Tunisia....who knew????

the first photo here in tunisia is of the coliseum in el jem...it is very similar to the one in roma so i am told...and here i am with my good friend thalia on our trip to the desert....this place was incredible...the second shot is of the city hall still standing in the ruins of dougga...you can still read the latin on the top and the columns are HUGE!!! the next shot is one of the cool doors in the medina of tunis...jennifer kemper, rick park and i were all wandering there one morning...the left door is for men, the right door is for women and the little door is for children...so beautiful and ornate...the next shot is the sahara desert...it stretches on forever...imagine getting lost in that....the final shot is me on a camel in the sahara desert....he has an arabic name that was something like nigel...what a cool animal...and check out those teeth...whoa!!!!

hey there all...hope everyone is feeling like they have digested their big turkey feasts....i am currently in tunisia...and some have been wondering where that is....well, its this mellow country located between libya and algeria in north africa, on a penisula that juts into the mediterrean sea.....and you should come here....wowowowowow....what a place....it is muslim, but it has also been proclaimed as the "amsterdam" of the muslim world....so i haven't been treated as a second hand citizen as muc,h and people are quite laid back....i came here to visit my friends thalia and rick from seattle, as they are teaching here at the american school...i also got the chance to go to school and watch classes, as well as talk with some classes about antarctica...it was a great day and renewed in me that i need to be in a classroom somewhere in the world come the next teaching year :)

but enough about generalizations...here's what fun i had here....did you know that part of star wars...the first one and phantom menace was filmed in tunisia...as was part of raiders of the lost ark...know why???? the sahara is here...yep....that's right...i have now been to the sahara desert...as a matter of fact, i have ridden a camel in the desert and run up and down some of its dunes...whew is that tiring....the sand is incredible...its so soft...it feels like talc or flour...and it sure gets cold in the night time....we rode camels at sunset and then went out after dinner to the dunes to look at the night sky...it was just beautiful...although the moon was a bit too bright to see many things...oh well...we did this out of a small desert town called el faouar....we were some of the only folks in town :) it was wild....

we also went to the desert town of douz...and stayed in this nice hotel with a hot spring pool...that was quite impressive and comfortable....we went to the market at douz and had a great time...most of the folks i was with bought berber rugs...berbers are the tribes who survive in the desert as nomads...although many no longer travel as much as they are not making enough money to support their families...both berber men and women tattoo their faces...and it reminded me a lot of the maori in new zealand...the market was bustling with activity and it was fun to be there...not so much pressure, like in egypt...there were spices and rugs and ceramics and animals, etc....very cool....

from douz we headed back north...but went through a big salt flat and desert section of tunisia...i was told that part of the original star wars was filmed in that area....i have to say the desert looks very different places than what i imagined...it looks like the mountains of arizona or new mexico in places...not all the smooth and wavy dunes...those don't really happen until you get farther south...although we did ride camels in that section....it was awesome...but the area we were headed was kairouan...this is the fourth holiest city in the muslim world and the great mosque is found there...it is quite beautiful and the pillars are just stunning that hold the mosque up....its interesting though that some of these pillars were taken from many of the historical roman ruins around tunisia....there are so many of them, its incredible....kairouan had a great medina (older part of town where the open markets are located)....again more rugs were bought...but here the other striking thing are the doors of most of the houses....they are just incredible...and then the tile work is mind blowing and beautiful...i really liked this aspect of tunisia and have many pictures of doors and tile work....

then from kairouan we headed back to tunis...the capital and where i was staying....on the ride back though you should have seen how many houses had drying chili peppers on them...long red strings, on white cement houses with blue windows and doors....just stunning....the other major crop you see almost everywhere in tunisia is olive groves...they are everywhere and are one of tunisia main exports...as italy is just across the sea and that is where they press the olives for oil....it was cool to see these groves and how the trees changed due to the amount of rain the region they were located in got...for instance...if it was a place that got low amounts or rain the trees were smaller and farther spaced apart...with just the opposite for areas that get more rain...it was quite interesting to see...

