Impressive Monastir, the 3 girls and Mahdia !!!

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Woke up at 715am and did the 3s's and went to the bus stop at 8 and met Bilal. We took the bus which cost 410millis and took the train to Monastir. Monastir is a brilliant place. The Ribat is gorgeous and the beach is stunning too. When you climb the rocky area which is connected to land by a little bridge you could see clearly through the turquoise blue water. One couple asked me if I could take a picture of them. They spoke to me in English and I was quite surprised because generally everyone mistakes me for a Tunisian and I thought they were Tunisian too. When we spoke I learnt that they were a Pakistani couple from London living near to where I live and working near the Heathrow airport. What a coincidence. They were scared to give their camera to a Tunisian to take pictures because the day before someone they knew had lost their camera or MP3 player I can’t remember, where this Tunisian guy had taken it and run away.

Bilal and I thereafter went to the former presidents mausoleum and there we met these 3 Tunisian girls. We asked them to take a picture of me and Bilal. One of them spoke a little bit of English. After taking the picture Bilal and I continued walking, the 3 girls walked a bit and stopped and was chatting to themselves and regularly looking at us. We decided to go talk to them and asked them if they wanted to go and have a coffee.

We found out that they were 2 sisters and a cousin. It was strange to see one sister wearing a head scarf while the other one a tight pair of jeans and no head scarf. While having coffee, I noticed the younger sister with the tight pair of jeans looking at me many times and perhaps was looking at Bilal too. Pity she didn't speak any English. Bilal wanted to get a cigarette and he said he is going to get a cigarette but didn't want to go alone and he asked the girl in jeans to come with him. Later after we finished coffee and went our way Bilal told me he got the younger sisters number when he went to get the cigarette. Clearly she didn't want to give it in front of her elder sister.

Bilal went back to Sousse while I continued to Mahdia. A return ticket to Mahdia cost 3dinar 600milli and the train was at 1425. While going to Mahdia the driver forgot to stop at a station and he had to reverse which was quite funny. The train got to Mahdia around 1540.

Mahdia isn't anything much or I have completely missed something and I’m little surprised as to it being a highlight in the guidebook. Along the coastline you can see the Fatmid fortifications and I pretty much walked right along the peninsula. The Fatmid port is quite pretty with colourful boats parked in it.

At the time I got there around 345pm the Museum was shut. Hence couldn't go up the Skifa el-Kahla to get the supposed best views of the medina.

At about 445pm standing by the fort I watched the sunset and it was quite impressive.

The train back to Monastir was at 630pm and I got to Monastir around 745pm. I met a couch surfer Wassim and his friend Thalal in Monastir. They picked me up from the train station and we drove all over Monastir. Later we stopped at a really beautiful cafe/restaurant a pretty posh place had coffee. Thereafter we went to have dinner at another place, one of Thalal’s most frequented places where he gets a special price as he has been going there like 3 times a week for almost 3 years. Wassim and Thalal have both sat for their final medical exams and are waiting for their results to become qualified doctors.

Wassim dropped me at the louage place to go back to Sousse. While in the louage this guy started chatting to me and asked me to have coffee with him when we reached the louage station in Sousse. When I got to Sousse I said its quite late and I got in to louage to go back to Houssem’s place. The louage had only 3 people and they charged me 3 dinars and it left. I realised that they charged me for like 5 people because a louage won’t leave unless it’s full, so they charged me for the empty seats essentially. I was too tired to argue and I just waited.

Got back to Houssem’s area and I got lost trying to find his house. He was kind enough to come and find me.

After getting home and while chatting to Houssem, 5 minutes after midnight I realized it was Nuwan’s birthday and I had forgotten to wish him. Fortunately in San Francisco it is still the 24th and I quickly called him. Cannot forget a ritual I have been doing for the past 26 years.

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