Back in the land of Pharaohs and Sheesha

So, after having pack everything, said all my goodbyes, bought my last pieces of Ethiopian souvenirs, and jumped on my impossible to close suitcase, I was ready to close a chapter and start another one.

However before starting the next chapter I needed a week's break in the land of Ramsis and Tutankhamen......

So, what were the things I needed to do in Egypt before I head off to Libya??

1. Shopping

Although Egypt's choice of clothes and shoes is no woman's dream, it definitely is better than the choice in Ethiopia..... and might also be better than the one in Libya as far as I've heard..... so as soon as I landed in Egypt (7am), I bargained the taxi to Garden City, had a chat with Kotteiba, and hit the shops..... soon after which i realized, that i practically have no space whatsoever in my suitcase to either take with me or leave in Egypt.

The total number of bags i currently own are 1 big suitcase, 2 airplane carry on trollies and 4 big sausage bags!!!!

Nevertheless this didn't stop me from shopping for books!!! So I headed off to the AUC bookstore, and Shorouk, which are my two favourite bookshops and bought enough books to make sure I don't get bored in Libya!!!

I finally managed to get my hands on the full Cairo Trilogy and Collapse. Can't wait to dig into them while enjoying the view of the meditteranean..... I also got myself a teach yourself how to read arabic book!!! Lets see if this works this time!

Street bread vendor in Cairo

2. Feeling the Egyptian Spirit of Ramadan

When I was in Egypt last, about 3 weeks ago, Ramadan had just started so it was pretty hard to feel the spirit of Ramadan, as everyone spent the iftar and socialising at home with their family. However now that the Ramadan novelty wore out more people break their fast out of their homes and go out..... and most importantly shop for Eid.

This time I got to have iftar with a couple of friends almost all the week I was in Egypt. I love seeing the people break their fast. The anticipation of sunset and the prayer call, the little prayer they say, having their first sip of water of the day, and finally digging into their plates upon plates of food!!!

This is also the first time I've spend Ramadan in Cairo..... and Ramadan in Cairo is awsome!!!! Apart from the mega crowded streets every day there is something happening, some celebration, some music concert, poetry reciting anywhere, everywhere in Cairo.

One of the nights Kotteiba and I decided to go see a concert in some piazza next to Khan el Khalili, the singer was awsome, the crowed was diverse, foreigners, upper class egyptians, as well as sayyidis, and bedowins!!!! The concert was open air, where you could either sit on chairs readily arranged or sit in the cafe's around the place and enjoy sheesha and juice while listening to the charismatic band playing amazing music!!!

Kotteiba and me

A night in Fishawi and Khan is also not to be missed on a Ramadan night, and thus ticked another item off the list!

We also got to go to a street festival in Korba (Heliopolis), apart from the annoying fact that it was mega crowded, with people agressively pushing their way through, the evening was pleasent, we watched an Egyptian popular little children's puppet show, and listenend to some popular Egyptian Jazz.....


3. Eating Egyptian

The last time I was in Egypt, my stomach didn't really allow me to eat anything exotic, so I stuck to the traditional plate of pasta and hamburger. This time my stomach allowed me to dig into some good tehina, hommos, grilled chicken etc...... So when one of my friends asked me what would I like for iftar I immediately said i wanted a feast of real Egyptian street food - the guy was thrilled and set out preparing a feast for us!!!!

Hence we headed off to a friends house and dug into a feast of kebab, grilled chicken and kofta!!! It was heaven!!! We ate so much we almost blew up!!!!! I was actually happy to finally eat chicken that had meat on it!! (Ethiopian chickens are tiny!!!)

We then ended the Egyptian meal with sheesha in an Egyptian Ahwa!!! So we headed to Limousine, which according to the people working there I was the first girl to ever set foot in there!! Limousine is a real Egyptian man's place, its actually in a little alley with loads of tables and men smoking their sheesha, drinking their mint tea, and playing taboula.

So when I walked in we quietly sat in a corner at the far end so as not to attract to much attention with my presence and proceeded with ordering my usual sheesha tuffieh and strawberry juice.... when all of a sudden I saw my Sheesha man!!!! and guess what the guy actually remembered me!!!

