Jordan and Egypt

by Erik Olsen on

I feel like I’ve been doing a lot of US and European travel posts lately, so I figured I’d drop one in here about one of the places in the world that really intrigues me: the Middle East. Now ,I did my honeymoon in Israel and Dahab, Egypt, both of which are now dear to me. But I have to say two places I missed that I really want to return to are Cairo and Jordan. I mean, how can you be a fan of the Indian Jones series and NOT want to see Petra? And the pyramids ?So what if they are now a tourist nightmare. I want to see them.

And so here is a piece over at MSNBC.com that takes on both of these places. The writer discuses all the famous tourist spots…it’s a basic travel piece…but somehow I came away with an even more passionate desire to check these places out. What makes the peice a bit more interesting is she visits during the holy days of Ramadan when, she says, people eat like eating is going out of style. But she hits some of the sites that have been part of my lifelist for many years, places like Luxor and, yes, the Pyramids. Then she spirits over to Jordan to see Petrra and once again I was filled with a desire to go. It’s a nicely done bit of work, and if you’re like me, you’ll get inspired all over again to see these ancient wonders.

GADLING’S TAKE FIVE: Week of November 12

by Adrienne Wilson on

Settle down and settle in as I take you on a spin of our five favorite’s from the week that was… You’ll love it – I promise!

5. MTV Launches Travel Guidebook Series:
My MTV days are just about over and done, but the memories will last forever. (Not that I did any of the crazy stuff you see on the network these days.) If you’re off to Ireland and looking for some place hip, spunky, spanky, no, no, spunky and cool with more pubs than humanly possible to crawl you may want to check out this blurb from Neil.

4. Travel Insurance for the Over-65:
There are two peak times in one’s life when the opportunity to travel should be seized; in youth and old-age. During each time frame there are many things to consider before taking off into the wilderness. One of the most important is travel insurance and while you may only need it in your young age to cover really silly and naive mishaps, it’s a little different in your golden years. See what Iva found about the situation for the over 65 and start planning ahead if you don’t think they’ll be giving you a break to take a break.

3. Procreation Vacations:
We’ve talked about ‘Babymooning’ and heading out on vaca to go half on a new baby boy or baby girl, but surely it is time to think about it again. Why? Because it’s getting colder. Because the holidays are coming. Because babies are just too darn cute not to have! You decide and if you think your clock is ticking maybe it’s time for a moonlit stroll on the sandy shores of Tonga.

2. Craig Duff Blogs from Egypt:
Gadling is a travel blog and we point to other travel blogs that we like from time to time. Erik points us to his pal who blogs from Egypt. Craig is his pal and all, I’m sure, but as an outsider and unbiased set of eyes reading I’d say it’s swell. Go check it out if you need info or fuel to get your own travels to Egypt going.

1. Surfing Alaska:
Can’t say that I’ve been to Alaska or that I’ve been surfing and I can’t say that I wouldn’t try it out, but this isn’t about me. This is about an article found in Outside mag on surfers who do brave the icy waters and their experiences. If you can’t take the cold get off the board. Yuk,yuk, yuk….

Craig Duff Blogs from Egypt

by Erik Olsen on

Craig Duff is a filmmaker, journalist, writer, traveler…he also happens to be a friend of mine. And a little while ago Craig headed overseas as the recipient of the much-coveted, very prestigious, Knight International Fellowships. Never mind HOW prestigious, you can go to the site and check that out for yourself. Or Google it.

The thing I want you to check out is Craig’s blog. Craig selected Egypt as his host country for the duration of his fellowship and he’s been living now in “choking, chaotic Cairo” for several months. While he’s had the opportunity to savor Cairo’s hubbub, he also gets out of the city to experience its gaping, ancient-world loveliness as well as the epic diving of places like Sharm el-Sheikh and Dahab (where I spent my honeymoon).

Craig is an excellent writer, not to mention filmmaker, and his observations on life in Egypt are a must-read for anyone interesting in this region of the world. His insights are thoughtful and penetrating, while his superb sense of humor lends a light-hearted and entertaining touch that makes this blog a worthy bookmark.

Potts on Qutb in the Believer

by Erik Olsen on

For those out there who love music and good writing, I highly suggest the magazine The Believer. I believe (ha ha) it’s put out by the same folks who put out McSweeneys, the online version of which I pay attention to for our Friday Funny, and the dead tree version to which I subscribe. The Believer is what Rolling Stone should be, and maybe what it was for a brief period in the 60s/early 70s .But anyway, it’s a fine magazine, and Rolf Potts, as folks here know, since I blog about him every so often, is a fine writer.

In this abridged piece at the Believer Web site (you have to buy the mag to get the whole thing) Potts discusses one of Islam’s lesser-known (at least among non-Muslims) intellectuals, a man named Sayyid Qutb…and a man who did not have a lot of good things to say about America, and yet a man who actually did spend a fair deal of time here in the late 1940s. This is significant, because a lot of Americans who resist anti-Americanism say (rightly) that much of the rhetoric out there against America comes from people who have never spent time here.

Well, Qutb did live here, and he spent a majority of his 1948-50 U.S. sojourn as a scholarship student at Colorado State College of Education, living in the high-plains town of Greeley. When he returned to Egypt he wrote an essay entitled “The America I Have Seen,” a short travel memoir that appeared in the November 1951 issue of Egypt’s Al-Risala magazine. As Potts explains, Qutb’s disaffection with America stems from what he saw as a corrosive moral and spiritual primitiveness (and this BEFORE MTV?!).

I am always fascinated by others’ perceptions of us, and Potts essay here, even the abridged version, gives a taste of that fro the eyes of someone that most Americans have never heard of, but whose views, while perhaps colored by religious fanaticism, are still interesting to understand.

Word for the Travel Wise (10/20/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Ramadan ends in just a few days and to keep up with cultural understanding and terminology of things we see in the Muslim world I provide you with this word. It’s an easy one and many of you probably already know it, but I’m sure there are a few stragglers out there not hip to the vocab.

Today’s word is an Arabic word used in Egypt:

hegab – woman’s headscarf

My Language Exchange is an excellent site in making friends across the globe while zoning in on the areas that give you the most trouble in your language of choice. While most services are free, contacting other members does cost a very small fee. Other learning tools for free standard Arabic online include this Learn Arabic site which has some remarkable lessons. The audio sounds a bit off for me, but they’ve got both the Naskh script (easy to read when learning the alphabet) and the Latin spelling of the letter. Babel Arabic is another good source. Planet Edu has an online listing of Arabic schools all over the Middle East, Africa and the U.S. Lastly, for purchase and a quick pocket guide there’s the Lonely Planet Egyptian Arabic Phrasebook.

Past Arabic words: wafin, akhdar, taeadol, shwiya, la bas, filoos, khwaga