<< Have you been to these countries? I expected not. Perhaps in some parts of the tribal bush there is relitive peace, but there is no sense of humanitarian civility as you describe and safety is always questionable. Yes war generates culture, and war culture is nasty and violent, consider western soldiers finding trouble reintergrating into peaceful civilization. And you can keep your michael morre steriotypes of America and consider yourself dupe of obvious and intentional propaganda. In the past year I have lived in Yemen and have traveled to those regions, and can avow for the normalcy of these photos. Oh, and in yemen, the ratio of owned guns, is three automatic rifles to every man.
YORULMADIN MI DAHA?? Abi sen anlattikca ben yoruluyorum.Yillardir Izmir'den BFL ye arabayla nostaljik road trip olayina giremedim bile usengecligimden.Senin olay beni 100 bin kere asar.
RESPECT :)
Really good writing I was just looking for a place to camp outside Paris, but got stuk on your site. It sounds like you had a really nice trip, and I really enjoyed your way of personal and unpretentious writing.. Now I wish I had a bike here ;-).
To Quetta? I'd like to go to Quetta, but I"m a white American. How big of a problem is this? I speak some Arabic and will have been in the Third World (the Middle East--Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine) for four or five months before I go to Pakistan. So, what do you think?
somaliland is safe compared to puntland and mugdisho. Somaliland has a legitimate goverment. I wish you had the cohunas to go to a city called Galkayo.
President of The Transitional Goverment
the rat race And to whoever wrote Hello, and about the rat race, I dodnt think there's anytihng ot regreat, I was thinkign the same thing whben I read this story.... so much bullshit in the world, what do we really need? food, shelter sometimes, the bare necessities. Why sowe work hard to make our companys owner richer?? that dont acomplish anything. Sure it puts food on the table, but there are other ways.
Look for the bare necessities
The simple bare necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife
I mean the bare necessities
Old Mother Nature's recipes
That brings the bare necessities of life
Survival, so easy a caveman could do it Glad to hear you're still experiencing the world, I've ben following your story, havnt checked in on it in a while, Im gonna read the new posts, keep your eyes open for danger! always look before you leap
which tolerance? Turks like to believe that the Ottoman Empire was a tolerant state but if it was so, Hagia Sophia wouldn't be surrounded by four minarets! Neither most mosques would have been formerly churches! On the contrary, they would have remained as churches and continued to be used by the Christians, at least during the ottoman times.
Moreover if ottoman state was a tolerant one, today, there wouldn't exist so many Turkish people with European, Mediterranean characteristics, since Turks are an Ural-Altaic group of people, which is a Mongolic branch (and there's nothing bad about it). I refer to all these Turks who descend from local Christians, who were forced to convert to Islam with one or another way, during the long ottoman rule. Have you ever asked yourselves about it? And don't tell me that those Christians had converted to Islam because of inner spiritual search!
What is sure, is that nobody - and certainly not the invaders Turks- can accuse the Greeks of demolishing minarets. By the way, shall you know that we haven't demolish all minarets or mosques, there are still quite a lot of them in Greece, most of them used as museums or just standing with no making any use of them. On the contrary in Turkey, lots of them were used as places for animals or storehouses. In the occupied, by Turkey, area of Cyprus, a place that doesn’t belong to invader Turkey according to United Nations Resolutions, turkish army “allowed” churches to be used as dancing schools and monasteries as hotels (sic)! Greeks were attacked in their own land, been killed, been raped, everything in their country has been looted, they ‘ve been kicked out of their homes and had to endure less or more cruel conquerors for centuries. When Greeks finally gained their freedom and independence (and I HOPE THAT WE ALL AGREE THAT EVERY NATION HAS THE RIGHT TO BE INDEPENDENT AND THE RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION), they had every right to decrease the "souvenirs" of the foreign invaders, who had taken advantage of them for centuries, in order to make a fortune and a name for themselves! After all, Turks could have stayed in their own homeland, nobody asked them to come here and then we would have been the best of friends! But since they came, they should respect what they have found on this land and have no demands from the indigenous people! We can’t treat the perpetrator and the victim the same way!