i have visited three roman ruins here in tunisia...one in a town called el jem, one in a place named dougga and one right here in tunis called carthage...these are just breath-taking...its amazing to think of the civilzations that lived here in previous times...the romans, the carthagins, the macedonians, the greeks....so many who came and went before us...you realize just how small a contribution one person makes when you are confronted with this history everywhere you turn...it was cool to see that the latin could still be read in places and that buildings were still standing the test of time....el jem was a coliseum, very similar to the one in rome i am told, as i have not been there yet....but here in tunisia we were allowed to walk through the entire complex...even the dungeons...they had waterways and lifts for the gladiators, just like the one in rome...it was amazing...carthage was a huge site where pieces of it are located all over the place in tunis....people have even found pieces went planting gardens in their backyards...cool huh....and dougga was a massive city...the baths and brothel are still standing, as is city hall....the other striking aspect of these ruins is the mosaics you find everywhere on the floors...some are still there...some have been removed and restored in museums...but all of them are beautiful....and have excellent craftsmanship....

so i have been pleasantly suprised by tunisia...i did no reading or planning for this part of my trip as my focus was to hang with rick and thalia...but it has been one of my favorite stops...and we didn't even make it to the beach...which i have been told is incredible...its the mediterrean sea...how can it not be :) the food is okay...a bit bland at times...they sure love garbonzo beans...which has been great in my opinion...but beer and alcohol is hard to come by...it is muslim here after all...but they do grow grapes and make their own wine...there is a huge french influence and population here and most folks speak arabic and french and a lot know some basic english....so all in all, tunisia has been a wonderful experience...a terrific, laid back place for me to decompress....now i head to paris tomorrow and then amsterdam next week...and then finally will be back in the states....which i am getting excited about...so for some of you...i'll see ya real soon...for others, i'll be in touch....if you have any questions, remember you can always e-mail me....talk soon and i hope everyone is having a good start to their dec....

egypt...part two...our travels

hey there all...i am still here in tunisia and getting organized with this blog....finally...i have added some pictures from cambodia and some to the first write-up about egypt...as for the ones above...they include the first shot which is of a felucca...a sail powered boat...this is the same size and style as the one chad and i rode up the nile....the second shot is of the luxor temple at night...you can see the combination of old and new in that there is a modern day mosque in the center of this temple...the third shot is of the ramses the second temple at abu simble on the shores of lake nasser...what a sight...the fourth shot is of me in hurgada with the red sea...such colors...and the last is of me and the statue of nefertiti on the front of the temple dedicated to her located at abu simble along with the temple for ramses the second....it was georgeous day...enough of pictures...onto the writing....

my egyptian trip...part deux....after being in cairo for about five days, chad and i decided to head out and experience the rest of the historical aspects of the country and the beach of course....our trip started with an overnight train trip....it was chad's first time on a sleeper train....and it was okay...one of the problems we experienced was people smoking in the hallways...i guess our air conditioning grabbed its fresh air from there....so we had smoke in our bunks the whole time....bummer...but it was exciting and it was a great way to travel the 14 hour trip to aswan....one interesting thing about egypt is that the north is called lower egypt and the south is called upper egypt...so we were headed south, but to lower egypt....we traveled along the nile the entire way and it is amazing how little space people can use and that is is right on the riverbank...you get about half a mile out in some places and you have reached desert....just insane....awasan is this quaint little town on the nile where most people pick up feluccas to go north or a cruise ship....also known to me as a floating box....there are over 700 cruise ships on the nile and i have to say i am happy we did NOT take one...we opted for the felucca....the day we got to aswan it was the start of eid...and the kids were insane...and there were tons of folks out and about...this is the day after ramadan has finished...so you can imagine how happy people are they can eat and smoke....its pretty crazy....we wandered around the town for a while and worked on trying to find a felucca captain for later in the week....and we set up a trip to abu simbel....

