7W5D Rock the Casbah

How have I been here for almost one week already? Ironically it seemed that life in Egypt was much faster but the time went by slowly, whereas the pace of life here is much more relaxed and slow but time passes faster.

Having mint tea with some friends in the heart of the medina

Tunisia is very interesting and was nothing like I expected. Actually I’m not even sure what I expected. Originally I was going to stay in Tunis for only a few days and then travel around the rest of the country but have found out that Tunisia is small enough to use Tunis as my base to explore the rest of the country, similar as I did with my stay in Egypt. My host in Egypt showed me the behind the scenes of the crazy life in Cairo revealing to me new layers of Egypt that I would never been able to access and I’ve been fortunate to have this same experience here.

Night shot of Port Du France (Bab Bahr)

Night shot of Zitouna Mosque in Medina

All is calm...

Night view of new part of Tunis (French part)

I’ve been here in Tunis about a week now and at first stayed with a very nice girl and her family in a pretty modern and European influenced home in a suburb called Marouj. My first impressions of the city was how incredibly European it seems (or maybe I just have incredible culture shock from the disorganization of Egypt).Within the new part of the city a tree-lined avenue boulevard with outdoor cafes filled with men smoking and drinking tea or espressos leads to the Port Du France or Bab Bahr, which leads into the medina. The colonial French influenced grid becomes a labyrinth with covered passageways and overhead arches filled with a hodgepodge of people buying and selling everything from used shoes to traditional marriage supplies to tourist souvenirs.

Door in the Jewish Quarter

The medina itself is a UNESCO World Heritage site; with some areas being almost too artificially preserved and others looking like it has been untouched since its inception under the control of Arab Muslims in the 7^th century. The streets are only a few feet wide at some places and are not built to fit motorcycle or bicycles and definitely not cars, unlike the Islamic quarter of Cairo which people try to fit these modes of transport along with numerous people like sardines down the tight alleyways.

Note the Star of David above the door

The city of Tunis, along with the City Maintenance Association created a cultural route (packed jammed with tourists) that extends over 1 km which included the re-painting of doors and windows, rewiring of electricity and lighting, refining arches, corridors and vaults to the rebuilding of historic monuments. The cost of the project cost over 2 million euros.

Walking in the medina, I feel at peace (minus the “nee-hows” and “kanichiwas”) with its white walls and the only elements of decoration on the facades being the colorful doors and windows. But behind these walls is a whole other world, which I’ve been extremely fortunate to be able to explore. A lot of people visit the medina without getting a chance to go behind these doors as they are private residences.

As I enter behind these doors, I am greeted with an open courtyard with rooms surrounding this courtyard – all the rooms with natural ventilation, keeping cold during the summer and warm during the winter. I am greeted with a few bedrooms, kitchen, and common space. Blue frames surround doorways and windows with ceramic tiles in a blue, black and yellow tiled pattern on some of the walls.

Occasionally I stumble along a public square which reminds of me piazzas in Europe – but the public squares I’ve seen so far are used as cultural gathering centers, where there are performances and exhibitions during the day and night.

Now I am currently living in a traditional Tunisian home rocking out in the Casbah (anyone get the title reference?). The casbah is an older quarter of many cities in North Africa. The one in Tunis is right next to the old medina, which makes a great base for my exploration of medina and new city.

I feel like I have seen the many facades of Tunis – from the old labyrinth that is the Medina to the new grid that was created by the French when they took over to the newer modern suburbs such as Marouj built in the last ten years, to Melassine a slightly richer neighborhood built in the last fifty years, to Carthage and La Goulette, which are very high end suburbs by the water which is home to Tunis’s elite.