There is something the Turks have to learn : nobody has to respect a bad, undemocratic state, a fascist one. The Greeks had no reason to respect the ottoman state and the violent invaders. Christians in the ottoman empire were treated as inferior people, they paid much heavier taxes than the Muslims, they weren’t allowed to carry guns, they were sold as slaves and women were taken to muslims’ harems. The famous “privileges” given by Mohamed the Conqueror were given just because the Sultans and the whole empire needed people to work and muslim invaders a nomad warrior tribe- didn’t know how to do it, and if all Christians had converted to Islam immediately, everything would have been paralysed!Even if Mohamed the Conqueror had the best of intentions, Muslim administration all over the empire didn’t share the same opinion about the Christians and their behaviour couldn’t be checked easily from the Sultan! Only in the last century, after serious military defeats of the ottoman army and economical decrease, non-Muslims were given more freedom, since the Sultans needed someone to save the empire!
So Greeks, owed to revolt against an undemocratic and deeply racist state as the ottoman one, for the sake of everybody!
Thanks for Sharing the Great Photos I appreciate your sharing these great photos. The more we can share other places the more we can understand our world.
Glad to see that you're still traveling I really enjoyed your Africa posts awhile back and I'm glad to find myself catching up with your other travels. I'm planning on fastpacking the Camino in Sept/Oct, so I was glad to see that you had that part covered as well. Best of luck and happy travels.
Good to hear your news again. I am glad Cambodia has given you some solace from the grief of India and disappointments of Thailand. Just wanted to let you know that we too don't know what to tell people about our travels, it's been three years now and for us too the big 30 is this year.
Anyway I started reading your blogs when we were planning our great escape and finally our paths are getting closer together; we are in Vietnam just now. For us too Laos was a disappointment and India just plain tough. Vietnam despite all expectaions has been cool with great people, but we have stayed in the central highlands and away form the touristy beaches. Anyway will head to Cambodia, perhaps you'll see us cycling
Erika
still alive galaktikler arasi dunya haritasi uzeri yakin takibinde oldugumuz bedreddin nin yasamindan aile boyu endise ediyoruz ' beyaz adamlar tarafindan mi kacirildigini yoksa man-eater kaplanlarla mi yasamaya karar verip vermedigini kestiremiyoruz' haritaya rehatla dululu diye bakmanin da bir faidesini goremedik hezeyanla abdeyt lerini bekliyoruz.
Hi! How r u and where? Im Sonja (and Zdenek from Czech Rep.), we met in Pak. KKM-Pasu. We r in India still travelling around recently south. Its amazing time traveler has isnt it? I can see here that u have seen big peace of Middle East. It was my dream do it same way as u but it seems Im not such tough. I was curious how Pakistan has been after death of Benazir. U can write me so we can chat a little. Greetings!
Hello You dont seem to be enclined to "get back in the rat race" yet.
I am faced with a dilemma... To leave everything, and be happy in poverty and freedom... or to grasp the opportunities of getting rich and "making it"... and risking to loose my true self.
Everybody seems to be eager to employ me with attractive terms. I wonder if it's because they sense that I want to run away. usually when they sense that people subconsciously try to retain you by every possible mean... They cant really explain it... it's how society goes, They dont like the nail that sticks out. Or they want what they cant have easily... either of the two.
Enjoy your freedom!
INDIAN BORN INHARGEISA THANKS FOR THIS GREAT ARTICLE. I WAS BORN IN HARGEISA, BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR AND IT WAS ONE OF THE BEST PLACES TO LIVE IN AFRICA. THE ISAAQS (SEPERATIST TRIBE OF SOMALILAND)NEED TO SHOW THAT THEY CAN REBUILD THE PROVINCE AND BRING BACK LAW AND ORDER BEFORE ARGUING FOR INDEPENDENCE. RESPECT FOR THE OTHER WAS A SOMALI TRAIT THAT IS NOW LOST AND REPLACED BY INTOLERANCE.
