One of the most wonderful things about travelling is realising how much Justin Bieber has influenced the world with his messages of hope and joy. And buying merchandise.
(insert twitter war with Justin’s fans here)
Actually I don’t think Justin’s fans are reading this blog. Lucky for us.
Anyway everywhere we have been Justin’s merchandise has been on display
among the youth. Which is wonderful. Because he brings us all together.
Thank you Justin. Thank you.
Due to dwindling finances, we could only really spend 3 weeks in Turkey, and so had to limit where we travelled to. A must see for me was Ephesus.
We went there via Izmir, where we spent a few days. It was also well worth going to, with a great castle, Roman ruins and a nice seaside vibe.
We then caught the train to Selcuk, a lovely town that is only a few kilometres from Ephesus. It is well worth stopping at for a few days as it has a lot to see besides Ephesus – St Johns Basilica, the Virgin Mary’s house, The Temple of Artemis, a number of other interesting older buildings. There’s also a really beautiful village called Sirince just 8km away which is an easy 20 minute trip by local bus.
The main site I wanted to see was the ancient city of Ephesus, once home to 200,0000 people, and now a well-preserved tourist attraction. Here’s some photos of Ephesus and Selcuk.
The Roman aqueduct in Selcuk
Message of prayer at St Mary’s House near Selcuk. A lot of the messages seemed to be prayers for wealth. Very Christian.
Selcuk Castle at night
St John’s tomb in Selcuk
THe view from St Johns Basilicia, Ephesus
The library in Ephesus
The main promenade in Ephesus. Back in the day this path was lined with dozens of statues.
The main amphitheatre at Ephesus, which seats 20,000 people. St Paul make his famous speech here, to try and convert the population to Christianity. It didn’t go down too well.
The main amphitheatre in Ephesus, used for theatre and later on gladiator fights, when the population got bored with theatre.
The one remaining pillar of the once great Temple of Artemis, Selcuk, one of the wonders of the ancient world. NIkki is taking photos of turtles.
There are a lot of glamour photo businesses in Egypt, and most have pretty amazing examples of their work on display in their window.
This is one of the best in Luxor.
I think every mother should have
a photo of their child carrying
weapons. So sweet!
Talking to travellers who’ve been to the Middle East, you often hear stories of the incredible hospitality people experience. Sadly as a tourist in Egypt there’s not much real hospitality to be had.
From the moment you arrive the guide books prepare you for it, but the constant pressure from salesmen, touts and scammers does get to you after a while. I can think of just 1 or 2 people who have approached us in the last 2 weeks without the end goal of trying to get money out of us somehow.
Many of these interactions are fairly straight-forward and easy to deal with – they go something like this.
(Walking down the street)
Man A: Hello my friends! Where are you from?
Us: Australia
Man A: Australia! Kangaroo! (or G’Day mate) I have been to Australia several times.
Us: That’s good
Man: So where are you going? Where are you staying? How long are you here for (one or all of these questions is possible)
Us: Just going for a walk / we’re staying nearby / we’re leaving soon
Man: I am just on my way home from work – let me show you where you can get a free tourist map (a friend’s shop where they are selling maps). The way ahead is closed.
Us: No thanks, we don’t want to buy anything
Man: Come with me my friends – this is just Egyptian hospitality
I can’t tell you how many times we’ve heard the phrase “Egyptian hospitality”. Sadly all of the dodgy touts that use that phrase, are going a long way to tarnishing the reputation of the entire country. “Egyptian hospitality” as they phrase it means either a) pressuring you to come into a shop to buy something you don’t want or b) warming you up to paying way too much for some random service.
As a tourist, Egyptian hospitality is really an oxymoron. It’s an interaction designed to rip you off in some way and hence have a bad experience and not want to return. Surely the opposite goal of what hospitality is meant to achieve?
It’s sad because Egypt is an amazing country. In every other country we’ve been to we’ve been able to have conversations with locals to learn about the culture and talk about our experiences. Here that’s only been possible here with hotel staff and tour guides. Which is a shame because it does make the whole tourist experience quite alienating.
Egyptian hospitality at Memphis. These guys jumped into my photo and that asked for “baksheesh” ( a tip) on the way out…..
Last week we visited the Pyramids of Giza which are incredible. Having touts and salesman follow you every step of the way really does taint the experience however. From people trying to sell you overpriced made-in-China trinkets, to guardians of the historical sites offering to take you (illegally) into sealed off tombs, to people giving you “presents” for which they later demand money for – it all gets a bit much.
I know a lot of people depend on tourism for their livelihood, and that tourist numbers have dwindled here since the Revolution. But trying to rip-off tourists is not the way the build tourism. It’s a short-term view that ultimately leads to less people coming to Egypt, and giving a bad experience to the ones that do.