View of Medina from the Qasba

Place du Goverment connecting medina and qasba

Cous cous and poulet is so good :)

The past week has been more of a cultural experience and I’ve made it a mission to have purposeful interaction with locals, participating and discovering how Tunisians live rather than wandering aimlessly from site to site. I think that the lifestyle here is more in tune with my lifestyle than in Cairo. There is a work to live mentality here (at least with the people I’ve met) than a live to work one, which is often seen in the USA. I’m a little tired of the consumerist culture in American- the need to buy a house, have possessions and loads of money. I’m slowly coming to find that it is not the way I want to live; instead I would rather be poor and have meaningful and purposeful human interactions, helping others and promoting peace and understanding. Being here has made even more concrete this belief.

6W5D "Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes"

"So many faces in and out of my life

Some will last

Some will just be now and then

Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes"

-Billy Joel

I was on a rooftop tonight overlooking a street in Cairo and thinking about how long I have been here and that I will soon be leaving what I've called "home" for the past 7 weeks for Tunisia.

Billy Joel perfectly sums up what I've felt like the past 8 years of my life has been. All the traveling and moving has introduced me to many great people but with my free spirited lifestyle, I've also have had to say goodbye many times. Of course, it is not a permanent goodbye, as I always manage to either run into friends unexpectedly in other parts of the world or we make yearly visits to see each other.

This past week has been filled with numerous visits to Islamic Cairo to a point where I can confidently say that yours truly, "MissDirection," knows this part of Cairo as well as she knows how to make cream puffs in her sleep. ^_^

As a result, instead of boring you with day by day synopsis and analysis of architectural sights, the last few posts have been about my thoughts on life. Hope you have enjoyed it. Goodbye for now and stay tuned for my next post from Tunisia. :-)

5W5D “To lose balance sometimes for love is part of living a balanced life”

"People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that's what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that is holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life.

A true soul mate is probably the most important person you'll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then leave.

A soul mate’s purpose is to shake you up, tear apart your ego a little bit, show you your obstacles and addictions, break your heart open so new light can get in, make you so desperate and out of control that you have to transform your life, then introduce you to your spiritual master..."

I believe we all have many soul mates in our lives and in the end it all comes down to timing. We are like onions – all the soul mates come into our lives to peel off a layer of that onion, to show us something about ourselves, sometimes make us cry (no pun intended) and then leave. But then it just takes one soul mate to peel that last layer at the right time, revealing our core and leaving us exposed.

Today I went to see the movie Eat, Pray, Love with Julia Roberts. I read the book written by Elizabeth Gilbert a few months ago and am glad I finally had a chance to see the movie. The true story is about a married woman (Elizabeth Gilbert herself) who realizes how unhappy her marriage really is, and that her life needs to go in a different direction. After a painful divorce, she takes off on a round-the-world year long journey to "find herself" – enjoying all the pleasures in Italy, meditating in India, and finding balance in Bali.

She realizes that she is not happy where she is so she creates a plan and leaves to experience something new and to get a greater understanding of herself and the world. My generation seems to do this a lot. We go on long term travels and explorations, trying to “find” ourselves. Some would argue we are egotistical and selfish, that we think so highly of ourselves that there is a need to “find” ourselves in this world. Others would say that we have no direction and that the concept of family is lost in our generation because we are delaying this to “perfect” ourselves or to develop our careers or to explore the greatness that is out there in the world – instead of focusing on the importance of family.

I believe that traveling goes beyond this. And when I say traveling, I mean experiencing new cultures first hand by interacting with locals, living and breathing their lifestyle – not hopping around from site to site (though I do admit I am guilty of this sometimes). Traveling in this way is not a selfish act- it benefits all because it promotes peace and understanding through cultural exchanges. Learning about other cultures and sharing our culture with others can help us to avoid conflicts that might be caused by misunderstandings.

