Lost for Words

Pyramids at night

Aswan 29.11.11

I guess it’s time to give you an update on my whereabouts. I wanted to write on Sunday, but Sunday was a sad day, so it would not have been fair.

Reflection

The week after Cairo was very good. I found a much better side of Egypt, partly because I understood that I just had to try to cooperate with the military instead of fighting it. The first pleasant thing that happened was that I got my Visa for Sudan.

Abu Simbel

From Cairo I wanted to get to Aswan quickly, because I thought that might increase my possibilities to get a place for Wombosi on the barge (car ferry) that left on Monday, so I just took time for the most famous attraction of the Nile valley, starting with the pyramids of Giza. Instead of doing the normal walking around the pyramids, I rode into the desert on horseback, and locked at the pyramids by night from there. My guide was friendly and invited me for dinner with his family, and offered me a place to sleep too, but I preferred Wombosi.

Next morning I went south, and yet again the Egyptian hospitality was fantastic. Bound to stay in towns at night (because of the military) I parked my ride in a quiet spot. Sometime later two men came and invited me for tea, water pipe and fruits, and Wombosi stayed in their courtyard that night.

Movember

The following morning I got some very good falafel as a thank-you from a hitchhiker, before I got to Luxor and visited the kings. They were expensive and disappointing. I arrived in Aswan on Thursday and went straight to the ferry-company, and got the typical and encouraging answer “come back on Saturday”. I figured I needed to find some friends. There are no cheap camping grounds in Aswan, and to pay for so many days was no option, so I prepared for living in the street.

Ahmed

I was very happy when I found a park with public toilets and parking space on the street in front of it, and celebrated with sitting down in the park with my guitar. I hoped to meet some nice people, and guess what; there came two young men, who sat down some meters away from me. A couple of songs later they came closer and asked if they could listen, and some more songs later we started to talk.

With my friends Islam (right) and Mido (left)

When they asked me about what I would do the rest of the day, I said I intended to go to an internet-café. Ahmed said I could come home to him instead, and get free internet there. When we got there, he said I could as well sleep there too. It would be far better than sleeping in the streets, so since then I have stayed with Ahmed and his family. Isn’t that fantastic?

The following day we went to Abu-Simbel together. It’s a long drive, but the temple was nothing short of breathtaking. The last days I have enjoyed experiencing life in an Egyptian town. I have been to the gym, swam in the Nile, drunk a lot of tea, walked the streets and had good discussions on politics and gender.

Desert

Sunday was the day of sorrow. In the morning, I went to the ferry company (they had said “come back tomorrow” on Saturday), and got confirmed what I had suspected for some time. Wombosi did not get a place on this week’s barge to Sudan, and I am forced to stay here in Aswan with him for a week. My friends here were happy to hear that, and that means a lot to me, so if it wouldn’t have been for me missing the appointment with Daddy in Khartoum, I would not have been too unhappy.

The end is the beginning is the end

To cancel Daddys flight to Khartoum made me very sad. I had looked a lot forward to our common days, and I know he had done so too. In addition I feel that I failed him. I take appointments seriously. Now we aim to meet up in Northern Ethiopia, so that we at least get the last 3 or 5 days together.

Later that Sunday the real tragedy happened. Ahmed’s grandfather died. The house war full of sorrow, and I didn’t know what to say. We buried him, and spend big parts of the next two days sitting and grieving. It is interesting to witness a different culture so closely, but it’s not always easy to know how to behave. Due to my complete lack of Arabic, I cannot really say anything, and don’t always know how to behave either, whom I should greet, when I should stand and when I should sit.

To sum it up, it has been a very good time since last time. The waiting here in Aswan, and the death of Ahmed’s grandfather are sad, but the love and kindness shown by the people here are so overwhelming. I feel that I don’t repay them in any way, and that’s not how I wanted it to be, but I receive with gratitude. I look forward to the remaining time here in Aswan, but also to Sudan (even if it will be a rush), and even more to meet my family in Addis. Man, I am blessed. My life consists just of good better and best, 22 degrees and sunshine! See ya.