He came up to our table enthusiastic 'Mademoiselle Sara Izejjek!!!' (Its a bit hard for egyptians to pronounce Thea or understand Thea as its not at all common, so I always say my name is Sara, cause anyway whenever I say Thea they somehow seem to understand Sara!!)

Rageb is my second Egypt man....he comes 2nd runner up after 'my man' in Alex (who also remembered me!!!)...

Rageb, the one and only Sheesha man

I was thrilled that my cairo sheesha man actually remembered me!!!!! I took him a picture and promised to find him a wife somehow..... so if anyone is interested in having good sheesha all their life, drop me a line!!

4. Catching up

Finally I also got to catch up with some Egyptian Aiesecers. It was cool seeing everyone again, the they a little NLDS reunion which i turned up to, though I didn't know most of the people present there were some which i knew well and whose company I enjoyed.

I also found 2 people who had actually lived in Libya for a while and made them tell me all about it!!!!

The night ended in a felucca ride on the Nile..... luckily Mai also brought her guitar so we were singing songs....... I love listening to the guitar, and the combination of floating adrift the Nile, the sound the guitar and the Egyptians merrily singing the popular Egyptian songs (as well as English) was a dream.

I have now spent the last two days packing and figuring out what to leave in Egypt and what to take with me, packing and unpacking, jumping on the suitcase until everything goes in!!!
I'm pretty excited to go to Libya, I don't know what to expect, although I've been told it's terribly boring, I've read that Libya also has its fair share of exploring to be done.

I'm also looking forward to go to Malta. Next week we have the Eid holidays, so I took the
opportunity of going home for 3 days......

Final Exploration

The final part of my trip consisted of a 20mins flight to the 'Camelot of Africa' and the discovery of the Siemen Mountains.....

Until the 16th century, the Emperors of Ethiopia usually had no fixed capital, instead living in tents as they moved around their realms while their family, bodyguard and retinue devoured surplus crops and cut down nearby trees for firewood. Until Emperor Fasiliadas in 1636 built his first castle there, and the 6 emperors after him followed.... thus making Gondar the old imperial capital of Ethiopia.

I thus headed off to Gondar to see the marvels of these still standing castles (though some were ruined by the English). I landed in a castle looking airport and was welcomed by some Ethiopians hoping to convince me to take a tour with them........ I agreed to hop into the car with one of them and drive me to my hotel, while listening to his reasons why he should give me a tour of Gondar.

I don't know whether I was too tired to walk around, or cause he was charming and I wouldn't have minded the company, or cause the price was extremely good..... but I accepted the offer of seeing the Gondar sights for the all inclusive price of 100Birr..

The guy was very nice.... he took me round the castles and explained the history in details, although in the middle of the city, while in the Royal Enclosure, you can actually close your eyes and imagine you were in that time surrounded by greenery and mountains you can barely see or hear anything of the city.

After that we headed off to Fasiliada's bath, which is a massive hole in the ground where apparently some say the Emperor used to have his baths, while others says Fasiliada constructed it so as to make a big baptism and convert all the people from Judaism to Christianity. This bath is apparently still used on one of the Ethiopian feast days. Its filled with water and blessed and all Ethiopians who attend get baptised, some for the first time, some again.

Then we headed off to Debre Berhan Church which is actually built in the shape of Noah's Arc, and which was believed to be built to host the Arc of the Covenant which is believed to be kept somewhere in Axum. The thing i liked most about this church is the ceiling painting of cherubs...... which is actually the nicest ceiling church painting i had ever seen!!!

This is where my guide turned out to be quite useless, after having driven me around, flirted a bit and did his best at the Royal Enclosure, he probably got over confident and asked if i was interested in chewing chat with him. When I refused the offer, he accepted, though didn't give up, about 15mins after he asked me if i was interested in watching a movie at his place........ which I also refused....... though he did not give up and finally invited me for wine at the hotel terrace after the tour, which I somehow also refused.

