The best December ever

So far this month’s been great. Clear sky, 25°C in the air and something similar in the sea. Hey folks, come on and visit me while you still can – I won’t be here forever!

 

The Red Sea in December

More photos on my Dropbox as usual.

Photos from Mount Sinai & Dahab

So I’m back from the one-day vacation. It was nice to escape the tourists in Sharm for a day. Okay, Mt. Sinai was crowded as well, but Dahab is wonderful if you’re looking for a calm, still and cheap place to chill out. 

I have uploaded some pictures to this Dropbox gallery so check them out now!

Trip to Dahab

Tonight I’m taking a little break from the over-day trips to Jerusalem and go somewhere else. The season in Sharm is lowering right now so pretty much all of the guides are here. Yesterday we had a nice night out over at Hard Rock Sharm and now we’ll hit the road. We will see a little more of the Sinai Peninsula cause most of us only go to Israel all the time and haven’t really seen the place we stay at. We go in the middle of the night to arrive at the foot of Mount Sinai and climb it before the sunrise. I’m really looking forward the photos I’ll take from the summit! We’ll also check out one of the oldest monasteries in the world, the Saint Catherine’s Monastery built in 526. Later on we’ll go to Dahab, world famous diving spot, and relax on the beach and in the waters of the Red Sea. Hopefully I’ll have some time to upload the photos to the blog when I’m back. Bye!

My portfolio’s available!

Sorry about this long break. Now I’m back again and first thing’s first: I decided to make my portfolio available. You can find the link in the main menu, or use this one. 

So we’re in the middle of november, time’s running really fast now and Christmas is approaching soon. I’ve been keeping myself busy guiding tours in Jerusalem and visiting the beach in Sharm in my spare time. Weather is beautiful and reminds of normal summer in Poland (or a really good one in Sweden, if you rather think that way). Israel on the other hand got colder, with temperatures around 15-20, so I’m finally making use of the jackets I brought with me to Egypt. 

On the other hand I wish I was in Halmstad right now, at least for a while. Two reasons: 1) there’s finally an Apple reseller in town, and 2) Max’ famous Frisco Cheese ‘n Bacon hamburger – only available in Sweden.

Today I’m off to Jerusalem, and when I’m back Tuesday I’m looking forward to seeing my dad who’s coming to Sharm for a week. That’s it for now!

Amman, Jordan

Amman, Jordan

What a day! No sleep last night, since the bus pick up arrived at 1am. From Sharm to the Egyptian-Israeli border crossing in Taba-Eilat. I saw something there I want to do one day: a couple on bikecycles, biking their way though the Middle East. The guy even had a guitar on his bike. Another cool thing was that Jews celebrate something right now (the celebration of the ending of 40 years wandering thorugh the desert, I think…), so they like live in tents for a week or so. The tents are everywhere along the 9 km short Israeli Red Sea coastline. So there was a guy making a espresso over open fire in a mocca brewer! Only in Israel…

 

Wadi Rum, Jordan

After the bored crossing was completed we went with bus for about 10 minutes to the second border, this time Israeli-Jordanian in Eilat-Aqaba. Took a couple of hours to complete, like it usualy does in this part of the world, but after that we went to the most beautiful desert in the world, Wadi Rum. An hour or two there, and then a bus ride to the famous city of Petra. When even this was finished, I had to take a mule the 4 km back to the bus… First time on a mule for me ever. I felt terrible. Poor animal.

Anyway, after that 4 hours with bus to the Jordanian capital city, Amman, inhabited by 2.1 million citizens. The hotel is actually really nice, and the Internet connection is free, so I can give you an update. Right now I feel like sleeping after such a long day! Byea

Living on delivery

One of the best things about living in Sharm el Sheikh is arguably the vast amount of cafés, restaurants and such that have delivery to anywhere in town. Back in Sweden most pizzerias have delivery, but that’s about it. Whenever I want to eat the best burger in the world, I have to get to one of the Max restaurants (of which none is located in the city, but both in its outskirts). 

Here in Sharm there’s no Max, unfortunately, but the choice is pretty good anyway. Recently I’ve been living on the fresh, grilled turkey sandwiches from Makani. Occasionally, when I’m running low on innovation, there’s the usual Burger King, Mc Donald’s, Pizza Hut and even Hardee’s (damn good this one!), all offering food-to-your-door-experience. 

So I keep wondering – why no fast food delivery in Sweden, except the pizzas?

Off to Jerusalem

Hey there. As some might have noticed, I still haven’t uploaded any photos from Cairo. The thing is: there is not good way to make slideshows at WordPress. They even block (do not allow!) to insert third-party code from e.g. Picasa Web or Flickr! So no embedded slideshow here. All I can give you is a link to Facebook where some pictures are uploaded. I’m not sure but perhaps you need an account on Facebook to view the album – let me know in the comments!

Now I’m off to Jerusalem for 2 days. Later I will let you know why… stay tuned!  

