oughtness's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries TravelStream™ news feed for member oughtness on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/oughtness en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 22 Jun 2006 06:10:07 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com George Bush is chasing me through Europe — Athens, Greece http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oughtness/cairo_2006/1150898100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oughtness/cairo_2006/1150898100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oughtness/cairo_2006/1150898100/tpod.html Thu, 22 Jun 2006 06:10:07 -0400 Study at American University in Cairo and travels through the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Wish me luck.
Athens, Greece

Alternate title:

Blitzkreig through Germany, Austria and Hungary

Well, it's been a while since my last update (not a month, mind you) but that's not because I haven't tried. I simply have not had ample time to make an entry since Paris. That's a good thing, if you ask me.

I left Paris on an overnight train to Zurich. I chose to sleep in a seat rather than a bed because it was like 10 Euro cheaper. Bad decision. As soon as the 5 other people in my compartment left, sometime around 6am, I lay down on the seat. I woke up two hours later when the conductor told me we had left Zurich half an hour ago. Fortunately, I was able to catch the next train back from Sargans and arrived in Zurich at about 8:30am.

As has become my MO, I stashed my big backpack (I have a little one, too) in a luggage locker and started to wander Zurich. Helpful tip for Zurich: you can get a bike for 6 hours TOTALLY FREE. Aside from the beautiful countryside and lake, there aren't many sights to see. The one I really wanted to see, Fraumunster, a 15th-century church with Chagall windows, was closed for rennovations. Grossemunster was groovy.

In Zurich, I had decided, I would save on hostel expenses (15-25 Euro/night) by connecting with a friendly local via www.CouchSurfing.com. I called him up and he directed me to his place, in the Northeast side of Z. Umer, my host, and his friend Christoph, were EXTREMELY helpful. Not only did they offer me a couch in their sweet apartment, Christoph drove me back into town and Umer showed me around the city, his home of 3 years since moving from Pakistan.

Umer is a dedicated traveler. He is quite proud (and rightfully so) of having visited 52 countries and his goal is to visit all 183 (or is it 184 now, Montenegro?). He's currently preparing for a 3-month circumnavigation of the globe starting in August. Needless to say, he has many good stories.

Umer suggested we hop on a train to Luzern, around 40 minutes south of Z. I was hesitant because I only had 24 hours in Switzerland and I didn't want to get sidetracked, but it seemed too cool to pass up. So, we blitzed through Luzern, literally running through the streets only stopping to take a picture here and there. I was certain to have a glass of milk in the rain in front of a lake and some majestic snow-capped mountains (thank you, Safeway-brand dairy).

For dinner, Umer had plans with to meet a friend at his house and invited me along. The friend (I forgot his name...something German) is a law professor and a lawyer for the EU and he also has a really sweet flat. The three of us had dinner and wine (lots of wine) on his terasse overlooking the city and Lake Zurich. There was a splendid sunset to accompany us.

The next day I had planned to leave early for Vienna, but Umer, who is quite persuasive, convinced me to accompany him to Munich, where he had to go for work. It cost me nothing, and it was on the way, so I decided to go along. Germany, as I'm sure you know, is currently embroiled in World Cup Fever and Munich was crawling with football fans. Because of the highly anticipated Brazil-Austria match the next day, there was green and yellow as far as the eye could see. I had not bothered to drop off my bags at the station, so I spent the four hours or so I had in Munich wandering around with 20 kilos hanging off of me. I rewarded myself with two bratwursts and a beer. Mmm...

Quick summary since Paris: 22 hours in Zurich, 45 minutes in Luzern, 4 hours in Munich. OK.

My train to Vienna was late and I met up with my Couch Surfing host Darko at 10:30pm or so in the heart of the city at St Stephen's Church. He took me back to a bar where he was hanging out with his two other guests for the night, another American named Matt and a Guatemalan named Alvaro (alias Pampa) who rolls his own cigarettes, if very poorly. I sampled as much Austro-German beer and bar food as possible.

