Skiing in the desert

Atlantic Ocean in the horizon

"I will take you to my world record sand dune, Ian. It's bigger than 'The Matterhorn Dune." Henrik exclaimed excitedly.

I was already huffing and puffing up the sand dune in ski boots with skis on my back. The sand found its way in the ski boots and bore two nice holes in my shins.

"Let's do it!" I cried.

I'm in Namibia looking to get my skiing fix. It just so happens I was in Swakopmund where Henrik's office is based. I couldn't tell you where I saw an ad for his place, but it was from the corner of my eye. I Googled "skiing in Namibia" and he was the first hit that pops up.

Henrik holds the world record for the fastest time skiing on sand, clocked at 92.15 km/h. Henrik worked over ten years developping his special wax formula specially suited for skiing on sand. It's hard for him to hold back his excitement when he talks about the technical aspects of skiing.

Could've suffered much more at night... Have you considered mosquito nets?

PermaNet hanging out during the day. Not in anti-mozzie mode
just quite yet!

I woke up in the middle of the night from the swelling, itching and a thousand mosquitos finding their way through the giant wide open windows to the already stuffy room in India to eat me alive. It was mosquito netting time. I didn't think it would be as bad as it was considering how the evening was so mild. But then again, I'm the kind of guy that mosquitos love, to my demise.

Thank goodness, Vestergaard Frandsen had provided me with wonderful oppurtunity to try out their mosquito nets, aptly named PermaNet. This fantastic company, in short, helps improve lives of those in vulnerable countries through supporting the UN's Millenium Development Goals. And this mosquito net is one of the big products. It helps with fighting malaria in the most hectic mosquito ridden places.

All respiratory masks suck. Except for this one

Totobobo Mask

I'm not a man to give reviews very easily, unless it was bad... or spectacularly amazing. And this one is it, amazing. I'm talking about the Totobobo Mask, of course.

After a few years of use, it was about time I had written something more significant.

My Criterias: Light, Not hot, breathes easy, and non invasive
When I was still working in South Korea, spring time was also a time for a phenomenon called "Yellow Dust". Fine particles of sand specs picks up from the Gobi desert, collects air pollution as it travels through China and then dumps it in Korea. This can also last throughout the summer. Needless to say, I got sick a lot during the spring. Finally, I had enough and decided to look for a good mask. My criteria was that 1) Was light 2) Not hot 3) Breathes really easily 4) Non-invasive