I survived the flight from Uganda – made it to the hotel (thanks to Diane who met me at the hotel with cab fare and cash). Erynn, who I was to have flown in with, had some travel trauma of her own…same travel agency, go figure! But she made it to the hotel within an hour of me.

Wandered out for dinner and found a little open restaurant around the corner from the hotel. The food was good – and thanks to Erynn, am getting a bit of an introduction to sea food. At least she isn’t crazy adventurous – no squid or octopus!

Breakfast at the hotel is great! Fresh fruit (pineapple, watermelon and papaya) dry cereal, assortment of juices some eggs, croissants etc. Am mostly drinking tea…when I drink as the coffee is pretty intense.

Wednesday morning we went to the UN for cluster reports. It was a very formal meeting, and I felt incredibly out of place in my Uganda camping duds. Oh well! Actually it was pretty funny to look around the room. You could spot the UN people by how warmly they were dressed. The rest of the NGO reps. were sweaty and casually dressed.

After this meeting we stayed on for the Shelter Cluster meeting. Clusters are groups of NGO representatives who meet on a common topic to report their work and findings in any given emergency. It is also intended to be a coordinating body so that there isn’t massive redundancy of goods / services etc.

From the Shelter cluster we went to the logistics cluster – unfortunately it was over by the time we got there. I managed to add my name to an email list and get a website to check for updates. For logistics, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) runs the cluster – and runs the logistics services for transport etc. They are taking a very active role in this emergency setting up warehouses at both ends as well as arranging transport between. It seems like a good deal, but I have a feeling that if you’re not shipping in 20 metric tons of something…you might get lost in the shuffle.

My computer arrived within a couple of days and made it through customs without VAT or any other charges. It was amazing! The only thing it didn’t arrive with was a power cord. So I found a local computer mecca, Pantip Plaza, and made the pilgrimage!

Pantip Plaza truly is geek heaven – I haven’t seen so many electronics in one place in my life. The great thing were all the little mom & pop kiosks! I truly believe you can find anything there! I managed to find a power cord…and not to be foiled again, I actually remembered to get an adapter too!

Then it was on to MBK to see if I could get my phone unlocked…but that’s another story!