As Umer had done, Darko gave me a personal tour of Vienna, after making breakfast for his guests. Like Paris, the city of Vienna is a collective work of art, due in no small part to the Hapsburg monarchy.

The rest of Vienna is soon to come, along with Budapest and a little bit of Greece very soon, once I get my writing groove back.
]]> ¡Hola! y El Yelmo — Madrid, Spain http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oughtness/cairo_2006/1149864720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oughtness/cairo_2006/1149864720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oughtness/cairo_2006/1149864720/tpod.html Wed, 21 Jun 2006 09:51:49 -0400 Study at American University in Cairo and travels through the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Wish me luck.
Madrid, Spain

Just ducked into a cyber cafe because it started raining here in Madrid (a welcome relief).

Here´s what happened since last entry:

Stayed that night in Fes with Grace´s friend Aamir, whom Grace randomly ran into (did I tell that story?) and we had a great time just chilling and wandering around Fes. We grabbed pizza in a cafe called Le Petit Viet, a putative Vietnamese restaurant that featured Chinese and Japanese decor, Moroccan staff, American hip-hop and scarcely a noodle on the menu. We, the only customers, shared some Gnarls Barkley with the staff from Aamir´s iPod. Left early the next morning for Spain. Spent all day on trains and a boat to Algeciras (AlHeTHiras) and landed very hungry in Iberia. Located dinner and spent a good long time wandering around looking for a cheap hostel, which was ultimately forthcoming.

After the quickest ever tour of Sevilla by city bus, I validated my Eurail pass and hopped on the train to Madrid. I visited the Reine Sofia Museum of Art (once called the ugliest building in Spain, or so says my guidebook) and caught the Picasso room, which includes Guernica. It only furthered my ardor for the kooky old Spaniard. Picked up some Dali and a bit of modern art (which I´ve developed a taste for) before calling my cousin David. He´s my father´s brother´s wife´s daughter´s (from another marriage) husband´s brother. I stayed at his place in Manzanares, some 50km North of Madrid. He lives at the base of a rocky hill named Yelmo after the Quixote-esque helmet it resembles. A bit further down the hill is the Castillo de Manzanares El Real, a 15th century castle now run by the Communidad de Madrid.

Since I arrived yesterday, I feel I´ve gotten a second wind for traveling. I was feeling sort of tired of it yesterday, but now I´m looking forward to the rest of it.

It´s stopped raining now, so I´m going to head on to the Palacio Real and Plaza Mayor.
]]> Last days in Paris — Paris, France http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oughtness/cairo_2006/1150388040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oughtness/cairo_2006/1150388040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oughtness/cairo_2006/1150388040/tpod.html Wed, 21 Jun 2006 09:33:29 -0400 Study at American University in Cairo and travels through the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Wish me luck.
Paris, France

Tuesday night I dragged my bags onto the commuter rail and rode it out to a stop well outside of Paris called Maisons Laffitte, to the Northwest in Zone 4. I had heard there was a campsite somewhere very close to that station. Arriving at around 11pm with two big backpacks, I wandered around this upscale Paris suburb until I found the campground, on an island in the Seine. It was too late to pay anyone, so I just found a spot on the bank and unrolled my sleeping bag to sleep under the stars. It was beautiful. I woke up a bit damp, but very happy.

Half of yesterday was exhausting and not fun. It involved purchasing plane tickets directly from a Romanian airline and changing Egyptian pounds. Ugh.

BUT, after that, I did the Louvre. And it was...the Louvre. Overcrowded and too big for me. I think I'm just art-museumed out. And there was the added element of Da Vinci Code craze. That's that.

I spent much of the day just wandering from one neighborhood to the next. I ultimately decided not to camp again (it was raining a bit and threatening much more), so I went to Bastille because I heard there was a cheap youth hostel nearby. Asking around, I found an American girl who directed me to a really cheap one down the street. We got to talking and it turns out we're from the same little San Francisco suburb. Weird.

