Ask Carpetblogger: What’s your Favorite Haman? via Carpetblogger
Sunday's New York Times travel section has a story about Istanbul's tourist hamams and high-end spas. The piece, which was written by Carpetfriend and neighbor Parisian Suzanne, singles out the obvious ones -- ??emberlita?? and Cagalo??lu in Sultanahmet about which we've written before here and here -- and expensive spas that, in the unlikely event we'd ever darken their door, probably wouldn't let us in anyway. Reading this story, you'd think there's nowhere affordable in Istanbul to get a scrub.We happen to have it on good authority that earlier versions of the story included cheaper hamam alternatives. We know this because we provided the data, which included the caveat that, of the three people we know who have visited the ghetto hamman at the end of our street we often recommend,...
Hold onto your hats via Extra Extra
Nepali peacekeepers at the end of their tour in Fataki, Ituri, northeastern Congo
Just as I begin to feel I might be getting to know my way around this place, it’s time for me to move on.
A recurrent theme of recent conversations has been the extent to which acceptance and accommodation of the peculiarities of life in Congo involves a certain surrender and shift of values. I suppose this is true of all travel, but lots of people find the process takes longer than usual here. But then the Congo is unusually big, complicated, historically melodramatic and highly unpredictable. And let’s face it, Kinshasa is a particularly strange world within a world.
The question remains, how do you reverse the process?
Stay tuned for more pics from my most recent travels, though: something... Himalaya Pimp via Carpetblogger
Longtime readers may know that Carpetblogger and the Producer spent 2003 traveling
around the world. In fact, on this day five years ago, we hiked out of Tiger Leaping Gorge in northern Yunan Province to see a Chinese dude pointing his fingers like guns at us and "pew! pew! pew!"'ing with glee as a means of informing us the US had invaded Iraq that day.
About a week or two later, we were in Litang, a Tibetan city in far western Sichuan. In many ways, Western Sichuan is more Tibetan than Tibet (a characteristic it shares with Ladakh and northern Himachal Pradesh in India). I suppose it's too remote for the Chinese to fuck up too badly. Indeed, Litang is one of the highest cities in the world. I haven't been able to find any news reports about violence there, but apparently it... Nyumbani via Body in Motion
It was in the matatu on the was to Ol Kalau in the Central Highlands that I first saw the Great Rift Valley. I’m not quite sure what I expected – perhaps something in the nature of the Grand Canyon, maybe just an enormous crack in the surface of the Earth. It was so green and so vast and there were peaks that rose up from within the valley. Dormant volcanoes. As we descended down the road carved into the escarpment, there were baboons on the side of the road, lazily watching the Friday afternoon traffic go past. The winding road finally spread out across the floor of the valley. As we passed Lake Naivasha, I saw zebras grazing alongside cattle and trees whose branches reached out toward each other. Although the road was only barely tarmacked, thinking back I feel myself gliding... Out of Africa via Body in Motion
I spent the holidays this year visiting the charming Emerald Isle keeping up friends from Kinshasa. First we went down the coast in search of Fungi, the friendly dolphin. He was no where to be seen.
Then we went up the coast to check out the famous Cliffs of Moher. They were no where to be seen.
We braved the Shannon River for the Christmas Day Swim to raise funds for Limerick’s Marine Rescue.
Had some close calls.
And saw some stunning spots.
But mostly we hung around in pubs.
I can now say with confidence that I’ve seen the real Ireland. Slainte!... Wrestling - a fascinating way to spend a Sunday via Extra Extra
I found traces of inadvertant humour in the African city guide in BSpirit, the inflight magazine of Brussels Airlines. Here are some exerpts:
Abidjan: Hotel Ivoire is a local landmark and a real treat if you like late-1960s architecture… The ice-skating rink was closed many years ago, but the bowling alley is still open every day until 10pm.
Banjul: Traditional wrestling is the Gambia’s national sport, and a fascinating way to spend a Sunday.
Bujumbura: If you’re interested in Burundian cuisine (predominantly beef or fish brochette, chips or fried plantain), try Le Layor …
Conakry: The many markets of Conakry offer the chance to take home African hardwood sculpture (some incredible pieces of ebony)…
Douala: Las Vegas Refuge will leave a lasting impression... Mister Purple and some top travel tips via Extra Extra
Made of Stone: a lion in Oxfordshire
There always seems to be a degree of unseemly disorder and crush around the boarding gate for the flight to Kinshasa, whether in Brussels, Paris or Nairobi. Perhaps it’s a hangover from the not too distant days of lax hand luggage rules, which led to urgent competition for space to stow all those TVs, fridges and bags of vegetables. Or it could be an expression of distrust in the reliability of airlines such as Brussels Airlines (formerly known as SN Brussels, and before that Sabena) and Kenya Airways, not to mention the Congolese domestic airlines, most of which have been banned from international routes. Otherwise, I don’t know what the rush is about. In our case, we were delayed by an hour (once everyone was onboard) so some vital part... The OE I Haven’t Had via from the horizon
When I initially left New Zealand, over 2 years ago, I had the vague plan of traveling around Asia a bit, before gradually making my way to the UK, to follow the path of most New Zealanders my age, and get a job in London. Needless to say, this didn’t quite happen (occupying myself instead [...]...