the next morning at 3 AM we set out for abu simbel...this historical site is set on lake nasser...a man-made lake, that was formed from a dam...there are two spectacular temples located at this site...and the only way to get there is by convoy....so every morning at 4 AM mini buses and tour buses start lining up to make the three hour trek south....there were about 200 buses in our convoy...so bizarre....but you rode through the desert and i have to say the sunrise was incredible....even if the mini bus was crowded....the two temples...one to ramses the second (the pharoh who had the most stautes created of himself) and the temple to nefertiti...were actually moved from where they orginally sat...as many temples and numbian cultural aspects were covered by the forming of the lake by the dam...the pictures from this moving are incredible...how does one move a temple and make sure it gets put back together correctly??? i have no idea...but they succeeded...and i have to say that the two temples located at the abu simbel site blew my mind....still very much intact...still had color on them...carvings everywhere...just amazing :) but i didn't like that there were so many tourists there at the same time...we felt a bit like cattle....because after an hour and half everyone climbs back on their bus and convoys back to aswan...its wild....back in aswan we chilled by the pool and hung out with some folks after dinner smoking sheesha....it was quite relaxing....

the next day we worked out a trip on a felucca...which is a small sail driven boat...which can accomodate 6 to 12 people...we only wanted the felucca for 24 hours...so chad and i ended up with our own felucca...can you say we were living the high life....we left on the felucca...with captain washington, captain ahmmed and cook amuri...and us....after two hours and passing by the police, captain washington got off the felucca...we was a good guy and we were sad to see him go...but the other two guys were nice....they even let me be captain and control the boat...very cool....and talk about a peaceful way to travel....a sailboat up the nile...i highly recommend it...it was soo relaxing....we watched the sunset and they made us lunch and dinner...yummy....and at times you just have to stop and look around and realize you are on the nile...you reach out and touch it and the amazing feeling of history floats over you...its hard to explain...but this was one of my favorite things about my trip to egypt...the felucca trip...the guys who were our crew were nubian and after dinner captain ahmmed played drums and we sang a bit and then he gave us mind teasers...needless to say, chad and i did not do so well :) but it was a fantabulous day...possibly one of the best of my trip :)

we arrived in kom ombo the next day...looked at the temple that was there and jumped on a convoy to luxor....a bit about the convoys...the reason they are in place is to "protect" the tourists that come to egypt...there was a mass murder of tourists in the 90's in egypt and that's when security got even tighter....BUT, i have to say that egypt was the most organized country in the way of safety in my opinion...what i mean is that i never felt threatened or that my life was in danger or that i would be mugged....even in cairo...and that was impressive to me...i felt the safest of anywhere i have been on my trip...the convoys are annoying and you really never have contact with the common egyptian, except in the touristy places...but it feels safe....take it or leave it...although seeing men with ak-47s everywhere can be a bit disconcerting....

luxor...we had been told this was the hassle capital of egypt...and after being there chad and i disagree with everyone else...this was one of our favorite places...the flys were a bit annoying when you stopped moving...but the people here were just fine....after getting in and getting a hotel we went to the luxor temple, located in the center of town....this temple is really neat in that many pharohs kept adding to it...and of course ramses the 2nd has a ton of statues of himself there...there is also a road lined by sphinxes...which i thought was really beautiful....also inside this temple there is a modern mosque...so it is a beautiful blending of old and new....we were there as the sun went down and the temple lit up...simply breathtaking....from the luxor temple we went to the karnak temple...one of the largest in all of egypt...for the light and sound show...which was quite cool...a bit overly dramatic...but it was great to walk around the site at night and hear the history of the place being told at the same time....and then we walked next to the nile to get home....the next day we took a half day tour of the valley of the kings, valley of the queens and the one temple built for a woman who was pharoh...that is until her son-in-law over-threw her...such a brat :) her temple was amazingly beautiful and still had much of the original tile...the interesting aspect about the three sites we saw was that they were built into the mountains...the tombs of the kings and queens were built into the rock and were like caves you walked into...this was to protect them from tomb raiders...but for the most part this did not have success...except in the case of king tut...we did not see his tomb as it cost extra money and we had already seen all the riches in cairo at the stunning exhibit of everything that had been found in his tomb....the one thing they left in his tomb was his mummy...but we decided to pass....we did see three king's tombs...one queen's and her sons tombs and the temple....it was a great tour and we felt like we learned a bit and saw some beautiful parts of the valleys...there are so many kings and queens buried here it would take a long time to see them all...so we were glad for the abbreviated version :) then it was back to town for lunch at one of our favorie places of the whole trip....its called the oasis cafe and is run by an american who has lived in egypt for over 15 years...such a nice guy...it was excellent food and a non-smoking place and just an "oasis" for us :)