More wandering, more eating. The youth hostel was FILTHY. In terms of rankness, it rivals the hole they called a hostel in Jerusalem where I slept a few months ago (that entry coming). It can't be completely unlivable, though, because my roommate, a Japanese woman had been living there for three months.

This morning I arose early (just so I could get out!) and decided to take advantage of the bleak weather. So, I headed for the Pere LaChaise cemetery, what's called the best adress in Paris. I found the resting places of Chopin, Oscar Wilde, Marcel Proust and, of course, Jim Morrison. I was disappointed by the low THC content in the air around Jim's grave. Someone should do something about that. Otherwise, it's well-decked out in rock and roll tributes.

Lunch was a mandarine orange/grand marinier flambée crepe on Ile Saint Louis. I also found a little cremerie where I bought some chese called Banon, per the suggestion of an American-Parisienne in the shop. It's a sharp, runny goat cheese that came wrapped in dried oak leaves. I sat out on the river on the south side of the Ile, staring at the back of Notre Dame. The arrow in the link above points to the best ice cream in Paris (the world?) at a place called Berthillon.

One more cemetery after that. Picpus, the little-known final resting place of Marquis de Lafayette, as well as 1306 other victims of the guillotine. There is an American flag above Lafayette's grave, but the rest were tossed into mass graves that were unmarked and unremembered until recently.

Now I'm off to the train station for Zurich.
]]> Barcelona and Paris — Paris, France http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oughtness/cairo_2006/1150199580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oughtness/cairo_2006/1150199580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oughtness/cairo_2006/1150199580/tpod.html Tue, 13 Jun 2006 14:49:45 -0400 Study at American University in Cairo and travels through the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Wish me luck.
Paris, France

(NOTE: I have no idea what's gone wrong with my map. TravelPod has messed up somehow and I'll see if they can fix it.)

(NOTE #2: I gave the wrong country code in my phone number. The correct number is +34 666 696 194. Please do call.)

Arrived in Paris yesterday after a very satisfying couple of days in Barcelona.

After I finished up Madrid, I caught an overnight train to Barcelona, arriving 7:30am. Met a Georgian (the state, not the country) in my sleeper compartment on his way to visit his girlfriend in Nice. He was friendly, but he seemed overwhelmed.

Once in Barcelona, I briefly considered finding a place to camp, but thought better of it. After locating a good youth hostel in the Barri Gotic (Gothic Quarter), I set about exploring. I'll spare most of the specifics, but I have to discuss the Sagrada Familia.

Many people react when the visit the pyramids at Giza with disappointment. One can spend a lifetime building up the pyramids in his mind until it's the size of a mountain, but when he finally arrives, it doesn't measure up and the Sphinx seems downright puny, it's head malproportioned to its body. The Sagrada Familia, on the other hand, was absolutely the least disappointing thing of my life. I had only vaguely heard of it before, but I wandered toward it because I had read there was something cool in that general direction. Rounding the corner of Carrer Diagonal, I was visually knocked over by the four immense towers of the Passion Facade. It was to be Antonio Gaudi's masterpiece, but he died before it could be completed. It may well be the longest-running construction project of the modern age (next to the Big Dig, of course). Construction began in 1882 and, yes, it's still incomplete. There are four enormous crains around it and there is no end in sight. Once (if) it is completed, it will be an incredible thing. Even now, it was the best €8,50 I've spent so far.

The rest of Barcelona was mostly just me hanging out, seeing the sights and talking to random strangers in bars. Which is cool. I also visited the Picasso museum, which was somewhat less disappointing than the pyramids.

