Jammin thru the Global South

Namaste | Vanakam | Bienvenido | Bemvendo | Bienvenue | Salaam | Karibu

2012-12-15T15:35:00.001+03:00

Welcome. If this is your first time visit, you may wish to start at the beginning here. Progress through by clicking on 'Next' at the bottom of each post.

Find more content thru the menu bar above.

Tutorial: How to Add a Watermark on a Photo using Adobe Photoshop

2012-02-12T10:31:00.000+03:00

12 February 2012

Since a couple of friends have asked how I add watermarks to my photos, I thought I'd share this tutorial.

A watermark is a layer of text or symbol digitally stamped on an online photo, like a signature.

I'm using Adobe Photoshop 6.0 in this tutorial. I know it's ancient by today's standards, but hey, it does what I need and much more. So, why upgrade? This is also a very manual process as I want control over where the watermark is placed on each photo. Automatic batch software places the watermark in the same location, sometimes affecting the visual content of the photo.

Step 1: Select Show Layers under the Window tab

Step 2: File > New. Set Width and Height to 400 pixels and 50 pixels. Select the Transparent radio button in the Contents box. Give the new file a name as this will be your original watermark file (save in .psd) and click OK. I'm working with photos that are resized to 1600 pixels, so adjust the size of your watermark according to your photo's size.

Step 3: Select the Type Tool and type in your watermark, like your website address. To get a copyright symbol, you can copy this one: ©, or insert it from MS Word (Insert > Symbol).

Step 4: Highlight the text of your watermark and change the text color to all white (#FFFFFF).

Step 5: In the Layers window (bottom-right), set the opacity of your watermark layer to 25%. This will give it that transparent look and reduce its visual impact.

Step 6: Open the photo you want to watermark.

Step 7: Adjust the window sizes so that you can see both windows. Select the Move Tool on the toolbar, click on your watermark and drag it onto the photo. Now position the watermark on your photo. I like to place it so that the photo's visual content isn't affected much. If you have a high value photo, then feel free to make the watermark as big as you please.

Step 8: Depending on the background colors, I adjust the opacity of the watermark. Being a dark background, I adjusted the opacity here to 10%.

That's it. Click save. Either save it as a new file or overwrite your resized image.

Tip: I also create a second watermark file and leave that text as all black (#000000), as on some backgrounds, that will blend better.

Let me know if anything's not clear.

Next: Home page

Ferry Ride on Lake Nasser from Aswan to Wadi Halfa

2012-02-10T17:36:00.001+03:00

6 - 7 June 2011

With a sandy desert all along the border between Egypt and Sudan, it's ironic that the only way to cross between these two countries is a ferry ride on the long Lake Nasser. Heading down the eastern side of Africa, this is the only route-hurdle that overlanders need to plan for, mainly because the ferry only runs once a week and also because there are limited spaces for vehicles, but no problems for motorcycles. The ferry runs from Aswan, the southernmost city in Egypt, along the 550 kms (340 mi) of Lake Nasser to Wadi Halfa, the first town after crossing into Sudan.

The journey was enjoyable, as besides sharing stories with other travelers, I also spent some time with passengers who were traveling for more serious reasons, such as finding work, moving back home after the Libyan war had started or to visit family. The travel was very smooth as the lake was still, which made for some beautiful photographs.

__________________

On the morning of the journey, this is what the security screening was like. It was a horde of passengers, all pushing and shoving to get their luggage and themselves through the x-ray scan. The ferry leaves around 5 in the afternoon, but everyone is there by 9. Besides getting through security, there is passport control and the most important task: claiming a good spot on the deck of the boat.

Our fabulous vessel for crossing Lake Nasser, the Sagalnaam. It probably wouldn't pass a safety inspection in the west, but it's been happily plying these waters for years. The round windows are the second-class floor with the first-class cabins on top of them and third-class on the roof! The cheapest fare cost LE 322 ($59) and first-class went for around LE 520 ($95).

The route of the ferry ride from Aswan to Wadi Halfa. There has been talk of opening a land border crossing between Egypt and Sudan, but it is yet to materialize. There's a highway on the coast but it's only open to commercial traffic, for now. But, it's also a boon that we have to travel by this ferry, as it harks back to the old days when traveling wasn't as independent and easy as it is nowadays.

Inside the Sagalnaam, looking down the stairs from the first-class floor to the second-class floor as passengers started to board.

A first-class cabin with all the amenities of a bed, A/C and privacy. Nothing more.

I was traveling on this ferry with six other overlanders and two of them, Ben and Edward, had booked a first-class cabin. As I was engaged in some deep philosophical and political conversation with Ben, he invited me to just put my sleeping pad down and enjoy the A/C. I spent the heat of the day inside, but enjoyed the evening out on deck.

Communal bathrooms on board, which deteriorated even before we left Aswan. No fair, ladies bathrooms are always fancier than the gents; this one had a water cooler inside.

Out on deck and making sure Guy and Lu claimed a good spot under a lifeboat. The majority of passengers weren't on board, yet.

In the first-class dining room with Lu, Edward and Guy. Being fair-skinned, it was easy for these third-class travelers to walk into the first-class dining room and cool down with the A/C. All other darker-skinned passengers had to show their ticket to enter. And I, being brown, and passing for an Egyptian or a Sudanese, had to make sure I looked like I belonged in first-class; SLR camera slung around my neck did the trick.

Our tickets came with one meal voucher and we all decided to have it for lunch and spend the heat of the day indoors, so that we could enjoy the cool evening out on deck, when we were underway.

Food being stored in fridges with huge ice blocks in the second-class dining room. And that's Takeshi looking on. He's from Japan and is backpacking down to South Africa.

After lunch, I walked around the port and noted the myriad of barges, freighters and cruise ships, all tied up with nowhere to go.

I had a look at sanDRina and the vehicles on the barge, which hadn't left it. The vehicle barge usually arrives a day or two later than the passenger ferry at the other end as it's not sophisticated enough to have radar and thus can't navigate at night.

Besides passengers and their vehicles, this ferry and its barges provide a crucial trade link between Egypt and northern Sudan. Due to strict economic sanctions imposed on Sudan (due to its president's handling of the Darfur situation), most goods are expensive there. But it’s still cheaper to import from Egypt, than buying locally.

Olive oil, by the buckets, being transported from Egypt to Sudan. Food and agricultural products are relatively cheap in Egypt, due to extensive irrigation, brought on by the Aswan Dam and Lake Nasser.

Industrial products, such as these augers, waiting to board their ride to Sudan.

This gas cylinder was taken off the ship as it had sprung a leak and was being submerged to contain the gas underwater. Could there be more on board? You can't worry about things like this in Africa. It happens.

The sloping pier, extending far into the waters of Lake Nasser. The reservoir's height changes over the years depending on whether the Nile south of here is in flood or not and thus this kind of pier is always usable.

On deck, as anticipation was building for departure near 5 pm. The engine fired up and all the passengers were on board.

The travelers on third-class had all staked their claim on the deck and there was very little space to walk around now. The ship's mast was flying the flags of Egypt and Sudan.

For those passengers who missed out on the premium spots under the lifeboats, shelters were erected with cardboard and bed sheets.

A cargo barge departing from Aswan.

No guarantee that your cargo will make it to Wadi Halfa. But the lake is super smooth, so no need to secure anything. I was glad our vehicle barge at least had a side wall. Egypt is a lot more industrialized than Sudan, making for cheaper appliances and people were transporting fridges, washing machines, televisions, microwave ovens, food processors, etc.

And we're off! Goodbye, Egypt. It's been great, but time for a new country.

Takeshi, happy to be underway to Sudan.

All smiles under the lifeboat.

A few meters off shore and we had a good view of the Lotus Flower monument on the crest of the Aswan Dam. It signifies Arab-Soviet friendship as the USSR gave Egypt a loan of over a billion dollars in the 1960s in order to construct this massive dam. The rulers of Egypt have always wanted to dam the Nile so that they could control its annual flood and ensure a stable water supply for irrigation. They finally managed that with this obstruction to nature. They also get lots of hydroelectric power, but hydro isn't as green as it’s touted. Dams have a massive ecological footprint that surpasses all the positives that their constructors think will bring their societies. The gathering up of the Nile's rich sediments behind this dam means a lot more chemical fertilizers are used now and those sediments not reaching the Mediterranean are affecting fish stocks there.

Three Sudanese men, happy to head home after a long stint in Libya. I managed to understand that they were casual laborers in the oil industry but it soon became too dangerous to hang around, waiting for peace to come, so a good time to visit the family.

As the Sun started to set on Lake Nasser, we entered that magic hour of light.

Passengers enjoying the ride and welcoming the sight of this huge expanse of water, surrounded by desert.

If the scenery wasn't interesting, card games were going on.

I was hanging out with these boys under the lifeboat, who all thought I was Sudanese, just like them, but maybe with a white mother? They wouldn't believe me when I said, no, I was Indian and yes, both my parents are Indian. Skin color's all relative - next to fair-skinned people, I'm dark and next to dark-skinned people, I'm fair. Browns FTW!

I never get tired of sunsets, especially ones over an expanse of water.

Ra's reign of the sky coming to an end as he touches the land and...

...quickly enters into the underworld.

Goodnight, home star. Hope you look just as spectacular to someone else at this moment as their sunrise.

And now for twilight, my favorite time of day to shoot. The light from the just-set sun highlighting bands of still water compared to those with ripples.

This be our beautiful Planet Earth. Looking west over the smooth-as-glass surface of Lake Nasser as the Sagalnaam disturbs with a harmonious wake.

The beauty of the mathematical precision of nature. Receding ripples catching up with proceeding ones and blending harmoniously on the surface of Lake Nasser.

Guy, Takeshi and other passengers taking in the epic view just after sunset on Lake Nasser.

The moon came out as twilight started to fade to darkness.

A sharp crease as the Sagalnaam cuts through the still waters.

An hour after sunset, the stars were showing up in the west. It was the best I could do with a hand-held, long-exposure shot on a boat.

With nothing else to do and no light on deck, most passengers soon fell asleep, but I stayed awake and chatted with my fellow travelers, cherishing this special journey.

Morning twilight arrived around 5 am, highlighting submerged lands of the Nubian Desert. The smell of a new country was in the air.

The Sun was back with force, quickly heating up into a fireball.

Passengers on deck slowly roused from their slumber as the heat would become unbearable pretty soon.

The peacefulness of the journey aboard the Sagalnaam was coming to an end and would be contrasted with the madness of docking at Wadi Halfa in Sudan.

Crossing Lake Nasser from Aswan in Egypt to Wadi Halfa in Sudan is a wonderful journey, once the boat is underway, that is. I'm grateful that I got the chance to partake in some slow travel. The next time I jump on a plane and transport myself halfway around the world, I'll spare a thought for all those who still travel with limited means.

I hope a land border doesn't open up between Egypt and Sudan, so that future travelers can also experience this ferry ride in the desert. Because once a land border does open, most travelers would choose to avoid the hassles that traveling by this ferry brings, namely the paperwork and costs involved with transporting a vehicle over water, that too, to a new country.

I hope sanDRina had as pleasant a journey as I did...

Next: Home page

Previous: Egypt, Part 14: Aswan, End of the Road in Egypt

Egypt, Part 14: Aswan, End of the Road in Egypt

2012-02-07T14:48:00.001+03:00

4 - 5 June 2011

After a solid month in Egypt, my time here was coming to an end as I journeyed the last leg southwards to Aswan. Filled with Egyptian cultural visits, I was now focused on a tricky bit of traveling, namely the ferry ride from Aswan to Wadi Halfa in Sudan. My time in Aswan was spent on keeping in step with the bureaucratic dance that Egypt dictates you have to follow when you leave the country with your vehicle and also, getting things sorted for the boat journey. I connected with other overland travelers whom I would be sharing this part of the journey with.

______________________

Heading south from Luxor along an irrigation canal. The roads were in good condition, leading to high speed driving by everyone, mini buses to jalops, except of course, the numerous donkey carts.

A lush field of alfalfa, the food for donkeys and horses, thriving with the waters from the Nile, under the hot sun of Egypt.

Riding next to the Nile, on the way to Aswan. I enjoyed the blue-ness of the river here, compared to the more polluted sections downstream after people have dumped on their life source.

What's better than a window seat? Hanging on to the back with fresh wind in your face.

Taking a break under a small spot of shade. The heat was becoming intense the closer I got to Aswan. The temps for riding in most of Egypt (bar the desert) are actually quite comfortable, but I was told by travelers I met going north that the real heat starts from Aswan and south into Sudan. I left Luxor with 14 L (3.7 gal) of water and drank about half that over the 300 kms (186 mi) to Aswan.

A horse and donkey cart, as I neared Aswan. I wonder if there's a power struggle...

Seeing a felucca on the Nile as I got into Aswan. The high-power electricity lines in the background also give away the location, as Aswan is important to Egypt in that the Nile is dammed here and hydroelectricity generated at the Aswan High Dam is highly valuable to the country.

Arriving at a non-descript apartment block that houses the Aswan Traffic Court. To successfully leave Egypt, I have to get a small piece of paper from the traffic court saying that I have no outstanding traffic violations. Then I take this paper to the Traffic Police who give me another piece of paper that I then submit to customs at the port. The traffic court was closing at 2 pm and I arrived at 1:55. A broker (hustler) downstairs said he could help me out if we hurried. We ran up the flight of stairs (in heavy motorcycle gear and boots) with passport, drivers license and photocopies in hand. The official was on his way out, 'Oh, I'm sorry, you're too late, come again on Monday.' But sir, the boat is leaving on Monday. 'Oh, you're from India? Amitabh Bachchan is Great! I'll help you out, one second.' And then after waiting around for 30 minutes, I got my little piece of paper. No cost for the official, but just LE 15 ($3) for the broker.

A view from the west bank of the Nile with the city of Aswan further upstream. I was trying to find a place to camp for the night.

A white mosque surrounded by the greenery of the Nile.

A felucca and a river boat on the Nile.

I knew there would be other overland travelers taking the same boat as me, as it only travels once a week and I found them in the afternoon. This is Benjamin, from Switzerland, and he's traveling with Edward, from The Netherlands, in their green Toyota Hilux camper. Next to him are Guy and Louise, Brits, traveling down in a Land Rover Defender. Guy saw me riding around town in the afternoon and invited me to join them in their desert camping spot. Ben and Guy are quite the cooks and they were preparing an excellent meal of curry and rice and breaded aubergines (brinjal) and zucchini. Ahh, the luxuries of traveling in an automobile.

Getting ready the next morning for the final day in Egypt. Ed found this secluded camping spot, a dead-end up a sandy track with great views of the Nile and the stars at night. After a hearty breakfast, we set off into town, now as an overland convoy.

Ed and Ben were on a 3 month sprint from Cairo to Cape Town and were super jealous of my extended timeline. They could only manage a 3 month leave-of-absence from their management consulting jobs.

Arriving at the Traffic Police building to hand in our temporary Egyptian number plates, get the second piece of paper and pickup the local official who would take us to the port. The gentleman in the middle had traveled up from his home in South Africa with his wife in their red Toyota Hilux in just 12 weeks. They wanted to visit family in Europe, but alas, the ferry to Venice was no longer operational and there was no other safe overland route to Europe from Egypt (Libya and Syria were no-gos), so they turned around and were going to head back to South Africa and see the things they missed on the way north.

Arriving at the Port of Aswan, 20 kms south of the city.

There was lots of standing around in the intense heat and we found respite in the retreating noon shadow at the port entrance. Carnets (customs document) in hand.

What do you mean I'm overloaded? A truck arriving at the Port of Aswan with goods procured in Egypt, where everything is cheaper than Sudan, to be sent on the sole transportation link between these two brothers of the desert. There is a road coming to fruition on the coast, but it’s not open to personal traffic, yet.

We made it inside the port (LE 10 entrance) and then, more waiting around. I enjoyed traveling with Ben, because besides diving into deep philosophical discussions, he always had food at hand. He's cutting up a juicy honeydew melon that was perfect for hydrating in this dry heat. Ed and Ben met while working on a project in South Africa and hatched the plan for their journey there.

All smiles after having bought the passage for our vehicles with a view of the pier and Lake Nasser that we would be sailing on to Sudan. The barge ride for a motorcycle cost LE 250 ($45) and LE 2012 ($366) for automobiles, an advantage of traveling on two wheels. I don't get to carry a full stove and kitchen, but hey, it's cheaper. From there, we walked across to the customs building to have our carnets stamped out of Egypt and have a customary tea with the customs official. The carnet de passage is a customs passport for a vehicle that facilitates temporary importation into most every country in the world (except China and a few others).

We then finally entered the fenced-off pier and had to wait around for the barge to be positioned properly before vehicles could be driven on board. We walked down the huge pier that sloped down to the water level and got our first look at the boat that would take us across Lake Nasser. There are 3 modes of travel on this boat. Most expensive was First Class with private cabins and cold A/C, then came Second Class, which was also A/C, but no privacy and best of all was Third Class, sleeping on the deck of the boat. The word has been passed on by past travelers that Third Class is the way to go, but you have to secure a spot under one of the lifeboats to escape the sun.

We got moving with our vehicles, getting closer to the barge.

Men pulling the barge so that it's ramp would reach the shore. The ferry boat is only for passengers and vehicles travel on a separate barge. All overland travelers experience a sense of separation at this point, because we've bonded with our vehicles by now, getting used to our new mobile homes and now, we have to part with them and hope they will arrive safely at the other end of the long lake in a new country.

Guy and Lu's butch-looking Land Rover. Overland travelers agree that the Defender is the best-looking overlanding vehicle, feeling at home in Africa, but it's also agreed that they require a lot more maintenance than trusty Toyotas, like the Land Cruiser or Ed and Ben's Hilux. Spares for the Toyotas are available almost everywhere on the planet and most-any mechanic knows how to work on them. So, in deciding on an overland vehicle, you can be a romantic and choose the Defender or be the pragmatist and choose the Land Cruiser or Hilux.

Once the barge was in place, the vehicles were driven on and I squeezed sanDRina between the Hilux and the Defender. I had my panniers aligned with their tires, so that if the barge rocked, she would be held in place. There were no tie-downs provided or any places to attach them (I carry a set of tie-downs), but with just the kick-stand down and resting between the tires, I figured sanDRina was in a good place.

With our personal transportation gone, everyone piled into Kamal's taxi for the ride back into Aswan. He drove like a typically mad Egyptian and with all of us being drivers/riders, we make the worst back seat drivers. Seat belts? meh.

Now, with everything set for the ferry journey tomorrow, we could enjoy the city of Aswan. We wandered around its souk (market), looking for a place for lunch.

A colorful array of spices and minerals. The cobalt blue powder is used for washing white clothes.

Lunch of a stuffed pigeon. Tasted like chicken and was stuffed with rice and veggies.

A view of the corniche in Aswan along the River Nile from the rooftop of Hathor Hotel. Not having our mobile homes with us, we had to resort to a hotel.

The rooftop pool at Hathor Hotel with a setting sun behind the wall. The hot day spent outside in the sun made us splurge for this last night in Egypt, all of LE 80 ($15).

The sun tucking away behind the hills, casting its beautiful glow in the sky and on to the waters of the Nile.

I slept peacefully and thought back to all the wonderful experiences I had had in my journey south from Alexandria, thru Cairo, Bahariya, the White Desert, Kharga, Luxor and finally into Aswan. Egypt has a lot to offer for visitors to see and experience, ranging from ancient monuments to mind-blowing wind sculptures in the desert. I'm also happy I got to make some good connections with Egyptians all over the country, ranging from professionals in the city to Bedouins in the desert.

All though I had been on the African continent for a month by now, Egypt felt very much like the Middle-East and I was looking forward to entering Sudan. But first, an epic ferry ride down Lake Nasser...

Next: Ferry Ride on Lake Nasser from Aswan to Wadi Halfa

Previous: Egypt, Part 13: The Magnificent Egyptology of Ancient Luxor

Status Update: Kenya Riding

2012-02-03T15:05:00.002+03:00

3 February 2012

An excellent ride from the lower eastern savannahs of Kenya back up to the capital for the weekend. The route from Mombasa is filled with trucks, making for a passing fest. The two- lane road has a wide-enough shoulder that I just cruise up on the left, passing trains of slow-moving trailers and they drive on the left here ;) On Kenyan roads, size matters. If you look like a small motorcycle, oncoming traffic doesn't care and pushes you off. But, I'm prepared, and have my flood lights on, gaining my respect from traffic :)

Just had my first hot shower in 3 weeks! A weekend of dinner with friends, catching-up, maybe some dancing and then back to the field.

Snapshot: Wild Kenyan Honey

2012-02-02T23:36:00.000+03:00

2 February 2012

Looking down a hollow tree trunk. They're used as beehives by the farmers of Eastern Kenya and that inset on the right is a nugget of fresh, unprocessed honey. It tastes sublime... pure and rich. The hollow logs are hung from baobab trees and the honey they produce provide supplemental income for the farmers. I bought a jar of refined Kenyan honey and a tub of honeycombs from this female farmer that I'm interviewing and collecting soil samples from for my research. [Shot in Feb 2012, using a Canon 50D/Sigma 10-20 mm]

Egypt, Part 13: The Magnificent Egyptology of Ancient Luxor

2012-02-01T00:39:00.001+03:00

2 -3 June 2011

The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt and the grand civilization that they ruled over are famous throughout the world. My tour through Egypt let me see the different sides of this modern country. However, its well-preserved ancient past is what adds magnificence to this land.