the next day it was off to hurgada...the beach on the red sea....we traveled by bus and it took all day...of course the bus was not on schedule...it was on "egypt time"....but we got there and saw the red sea and got checked in....we hit a greek restaurant and smoked some sheesha at a sidewalk cafe...most of the tourists there came from russia...so it was interesting as most signs were in arabic and russian....the morning we hit the beach...yahoo....it was stunning...the blues and greens of the water were incredible....you could see to thebottom no matter where you swam...no matter how deep....it was great....lunch was had at this cool cafe called the funky monkey and dinner was the egyptian version of italian....so relaxing...then we went to this cafe that was set up like a bedouin tent...we sat on the ground on pillows and had a few beers and smoked sheesha, listening to great dance music...it was a wonderful way to end a perfect day :)

the next day we headed back to cairo...on a bus that showed egyptian movies WAY TOO LOUD...but at least it was was comfortable ride....although there are so many abandoned resort construction sites all up and own the red sea...its very bizarre...bt tyson was saying that tourists stopped coming to egypt after 9-11 and much of the construction has been at a standstill since then....interesting...chad, tyson and i had a great dinner at a restaurant on the nile and had a choice of about 40 flavors of sheesha to choose from...it was a slice of heaven...chad left the next night and i spent three more days in cairo...i wandered around zamalek, the area of cairo where tyson lives and went to a class of his as well...overall it was mellow and a good way to end my time in egypt...one other strange thing that happened while i was there....i saw one of my past students on TV...it was the fashion tv channel and one of my first students, jack mccullough, in new jersey was featured with his creative partner for their newest line...imagine my shock at seeing the face of an adult who i taught when they were in 8th grade....so cool...and how impressive....if anyone knows jack...please pass along my congrats...such a great accomplishment for that young man...

okay...i think i have babbled quite enough about egypt...overall, i am much better about my part of that trip now that i have had time to decompress in tunisia...and i would recommend people go there...just be warned that you will be hassled wherever you go and whatever you do...but the historical aspects of the country really make it worth your time....also be sure to stop by the national museum in cairo...the king tut exhibit there is simply fantastic and it will take your breath away....be careful when crossing the street though :) any questions??? pass them along...thanks for reading my long-winded writing...hope you all have a great thanksgiving if you are celebrating....have a good one...more about tunisia soon....

Cambodia pictures part 2....so awesome :)

happy birthday dad!!!!

well...here are my second set of shots from cambodia...they are all of different temple sites in the angkor complex, in siem reap...all of the temples were incredible in their own rights...but these are some of my favorite shots...be sure to look at the shots below these as well....

the first shot is from my favorite temple of the entire complex...called banteay srei...it was a bit far away from the rest, but well worth the trip out...this temple is made from pink limestone, and was dedicated to women only...it is incredible and every part of this temple is covered in carvings....just blew my mind....the second shot is of a cambodian man...around 69...who has been carving exact miniature replicas of four of the angkor temples...he was a great guy and his work is amazing :) it was funny talking with him as he knew cambodian and french, but no english....what a trip....the third shot is from the famed temple ta prohm...it is the one you see in tomb raider and others....i love the trees growing on the walls and through the temple...so peaceful and serene...the last shot is another one from this temple...it was one of my favorite spots....and the fourth shot is of an aspara....a female spirit dancer....these women were some of the only people on the same "level" as the gods...they kept them entertained...and were beautiful and graceful....you find them carved on many of the temples in cambodia and thailand....they are incredible...and this was one of the best preserved ones...from one of the oldest temples...lolei....

the next set of pictures is below...hope you enjoy them....more will come...check back soon....

