Tour d’Afrique Off and Running!

by Kraig Becker on

The 2009 edition of the Tour d’Afrique got underway last Sunday, with cyclists setting out from Cairo, Egypt on a 7317 mile long race to Cape Town, South Africa. In between they’ll pass through the Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, and Namibia, fostering international goodwill along the way, while raising funds for environmental protection and promoting cycling in Africa.

The race is broken down into 96 stages of various lengths, with a typical day getting underway at 7:30 AM, when the top riders start out on the course. They are soon followed by another group who may not be contending for the top spot, but still want to complete every mile, while the “Back Pack” is made up of a group of riders who just want to enjoy the adventure and soak up some of the culture of the countries they are passing through.

This is the seventh year that the race has been run, and the web coverage seems to be the best ever. For instance, there are photos from each stage, videos from the various countries and introductions for some of the riders, and a daily blog with results and news from the course.

With six stages done, the riders have more than three months of riding ahead of them through a variety of climates and terrains before reaching their final destination on May 9th. They’ll struggle through the Sahara Desert, roll across the Equator, and race across an endless savannah, and they each payed more than $10,000 for the privledge. Seems like it’s an adventure worth every penny.

Travel Read: 100 Places Every Woman Should Go

by Brenda Yun on

I never knew there could be a book so thoughtful and inspiring for women as this one. Stephanie Elizondo Griest’s second travel book, which lists far more than just 100 Places Every Woman Should Go, is truly an encyclopedia for women travelers. It’s the kind of book that could never have existed fifty years ago, but is so refreshing that free-spirited, female travelers should feel grateful that it exists now, and fully prepared for that next trip into the wide, wonderful world.

Griest’s great book is packed with helpful historical information, inspiring stories, and travel tips. It’s broken up into nine sections — my favorite being the first: “Powerful Women and Their Places in History.” There’s so much worth digesting in each locale described. For instance, I had no idea that the word “lesbian” came from the birthplace of Sappho (Lesbos, Greece). Griest fills each description with great travel tips that often include specific street addresses for particularly noteworthy sights.What I like most about the 100 places she chooses is that she shies away from identifying places that every woman obviously dreams of traveling to, like Venice, Rome, and Paris. Instead, she paves a new path for women, encouraging us to visit Japan’s 88 sacred temples or stroll through the public squares of Samarkand, one of the world’s oldest cities in Uzbekistan.

Griest does not limit her list to concrete or singular places. Sometimes, she finds a way to take us to virtual spots like the Museum of Menstruation or creates lists like “Best Bungee Jumping Locales,” “Sexiest Lingerie Shops,” or “Places to Pet Fuzzy Animals.” These 100 “places” are really all-encompassing, and Griest manages to take us on an imaginative journey around the world, packing all her feminine know-how into each description.

I did find, occasionally, that there were some places missing from some of the identified places in her list. For instance, I was baffled as to why two Russian writers were on Griest’s list of “Famous Women Writers and Their Creative Nooks,” but Emily Dickinson, Virginia Woolf, and Jane Austen were absent. I was additionally confused that cooking classes in India and Thailand were not on the list of “Culinary Class Destinations.”

Griest’s opinions of places are somewhat biased, too. While she does a fairly good job covering the globe, a single locale in French Polynesia or the South Pacific is missing, and some places like Oaxaca, Angkor Wat, and New York are mentioned several times. Her college town of Austin landed on the list, but places like Budapest and Cairo are never acknowledged.

With every list, however, there is bound to be some bias and some personal flair and choice involved, and Griest’s original and creative sensibilities are still well-worth reading about. The great thing about this book is that you can flip to a place description, be perfectly entertained and inspired, and then tuck the book away until the next time you feel compelled to read about the places you can go. Or, you can read it in one sitting like I did and be completely blown away by the amazing places in this one world that it’s hard to imagine why we live in one city for so long and not just pack our bags and get out there and see some if not all of it.

Click here to read my review of Griest’s first travel book, “Around the Bloc: My Life in Moscow, Beijing, and Havana.” My review of Griest’s third travel book, “Mexican Enough: My Life Between the Borderlines” is forthcoming, along with my interview with the author in early January. Feel free to jot me an email (Brenda DOT Yun AT weblogsinc DOT com) if you have a question for Stephanie.

Click the images to learn about the most unusual museums in the world — featuring everything from funeral customs, to penises, to velvet paintings, to stripping.


Photo of the day (11.24.08)

by Abha Malpani on

This is an aerial shot of Lake Nasser, in Abu Simbel, Egypt, taken by flickr user BrittElizabeth. Great shot. But how must it have been taken? From a helicopter, or from a high cliff facing the lake? Or with some super lens?

I also like this shot because it’s not something you expect to see when you think of Egypt. In the glory of the Pyramids and the local culture there, we forget that there exist remote, dry, desert-like spots. I also find this shot interesting as it shows arid land next to water; makes you wonder why there isn’t more vegetation in this area.

Got a pic you want considered for Gadling’s Photo of the Day? Submit it here.