In and around the present-day city of Luxor are the numerous architectural remains of the ancient city of Thebes. The city gained prominence for its luxurious lifestyle of its rulers and was also the center of Ancient Egyptian politics, culture and religion at various times during its history.

In the following photostory, I cover the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, the Colossi of Memnon, the Valley of the Kings and Karnak Temple. It's a lot of history and it's very complex but I try to put things in context. Enjoy.

______________________

The grand Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, located beneath the cliffs of Deir el Bahari on the West Bank of the Nile. Hatshepsut was a rare female pharaoh and considered to be very successful during her reign, 1503 to 1482 BC. This temple, known as Djeser-Djeseru (Splendor of Splendors) was designed and built by Senemut so that she could be worshiped after her death. The temple is set on a series of terraces and this is at the middle terrace.

The guardian of the upper terrace with Deir el Bahari towering in the back.

The upper terrace is lined with statues of Hatshepsut in the form of Osiris.

From the Upper Court, looking out the gate with the Nile Valley in the distance.

Re-constructured pillars in the Upper Court. Many of these ancient monuments were rebuilt by recent historians and some were done with imprecise information, so maybe it didn't really look like this back then.

A cartouche of Thutmose II, Hatshepsut's husband, on a pillar in the Upper Court. A cartouche is a series of hieroglyphs enclosed by an ellipse, indicating that the contents inside it are a royal name. The scarab, or dung beetle, was a prominent symbol in Ancient Egypt. This beetle is known for rolling a ball of dung along the ground as it moves this food source around. Ancient Egyptians associated this with the sun moving across the sky and thus the scarab is associated with sunrise and creation.

A broken statue of Hatshepsut, missing its body, out on the upper terrace.

An Osiride statue of Hatshepsut, flanking the entrance to the Upper Court. Even though she was a female, she was depicted with a traditional pharaonic beard to cement her position as ruler. Many pharaohs had statues of themselves in the form of the god, Osiris, because he's the god of the afterlife. Osiris can be identified as he holds the symbolic crook and flail, with the crook being a symbol of shepherds and the meaning of the flail is not known.

The Birth Colonnade, to the right of the Middle Terrace. Hieroglyphs in this section depict the story of Hatshepsut's divine origins, where the supreme god Amon-Ra visits Hatshepsut's mother, Queen Ahmose, and impregnates her with his divine breath. Sounds similar to a story that happened around 0 BC...

Well-preserved relief of hieroglyphs.

Past the Birth Colonnade is the Chapel of Anubis, decorated with colorful murals that have stood the test of time. The ceiling was covered in yellow stars, with the walls telling detailed stories of Hatshepsut.

A depiction of Sokaris receiving wine from Thutmose III in the Anubis Chapel. Sokaris is a sun god with a falcon's head and Thutmose III is the son of Hatshepsut, who succeeded her as pharaoh. However, this son suffered from an inferiority complex of his much-lauded mother and proceeded to chisel her name and image from all monuments in the kingdom. Her story, that of the first female pharaoh, was only recently revealed by archaeologists studying hieroglyphs.

Colorful raised hieroglyphs, well-preserved through time.

A depiction of Anubis, the jackal-headed god and I presume his wife, Anput, his female aspect. Anubis is associated with mummification and the afterlife and his head comes from the association of jackals with cemeteries, because they were known to dig up bodies and eat them. These gods are shown holding the Ankh, a symbol of eternal life and the Was scepter, a symbol of power of dominion, carried by lesser gods in mortuary scenes such as this.

sanDRina and the Colossi of Memnon: two giant statues, right by the road and free to visit.

Both the statues depict Pharaoh Amenhotep III and have been here for the past 3,400 years. It's hard to assess scale but they're both 18 m (60 ft) tall.

A close-up of the right colossi with pigeons nesting in his chest. They've been battered by earthquakes and floods from the Nile, but still going strong.

The abandoned village of Qurna, that was built by settlers in the late 19th century near and on top of the tombs at the Valley of the Kings.

The Valley of the Kings on the West Bank of the Nile in Luxor. After the grand pyramid-building of the Old Kingdom of Egypt (2686 BC – 2181 BC), the New Kingdom (1600 BC - 1100 BC) decided to move their tombs underground and this valley, across from the ancient city of Thebes, housed most of its royalty in the afterlife.

Tombs were discovered and pillaged throughout history with archaeologists conducting systematic excavations since the late 18th century onwards. A total of 63 tombs have been revealed with many more yet to be discovered. Due to on-going archaeological work, only a few tombs are open for public visitation. A standard entry ticket allowed me to visit 3 tombs of my choice with an additional fee for special tombs, such as that of Tutankhamun.

The tombs are cut down into the limestone cliffs, descending through a series of steps to the burial chamber. This is the tomb of Pharaoh Siptah (KV47) and it was much cooler here than the baking heat outside.

The grand sarcophagus of Pharaoh Merenptah (KV8), who ruled from 1213 BC to 1203 BC. He was one of thirteen sons of Ramesses II. His burial chamber was the largest of the three that I visited and I wondered how long it took to carve these chambers.

The red granite sarcophagus of Ramesses I. His burial chamber has suffered from water damage and these pillars have been added to bolster the chamber. At the foot of the sarcophagus is the depiction of Osiris (in white) and Khepris, who has a black scarab for a head, representing rebirth.

The tomb of Ramesses I decorated with colorful murals with stories from the Book of Gates, a funerary text that narrates the journey of a newly deceased soul into the afterlife. Here, the dead king is lead by Horus, Atum and Neith to Osiris.

A niche in the burial chamber depicting Ramesses I in his Osiris form with a ram-headed version of Anubis supporting him as he stands on a wavy snake, confronting another snake, Meseret.

On the East Bank of the Nile in Luxor, I followed the line of uncovered sphinxes that starts at Luxor Temple and leads to Karnak Temple. This Sphinx Alley connects the two grand temples and was used by the ancients for a yearly procession depicting the marriage of their prominent gods, Amun and Mut. Egyptologists guess that there were around 1,350 sphinxes lining this road, which is slowly being uncovered, but urban sprawl is in the way.

The Temple of Karnak, the holiest of religious places for Ancient Egypt. Construction began in the Middle Kingdom (2000 BC) and continued till the Ptolemaic period (300 BC). A processional way is lined by sphinxes that lead to the first pylon, resembling the design of Luxor Temple. Again, it looks like an obelisk is missing.

The grandest feature at the Karnak Temple Complex is the Great Hypostyle Hall. It's a 5,000 sq-m (50,000 sq-ft) hall with 134 giant pillars, resembling a papyrus marsh.

The proportions are out of this world and it's mind-boggling to think about how this giant monument was put up, that too in 1290 BC. Pharaoh Seti I commissioned and set about building this 'temple of millions of years.'

A close-up of one of the taller central pillars, resembling an open papyrus flower. The central 12 columns are higher than the rest at 21 m (69 ft) and have a girth of 10 m (33 ft).

Flanking the 12 giant columns are the remaining 122 columns that feature a closed bud of a papyrus flower at their top. These 122 columns are 13 m (43 ft) high and 8.4 m (27.5 ft) around.

This is an artist's rendition of what the Great Hypostyle Hall looked like in its hey-days.

It was so peaceful to be among these giant columns, soaking in the grandeur of Ancient Egypt.

Walking deeper into Karnak Temple and appreciating the scale of things.

From the Central Court looking out to the main temple complex with the prominent Obelisk of Thutmose I.

More giant pillars in the back, making up the Festival Hall of Thutmose III with colored decorations on the roof.

Columns in the shape of bundled papyrus.

A local guide, among the ruins of Karnak Temple.

A cartouche with a scarab and the Obelisk of Thutmose I in the background, carved from a single shaft of red granite from Aswan.

Hieroglyphs on the walls around Karnak Temple, telling stories of conquest and other tall tales that have survived through time.

Cartouches and hieroglyphs decorating the closed-bud papyrus pillars of the Great Hypostyle Hall.

A parting shot of Karnak and Luxor: the processional way, lined with sphinxes.

I was grateful for the chance to see these grand monuments from our past that have survived these thousands of years. It astonishes me how grand the ideas and buildings were that were conjured up by ancient rulers, that too, most of the time for their own vanity or religious purposes.

With that, I was now done with touristy Egypt and the hagglers that go along with every tourist site there. The monuments are fantastic and definitely worth a visit, but now I was looking forward to traveling again, with an upcoming ferry journey...

Next: Egypt, Part 14: Aswan, End of the Road in Egypt

Previous: Egypt, Part 12: Across the Desert into Present-Day Luxor

Snapshot: Makindu Sikh Gurdwara

2012-01-29T19:25:00.000+03:00

29 January 2012

I had a wonderful Sunday brunch at the Makindu Sikh Gurdwara in Lower Eastern Kenya. A gurdwara is the holy place of Sikhs and their founder insisted upon his death that the Langar (free kitchen) should always be open. And as it is so at any gurdwara around the world, there is free food at any time for any one, from any religion. Of course, a little donation would be nice to keep the place running. This gurdwara had its foundations laid in 1926 and is considered the Jewel of Africa, as far as Sikhs are concerned, who have been in East Africa for over a century, brought over by the British to build and run the railway line from Mombasa to Kisumu and onwards freight to Uganda. I had a delicious serving of chana masala (chick pea curry) and kulcha (flat bread from Punjab) with mattar paneer (green peas and cottage cheese), raita (yoghurt with seasoning), a variety of pickles and carrot halwa for desert. Mmm mmm good! [Shot in Jan 2012 using a Canon 50D/Sigma 10-20 mm at 10 mm]

http://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Makindu_Sikh_Temple

Egypt, Part 12: Across the Desert into Present-Day Luxor

2012-01-28T00:06:00.001+03:00

31 May - 4 June 2011

After my visit in Kharga, I had one last section of the Oasis Route through the desert to cover before coming back to the Nile in Luxor. The city is famous for its Ancient Egyptian wonders on display, but that's for the next segment. This photostory documents my time spent with Ernesto, my CouchSurfing host in Luxor, who has a colorful look and life. He's got orange hair, is from Uruguay, lives with a local Egyptian family in New Qurna and volunteers at an animal shelter.

__________________________

Riding the last section of the Oasis Route across the desert and into Luxor.

By 9 am, the heat was kicking in. A signpost in the desert. 230 kms (143 mi) to Luxor.

Oops, wrong direction. Just like there's a town in Texas called Paris, there's a town called Bagdad in Egypt. I also saw a sign for Paris a few miles back.

The road being cut into the top of this ridge in the desert. Elevation peaked at 530 m (1,740 ft). It wasn't any cooler up here, but I knew I would be gratified the further south I went, as the cool highlands of Ethiopia beckoned.

The desert, slowly reclaiming its land. When the humans aren't looking, the sand grains drift across and only when it becomes impassable does the sand get pushed back.

sanDRina enjoying the desert cruise. The smooth, flat roads gave for a high fuel efficiency. I was getting around 25 km/L (59 mpg).

I took some leftover curry that I made from the night before and was taking a few bites at every break. I lost my nice military surplus cloth hat in Cairo and had to replace it with a tourist sun hat. Battling the sun is serious business here and I was drinking a liter of water an hour.

There was a lot of flat, straight riding, but some sweet curves around hills. That S-shape to a curve allows for that most sought-after feeling to be felt, namely, g-forces. I lean left, hanging a bit off the seat into the corner as the front tire countersteers by pointing away from the corner. Then, I shift my body weight to the other side, leaning right and the front tire does its dance of countersteer by pointing the other way. My DR doesn't produce as much g-forces as I'd like with 33 hp, but g-forces they are.

The road was under construction in places, looking like how it looked only a few years back along its whole length. A tarmac road makes for a relatively easy journey and there's something to be enjoyed about being smooth through the corners. On the other hand, an unpaved road requires finesse over a loose surface; dancing with the tires.

Just past noon, I could start making out a dark smudge on the horizon, growing into a sliver, until at last I could see the trees and greenery fed by the Nile River. That brought an end to desert riding, for now.

Riding a canal on the west side of the Nile, heading into Luxor.

I stayed with Ernesto through CouchSurfing for a few days near Luxor. He's a wonderful character. Firstly, his orange hair stands out. Then his story is really interesting: he's from Uruguay, now living behind the Egyptian family that's taken him in. They are people of Qurna, who lived on top of the tombs of the Valley of the Kings until the government moved them to a new housing project, New Qurna. Ernesto had a contact with them and came back to stay and work. He's a website designer with clients mainly in Spain.

New Qurna, on the northern edge of Luxor. This village was built in the 1950s by renowned Egyptian architect, Hassan Fathy to house the people who were living in the old village of Qurna that was situated on top of tombs from antiquity. The government, namely the Antiquities department, forcibly moved the people from Qurna in the name of protecting Ancient Egyptian artifacts, such as the tombs that were yet to be excavated and the treasures within them. The people of Qurna settled on the tombs in the late 19th century and slowly began to pilfer them and sell antiquities to foreigners in Cairo to make a living. It was a sensitive issue to move them but the claim of protecting cultural heritage seems valid. Their new living area was designed with local and modern features, such as natural cooling with domed ceilings and street lights. Staying here for three days, I heard many stories from Ernesto's local family and friends.

I had come to Luxor to soak in the concentration of Ancient Egypt's wonders. The wonderful thing about CouchSurfing is that Ernesto is an Egyptology student and had tones of information on what to see and what was worth seeing. We crossed over to the east side of the Nile, where the town proper of Luxor is.

Looking back west at the Valley of the Kings just after sunset. In those valleys, now lit up, lie the tombs of many Pharaohs.

The entrance to Luxor Temple, right in the heart of the modern town. It was built around 1,400 BC and various Pharaohs added to the complex. This grand pylon was built by Rameses II and there are supposed to be two, giant, red granite obelisks at the front. The other obelisk happens to be in Paris, at the center of the Place de la Concorde. It was given to France in 1829 by the rulers of Egypt at the time, the Ottomans. These short-term rulers of this long-lasting civilization felt they had the right to disperse its treasures for their favor.

Just behind the grand temple was a busy street with this guy frying up some fresh falafel. Since I would be visiting quite a few tourist sites in the next few days, I went and got an ISIC card (International Student Card) that gave me 50% off from the entrance fees. The LE 105 ($19) price for the card paid for itself before I left Luxor and I knew I would use it again further south.

River boats parked up in Luxor, instead of cruising the Nile to Aswan. The reduction in tourist numbers after the revolution had badly affected many businesses that rely solely on foreigners to sustain their livelihoods. Ernesto invited me to come along and see this animal shelter that he volunteers at. We crossed the Nile using the local ferry, which costs LE 0.25 (5¢) for locals and the usual separate pricing for foreigners of LE 1 (18¢). The monetary difference is not an issue, but the government notice at the ticket office that foreigners pay four times the cost bothers me. But this happens everywhere. In India, I remember seeing a temple entrance notice that locals pay 10 Rupees (20¢), while foreigners pay $10, which is 50 times the difference!

We walked through town and then through the Luxor Railway Station to cross the railroad tracks to get to the other side.

Behind the railway station was a part of the city that's not on the tourist trail of Luxor. A cozy, outdoor cafe under a highway flyover, featuring low ceilings, dim lighting and an excellent vantage point for people-watching.

Open-air butchery, sandwiched by fruit and vegetable stands.

Delicious-looking watermelon, grown on the fertile banks of the Nile.

On the eastern edge of Luxor lies the Animal Care in Egypt center.

A baby, black panther and a domestic house cat at the animal shelter. Ernesto said an expat Brit, living in Luxor, recently died and left a hefty sum for the shelter, which was doing its part in taking in sick and abandoned animals.

A fierce, three-legged dog at the shelter.

But he was putty in Ernesto's hands.

A shelter cat showing off its catch. Its lion cousins would be proud.

Besides unwanted cats and dogs, the shelter was primarily focused on taking in sick and abused donkeys and horses. Donkeys are used extensively in Egypt and other countries in the region for hauling heavy goods. Horses are used for drawing carriages and sadly, their owners don't pay enough attention to the health of their animals and usually over-work them in an abusive manner.

Ernesto's been volunteering at the center since he's been in Egypt and he puts in a few hours every few days. He explained that the center offers free medical care for local donkeys and horses, yet their owners only bring them in when their animal's maladies are quite extreme, leading to longer recovery periods.

A sign outside each stable described the injury or reason for admittance.

This donkey had a wound on its back, probably from repetitive beatings from its master’s whip.

Admitted for being too naughty! If I was a donkey, I'd want this to be my condition. It refers to being disobedient to its master. I think it's quite a smart ploy by this donkey: 'just don't cooperate and they'll admit you to these stables where there's enough food and friends.'

A beautiful horse eating some fresh alfalfa. Their eyes are covered to reduce their stress to these surroundings and strangers.

Ouch, a twisted foot. That's probably the end of its working days.

A baby colt sharing the stable of its mother, suffering from a tumor.

A donkey with dreads recovering from a broken foot. He's sporting some style there.

Before leaving the shelter, Ernesto played with the dogs some more. He was short one leg but not short in his doggy-ness.

Calèches, horse-drawn carriages, waiting for the elusive tourists to spend money on them and their poorly-treated horses. Ernesto explained that after a campaign by local animal rights groups that raised awareness of animal abuses by calèche drivers, their use by tourists dropped. Only a few calèche drivers have drawn the connection between a well-treated horse and increased income.

Waiting for the ferry to cross back to the west bank during that magic hour of sunlight, just before sunset, that painted Luxor Temple and its modern town in shades of gold.

Amenhotep III's colonnade of Luxor Temple, glowing in the fading light. Between the entrance pylon and the colonnade lies the Abu Haggag Mosque that was built on top of the ruins in the 11th century AD. Luxor was ruled by a Coptic Christian Princess at the time and she was tricked by Sheikh Abu Haggag, who came from Bagdad, to hand over the land of Luxor Temple to him. And upon his death, a mosque was built there in his name. The Muslim residents of Luxor have refused to have it removed, even though it's clearly intruding on this much older heritage site.

The peristyle court of Amenhotep III with the setting Sun being blocked by the pillars of the central corridor of Luxor Temple. This easy access to the wonderful monuments of Ancient Egypt have earned Luxor the title of the World's Greatest Open Air Museum.

sanDRina parked under the trees in front of the house of Ernesto's family in New Qurna. I got to know Mohammed and Fatima over the few days I spent there and when I asked them if I could take some photos, they said it was no problem to photograph the children, but please, no photos of the women, in accordance to their Muslim traditions.

They pushed their eldest daughter in front of my camera and this was her official smile...

...now, that's more like it. A natural smile.

She got the hang of the photo shoot and manipulated her younger sister for the camera. Quite the bully...

...but also a protective older sister. Perhaps that's a universal trait of older siblings: they'll fight you at home but protect you from outside forces.

Fly like the wind.

The aged, thirteen year-old sanDRina contrasted with the exuberance of Egyptian youth.

Ernesto had access to the terrace from his portion at the back of Mohammed and Fatima's house and we spent the evenings up here as it was very cool and windy after the Sun went down.

Being an animal-lover, Ernesto took in this abandoned puppy that had free range of the terrace. It was quite difficult to get this bubbly creature to sit still for a moment...

...because most of the time, it was like this. I spent a night sleeping on the terrace and after playing with the puppy and exhausting its energy, it laid down next to me for the night.

Ernesto's crazy thirteen year-old cat, Mimosa, that liked to sleep with its body contorted around the bathroom door.

Mohammed inviting us for lunch one day in his house designed by Hassan Fathy in the 1950s in the village of New Qurna.

Ernesto taught Fatima how to bake pizza, an essential food for Argentines and Uruguayans. This here was an onion pizza.

This stay with my CouchSurfing host, Ernesto in Luxor, showed me facets of the city that I wouldn't have seen had I just stayed in a hotel. An interesting story of the past was possible through his adopted Egyptian family in New Qurna. And a current story of animal abuse and care was possible through his volunteering at Animal Care in Egypt. I'm grateful for these experiences that come with just going with the flow.

The tourist attractions of Luxor coming up next...

Next: Egypt, Part 13: The Magnificent Egyptology of Ancient Luxor

Previous: Egypt, Part 11: The Oasis of Kharga and Roman Ruins

Snapshot: Luxor, Valley of the Kings

2012-01-27T07:09:00.000+03:00

1 June 2011

Just after sunset, looking west over the Nile in Luxor, Egypt at the Valley of the Kings - the site of Tutankhamun's tomb, along with lots of other Pharaohs. Ancient man associated death with sunset and buried his people on the west side of the river. These days, sunsets evoke positive emotions. Appreciation of ancestors; appreciation of nature. [Shot in June 2011 using a Canon 50D/Tamron 18-270 mm at 18 mm, f/3.5 for 1/10 sec]

Status Update: Kenya Fieldwork

2012-01-20T15:36:00.002+03:00

Just finished a two day conference on gender and agriculture in Makindu (200 kms from Nairobi) for a regional water productivity project that my research is a part of. It was a yearly progress report that brought in the farmers who are the recipients of global aid projects along with the scientists who are running the rural development programs. Kenya Ministry of Agriculture was there, along with Ministry of Water and Gender. I presented my research along with other students with the project. Farmer reps said they were seeing definite benefits from the research programs, but they were challenged to take ownership of their own development, which they are slowly doing. Their hesitation from being bold comes from being risk averse. Back in Machakos for more soil sampling :)

Sponsorship: Galfer Brakes

2012-01-19T10:23:00.000+03:00

19 January 2012

sanDRina gets new stopping power! Picked up a sponsorship from Galfer Brakes. They've sent over new wave rotors (front and rear), stainless steel brake lines and enough brake pads to last my ride through Africa :)

Check out this article they wrote on my trip:

http://www.galferblog.com/jay-kannaiyan-world-traveler

Snapshot: A Typical Kenyan Meal

2012-01-17T00:11:00.000+03:00

17 January 2012

Typical Kenyan food served at the research guest house that I'm staying at. It's a hardened porridge of maize meal (ugali) topped with goat stew, a salad of tomatoes, onions and cilantro and sauteed aubergines (eggplant). The cook asked if I like it spicy. Yes, please. So, he's been adding in green chilies and lots of garlic and ginger. I'm satisfied.