Another news is that Apple is holding an event this Tuesday on which they will present new notebooks (laptops)! About time for a new MacBook for me, I’ve been very happy with the one I bought over two years ago and will keep it. But if there are significant changes (multi-touch pads, serious hardware updates, or perhaps a really cool new design) I will for sure get one when I’m somewhere civilized. The prices on Apple in Sharm are well to high. Compared with that even Europe is cheap!

Why is everything so loud here?!

Disclaimer: You shouldn’t generalize about people and their behaviour. Everybody’s different so such generalizations are doomed to fail. Got it? OK, let’s move on.

Arabs are loud. They like noise. They don’t mind if everything around them is so damn loud that you barely can speak to each other. That’s one of the observations I’ve made here during the last months. Some of you might argue that you don’t have to spend any time in a Arab country to realize that, often it’s enough to take a look at one’s Arabic friends in Europe. Of course everyone is different, but most of the Arabs I’ve met in Sweden seem to like noise, just like people in the Middle East. 

Some example from real life. 1) I go with a cab in Cairo. They driver is screaming and shouting at the other drivers all the time (literarily during the whole ride). 2) I sit down to eat at a café. I sit outside cause I notice that the music inside is a bit too loud for me to enjoy the meal. So I go out, and what do I see? A large, 40-something inch TV, playing at what I can swear is maximum volume! And they’ve even attached external speakers… guess the TV’s weren’t enough. So it’s some Arabic music station playing music videos at full volume. Way to go, habibi. 3) The mosques loudspeakers. Now I know this is controversial. And I know that in Europe you will find church bells in every little town that are just as loud. But isn’t it different, ringing the bells and praying at 4 a.m. at full volume (again full volume – damn, they really make use of those amplifiers down here!). 4) I go with a bus from Cairo to Sharm el Sheikh. In the middle of the night, at 3 a.m. the driver decides it’s… movie time. What’s on the menu? Something that appears to be an Arabic musical, they sing throughout pretty much the whole movie. I suppose you can guess what volume he played the movie at? Yup.. Terrific!

In the book I’m reading, Understanding Arabs, some pages are also used to discuss this issue. The conclusion is pretty much like this: “Arabs have a great tolerance of noise”! No shit…

Flu!

Can you catch the flu in tropical climate? Today I unfortunately found out you can…

Damn. My muscles hurt, I got sore throat, fever and I slept whole day. What’s wrong with me? I thought that the illness in this part of year is related to the weather in Northern Europe where I usually live. Obviously it’s not the weather cause it’s still 35° C here and I somehow got influenza. Hate being sick!

Here are some pictures taken yesterday, before it all happened. Let them remind me of the good days. 

My aunt from Poland made a visit.

Whaddup y’all!

“Grrrr..!”

Mosquitoes were everywhere

Prof. Jake tells the story of the Mosque

Staying on the safe side

I’ve been living here in Sharm on and off for over three months now, and taken lots of photos (some of which you might see here, and other on Facebook and – most important – my Flickr account). My favourite motive has been the sunsets over the beautiful mountains of South Sinai. Once I also managed to shot the mountains at the sunrise (couldn’t sleep at 6 am), but that’s nothing I’m doing on a daily basis. So. 

The mountains are cool from the distance. But I think it would be even cooler to get there and maybe climbe a little. (Nothing like Kebnekajse or Galdhöppigen! ). But there might be problems…

According to pretty much everyone I’ve spoke to, it’s rather dangerous to go there. For various reasons. Some say the police are there and won’t let anyone in. That might be because they really are there or they just say it so the tourists don’t go there and get harmed by the real dangerous things waiting there. What might that be? Here’s a (pretty serious) list of dangerous “stuff” waiting arount the corner in the mountains of South Sinai.

1) Mines – Remains from the various wars in the area in the 60’s. I’ve heard that both Israeli and Egyptians have mined the area. Then as the time went on the land was once in Egyptian and another time in Israeli hands, and both sides added more enforcements, so now nobody really knows where it’s safe to go.

2) The animals – according to locals it’s best not to go alone in the desert as one might meet some wild animals. Most dangerous are the arabian wolfs they say. They are hungry preditors living in the desert, so better watch out. They look a lot like wild dogs but they’re said to be not exacly “human’s best friend”. 

3) Police/military forces – they’re said to be here to protect us (the foreingers in Sharm). But who knows what they actually do when they sit in the middle of the desert 24 hours a day and stare at the sun, sand and dust all around them? Also they’re of course fully armed so you might not want to get into trouble with them. 

Anyway. I’ve also heard that from the point where I’m living (at the edge of the city, so to say) it’s only 10 minutes walk to the Ring Road (also called Desert Road). After that road there’s nothing there, except the three things I’ve mentioned above. If I continue I should get to the foot of the mountains in about 1 hour of walk through the desert (not exactly the 40 years Moses and his followers are said to have been walking in the area in the bibilal times). So, one day I’m planning a little walk, with my camera of course. It can’t be that dangerous right.. It’s just sand?