Pictures from Cambodia....finally...part one

hey there all from tunisia...i promise i will finish my write up on egypt, now that i am in a much better space...but first i thought you might want to see some pictures...finally...i will try and add some to the egypt section as well....these are the first five from cambodia....enjoy....

the first three are from phomn penh and the last two are from the angkor temples in siem reap....the first shot is from the outside of the silver pagoda....yes, the floor in this place is made of silver, but you are not allowed to take pictures....the second picture from cambodia's capital is of the stupha or national momument out at the killing fields site...inside of this are skulls, clothes and bones of those killed in the pol pot regime who were found in the killing fields...not all of them of course...but what a stunning momument to a horrible atrocity...the final picture is of the national museum...it was a beautiful place for all of the sculpture and for the beauty of the building itself....the buddha in the courtyard was soooo peaceful...i loved it :)

the first shot is of the second largest temple of the angkor complex in siem reap...and the one with much of the sculptured faces still in tact...this is the temple bayon...it was stunning....the second from siem reap is of the famed temple angkor wat...this temple was incredible...huge and beautiful...it took my breath away....i was there for both sunset and sunrise (on my birthday)...what a place....

hope you like the pictures...and the prior ones as well...it was an amazing place to be with incredible energy...if you can get there....by all means GO!!!!!

egypt....the place to love and hate at the same time

(pictures added 11/23 - the first is is me in comparison to the blocks that make up the pyramids...i am the same height as some and shorter than others....the second picture is one of the three pyramids...these were utterly amazing in size and construction...mind blowing and something to see with your own eyes...the third shot is of the sphinx and the largest of the three pyramids at giza...we saw a light and sound show with these as backdrops one night and that was just incredible...the fourth shot is chad and i in the chief justice's tomb...he has his hands in the manner of a pharoh and i have mine in the manner of a queen...or so the guard told us...just before he took us for money for giving us a tour of the tomb and for letting us take photos...you gotta love it...ahhhh egyptians...the last shot is of the royal barge found intact next to the great pyramids...this was used to carry the pharoh's mummy and sarcophagus up the nile to its final resting spot....hope you enjoy the shots and the write-up.....)

so here i am now in tunisia at my friends rick and thalia's....and they have high speed internet at home...so hopefully i will be catching up with those of you who have sent me e-mails and i am really far behind in answering...but i'll tell you more about tunisia after i have been here awhile.....

egypt...some people have asked if it is worth going there....and the answer is YES....just to see the pyramids and the sphinx and the ancient temples and heiroglyphs in person is amazing....BUT, you should be ready to realize that you are equivalent to dollars signs only and women are second class citizens...if you come with that attitude...you will do just fine...but the big thing to keep in mind in egypt is...everyone before you was hassled and everyone after you will be hassled...you are not the only one....as my friend chad and i traveled around egypt, the main topic of conversation by tourists was about the hassle they got from egyptians...men, that is...women...well that's a different story.....but i figure you'll understand more after i have finished with my entry....

my intro to egypt...as it is for most people...was cairo...and my first impression from the airplane was that the place is BROWN...from the buildings to the trees to the streets to the cars....everything is dirty and brown....it has a lot to do with being on the edge of a desert of course....but everything is brown....including the sky....i have never seen such a gross inversion layer due to the pollution....just incredible....cairo is HUGE...someone told me 18 million...and i am not shocked at that number...it seems to be more polluted and more crazy than bangkok...which kind of suprised me....but if you spend only a few days in cairo you start to have sinus problems and breathing problems due to the pollutioin...plus, everywhere you go people smoke....in restaurants, in cafes, in taxis, in the metro stations, on trains....everywhere....that really blew my mind...
but cairo is very vibrant and once you see the nile, you know why it is you came here....the nile is LARGE....and is the lifeblood of egypt...and it runs right through the city.....the pyramids also make cairo worth seeing...although aspects of them made me quite sad....