Most tourists arrive now expecting they’re going to have to battle against scammers and touts – an expectation that makes you inadvertantly hostile towards people who may approach you without any bad intentions (though there are very few of those sadly).
Hopefully getting out of the main tourist areas over the next week will give us an opportunity to experience some real Egyptian hospitality….
The last thing we expected on our trip to the pyramids was to be freezing cold and practically alone. Winter is usually peak season for Egyptian tourism, but since the revolution all the most popular tourist sites are pretty much dead zones. Which was great for us, but not so great for the Egyptians.
A rare view of the Pyramids at Giza (without people)
The main pyramid at Giza
Sandstorm at the Sphinx
While I can appreciate the sheer majesty of the pyramids, their age, their size and their history – something about the experience was a little underwhelming. I think the fact that where once the glorious and majestic Nile once ran in front of the pyramids has now been replaced with a sprawling urban mass. In fact one of the best views of the pyramids can now be seen from the Pizza Hut building, which is just depressing. Couple this with the fact that the recent (actually not so recent if you account for Mubarak’s entire reign oh and the entire period of colonialism) troubles this country has experienced has only amplified the desperation of its people. Everywhere you go, and I mean everywhere, in any major tourist site you will be hassled. It’s relentless and arbitrary and beyond annoying. All the guidebooks tell you to beware of the hassling but the level has increased so much that it’s almost hostile.
It’s a tragedy what has happened to this country. We saw practically no police the entire duration of our trip – in fact the whole country had a wild west feeling to it. In major tourist attractions like the Egyptian Museum in Cairo the toilets were dirty and largely unclean without toilet paper. Unpaid staff were buying tissues with their own money and trying to earn some money by selling these to toilet goers for tips. And the museum wasn’t cheap. The place just reeked of corruption and greed. And a country once gloried for its advanced sanitation and hygiene programs is now almost one giant toilet bowl. Dirty, uncared for and desolate.
I heard that a lot of Egypt’s treasures now live in the museums and squares of other countries around the world, and originally this angered me. How neo-colonialist and paternalistic I thought. But when I visited Egypt and saw the way in which some of their sites were (not) cared for I had to be thankful that at least some of the historic relics will survive.
Egypt has such potential but it is a ravaged country. Ravaged by greed and corruption and blinkered religious fervour. And they largely have the West to thank for it – first through colonialism and then through their support of one of the most slimey despots of our time – Mubarak.
Luxor was definitely the most touristy town we visited in Egypt – actually it was the only place we visited in the country where we saw a lot of tourists.
Strangely it also seems to be a big base for expats, in particular the English. There’s a major street in town full of English restaurants (ie. Indian food) and pubs and we came across quite a few older expats during our week there.
Across the road from our hostel was a great bar (one of the few in town), where they held a quiz night twice a week, for the local expats. Think lots of beer, red faces and crazy hairstyles and you get the idea.
You have to love the English though – everyone we spoke to was very friendly and down to Earth – even though we were clearly the outsiders. We got lots of Egypt-related advice, from a very paternal older English guy (imagine Donald Trump with a better tan) – who was there with his wife, who was channeling an 80’s tennis star in her choice of fashion and hair. Mostly about what not to see and what to see. There wasn’t much cultural insight, even though they’d been coming here regularly for the last 15 years.
The other great English people we met were Ian and Julie – a couple who we shared a table with at each meal on the Nile cruise. They were lovely – middle aged and very adventurous travellers, who head overseas every year and always seem to make friends with random people. Although one area they weren’t adventurous was food – they refused to eat the local food, and I think were surviving on a diet of chicken, potatoes and chips.
I’m not really sure what the appeal of Egypt is to the older English couples. Sure it’s cheap so I’m sure as a retiree you could live relatively luxuriously for not much money. But very few people speak English (none of the expats spoke Arabic), it’s not very tourist friendly, and if you’re after the comforts of home (beer, cottage pie and quizzes), Luxor seemed to be the only city that fit the bill. Even then, it seems to pale in comparison with other expat havens like South East Asia where foreigners are treated with a deference that you don’t find in Egypt.
In light of the recent revolution, you’d also have to think Egypt has dropped even further down the list of destinations for English ex-pats to spend their time. But I suppose as long as the pub keeps up the twice a week quiz night, and doesn’t take cottage pie off the menu, it’ll all be OK.
It would have been great to get the stories of these expats, and find out how they ended up there.
Three weeks in Cape Town meant plenty of time to check out the local wineries, which I think tourists often skip in favour of the more famous Stellenbosch region. But the wineries of Cape Town are fantastic, and very close (only 15 minutes from the city) so if you get the chance, you should definitely check them out.
Constantia is the oldest wine region in South Africa, dating back to 1685. And it’s beautiful – set in the hills under Table Mountain.
