Monday 5th August

The working days are starting to merge together. I have finally settled into a routine and managed to learn most of the names of the staff. There is a bell that rings in the start of the day, morning and afternoon break, and the end of the day and although the workers clock in and out the factory is very laid back. The guys outside in the fibre and paper-making areas seem to work very hard but the sewing ladies seem to take any opportunity to chat or wander about. There doesn’t seem to be any sense of turning up for work on time and often the guys in the design office will turn up late or not at all! It is quite annoying when I am waiting for Swin, the sole operator of the Chinese laser cutter, as it means I can’t get on. This morning I decided to clear the backlog of the 60 A5 journal jacket covers that were all in various stages of being made up and so by lunchtime we had them all finished, with just the prepares signatures to sew in.

My plan had been to make a start of teaching simple pamphlet binding but that didn’t happen as Joey was at the dentist and so was not available to print the covers. I am producing a very basic A6 size three-hole stitch binding with a banana paper cover and then a little collection of a A6, A7 and A8 booklet as a package tied together with a length of banana fibre. Hopefully, it will be easy for my sewing ladies to grasp. Matt has continued to work on the clutch-bag design that I prototyped for him and it has obviously hit a sweet spot – he has been very proactive with finalising the design which is good to see. We had one of the sewing ladies stitch another prototype, which was much better than the one Lia and I stitched as we both struggled with the industrial sewing machine.

My lunch was Kosraen Salad deluxe as I was given some freshly grated coconut by Joey, which I toasted and use to top my salad. My fridge is full of young coconuts so I poked a hole in the top of one and took it with a metal straw and my salad to eat in the lunch shelter. As well as my guitar playing friend from the design room there were a couple of guys from the screenprint department. There is English is not good but we were able to chat a bit and one of them had sufficient vocabulary to ask me if I wanted either betel nut to chew or some marijuana! I didn’t take him up on either.

The afternoon went rapidly, I still didn’t have my printed covers for the simple journals so I worked on cutting the paper to size so that the sewing ladies could fold signatures tomorrow. There are three main ladies, none of whom really speak English. Matt assures me that they understand most things they are told but I am not convinced. One always looks grumpy but I have learned that she isn’t really, one has a happy, round smiley face with an open personality, the other is reserved and I haven’t really noticed her much.

At 5pm I asked Joey if he would like to go to Bat Island, as I had seen the bats one dusk and was keen to return with my camera. He was up for a little outing so we set off, together with his girlfriend for the causeway opposite the tiny island. On the way we stopped at Tree Lodge as none of us had been to the restaurant in the light and as it is reached by crossing a number of footpaths through the mangroves I wanted to visit during the day.

At night it is magical, the concrete slabs are embedded with pieces of broken coloured glass from bottles and they twinkle, catching the lights from the strings of fairy lights suspended between the mangroves. During the day it takes on more of a Tolkein’s Hobbit Land.

The mangrove roots protrude rather rudely from the clear black water and are known locally as the daggers of death. The sheer numbers never cease to amaze me as they pierce the reflections on the overhanging mangrove branches.

At the restaurant we stop for a cold drink, lingering on the pontoon restaurant in the shade. It is hot and we must wait for dusk before we will see the bats. We leave, taking in a quick look in the hotel gift shop as we go, and pass the most beautiful palm leaves. I buy my first souvenir to keep my tuskless stone walrus company in Winchester!

We drive a short way to the causeway and there is the noise of literally hundreds, if not thousands of black fruit birds flying above the island. I have never seen quite so many large bats in my life before. In the distance, I can make up the black bundles hanging down from the branches and then my camera frame was filled with ten or more tiny black specks, each one a fruit bat. Their shape is so typical, like a cartoon drawing and there are just so many.  We stand in awe and stare, behind us the sun is setting over the sea and some bats are flying over the road towards the sea, passing others on their way home to the Bat Island. The bat shape silhouettes dot the darkening sky and the green jungle turns dark and spooky as night falls. At low tide you can walk onto the island and see the bats much closer – I am going to ask Salek if he could take me there.

The sky became overcast and in the distance, the mountains towered, dwarfing the little house on the lagoon shore.

Back at the apartment, there isn’t even time to shower, we were going back to Bully’s restaurant for dinner with one of Joey’s friends from Guam. She is “on-island” for the PATA (Pacific Atlantic Tourism ) Conference that is taking place this week.

Sitting out on the pontoon with the twinkly lights strung between the trees, the stars shining down and the clearly defined half-crescent moon throwing light on the water makes for an idyllic setting to enjoy dinner. The service was as always very slow but the food was good – I opted for a chopped fish dish, served with salad, rice and toasted breadfruit – very tasty.  There are never any desserts so by 9:30 we were home. I decided to work on some more little books and went to get some paper from the design office. I don’t know who was more spooked – the cockroaches who seem to have taken over the design office or me.  I grab a few sheets and make a hasty retreat to my apartment where I can defend myself with my can of RAID, leaving the design office wildlife to scurry away and hide.