I have been in Egypt for so long because I fell in love with the people. There is a sense of liveliness and energy here that cannot be experienced in the USA. Of course the harassment, crowded streets, and polluted skies are some downsides, but one gets used to it. Every place I go, I make an effort to speak to people living there and participate in the lifestyle and living conditions of people as much as possible. Egypt is no exception. And there are plenty of times where the lifestyle was something I was not completely used to – even to a point of me hating it, but I left with a better understanding of why things are the way they are. I think this part of the world is incredibly misrepresented in the media. As a result, people’s perceptions of Islamic culture in the USA are greatly skewed.

I remember telling people I was going to Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia and getting shocked faces and “why are you going there, it’s not safe” and “aren’t you scared” among other comments. But traveling here is safer than the streets of downtown LA at night. The number one thing that has gotten me far here is just simply being respectful and aware of local culture and customs. I think this goes for people traveling to the USA also. You may not like or agree with the way things are done, but if you make an effort to blend in and to live life as the locals, people will recognize this and it will go a long way.

5W4D The Dreaded Mugamma

Every passport office has its problems and quirks but eventually it has all seemed to work out for me when I go to passport offices (hmm… thinking about mostly my work visas in Korea). Add those quirks and problems of a government building to the chaos of Egypt and you get the Mugamma.

The Mugamma is a 20 story tall building with narrow corridors, unlabeled doors, and countless amounts of people streaming in and out like ants in an ant hill. It is crammed with many government agencies in the same way that the Cairo metro is crammed with people (without AC I might add) at the peak of rush hour.

I had to face the dreaded Mugamma today. But I’m happy to say I won.

I have already overstayed my visa by 8 days, but in Egypt as an American I have 14 days after the visa date expiration to leave the country or to extend it. I chose to extend it and stay longer in Egypt.

Although the guide books give some clue as how to confront this beast, I would have still gotten lost within the labyrinth of doors, people, rooms, and papers. Luckily, Adel offered to go with me and helped me to navigate through the process of extended my visa. In theory it is relatively easy, but trying to find your way to the right windows and right people was quite difficult so being with Adel helped speed up the process. I will spare you the details.

We went at 8am. 3.5 hours time, 11.50 LE (approx 2 USD) less in my pocket, a falafel sandwich and Turkish coffee in my stomach and one application form and passport photo later, I am a proud owner of the extension of my Egypt Visa until March 2011.

I could have extended for another year pretty easily, but too bad I’m leaving October 25. A lot of tourists just renew their visa ever year and stay in Egypt for years on end. I thought about getting a multiple entry visa but decided to just pay 5 extra dollars at the airport when I return in Dec/Jan instead of waiting in more lines in the non-air-conditioned and crowded Mugamma.

The only words of advice I can offer are:

1. Patience is key here. Just know it will take time and yelling at the underpaid man or women sitting in the window will not make the process go faster. They don’t have computers here and do everything by hand – I’m even surprised they are able to get it to you back that day. Of course, going right when it opens, and on a Saturday, helps quite a bit.

2. Look carefully at the person in the window – this will tell you how long it will take and then you can decide if you want to stand in that “line”. Or just push yourself to the front of that line and smile. Well actually there aren’t really any lines, just crowds of people. And by the time I came back to pick up my passport, it was massive crowds of people.

3. Smile. Get the trend? I just smiled and stayed calm the whole process in the Mugamma and I honestly think it helped to “speed up” my process. Good luck!

*If you are reading this and want information on exactly where/how to get the extension feel free to send me a message and I will send you detailed information on windows to go to.

5W3D Moving Forward

The highlight of this week was Azhar Park, which I describe as an oasis in a city of chaos. This park is listed as one of the world’s sixty great public spaces by the Project for Public Spaces organization. It was a gift to Cairo from the Aga Khan and cost over $30 million USD. It was a very beautiful area that included and incorporated the old 12th C. Ayyubid wall with historic building rehabilitations.

It reminds me slightly of New York’s central park, in that it is a green space inserted into the city as opposed to a green space that is created with the city. But I think Azhar Park is a more “quasi public space” since there is a fee to enter Azhar Park, keeping out vagrants and the like. I can understand this since there needs to be regular upkeep to keep it looking the way it is. Regardless, it works and is a great area to come to in order to get away from the chaos in Cairo.