Enter: The Warm Heart of Africa via Body in Motion
This is what I remember:
Riding up the escarpment from Nkhata Bay in the back of a pickup with 13 other people, a few sacks of maize and a stack of jerry cans; eating corn bread and chili for Christmas dinner; reciting the prologue to Shakespeare’s Henry V while waiting for a hitch; seeking shelter from a rainstorm in the Chikangawa Forest fire tower hut only to find a very surprised Malawian staring down four white girls.
It was the middle of my first full year in Africa and I’d gone to spend the holidays (and the rainy season) with a friend just beginning her Peace Corps stint in northern Malawi. Next week, I will land in Lilongwe, 1400 miles from my last residence in Kinshasa, DR Congo, to stay for awhile.
A country of nearly 13 million, Malawi is about 5% the size of my...
Photos from Beijing via from the horizon
Finally here’s the last of the photos from Beijing. I’m glad that I’ve managed to finish this off before my next trip to Geneva!
I posted a note mentioning that I was going to China, ages ago on Facebook, and Tim, a friend of mine read it who turned out to be working there. It was [...]...
Biking in Bejing via from the horizon
Beijing is the perfect city for biking - practically flat with bike lanes everywhere, so I decided to hire a bike and go for a ride. Once again, putting my viewer’s needs in front of my personal safety, I made a video, so you guys don’t feel like you’re missing out.
It’s worth noting that [...]...
Lions and Tigers and Naive Bears via from the horizon
Feeling the draw of a new city to explore I embarked on an expedition to see as much of Harbin as possible in a day. I set off armed with only a map with no English, my Lonely Planet and three words in Chinese: ni hao - hello, xei xei - thank you and [...]...
Secret Places in Aceh via from the horizon
On Saturday, 2 Europeans, 2 Americans, 4 Aussies, 2 Kiwis and a South African, a fellowship of sorts, headed off into the jungle in search of a far away beach.
Though the journey was [...]...
Changing Countries via from the horizon
Four different beds in four different days, but I’m finally back “home” in Banda Aceh. Changing countries has become a certain ritual. First I change the time zones in my watch, phone and computer (my body is still lagging a little this time). Then I change my SIM card. Then the cash in my wallet [...]...
Too Fast via from the horizon
The past month has gone too fast, although I’ve prefer it to the previous month where I was stuck in a rut, constantly behind my computer, programming.
A month ago I started the roll out for the warehousing module of the supply chain management database I have been developing. My life went from a monotonous routine [...]...
A Visit to Englandistan via Carpetblogger
It's a good thing that we're already used to hard, slow travel in difficult conditions. It took eight and a half hours to travel 150 miles from Heathrow to Shopshire (near the Welsh border) on flooded roads, just like Africa! The upside was, by escaping the flooded, jammed freeway and taking our chances on the country roads, we saw much more of the English countryside than we imagined we would on this short trip. And we got to drive the rental car through rivers!
The heaviest rains in history hardly slowed down the wedding, though. A tractor was dispatched to bring the groom's grandmother and the organist to the ceremony. People like us who came from places that were 45 degrees warmer and brought completely inappropriate clothes felt dumb for failing to check... Having just spent a short but entertaining stint i… via Light in the Heart of Darkness
Having just spent a short but entertaining stint in Costa Rica, I have to say, I'm a bit in awe of the place. Granted that even as Africa goes, Cong's a bit the bottom of the barrel, so to speak. But Costa Rica is downright pleasant.Some of the more fascinating bits wereTraffic lights! Everywhere!Kids riding bikes and skateboards (as opposed to playing with balls constructed from old plastic bags)Bee-yew-ti-ful roadsPotable water right out of the tapNotable absence of pushy hawkersIce in beer - this one I'm not such a fan ofEven apart from novelties such as traffic lights, the country's tourism industry is booming with 51% of the country forested, up from only 25% a few decades back. There's a strong national health care system in place (ranked one step above the US's on the World Health...
Pause-midi via Extra Extra
A young red squirrel having trouble finding purchase on the flaky bark of a plane tree
I’ve been offline a little while, enjoying this sort of thing in the land of the pause-midi:
Sunflowers in the Camargue
A mallard duck surveys the Canal du Midi... Memonyet-ing via From The Horizon
This is my third time working in Indonesia, and I’m going to be here from 6 months in total, so I thought it was about time to make a serious attempt at learning Indonesian. I’d heard that the best place to do this was in Yogyakarta, so I took a week off work booked myself [...]...