Snapshot: Kenyan Women Farmers

2012-01-12T23:47:00.000+03:00

12 January 2012

A portrait of three women farmers in Kakinduni Village, near Machakos town in Eastern Kenya. They're all wives who have married into this family run by a matriarch. Their husbands have migrated to urban areas leaving the business of the farm to the ladies. They are strong women, building terraces on these hills to create farmland. My research aims to understand why they're not implementing rain water harvesting and farm ponds to preserve water for crops when the rains do not come as predicted. Farmers in this area are waiting for one more good rain, otherwise crops will fail, leading to food insecurity. They don't want handouts and they don't want a change in their climate. [Shot in January 2012 using a Canon 50D/Sigma 10-20mm Lens at 10mm]

Egypt, Part 11: The Oasis of Kharga and Roman Ruins

2012-01-06T14:39:00.001+03:00

29 - 30 May 2011

After a wonderful night of camping in the White Desert, I traversed a big chunk of the Oasis Route going through the oases of Farafra, Dakhla and into Kharga, the biggest oasis in Egypt. Kharga and the others oases have been focal points for caravan routes since time immemorial and along the way, the Romans set up shop here and left behind a trail of forts and temples. I connected with Mario and Christina, Italian expats working on a development project there, and we spent a day in the desert exploring the Roman ruins at Labakha.

_______________________

Heading south from the White Desert, I had a 530 km (330 mi) day ahead of me to get to the last oasis of Kharga.

My route thru the southern part of the Oasis Route in Egypt's Libyan Desert heading from Farafra, thru Dakhla into Kharga and onwards to Luxor in the Nile Valley. Click on it to go to the interactive version in Google Maps.

I always wondered what the insides of a petrol pump looked like... I fueled up in Farafra and was enjoying Egypt's cheap petrol: EGP 1.75/L = $1.20/gal = € 0.22/L.

The next oasis south of Farafra was Dakhla. The flat terrain was giving sanDRina very good fuel mileage and by cruising around 90 km/h (56 mph), I was getting 25 km/L (58 mpg).

Freshly-planted trees to liven up the desert route. Guess which way the wind blows here... It was past 11 am now and the heat was getting quite intense. I wanted to stop for a few hours somewhere during the hottest part of the day and luck was on my side.

I stopped for a water break near the village of El-Mahoob, about 30 kms (19 mi) north of Dakhla, and Mohammed here caught up with me on his Chinese motorbike carrying some fresh alfalfa. I had only learned a few words and phrases in Arabic and after the greetings he signaled that universal sign for food: bunched fingers pointing to the mouth. He was inviting me for lunch and I thought this would be a perfect way to spend a few hours to escape the mid-day heat.

I followed Mohammed for a few kilometers and we soon arrived at his house. I gathered that the building on the right was a newly built addition to his house and the older parts were on the left and behind.

As I learned from my time in Bahariya, the Bedouin people are very hospitable and this is built into their house design. Every modern Bedouin house has a guest room next to their front door for entertaining guests and visitors.

This room is separate from the rest of the house because of the Islamic tradition where strangers should not interact with the female members of a family, but strangers are still most welcome. Living in the harsh climate of the desert, humans have long learned to support each other, even those who are not kin.

After a short while, Mohammed showed up with a fan and a tray of tasty Bedouin food. I like how the bread is evenly spaced around the tray. I was familiar with the green sauce, which was a leafy vegetable that when cooked had the stringiness of okra. The brown sauce was a lentil soup and especially for me, an omelet. We ate mostly in silence and I felt very bad for not learning more Arabic. During lunch, a friend of Mohammed's, Ahmed, showed up and spoke English. I found out that they were teachers. Ahmed kept probing me for my views on the revolution and sensing his defensive nature, I diplomatically ended that topic.

After lunch, I told Ahmed to tell Mohammed that I wanted to take a nap for an hour or so to beat the heat and they directed me to this open room with sofas under a fast-moving fan. The concept of a siesta, or a qayloulah in Arabic, was easily understood as all civilizations in hot climates have adopted the habit of a short nap after lunch to recharge the body for the rest of the day. I got some shut-eye for an hour, then took a shower and thanked Mohammed for his kind hospitality. I could sense a genuine feeling of care from him and understood a bit more of how the desert has shaped its people over the millennia.

At 3 pm, I got back on the road and had about 220 kms (137 m) to go till Kharga. This greenery comes from the oasis of Dakhla. The heat was slowing letting up but the issue in the afternoon is that the ground has been heating up all day and starts re-radiating this heat back out, so I was still guzzling down water, about 7.5 L (2 gal) on this day.

A water pump station in Dakhla, sucking up essential H20 from the underground aquifers that have kept these oases alive through the centuries. But I wonder how much longer the water will last when such industrial force is thrown behind the act of water removal, which was done by donkeys and oxen until the recent past.

A donkey cart, the primary means of transport through the desert... until fossil fuels were discovered.

Enjoying the desert scenery as I neared Kharga. South of the Western Desert in Egypt is the Libyan Desert, which is of course mostly in Libya but also covers a large portion of southwestern Egypt.

I reached Kharga just at dusk and met up with Mario and Christina, whom I contacted through CouchSurfing. They were both working for an Italian NGO here and were happy to receive a guest. Mario is the country manager for the Italian-Egyptian Debt for Development Swap Program and Christina recently joined his office. The program was set up so that instead of Egypt paying back its debts to Italy, it commits those funds to development work, saving on loss of foreign currency.

We went out for dinner and had this crispy, flaky, almost pastry-like pizza. The cheese, meat and vegetables were on the inside and it felt more like a meat pie, but the crust was super thin. It was delicious and I enjoyed the fact that a huge bowl of fresh olives was served like a salad.

The next day, I accompanied Mario and Christina on a task they had to do in the desert. They were mapping all the areas of interest in and around Kharga to setup eco-tourism initiatives as a method of sustainable development. We arrived at Labakha, a site with a Roman fort that was taken care of by Sayed, who is Italian-Egyptian.

Like bread crumbs dropped to mark a route, out in the Libyan Desert, west of the Nile, are a series of Roman ruins. These ruins were once formidable forts that were built to protect the Darb el-Arbain caravan route that originated in Dafur, Sudan, and passed through oases along the way, through Kharga and ended further north in Asyut on the Nile.

Mario was charged with taking detailed photos of the fort at Labakha so that a 3D visualization could be made for exploration in Google Earth to promote tourism in this area. We had to be there as close to noon as possible to reduce capturing shadows and that meant we were baking hot.

The Roman fort at Labakha. It's a grand structure and I can imagine how imposing it must've been on the landscape during its hey days about 2,000 years ago. Both Mario and Christina are from the present-day Rome area and I wondered if modern Italians feel a strong connection to their famous ancestors.

Christina, by an outcrop of palm trees. They're all huddling around a water source next to the fort.

Around the time of Christ, the Roman Empire had established itself all along the Mediterranean coast, including Egypt. Most of present-day Egypt was under Roman control and the Nile Valley became the grain producer for the Empire.

In the 4th century AD, the empire built fortifications all along its borders and Kharga, as its southernmost border, received a series of forts, such as the ruins of this grand structure.

A hole in the wall... leading to a dungeon?

The roof of the fort had long been brought down and no excavations have been carried out here, yet. I wonder where that tunnel leads to.

The ruins of living quarters, perhaps, next to the fort.

This thirsty mutt followed us across the desert from Sayed's place and sought shelter from the oppressive heat under this bush. We shared some of our water with him.

Near the fort, on an embankment, was an old Roman temple. The arch in front of Mario had collapsed, but the mud bricks were still standing.

Mario encouraged me to go up this tunnel to get a view of some skeletons. Alrighty, let's go...

The tunnel lead to this small opening. Note the marks in the ceiling. And the hole on the left was the chamber with...

...human skeletons and bats! Most of the bones looked really old, except that strange, white, thigh bone. Hmmm...

Here's a close-up of that bat. Amazing how taut its wings are. Bats are mammals, just like us, and provide very important ecological services, such as pollinating flowers (like bees) and pest control, reducing the need for fertilizers. It's too bad that popular culture has demonized them by focusing on one variety (vampire bats) out of thousands that eat fruits and insects.

On my way out of the tunnel, I noticed the loosely-held keystone of this arch that I went under. It's going to fall down any day now.

Footsteps in the sand... Walking back to Sayed's compound.

Sayed has tapped the underground water to feed his small oasis, growing date palms and alfalfa, the primary food for donkeys and horses here.

We relaxed in the shade after our trek through the scorching heat of the desert. Sayed said he inherited this land as his family used to live here before and now he's trying to set up an eco-tourist hostel, complete with mud housing for natural cooling.

A home-made hookah for smoking sheesha. It works by having the incoming smoke being released under water and the outgoing pipe collecting this water-filtered smoke from the space above the water. A simple concept, probably as old as tobacco.

Pottery made by Sayed and decorated with naturally-occurring colored sand.

After cooling down our body temperature, Sayed said we could now jump in his pool. Wow, that felt refreshing. It was surprisingly quite cold as the water isn't exposed to sunlight until it reaches the surface.

Sayed showed me how the water comes from a spring up in the hills and the Roman-built infrastructure was still working to this day, delivering fresh, cold water to his oasis.

The opening in the rock, in the lower left, is the end of the passage that carries water from up in the hills. The series of wells were service points to get down and unclog rocks or sand.

These service wells were dug 2,000 years ago and their structure is still standing till today.

A close-up of the surface of the water as seen from a service well. Looks like a couple dead insects and the reflection of my Canon 50D SLR with a Tamron 18-270mm lens. This shot was taken at the maximum focal length of 270mm.

The huge well that supports Sayed's oasis. He's got a very nice property out here and he's hoping Mario and Christina's efforts pay off in bringing more tourists to Labakha.

We got back into town and Mario and Christina said they'd like me to prepare my signature chicken curry for them. First thing on the shopping list: a chicken. We went with their driver and picked up a fresh bird.

Weighing up the chosen bird. Christina was feeling a bit uneasy about being this close to her food and went to wait outside. She did better than Mario who refused to get out of the jeep. (Warning: next picture not for the faint of heart)

Its throat was slit and after a few minutes in a rotary machine, most of its feathers came off. The butcher put the finishing touches on the bird and we had a freshly-slaughtered chicken for a curry.

Next up was vegetables. My recipe is very simple and requires onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic and chilies.

On the way home, we passed this street seller who had freshly-baked bread for the evening meal.

Picking up some fresh bread for the driver and some for us.

Scars of Egypt's Revolution. We passed Kharga's Fire Station on the way home and Mario pointed out how during the early days of the revolution (January 2011), this fire station and some police stations were set on fire by protestors.

Cooking my chicken curry for Mario and Christina as a way of saying thanks for my wonderful time in Kharga. They invited me to stay longer as there was much more to see here, but I was running of days on my Egyptian visa and had to get to Aswan within the next week.

I'm so grateful for a network like CouchSurfing.org that puts like-minded travelers and hosts together. In a span of just two days, I had a rich experience of Kharga, which probably wouldn't have happened if I was just staying in some cheap hotel and following a guide book. The excursion out to the desert to see the Roman fort at Labakha was an insightful trek into the long and storied history of these deserts.

I'm also thankful to Mohammed and our chance meeting on the road outside Dakhla. He reinforced what Bedouin hospitality is all about and affirmed my choice to travel by motorcycle, which makes encounters like this all the more possible.

Next: Egypt, Part 12: Across the Desert into Present-Day Luxor

Previous: Egypt, Part 10: Camping out in the White Desert

Snapshot: Baobab, Tree of Life

2012-01-03T19:45:00.001+03:00

3 January 2012

A baobab tree over-looking a field of maize near the Kenyan coast. It's called the Tree of Life in Africa for the many uses to humans that it has provided through the ages: the baobab fruit is highly nutritious, loaded with Vitamin C, Calcium and anti-oxidants; the huge tree trunk stores lots of water and is tapped in the dry season; and some hollowed-out trees even provide shelter. It's also called the Upside Down Tree since it looks like its roots are up in the air. The baobab is a deciduous tree, meaning it loses its leaves in the dry season, which is a majority of the year here. [Shot with a Canon SD940 IS in Dec 2011]

Selected to be a Jupiter's Traveller

2012-01-01T19:16:00.000+03:00

1 January 2012

Im excited to announce that I've been selected to become a Jupiter's Traveller by the Ted Simon Foundation! Ted rode around the world on a Triumph motorcycle in 1973 and his book from that four-year journey, Jupiter's Travels, inspired and influenced all future motorcycle travellers. His foundation was setup to assist current travellers in forming their experiences into something of value to share. I hope to write a book about my journey and the foundation will guide me there.

A wonderful start to the new year :)

Egypt, Part 10: Camping out in the White Desert

2011-12-30T19:11:00.001+03:00

28 - 29 May 2011

An area of surrealistic limestone sculptures in the Sahara that's safe to camp at night. I'm there.

On par with the remote magnificence of Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni salt flats, Egypt's White Desert was a destination I was highly looking forward to. Especially to experience once again camping out in the vast openness with not a soul around and surrounded by a beauty that Nature has carved up for us to enjoy. The White Desert is so called due to the numerous limestone-chalk pillars that have been sculpted by erosion into natural works of art.

I spent a wonderful night in the desert, camping under the stars, among the great formations in the White Desert.

__________________

A fork in the road as I left the oasis of Bahariya. Going right would take me west to the oasis of Siwa, near the Libyan border and going left would continue my journey south towards the oasis of Farafra.

The southern reaches of the Black Desert just outside Bahariya. My destination for the night, the White Desert, lay about 140 kms (87 mi) south of Bahariya. I left in the mid-afternoon so that I would arrive there before sunset and was pleased at how much cooler it felt while I was moving than I expected.

Taking a water break and happy to have a healthy motorcycle as I headed across the desert.

Volcanic rock formations in the Western Desert, adding texture to the sands of the Sahara.

Knowing that I was riding through the Great Sahara Desert, which previously invoked images of bleakness and desolation, I was surprised at the amount of color on display.

Looking back at a slow climb up this ridge, highlighting the range of geologic relief in the Sahara. While the road was entirely paved, the blowing sands managed to reclaim some parts of it, covering my path in meters of soft sand at times that required cautious driving with a heavily-laden motorcycle in windy conditions.

With our shadows growing longer, sanDRina and I were delighted to note the change from black tops to white tops of the formations in the distance.

I had arrived at the White Desert National Park, an area of Egypt's Western Desert covered in bright chalk pillars, carved into spectacular sculptures by the wind and rain.

A little ways into the park, I found a nice spot to camp for the night. The winds were coming from the west, so I parked up behind this mound but still had to secure my tent down with some large rocks as I couldn't use my tent pegs on the hard rock surface.

With shelter setup for the night, I walked around in the open-air gallery that the sand-borne winds of the Sahara have produced for our minds to enjoy.

The shapes in the chalk pillars were mesmerizing and I was smiling from ear to ear knowing that if Nature is left to its ways, it has the ability to stun us. In our current paradigm, where we believe humans extol great control over Nature, it is humbling to be among giant pieces of rock shaped by invisible forces, slowly at work over millennia.

A mushroom-shaped chalk pillar in the White Desert, with sanDRina and my tent in the background. The direction of the prevailing wind coming from the left (west) can be discerned from the shape of the mushroom head. To me it resembles the shape of Earth's magnetic field in space, with the side facing the Sun (left) having compressed fields from the solar wind and the side away from the Sun (right) having expanded fields in Earth's wake. There is a beauty to appreciate in recognizing the connection between forces that are visible on the human scale and those on much larger scales as it all lies on a spectrum.

A face in the rock brought to life by the shadows of the setting sun. The details of the deep sculpting of Aeolian forces; sand-borne wind loosening one grain at a time to result today in a shape that human minds automatically recognize as familiar.

Wonderful sculptures of chalk in every direction in the White Desert.

Over-hanging structures in the chalk pillars resembling a ferocious alien creature with its jaws open.

A clean fracture down the center of this large chalk pillar glowing in the fading sunlight. Chalk is a type of limestone that is formed by the shells of marine organisms. These organisms, such as mollusks, plankton and sponges, remove carbon dioxide from the ocean and use it to build their external body structures (like shells), turning it into calcium carbonate. Then when these organisms die, they drift down to the sea floor and slowly, over eons, as the carbonate builds up, it gets pushed deeper into the Earth's crust where it is compressed into chalk. This is a process of natural carbon sequestration (removing CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it).

An interesting profile of a chalk pillar, sculpted by erosive forces. The presence of chalk implies that all this area was once under water, a strange idea considering it's currently a hot desert. 60 million years ago, after the dinosaurs vanished, this area of the African continent was under a shallow sea. It was closer to the tropics than it is today and that's where marine organisms with calcium carbonate shells thrive. As the African plate collided with the European plate, it lifted this part of the continent out of the sea and exposed this formation of chalk to the weathering forces of wind and rain resulting in the sculptures that we see today.

A timeless instance of chalk formations and ripples in the sand. I wonder what ancient man must have thought when he first came upon these shapes in the desert.

A hook in the rock, carved by the sculptor known as Wind.

Shadows in the desert growing long as the sun tucked in below the horizon. I was only at the edge of the White Desert and looked out at the vast sea of chalk sculptures deeper inside. Others who have gone in with tour guides have told me about a whale fossil and numerous stunning landscapes. However, I was content with my location and its grand views.

The White Desert is actually white in many parts, looking like mounds of salt or ice. Perhaps these are areas of chalk that haven't been imbedded with sand grains by the fierce winds.

A Sphinx-looking sculpture appearing at the end of this chalk pillar in the White Desert. This supports the theory behind the mystery of the origins of the Sphinx that says it was either a natural chalk sculpture itself, finished off by humans or at least its human sculptors took inspiration from the shapes in the desert.

Another Sphinx-like figure appearing in a chalk pillar.

The setting sun in the White Desert, framed by a sculpted cut in a chalk pillar.

As the sun fell before the horizon, it cast an aural glow back into the sky above the chalk formations of the White Desert.

With daylight fading, I allowed my eyes to adjust to twilight and set about eating dinner. As I left Bahariya, Hamada gave me some of his dehydrated Bedouin bread that I had with a can of fuul medammes (fava beans). I leaned against sanDRina and looked up as the stars took their place in the sky.

With the stars fully out in the grand night sky of the desert, I captured this long exposure shot of my view through my mesh tent. It got chilly but I was comfortable enough in my light summer sleeping bag and silk liner. The light on the horizon is from the nearby oasis of Farafra, about 45 km (28 mi) away.

The view from inside my mesh tent the next morning as I awoke with first light at 5 am.

The first thing I always do in the morning is check to see how sanDRina is doing. The winds in the night caused her bike cover to ride up, but luckily it didn't blow away.

Welcoming back Ra, El Sol, in the east, after his passage through the underworld that he entered in the west.

Desert Fox tracks around my tent and bike. Last night, while I was having dinner, a desert fox approached me, drawn in by the smell of food in this desolate area. They're not dangerous but I shooed her away as I don't agree with feeding wild animals as it breeds a sense of dependency. She came back again after I got in my tent and I heard scratching noises around the bike but no harm done.

The thing that I continue to love about this bike, even after all the time we've been together, is her chirpy look. sanDRina has that, 'hey, get up, let's go!' look. Hang on there you composition of nuts and bolts, your rider needs some breakfast and time to pack up house before hitting the road.

Enjoying breakfast with a view, soaking in the first rays of light in the White Desert.

Finishing off the Bedouin bread and my can of fuul medammes from dinner last night for breakfast. I usually prepare oatmeal in the morning when camping but appreciated the chance of not having to setup my stove, boil water, cook and clean, which usually adds another 30 minutes to my morning camping routine. I was looking to get moving before the Sun got too hot so that I could enjoy the desert riding.

Rolling out of the White Desert by 7 am and continuing south to the oasis of Farafra and Dhakla.

I thoroughly enjoyed my night camping out in the White Desert. The chalk sculptures are stunning and left me wanting to come back again to go deeper inside into this mausoleum that millions of ancient marine creatures left for us to enjoy today. I still had a lot more of the Sahara to cross before reaching Ethiopia and I wondered what surprises the desert would have for me ahead.

Next: Egypt, Part 11: The Oasis of Kharga and Roman Ruins

Previous: Egypt, Part 9: The Oasis of Bahariya

Snapshot: Flamingos on Lake Naivasha

2011-12-27T09:50:00.000+03:00

25 December 2011

Had an excellent Christmas camping trip to Lake Naivasha with four other friends from Nairobi. Lots of gourmet camping food on the grill with two chickens being slaughtered, one done Tandoori style and the other like a Jamaican jerk. Desert was Oreo smores and chocolate banana bread ;) Went on a nice, long mountain bike ride along the lake, some off-road and saw lots of wildlife: zebra, impala, warthogs and pink flamingos.