Yesterday (June 12) I took an early train to Paris. I decided to take a daytime train so I could see the French countryside. This may have been a bad idea. It means that I spent 4 hours staring at gorgeous rolling hills to the left and an unbelievable sea scape on the right. Then I got to Montpelier and boarded a TGV to Paris, on which I spent 3 hours wanting to hurl myself from the train in order to spend the rest of my life camping in the forests and medieval farmlands of central France. It was an exquisite sort of pain. (I spent the time I wasn't staring out the window reading Marquez's Love in the Time of Cholera, so pardon me while I wax poetic.)

Arrived in Paris, bought a weeklong Metro pass, got off at a random station and asked around for an hour until I found a youth hostel. Before I did that, though, I stopped in the nearest crepe stand and had myself a Nutella crepe. I've had 3 in the last 18 hours, as well as two croissants and a 16-inch sliced baguette brimming with camembert with a glass of Bordeaux. That, and yesterday it topped 90 degrees F and the shower in the hostel was out of order. Je suis vraiment francais.

Last night I took the Metro to Trocadero to see the Eiffel Tower at midnight and it was stunning.

I've spent today getting on and off random buses and Metro stations to get to know the city as well as I can. Montmartre is my favorite part so far, and it has an astounding view of the city.

Tomorrow, forecast calls for thunderstorms and more crepes.
]]> Escargot pur buerre — Paris, France http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oughtness/cairo_2006/1150223700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oughtness/cairo_2006/1150223700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oughtness/cairo_2006/1150223700/tpod.html Tue, 13 Jun 2006 14:48:22 -0400 Study at American University in Cairo and travels through the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Wish me luck.
Paris, France

Just a quick update to complete my day, which has been magical.

After the previous entry, I hopped on the Metro to the Eiffel Tower, having gotten a bit lost on my way to Versailles. Munching on peaches, nectarines and a tuna sandwich (the French make even a tuna sandwich incredible), I laid myself on the grass at the Champs du Mars at the base of la Tour Eiffel and stared up at the gigantic hunk of steel.

Strolled along the Left Bank to l'Hotel des Invalides, the grand site of Napoleon's tomb. And that it was, grand. And air-conditioned.

I resolved to eat dinner in the Latin Quarter and, for the first time, consulted my Eurail guidebook for a restaurant. I set my sites on La Petite Hostellerie, which is billed as having supported les artistes du quartier with it's cheap, quality meals for decades. I chose to indulge myself with an entree of escargots pur buerre, a main course of canards à l'orange and a desert of tarte desmoiselles tatin (apple upside down tart with vanilla ice cream). All of it was acompanied by a small pitcher of the house wine and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It was really the perfect thing to finish off the day, and I was finally to get through and entire interraction with a Parisienne with no English at all. I'm very proud.

Now, I'm going to find my camping spot. Please send your prayers that it won't rain.
]]> Chicago, Kansas City, Cairo (and Harry S. Truman) — Kansas City, Missouri, United States http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oughtness/cairo_2006/1148314800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oughtness/cairo_2006/1148314800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oughtness/cairo_2006/1148314800/tpod.html Tue, 06 Jun 2006 12:01:03 -0400 Study at American University in Cairo and travels through the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Wish me luck.
Kansas City, Missouri, United States

Wow. Just finished up a whirlwind trip back to the States. The Truman Scholarship includes a week long "Leadership Week" (TSLW) at William Jewell College in Liberty, MO. They paid for the ticket and all the food (all the food!), so I took the opportunity to hang out in Chicago for a couple days prior to the event. They booked me a ticket from Cairo to Chicago and then from CHI to Kansas City two days later. I spent the 36 hours I had in Evanston seeing SO MANY people I love and getting sick for lack of sleep. I also ate a burrito from Chipotle, which had been sorely needed. It felt so good to see my friends. More to come on that account.

Also, the week in KC...

I'll finish this sometime...
]]> En Maroc! — Fes, Morocco http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oughtness/cairo_2006/1149601200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oughtness/cairo_2006/1149601200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oughtness/cairo_2006/1149601200/tpod.html Tue, 06 Jun 2006 11:54:01 -0400 Study at American University in Cairo and travels through the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Wish me luck.
Fes, Morocco

So, I'm in Morocco. Surprise!

