Nouzha 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 ...

... the house built across the road and decked out in traditional material and decoration. I had a Trafalger Ball to attend later in the evening so went early to be dressed in the traditional bridal costume. All the women were so friendly and welcoming especially Faisels wife and his adorable young girls. The costume is made up of layers of material, threaded with gold and as much gold and as ...

So here are some pics of our new house and new dog!! Sorry Meg for this taking me so long to upload. New house was due to a giant mosque which now overshadows our old one and the new dog is because the poor thing was dumped on the farm. Mohammed found him and brought him to us covered in tics and fleas and starving. He said we should keep him as having a dog will keep away the rats and mice - (much to Mohammed's disgust he only ...

... 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!

... doesn't quite tally with the lips (in order to get into posh cafes you need to manoeuvre round piles of breeze blocks), the lashes are on wonky (the espresso gets served in a huge paper cup) and the LBD is clearly her mum's from the early 90s (the decorative artificial pond in the main square has a nice relective sheen of oil). Mind you, it's not pretentious about it. It's not trying too ***********'t think it cares at all. It ...

... in Libya. But they were all making the best of it and supporting each other, and the Dutch couple were on their 2nd stint in Tripoli and 20 years in the region. Next morning Cynthia and I set off in rain with a driver as the boys headed to the office and a round of appointments - Kym was very jealous. There was a lot of flooding in the streets, rain not being a particularly regular occurrence in this part of the world, and of course plenty of traffic accidents ...

... incase men would ever see them uncovered, shame because they were all really dolled up. At 12.30pm dinner was served which included sheeps testicals covered in glitter - not brave enough to try them but the other food was nice. Aparently the groom arrives at about 3am but we couldn't last that late. It was a fun but noisy night. This was a more modern Libyan wedding I'm hoping I can also get invited to a very traditional one in the future and also find out more about the wedding traditions.

... and giggling at it like a little school girl. So in honour of B (B, pass me the ball) I have included two very ordinary prawn jokes for your comedic pleasure: The first is just one that I found and think is quite possibly the funniest joke in the world (well, nearly as funny as 'What's the difference between a truckload of bowling balls and a truck load of dead babies? You can't unload the truckload of bowling balls with a pitchfork!). The second ...

We recently did a series of cultural seminars which ended in a historic tour of the Medina. This was very interesting and valuable getting an insight into Libyan life, culture and religion. Our teacher and guide were both excellent, one a lecturere at the university and our guide had ...

... Autant s'habituer tout de suite à la cuisine locale. Celle-ci s'avère très bonne. Ma préférée de la région Afrique du nord. Le lendemain Marcel et moi partons à la découverte de la ville. Partout des portraits du renard du désert montre celui-ci dans differentes tenues et postures, glorifiant son oeuvre, son peuple, son pays. Nous arrivons finalement à la Médina, la vieille ville fortifiée. Nous nous aventurons dans ces petites ...