View of the Northern Cemetery from the path to the park

The great thing about long term traveling is that you don’t feel a pressure or need to cram all sights and visit the city all at once. This week I’ve been spending time recuperating from the heat and sights of Upper Egypt at Adel’s flat listening to French tapes (in preparation for Tunisia and Morocco), sketching diagrams of Islamic Cairo, walking leisurely through Islamic Cairo for the 4th time and cooking dinner with friends. It has been an incredibly lazy week.

Om Ali and Egyptian Dinner

Building codes in Cairo? What are building codes? Psh.

This time is great because it gives me time to reflect on my travels so far and plan for the next few weeks of my trip. I finally brought my ticket to Tunis and will be flying out of Cairo on Oct 25. I got in contact with my next host and am extremely excited to meet her and start exploring the fusion of Islamic culture and French colonial influence that is Tunisia. This will include bathing in a hammam, walking through the whitewashed villas with blue doors of Sidi Bou Said, following in the footsteps of Luke Skywalker and R2-D2 (and Ralph Fiennes in The English Patient) on sites such as Onk Jemal and Shubiel Gorge, shopping in the old medina of Sfax and Tunis, exploring the ruins of imperial Rome in Carthage and El Jem and stuffing my face with couscous. Too bad I don’t have more time – I think I’ve said this before but four months is not enough. I already have plans for my next long-term travel and I hope it will be for at least a year, if not longer.

View of Bab Zuewyla in the Background

4W4D Welcome to Suburbia

Heliopolis (Masr al-Gadida), which translates to “New Cairo” is a northern suburb of Cairo that reminds me of any other mediocre apartment building/single home suburb found in the US. It is quite a change from the dirty cityscape, crowded streets, and satellite infested rooftops found in Cairo center, with its large almost picturesque boulevards, landscaped gardens and Art Deco villas.

New Cairo was created in response to Cairo’s population growth and to the exponential growth of the foreign community. It was created by a Belgian entrepreneur, Baron Edouard Empain, who also created the Paris Metro. Today, it is occupied by wealthy Egyptians and foreigners alike.

We visited my host’s mother in New Cairo and had a very delicious dinner which then sent me into a food coma. A girl from Toronto (Courtney, I thought of you!) who is traveling around the world for two years learning about farming and Beata, the polish girl who also came back to Cairo around the same time as me after traveling around Egypt was also at the dinner. It was another relaxing day and great to get away from the city for awhile, but I always feel more invigorated upon return. I feel more energetic when I am in the center of the action… I really do enjoy cities. Now I just need to find a city that has a balance of both.

a Cairo street during Ramadan 6pm

the same Cairo street after Ramadan/Eid 2pm

Just found some pictures I took when I got here - the streets of Cairo are constantly busy and I rarely see it not during the day. But after the Eid celebration, where people stay up all night to celebrate the ending of Ramadan, the day after is very quiet and silence- instead of horns pierce the air. I have not seen the streets of Cairo this quiet since then.

4W3D (mis)Adventures of Falafel the Camel #9

"Today, I got carded in Egypt. In EGYPT. The land of no rules and everything goes."

Just saying...

4W1D Back "home" in Cairo

Getting train tickets in Aswan was the first time I’ve been pushed over the edge since the start of my trip. Let’s just say it took me two days, a non English speaking, a somewhat apathetic tourism officer, a Polish guy blocking the hoards of men behind me and me pushing my way through a crowd of at least 40 men and throwing myself up against the ticket window and yelling that I need a ticket back to Cairo to which he responded “Kalhass!” (finished).