Why just little boys? why take only pictures of little boys from the villages? Why show off you paid food to someone, maybe you could chosen a nice hotel so you're not bothered by beggars.
Man you are without hope! No matter how hard you try you won't sound European. Most Europeans of today who go to these places you went are more educated than you and they research the places they're visiting. Moreover, they don't show racism implicitly and explicitly as you are doing. I wonder why you don't tell us about how Turks had harems full of little boys...btw was that part of a tribal thing or a ritual Turks brought from the steppes of central Asian. Oh maybe that's outdated just like the female circoncision you are telling here. Why don't you tell us about the civilizing influence of China in East Turkemistan. No, no you can't because you had to play to Levingstone forgetting this is the 21century.
By the way, Berbera hasn't been Ottoman. You are confusing with Zeila. You also need lessons in History, not to brag about an hypothetic Turkish influence. If the Ottomans went to conquer other countries, it is because they had the Muslim califat and an agenda to fulfill. Mr ozgur, you should avoid looking down on people and depicting people with a negative brush and then you get some credibility.
On your travel blog on Djibouti, how come there is none of the hallmark of Djibouti's geography. This is not a country to visit to comment on the shorts of French men or on the mask women wear on their face. It is a country full of contrats, of extreme geography and sublime landscapes. I didn't see any of that. If you keep your blog like it is, I am going to look for ways to complain about you to whoever is hosting you here on Travelblog. Hey, I forgot to say I am sorry about the comments people made about your hair, they didn't know you would be nasty on Travelblog after that. Next time, try not to go to too conservative countries.
of course these the only pictures you could show From your pictures on Djibouti, Erithrea and Somaliland, I already know the impression you want to give. I wonder why some people travel to far away countries if they only want to shock and show negative things. If I were you, I would stay in my home country in my nice and cozy home and wouldn't even waste my time on these obscure and dangerous places.
I am sure we all worry about the unknow, but it is a shame you didn't know (researched) you were much safer than in any big American city. The reason is people in these countries you went to don't have a culture of guns a culture of shoot before you're shot they are not obsessed with their security and protect their gardens with a riffle. If you sincerely found these place unsafe, I advice you to go back on your steps and fly back to wherever you are from. The Horn of Africa is unsafe where there is a war because otherwise people are culturally peaceful and they don't kill to steal even when they are extremely poor.
contessa Canim,
what an honour to be mentioned in your fabulous blog :).
I did not know it was THAT disgusting to swallow - sorry...
Keep your smurf hat out of trouble!
My trip began (July 19, 2004) as a 14-month leave of absence from my job, with the intention of "seeing the world", and a bunch of unrealistic ideas of what can be accomplished in a year. Turns out a year isn't as long as it seems, so I've recently quit my job (yeay!) to become a full-time traveler. Until, that is, I run out of money or decide I'm ready to rejoin the ratrace.
In the meantime, I'm trying to blog at least once a month from the countries I'm visiting. I'm not interested in Western Europe, so don't expect pictures of Venice here. My blogs are basically my impressions of pla... full info
Joe
non-member comment
<<
Have you been to these countries? I expected not. Perhaps in some parts of the tribal bush there is relitive peace, but there is no sense of humanitarian civility as you describe and safety is always questionable. Yes war generates culture, and war culture is nasty and violent, consider western soldiers finding trouble reintergrating into peaceful civilization. And you can keep your michael morre steriotypes of America and consider yourself dupe of obvious and intentional propaganda. In the past year I have lived in Yemen and have traveled to those regions, and can avow for the normalcy of these photos. Oh, and in yemen, the ratio of owned guns, is three automatic rifles to every man.