Mojitos in Hand, Chatting Up Concertgoers

The nicest thing about this big Rainforest World Music Festival are the people we’ve met. We got to the Sarawac Cultural Village early, and we sat on bamboo matts and drank mojitos. While lounging on big pillows we met a couple from Singapore with two young boys. He is an English architect who recently finished working on Beijing’s famous bird’s nest arena. His company specializes in stadia around the world.

I asked him about that amazing polymer ETFE that was used in this big building that is so lightweight, so cheap and is playing such a big part in green buildings.

He said that when it is applied, ETFE is like plastic wrap, but it’s far tougher, and can be blown to cover up to 30 yards of area without additional support–and weighs about as much as a pack of sugar. It was used instead of glass in this auditorium, and when rain hits it, it’s like a snare drum. It pops to a deafening roar. So he said it isn’t good for projects in places that will get a lot of rain.

Later that night I sat next to an Aussie yachtsman who had come over with nine other vessels from Australia. He told me about Papua New Guinea, where he said that the economy has almost stopped functioning and lawlessness is the rule. He said that armed guards and men with baseball bats are everywhere, guarding the shops and restaurants which without them would be overrun. He said it was impossible to cash a check there since the local economy is cratering and anyone with sense and or money has since fled.

I asked him about piracy in the Straits of Malacca, where were are going next week. “The governments of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore have had enough,” he said, “Now they just shoot the pirates dead, no messing around.”
That made me feel a little better since the last time I read up on this it was an epidemic that was threatening propery and life and nobody seemed willing to take action.