I think the guy could not deal with so many rejections in the span of a hour and sulked!!! He took me to the church cause i guess he had to then slouched on bench and refused to answer my questions...... which infuriated me, and once again my impatient temper came out...... I stormed out of the church gave him the money I owed him and walked back to the hotel!!! The guy didn't seem to be the type to give up very easily as the next day, after my trip to the Siemen he came knocking on my door asking me if i want to go for drinks with him on the hotel terrace!!!!!! - what a face!!!! He once again left empty handed!!!

The trip to the Siemen was great!! I had been wanting to go but thought it would be too expensive and boring to go on my own, but luckily for me I coincidentally met a French woman working for the UN in Burundi and on holiday in Ethiopia who invited me to go along with her. I immediately accepted the offer, and we headed for a day trip to the Siemen. The highlight of the trek on these mountains were the Gelada Baboons which are now becoming Endemic and can only be found on the Siemen mountains in Ethiopia and Eritrea.

The Gelada Baboons can be distinguished from baboons by the bright patch of skin on their chests. The patch is hourglass shaped, and on males, it is bright red and surrounded by white hair. On females, the patch is far less pronounced. However, when in heat, the female's patch will brighten, and a "necklace" of fluid-filled blisters forms on the patch. This is thought to be similar to the swelling on the buttocks during oestrus that is common to all baboons.

The trip ended in a little ethiopian picnic enjoying the panoramic view of the mountains.

On the way back we then managed to convice our driver to go on a detour and take us to the Felasha village, also known as Beta Israel (House of Israel). The word Felasha means 'exiles' or 'strangers' and are the Jews of Ethiopian origin. After the rise of Christianity in Ethiopia in the fourth century, the Jews who refused to convert were persecuted and withdrew to the mountainous Gondar region where they made their homes for more than 2000 years. Those who didn't manage to go to Israel with the Operation Moses in 1985, and later the Operation Solomon now live in this little village still practicing Judaism and working on pottery as a living......

My trip finally ended with a 2hr flight back to Addis, a good meal at Castelli's with Sjoerd and Jens, a nice dinner with friends on Friday night followed by a couple of hours in Memo, and finally a 3hr flight back to Cairo.

My Ethiopia experience was great, I learnt a lot, both about a country, job as well as about myself...... I can't wait to go back to Ethiopia in a couple of years.......

Tis Abay and a burning Hotel...

Tis Abay, literally translated as 'Smoke of the Nile' is wildly known as the Blue Nile Falls, and as previously mentioned is promoted as one of the not to be missed highlights of Bahir Dar.

Having lived in the country of the Nile for 11months, cruised down the Nile, sailed on the Nile while watching the splendors of sunset over Cairo, seen the Nile empty itself into the Mediterranean in Rosetta, and yesterday seen its source, I was pretty excited to see what other splendors this fascinating river full of history and culture has to offer.

On Sunday... I woke up early, had a nice macchiato with the manager, booked my trip to Tis Abay for that afternoon and headed off to explore the streets of Bahir Dar.

I tried heading off to the Wyeto Village where they make the tankwa boats (boats made out of papyrus), but as it was a Sunday, nobody was at work or at school and I thus got terribly harassed.

On the way to the little village...

I decided to walk by the lake and enjoy the scenery, but there were loads of people swimming and having a bath in the lake. I got followed, teased, stared at and what not. I decided not to give up and turned on to the main road, maybe that might be a little bit better, but it turned out not to..... people on their bicycles stopping and following me, cars hooting as they passed by and passing comments in a language I didn't understand..... It didn't turn out to be too pleasant and so I gave up on the village and headed back to the safety of the hotel.

Bahir Dar is quite well known for the pestering of tourists, its also well known for children throwing stones at tourists, but thank God this didn't happen to me.

After a nice lunch of Injera and Shiro and a beer with some other people I met in the hotel, a group of English, a German Couple, a Spanish Couple, a Norwegian and me headed off to the famous Blue Nile Falls. We drove for about an hour, which passed quickly due to the amazing scenery on the way.... the road was not in the best condition so it also turned out to be quite a bumpy ride which made it impossible for anyone to sleep.....