Dogs

Here’s a post between the posts. It’s not too much about what I’ve been doing the last days, but I figured I needed an own post about the Muslim gender division. I am in Aswan, doing fine. You’ll get more about the last days on Sunday.

When I came to Amman, hungry and tired, and in addition lost my keys, it was a pleasant thing to come to Ragnhild’s Flat, the pizza already served. There I met Carling, a sweet girl from Canada. We left at the same time, so I thought it would be appropriate to follow this little girl home, so the wild Arabs would leave her alone. When we walked down the stairs from the flat we conversated about something more or less important (most likely the latter), but as soon as she came out of the door her normally brown and mild eyes turned red, and smoke came out of here nose, and she snarled: “we can’t be seen together”, and off she went like a rocket.

Sometime later, I understood the significance of what she said. It sums up the Muslim woman-culture to me. It’s about not being seen, not about not being. Girls have to be extremely careful with what signals they give. What they do plays a minor role, but what people think they do plays a big one. Ragnhild says, “how can we be good examples, and reach out to people with our message as Christians, if people don’t respect us?” -and she is right.

The question is, why would Ragnhild not be respected if she showed me downtown Amman (in the middle of the day), and thus would be seen together with me? People must have an extreme imagination.

I talked with a hitchhiker, and we came to talk about having several wives, and he noted that the girls had to be virgins if they hoped to get a proper man. Since virginity (as far as I know) not always is that easy to prove, I guess this is where the rumor becomes really important. If you have had a boy in your flat with no one else at home, then you have “lost your virginity”, and thus can’t find a proper mach, and in further extend have ruined your life. What a gossip society!

Another story; my first night in Syria, I slept at the parking of the Saladin’s castle. The next morning, the castle was to open at 9 am, and as normal, I was up at 6 am, so I had some waiting to do. Twenty past nine the openers came. They parked, and we started to walk up to the gate.  One of the tree men was lagging behind, and with a grin one of the others commented: “he is tired, he has three wives”. I recon I grinned too, but when I think about it, there was nothing much funny with it.

How backwards is the society when a man has three wives he (presumably) can’t even please? A man can do more or less what he wants. His virginity plays no role, and if he can afford it, he can take up to four wives. It is not uncommon that they have girlfriends too, and in Zanzibar they were completely open about it.

The hitchhiker defended the legality of having several wives by saying that since there were fewer men than women among the Arabs, the men did the women a favor by taking several wives, because it is sure worse not to get a husband, than sharing him with someone else. I am not sure if I agree. It seems to me that the Muslim world has a long way to go on gender equality.

My reflections above are made upon random situations and represent the opinions of me and the people I have met. Someone else might have met other people, and come to other conclusions. Ragnhild also noted, that the part of Amman they lived in was the conservative part, and that things were different in North-West-Amman.

Hey You

Wind

Cairo 21.11.11

Yupp, I’m in Cairo. I thought Syria would be the sketchy part, but the situation here in Cairo is much tenser than anything I experienced in Syria.

During my stay in Egypt so far I have had my issues with the military. They don’t want me to drive off the tarmac-roads at all, and I want to very much. They didn’t want me to see the Suez-Channel either, but I did. That resulted with me spending the next six hours with different officers and generals, and of course all my stuff, my camera and laptop and everything in my car was carefully searched.

A lovely camp

Except for the military taking some patience, things have been good here so far. The military is polite and nice; they just take a lot of time, and prohibit me from camping in the wild, and that sort of ruins a lot.

My time in Jordan was terrific. If you think of going to the Middle East, Jordan is the place at the moment, I’d say (without having been to Israel).

The Sinai-Desert

Early morning from mt. Sinai

In Jordan I decided to leave the tourist-stuff, and just do the “next best”. I went to the Dead Sea, but instead of paying 15 euro to enter a beach with facilities, I found my own “beach”, and went for a bath. To bath in the Dead Sea was fantastic. I have never been good at floating on the back without sinking (my theory is that I’m too skinny), but even though I’m skinnier than ever, the salty Dead Sea kept me up brilliantly. I could even do sit-ups in the water without sinking=). The disadvantage with dropping the facilities (and thus the shower), was that my hair got stiff and white because of all of the salt. I found a river some time later, but felt for many days that I was salty.