Status Update: Naivasha Camping

2011-12-24T09:28:00.002+03:00

Heading to Lake Naivasha for a Christmas camping trip. Lots of grilling and single malt scotch planned for the weekend. Enjoy the holiday wherever you are :)

Snapshot: Sunrise at Watamu, Kenya

2011-12-22T21:49:00.000+03:00

20 December 2011

Just before sunrise over the Indian Ocean from Watamu on the Kenyan coast. The colors of twilight were heavily peace-inducing but contrasted with my anticipation of the moment the Sun's leading edge would cross the horizon. Fishing boats were heading out to sea and I was headed for another lazy day on the beach. [Shot in Dec 2011, using a Canon 50D/Sigma 10-20mm Lens at 10mm, f/4, 1/15 sec]

Status Update: Beach Break

2011-12-20T08:00:00.002+03:00

Aah, I could get used to this life. Lazing on the beaches of sleepy Watamu. Went snorkeling for the first time, beautiful corals :) Eating lots of fish and chapati. A little paradise on the African coast with clear skies at night. Volcanic rocks are being broken down by the surf and the extreme tides here, makes for an epic landscape. Enjoying multiple cold showers thru the day. Last day on the coast.

Status Update: Beach Break

2011-12-17T07:17:00.002+03:00

Things are slowing down here for Christmas and New Years and I'm heading down to the Kenyan coast for some R&R. Driving with a few friends for three days in Watamu, a sleepy little town with beautiful white beaches :)

Egypt, Part 9: The Oasis of Bahariya

2011-12-16T17:16:00.001+03:00

26 - 27 May 2011

After more than two weeks in Cairo, I was looking forward to getting back on sanDRina and heading south. I enjoyed my time in the hectic city, but the open space of the desert was calling. There are multiple routes heading south from Cairo: one follows the Red Sea coast, another follows the Nile going through every little town along the way, then there's a brand new highway through the desert along the Nile and lastly the path I took, The Oasis Route through the Western Desert.

As its name implies, the route goes through several oases that are scattered in Egypt's vast Western Desert, which is on the eastern end of the grand Sahara desert. My destination was the first oasis of Bahariya, where I connected with Hamada through CouchSurfing and had a wonderful experience of water in the desert and sleeping under the stars.

_____________________

Getting out of Cairo after more than two weeks there and I was eager to leave the cacophony of traffic behind.

Aah, finally out on the open road and heading southwest to the oasis of Bahariya.

My route through Egypt. Bahariya is at the intersection of where the road from Siwa joins the Oasis Route. Click on it to go to the interactive version in Google Maps.

Solar-powered cell phone towers in the desert. Mobile technology is spreading fast throughout the world and there are not many places where you can't get a cell signal these days. Comforting for some, annoying for others who want to get away from it all. I bought a local Mobinil Sim card so that I could connect with my hosts along the way.

sanDRina out on the Oasis Route in Egypt's Western Desert. It was about 12:30 and the dry heat was intense. The 400 kms (248 mi) from Cairo to Bahariya was easy riding but I stopped frequently to drink water. It wasn't just plain water as I had made my own rehydration solution, which my sister recommended. In a liter of water, I put 1 tablespoon of sugar, half a teaspoon of salt and squirted some concentrated lime juice in it.

Passing through some construction that looked like the desert had taken back the tarmac. This whole route was off-road until just a few years back when it got paved all the way to Luxor. The sky also changed along the way, looking like it might rain at times.

Climbing up and down big reliefs through the Western Desert. It's not all sand dunes in the Sahara. There are definitely vast seas of sand from here to Morocco, but there are also huge rocky mountains and plateaus, as well.

After not seeing any vegetation for hundreds of kilometers, this first sighting of green was a welcome relief. I had arrived in the oasis town of Bahariya.

Hamada preparing some Bedouin Mint Tea. I contacted Hamada through CouchSurfing and he welcomed me into his home. I was quite lucky as he had just activated his account and I was his first guest through this network. He's a professional tour guide leading tourists on desert safaris. He comes from a Bedouin family, but they've now settled in the town of Bahariya, a common trend among many nomadic peoples in the Middle East.

The Juice of the Desert: Bedouin Mint Tea. This drink flows freely all through the desert and is prepared with regular tea leaves, fresh mint leaves and copious amounts of sugar. My Indian heritage has blessed me with a sweet tooth to enjoy the two heaped spoons of sugar that go with every small cup of tea here. I soon realized that this is how the locals stay hydrated as the tea helps your body absorb more water than just drinking it plain.

Before the tea, Hamada's mother prepared a fantastic lunch. There was fried fish, beans, a veggie dish and fresh tomato and pepper salad with lots of rice and lafa, Egyptian flat bread. There are no individual plates as the Bedouin habit of communal eating is still strong, which I really enjoyed. It breeds a sense of trust and creates strong bonds.

After a short nap through the hottest part of the day, Hamada and his friend, Taheer, took me for a tour around the oasis.

We stopped at this spring where tall pines trees were growing.

There was a tank built around the spring, which was feeding water to the nearby area.

It looked really inviting...

...and we jumped in to cool off with the fresh water flowing from aquifers deep underground. The force of the water gave me an excellent massage.

The exit from the tank flowing out to irrigate the land. Where does all this fresh water come from? Surprisingly, deep under the parched surface of the Sahara lies a vast quantity of ground water in aquifers. Most of this is fossil water, meaning that it got there millions of years ago and is not being recharged by rain water, so it is a non-renewable resource, like oil. At Bahariya, some of its water is recharged by rains but the rate of extraction is exceeding the rate of replenishment making for an unsustainable future.

After an enjoyable swim, a small fire was prepared for...

...a pot of tea that looked well used on open fires.

Hamada's friend who was running this spring looked like a proper Bedouin just settled after years of roaming the desert.

A moss and sediment-lined canal flowing through the spring, nourishing the giant trees.

Right outside the spring was the desert, where the greenery stopped. Out of reach from water and life quickly becomes constrained.

We headed out on a route through a sandy valley.

Taheer driving us in a trusty old Toyota Land Cruiser.

Passing by the English Mountains, which were capped in black rock. They got their name as this is where the British were perched looking for invaders from Libya during World War I.

Taheer was a warm and friendly soul with heaps of experience of desert driving.

The landscape looked quite alien, even moon-like. This area is the southern end of the Black Desert, which a few kilometers to the north of here is dotted with volcanoes covered in the same black rocks.

We stopped at a well that exposed the geologic past of this area. The distinctive sedimentary layers reveal the changing conditions of this basin as it shifted from wet to dry periods with the most recent drying out of the Sahara beginning only about 6,000 years ago, which coincides with Egyptians concentrating around the Nile and the growth of their famous civilization. Dinosaur fossils have also been found in these sediments, indicating the past richness of fauna and flora.

We exited the Black Desert and headed for another oasis.

This was just north of Bahariya where most of the region's agriculture takes place. Besides dates and olives, guavas are a cash crop here.

We headed for a small property just beyond the oasis...

...that Hamada and Taheer had recently acquired and were looking to develop into an eco-tourist lodge.

The location was fantastic with sweeping views from a small hill on the property, where they laid down a mat and we just relaxed and chatted about all things. They said when they acquired it, this place was all sand, so they put up the fence, built a rough shelter and were slowing developing it.

The hidden sun was throwing beautiful light on the nearby hills and the surrounding sand dunes.

A panoramic view from atop the hill of this large oasis sustained by free flowing underground water, that even collected into a small lake. Click here to see the high resolution version.

The aptly named Pyramid Mountain, shaped by the weathering of its stone by the fierce desert winds. I thought the Pharaohs might have gotten the idea of building their pyramids from natural shapes such as this, but it was most likely just an evolution of flat tombs with stones piled on top.

Taheer watering the future trees of his property.

While we sat and relaxed on the hillock, I saw what looked like a sandstorm blowing in, but the others didn't flinch and it blew over without much effect.

I was enjoying being out in the desert and asked Hamada if we could sleep outside, under the stars, which they said they regularly do. So, we went back into town, got some supplies: food, water and sleeping bags and spent the night out in the desert.

I easily awoke at 5 am to see the desert changing from night to day. It wasn't as cold as I expected but I put my silk liner inside my summer sleeping bag and that was sufficient. It did get a bit sandy, so I covered my head with a t-shirt.

Our star, the Sun, rising above the haze by the horizon, next to Pyramid Mountain. You can imagine such a sight inspiring the ancients into deifying this experience and creating Ra, the Sun god.

The first rays cast a beautiful light across Hamada and Taheer's desert lodge.

I couldn't go back to sleep once the Sun was up, so I explored around and came across this pump that had fuel containers scattered around it.

Densely-growing alfalfa near the water pump. This is the main fodder for donkeys, a key transport if you can't afford a vehicle here.

Freshly sowed fields sustained by water from the pump. It was just past 7 am and the Sun was already pretty intense.

Back on the property that was fenced in with date palm leaves.

The Land Cruiser, at home in the desert.

The date palm fence rising up from the sea of sand.

The inside of the hut on their property, made with date palm trunks and lined with plastic to keep the sand out. It's still a work in progress.

Hamada preparing some Bedouin bread. It's prepared by initially baking it under the sand and then left to dry and become rock hard under the Sun. This way it can be taken on long journeys across the desert and simply needs to be rehydrated to become edible again. It might sound strange to put water on bread, but it was surprisingly very tasty and not soggy.

An inviting meal setting in a date palm hut in the desert.

A tasty brunch of Bedouin bread, goat cheese, tomatoes and peppers, yoghurt and boiled eggs. Mmm, mmm, good.

We got back in town and being a Friday, Hamada was heading for prayers at the local mosque. I asked if I could join him and he was happy to get me a jellabiya, the free-flowing dress of Arab men. His mother said I could pass as his brother. Since non-Muslims aren't allowed into mosques, especially during prayers, Hamada told me not to speak to anyone (of course since I couldn't speak more than a few words of Arabic) and to just follow him through the motions of prayer. He was quite impressed at how well I passed for a practicing Muslim.

In the afternoon, we walked about the town, which wasn't that exciting, except for...

...the kids of Bahariya. What were these two up to with this motorcycle? This reminds me of my cousins who said they used to push their dad's scooter up a hill in our village outside Madras to learn how to ride without using any petrol.

We spent some time meeting some of their friends and of course, drinking lots of mint tea. A strange thing about Bahariya is that almost 90% of the vehicles are Toyota Land Cruisers. This is an FJ40, the classic body style, built from 1960 to 1984. The world over, this particular vehicle has been relied on for rough and tough driving and is still considered the most dependable 4x4 by rebels, such as those just across the border in Libya.

A white Toyota Hilux (another staple 4x4) stops in the square to sell some freshly harvested alfalfa and passersby stop to pick some up for their livestock. At one point, I counted 9 different Land Cruisers in my field of view. Hamada explained that as the Egyptian Army upgrades it Land Cruisers, they sell off the older models cheaply to the public, who grab them up as dependable desert cruisers.

This gang of young girls strutted by, oozing confidence in their stride and maybe collecting protection fees from the shopkeepers.

Nope, just some watermelon.

An elderly man walking away with some fresh alfalfa.

Back at Hamada's house for a tasty dinner of rice with lentils, lafa, beans, pickled onions and tomato salad. The rice with lentils looked like and tasted very much like a comfort food that my mother makes.

That evening, I managed to fill up with petrol as there wasn't any the previous day and the fresh delivery caused a rush but Hamada told me to go to the front of the line, which no one seemed to mind. With 40 liters (10.6 gal) in my tank from Cairo, I was good to go to the next oasis of Dhakla, but it's always safe to top up, especially as I wasn't sure of fuel availability further south.

Hamada was a great host for my two days in the oasis of Bahariya and I was thankful to experience a bit of Bedouin culture, especially as most of it is eroding with influence from Cairo. The night out in the desert with Taheer and Hamada was a sublime experience and got me geared up for some more desert camping coming up in the White Desert.

Next: Egypt, Part 10: Camping out in the White Desert

Previous: Egypt, Part 8: The Pyramids of Giza and The Sphinx

Article: Why I Travel Solo on BikerCamps.com

2011-12-12T17:19:00.000+03:00

I got an article published on BikerCamps.com on Why I Travel Solo. Who else likes to travel solo?

Snapshot: Tilapias at Kenyatta Market

2011-12-09T10:31:00.000+03:00

9 December 2011

Tilapias for sale at Kenyatta Market in Nairobi. Coming fresh from Lake Victoria. They'll salt and grill them for the same price as buying them raw. Price per fish ranges from $2 to $4. These girls had lots of character and said I could take their picture if I brought them back a print, which I did on my following visit.

Interview on SideStandUp

2011-12-06T21:04:00.000+03:00

Going to be interviewed on online motorcycle radio show SideStandUp.com tonight (Dec 6) at 9:15 pm EST (NYC). The show runs from 8-10 pm. Listen live from the below website:

Updates from Kenya.

Egypt, Part 8: The Pyramids of Giza and The Sphinx

2011-12-06T20:59:00.001+03:00

24 May 2011

At the end of my two weeks in Cairo, it was finally time to see Egypt's grandest attraction, the Pyramids of Giza. I spent a couple hours at the Giza Necropolis (the Pyramid Complex) and besides the ancient wonders on display, I took in all the geometrical shapes that my mechanical side enjoys.

I also splurged and entered the Great Pyramid, having it all to myself for about 20 minutes, which was an immense moment.

_________________________

The Great Pyramid of Giza, also known as the Pyramid of Khufu (or Cheops). It's the largest pyramid in the world and was completed in 2,560 BC. It is a massive structure with its base running 230 m (755 ft) and with a height of 146.5 m (481 ft). What's most impressive to me is that it's been standing here for the past 4,571 years! And is likely to still be standing for eons to come.

The northeast corner of Khufu's Pyramid with camel touts yearning for all the tourists to come back. They've probably been here too through the ages and this shot could be from any century in the past. The pyramid is made of limestone blocks of varying sizes and a total of 2.3 million huge blocks are used in its construction.

Along the north face of Khufu's Pyramid, there's a section of removed stones, which exposes the top of the King's burial chamber. Huge granite slabs were placed at angles to deflect the weight of the stones on top from collapsing the void of the chamber below.

The top of Khufu's Pyramid with its peak missing. Just so that the Great Pyramid remains the tallest pyramid, they've put that wooden structure on top, nudging nearby Khafre's pyramid to second tallest structure around.

A notch in the northeastern crease of the pyramid, which some Egyptologists have suggested reveals a possible construction method of the pyramid. It still hasn't been settled how exactly the pyramids were built with the popular one being a huge ramp to slide the rocks up, but building the ramp would've taken as much time and stones as the pyramid. From exploring the notch, an idea has come up that the pyramids had concentrically-rising corridors near its exterior that acted as a ramp for the blocks.

And now for a tour inside the Great Pyramid. This entrance is known as the Robbers' Tunnel and was dug out in AD 820 by Caliph al-Ma'mun who wanted to plunder the treasures inside. It's narrow and slanted and not for claustrophics.

At the top of the tunnel, I entered into the Grand Gallery, which leads to the King's Chamber. The gallery is about 47 m (153 ft) long with a roof 8.60 m (28 ft) high. It was fantastic to see such a huge void knowing that I was surrounded by a massive quantity of rock all around.

Notches running up the gallery that an Egyptologist has theorized were used in ratcheting in place the granite slabs for the burial chamber ahead.

Looking down the entire length of the Grand Gallery, the way I came up. You can see that the gallery narrows towards the roof. This was so that the walls would support the weight of the stones of top of the gallery.

The sharp cut edges of granite blocks in the Grand Gallery.

After crawling through another short tunnel, I emerged in the King's Chamber, the focus of the pyramid. Today it's an empty room about 10 m (33 ft) by 5 m (17) with a roof 6 m (20 ft) high with the only object being this sarcophagus. It's quite roughly finished with suggestions that the original fancy granite one was lost in the Nile during transport and this replacement one was put together quickly. Egyptologists have suggested this because they've found very ornately decorated sarcophagi in other less grand pyramids.

One corner of the King's Chamber. The whole room is made of granite blocks that were quarried in Aswan and floated down the Nile. Besides the feat of transporting and placing such huge and heavy blocks of granite 4,500 years ago, what's even more impressive to me are the precision cuts that they were able to make in granite, one of the toughest stones on Earth.

At another corner in the King's Chamber, some cracks in the granite are visible, along with patch work done by the Antiquities department. It's been deduced that the granite was cut by the original masons by first finding natural cracks in the rock into which wooden wedges were inserted. Water was then poured on the wedges, which after absorbing the water would expand and further crack the rock. Then, there was lots and lots of polishing to get the smooth finish, but still, getting sharp edges seems quite the feat.

I had good timing with my visit to the interior of the Great Pyramid as just as I entered a group of Polish tourists left and then there was no one else there for the next 20 minutes. I tried to imagine what would drive a man (Pharaoh Khufu) to dedicate his whole life to building such a grand structure and having the power and will to employ the tens of thousands of workers it took to erect this nearly eternal monument to himself.

Grooves cut in the stone above the entrance to the King's Chamber, probably used as a locking device. Well, that didn't work too well as it's been suggested that the treasure was stolen within a few years or few hundred of the pyramid's completion.

Back outside in the blazing sun and getting a shot for perspective on how huge the blocks of limestone are. The Great Pyramid is so massive that two corners of it merge into a straight line with the apex in the middle. It was only 9:30 in the morning, but the sun was already high in the sky.

Avenue of giants. Having my own transport meant that I could ride around the complex freely. This is the road heading toward the second pyramid on the right, with the Great Pyramid on my left.

sanDRina and the Pyramid of Khafre (or Chefren), who's father was Pharaoh Khufu. Out of respect or decree, he couldn't build a taller pyramid that his father's but just to spite him, Khafre built his on bedrock that's 10 m higher, so his pyramid appears taller than his dad's. That family must've had some power issues. So, Khafre's Pyramid is 136 m (448 ft) tall with a base running 215 m (705 ft) on each side.

South, behind Khafre's Pyramid is the third pyramid of Giza, that of Pharaoh Menkaure. It looks smaller and it is much smaller. The site for Khafre's Pyramid was inclined ground, compared to the relatively flat area chosen for Khufu's. This required cutting into the bedrock on the northwestern corner of Khafre's site, pictured on the right.

You gotta be a tourist sometimes...

The Pyramid of Menkaure with its signature s-shaped gash and a camel. This pyramid is the only one with any semblance of how it actually looked when it was finished. The bottom fifth is covered in granite casing stones, which remain to this day. Above that, polished limestone was used, which either weathered away or was removed through the ages for other construction projects.

Being smaller in size compared to its more grand neighbors doesn't diminish the stature of Menkaure's Pyramid as he made up for it in quality. The two larger pyramids used polished limestone for their casing, which is not present any more, while Menkaure used pink granite for the first 16 courses around his pyramid. Using granite for the casing stones was very expensive, as it had to come all the way from Aswan, while all the limestone came from nearby quarries.

The Pyramid of Menkaure with its still intact granite casing stones on the bottom and its exposed core that was covered in polished limestone. Some limestone casing stones are thought to have fallen down through the ages due to seismic activity, but most of it was removed by later rulers for the building of Cairo. This pyramid is 61 m (240 ft) tall with sides running 108 m (354 ft).

On the northern face of Menkaure's Pyramid is the sad scar from an attempted demolition of the pyramids by Cairo's rulers in the 12th century. Al-aziz Uthman, son of the great Saladin (who fought back against the crusaders), decided it was time to bring down the pyramids. After 8 months of removing stones, this is their futile result. They gave up as it was taking too much time and money. The pyramid workers were probably laughing in their nearby cemetery (the workers were buried near their king).

I rode around the complex for some better views of these magnificent structures. Khafre's Pyramid looking out over Cairo down below. Khafre's Pyramid appears taller than Khufu's also because its sides are slightly steeper at 53°10' compared to 51°50'.

The Pyramid of Khafre with sanDRina in focus. She's taken me to glaciers in Patagonia and now pyramids in the Sahara.

sanDRina with the Pyramid of Khufu in focus.

At the western edge of the complex, I got this grand view of all the pyramids, who've been here on the Giza Plateau for about 4,570 years. That haze in the distance is Cairo, surrounding the Nile. From here I could see why they chose this site for the pyramids, giving them a height advantage for nearly four millennia. The Great Pyramid (far left) was the tallest man-made structure in the world until AD 1300, being surpassed by the Lincoln Cathedral in England.

The south side of The Great Pyramid with Khufu's Boat Museum in white. It houses one of many boats buried as a grave good for the pharaoh to use in the afterlife, sailing across the heavens with Ra, the sun god and thus these burial boats are known as solar barges.

A close-up of the southeast corner of Khufu's Pyramid. The blocks are much smaller closer to the top than the ones near the base.

I had a packed lunch on the bike and found a nice shady spot in some limestone outcrop with a view of...

...Khafre's Pyramid. Goes well with a sushi roll. I was staying with Ihab and he loves sushi.

Detail of the limestone outcrop near the pyramids. Both the large pyramids are built on existing limestone outcrops so as to reduce the number of stones needed to build up the pyramid.

A little after-lunch meditation under the gaze of Khafre's Pyramid.

A close-up of the tip of Khafre's Pyramid, which is the only pyramid around to retain some of its limestone casing stones, that too around its apex. I imagined what the pyramids must've looked like right after their construction, gleaming white in the desert sun.

The Great Sphinx of Giza, a stone sculpture of a man's head with a lion's body. The Sphinx was carved from a single piece of limestone in situ and thus is the world's largest monolith sculpture. Much mystery still surrounds the age, construction and purpose of the Sphinx. Seeing that it lies in front of Khafre's Pyramid, he is accepted by mainstream Egyptologists as the creator. However, certain dating techniques by geologists put the Sphinx a few centuries before Khafre's time.

