancient times, where people can meet, gossip, or just escape the extreme summer heat. But why are these stepwells found only in this region of the world? Perhaps, the answer lies in the fact that stable governments existed here that made the construction of upscale structures both feasible and practical. The second reason is that the superior architectural technology was necessary to make the stepwells happen. Both were found in Western India at the time of the stepwell construction.

This was our second visit to Adalaj Ni Vav. We visited the place in 2007, but since then, I heard that the government was renovating the stepwell as a state park. So, we wanted to see the new look of the place with a possible entry charge. A pleasant surprise was that there was no fee charged. It was still free for everyone. To see Rani Ni Vav in Patan, I had to pay Rs. 100 in 2007, although Indian citizens pay only Rs. 5. The down side was that I didn't see any improvement, either. It is a very important historical monument that requires protection. It was sad to see grafittis and red marks of betelnut on the walls and pillars. Mr. Bachchan, you are now the Gujarat tourism ambassador. Please bring more tourists to the state so that they can generate funds for the protection of monuments like Adalaj Ni Vav.

Entrance to the stepwell. Beautiful peacock design at the entrance of the stepwell.
Entrance to the Adalaj stepwell. Admission is still free for everyone. I found this beautiful peacock design at the entrance of the stepwell.
Inside the majestic Adalaj Ni Vav. Green pasture above the well.
Inside the majestic Adalaj Ni Vav. The pillars and walls are decorated with exquisite carvings. There is a green pasture above the well. We took a brief rest under one of the trees.

Ahmedabad in the 19th Century


May 20, 2010

Google is currently scanning numerous books in public libraries and has made them available on line. Many of the books are in the public domain, and therefore we can download and read them free of charge. In this Google collection, I have recently come across an interesting book titled "Indika -The Country and the People of India and Ceylon" authored by John F. Hurst in 1891. It is all about India; geography, history, etc. from the 19th century perspective.

I took interest especially in the chapter on Ahmedabad, simply because it is where I am now. I have to admit that I had thought I knew the city quite well as a foreigner, but a paragraph in the book changed my view.

Tree of Life - AhmedabadAbout the latter half of the sixteenth century, Ahmadabad was one of the largest cities in Western India. In the splendor of its architecture and the wealth of its citizens, it was the Hindu Florence. From 1573 to 1600, it was "the handsomest town in Hindustan, perhaps in the world." Sir Thomas Roe declared it "a goodly city as large as London."

I know Ahmedabad is known as Manchester of India, but the book's author likened the city to Florence and London. And it was the most fashionable city in the world in the 19the century! This will surely make me want to explore more of the city

The book has some very beautiful line drawings and here I have reproduced one of them. It is a great book for anyone who is interested in India.


Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), Ahmedabad


May 19, 2010
An Ahmedabad BRTS bus. People at BRTS station.
An Ahmedabad BRTS bus. People waiting for the bus at the BRTS station.

Last year, a Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) was started in Ahmedabad. The other day, my wife and I used the BRTS bus to visit our relatives in Maninagar. We boarded the bus at the system's northern terminal of RTO and traveled to the end of the line, Maninagar Railway Station. The first impression was, it is fast. It runs on a special bus only lane and the bus operation is not interrupted by the chaotic Ahmedabad traffic. The bus was not air-conditioned in the 45°C heat, but the constant wind that was coming into the bus kept the inside relatively comfortable. A/C would hike the operational cost, so that is not a bad thing for a bus system meant for all the city folks, rich and poor. The fare was Rs. 15 for the 20 km route, which is probably reasonable. The stations will be equipped with IC card readers for fare deduction in the future, but at present, it was not operational yet.

It is a big improvement over the conventional transport systems in Ahmedabad, and it is hoped that the network will be expanded. But for the city of 6 million that is rapidly growing, I feel that a rail transit will be necessary, and the BRTS will play a supplementary role where rail construction is not physically or economically feasible. The success of Delhi Metro should be replicated in this affluent city of Ahmedabad.


Indian Mangoes


May 16, 2010
A mango stand on the street. Mango sellers in the Gandhinagar.
A mango stand on the street. Mango sellers in the Gandhinagar vegetable market.

I am in India now, and it is May, in the middle of the mango season. So, I thought it was fair enough to share how much I appreciate mangoes here. The quality of Indian mangoes is unparalleled anywhere else in the world, and there are so many varieties of them.

This is not the first time I lived in a mango growing area. I lived in Kenya in the 1980's and I enjoyed mangoes sold locally in a tiny village where I taught science at a secondary school. The local people told me there were two kinds of mangoes, good ones and bad ones. The good ones are small and sweet mangoes that were eaten as a snack, or more often, as lunch by the students. I think the "bad" ones that the locals were referring to were actually the variety used for pickles or something, but I'm not sure. In any case, the point here is that there wasn't any choice of mango varieties that I could buy there.

In India, things are different. Mangoes come in many subtle differences in taste, shapes, and prices. A common variety available here (Ahmedabad) is Tota, that looks like a parrot's beak and has a subdued sweetness. Another variety, Badam, is round shaped and sweet like pure cane sugar. These varieties are relatively inexpensive. Tota costs about Rs. 30 per kg, and Badam is about Rs. 50 per kg.

An expensive, but sinfully tasty variety is Alphonso. Its meat is deep orange and the texture is creamy. It is very flavorful and extremely sweet. It is the king of mangoes, so to speak. It sells for about Rs. 75 per kg. Another high-profile variety is Kesar. Its flesh is more smooth than that of Alphonso, but it is no less sweet and has a very strong flavor. Both are my favorite.

Mango season is short, so you have to visit India at the right time to enjoy them. Unfortunately, the right time for mangoes may not be the right time for traveling (hint: heat).