Walking up to the Blue Nile Falls

When we finally got there, we walked up and down the hills until we finally go to the famous falls. One must know that a couple of years ago, the Ethiopians built a hydraulic dam next to the falls, and thus this decreases the amount of water the falls emits. Nevertheless it was a Sunday and dam was open, but the falls were still quite a disappointment. Not so much water and it seems as though the pictures in books and posters are not from the same falls. Nevertheless the view was still beautiful, and apart from the pestering of the little children and people trying to sell you stuff and asking you for money, the walk up to the sight is also one not to be missed.

The infamous Blue Nile Falls

You pass by little villages, children playing a little flute like instrument and women weaving beautifully colored scarfs.... well I call them scarfs, but they are actually used by the women as belts, and I could actually use them for anything I deem fit!!!

Monday was a totally relaxing day..... I somehow didn't manage to sleep as long as I would have liked to..... and having seen all I needed to see in Bahir Dar I decided that I would take it easy..... and take a nice stroll in the city..... go to the Market again ( and bargain my way through some of those beautifully colour scarfs with my little Amharic knowledge)..... and last but not least try a final attempt at seeing Hippos.

So once again I pulled on my walking boots and headed off to the Nile Bridge, where it is said that Hippos lie........

I walked and walked (for about an hour), got stared at again, got followed (not as much as the day before though as most of the people where at school and work) and got insulted.

Woman weaving the cotton for the scarves

A teenage boy followed me while I looked for the Debre Maryam Monastery ( which is not on the main road and pretty much in the middle of nowhere) when I nicely told me to go away and leave me alone, he insisted that he wanted to be with me and take me to the church. I once again (trying to be as polite as possible) told me that I'm on holiday and I want to be left alone and enjoy the peaceful scenery..... he then very calmly and nicely told me 'Miss I think you have a problem..... you have an anger management problem.... and I will help you solve it'...... this is where I flipped and probably proved him right about the anger management problem!!!

Anyway, I somehow got to the bridge, but alas no Hippos, so pretty disappointed I headed off for a nice cold papaya juice (my new craze since I've discovered the papaya fruit here in Ethiopia) by the lake and dug into my nice book for the rest of the afternoon.....

view from my hotel... breathtaking

The rest of the day was pretty chilled out, until our hotel decided to catch fire. All of a sudden a man comes running up to me:

Agitated Man ' Miss miss, is your room over there'
Thea calmly ' No it back there by the lake, why?'
Man became calm and sat 'Ah ok, cause the hotel is on fire'

This is where I jumped off my seat and ran to the sight of the kitchen catching fire, fire coming out from the chimney and fireman agitatedly trying to put it out by putting the water hose down the chimney.... although it was pretty serious it was quite a funny sight!!!!

my hotel on fire!!!

Once again I enjoyed a nice dinner with a retired Australian geography teacher who's hobby is walking in Europe and who has been practically all over the world, and a Norwegian Dentist who has also been traveling quite a lot all over the world. Both are also traveling around Ethiopia alone.

Once again we chatted about life, about countries we have been to, and after talking to them I actually realized that I haven't seen anything at all in this world!!! There is still sooooooooooo much to do and see.... they also gave me hints and tips about Pakistan, Nepal and India, which hopefully would be my next travel destinations within the next year or two.

Exploring Ethiopia

I have finally come back from 6 days of exquisite relaxation, and exploration of some of the most beautiful places in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is a jewel surrounded by stone..... people still have to realize the splendor this country contains, not only in the people and their way of life, but also in the architecture and history...... being an avid history fan, I believe I was in heaven.

Having finished work in Ethiopia last Friday I took a week off to see some of the oldest and most beautiful wonders of the world before I head off to my new assignment in Libya......

As these 6 days were jam packed with adventure and loads of things to write about, I am taking this bit by bit and posting a little bit at a time....

My journey began with a one hour flight to Bahir Dar.... The adventure actually started from Addis, I somehow went for the wrong flight. There were two flights for Bahir Dar that morning, one at 7 and one at 9, I somehow thought I was on the 7am one, which I figured as soon as I got to the airport that I wasn't, so a bit of naive ness, and a big smile, and the check in man let me jump on to the 7am flight..... ahhh its Africa.... everyone is flexible!!!