The giant paws of the Sphinx. The sculpture was buried up to its neck in sand until it got fully excavated in 1936. Bricks and limestone casing were used to shape the outer surface of the limestone core.

The head of the Sphinx and Khufu's Pyramid in the background. This shot makes the Sphinx appear quite large but actually the pyramid is quite a ways back and is just that much larger.

A close-up of the ear of the Sphinx and the texture of the surface, which has weathered sandstorms through the ages.

The face of the Sphinx with its missing nose and beard. The most likely story is that a certain devout Muslim, Muhammad Sa'im al-Dahr, was so enraged in AD 1378 when he found peasants giving offerings to the Sphinx in hopes of a good harvest that he climbed on top and broke off the nose. He paid the price by being hanged for vandalism. Other stories recall how Napoleon's troops in the late 18th century used the Sphinx as target practice.

The Sphinx and the Pyramid of Khafre, again much further in the background, making the Sphinx appear quite large. The face on the Sphinx has been attributed to that of Khafre's and thus the mainstream acceptance that he was the creator. However, there are currently no inscriptions from the Old Kingdom (2686 BC – 2181 BC) that mentions the Sphinx unlike all the other monuments from this time period. My theory is that the limestone outcrop was carved by Aeolian (wind erosion) processes and a sculptor saw an animal form in the rock and became to shape it. To get the favor of his ruler at that time, he put his head on top of the sculpture.

A wide shot showing Khafre's Pyramid and the Sphinx with Khafre's causeway and valley temple to the right of the Sphinx. Supporting the theory that the Sphinx was there much before the pyramids is the skewed angle of Khafre's causeway to accommodate the Sphinx compared to the more straight causeways of the other pyramids.

That night, I went out with Ihab, who I was staying with to Pub 55 in Maadi, a classic night club under a grand villa. This singer was belting out the tunes and finished off with some Egyptian classics that had the whole place singing along.

I chatted up Magda here who's working in the IT sector and took part in the recent protests. She said it was very brave of me to come to Egypt at this time, but I tried to reassure her that I didn't feel any sense of danger here. In hindsight, I was lucky to pass through Egypt during a lull in protests as they picked up again towards the end of the year as the revolution continues to shape the New Egypt.

Ihab's wonderfully decorated flat with traditional Egyptian touches. The drapes on the wall resembling a Bedouin tent with soft cushions to relax on.

My day on the Giza Plateau was a fantastic experience and I enjoyed traveling back in time, imaging how these very ancient structures must've awed onlookers for a good five millennia. Reading about history in books in one thing, but being there and making your own impressions about it is another matter all together. I hope I've conveyed some of the grandeur that makes the Pyramids of Giza one of the wonders of the world.

And with that, my time in Cairo was finally up. Over the two weeks I spent in the city, I saw its many faces and met many interesting Cairenes, having excellent conversations with them in this tender time of post-revolution honeymoon. I also got many things done and managed to soak in some of coffee house culture there. I got my visa for Sudan, did some good maintenance on sanDRina, explored old souks and mosques and cursed at the traffic. Now, I was ready to head out into the desert and the Oasis Route would take me south.

Next: Egypt, Part 9: The Oasis of Bahariya

Previous: Egypt, Part 7: Dune Bashing in the Sahara

Snapshot: Indian Family Dinner in Nairobi

2011-12-05T16:17:00.000+03:00

5 December 2011

Had a fun weekend, spending time with my adopted Indian family here in Nairobi. The connection is that my sister was at the same medical school (Manipal) as the girls on the left, Shalu, Nupur and Leena (taking the photo). Leena married a friend of my sister, Bethune and his parents are visiting Kenya to see all the in-laws. Tina lives next door and is a first cousin. Leena and her family are from northern India (UP) while Bethune is from southern India (AP), so his mom was making all sorts of tasty and super spicy Andhra food. She was surprised how none of us could handle even her reduced-chilly curries; I'm talking about 10 green chilies with heaps of red chilly powder for a small dish of chicken. I have some leftover mutton curry for lunch today :)

Also attended a pool party BBQ and did some maintenance on sanDRina, gearing down the rear sprocket and stepping down a size on the main jet for Nairobi's elevation. Running much smoother now.

Status Update: Kinetic City Bike Issues

2011-12-02T12:24:00.000+03:00

2 December 2011

Being having some bad luck with the Kinetic city bike. Hit a huge pot hole that damaged the rear wheel hub and that loosened four spokes on the wheel, which in turn punctured the tube. This happened in an area without any bike mechanics, so it took around 3 hours to sort it out. Then in the evening, the engine died on me. Had to push it through traffic and left it at a petrol station for the night. Came back the next day with my mechanic friends here who diagnosed the loss of compression issue as a stuck compression ring on the piston. African ingenuity showed itself when Ken (mechanic friend) poured oil down the spark plug hole, which freed the stuck compression ring and the engine fired up! Albeit smoky for a while. Maybe it's a sign that it's time to move on from this Kinetic. Got a potential buyer...

Back to riding the DR for a few days. I hadn't fired her up in about 2 months and she started up right away. I drained the fuel in the tank, but didnt get to draining the fuel in the carbs, but there was no issue. She's built tough. Riding the DR was an amazing feeling after putzing around on the 170cc for all these weeks. The DR feels sharp, responsive and powerful. But the 14/45 gearing is a bit too jerky for stop and go traffic. Have to step back to 15/42. I love this bike.

Local mechanic removing the damaged spokes from the Kinetic's rear wheel and then he banged out the rim after I hit a massive pot hole in Nairobi.

Video: Jammin thru Egypt | Dune Bashing in the Sahara

2011-11-28T15:49:00.000+03:00

21 May 2011

A day spent playing in the Qattaniya Dunes, about 80kms outside of Cairo. Driver Bisso took Ava and I for his desert rally driving course. Super fun to be charging up a steep dune and then cresting it and sliding down the other side.

Set to some Rodrigo y Gabriela. Enjoy...

Click here for more Videos.

Egypt, Part 7: Dune Bashing in the Sahara

2011-11-25T16:36:00.002+03:00

21 May 2011

During my stay in Cairo, I had a wonderful chance encounter with a traveler I met in Argentina, Ava, and her CouchSurfing host, Bisso, who has a passion for desert rallies. He was heading out into the Qattaniya Dunes outside the city for the last part in a rally driving course on how to tackle dunes and he invited Ava and me along. It was a fun day playing out in the desert with 4x4s.

_____________________________

Heading out into the Sahara and Egypt's Western Desert to the Qattaniya dunes, about 80 kms (50 mi) from Cairo, for a day of dune-bashing - climbing up and over steep sand dunes.

Bisso, standing next to his green Jeep Cherokee and Sharif with the Grand Cherokee. They were out here today for the last part of their driver training in desert rallying.

The instructor for the dune-bashing course in the much-coveted Toyota Hilux D-4D pickup truck and the wavy texture of the dunes.

A group shot of all the vehicles out for the day while their owners attended the drivers meeting. Besides the Hilux and two Jeeps, there were two LandCruisers and an oddball Daihatsu Terios.

The Hilux took off from the flats up to the crest of the dunes.

A LandCruiser followed under full power to crest the dune.

After a few practice runs over smaller crests, the instructor found a set of dunes that the drivers would be tested on.

Bisso hanging out on the crest of a dune, picking his line through the course ahead. The tricky thing about crossing a huge sandy dune is that you need full power to climb the dune but then you have to throttle back as you reach the crest without losing too much momentum that you get stuck. If you don't throttle back, the jeep will fly over the crest and best case, you'll have a hard landing, hurting your suspension and worst case, the jeep will flip over.

Bisso was all smiles on this day out playing in the dunes. He was doing the best of the group as he honed in the controls of his Jeep Cherokee, a durable 4x4 respected for its simple and rugged build. The Cherokee was assembled in Egypt by Arab American Vehicles, a joint venture setup in the 1970s who also assemble other Chryslers and Kias. The domestic Egyptian automobile market is fiercely protected by the government as is evident by their super high import duty on foreign cars and their ridiculously high carnet costs for travelers. It cost me an extra $600 (in carnet fees) just to temporarily import sanDRina into Egypt, but it was worth it.

While the drivers carried on with their course, Ava and I walked the dunes. She's from San Francisco and we met in Mendoza, Argentina last year as we were both staying with the same CouchSurfing host there. Our paths only crossed for a few hours then, but we made a connection as she had a passion for India and was well-versed in philosophical discourses on the mind and the Universe. I lean a bit towards the utilitarian side in the debate about the meaning of life, while she leans more towards the spiritual and agnostic side. As luck would have it, she contacted me a few weeks back to see where I was and we realized we would both be in Cairo at the same time, so we met up.

Footsteps leading off into the desert...

...and then leaping off the desert!

Ava is a free spirit and her positive energy sprung off the desert wanting to be carried away by the wind.

There's something peaceful about being out in such a grand, open space with nothing but sand and sky in view.

Climbing up the steep dunes.

Looking back at our footprints on the ridge with the 4x4s going about their rally course. The area was actually a huge flat expanse except for this thin, long sand dune, which probably moved over time with the desert winds.

Thrilled to be out in the dunes of the Sahara.

Coming down from the dunes.

Every once in a while, one of the drivers would get stuck and then the others would come to the rescue. Everyone had sand ladders and tow ropes.

A slight yank with the tow rope was all it took to free the stricken vehicle. I was skeptical of that Daihatsu at first but then became impressed as she tackled all the same dunes as the other regular 4x4s. It didn't have as much ground clearance, but its 4x4 was effective enough. Also, most of the vehicles, including Bisso's, were automatics.

We got there as early in the day as possible to avoid the intense heat of the afternoon. A mirage looking like a lake, which is just the heat haze from the desert tricking the eyes.

Nothin' but sand and sky. The colors look a little strange as I was trying out a Neutral Density filter on my Canon 50D.

Towards the end of the course, as the drivers started getting a bit tired, more of them were getting stuck. Here, Bisso gets a yank from Sharif over the crest of this dune.

Our fun in the desert got over by about 1pm and we headed back into Cairo. Passing apartment blocks on the edge of the city. There was intense construction underway spurred by Egypt's high growth in the last few years. More housing is also needed due to the increase in rural to urban migration, especially as the productivity of the Nile delta drops. However, unemployment is still very high, which was definitely a factor in the revolution and the growth of people power.

A long line for diesel at a filling station. I was a bit worried as I was planning to leave Cairo and head out across the desert in the next few days and was trying to figure out if there was a fuel shortage or not. Rumors were abound that the transitional military council was artificially limiting fuel supplies to put pressure on the people, maybe to get them to see that things were better before the revolution.

Driving through Giza and oh yeah, something about some pyramids there... (coming up in the next installment).

I spent the evening with Bisso and Ava and after a nap through the afternoon heat, we walked around Bisso's neighborhood in Heliopolis, an affluent suburb initially catering to wealthy residents in the early part of the 20th century. A Egyptian kitty catching some shut-eye on the street while men talk at an outdoor cafe.

A dried snacks shop in Heliopolis. This is a mountain of seeds, not sure what kind with sunflower seeds behind it.

Fresh fish and shrimps being grilled such that their tempting smells brought in passersby from the street.

In the evening, I was requested to prepare my chicken curry as Ava missed it the last time we met and it was a nice way to say thanks to Bisso for the fun day bashing dunes. Also there were Bisso's friend, Ihab and his friend, Joana.

Bisso's cat, Lili, who fit the description of 'fur ball' perfectly.

Compared to the street cats I had seen so far in Egypt, Lili was a pampered princess.

The kind and warm Bisso in the elevator of his apartment building. Note that there's no door on the elevator carriage, so don't lean on that side.

I enjoyed the fun day out in the desert with Bisso and Ava and was happy to meet this wandering soul again. She's on a similar kind of trip as mine, wherein she sold everything and is roaming the planet in search of the next phase of her life. I hope to meet her again, probably in India.

Having only read about dune bashing before, I was thrilled to finally take part in it and play in the desert. Being a driving enthusiast, I was impressed with the technique needed to power up, throttle down, crest and then power down the dunes. Good luck to Bisso in his future rallies.

Next: Egypt, Part 8: The Pyramids of Giza and The Sphinx

Previous: Egypt, Part 6: Bike Maintenance in Cairo

Status Update

2011-11-25T11:38:00.002+03:00

25 November 2011

Lane splitting in Nairobi just got a bit more interesting. The Short Rains season is fully underway, but no problem for a rider with rain gear :) and a bike with good brakes. But I could use a pair of gum boots, lots of mud around some construction areas.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone back in the States! We're having two Thanksgiving dinners this weekend, a veggie one and some kind of meat tomorrow - a turkey is too expensive here, so probably chicken.

Keeping my friends in Cairo in my thoughts as unrest picks up there again. You gotta stand up for your rights!

Calendar for 2012

2011-11-22T19:48:00.000+03:00

And here's my Calendar for 2012!

It's a wall calendar (13"×19") featuring 12 photos, plus the cover, from across Latin America. If you've been along for the ride since the beginning, you'll see some of your favorite photos and for others who have recently joined, you can re-live some of the stunning locations that my bike, sanDRina, has taken me through. For those traveling to LatAm next year, I've marked some important festivals and for the astronomically-aware, important celestial events are noted.

It's a high-quality calendar from lulu.com and gets printed after you order. Click here to

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/Jammin

Sponsorship: Keen Footwear

2011-11-21T20:02:00.000+03:00

November 21, 2011

Got selected to become an ambassador for Keen Footwear. Besides my motocross boots, my only other footwear on this journey has been a pair of Keen Venice sandals, which have worked well in most situations. The protected toe feature has saved me from many potential stubbed toes and wearing the sandals constantly in the sun of Egypt and Sudan gave me a zebra tan on my feet :) Now, Keen will be sending me some new footwear to put them through their paces.

Photo taken at Quikkah in northern Sudan with me sporting my Keens and a jellabiya, the free-flowing garment of the desert. [June, 2011]

Egypt, Part 6: Bike Maintenance in Cairo

2011-11-18T17:37:00.004+03:00

17 - 20 May 2011

Since my windshield got broken by the customs agents in Alexandria, I headed to Mohammed Anwar's bike shop (GPS: N30 01.289, E31 13.825) in Cairo for a solution. His reputation is well-established in the Africa overland community as he's helped many a bike traveler with small to large issues. I spent four days at the shop, going back and forth and waiting most of the time for things to move along. No reason to hurry. In that time, I got to know some of the mechanics there and met some of his regular clients, along with experiencing warm Egyptian hospitality.

__________________________

Anwar measuring up how big I'd like my new windshield. I showed him photos of what it looked like before and he understood what I was after. This would be the third windshield for sanDRina (the first one got broken in an accident in Bolivia). The advantage of designing my own first windshield is that I know how to design subsequent ones as and when they break on such a trip.

He was a busy man with many clients showing up throughout the day. Here he's off to a Lexan specialist to mould my new shield. That's his elder brother in the background along with a younger nephew, working as an apprentice.

Since there was lots of time to wait around, I did some usual maintenance to the bike, such as cleaning the chain, but his nephew stepped in and helped out. Anwar's shop is considered the best place for high-end sport bikes in Cairo, along with being reasonably priced. That red beauty next to sanDRina is a Honda CBR600RR, with a Goldwing in front along with many cruisers and other sport bikes around. I was yearning for a ride on a fast bike. I love sanDRina, but she's just not designed to go faaast.

I also got around to installing some parts that I've been carrying with me for a while, but haven't had the time or space to get them on the bike. This is the delivery head for the chainoiler from Loobman. If you remember, I made my own chainoiler back in São Luis, Brazil, but that failed after a few thousand kilometers. I then wrote to Loobman and asked them if they'd like to send me one and Dennis, the founder, was more than happy to help. The oil is delivered down the tube and is then split and follows the plastic leads of zip-ties to coat either side of the rear sprocket, which with centrifugal force will lubricate the o-rings on the chain.

Securing the support for the delivery tube and Loobman head on the swingarm.

The chain oil reservoir secured on the frame next to the airbox and in a location that I could reach down and give it a squeeze while I'm riding. The Loobman is a manual chainoiler and the principle is very simple: give a squeeze every couple hundred kilometers (or more frequent during rain riding) and chain life should be extended.

Anwar found me a nice chain cover to prevent the spray being flung to other surfaces.

Finally getting around to bleeding the brakes, the first time on this trip. I had intended to bleed the brakes before heading on the Lagunas Route in Southwest Bolivia, but couldn't find a long enough open-box 8mm wrench to get enough torque on the bleed nipple on the calipers. They were secured tight with grime after all those miles. The brake fluid surprisingly didn't look all that bad, considering the heavy use over the past 61,200 kms (38,000 mi).

Anwar was storing a lot of interesting bikes in his shop including this gem, a Royal Enfield Bullet, manufactured in my home city of Chennai, India. In the back is a Honda Africa Twin, which has been ridden through Africa by one of Egypt's own overland riders.

Maybe there's a Bullet in my future...

Anwar fixing a long time annoyance on the bike where the rear brake pedal always hit the clutch cover upon being released and it was slowly making a dent in the magnesium casing. He used a wrench to torque the pedal away from the engine cover.

I tried using zip-ties and rubber hose along the way to prevent the pedal from damaging the engine cover but they didn't get the job done. A little muscle to bend the lever was all it took.

A svelte gas tank and Anwar's resident cat. He had a lot of bikes and other junk in his shop and that provided enough space for this cat to raise her family in. There was a dog too, but he occupied the other half of the garage.

I was still staying with Fabrice in Maadi and one evening, after giving a joy ride to Yasmin, we ended up at Cairo's version of Starbucks, called Cilantro, a modern coffee shop.

Yasmin, who was also staying with Fabrice through CouchSurfing, and I after an evening ride through Cairo. She said she liked bike rides and I told her we could go for a spin but I didn't have a spare helmet, which wasn't a problem for her. She's an Indian-Canadian from South Africa who just spent a few months volunteering at a Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan, learning Arabic.

Having a tasty espresso with tones of whipped cream at Cilantro in Maadi.

Yasmin was a friendly and open girl and she soon chatted up a group of Cairenes on the next table and we got into a lively discussion about the effects of the revolution. Being from the higher strata of society, they complained how their freedom of movement was curtailed during the tense period and now, with the lack of a police presence, petty theft along with car-jackings were occurring more frequently. Of course they welcomed the change in leadership, but the transition was not a smooth process. Most of them had lived abroad for the past few years and were now back in Cairo, presumably to take advantage of the emerging economy, such as I'm planning to do when I make it back to India.

Back at the shop and installing some sponsored parts that were sent to me from Ricor Shocks. This is called the Vibranator and it reduces the vibrations through an oscillating weight in the handle bars.

The entrance to Anwar's shop on Al-Gabassa Street. Note the water cooler on the street - free chilled water for anyone.

A fetching LML Speedy scooter with a BMW emblem. It was made in India during the 1980s under a partnership with Piaggio and their Vespa brand. Piaggio arrived with their Vespas much earlier in India under a collaboration with Bajaj, who produced similar looking scooters under the Chetak brand, which was hugely popular. My dad still has one of these and it holds a special place in my riding history as I covered my first few mechanical two-wheel miles on it, along with my first crash. The strange thing is that it has a twist gear shift along with the clutch on the left handle bar.

The simple powertrain of such a scooter with its horizontally-mounted engine and transmission in close proximity to the rear driven wheel. The short drive chain is encased and could be considered a part of the engine package. This layout allows for maximum space at the rider's feet for cargo, along with extra passengers.

One day at Anwar's shop, I met Omar here who was having his wife's scooter fixed. We got chatting and he soon invited me for dinner. We didn't get far from Anwar's shop when the Chinese scooter died. The spark plug was loose and Anwar's brother came out for a field job. With sanDRina's windshield still a work-in-progress, I was riding around with a street-fighter look.

Along the busy streets of Cairo, small-scale merchants were busy selling all sort of products, such as roasted corn here. A girl out on an errand to pick up some fresh bread and leafy greens stops to pick up some corn for the walk home.

Omar works in the financial sector and was doing well during Egypt's recent high-growth spurt. There was more tension these days as the local stock market was still recovering after being shut for 8 weeks during the revolution. We went out of Cairo towards the satellite city of 6th of October (so named to commemorate Egypt's success against Israel in the 4th Arab-Israeli War in 1973 where Egypt won back the Sinai peninsula) and stopped along the way for dinner. He first took me to a Starbucks cafe for Western food but after expressing an interest in trying local Egyptian food, we ended up at Dandy Mega Mall where there was a well-known Egyptian restaurant. These kind of mega malls have sprung up anywhere on the planet associated with rapid growth, all trying to achieve the living standards of the West.

A full table of tasty Egyptian food at Abou el-Sid restaurant with Omar.

Stuffed grape leaves with a yogurt and mint dip.

Spicy oriental beef sausages.

Besara, which is mashed fuul (fava beans) that have been slow-cooked and let to set in clay pots along with herbs. It has a similar consistency to hummus.

It got late and since we were far from Maadi, I decided to spend the night at Omar's house and really liked the open layout of his guest bathroom, especially all the light coming in from the huge French windows.

On the way back into the city the next morning, we had breakfast at this street stand of good-ol' fuul with fresh bread.

Along with the Vibranator, Ricor Shocks sent me their front suspension enhancing part called the Intiminator and Anwar is installing them here. In the process, he replaced the fork oil, which has been in there since the last major servicing in São Paulo, about 25,700 kms (16,000 mi) ago.