After the Dead Sea, I found myself a lovely canyon to hike in, instead of paying the horrendous 50 euro for Petra. I even did some climbing.

To complete Jordan, I went on the road to Wadi Rum, but headed into the desert some kilometers from the tourist-place, and found a beautiful spot to camp. I had gathered firewood at the Dead Sea, so I had a campfire, and even met a Jackal.

Not so fun camp - the Egyptians easily beat the
Turks in honking....

The ferry from Aqaba to Nuweba was ok, and I think a blowout on African bureaucracy can wait until I have reached Khartoum and experienced what I think will be the “highlight” of that…

So now I’m in Cairo waiting for a Sudanese visa. It’s hard to imagine that I walked around Tahrir-Square today, got myself some buddies, and had a good time, while Norwegian newspapers report about fighting and injured people. The mood in town is tense though. Opinions seem split, but everyone urges me to take special care. Things happen very quickly.

Anyways. I’m going to try to enjoy my final week here in Egypt, and hope to be on board of the Ferry that leaves Aswan for Sudan on Monday the 28. To get to Aswan should not be an issue, but to get a spot on the barge for Wombosi seems to be the biggest obstacle. Hopefully everything works itself out, as it has this far. God is good.

P.S: I'd like to thank Elisabeth Corneliussen a lot for good advise and two bags full of guide-books. They have been used, and will continue to  be!

Find the Cost of Freedom

Saladin's castle

Amman 13.11.2011

As you probably understand, I am in Jordan, which in turn means that I got through Syria. Actually I got through Syria without any problems at all. Armed men checked my passport at times (once in the middle of the night), but after looking at the passport for some 10 or 15 minutes, they handed it back to me and left me alone.

Before I went to Syria, I gave Roger my promise not to go to any big town. As soon as I was in Syria, I regretted that I did, but I held my word, and stuck to castles, desert and Palmyra. The castles and especially the Crac de Chevaliers impressed me a lot. The Crac is so well preserved. It’s almost like stepping back in time.

Palmyra was “just another ancient roman city”, but it’s setting in the desert is lovely. In addition, the main site is not fenced, and has no opening hours, so you get both sunset and sunrise, and I even got to walk among the ruins to a full moon.

Typical Arabia

The one thing that annoyed me in Palmyra was the sellers. They drove around on small mopeds, so you couldn’t really escape them, and since the community depends heavily on tourists, they were (untypically for Syria), quite intrusive. There were no other tourists than me, except for a polish guy, bicycling from cape to cape, but none of us really entered the roll as rich souvenir-buying tourists with lots of space to carry scarves and necklaces.

Palmyra

Yesterday I arrived in Amman. The border took me four and a half hours, most of them on the Syrian side. I think they suspected me for something, because of my satellite telephone, so I sat for a long time and waited for permission to leave.

I found some friends in Palmyra

Due to the long waiting, I arrived in Amman first after dark, and had to find “second circle” in this two million people- city. I eventually did, and there Ragnhild picked me up with two friends, showed me a place I could sleep, and then invited me for pizza in her flat with three other girls. When I came, I was dead tired, but the food and conversation waked me up again. Big thanks to Ragnhild (and the other girls) to make my stay here very good.

Strange Palmyran skies

In my sleepiness upon arriving, I had managed to lose my car keys, and was not sure whether they were stolen or only lost. After a long search, a very helpful neighbor came with a saw, sawed open a gate, so I could park the car inside. I don’t meet many people I can communicate with, for my English was for little use in Turkey and Syria, but every once in a while I meet someone, and they are so often so nice, like that neighbor. I slept well, knowing Wombosi was safe, and found he key this morning.

Wombosi where he belongs

This is where my philosophy on the Arab women-culture would come, but the thoughts in my head are not quite sorted out for the screen yet. I’ll stick around the Arabs for some time to come, so maybe later.