Yes, I know, I'm bad at updating. I'll do my best to fill in over the next month or so for at least my sake.

Long story short: I returned to Cairo on May 22 and my big sister Grace came to visit on the 27th. We hung out in Cairo for a few days while I finished up finals (sigh...) and then I said my goodbyes to Cairo and everyone in it, which was pretty rough in some cases. Grace and I took a flight early in the morning of June 1 to Casablanca, landing at 10am and then took a train to Marrakesh. Thus begins this entry.

Morocco is a beautiful, fascinating and very hot country. Our train ride to Marrakesh from Casa was not very interesting, though it was unplesantly hot in our crowded 2nd class compartment. Once we arrived in Marrakesh, however, and took a bus to the Medina (old city) we were dumbfounded. The city is vibrant in so many ways. There are people everywhere, many of them adorned in the Moroccan-style jallabah (akin to the Egyptian gallabeya, only it has a hood and is generally more colorful). The colors in Al-Maghreb are amazing and there seems to be music everywhere all the time (MARRAKESH PARTY ALL THE TIME!). Grace and I found a beautiful hostel just a block away from the enormous central square, Djema'a al-Fna, dropped our things and headed out on the town. We got lost in the souks and eventually returned to the square to have dinner on a terrasse somewhere. Afterwards, we wandered throught the hundreds of stalls and carts selling escargot, orange juice and boiled sheeps heads (no joke). We sat down and watched men play banjos and drums in a circle for around an hour. Good times had by all.

We spent Friday doing much the same thing. We purchased some incredible paintings from a local artist and returned later to his shop to talk with him over tea. Hisham is 26 (though he looks much older) and works in his father's shop. He speaks French and Arabic (like most Moroccans) as well as English, which he learned in high school. We had a great talk, though he didn't seem that keen on the Jews (at least those in Israel) nor on women praying next to or in front of men ("They are distracting for me"). He was friendly and his tea was quite minty and waaaay too sweet. We gave him the pastries we had just bought (note: Moroccan pastries are not very delicious).

Early Saturday morning we headed off on the 8 hour train ride to Fes. This was a more interesting and less sleepy ride. We ended up talking to some of our friends in the compartment. One was an old Palestinian man who spoke some English and, like Hisham, didn't seem so keen on the Jews, but had no problem carrying on a completely civil conversation with us (despite his knowledge of our Hebrewitude). He also was quite deaf and had lots of trouble understanding me in both English and Arabic. The rest of the people in the compartment seemed to have mastered the French ennui.

In Fes, we discovered our hostel, which we had reserved AND confirmed was no longer available to us due to the crowds for the International Sacred Music Festival in town and ended up having to settle for a significantly more expensive Riad nearby. It was in an old, beautiful house built around a central courtyard with a fountain and an open roof. We set out for a little exploring and had some dinner on another terasse. I had the cous cous du boeuf. Bad idea. More on that later. We sat a table next to a man I was convinced was Jan Egeland, the UN big wig on humanitarian issues. In fact, it was not, but it turned out to be the UNHCR head of mission in Morocco, a man named Johannes. We talked about Darfur, Iran (his last post) and international development and became quick friends. Grace, the Dutchman and I headed out for the main concert of the evening at Bab Makina featuring flamenco, Iranian drumming, Indian (Tamil) music and Malinese singers, all of them playing in harmony. It was beautiful and the setting was profound. Bab Makina is a huge, ornate gate to the old city, surrounded by an enormous walled courtyard that seems like it was made for gigantic concerts. Unbelievable.

At the end of the concert, Grace ran into an good friend from college, whom she thought was in China but is in fact now living in Fes studying Arabic. That was crazy. So, Grace, Aamir, Johannes and I all ended up chilling out together for a while.