Installing the Intiminator below the fork springs. It's an interesting piece of technology that is supposed to enhance front-end feel while riding over bumps and rough roads. It works in such a way that the valves in the Intiminator regulate the flow of the fork oil so that it keeps the chassis stable if it detects the front wheel traveling into a bump and conversely, it allows the chassis to move without upsetting the unsprung part of the front wheel. It also greatly reduces brake dive, which is an issue on the long forks of dual-sport bikes.

The springs going in above the Intiminator. We had a check on the spring life, measuring their unsprung length, and they still looked good. The Intiminators replaced the Race Tech Emulators that came with the bike, which always seemed to deform after hitting a few bumps and I was glad to get rid of them.

An unresolved issue that I finally got around to was cleaning the contacts on my Centech AP2 fuse box. This is a small fuse box under the seat that collects all my electrical accessories and runs them through individual fuses and most importantly, runs them through a switched relay that turns off the accessories when the bike is turned off. Corrosion formed across the positive and negative (ground) leads way back in Guatemala and not having the time then to root-cause the issue, I simply by-passed the fuse box in Peru and ran all my accessories on individual in-line fuses to the battery. That worked well except that I had to remember to turn off my accessories when I turned off the bike, which was a pain, especially for my Vision-X auxiliary LED lights that I always ran. So, I was happy to clean this up and get it working properly again. I can be attentive on some issues and at the same time let others slide if there's no immediate concern.

Anwar's nephew rebuilding the engine cylinder on a scooter's drivetrain. Nice how the centerstand is used to make for a stable working platform. These kind of mechanics should be lauded for having to work in sub-optimal conditions. The shop was also a mess with tools scattered but all the mechanics knew where everything was, so who cares.

I was kept entertained by watching this cat's movements around the shop. It felt like a natural history show with an urban twist; imaging her to be a lioness on the African savannah, stalking some prey (that came as leftovers).

It was Friday and time for the weekly lunch at Anwar's shop. Lots of flat bread with a tub of fuul, roasted aubergines and other veggies. Good eats.

A fun bunch of guys that I enjoyed spending these days with. Anwar was telling me to put down the camera and get some food before it disappeared.

My new windshield finally arrived and Anwar did an excellent job with the design and fabrication. He doesn't speak very good English, but that wasn't a problem as mechanics anywhere in the world can communicate in our own language revolving around our machines.

A black kitten perched on a small pedestal as he explored the world he was born into.

A small clearing in the back of the shop for the five daily prayers of Muslims pointing towards Mecca and the Ka'aba in Saudi Arabia. I thought about joining in to give thanks to the mechanical geniuses behind that sublime Suzuki GSX-R sport bike.

I installed this new adjustable kickstand that was sent to me from ManRacks who were looking for ways to promote their new product. But, it's footprint is too small, especially for the weight of my bike and it easily dug into soft asphalt. It needed a wider plate welded on.

I rode with Anwar around the corner to a welder and the job was done in a few minutes. While keeping an eye on the welding job, I noticed the golden arches in the background.

It turned out to be an old Roman aqueduct cutting across the city. Modern Cairo with lots of grand structures from its storied past.

Across from the welder, these gentlemen from an autoshop were having a tea and shisha break and invited me to join them.

Hot coals heating up the flavored tobacco molasses in the brilliant design that is a water pipe.

Wider foot welded on the kickstand and freshly spray-painted. This should prevent it from sinking into soft surfaces, such as hot asphalt, loose sand and wet mud.

Being done at Anwar's shop and packing up my tools, which were being occupied by some urban lion cubs.

I thanked Anwar for the excellent work and that too for focusing on my issues with such short notice. All that amazing work over the past four days cost just LE 250 ($45). We never talked about price until everything was done as I knew he would treat me well. I would've been glad to pay even double that amount but I've noticed how travelers seem to get an exception from mechanics, as they understand the part that they're playing in helping this journey continue.

sanDRina was once again feeling fresh and I noticed the effect of the new Intiminators in the front forks right away, while buzzing along the Nile. The front end felt more planted and brake dive was considerably reduced. I was looking forward to seeing how it would handle the countless miles of corrugated roads ahead. I was glad to get the Loobman Chainoiler mounted and hoped that it would extend the life of my chain and sprockets, an expensive consumable on such long distance trips. The new windshield would soon serve its purpose of reducing buffeting from the fierce winds of the desert and let's see how the adjustable sidestand performs.

I'm always happy to service sanDRina and feel like we bond during such sessions as I get into the internals of my bike and keep up with her mechanical wear along with adding some goodies. As mentioned previously, I'm a preacher of preventative maintenance for sustained happiness with your machine. At this point, the 1998 chassis has already seen 103,400 kms and I'm looking forward to crossing 100,000 miles.

Next: Egypt, Part 7: Dune Bashing in the Sahara

Previous: Egypt, Part 5: Islamic Cairo at Night

Egypt, Part 5: Islamic Cairo at Night

2011-11-12T15:21:00.002+03:00

16 May 2011

After the evening show of the spinning Sufis of al-Tanoura, Cody and I met up with a friendly local, Mohsen, who wanted to show us around Islamic Cairo at night. Armed with my SLR camera, we walked back in time and experienced a Cairo that probably hasn't changed much in a couple centuries.

This next installment of photos is from an evening stroll down one of the oldest streets in Cairo, al-Muizz. It is said to have the greatest concentration of medieval Islamic architecture. After taking in some of the stalls, we got access into the al-Mu'ayyad Mosque with some excellent skyline views of Islamic Cairo at night.

This part of Cairo isn't any more Islamic than other parts of Cairo, but this is the nucleus from which the modern city has grown from and it contains many historically important Islamic monuments.

___________________________

Under the giant Ghuriya Complex looking towards the southern section of al-Muizz Street, whose full name is Shari'a al-Muizz li-Deen Illah. The al-Tanoura performance was in the building to the left and behind the complex lay a maze of small alleys with shops in every nook.

There were mainly textile shops on this side of Azhar Street with the Khan el-Khalili souk on the other side.

The enthusiastic man in the foreground is Mohsen, who approached Cody and I as we were walking to the al-Tanoura performance and told us he would take us around later. We asked him if we had to pay for this tour and he said not at all, he was just glad to show us around his neighborhood. Cody is a well-built man and this merchant requested to arm-wrestle him. I think Cody won.

A very narrow textile shop in what used to be stalls for horses. This is under the Ghuriya Complex, which was built by the last Mamluk Sultan, Qunsuh El-Ghuri in 1505. The merchants were quite happy to have their photos taken.

Another horse stall turned into a spice cellar.

Spices in a more standard shop on the main al-Muizz street, which has been an active commercial and religious area since Cairo's founding in 969 AD.

An array of mannequins displaying various ascents on black Abayas, the traditional dress, which started out as a simple cloak to veil the whole body but has progressed today into fashionable wear. Beyond just the colorful embroidery on the sleeves, a really radical Egyptian woman might opt for the hot pink abaya. Truth be told, the Islamic fashions these days don't leave much to the imagination.

A little further down al-Muizz and we came upon this knife sharpener, who was hard at work past 9 o'clock in the evening.

Two big grinding stones being used to sharpen a variety of knives. He showed us some old photos of him in this shop when he was much younger. That must be some kind of dedication if he's been at that spinning wheel for a couple decades.

There was an open bale of cotton hanging in the street and I told Cody to stop there to get some perspective. Fine Egyptian cotton was being spun into textiles to be sold in the markets, just like it's been since antiquity here.

At the entrance to the al-Mu'ayyad Mosque, situated at the southern end of al-Muizz street. This is the Muqarnas Portal, which is framed by square Kufic inlays that portray the Shahada, the first pillar of Islam - there is no god except Allah and Muhammad is his prophet - a central belief of all Muslims.

The giant doors showcasing medieval Islamic bronze metalwork. These doors were taken from the Sultan Hasan Mosque, which is actually illegal according to Islamic law, but I guess a powerful enough patron can get away with it.

Moshen made a phone call and the caretaker of the mosque let us in to take a look (after a LE30 ($5.50) donation).

The main prayer hall of the al-Mu'ayyad Mosque. This was a rare opportunity as non-Muslims usually aren't allowed inside mosques and that too to photograph them. I hope it was respectful enough that I didn't use flash.

The focal point of the mosque is the mihrab, a niche indicating the qibla, which is the direction of prayer, pointing to the Ka'aba in Mecca. To the right of the mihrab is the minbar, a raised pulpit from where the imam gives the Friday sermon, which was finely decorated in wood with marble inlays. The top step of the minbar is reserved for the Prophet Muhammad, so the imam occupies the second highest step.

The colorful stone inlays in the marble of the mihrab.

The high ceiling under the dome of the mosque, which housed the tombs of the mosque's patron, Sultan al-Mu'ayyad and his son.

Marble inlays in fine woodwork on a door in the mosque.

A view of the prayer hall from the courtyard.

Quranic inscriptions in marble.

A portion of the painted and gilded wooden ceiling.

The courtyard of the al-Mu'ayyad Mosque with the water basin in the foreground and the dome on the roof with the full moon up in the sky.

A view through a window in the mosque to life on the streets outside.

The living quarters of the religious scholars, across from the mosque.

Walking up the stairs for a view from...

...the rooftop of al-Mu'ayyad Mosque with its dome and the twin minarets of Bab Zuwayla, the southern gate of the old Fatimid City.

The twin minarets of Bab Zuwayla with the signature decoration from this period of Mamluk architecture of zigzags. The architect of this mosque is known as he carved his name on the staircase; al-Mu'allim Muhammad Ibn al-Qazzaz finished this Islamic icon in 1420.

The zigzags on the stone dome with the full moon up high. In between the minarets is the lit-up Cairo Citadel, built in the 12th century.

An Islamic Cairo Nightscape from the roof of al-Mu'ayyad Mosque. I count six minarets, which is not far from Cairo's nickname of "The city of a thousand minarets."

We thanked the caretaker of the mosque for letting us in and the tour concluded as we reached Bab Zuwayla, the southern end of al-Muizz street.

The fortified gate was built on the southern limits of the old Fatimid City in 1092 to protect it from the crusaders and other attackers. The slender minarets were built on top of the large gate as the architect of al-Mu'ayyad mosque, al-Qazzaz, used its proximity to the gate to incorporate them into the structure of the mosque.

Walking back to the Metro and grabbing a street snack of boiled lima beans.

I thanked Mohsen for taking us on the tour and showing us a glimpse of Old Cairo. I could just imagine how things probably haven't changed much in the past few centuries or even the millennium that Cairo has been in existence for. Here I could see how the religious side and cultural side of Islamic Cairo are tightly interwoven. The mosques are a focal point of daily life, but surrounding them is the buzz that has kept this city alive through the ages. I hope not much changes here in the next thousand years.

Next: Egypt, Part 6: Bike Maintenance in Cairo

Previous: Egypt, Part 4: Al Tanoura Spinning Sufis

Nairobi Snapshots: South Indian Food Festival

2011-11-07T10:02:00.000+03:00

7 November 2011

Spent the afternoon with my Telegu connection here; they're from the next village over from my Mom's outside Madras. We went to the annual Nairobi South Indian Food Festival and had Chicken 65 and Masala Vadas, delicious! Then lunch at an Andhra Muslim family's house of Paneer Samosas and Mutton Briyani. I'm stuffed and happy :D Amazing variety in Indian food. Also good to speak Telegu, my mother tongue.

Freshly fried South Indian Chicken 65. No one knows what the 65 refers to but everyone knows what it tastes like. It's almost like tandoori chicken, but fried instead of roasted. Not spicy but full of flavor. Besides the two big pieces of chicken for 200 Kenyan Shillings ($2), I also got some fried gizzards and livers, that most people don't like. I find offal so rich in taste and agree with the idea about eating the whole animal if you're going to kill it.

Egypt, Part 4: Al Tanoura Spinning Sufis

2011-11-04T18:27:00.001+03:00

16 May 2011

My host in Cairo, Fabrice, told me about this cultural show that was a must see before leaving the city. It was put on by the Al Tanoura Dance Troupe and consists of men spinning around in big skirts. If I lost you with that description, I urge you to reconsider and try and grasp what a mesmerizing performance it was.

The dance has it origins with the Whirling Dervishes of the Sufi order of Zikr and is a form of physical meditation where the dancers enter into a trance-like state to get closer to spiritual purity.

The organizers of the show allowed unlimited photography but forbade video recording. I put together a rough clip from video shot before they told me to stop recording and another sequence to capture the audio of the rhythms to add another dimension to the photos. Click here to see and hear Al Tanoura (rough video).

___________________

I took the Metro with Cody into the city and while I don't know what the Arabic writing says, the station that's crossed out was named Mubarak, who was recently overthrown by the Egyptian people. Nasser and Sadat were the previous presidents. Other places named Mubarak were also crossed out and I can see the same happening in Libya now with Gaddafi gone.

Walking from the metro station to Khan el-Khalili in Islamic Cairo, we passed this colorful stand and I had to have a glass of fresh mango juice. The streets shops were more alive in the evening compared to the day time.

Busy street life under an elevated highway near Khan el-Khalili.

A colorful tea merchant having a cigarette break.

Just across the street from the main entrance to the Khan el-Khalili souk is the Wikala El-Ghuriya, a 500 year old building that used to be an inn for travelers and these days its courtyard was putting on performances of the...

...Tanoura Dance Troupe, showcasing the cultural heritage of Egypt's Spinning Sufis or Whirling Dervishes.

Walking through this vaulted hallway, framed by exquisite stone-work, into the courtyard of Wikala El-Ghuriya for...

...The Tanoura Cultural Show. The hour-long show had three acts, with the first act being a presentation of the various musicians and their instruments that create the rhythms and mood for the following acts of the Sufi dancers.

The facial expressions of this particular gentleman was fantastic. He took cymbal playing to a whole 'nother level.

Ending his solo with a grande pose.

The intense expression of this drum player was contrasted by the almost comical act of the cymbal player.

Act 2 brought out the Tanoura dancers and introduced the colorful skirts that are a trademark of Egypt's adaptation of the spinning Sufi dancers, compared to the white dresses of the Whirling Dervishes of Turkey. One origin of the dance is from the Sufi order of Mevlevi, that originated in Turkey in the 13th century by Mevlâna Jalâluddîn Rumi. The story goes that when one day Rumi was walking through the bazaars of Persia (Iran) he became mesmerized when the beats of the hammers by the goldsmiths synced with the chanting of his followers in tow and caused him to start spinning, which put him into a trance-like state and has since been emulated by his followers.

The constant spinning, which each dancer did for about 15 minutes, puts them into a trance, which along with thinking of 'god' is supposed to get them to a nirvana-like state called Kemal (the source of perfection), where with no other thoughts in your mind, you can become pure. The dancers mesmerized the audience by manipulating the heavy skirts into flowing motions.

And after a few minutes, he detached the skirt, first dropping it to the ground, then picked it up and started whirling it around his neck. The patterns on the skirt helped create a hypnotic effect.

The third act took the demonstration one step further and introduced dancers with multiple skirts. The act of removing each layer symbolizes progressive stages of shedding earthly facets such as ego and desire and attaining a more pure form of being, that which is encapsulated by the idea of 'god'. Note the foot-work of the dancers. It was amazing to see them spinning constantly for about 15 minutes and then stopping with no effects of dizziness or imbalance. Clearly a long training process is needed to become a Tanoura dancer.

The thought of dancers spinning non-stop for such a long time might sound monotonous, but actually, it was a highly engaging performance. The accompanying music varied its pace and intensity, which created a dynamism to the show. Here, the engaging cymbal-player is focusing his energy on this spinner who sped up to a tremendous rotation speed that left me in awe. They also whirled their heads around constantly, which must be such a strain on the brain.

One of the highlights was this strange spectacle of one skirt being expanded over the head. Besides the Turkish origin, another story states that the Tanoura spinning was introduced when the Fatimids conquered the area and created Cairo in 970 AD. Now for some Islamic history that ties in here: The Fatimid Caliphate was created by Ubayd Allah in 909 AD in present-day Tunisia, and he traced his genealogy back to Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad who was given in marriage to Muhammad's cousin, Ali ibn Abi Talib, known simply as Ali and considered the first male convert to Islam (~7th century). Ali is revered by all three sects of the religion: Sunnis, Shias and Sufis.

If you're not familiar with the difference between the various sects of Islam, they mainly stem from what importance they give to Ali. Shias (mainly in Iran and Iraq) believe Muhammad designated Ali as his successor and Sunnis (the majority of Muslims, including those of Egypt) believe Muhammad did not appoint anyone as his successor. From this difference stems all the hatred between these two sects captured by Saudi Arabia (Sunni) wanting to get rid of Iran (Shia) and vice versa. Sufis on the other hand are above these differences and choose to use mysticism to get closer to god, such as spinning into Kemal (the source of perfection).

At an energetic part of the third act, it appeared as if the dancers were jousting with each other by using the heavy, spinning skirts as an extension of their strength.

Besides attaining religious purity, Al Tanoura also had acts of showmanship with one-handed spinning going on here.

All of this was taking place in the great courtyard of Wikala El-Ghuriya, a 500 year old building that used to be an inn for travelers. The ambiance was excellent with the changing lights and the sharp rhythms bouncing off the stone walls.

Now that's definitely just showing off: spinning a heavy skirt one-handed while lying down.

The show ended with a grand finale of the hypnotic skirts spinning into and out of each other and coming to an emphatic conclusion when the last skirt was dislodged, symbolizing the attainment of Kemal by the spinning Tanoura dancers.

And here's the obligatory Egyptian Cat, who was also watching the performance from under the chairs or looking for his next meal.

Al Tanoura put on an exciting hour-long performance and being there in person was a deeply moving experience. I'm not a religious believer, but I can empathize with the search for purity sought after by continuous spinning and freeing your mind of human desires. This spiritual goal has developed in various cultures throughout human history with some calling it nirvana and others calling it god. Far from being an esoteric goal, I think human society would benefit if everyone sought to clear their mind for at least a few minutes each day and just concentrated on nothing, which if attained successfully would actually strengthen your mind. If you need to spin, invoke chants, sing hymns or meditate to get there is your choice, as long as the goal is Kemal and you harm no one else along the way. Ommmm.

Next: Egypt, Part 5: Islamic Cairo at Night

Previous: Egypt, Part 3: Cairo, City of Many Faces

Snapshot: Nairobi Dinner on Patio

2011-11-02T23:06:00.000+03:00

02 November 2011

Dinner in Nairobi with Randy, Danielle and I listening to stories from Brian, who's a freelance journalist and was in Misrata, Libya in May, reporting for an Egyptian paper. He just came back from Somalia, following the Kenyan Army's incursion. I prepared an aubergine (eggplant, brinjal) curry using my special smoked curry powder that I found in Patagonia. [Shot in October, 2011 using a Canon 50D/Sigma 10-20mm Lens at 10mm, f/4, ISO-1600 and no flash]

Sponsorship: Shorai Lithium Iron Motorcycle Battery

2011-10-31T22:18:00.001+03:00

October 31, 2011

I'll be upgrading my regular old lead acid battery for a Shorai Lithium Iron Phospate (LFE) battery. Major benefits are its lighter weight and longer life. The Shorai weighs 0.70 kgs (1.54 lbs) compared to my usual Yuasa YTX9-BS that weighs 2.88 kgs (6.35 lbs). Unlike a lead acid battery, a LFE battery wont lose its charge if the bike is not run for a long time.

This is a relatively new technology, but it's going to be the way of the future.

LFE is not the same as your standard Lithium-Ion battery in consumer products, which is Lithium Cobalt Oxide. They are both in the Lithium-Ion family, but LFE uses iron instead of cobalt, which is safer for the environment. Plus, the nature of LFE means that they can't explode like those incidences with laptop batteries.

Since their batteries are so light, Shorai is going to send me a spare, just in case I drain one with all my electronic add-ons.

Egypt, Part 3: Cairo, City of Many Faces

2011-10-28T16:14:00.001+03:00

May 10 - 15, 2011

Cairo, known as al-Qahira in Arabic, is not only the capital of Egypt, but is considered the center of all Arabic politics and culture. That’s partly due to its long existence (since the 10th century) and also due to its massive size. It's the largest metropolitan area in Africa and with only desert in its way, urban sprawl is bound to keep that title in Cairo.

Having a strong cultural heritage but being thrust into the modern world lends the city to have many different faces. In my two weeks here, I managed to experience a few of those different facets, ranging from age-old souks to modern clubs to dune-bashing and pyramid-gawking.

This first installment covers the first five days.

___________________

I stayed with Fabrice in the affluent neighborhood of Maadi, which is south of city center and his place is well connected by Cairo's Metro system. It is the first and only metro system on the African continent and I was very pleased with how efficiently it ran, reflecting Egypt's status as an emerging economy. The fare for a single ride cost LE 1.00 ($0.18).

Clock tower at the railway station with Eastern Arabic Numerals. I managed to learn them pretty quickly and could draw signs on my palm when buying something from a street vendor. 1 is pretty straightforward; 2 has two horns; 3 has three horns; then 4 is tricky, it's a reverse three; 5 looks like a zero; 6 is again tricky, looking like a seven; 7 and 8 go together; 9 is straightforward; 10 is one and zero, which is a dot; 11 is two ones and 12 is one and a two. Simple. Yeah, I know it's pretty late in the evening, but shops are open long into the night in Cairo.

