The Balkan Yankee

The entire city was woken up just after 6:30am to a series of intense rumbling explosions that continued for nearly an hour.

-boom. boom boom. Boom. Boom Boom BOOM. “Did you hear that?” boom, boom, boom…

-”Yea, it’s still going.”  boom, boom, boom…

-”Sounds scary.”  boom, boom….

-”Yea.”  boom, boom….

I sleepily decided to go out on the balcony to look around. I felt the shock wave from one of the explosions bounce off the building across the street and went back inside. Pretty intense considering we’re at least 10km away from where it happened.

My ex-rommie said he had a great view of the actual explosions from his apartment, but he didn’t snap any pictures.

There were rumors circulating this morning that the exploding munitions contained chemical agents. The government assures us that it was only TNT, and there are no toxins in the city’s air. Last I heard, at least one person was dead at the site of the explosions.

Song starts just after the one minute mark:

Big Ideas (don’t get any) from James Houston on Vimeo.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.
This video just makes me happy…

Með Suð Í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust
Originally uploaded by stingoo

Pretty cool, at least if you use last.fm. You can play the full album from the last.fm player for free. No downloads, but hey, it ain’t so bad. I’m listening to it right now for the first time.

Loading the Car, originally uploaded by garth walker.

We just returned from our two week trip to Egypt where we met up with Jordan to explore Cairo, and the Sinai peninsula. It was great seeing and exploring a new country with an old friend. We spent the first few days sight-seeing in Cairo, and visiting the pyramids at GIza, Saqqara, and Dashur. Our ambitious attempt to see the pyramids at sunrise backfired with shady horse back riders who wanted cash up front to take us to the pyramids without tickets, but we managed to be the first visitors to Dashur to see the Red Pyramid and the Bent pyramid in the distance.

After Cairo we took a bus to Dahab on the coast of the Gulf of Aqaba in Sinai. Dahab was a bit crowded and perhaps too touristy for our tastes, but the reefs were astounding, filled coral and tropical fish of every variety. From Dahab, we traveled to St. Katherine where we did a two day trek with Bedouins through the mountains above the town and monastary. We decided not to climb Mt. Sinai itself which is often crowded, but our trek took us to another high peak with great views. Next, we relaxed for three days in some beach bungalows in the quiet city of Nuweiba, which was a bustling tourist town filled with Israelis just a couple years ago. The recent terrorist bombings targeting tourists in nearby Taba have left this resort town empty now as well. It was a welcome chance for us to have the beach almost entirely to ourselves though. After that it was back to Cairo for a final day of haggling in the Cairo markets for gifts, and a late night/early morning flight.

Overall it was a great trip. The endless confrontations with scam artists and appeals for baksheesh made it frustrating at times, for sure. Jordan’s experience helped a lot, and we managed to sidestep any disasters. I’ll finish by offering a few tips for anyone planning a trip to Egypt in the future:

1) Never ever pay for anything up front. Never. It may be tempting or convenient to do so, or you may trust the person offering you services, but be diligent and pay after, or just move on.

2) It may be beneficial to take on an alter-ego, perhaps that of the citizen of a poor or little known country, like Bulgaria, if you are from a rich or imperialistic super power. You are never given a price quote with first telling where you are from. Americans don’t get the best deals. When a passport is later required, it’s always fun explaining the discrepancy as well.

3) Yes, there are buses, and there are bus stations. Especially at St. Katherine the entire town seems to be in on the scam of telling tourists that there are no buses in or out of town. Extreme patience will pay off, and save you from a 200 £ taxi ride.