Al-Kendi Hotel Tripoli

After 4 hours at the border, finally managed to make my way into Libya only to have some jerk go through the contents of my bag and then ask me for money for the pleasure! Libya is such a surprise. The people are so friendly and reserved (unlike Egypt!) and there is so much to see here. I first went to Tobruk and visited the war memorials there. It is so sad to see all the Aussie graves there - such ...

On the weekend I was very lucky to be invited to a local wedding (the female gatherings) and also to be dressed in traditional bridal dress complete with gold everything! It was my friend Faisels brothers wedding and the most extravagant one I have been to. On Thursday night my friends (who I was told to invite as it was "my brothers wedding") and I drove across town to a beautiful ball set up ...

... grasshoppers and chews on all the plants he recently put in) I offcourse said we should keep him because he is just so cute and needs a home. So I cleaned him up, took him to the vet and named him Sydney. And because to get him back to Oz will mean a 6 month stay in France for quarantine. :) He hangs out with me around the house and adores Lance for some reason - maybe because he actually crawls into his doghouse with him!.

... but he was actually taking pictures of an overloaded bus and they just happened to be in the background. luckily after some tense questioning at the police station he was released! note to any other tourists in Libya, be careful your not taking pictures of police or police stations!

... the chain...again. But that is not the cause. My rear wheel is buckled which is screwing the chain, catching and tightening it every turn of the wheel. No chance of getting these parts in Libya, where there is a severe lack of motorcycles of any sort. I'll have to limp on to Tunisia. Not a happy bunny. It makes a horrid sound and the motion is shuddery as well. Poor Charlotte. Don't worry gal, you'll be going to pasture soon....

Kym and I had our first trip away last week - Tripoli, Libya. Austrade has a guy and his wife there so we went to see how it was all going for them. Very interesting experience. The challenges began before we left, as we had no visa - just a promise to be given one when we arrived and a visa number (due to Ramadan and then the Eid celebration the Libyan Consulate wasn't actually able to glue the visa into our passports). Standing at the airport, finally convincing ...

... they laughed at us, tried to show us and meanwhile the singer was shouting AUSTRALIA!!! AUSTRALIA!!! AUSTRALIA!!! we felt like the novelty entertainment for the night. The beautiful bride looked like a perfect disney style snow white with heavy makeup, fake eyelashes and full white gown. She sat the whole evening on the chair (in the picture) having her photo taken by the professional photographer and guests lined up to congratulate her. Unfortunatly noone else was allowed to take ...

... you're going to eat me!" So Johnny swims off to see Cod. "Cod, I'm bored! All my friends are dead, and Christian won't play with me. Please turn me back into a prawn again." Cod says "OK, I think you've learned your lesson," waves his magic fin and Johnny is a prawn again. He swims off to see Christian. "Come out and play with me," he calls. "Nonono, you're a shark, you're going to eat me!" "No, it's OK! I've spoken to Cod, I'm a prawn again Christian!"

... involved in the preservation of historical sights in the Mdina and written a book on it's history. The best part of the tour was looking inside the Mosques, each quite different in design and history, the main thing that struck me about the mosques were that they were all very colourful.

... We had another wander around the Marcus Aurelius Arch, and it looked more eroded by daylight. Pity, because it is quite amazing. next doot was the Jame Gurgi Mosque. Outside, it was very plain, but inside, the tiles were nearly as good as some of the Mosques in Iran. Down the road, was an old church and then we had a look at the House of Yousef Karamanli. It has been restored, and they have used dummies, actually women dummies, and stuck beards on them to show ...