Cous cous de boeuf: don't eat it. I ended up barfing in the (very nice) bathroom at Bab Makina and emptying myself completely later on in the hostel. Several times. Long story shor, it was a terrible case of food poisoning that left me pretty dehydrated. But I'm all better now!

Next morning, G, J and I visited the old (now mostly empty) Jewish district (Mellah). The cemetery was blindingly white breathtaking, full of very old graves and mercifully few tourists. Just a French film crew. We also visited the old synagogue, which was disappointingly small.

More wandering, more souks. Grace bought a bunch of stuff in a random place full of incredible tapestries yesterday and I spent all day today looking for it again. I had no idea where it was so I just went around asking in Frarabic for a man with only one arm who sold "chemins de la table." After an hour and a half, I found him and purchased some more. I couldn't help it.

And, now it's time for me to find Aamir so I can crash at his place before heading to Tangier tomorrow. After that, Spain!
]]> B.F. Here — Cairo, Egypt http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oughtness/cairo_2006/1146958320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oughtness/cairo_2006/1146958320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oughtness/cairo_2006/1146958320/tpod.html Sat, 06 May 2006 11:38:39 -0400 Study at American University in Cairo and travels through the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Wish me luck.
Cairo, Egypt

Killed two items on my "To Do Before Leaving Cairo" list today.

First, visited the Qasr Shambolyoon (Champollion Palace), or what should be called the Palace of Said Halim Basha. A beautiful old building smack in the middle of downtown, a few blocks from the Egyptian Museum and Talaat Harb Square. It was once something grand, until Said was killed by an (American?) assassin in Rome. Later, it seems until the 90s, it was an elementary school, only lightly transformed. But for what looks like 10 years or so, it's been unused and falling into a progressive state of disrepair. I had to do some negotiating and tipping to get in.

After leaving, I walked by Stella Bar, a very divey establishment I've been meaning to visit for some time. It turns out it's a seedy underground homosexual hangout and a well-timed phone call from a friend saved me from a very uncomfortable situation.

More to follow (with photos!).
]]> Spring Break pt. II — Cairo, Egypt http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oughtness/cairo_2006/1146688980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oughtness/cairo_2006/1146688980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oughtness/cairo_2006/1146688980/tpod.html Wed, 03 May 2006 16:47:06 -0400 Study at American University in Cairo and travels through the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Wish me luck.
Cairo, Egypt

Monday, April 17

We set out in the morning with two goals in mind: get visas to Jordan and get bikes. I called the Jordanian consulate ahead of time and discovered we needed to bring in photos and 88 NIS (around $20). We went to the photo studio next door to the hostel for some headshots and discovered it to be the old studio of famous Israeli photographer Rudi Weissenstein, who took this famous photo of David Ben Gurion reading the Israeli declaration of independence: His ancient wife still runs the place and manages all of his 250,000 negatives.

Photos in hand, we make our way by minibus to the Jordanian consulate, out in Ramat Gan, northeast of Tel Aviv. They didn't have a student discount...we asked. After some shuffling and waiting, we finally get our passports back with visas. Much to my dismay, the visa (stamped in the passport) is marked "Jordanian Consulate - Tel Aviv," thereby unambiguously and permanently proving my visit to Israel and preventing any visits to Syria or Lebanon in the near future (on this passport, at least). Jordanian Consulate - Tel Aviv...why didn't I think of that? Now, if you read my passport, it looks like I'd been in Egypt for months and suddenly leapt to Tel Aviv without having crossed any borders. Cute trick.

Next order of business was the purchase of bikes. We wandered back from the consulate through the busy shopping streets of TA. We found a place near our hostel and went through the process of trying out bicycles and equipment and mentally preparing ourselves to drop around $250 each. We did it (sigh...) and returned to the hostel.