There I headed off to a hotel where a very friendly manager greeted me, offered me a most welcome macchiato, gave me a 35Birr discount on my room and explained to me the beauties of Bahir Dar.

Bahir Dar is the capital of Amharaland, and is a pretty picturesque village on a flat landscape. The roads are adorned with palm trees and greenery and the main transportation are bicycles.... somewhat like the Holland of Ethiopia.....

The most beautiful thing about traveling alone is not only the flexibility of doing what I want but also the fact that you are more open to meeting new and interesting people.... I thus made my first acquaintance of the day....... and a Spanish man, his Cuban wife and me headed off to the much talked about Bahir Dar market.

Luckily it was a Saturday, the day people from all over the nearby villages head off to the Market, and we thus got to see a market hustling and bustling with villagers, farmers, children, women all buying goats, and cows and donkey, spices, fruit and vegetable, cooking items and cloth.

Being the only white people in the market we seemed to get a lot of attention, with the usual shout of Faranji, Faranji, the frequent offer of help and excitement of having cameras pointed in every direction.

We then headed back to the hotel to get ready for our next adventure...... the boat trip around lake Tana.

The highlights of Bahir Dar revolve pretty much around the Blue Nile and Lake Tana.

Lake Tana is the biggest crater lake in Ethiopia and harbors 37 islands, 20 of which have old monasteries dating back to the late 16th or 17th century.

Unfortunately for me, most of the monasteries, some of which the best ones, cannot be entered by women, we thus decided to stick to the half day trip around the island and visit the most essential ones.

After having seen the spectacular churches in Lalibella, these monasteries didn't seem anything special for me. Though the ride on the lake the walks on the islands, the people on the islands and the scenery were more of a highlight for me.

The Spanish couple turned out to be very interesting. The man was about 50yrs or older and the wife couldn't have been much older than 35 or 38. They were very nice and had practically seen all the world. I got hints and tips of countries to visit and what to see, what to be careful for and what not.......as well as an invitation to Valencia in Spain..... after hearing that I'll be in Libya for the next 4 months, they pretty much considered that as their next destination in February.

The boat trip ended with a little cruise around the source of the Nile, which James Bruce discovered in 1770. Crocodiles and Hippos are said to be spotted there, but unfortunately I did not get to see any. The only thing I got to see where naked men, women and children having their evening bath and splashing around........

A tankwa boat, little fishing boats on lake Tana made out of papyrus (this one was actually sinking... I don't know if he made it to shore!!)

The evening ended with a pleasant dinner by the lake and a beer with the hotel manager. The hotel manager seemed to be my morning and evening buddy..... he was my morning companion when I woke up and got my daily macchiato by the lake, and my evening one when I returned dying for a cold beer by the lake..... I guess this was a sign of gratitude for teaching him how to use Excel and helping him to arrange the hotel's accounts with Excel thus using up a couple of my holiday hours!

There are 3 of us in Ethiopia....

According to my German Housemate Jens..... there are three of us in Ethiopia....

The Chocolate....

The German NGO....

And ME!!!!


Thought its funny.... everywhere I go people call me Malteser..... in other countries i was associated with the chocolate.... here people ask me if i am associated with the street sign........

Another Lonely Planet

Another Lonely Planet stored on the shelf and another one off the shelf and into the suitcase.....

In three years I've acquired lonely planets for:

Belgium and Luxembourg - 2yrs in Belgium

Egypt - 11 months in Egypt

Ethiopia and Eritrea - 4 months in Ethiopia

and now......

........Next destination........

LIBYA!!!!

So now I'm working on; finishing my work in Ethiopia,....seeing all I can see, ....and figuring out how I'm going to store/send all the things I've accumulated.

Although I don't really know much about Libya....... just like I was for Ethiopia, I'm really excited to move on to a new country and continue doing the job I am doing now......

Libya is one of those countries people also have many prejudices about.....embargo.... UN Sanctions.... Ghaddafi - the dictator with a touch of humour.... terrorism...... and just like Ethiopia totally untouched by tourism (obviously for different reasons).