Try two consisted of the same procedure, but this time the attendant ignored me, slowly took a puff of his cigarette and just sat there staring at the computer screen. He also ignored the other men, so I guess I don’t feel so bad. A few minutes later he finally acknowledged my screams of a mixture of English and Arabic - “Sir! Please I need a ticket to Cairo tonight!” and told me to come back an hour before the train leaves to buy the ticket.

Mr. Ticket man, didn’t you just say it was sold out? At this point I’m also kalhass! (hmmm Emily, the stories of you getting a ticket in Cairo are starting to come back to me.) and fed up, especially with the heat causing me to feel very faint.

So I give up and was about to leave, when I notice a ticket attendant in the window next to mine, with only 2 people in line. I run to this window and ask politely if there were any tickets back to Cairo… and viola! There are tickets! He scribbles on a blue piece of people with handwriting so bad it looks like a bunch of squiggles (though I could make out that it said Cairo in Arabic). Now I know there is a “tourist” cart and regular cart (which tourists are still allowed to ride) on the train – the “tourist” cart costing almost twice as much, but at this point I was just happy to get a ticket, which is why I didn’t mind so much paying for the “tourist” cart.

I find out later that it is a holiday, hence the trains being so crowded. Even the “tourist” cart was filled, and not with tourists, but with Egyptians as well. Next time I will make sure to travel during non peak times… but hey, I made it back “home” to Cairo.

On another topic, home is a relative and constantly changing term for me. People's hospitality has made me love Egypt even more. So in this sense I feel at “home”; comfortable, welcome and accepted here.

On the other hand, I also felt at “home” when I was living in Como, Italy and miss it quite a bit. I miss that view out of my studio window, walking along the lake to get to class, enjoying kebabs that seemed so out of place, exploring the piazzas and streets, the little hobbit bar where we had a jenga competition…One day, I will return.

3W6D Camera Toting Tourist in Abu Simbel

Lake Nasser

I am continuously waking up in the middle of the night or staying up all night to go visit sites. Awakened at 3am to make the bus ride to Abu Simbel with a police convoy, I’m extremely tired and easily irritable. I somehow make it onto the bus and sleep the whole way from Aswan to Abu Simbel.

Abu Simbel is located on the west bank of Lake Nasser and is 40km from the Sudanese border. The great Sun Temple of Abu Simbel was built by Ramses II to show his power and majesty on the Nubians, hence the four gigantic statues staring at those who entered Egypt from Africa. A little egotistical don’t you think?

The temple was actually meticulously dismantled and reconstructed over a period of four years at a cost of 40 million USD due to the rising waters of Lake Nasser damaging the structure. Its artificiality is apparent but beautiful nonetheless.

I became a complete tourist for the day, running around the temple and snapping pictures due to the ridiculous heat and my lack of motivation for sketching. I guess it’s okay to do that sometimes. :)

After less than two hours at this temple, we then took the 3.5 hour bus ride back up to Aswan, stopping at the high dam and Philae Temple along the way. The high dam is only impressive if only that it was built to secure Egypt’s future and was funded by the Soviet Union because the World Bank took back its promise on a loan due to pressure for the US.

Philae Temple is reached by motorboat, which we unsuccessfully haggled on a price for since all the motorboat owners worked as a team and decided to set their prices artificially high. This temple was also reconstructed due to rising waters of Lake Nasser. In my opinion, the only interesting thing about this temple is that it sits on an island, so the approach to the island with the temple standing before you is impressive. The hieroglyphics are in good condition too – but I have to wonder how much is reconstructed vs how much is just looked after.

Upon return, I immediately took a shower and a nap until the evening, where I enjoyed the sunset on the rooftop of my hotel, which had a highly chlorinated pool and a great view of the Nile. It seems that my nightly ritual is watching the sun set over the Nile – but I’m not complaining. I rarely get to do this back home so I will savor ever moment of it. Sorry for the slightly boring post but I am quite tired and creative skills are drained. :)

3W5D (mis)Adventures of Falafel the Camel #8

"What you looking at, eh?"