I had left our Israeli cell phone in the room by accident and came back to find several missed calls and two voicemails. Two of the missed calls were from Ruthie in Jerusalem, so I returned the call. She told me how relieved she was I was OK and informed me of the bombing that had happened in Tel Aviv earlier that afternoon. None of us had had any idea. The only indication I had was that there had been several ambulances zooming by at one point. Aside from this, everyone in Tel Aviv had gone about his business completely as usual, shopping and playing music and eating in the streets, though I'm certain they had all known. The man at the reception desk downstairs asked if we had seen the bombing and when we said no, he said, "Well, better luck next time." Chilling how cavalier everyone was about it.

We decide to make like the Tel Avivans (?) and go out for dinner. At a Chinese restaurant around the corner we have some great food and watch what is undoubtedly the cutest kid in the world play with all the customers in the place. The management was quite pleased and gave everyone a free plate of strawberries.

Tuesday, April 18

Up early. We are out the door, clad in bike shorts and helmets, strapping out bags to our rear-mounted bike racks at 7am, though we don't manage to get on the road until 8:00. The first leg of Tuesday's trip consisted of us fiddling with the straps on our bags, arranging them just right on the racks, adjusting the continually slipping seats, fixing our helmets and generally working out the kinks of new equipment and newbie bikers.

We spend the first part of the morning on Highway 2, which is the main highway that runs between Tel Aviv and Haifa. We get off the freeway at Herziliya, around 15km north of Tel Aviv, because we were terrified by biking on what amounts to a busy interstate, only with no shoulders and crazier drivers. To make things worse, it was the busy travel season due to the holidays.

We spent around 1.5 hours looking for a better route and finally make it to a long frontage road that brings us to Netanya, about 40km north of Tel Aviv. After much asking around, a little lunch and a lot of backtracking, we switch to Road 4, which is the old highway between TA and Haifa. This turned out to be FAR more agreeable than Highway 2 with very generous shoulders, though the hills were a bit larger. We made many stops along the way just to enjoy the scenery.

By the time we were just outside Haifa, around 4pm, Caitlin's left leg had begun hurting on the hills. She had to stop from time to time, but it didn't prevent us from getting in to Haifa before 5:00. By flaunting our Arabic skills, we manage to find a really nice place in downtown run by a Christian Arab man. He locks up our bikes for us and takes us to the basement to watch his son's rock band practice. We end up having a great talk with the son, Alfred, who was clearly very conflicted about being both Arab and Israeli, and was very hurt by the constant taunting he caught at his all-Jewish school. I can't imagine what it must be like to be the only Arab in an all-Israeli school. He remained positive on Israel and Jews, however, even after some of the horrible things that had been said to him for years.

We slept well that night.

Wednesday, April 19

Caitlin and I rise early to find breakfast, but fail because Haifa is EMPTY before 9:30am. We walk to the base of the Baha'i temple, but are deterred by the several hundred steps in between us and the temple itself. We meet Alex for breakfast, plan out the day, and head out on our bikes around 11am.

Early in the trip Caitlin's bag slips and the rear tire tears up her strap, but we manage to fix it temporarily by using an oversized safety pin I picked up off the street in Jerusalem.

Our destination was Nazareth, some 25 km away, but the hills are far far bigger than those we encountered coming from Tel Aviv. We stopped many times for water breaks, to buy strawberries covered with road-grit and a little McD's (yes, I know, I'm sorry). Caitlin's left leg began hurting more and more, especially going up the last big hill on which Nazareth sits. Eventually, she was in great pain.

We reached Nazareth at dusk. The roads get confusing up there so we stopped to ask directions several times. It's an Arab town, so we felt comfortable linguistically, but uncomfortable in our bike shorts. One man, after giving us directions, asked where we were from. When he learned we were from the US, he said "America is not a country we love." Alex protested that, "Yeah, we don't like Bush either, but the American people are good!" He was not convinced.