Libya, only a stone throw away from my home country Malta, has, just like Malta, been cursed by its geography putting it in the path of the invading empires of Europe and the Middle East..... Libya boasts of an old culture and history created by the Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines, Islam, Ottoman and finally the Italians.

Libya, which only recently relieved from its UN sanctions, hosts 5 UNESCO world heritages ranging from the ancient Roman and Greek ruins to the never ending charms of the Sahara.

Ahhh so loads of history and sites to see!!!! - Infact the first thing I did as soon as I cashed my salary in Egypt is bought a new modern digital camera...... my sony and I will be happily snapping away in Libya......

Malta and Libya have a history of strong economic ties. Malta helped Libya when she was in trouble, and kept on investing money into the country.

Building hotels, opening businesses, training people, and also owning Libya's only international bank.

When the UN forbade all international flights to Libya, the only way in or out of Libya was through the 50$, 14-hr boat ride to Malta.

When Malta entered the EU, the relationship was jeopardised due to the visa regulations. Malta and Libya soon got over the problem earlier this year by allowing Maltese nationals to get a visa to Libya upon request..... we don't get the usual one month single entry visa..... we get a 6month, multiple entry visa...... I'll so be going home at least once a month!!!

Malta also promotes itself as the stepping stone to doing business in Libya...

Can't wait to go..... I know that Libya will probably be more challenging than Ethiopia...... especially when Lonely Planet's introduction to Libya advises you to take as many books as you can as there isn't much to do!!!

The Libyan office is small, and the Maltese are well respected..... so I'm really looking forward to work there, fix the HR department, build competence and be creative...

ARGHHHH!!!

How??

How can a folder totally disappear from your outlook!!!!

Arghhhh its soooo annoying!!!

I think computers should, after the window 'Are you sure you want to delete this item' add another window for dumbasses like me saying 'Are you really really sure you want to delete this item?' and another one saying 'Are you sure, you're really really sure you want to delete this item?'

Somehow I have this habit of pressing YES on the first window... maybe if they created other windows I might realise that I should press NO!!!!

Somehow this only seems to happen to me with really important documents, such as my Thesis, that I've been working upon for month, a session outlines or powerpoints that I've created for Conference Sessions, or some instructions or directives that I've written for the company..... and now for the first time, a whole folder full really mails coming from the Company's management team...

ARRRGGGHHH!!!!!

All in SEVEN Days...

Having been summoned to an HR Meeting / Performance Management Training, I left serene and rainy Addis to a hot and chaotic Cairo..... and thus starting the first journey on my itinery for the month.....

It was great to be back in Cairo and do the things I used to do.....

Catch the train to Alex for a breathe of sea air (first thing i did as soon as i got there)
Late night chats with Kenny and Purvi
Gossip with Dina
Revisite my old work place in Alex
Shopping!!!!
Live with Kotteiba
Fear my life while riding the crazy cabs in Cairo
Walk along the Nile
Suffocate and sweat in the dense Cairo air
Catch the excitement of Ramadan
Get caught in the insanely dense traffic of Cairo
Drink fresh strawberry juice and lemon juice
Chill out with Tamer
Laugh with Luli
Smoke Sheesha in a cafe
Speak Arabic
Watch a Movie at the Cinema (No decent Cinemas in Ethiopia)
Get the usual annoying stares and disgusting comments
Get proposals for marriage
Sending SMSs... (SMSs are banned in Ethiopia)
Eat a felafel sandwich and a big packet of Cook D'or's amazing Friskies!!!
Drink Schwepps Lemon (my new craze!)

On top of that I also got to:

Crave Mohammed Ahmed and not eat it due to terrible stomach spasm attacks
Admire the new AIESEC office Makeover
Discuss corporate HR issues and action plans
Meet all my fellow HR team mates

and last but not least

feel the tingle of nostalgia while recalling past memories.....


The next month is going to be crazy and hectic..... I have two weeks in Ethiopia to finish all the work I have left and run the proper trainings for the managers..... and last but not least to visit Bahar Dar and the infamous Blue Nile Falls, and Gonder and its Majestic Castles.....

After that the Ethiopia book will close and a new book is about to open....... more about that in the next posting.....