Amman in the morning

Instead I can share some thoughts on freedom. What is it worth? Many people in the Middle East have found the cost for freedom buried in the ground, and it seems the same thing that happened in Tunisia, Egypt and of course in Libya could occur in Syria as well.

How much would I give for a democracy? Do we have freedom on Norway, or have we become so controlled by rules and restrictions that our freedom is an illusion? Everything we own steals our freedom. When I thought someone had nicked my car-keys yesterday I got worried about Wombosi. Is that freedom?

Crac de Chevalliers

Ultimate freedom is impossible to achieve with other people, because you get attached, and thus enslaved, but “happiness (is) only real when shared”. This quote was written by Christopher McCandless before he died. He had been in the wild and all alone for maybe two or three months when he wrote this. He had tried to find ultimate freedom, but figured that it had its costs.

I have already found that my trip is not pure freedom, and am already planning for a trip where I get rid of much more of the materialistic stuff I have now, and just take what fits into a backpack. The two things I won’t give up are relationships and love. That cost is worth it.

As for the freedom buried in the ground, only God knows what it’s worth. I guess a society never will be entirely free, but that does not mean that one should take everything either.

This is the song the title refers to. It is a tune originally by Crosby, Nash, Young and Still (written by Still), but to have a connection to PF, here’s the (beautiful) version by Gilmour Crosby and Nash: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-Y0SMitMpk&feature=related

Red skies at night

Wiebke making dinner

Adana 06.11.2011

I just left Wiebke at the airport. The last week has been an absolute highlight, even though I have had some minor health issues. I had a terrible night where my stomach sent some food it did not enjoy right back where it came from, and yesterday I managed to burn three of my right-hand finger quite badly on a spoon. Still I feel fit and ready for the next task – Syria.

Mmmmandarines

Most of you don’t know who Wiebke is, so I’ll give you a brief introduction. Wieble is a German school-teacher and globetrotter, who moved to Hamarøy (northern Norway) in 2000 and worked at the same school as my father for over a year. That’s how we got to know her. When it comes to travelling, I am still a newbie, compared to Wiebke. Among her deeds, is a bicycle-trip from Southern-Germany to the North-Cape and back via Island - alone.

A cold morning

After a day at the coast in Antalya we quickly left the group tourist and headed into the mountains. We had some lovely days on our way to Göreme, the heart of Cappadocia. The absolute highlight was sleeping in a cave in the Ihlara-Valley.

In the Ihlara-Valley. Our cave in the right-hand corner

I got to admit that Cappadocia has some impressive landscape. But as so many of the really beautiful things, Cappadocia is crowded. If you want to see Turkey, don’t go to there. If you want to meet friendly Turkish people (who don’t just see you as potential money in their pocket), try driving from, say, Develi, through the Taurus-Mountains on small roads. Then you’ll get the opportunity to pull a Turkish minibus up a hill, try to communicate with old-fashioned Turkish hunters who invite you to drink tea with them or purchase fruits and vegetables from handsome village-girls in baggy pants.

Almost like Africa

Especially the tea-tradition is something really nice here (it might be the same in India, but there I’ve never been). Everyone offers you tea, and usually for free. To decline an invitation to drink tea is almost rude (you need a good reason to say no), and even if buying a carpet, you have to drink tea. First you drink tea, then you deal, after you have sealed the deal, you drink another glass (in Turkey you drink tea out of glasses).

Two other things that are typically Turkey are honking and Ataturk=)

I'm in love with my car

Before Syria, I have to do service on Wombosi, meaning that I have done my first 10000 km. Today is Sunday and feast, so I’ll wait until tomorrow with that, and on Tuesday I’ll be entering the cave of the lion.

When it comes to Syria, I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I have a lot of respect for the current situation; on the other hand, I am anxious to have this fantastic country and people all by myself. How long I stay in Syria depends on the political situation, and the availability of fuel.

Wieble with hunters (the one to the left in baggy pants

Evening in the Taurus-Mountains

In Amman (Jordan), Ragnhilg Soligård, a friend from Framnes awaits me, so I’ll be in good hands, and report back from there, latest in a week.