Today's hike up to the volcanic crater rim of Gunung Sibayak was quite tame compared to yesterday's burner up Gunung Sinabung. Both are manageable day trips from Berastagi where I have based myself since flying from Malaysia to Indonesia last Saturday. I arrived in Medan, North Sumatra ~11:00 a.m. local time and immediately began plotting my departure from the furnace that is coastal Indonesia. I was offered a ride to a share taxi office for service to Berastagi but there was no space so I caught a moto-taxi to the bus staging area and was almost immediately on my way to the coolness of the Karo Highlands. I have actually been wearing long pants and a long sleeve shirt at night in stark contrast to Thailand and Malaysia where I hardly wore any shirt at all. ... read more

"Welcome to Egypt" is the common refrain frequently heard from genuine Egyptians but with the massive drop in tourist numbers since 2011's revolution (and the more recent second revolution as referred to by locals), traveling in Egypt, especially the south, has become a serious test of patience for foreigners who disregard the negative press and venture here. When I visited in 2009 there was only a very small hassle factor compared to the present but that is because people are desperate for business in areas that are heavily dependent on tourism. Aswan and Luxor were the prime examples of this. Traveling in the desert and Cairo involved much less exhaustion although crossing the street in Cairo is very unnerving and easily the most dangerous activity in all of Egypt. $US ≈ 6.1 Egyptian pounds (LE) when ... read more

Anakin Skywalker, the young Darth Vader, grew up in Ong Jemel, Tunisia. I did not know that many of the Star Wars sets (both series) were in Tunisia until I started researching what exactly I was going to do here for 2 weeks after I arrived from Sicily a couple of weeks ago. I am tentatively scheduled to fly to Israel tomorrow. In light of current events I will probably cancel it and spend another 2 weeks in Turkey. $US ≈ 1.5 Tunisian dinar (DT) Tunis Tunisia's capital and main port of entry. I arrived here on an overnight ferry from Palermo, Sicily which was quite civilized since I took a berth in a nice 4 person cabin instead of crashing in the lounge like many backpackers were doing. Accommodation and food Upon arrival I thought ... read more

What I've always referred to as Bosnia is technically called Bosna i Hercegovina although I never did figure out just where exactly Hercegovina is located. To make matters more confusing there are portions of BiH that consider themselves a separate territory called the Serb Republic making it easy to understand the derivation of the term "balkanized." $US ≈ 1.5 Bosnian convertible marks (KM) although I'm not entirely sure if they can be converted into any other currency outside of Bosnia which is why I burned my last stash on petrol before crossing back into Croatia. Sarajevo Very pleasant, easily managed city clearly still recovering from the war as evidenced by numerous restoration projects and buildings in major need of restoration. Still enjoyable. Accommodation and food I was very fortunate to reserve 2 nights at Hotel Telal ... read more