I was heading downtown with these three other CouchSurfers who were also staying with Fabrice: Tiph and Flavien from France and Candela from Spain. They are all studying together in Athens and just came down for a week-long break. They arrived here just as the street protests were escalating in Athens due to the imposition of austerity measures by the government in fear of defaulting on their loans. Since Candela's English wasn't that proficient, we all spoke in Spanish, which helped me keep in touch with the language I learned through my many months in Latin America and lack of practice is what makes one forget a certain skill.

Arriving at the main subway station named after Anwar Sadat, the president before Mubarak. It's located right under...

...Tahrir Square, the focal point of the Egyptian Revolution. It was here that three months ago, Egyptians of all strata in society gathered and demanded that their dictator step down. With the army on the people's side, Mubarak had no choice but to realize his time was up. I felt nervous and excited to be so close to this hot bed of political activism. Seeing the pictures on TV and then standing here and understanding the significance of this location reminded me of the opportunity that overland travel presents, namely, to be living in history.

We walked down one of the side streets from Tahrir Square, looking for a place to eat dinner at 1 am. The orange glow from the street lights highlighted the French influences in this building.

We found some comfort food, Kosheri, served at the chain restaurant Tom and Basal. Here it was served with some tomato sauce to drizzle on top of the fried onions, chickpeas, rice, lentils and macaroni mash up.

After dinner, we sat at this street café overlooking Tahrir Square, having some sweet tea and smoking shisha through a hookah, which I might add originated in India in the 16th century.

Refreshing the hot coals that heat up the shisha (flavored tobacco molasses) with its smoke being drawn down into the water chamber, which acts as a filter for the smoke.

In the time we were there, people started gathering in the square and it was evident that things were not yet fully back to normal in Egypt. The people had realized the power that they hold in numbers against authority and following the stepping down of Mubarak, Egyptians repeatedly came back to Tahrir to voice their demands to the military council in charge of the transition. By the middle of May, Egyptians were getting restless with the slow pace of the council's ability to bring Mubarak and his family to trial, accused of siphoning off billions of dollars during his thirty years in power.

The café closed down around 2 am and I like this shot for the depth added by the reflection in the standing water.

Cats, this time three of them, all absorbed in their own social drama, which looked like it mainly revolved around territory and who had first claim to rummage through the garbage. Candela was looking through my camera and commented that I mainly took pictures of food, roads and cats. Guilty.

The trains had stopped running by now and Fabrice told us not to pay more than LE 20 ($3.64) for a taxi back to Maadi. This guy was offering to take us back for only LE 10. It sounded suspicious, but he confirmed the price. We got in and as I usually do with cabbies, I started chatting him up. I had just finished my Michel Thomas Arabic language lessons and with the few phrases that I remembered, I struck up a simple conversation with him. He was eager to learn English and me, Arabic. We had a jolly old time and when we arrived, as I offered to pay him, he refused to accept and motioned that he was thankful for the conversation. Wow, a nice first impression of Cairennes (people of Cairo).

The next morning, I headed back into the city to take care of some trip administration: visa for Sudan. When overlanding, your top priority becomes visas, especially when traveling on an Indian passport. But I think from now on, things are going to be easier for an Indian passport, such as the good relations between India and Sudan. I grabbed some fresh bread for a breakfast on the go; seasoned with pollution can't be that bad.

I wonder how he prevents people grabbing a fresh eesh baladi (Egyptian flat bread) and running off, especially guys on horse carriages. Bread is baked first thing in the morning and then these rapid deliveries bring them to various outlets around the city. He's part of the food supply chain and I guess the Qur'an ensures that no one steals from him.

Some company for Manuel's Lada Niva in Alex. I had to capture this garish bright blue against the predominantly earth tones of Cairo. I love the beefy look.

Downtown Cairo, with its lifeblood, the Nile flowing through it. Modern eastern Cairo on the right looking over at Zamalek, an older, affluent part of the city from the 15th May Bridge. After traveling more than 6,650 km (4,132 mi) from its sources, the longest river in the world has lost the battle with man and can't purge his sewage quick enough. From here, the main trunk spreads out over the Nile Delta, a vast, fertile land that has fed the people through the eons. However, due to their unsustainable use, the Nile is one of the major rivers in the world that doesn't flow to the sea some years, which has lead to a loss of Mackerel and other fish in the Mediterranean Sea (since the river delivers nutrients that form the food chain).

I arrived at the Sudanese embassy in Cairo and initially came to its formal entrance, with the lobby decorated with gold-painted chairs. When I motioned that I needed a visa, I was sent around the compound to the bourgeois entrance. The visa office resembled that of a bus station ticket counter.

The most expensive visa so far: one Benjamin to get into the land of the Sudan. The strange thing about this visa is that they require each applicant to get a letter of introduction from their local embassy. This is a very old protocol, from back in the day when bureaucratic formalities were not judged by their efficiency. Some western embassies no longer offer letter of introductions, stating that that's the purpose of the passport. Something to this effect is also written in my passport, but it just goes to show how much India herself swims in bureaucracy that they did produce letter of introductions, costing another $14.

Getting some lunch while my visa was being processed. This is a machine to mix the base of falafel: chickpeas or fava beans along with herbs and spices. Note the prosthetic hand on the end of the spindle, which holds the wooden roller. In the name of efficiency, some genius came up with this contraption to replace a real hand. There're tinkerers everywhere.

I got the visa stamped in my passport in 45 minutes and was thrilled to be done with that. With the visa officer singing a Hindi song when he saw my passport, I knew this would be a smooth process. Poor Americans, most of them have a tough time getting in, due to economic sanctions placed on Sudan by the superpower. Walking past The Mogamma building, which has been a fixture at Tahrir Square since 1952. It was a gift from the Soviet Union, who were trying to build an ally in Egypt and the Soviet-influence in the architecture is clearly evident.

A roadside book shop at Tahrir Square.

Being placed right next to new books on the January 25th Egyptian Revolution, The Da Vinci Code must still be a bestseller here. Note that the binding is on the right side, since Arabic script runs right to left.

One of many metro entrances at Tahrir square, leading down to Sadat station that occupies most of the roundabout, reminding me of the Charles de Gaulle-Étoile metro station in Paris, under the Arc de Triophme. The café from yesterday is under that yellow building.

At the other end of Tahrir Square is the mauve-colored Egyptian Museum, housing most of the famous finds from Egypt's ancient past. Prominently behind it is a scar from the climax of the revolution: the burnt facade of the Interior Ministry. In it were housed records of all the torturing and abuse by Mubarak's state security police, which kept the dictator in power. When Mubarak stepped down, it signaled the end of the party and records were ordered to be destroyed, especially those that could implicate Mubarak in war crimes. It was set ablaze on February 23 and again on March 22, 2011. As expected, the Interior Ministry blamed the fire on the protestors, who had nothing to do with it.

I explored up one of the main veins running from Tahrir Square and came across Café Riche, a long time establishment, steeped in history. It was here that some royals first met along with revolutionaries planning their activities in its basement.

I spent some time going over these photos from the Cairo of the 1930s. It showed a very sophisticated society, resembling that of Paris. Nowadays, there are plenty of flyovers bisecting the cityscape, in the name of appeasing the ever-increasing traffic. Click on it to see a larger version.

Café Riche's prices were too riche for me, so I sat down across the street at Café Groppi, another old time establishment but with more reasonable prices. Groppi was also once the center of Cairo's intellectual scene, but it showed signs of being weathered and felt quite drab. Service was also quite poor, but I was here to soak up the nostalgia and the architecture of this tea and pastry hall that opened in 1891. I imagined the kinds of crowds that would have packed these ahwah's in the 1920s, just after the Egyptian Revolution of 1919 that lead to the end of British rule and independence in 1922.

Along with a pot of tea, I had this super sweet, flaky confectionery, soaked in honey, resembling baklava. I have a few cavities, but I still keep my sweet tooth happy with a heavy dose of sugar every once in a while.

Taxis in Cairo are pretty cheap and I noticed this ancient taxi meter from Halda in Sweden (who made pocket watches) on my way over to Islamic Cairo. If it works, why bother upgrading? I'm all for old mechanical devices surviving into this age of electronics.

Al-Zahar Masjed, the first mosque established in Cairo, back in 970. Its associated university is the world's second oldest continuously running higher education facility (the first is in Morocco). As expected, it focuses on Sharia (Islamic Law) and Sunni theology. Over its millennium-long run, its architecture has been influenced by the changing tastes of Cairo's rulers with some Ottoman and Mamluk influence in there. The landmark mosque is situated near the entrance to...

...Khan el-Khalili, the major souk (market place) of Cairo where almost anything can be found. I lost my sun hat in the subway and was told I could find one here and managed to do so. The souk has been a center of trade since 1382, allowing sufficient time for vendors to develop their hawking skills, who are quite aggressive.

The items on offer ranged from clothes to appliances and my favorite, spices and herbs of all kinds. I think these are different kind of tea leaves, with hibiscus flowers in the foreground.

Whatever that is, it looks good. We have something similar in India, which is sweet and taken as a snack.

Shops cashing in on nationalist pride after the successful January 25th revolution that brought down Mubarak. Note the props given to Facebook, being central to how protestors organized and communicated during the uprisal. It was a Facebook Page set up by an Egyptian Google employee, Wael Ghonim that was central in uniting the protestors and giving momentum to the movement.

Various items from the sea, ranging from huge shells to corals. I wish I spoke more Arabic to understand what they were used for, but probably they're for decorating and I think some of the stones could be used as a bath scrubber.

The market lanes were wide near the main roads but got narrower the deeper I went into the maze of Khan el-Khalili.

Bird nests, which I think are used as a bath scrubber. The merchant was constantly pouring water on them to prevent them from drying out.

A whole range of spices that I had no idea as to their uses. It could be fun living here and trying out different spices every week. I bought some fresh cumin and coriander powder.

This was a strange-looking shop. The shopkeeper said these were all different perfume essences that were blended on the spot to match your needs and pheromones. Talk about a complete custom product and imagine the range of scents available.

Walking back to the metro, I noticed this public water dispenser. I was told that this is a way for Muslims to give alms to the needy, Zakat (one of the pillars of Islam), and as water is a precious resource in this desert climate, this act would be much appreciated by the public. Besides the negative impact from fundamentalists, there are a lot of positive acts that Islam instills in society and has done so for centuries. These are trying times for religion and hopefully the good parts survive.

The shops weren’t limited to Khan-el-Khalili, but extended to any available street front. And with each shop trying to get the attention of passers-by, it's a cacophony of sound that can easily produce a headache. Note the satellite dishes mounted on the roof, beaming in one of myriads of Egyptian soap operas. They love their soaps as much as Latinos. Egypt is a mass-producer of Arabic entertainment for the entire region, comparable to Mexico for Latin America.

This is Fabrice and his dog, Conga. I stayed about two weeks with Fab as I had to take care of a few things in the city and thanked him for being so flexible and generous. He's an expat petroleum engineer from France, but has lived very little of his life there. He was born and brought up in the Congo and Gabon and lived in Venezuela for a while. He said he's probably heading to Russia next.

One evening, for dinner, we headed to the local French bakery, La Gourmandise in Maadi, a district in the city catering to many expat tastes. There's also a German bakery putting out excellent bread. I waited with Conga outside while Fab picked up our orders of quiche.

Fab read about my chicken curry on my CouchSurfing profile and asked if I could prepare it for a dinner party. Sure thing. Fab hosts a lot of CouchSurfers and these three were also staying with him at the time. The guy in the white pants is Cody from Vancouver, who just finished a year in Nairobi developing a mobile-based news alert system for violence in the slums (preparing for a possible repeat of the 2007 post-election violence around the next elections in 2012). Since I was planning to spend some time in Nairobi, I picked his brain for info. The other two in the kitchen are Yasmin and Daniel, who just arrived on a bus from Jordan where they were volunteering at a Palestinian refugee camp. They were vegetarian, so they prepared their own dish.

The chicken curry came out pretty good, but not one of my best attempts. I had to cook for eight people this time, meaning two chickens in two pots.

Fab and his dinner guests happy to get their hands on some authentic Indian curry.

Being French, Fab is a cook himself and prepared this for dessert, which is a slice of meringue pie with a grilled banana topped with ice cream. Yum!

After dinner conversation and Cody is briefing everyone on what he's going to pursue when he gets back home, namely, being a consciousness counselor. It's a very small field, but basically he'll be training high profile individuals (sportsmen, politicians, actors, etc.) on how to think better to perform the best in their job. He's a very deep thinker and an articulate speaker. We had many interesting conversations and I wished him luck in training minds and raising awareness.

In my first few days in Cairo, I saw the many faces of this large city, spanning from images of its recent revolution to old souks to upscale neighborhoods. There are still many more faces of this city and I'll be exploring some of those in the upcoming installments.

Next: Egypt, Part 4: Al Tanoura Spinning Sufis

Previous: Egypt, Part 2: Alexandria the City and Ride to Cairo

Snapshot: Healthy Antioxidant Cooking

2011-10-26T22:12:00.000+03:00

26 October 2011

Now that I'm spending some time in Nairobi, I'm enjoying the pleasures of cooking again. This is a stir-fry I made using eggplant, broccoli and beetroot, which gives it the strong, red color. There's lots of anti-oxidants in there so I try to keep the frying time to a minimum. Along with that, there're onions, ginger, garlic, green chillies, cumin, dark soy sauce and cilantro with day-old rice. [Shot in October 2011, with a Canon SD940 at f/2.8 and ISO-400]

Sponsorship: Pinlock Anti-Fog Inserts

2011-10-24T19:28:00.002+03:00

24 October 2011

I picked up a gear sponsorship from Pinlock Systems, a company in The Netherlands making anti-fog visor inserts for motorcycle helmets. I've been using them all through my trip but now I'm in need of replacements and they've agreed to sponsor any future inserts I need :) I'll also be doing some long-term product testing for them.

If you're a rider, check them out:

Egypt, Part 2: Alexandria the City and Ride to Cairo

2011-10-21T18:26:00.003+03:00

May 8 - 10, 2011

I only spent 2 days in Alexandria as I had to get to Cairo quickly to sort out my visa for Sudan, which was reputed to be quite complicated. Plus, the Egyptian immigration officials only gave me a 72 hour transit visa compared to one month for the Dutch boys; talk about discrimination against developing countries. The Egyptian embassy in Paris said it would be no problem for me to get a one month visa on arrival. As expected, there isn't clear communication between the foreign ministry and the immigration department.

I had a quick look around Alexandria and then headed down the Desert Highway to Cairo. Alexandria is famous in history for its great library and lighthouse, both of which don't exist today. There's a brand new modern library, but I wasn't so keen on visiting it during my short time there.

___________________

Welcome to Alexandria. The five languages on the sign representing Egypt's past: Hieroglyphics of the Pharaonic Age on the far right; Arabic, representing the spread of culture from across the Red Sea; English, from their British colonialists; French, from Napoleon's incursion and Greek, for the initial establishers of this city, back in 331 BC, as a port in their empire across the Mediterranean.

Even though the city was founded more than 2,000 years ago, it's been inhabited ever since and has changed with the times. This view characterizes the 20th century vision of towered apartment blocks for their efficiency in space, while neglecting the design's flaws in blending in with the landscape. I walked across this bridge to buy a Mobinil SIM card and wondered how this scene looked when the river was clean and blue. Humankind has taken advantage of rivers and dumped the sewage of our societies in there. This is not an uncommon site in most developing country cities, such as my hometown of Chennai, where we have the Koovam River with its fragrance of fresh sewage.

Egypt's currency, the Egyptian Pound, denoted as LE (French for livre égyptienne). With an exchange rate of USD $1 = LE 5.95, this LE 50 note is worth $8.40. The name and its symbol reflect colonial European influences in Egypt: a lasting French influence after Napoleon's three year control of the region around 1800 on his way to India and the more recent influence of being a British protectorate in the early 20th century (to protect their access to India). The Egyptian Pound was initially pegged to the British Pound and then switched to the US Dollar (reflecting changing global superpowers) before being floated under tight controls. The front of the notes feature Islamic buildings with the value denoted in Eastern Arabic Numerals (Arabic script) and the reverse features Ancient Egyptian motifs with the value denoted in Hindu Arabic Numerals. What can be confusing is that Europeans and Americans refer to the modern numbers as Arabic numerals (because they were introduced by Arab merchants in the 10th century), but for the Arabs, these numbers are known as Hindu numerals, because it was introduced to them from India much before that (yes, the zero was conceptualized by Indians).

I wandered with the Dutch boys until we found this hole-in-the-wall cafe serving up fresh falafel for breakfast. Falafel is ubiquitous across the Middle East and is a fried patty or ball of chickpeas (garbanzo) with other beans, herbs and spices. It's usually very cheap and enough food for 3 breakfasts cost just LE 4.50 (75¢). Falafel is said to have originated with the Christian Copts of Egypt as a replacement for meat during Lent. These days, it has spread around the world for that same purpose and who doesn't love a fried snack?

The cafe had some other typical food such as fuul (fava beans), roasted eggplant and french fries. Boiled eggs and pickled vegetables were also available.

I wandered into the city in search of the Immigration office. I was told it would be no problem to extend my visa there. However, the lady behind the counter threw a fit and told me I had to leave the country and enter again with a new visa. Hmm, I couldn't go to Libya (the war had broken out there). I wasn't going to enter Israel, in case that affected my Sudanese visa and Jordan was too far away. While standing in line, a travel agent told me not to worry about it and said immigration officials hardly looked at the date when you left the country and if they did catch you, a small fee (bribe) would suffice. With no other option, I took his reassurance and left, content with being illegally in Egypt.

As I walked around, I couldn't help but notice the vast amounts of garbage lying in places. This scene caught my attention because there's a...

...cat rummaging through for food. He blends in quite nicely.

Alexandria has two tram lines (this is the Al Madina line) and they look just as dusty as the rest of the city.

But it does its job of getting people around for cheap. A single fare costs LE 0.25 (4¢). It is one of the oldest still functioning tram lines in the world, operating since 1860. The tightly packed buildings made me think of Paris and perhaps the influence is from when the French were here.

Time for lunch and I spotted this mobile fuul stand. The big pot, a qidra, is constantly heated, keeping its stew of mashed fava beans ready to be dished out in bowls. More than falafel, fuul is considered the staple food of Egyptians. It's been part of the staple since Pharaonic times. The beans themselves are unflavored, but that's what the various bottles of condiments are for. There was olive oil, garlic, lemon juice and other tasty toppings.

A simple lunch of fresh eesh baladi (Egyptian flat bread) with some seasoned fuul and a side of pickled vegetables. Note how the bread is just served on the table; time to add some local germs to the immune system. This lunch cost just LE 1 (18¢) and is the cheapest meal I've had on this trip, so far.

A small park with old designs in the heart of the city.

Besides the new crop of skyscrapers, most buildings in Alexandria look like this: brown in color and about 3-4 stories tall and usually spanning most of a city block. Again, resembling the Haussmann style of Paris.

These friendly men in an ahwah (Egyptian coffee house), smoking some shisha, were more than happy to have their picture taken. It's very much part of the culture to take things slow and catch up with friends over some hot coffee or tea and flavored tobacco smoked through a hookah.

Garbage scene again, with a recycler going through the containers for anything valuable to sell.

A sidewalk store specializing in all things blenders. From complete used units down to every single moving part in a blender. You can't get this kind of parts choice in a regular store.

This vendor of assorted goods sold me a lower back support (I lost my original one in the winds of Patagonia). He's standing in front of the little structure that gets locked at night with all his wares.

After my day in the city, I took a minibus back to Manuel's place near Green plaza. This is the standard mode of public transportation and fares cost about LE 1.25. I like the contrast between the minibus and the BMW 5 series, representing the socioeconomic range of Egyptians.

Inside the minibus and noting how this could be a scene from India. Egyptians look very much like Indians and within my first day here I was told that I looked like an Egyptian or North African. Excellent. My tactic of blending in wherever I go was going according to plan (only when I'm off my bike, that is).

A tour of the city from the minibus. A palm-lined park along the corniche by the sea.

The Mosque of Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi, originally built in 1775 by Algerians over the tomb of the patron. It was rebuilt in 1943, giving it a gleaming new look. Hanging onto old ways, women are not allowed inside.

Taking the ring road highway around the city that was named after Alexander the Great, the Greek commander who stretched his Macedonian Empire from the Adriatic Sea to the Himalayas. There are about 20 cities named after him. He died only aged 32, but his name is emblazoned in history for the spread of Greek culture (and its philosophies) and his brutal military tactics. His weakened army threatened to mutiny against him just as he was about to enter the Indian subcontinent in 327 BC. As the name 'Alexandria' has too many syllables for quick conversation, people in the know refer to the city as 'Alex'.

A modern flyover interchange, which I would be taking the next day on my way to Cairo.

That evening, I went out with Manuel to meet some other CouchSurfers for dinner. This is the corniche at night, providing a promenade for friends and couples. Note the half moon high in the sky.

Freshly roasted maize for a quick street snack.

The closed office of Libyan Arab Airlines, which was grounded following the start of the Libyan revolution in March of this year. The donkey cart in front symbolizing the tried and tested mode of transportation in this part of the world compared to the new, instant (by comparison) transportation by aeroplane.

Meeting up with Ylva and Felix from Sweden, CouchSurfers who were here to study Arabic. They had traveled on a timber-carrying cargo ship from Finland to Alexandria and were envious of my four week journey across the Atlantic.

A bowl of wholesome goodness: rice with macaroni, chickpeas, lentils and seasoned with fried onions and garlic. This dish is called Kosheri and is another staple of Egyptian food. It looks like a chef threw together whatever was left in the fridge one day and it became a hit (my kind of cooking). It tastes excellent and is a filling meal for LE 5. The concept was introduced to Egypt by British soldiers coming from India, where we have Khichdi, a comfort food of rice and lentils cooked together.

