Arrival at IRRI

On the 30th of May I finally left Ireland for the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines. After packing bags and organising final documentation the previous day I left my home at 12 noon. After a 3 hour bus ride and a 2 hour wait at Dublin airport the first leg to Abu Dhabi was over before I knew it. A 4 hour wait beckoned and the tiredness associated with long travel set in. Of course I only had an 8 hour flight  to Manila to wrestle with! The flight to Manila was packed to capacity. However, the on-board entertainment kept me going. There was a few fits and bursts of sleep but nothing major.

By now the body was going into overdrive. Long haul travelling is something I never experienced before. After arriving there was a queue for immigration and a pain staking one hour wait for my bags at the carousel. Of course to make matters worse I’d been sent to the wrong carousel. That delayed the situation even more.

After collecting the bags I proceeded to meet the IRRI driver who promptly got me to IRRI after a one hour drive. It was almost at 2am. The matron seen this pale disorientated Irish Paddy stumble from the car. He looked worse for wear! 30 hours of travelling had taken its toll.

The first thing that hit me was a blast of heat that punched me right in the face. I made short work of the 500ml bottle of water the driver gave me. After hauling the bags up the stairs with jet lag and hunger written all over me, I walked around the two bedroom apartment like a drunken goose. Circling around going no where. The humidity was unbearable!! Its 2am!! How am I going to survive this every day?! Anyway I spotted something..

American Willis Carrier invented one of the first electric air conditioning units some time around 1902. To this day its fair to say this revolutionary piece of engineering has been put to great use. After staring at this white box I turned it on. Heaven! I wasn’t in the country long but fair to say this was relieving. Might sound dramatic but a hungry, dehydrated, disorientated, sleep deprived human from the west of the Emerald Isle was at one with this piece of wonderful engineering!

The past two nights has been a breeze. All thanks to this guy, so please keep working!!

My A/C Unit in all its glory!