Our final stop for directions was directly above the city of Nazareth in a mattress store on the main road into the city. The young man we stopped was named Yussef. He corrected himself and said, "Joseph." We struck up a conversation and he told me that he is a Catholic and dislikes and distrusts the Muslims. He blames them for all the problems in the region and "thanks God Israel is there." He loves Israel and he loves Bush. I can safely say he is the only Arab I have ever met who holds this view.

Yussef's cousin Faadi helped us find a hostel after we searched for two hours. Easter is the wrong time of year to visit Nazareth without hotel reservations. After a long, cheerful talk (with much broken Arabic and English) Farag found us three beds in the Sisters of Nazareth Convent. Much to our delight, we had an entire dorm room to ourselves with beautiful bathroom facilities, all for $8 each. Phenomenal. Caitlin slept soundly, leg elevated as Alex and I went out for yet another beer, along with some of the best falafel we've ever had.


Today

Since I came back to Cairo, I've been spending most of my free time in the library writing papers and Travelpod updates. I have a huge amount of work to do before I go back to the States on May 12, only to return to Cairo May 22, only to leave again June 1 for Morocco, and then to Spain June 7, and then back to Athens by June 23. Busy travel schedule ahead. I can't wait.
]]> Dahab bombing and Egyptians as people — Cairo, Egypt http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oughtness/cairo_2006/1146066480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oughtness/cairo_2006/1146066480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/oughtness/cairo_2006/1146066480/tpod.html Wed, 26 Apr 2006 11:49:10 -0400 Study at American University in Cairo and travels through the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Wish me luck.
Cairo, Egypt

Although it happened before I left Jordan Monday night, I didn't find out about the bombing in Dahab until after I made it back to Egypt by ferry at 4am. It occurred in a small resort town on the Red Sea around 9 hours away by bus that I visited once for around 2 hours. The restaurant where I sat waiting for my bus to Mt. Sinai two months ago was one of those destroyed in the blasts. It was shocking to see pictures of it strewn with debris.

Looking at the photos of the carnage, chaos and heartbreak has affected me deeply. Even more when I read the statements of the Egyptians making their livings in Dahab. As a white Westerner in Egypt, I am constantly harassed by men and women (mostly men) who think I'm a tourist. While I am, to some extent, they still bother me immensely. I'm more than a walking dollar sign. As a result, I've begun to detest the more persistent ones and to treat them all rudely to keep them away right off the bat. I've been seeing them as little more than cynical opportunists out to make a buck of the naïve white guy.

But looking at the photos of men frantically carrying tourists to safety in Dahab and crying on one another's shoulders has forced me to confront this stereotype. These are the same men who once touted cheap crap "for good price" to me in Dahab. One of them said, "I came here for my sisters - to help them get married - and to help me have some kind of future. We came here to work, but we now have nothing." It's true that the living they're making is founded on the hawking of overpriced goods and s\ervices to "rich foreigners," but when it all comes down to it, they are just people trying to make a living in a country where that is becoming harder and harder. If I were a college graduate unable to find a job in Cairo due to its enormous unemployment rate, I might also move to a city called "Gold" and peddle jewelry to tourists in paradise.

To think of the people I've been shooing away for months in the context of a great catastrophe adds a completely new dimension to them. Instead of rifling through a bloodied jacket for money, these people will be the ones carrying friends and strangers alike to safety and weeping at the loss of life and livelihoods.

Further affecting my developing perspective on tourist touts is that of my friend Maya. We met her at the breakfast table in a hostel outside Petra in Jordan (that update coming soon). She's been globetrotting for some time now and has encountered thousands of tourist touts. She is very gentle with them and stops to talk with them for as much as 20 or 30 minutes sometimes. After this they leave her be and go away with a pleasant feeling on foreigners and Americans. Sometimes they give her gifts. She does this because she recognizes the same thing: no one would do this unless there weren't many other choices. They're just trying to make a living and there's no reason to treat them like shit because of it. There's a good deal of AUC students who could stand to hear that.
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