Tutaonana via Light in the Heart of Darkness
In a funny twist of fate, this week marks both the fourth anniversary of the first time I came to Congo as well as my departure from Congo.For the time being, I'm headed back to the land of sushi, bagels and friends who've known me since before I could go down the block by myself forget about leave the continent all together. I'll be back on this side of the world again before too long, though not in Kinshasa. No doubt I'll find myself back in Congo again at some point.So I'll sign off for now with tutaonana (Swahili for see you...
Break outs and break downs via Light in the Heart of Darkness
When you live in a place like Congo, much of your energy becomes focused on when you will next get out. So as the date of your departure approaches –whether your trip is professional, personal or your last hurrah- you become increasingly excited about the possibilities that await you at the other end of your long haul flight: the chance to walk freely in the streets, cinema, laundry power that doesn't cost $40, fresh milk.So it's really quite disappointing to get to the airport and discover that the catering truck has accidentally smashed into the Air France plane, creating enough damage that your overnight flight to gay Paris cannot actually leave.It's not even worth wondering what the catering truck was doing on the runway, since the meals for your flight have been on board since the...
Tikala malamu via Extra Extra
I don’t generally trade in sunsets, but this one seems appropriate, for I am leaving the Congo for a couple of months.
For the first time, I find I can think about my imminent departure - and contemplate return - with something like equanimity. I may well make it all the way to the airport without chewing through my seatbelt, and on arrival, I’m reasonably confident that I can contain the urge to gawp foolishly at ordinary shops, smooth tarmac and other marvels.
What does this mean? Maybe it means that Kinshasa is part of my world now.
Extra Extra will of course strive to chart a steady course through whatever psycho-geographic turbulence lies ahead (and to celebrate being in places where cameras don’t get a second glance). If it’s Congolaiserie you’re... New Congo guide book (interview) via Extra Extra
Stanley’s expedition shoots the rapids
130 years have passed since hot-tempered Welsh-American Henry Moreton Stanley navigated the Congo River, his newspaper reports piquing the interest of King Leopold II.
Visiting in the 1920’s, Grace Flandrau may have been unimpressed by the cuisine, but she had fewer difficulties getting around Ituri than she would if she could return today. The likes of Joseph Conrad, Mobotu, Mohammad Ali and Franco may have helped keep the Congo/Zaire on the map internationally, but it has never been much of a tourist destination.
However, things appear to be improving in the wake of last year’s elections, even in Ituri. Much depends on the behaviour of the new government, but improved security may attract some adventurous travellers as well as... Then I Saw the Congo via Extra Extra
I have just finished reading Then I Saw the Congo, a 1920’s travel memoir by Grace Flandrau, a novelist from Minnesota who shared an editor with F. Scott Fitzgerald. (It happens that her biography is being published this spring.)
I had misgivings about the title (see below), but found Flandrau’s writing pleasantly unburdened by the conventions of the adventure travel genre, and she disparages - even mocks - the then-fashionable pastimes of shooting large animals and ill-treating ‘the natives’.
Since the book is long out-of-print (Nayembi discovered it in an antique book shop in Lilongwe), I’ll spare you a review and transcribe some of the more memorable passages instead.
First impressions of Kinshasa:
At first glance Kinshasa gives one the rather... Mundele! - the t-shirt via Extra Extra
For some reason, lots of people around here feel a strong compulsion to exclaim “Mundele!” when they see a white person walking down the street. In East Africa, the Swahili equivalent is Muzungu; both words mean, simply, ‘white one’.
The thing is, no matter how many times I hear this, I’m always stumped for a suitable response. “Moyindo!” (black!) I could retort, but somehow this doesn’t appeal. If I’m feeling friendly I introduce myself, if I’m not I generally ignore it. (If you have any witty suggestions, preferably in Lingala, please let me know.)
As an experiment, then, I’m opting for the pre-emptive strike. I went to a print shop with an old t-shirt and a few pictures of archetypal mundele John Cleese doing his silly... Malawi photos via Extra Extra
A weaverbird gathers material for one of its several nests.
A selection of my Malawi photographs are now on Flickr. I’ll restrain myself and post just two here today.
A young crocodile catches some rays on a branch overhanging the river.
After the calm of Lilongwe, Kinshasa’s airport baggage collection seemed more entertainingly anarchic than ever. Where else in the world could any old random chancer walk along the conveyor belt and duck through to the loading area? Still, I didn’t lose anything, so I’m not complaining.... Reality bites via Extra Extra
Out of Africa via From The Horizon
I’m on a plane out of Uganda, haven’t fully recovered from going out last night, and all I’ve had to eat all day are grasshoppers.
It’s been a crazy time. The work has gone really well, everyone here has been really receptive, and ProLogs has been a huge success. Work has been really intense, but I’ve [...]...
African Road Trip via From The Horizon
Although traveling around all of the offices was busy going, it did also give me a chance to see some of Uganda. Below are some photos from my last week visiting field offices in Uganda, when I drove to the office in Kiryandongo and Lira.
Kiryandongo Office
Bamboons
Lira office
The closest I got to staying in a mud [...]...