Some fantastic Cape Town wines
There are a lot of wineries in this region, but I was lucky to visit the following during our 3 weeks in Cape Town: Groot Constantia, Klein Constantia, Buitenverwachting, Constantia Uitsig, Steenberg. I’ve written some notes below – but I’m not a wine critic – I just like visiting wineries and trying out their wines. If you really want a professional opinion of the South African wineries, check out the excellent Platters wine guide, which is the equivalent of Australia’s James Halliday.
The region is most known for amazing white wine, while Stellenbosch and Paarl are more renowned for their reds, as the reds from Constantia are not as full flavoured. That said I tasted some fantastic reds in the area including a Steenberg Shiraz and Merlot, and all of the Klein red range was superb.
Steenberg
Steenberg had the most incredible setup for tasting – a beautiful open garden area where you could sit anywhere and the staff come to you and bring you the tastings. It was also free! (all of the others were 30 ZAR). Their whole range was excellent and in particular I loved the Shiraz (not much Shiraz is made in this region), and we bought their Sparkling wine too which was fantastic.
The amazing view from Steenberg Winery, Cape Town
Klein Constantia
Klein Constantia was my favourite out of all the wineries – they had a smaller range and all of their wines were excellent. I ended up buying the Semillon Sauvignon Blanc blend (Madame Marlbrook) and a Sauvignon Blanc. Their reds were also excellent – especially the Marlbrook.
Buitenverwachting
I wasn’t as big a fan of their wines, but their regular drinking sauvignon blanc was a stand out. It was also their cheapest wine at around AUD$5!
Constantia Utsig
This was our last visit in the day, which makes it hard to judge as I was pretty drunk by then. I do remember the wines were good, but I didn’t buy anything as nothing stood out.
Also in Cape Town I tasted the most incredible sauvignon blanc (it was almost smoky) at the Greenhouse restaurant as part of their degustation (more about that later), which was also produced in Constantia, but at a winery that is only open by appointment (Eagles’ Nest). Well worth checking out!
Telehit, the Spanish language music video channel, is genius. It’s the one reliable channel you seem to get no matter what cable network your hostel/hotel is connected to. And it’s reliably up beat and entertaining all the time.
Why? Because there’s only really 3 types of videos on Telehit.
1) Eurovision sounding songs by mainly older (by music industry standards) Spanish speaking pop stars (roughly 50% of all videos). All of these videos must contain very overt sexual references and scantily clad female singer. Strangely it’s OK to be be an older pop star in the Spanish-speaking world, as long as you’re willing to get your gear off.
2) Standard pop songs by young stars or girl/boy bands (30%) . All of these videos contain happy images of young people smiling, dancing, frolicking on beaches. Who wouldn’t want to be in the video below? If these artists survive in the industry, no doubt they’ll have to start getting their gear off more.
3) Slightly obscure indie/hipster type songs (the last 5%).
We’ve been in Mexico over a month now, long enough to make some shallow and vaguely interesting observations about the Mexican people. Most of these are stolen from Jorge Castaneda and his excellent book, Manana Forever.
Mexicans don’t pay their taxes (Mexico has the lowest tax take of all OECD countries – which is quite shocking when you consider some of the competition – ie. Greece whose economy recently failed, in large part due to people not paying their taxes).
Mexicans are very individualistic. They have very low rates of participation in their communities – eg. civil society is very small and very few people participate in charities, community or sporting groups.
The culture is not as conservative as I thought it would be – but I guess that’s to be expected given it’s a fairly wealthy country. Most people describe themselves as Catholic – yet not a lot actually go to church. They do however take rituals and ceremonies very seriously (including Day of the Dead etc). I haven’t seen a lot of evidence of respect for elders and women – on crowded transport younger people and boys don’t tend to stand up for their elders or women.
While Americans seemed very confident and sincere, Mexicans overall seem a lot more shy and disinterested. In a lot of undeveloped countries, locals seem to want to come up and talk to you when you’re a foreigner. Not so in Mexico – most people seem to just ignore you. Even in customer service situations, people do their best to not pay too much attention to you. Maybe this is the same for Mexicans as well though – as there seems to be a definite divide between customers and servers – particularly in restaurants.
Some of this could be due to the resentment Mexicans have for foreigners. This is apparently quite common – although the resentment is apparently most strongly directed at Americans (who make up 90% of all tourists here). I guess there’s good historical reasons for that (invasion, stealing of land, economic manipulation), though America is not alone in those sins.
Mexico was also invaded by the French and of course the Spanish, who did their best to wipe out the Aztec and Mayan cultures. Maybe some of that resentment comes from a history of military domination by others – Cambodia has a similar resentment towards its neighbours – although bizarrely loves Americans despite having more bombs dropped on it by the USA during the Vietnam War than all the bombs dropped during World War II.
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