Blogs from Middle East - page 1075

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Middle East » Turkey March 29th 2007

Hello! My Name İs! What's your job? Dette er det som typisk kan møte to norske syklister når de kommer inn i en medium stor tyrkisk landsby (by etter norsk standard). Etter noen uker på hjulet har vi, som de arrogante kulturimperialistene og amatørsosıalantropologene vi er, så smått begynt å gjøre oss opp noen tanker om den engelske læreplanen i tyrkiske skoler. 1) Læreboka som brukes er den samme i store deler av landet, og den har vært den samme i endel år nå. Dette underbygges med at vi møter på omtrent de samme frasene (og lik forståelse av disse) hos folk i alle aldre fra 7-8 år og opp til minst 30. 2) Navn er viktige i tyrkisk kultur. Bare det å faktisk HA et navn er såpass viktig i seg selv at den ... read more

Middle East » Israel » Tel Aviv District » Tel Aviv March 28th 2007

All of my friends who had been there before were jealous, and they knew what a pleasure it is to visit Israel. And when the passangers started clapping when the airplane landed I understood what they were talking about - welcome to beautiful Isreal. The airport was Clean and bright, the nice immigration lady asked me if I wanted my passport stamped (no thanks) and the smell of orange trees greeted me as I stepped outside. It was a bit disconcerting that the taxi driver had no idea where my hotel was, but a quick call to his buddy for directions solved the problem. Israel is an interesting fusion of old and new, east and west. This is apparent in most things such as the architecture and the food. Food. Always one of my favorite ... read more
On the streets of Acre
On the streets of Acre
Lebanese Border

Middle East » Turkey » Marmara » Istanbul March 28th 2007

28. mars Etter at vi forlot Safranbolu har vi holdt et (etter forholdene) høyt tempo for å ta igjen noe av tiden som tarmtottene tok i innlandet. Vi hopper raskt bukk over trivialiter om små, halvinteressante kystbyer, men kan nevne at vi trolig har blitt omtalt i en veldig lokal avis i Kilimli, etter et hektisk og forvirret intervju som foregikk på tyrkisk med en tilfeldig forbipasserende som tolk. Videre ble vi stoppet av militærpoliti med saftblanderen i full snurr vest for Eregli. Heldigvis ville de bare prate om været (på fransk, som ikke er vårt mest flytende målføre). Et par hunder kjedet seg også i den grad at de kom farende etter oss, og gjorde ganske kvalifiserte forsøk på å bite seg fast i Svines bakveske. Vi har etterhvert funnet ut at toppfarten på ... read more
Asia sıer hadet til oss

Middle East » Turkey » Marmara » Istanbul March 28th 2007

At the Turkish border we needed to get visas and mine costs 20 dibdobs, then customs took forever while the ofiicer is on his lunch break! Having to drive in the mad Istanbul traffic at rush hour somehow we finally made it to our hostel after getting lost for a bit. It was a very good location the two famous mosques are just in sight it was also good timing when we arrive and unloading our packs the call for prayer started and it was an amazing feeling as if welcoming us to Istanbul a mix of East and West. We had dinner that night at a place that has people smokıng the hookah a contraption that is common in Middle East the air smells of apple scent rather than tobacco but so far i ... read more
INTESTINE SANDWICHES
HAGIA SOFIA
HAGIA SOFIA

Middle East » Turkey » Black Sea » Trabzon March 27th 2007

Tuesday March 15. As I had planned I took the bus to Gerade to miss out the heavy traffic. It was a good decision as the traffic is scary along this stretch. The memory of Dave Cook underlines that choice. I set off cycling at 1 pm and made good progress as I climbed higher into the mountains. It got very cold and started to snow. The snow was driven by a strong wind and visibility was reduced. Lorries were seeing me too late but the main problem was the cold and the possibility of hyperthermia. I was seriously cold. I stopped at a petrol station which had a wonderful hot stove. After one and a half hours I felt better but the snow was still falling so I flagged down a bus and they ... read more
Store oposite the hotel

Middle East » Turkey » Black Sea » Trabzon March 27th 2007

Saturday March 17. I left Merzifon at 8 am. The road is flat at first but then become hilly. Some of the hills are very long. I pushed my bike for at least two hours up these hills. I stopped along the way for tea and bananas. I do enjoy their tea houses. Eventually I reached the top and it was a dramatic downhill to Samsun and sunshine! I booked into a good hotel, Otel Fuar. I had dinner at a fish restaurant and watched Bolton lose to Man United. They know much more about the Premiership than I do. Sunday March 18. It has been the best day since leaving Vienna. The sun shone, almost the first for 3 weeks, it was mild, the road is flat and in excellent condition. My decision to ... read more
School children in uniform.

Middle East » Turkey » Marmara » Istanbul March 27th 2007

March 10 - March 14 I had 5 days in Istanbul cleaning the bike, doing the blog and generally catching up with washing clothes etc. I spent one day visiting the sights and taking pictures. It is 45 years since I was last in Istanbul and the city has changed enormously. I visited Santa Sophia and speculated if it could have been different if 1453 had not happened. North Africa, much of the Middle East, Anatolia and Southern Europe went into a cul-de-sac for 400 years. In the five areas: social, cultural, political, technological and economic history stood still for these countries. Would it have been different had Byzantium survived? I don’t think so but Ottoman rule contributed to the long malaise, its frequent use of terrible violence deeply scarred the nations it ruled. ... read more
The Blue Mosque

Middle East » Turkey » Black Sea » Trabzon March 27th 2007

Monday March 19. I left Ordu at 7.45 am. As part of the upgrading of the roads they have put in new tunnels and have not yet put in any lighting. It was very nearly my undoing. I checked that there was no traffic and set off furiously to get to the other end. It became absolutely dark and my front light was useless. I was following the white line in the middle of the tunnel with my front light. I heard truck approaching at speed so I went for the side but couldn’t see a thing. I hit a concrete retaining wall, went over and into a culvert in the pitch darkness. I landed across another wall on my right side .At first I thought that I had broken ribs. It took some time ... read more
Hotel in Samtredia
Bedroom in the hotel

Middle East » Israel » Center District » Ra'anana March 27th 2007

OK so this is going to be a short blog, but I wanted to share this story with you. So we get food paid for us at work during the night shift. Depending on how many people are working depends on the food we get. Tonight in particular we had 11 people working which meant to only be able to spend 100NIS we had to come up with a cost effective way. Hence the idea to go to the supermarket and get cold cuts, cheese, salads, and bread. We even threw in some barukahs (potato filled pastries...not periogies but actual pastries). Delicious, right? Well............................................ This is apparently the busiest supermarket EVER in Israel, and it doesn't help that Pesach is almost here and that means that people are cooking for their whole family and their ... read more
Cart Hell
Exactly.

Middle East » Turkey March 27th 2007

Herved er det bevist: Kuene i Tyrkia er ikke som andre kuer. Som det store flertallet av tyrkere, er nemlig også de tyrkiske kuene muslimer. Beviset for dette har vi sett flere ganger, blant annet utenfor denne mø-skeen utenfor Tarasu. Kvine har sin egen teori om at bønneropene som runger fra minaretene 4-5 ganger daglig, i virkeligheten er avansert kulokk. İngen nyere forskning ser imidlertid ut til å støtte denne teorien...... read more
Bovine gressklippere




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