Catching the travel bug: Alexandria, Egypt

by Grant Martin on

Welcome to Catching the Travel Bug, Gadling’s mini-series on getting sick on the road, prevailing and loving travel throughout. Five of our bloggers will be telling their stories from around the globe for the next five weeks. Submit your best story about catching the travel bug in the comments and we’ll publish our favorite few at the end of the series.

Week 1: Alexandria, Egypt

Living arrangements in Cairo vary across a wide spectrum — one can invest generously, stay at the Marriott in Zamalek and enjoy pampered service, fresh pineapple every morning, clean water and sparkling clean toilets — or conversely can spend two dollars a night to crash in a hostel on the banks of the Nile. Naturally, Allan and I chose the least expensive option and stayed near the archaeology museum on the east bank. We brushed our teeth with water out of the tap, beds were rickety and our room faced the street — but we were young and adventuring — nothing could stop us.

Outside of the bubble of four start hotels, city life in Cairo can be a bit dramatic. Merchants hawking their wares heckle you from all sides, everyone is trying to sell you souvenirs and one grows a hard shell that resists anyone that seems to be too friendly. It’s a difficult way to trust and learn about a culture, and frankly was one of the most difficult characteristics for me to adapt to.

But finally, on our second day in Cairo we decided that we had recovered enough from the long journey out to Egypt to enjoy a night out on the town. With the narrow, tree lined avenues and embassies in Zamalek, we decided that the island just across the bridge in the Nile would be a good place to start. Ducking into the first modern establishment we could find, this turned out to be a Korean Barbecue.
As we timidly worked through our skewered beef and imported beers, I spotted a young woman eating alone and reading a Lonely Planet on Cairo (in English), so figured that she might be a good person to ask about bars to visit in the area.

She ended up joining us for dinner. In town on her own, the woman was visiting from Jordan on a brief holiday into Egypt, and after dinner our new friend led us to a few excellent bars within several blocks of the Korean barbeque — Allan switching between a few different types of drinks and myself sticking with the vodka tonics. And at the end of the night, we all hugged and went our separate ways — she back to her nice hotel in Zamalek and the two of us back to the sketchy part of town, happy to have made new friends in a foreign country.

I’ve never had a particularly strong stomach, but when I woke up the next morning something definitely didn’t feel right. Chalking it up to normal indigestion, we headed down to the train station to our morning journey out to Alexandria. But upon reaching the port city at mid-day, I knew something was wrong. As we worked our way to the sea wall and what was left of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, my abdomen hurt so bad that I had to lie down on the stone construction. I hadn’t eaten all day, and by this point knew that I had a bad case of Montezuma’s Revenge.

Writhing in pain on the sea wall and looking at the sky, I didn’t notice the middle aged Egyptian gentleman approach me and curiously look down. I waved him off — no, I don’t want any, I’m ok thanks. But he wasn’t selling anything. He pointed to his stomach and rubbed it, and I nodded, but I continued trying to wave him off — at this point all I wanted was for him to go away. As I got my wish Allan looked over and asked what had happened. I shrugged and laid back down.

Five minutes later the guy was back, not with something to sell me, but rather with a package from the pharmacy. He dropped it in my lap and smiled. Inside, among the twelve different translated instructions were pills for treating stomach bugs and ten Egyptian Pounds. He must have thought that I was homeless. I looked up in amazement — the guy was already gone, back across the street and on his way without a word.

For a brief interlude, the Egyptian medicine really hit the spot. That afternoon I enjoyed a stable gastrointestinal system, saw the sights and headed back to Cairo. But Montezuma would return and continue to haunt me for the next week. It followed me painfully through the train station in Cairo, in the bathrooms of Luxor and curled up on the floor on ferries across the Mediterranean. Only after talking to a Canadian couple just off the coast of Turkey later the next week did I eat some yogurt with acidophilus, clean up my act and finally get back to normal.

Allan, on the other hand, got sick two days after I did and remained ill for the next three weeks. Something, perhaps in those drinks in Cairo or in that Korean barbecue really got to us.

But I will always remember that kind man on the sea in Alexandria, the man who, when I was in my worst health, sick of Egypt, sick of traveling and so far from home, was kind enough to buy me medicine and not even ask for thanks. Kindness of that breadth is what makes travel worthwhile.

Leave your favorite story from being sick on the road in the comments below and we’ll publish our favorites at the end of the series on November 13th.

Photo of the Day (10.5.08)

by Jeremy Kressmann on

I’m enjoying the unique perspective of the Pyramids in this photo by Flickr user DS355. Too often when photographers take pictures of these amazing Egyptian structures, they focus exclusively on the Pyramids themselves. What I liked about this shot was the way the Pyramid is shifted to the background in a sort of soft-focus haze. Also interesting is the way this shot plays with perspective, making the horses and their riders appear “larger than life” in relation to the wonder that lies before their view.

Have any photos you’ve taken of the Great Pyramids? Or perhaps during your vacation in Playa del Carmen? Submit them to our Gadling Flickr pool and we might just choose it as our Photo of the Day.