FOSSAP-II :: Part 2

September 1, 2005

I woke up around at 7 am and prepared myself. Usually I am not that early riser. My cell phone, which I brought from Dhaka – helped me to wake up that early. Then I went out to have my breakfast in the hotel restaurant. After that I went to the conference room around at 8.45 am as the inaugural session was suppose to start from 9.00 am.

Here is a snap of the local cultural showcase in the first session.


At the end of the event block Richard Stallman gave a special address.


Did you notice my national flag? ;)

Btw, you will get details of the agenda here. So I am not making my blog longer. ;)

After finishing first day’s presentations and speeches we went to Ankor Wat to take some group photos. And obviously it was a fantastic tour. Without talking much I am giving some snaps.





Here is a snap with Javier Sola inside the temple. I met him while working for Bangla localization of OpenOffice.org.


We left for our hotel after roaming around 2 hours in Ankor Wat. Some of us dropped in a roadside restaurant for having their dinner. I went to my hotel, took some rest, freshen up, changed my cloths and went for a ride with Sandeep and Nasir [from Pakistan] to the old market in the city. We walked in the market place and visited some shops. The noticeable thing was US Dollar is widely used currency. And you will find almost nothing under US $5. :-/

At the end we had our dinner in an Indian restaurant. Then we walked again for a while and got back to hotel.


September 2, 2005

The day started similarly like the previous one. But I was in extra pressure - cause I had to deliver my speech that day. ;-)

It was my first presentation in front of non-BD people! I was convincing myself that I would overcome the situation well. Anyway, I had delivered my speech at 12.15 pm and it was not that bad as I thought earlier. :) I had a very good lunch on that day after long time outside BD. Here is a snap of my presentation.


After lunch, our local host Noy Shoung [NiDA Deputy Secretary General] announced that if we finish our presentations on due time, then we can go for a boat ride - which will cost US$5 each. So most of us get registered and joined the trip around at 6 pm.

Here is a snap from the boat trip.

A local cambodian boy was with us. Very cute! :)



September 3, 2005

This was the last day of the conference and we had group discussions - most of the time. There were 6 topics in 2 sessions. So I could join only 2 out of 6.

I joined, "FOSS and Localisation" and "FOSS and e-Government" - both held in room 303. We came up with some issues and suggestions regarding them. After the discussion session there was presentation session in the conference room.




The whole session ended up around at 6 pm and we got an announcement that there will be a cultural show at the restaurant and the local host will provide us dinner. ;)

RMS gave his last speech at the end.










And here is a last shot in the conference room.





Here is a snap of the closing ceremony.



September 4, 2005

It was our full/half day tour to the temples in Siem Reap. We visited several temples. Sorry! I forgot the names. The guide in our bus [there were two buses] was describing the history of Cambodia - and we were all enjoying his speech. We visited a village too. I bought some stuffs in very cheap price from there. :)

Here is a snap with a smiling face at Bayon.

We returned to our hotel around at 2 pm, because some of us had their return flights in that evening. While returning to the hotel we visited a souvenir shop. There I found this wine bottle, which had a cobra [yea, it was original - not fake] inside it. :-/












Sandeep left for India at that evening. Only Nasir and I had dinner together that night.


September 5, 2005

Nasir left for Pakistan at morning. I was the only person staying alone. I was watching TV and thinking what to do. I called the operator and asked for a city tour guide - which was free. Picked up 2 places to visit, butterfly garden and crocodile firm. I took a tuktuk around at 3 pm and made a deal with him that he will be with me all the time and bring back me to the hotel at 8 pm. I convinced him that I would pay him US $5 for those 5 hours. :-)

Here are two snaps. One is from the butterfly garden and another one is from the crocodile firm.
















Btw, I was confused - why all 3 crocs were in that same mood. :-P

I had my dinner alone in Little India. After returning to the hotel at night, I started to pack my luggage. And it was a real tough job. My wife packed my luggage in Dhaka and I was fully unaware how hard it was to put lots of stuffs in a small suitcase. :-/

To be continued...