first of all you have to deal with the hassle the moment your taxi comes in view of pyramids...everyone is jumping on the car and slowing it down to talk to you and tell you about camel rides and horse rides and that the pyramids are closed, but they can get you a deal...its crazy....then you get up to the ticket booth and have to fight to get your tickets...in egypt, lines are a crazy concept....you can see this anywhere you need a ticket and when driving...more on the driving in a moment....but the pyramids are larger than life and incredible and mind blowing...but if you want to go inside that is more money and if you want to see the barge they took the pharohs up the nile on that's more money...and of course there are the men hassling you wherever you go...they want to show you a particularly beautiful spot to take a picture at...or they want to give you a ceraic scarab for free...well...for free for about two minutes...then they ask you for money...and there are guys hawking camel rides and horse rides....it enough to drive you crazy!!!!! but this is all dealable...the aspect about the pyramids that depressed me the most was how much garbage is there....sooooooooooo much....every hole that is being excavated or vacated...every side of the pyramids and the tombs...in the small cracks everywhere...there is garbage...so depressing in my opinion....BUT. its still the pyramids and the sphinx you are seeing....and if you keep that in mind...you can deal....the one other bummer about here personally was that i lost my camera...it either fell out of my pocket or was stolen...so i lost a bunch of thailand photos i hadn't had time to download...total bummer

as for other aspects of cairo...well..i would consider the time of year you go...and don't go during the month of ramadan...people get cranky due to fasting everyday in the afternoon...plus, its hard to find food and forget even trying to find a beer or liquor...luckily we caught the end of this holiday...but then we had to deal with eid...the festival at the end of ramadan that folks celebrate with their families....crazy time that was....cairo is insane in the way of driving....red lights, stop signs, lanes in the road, cross walks, using lights while driving at night...they all do NOT exist....if you need to cross the street, it is a death race....and if you remember that atari game frogger...you are the frog.....its evil...i was shocked when the taxis did not use lights to drive at night...and that the horn is used to tell other drivers you are there...all the time...i don't miss the horns....BUT...cairo also has sheesha..as does the rest of egypt...this is flavored tobacco you smoke through a water pipe....yummy...we tried many flavors throughout the two weeks and i have to say i really liked apple, cantaloupe, coconut and lemon...we did see an "ass" flavored tobacco...but no one in the group would touch it :) the mosques in cairo are beautiful...although call to prayer happens five times a day and that gets tiresome...especailly since the first of the day is at sunrise around 4:30 AM....there are some amazing buildings in cairo...architecture wise...and the khan al khalili..in islamic cairo is a bunch of fun for a crazy market...but remember...if you are a tourist, you equal money and they will hassle you to stop and buy at every store...but they have a sense of humor about it there...the vendors are not so desparate as many people go there...its a bunch of fun :) so cairo does have some great aspects...you just have to be ready for the ones that aren't so great...

i met some great people through my friend tyson who lives in cairo and am extremely grateful he was there with his arabic and my friend chad came and joined me...as traveling around egypt by myself would have been horrible....doable, but horrible....as i mentioned above, women are second class citizens...and foreign women are all considered "easy"...especially american women....if you are american, you must be a whore...thank you hollywood....i got very tired of men never asking for my opinion or even listening when i was talking...egyptian men that is...but yet, as soon as they figured out i was single they would ask for my hand in marriage...whatever....one man even had the nerve to ask if i was a virgin...as this is important to egyptian men...yeah right buddy...go away....i was groped a few times and hated that i was stared at no matter where i went...i was respectful...i did not wear shorts, except at the beach...so this was really frustrating to me...i respected their culture...they did not respect me...i also found it interesting that the first two cars of the subway are for women only....i did use these a few times during rush hour...as the men's cars would have been a bad idea...but when i got into the women's cars, all conversation would cease...and i would get the stare...lovin that...again, thanks hollywood....it seemed as if being a foreign woman there was never acceptable to egyptians as a whole...oh well...you win some, you lose some....

i have to run now....as it is late and we are headed south to the desert tomorrow to go camping at an ungodly hour....i will write more when i get back into town and will figure out the picture thing as i have time to do so :) so check back in a week or so and hopefully more will be here....i haven't even covered half of what we did in egypt....hope all is well and happy early thanksgiving to those that celebrate :) talk soon....