The next morning, the guards at Manuel's apartment block wanted their picture taken as they tried this new type of skateboard with just two wheels. I was feeling the jovial Egyptian spirit that I had heard about and was happy to relinquish the sour experience of the Egyptians at customs and immigration.

My route map through Egypt, starting on the northern coast in Alexandria, heading thru Cairo, then onto the Oasis Route through the Western Desert, down to Luxor and exiting at Aswan. Click on it to go to the interactive version in Google Maps.

With a good mood about the people, I set off from Alexandria on the new Desert Highway to Cairo, 200 kms (124 mi) away. There's an older Agricultural Route that passes through all the small towns of the Nile Delta, but I heard the traffic was intense with crazy drivers.

The crazy drivers were on this road, as well, but at least there were two or more lanes on either side. In a place where helmets and safety gear are not required, I look completely out of place, from outer space, but I told myself not to compromise on bodily safety during this trip.

This wasn't the Agricultural Route, but nobody told this tractor, who's driving like he owns the road. Note the cell tower. Even though the highway went through some remote desert, there were cell towers every few kilometers. The digital divide is slowly being bridged.

Stopping for a break and noticing that my recently installed adjustable sidestand was working itself loose.

After some water, I got ready to get going again and here you can see the contents on my left pannier as I strap in my kidney belt to aid in lower back support (wish it was black). My sandals are the last items to go in so that I can use them to keep everything else from rattling about.

Coming across a toll booth and happy to note that motorcycles don't have to pay tolls in Egypt. Yeah.

A section of brand new four lanes of asphalt heading across the desert to Cairo. This was a Tuesday and the highway was empty in sections. I knew I should enjoy this peace before the...

...chaos of traffic in Cairo. I arrived in the capital within a few hours but it would take another hour to find my way to Maadi and my next CouchSurfing host. I had the Tracks4Africa GPS maps in my Garmin, but they're lacking detail for northern Africa, especially in big cities, so I had to resort to the usual way of stopping and asking for lots of directions. Being inland from the coast, Cairo was noticeably hotter than Alex and while my heavy meshed-gear is efficient at keeping me cool while moving, I quickly heat up in traffic jams, along with the air-cooled motor of sanDRina. The roads here are barricaded by concrete walls and once every last inch is taken up by traffic, things come to a halt. This is marked as a two lane bridge.

There was no alternate route as every road looked like it too was jammed. This image through a steel barricade best represents the feeling of being trapped in traffic.

I wish I could've spent a few more days in Alexandria but I think I got a good taste for the city. I had made it to Cairo and now the mission was to get a visa for Sudan, then I could relax and take in the city and its sights.

Next: Egypt, Part 3: Cairo, City of Many Faces

Previous: Egypt, Part 1: Alexandria's Port and Intro

Status Update

2011-10-21T00:20:00.003+03:00

21 October 2011

Hosted a CookSurfing event in Nairobi and made my chicken curry for a Kenyan, an Italian and two Canadians. Good conversation flowing over dicing lots of vegetables and stirring pots of curry :) CookSurfing is a CouchSurfing event where people get together over good food. That was the 49th chicken scarified on this trip :p

Snapshot: Mud Tomb in Sudan

2011-10-19T17:40:00.001+03:00

19 October 2011

Looking up inside the tower of a 300 hundred year old mud tomb in Quikkah, northern Sudan. Window pattern goes 1-3-3-2-1... [Shot in June 2011, with a Canon 50D/Sigma 10-20mm Lens at 10mm, f/4, ISO-1600]

Status Update

2011-10-17T13:45:00.003+03:00

17 October 2011

Some excitement last night: chased a phone thief :)
Was having dinner with a Canadian traveler and an American Law student near the main bus station of Nairobi and as we walked out, I was exchanging phone numbers with the American, Leslie. With our backs to the street, a hand reached in and grabbed Leslie's phone. Randy (the Canadian) immediately ran after him with me in pursuit. He dropped the phone by the time Randy caught up with him and flung him to the ground. The thief looked like he was high on glue or something, slow reactions. Other Kenyans who chased him with us started kicking and beating him up. They brought him to us, made him apologize and we walked away, adrenaline pumping. Should've known not to flash a phone in public at night, but that's a reminder never to let my guard down.

Egypt, Part 1: Alexandria's Port and Intro

2011-10-14T16:26:00.003+03:00

May 7, 2011

I arrived on the African continent by my preferred way of entering new continents: by sea. I love the notion of having to cross water bodies in order to arrive in a new land. There is something romantic about that, harking back to the original explorers in our past. And I guess it's especially poignant in today's age of instant transportation by aeroplane. Long live slow travel.

The three day voyage from Venice abroad the vehicle ferry, Visemar One, gave me sufficient time to focus on and get excited about arriving in Alexandria and entering Egypt. Besides the deeply entrenched bureaucracy (thanks to its colonialists), I was a bit apprehensive to see how the situation would be on the ground of this recently liberated nation.

At the beginning of 2011, as I was getting ready to leave South America, I was eagerly following the people power movement of the Arab Spring. After Tunisia's success in overthrowing their long-time autocratic leader, Egypt picked up the torch and surprised everyone by successfully overthrowing their autocratic leader, Hosni Mubarak, that too after just 18 days of protest that began on January 25, 2011. He had led Egypt for the past 30 years and like every other charismatic leader of the peoples, after the first few years in office, he got more and more self-obsessed until he was ruling like a dictator. But a new age has arrived of information transparency, thanks to social construction of knowledge that empowers oppressed citizens to act leaderlessly in the hope of a more democratic society.

On February 11, 2011, Mubarak stepped down and no one (inside and outside the country) knew what would happen next. Egyptians never thought the day would come where they could vote freely and now the country is slowly progressing towards elections. The population has been reinvigorated by the collective power they hold over traditional authority.

Egyptians are known as a friendly people and therefore, the security situation wasn't a concern for foreigners after power was given to a military council that was tasked in leading the country through this transition. The revolution scared off most of the tourists, who generate income for a large number of Egyptians. Now the country was eager to let the world know that they were open and ready to show off their historical and natural treasures.

I got confirmation from other overland travelers and the CouchSurfing community in Cairo that things were back to normal and it was completely safe to travel through Egypt once again. I also felt like I was doing my part in showing the world that things were indeed safe on the ground by choosing to travel through Egypt in such a fresh, political climate. Actually, I didn't have much choice after the door to Morocco was closed to me, but yeah...

I took a lot of pictures over my four weeks through Egypt and the first installment covers my processing through Alexandria's port and pictures of life in the city from that first day in a new country and culture.

___________________

In a change of format, I'm going to include a slideshow with captions before the usual long post of photos.

___________________

Getting ready to ride off the Visemar One and realizing that the customs officials had dropped sanDRina while looking for the chassis number and broke her windscreen. This happened while we were still upstairs being processed through immigration and initial customs procedures. This was already the second incident, in my few minutes of arriving in Egypt, where the customs officials did me wrong. A careless officer wrote the information of a Mercedes car in my carnet (customs passport for the bike), rendering one page of this very expensive document useless. I took a few breaths and let it go, but then came down to see this. What irritated me even more was their reluctance to accept responsibility for this damage. I had read all about Egypt's corrupt and incompetent officials and told myself not to let this affect my first taste of Egypt.

In case you're wondering what that sticker is on the front of the bike, it's a graphical representation of a Mandelbrot set with fractal properties of self-similarity. That means that this mathematical equation creates shapes on its edges that are a replica of the larger image and this goes on to infinity. I like it because I think it represents a model of how our Universe is structured, as in the model of an atom resembles the structure of our solar system, which resembles our galaxy and so on. We just happen to exist on this particular plane, where I have to deal with customs now.

Rolling off the Visemar One and into the port of Alexandria. The next set of pictures are captures from my GoPro helmet camera since photos aren't allowed in ports, due to security reasons, but bikers are exempt.

Lining up next to the ship for...

...a scan from a mobile X-Ray unit. They're supposed to check for hidden compartments in containers for weapons and other contraband. Glad they didn't find my machete :) Don't worry, I moved away before the rays got me.

And then a sniff from a German Shepherd for a drug scan. Good thing he's not trained to identify curry powder, cause that's a no-no across borders (quarantine issue).

Riding off with Martijn on his BMW F650. He and his friend, Ralph, are traveling from the Netherlands to South Africa and they have about three months for their trip.

Our port authority escort to make sure we wouldn't ride off without being processed through properly.

We realized the port complex is a huge area and now we're entering the customs declaration area.

Back near the water and that's the Mercedes, a CLS500, whose info got wrongly put in my carnet. Belongs to an Egyptian, living in Switzerland, who's driving to Saudi Arabia for business. We were chatting on the ship and it sounded like he wasn't too fond of the recent revolution, obviously because things were well-suited to the rich during Mubarak's time, but now the common people have taken back the country.

Our customs handler, making us sign forms that we had nothing to declare.

Having a quick look at our belongings. My machete is at the bottom of that pannier and no one has found it through the numerous police searches that I've been through since Bolivia. I figure I'd say it was for cutting up chickens.

Done with part 2 and riding by some customs officials, dressed in all white. They must use a lot of bleach.

And finally the last part, being processed through at the vehicle import facility. This was the head of the customs office and I tried to get him to compensate me something for his boys rough handling my sanDRina and breaking her windscreen. But I didn't want to put up too much resistance as my carnet was a little dodgy with extra stamps on it for Egypt and had to let it slide.

There was lots of waiting around. Ralph and Martijn admiring sanDRina's large presence and all the extra tubes at the back. For a place that gets very little rainfall, the clouds looked quite ominous and we even felt some rain drops but luckily it stopped there. There was a new country to enter outside the port and lots of new information to process, which rain would just add to the complexity.

Ready to roll out and checking out my temporary Egyptian license plate, zip-tied over my US plate. Egypt is the only country that I know of that still requires temporary foreign vehicles to get local license plates. I think they hang on to their deep bureaucracy because it allows for more fees to be collected and opportunities for bribery, as in 'oh, you lost your license plate, that's a $100 fine...'

Finally leaving the Port of Alexandria, a city unto itself.

"What, you want to see my papers? But I just got processed through, it's raining, I'm running out of fuel..." "Ok, ok, just go."

Rolling on the streets of Alexandria. I love the feeling of the first few kilometers in a new country, especially on a new continent. So many new things to process: how do people drive here, do they respect motorcycles, what are the rules of cutting through traffic, how do pedestrians act, etc.

Crawling through traffic and seeing these guys buzz by on a scooter with both of them looking at this strange motorcycle and its alien pilot. Ok, this tells me helmets aren't enforced and you don't really need to see where you're going in Egypt. I would follow them, but I like to give myself a day or two in a new country before riding like a hooligan.

Brave chap for cutting through traffic with his metal cart and just a hand raised.

Hello, ladies. While Egyptians are predominately Muslim, they're a bit more moderate than their neighbors in terms of covering up their women. These girls are wearing either a hijab or shayla. A niqab or burka is the full body covering for more conservative people.

We rode around town until we could find a place to park the bikes. Martijn's bike was suffering from an electrical problem (bad rectifier) and since he couldn't work on the bike while at sea, this had to get taken care of right away. I also had to wait a few hours for my CouchSurfing host to be done with work. I parked my bike in such a way to create a space for some street repairs.

If you subscribe to the 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' philosophy, then going on a bike trip means knowing how to fix most of the problems with your bike. Martijn was prepared with a spare rectifier and he prepped the wires on the ship for a quick job.

That's the rectifier hanging lose. Its purpose is to bleed off the excess current that comes from the engine's generator, before it damages any of the other electronics, so that's why this is an important repair job.

Final connections for a healthy electrical system.

Of course, this whole repair job was going on in the midst of crazy Alexandria traffic and its cacophony of sounds. And we sure drew a lot of attention. Only later did we realize that this was the main square of the city, Raml. Friendly locals were coming up and asking where we were from, where we were going, etc. Ralph is mimicking this guy's excitement while Martijn checks to see that his bike is running fine now.

Looking out across Raml square to the open sea behind there. And yeah, my first impression of Alexandria was that it's not really a clean city. They had garbage cans everywhere, but they were over-flowing, maybe a feature of the post-revolution times, where government workers cared less now that authority had been usurped.

We were starving and I got us some chicken shawarma sandwiches (like gyros). This is stacks of meat roasted on a turning spit by a fire lamp that is shaved off in thin slices and wrapped in pita or a sandwich bun.

Ready to roll as it got dark. Yeah, we realized that we parked right in front of the KFC, yuck.

We met up with my CS host, Manuel (on the left) and I asked him if it was ok to bring along these two Dutch bikers, which was cool with him. Manuel is a French engineer, who's working here for a company that produces roofing material.

After showering up, we went out to grab some dinner, but first, some fresh orange juice.

Meals on wheels and hooves.

This donkey was dragging around some fuul, the staple of quick Egyptian food.

We would eat that pretty soon, but for the first night, we went for some store-bought food.

The friendly faces at GAD, an Egyptian fastfood chain serving up...

...little sandwiches of falafel and fuul along with roasted aubergines (eggplant/brinjal).

The cats of Alexandria. I noticed there were no stray dogs around and in their absence were...

...lots and lots of stray cats. This kitty was just sitting on a busy sidewalk and not perturbed a bit by the nearby stomps.

Walking back to Manuel's place with some beers and noticing his car, a Lada Niva. It's a Russian built 4x4 that was very popular from the late 70s onwards for being a cheap, robust, off-road vehicle. When it was launched, it was one of the first vehicles to feature a unibody and independent front suspension. However, quality varies a lot and Manuel's Niva was in need of some repairs. He said when it was running fine, he could it get it up to 160 kph (100 mph), with bolts and doors rattling to break free. Ladas are produced locally in Egypt and that's one of the reasons for the high vehicle import fees, to protect the local auto industry.

That was a good first day in Egypt and I was looking forward to trying more of the local food and meeting the friendly Egyptians that I'd heard a lot about and putting away the sour first experience at the port customs. I was also eager to find out how things had changed on the ground after the revolution that was showcased to the whole world.

While I was thrilled to finally be on the African continent, Egypt to me is part of the Middle-East and is geopolitically part of North Africa and Arabic culture. I was already putting my Arabic language lessons from Michel Thomas into use.

Next: Egypt, Part 2: Alexandria the City and Ride into Cairo

Previous: Crossing the Mediterranean on Visemar One

Tech Tools for Travel

2011-10-11T08:50:00.001+03:00

11 October 2011

As I'm traveling and living on this motorbike, I'm also managing and publishing the travel story on my website. In the years leading up to this trip, along with preparation for the mechanical side of the journey, I also taught myself how to maintain the electronic and online side of such a journey. Being a one-man show on a modest budget, I've come across nifty tools that make online photo and video publishing a breeze, along with tips on how to keep your computer healthy.

Here's a review of the online and computer tools that I use to make my life easy as I publish this ride report from the back of a bike on a 11.6" netboook. Everything listed below is free to use, except SmugMug.

>>For photos
I use and am very happy with the service. On a trip like this, the photos are the real treasures that you'll keep. Besides sharing the trip with others, it'll aid the memory banks in the years to come. So, paying for a good photo hosting site makes sense. SmugMug offers unlimited storage and viewing bandwidth, which is important compared to free sites like photobucket since they might not show the pictures if too many people are accessing them per month.

From the PC, I use the tool to make uploading a breeze.

Since uploading speeds can be limited while traveling, I always resize before uploading for posts and use Light Image Resizer. When I get to a place with a good internet connection, I upload the full resolution pictures as a backup.

I take photos from multiple input sources such as my point and shoot camera, the SLR and stills from the GoPro and since each of them has a unique numbering system, I use FileRenamer to do batch renaming of files, which keeps the data nice and tidy.

I use ScreenHunter to take screen shots of Google Maps.

>>For video, shooting with the GoPro produces .MP4 files that are not editable in Windows Movie Maker. So, I convert them with this nifty tool from Pazera into AVI files.

Also, the latest versions of Windows Movie Maker are lacking some features from older versions, so I just stick to Version 2.6.

To edit and mix the audio tracks for the videos, I use Audacity, a simple, yet powerful audio editor. Even if I'm not splicing an MP3 for a video, I still run it through Audacity to clean up the file.

>>General Computer Tools (for Windows)
Since the risk of losing your laptop or damaging its harddrive are quite real on a trip like this, I use DropBox to backup all my important files online. You get 2GB for free and it constantly syncs any modifications you make. This amount of space is enough for documents and other important files. It's also handy if you need to access some important documents from another computer. Privacy and security haven't been an issue (been using it for over two years) and they're a reputable company in the business.

For browsing, I use FireFox and to backup and sync my bookmarks, I use Works great and handy to access bookmarks from a different computer.

Xmarks was recently acquired by the quickly growing , another extension on my browsers (I also use Chrome at times) to store and sync logins and passwords. These are safe companies and I've had no breaches of data. Plus, I'll take the slight risk for ease of access when my online time is limited and I need to get a lot of online things done.

I use SumatraPDF, instead of Adobe Acrobat for viewing PDF files, since it is very lightweight. And I use BullZip PDF Printer to print PDF files of documents and webpages.

Skype turns my netbook into a phone when I'm online and the rates are very reasonable. Besides being free to call other Skype users, it's only US$0.02/min to call any number in the US and most other developed countries. I use it also to make calls to India at $0.09/min. The other good thing is that 1-800 (toll free) numbers are free, so calling the credit card company, if they put a hold, is not a problem. The call quality is very good and depends on your net connection. Netbooks come with a built-in webcam, so if your parents also have one, they'll be thrilled to see your face now and then via free video calls.

Since my online time can be very short at times, I use the desktop email client ThunderBird (from Mozilla) to download my emails from gmail, where I can read them later, respond and then send when I get back online next (like the good ol' days of send/receive). is the only major email service to offer free IMAP access. Hotmail still does not and there's a go around for Yahoo.

I highly recommend using a basic Notepad program since it is very light weight. Before submitting any post or email, I always copy and paste it in a notepad file, just in case something happens and you lose everything you just typed. Don't let it happen. Even if you don't save, just Select All (Ctrl A) and Copy (Ctrl C). This will store the text in memory until you copy something else.

CCleaner is a useful tool to run every few weeks to clear waste that builds up in the background as you're browsing. It keeps things tidy and helps keep Windows from bogging down.

>>Travel Laptop
I've been using a netbook from Gateway (which is now owned by ). The ec1803u has worked flawlessly on my trip, so far.

Screen: 11.6" which is actually very livable with (considering I had a 24" monitor before). More important than inches is resolution and this is tied to the kind of processor you get. My resolution is 1366x768, which is not bad in terms of website scrolling, video and photo editing, etc. I read websites in fullscreen mode to maximize my screen real estate; press F11 to get you there.

Processor: Intel Core2Solo 1.4GHz. This pc is at the high end of netbooks and I chose this processor over the lightweight Atom since I wanted the ability to process and edit videos for which you need faster processors. But the downside is battery life. I get 4 hours at most, while an Atom-based netbook will get around 8 hours. So, if you don't do any video editing, stick with the Atom.

Memory and HardDrive: get the maximum you can afford. This pc comes with 2GB DDR2 and a drive with 250GB, which is pretty good.

Operating Systems: the pc came with Windows 7 and it's been running without a hitch and is quite nimble compared to Vista. However, I like options, so I'm triple-booting this pc with ubuntu (linux) and Windows XP. I keep XP around since it's still a solid performer and I made an ultra light-weight version of it using nLiteOS. It's a backup OS incase something compromises Win7. Click here for my triple-booting method.

Data Management: I partition my hard drives (using Grub in ubuntu) and store all my data separate from the paritions with the operating systems, so that if something corrupts an OS, you can still access your data from another OS. I'm carrying 2 external hard drives for redundant backups of photo and video files. I've had good success with Western Digital's Elements Portable series.

>>Managing My Website
I looked into paying for web hosting, but decided to stick with a free service that is more reliable. My website is a blog from Google's Blogger. It has an easy to use interface for publishing on the go. I chose Blogger over WordPress, because it offers full customization for free. Hey, I'm cheap. I've edited the CSS to clean up the look and add in additional features such as the drop-down menu, image englarger and other features in the sidebar. It's not hard to do since there are easy tutorials for everything (just google it).

I'm also posting to facebook, a facebook page for the trip and to twitter. To manually update everything would take up too much time, so I use the broadcast services of Ping.fm where once I link up all my accounts (blog, facebook, twitter), one post from there will update all the selected accounts. You can send a message from your email to your ping.fm account and it'll publish to all the sites. This was highly useful for sending updates from the text only email system of the Grimaldi ship. Too bad it can't post to forums, yet.

I use Cooliris to create the slick photo galleries. This works nicely even on slow connections. Only downside is the inability to arrange the photos on the wall.

If you have questions about specific features on my site, let me know.

>>Other Useful Websites
.com for currency exchange rates

.com for unit conversion (km to mile, F to C, mpg to kpL)

for managing accurate time in different zones

for shortening URLs. Nice feature is that it lets you create a custom shortcut, like http://bit.ly/advjgs so it's easy to remember what I have to type in to quickly get to my ride report thread to post an update.

Since I left the US, I don't have a phone number there anymore, but credit cards and other services still need to get in touch with you (for fraud alerts, etc), so setting up a free number at Google Voice allows anyone to call and leave a voicemail. Plus, from there, you can send free text (SMS) messages to any number in the US.

Google Docs is a handy tool if you're online all the time, since you can only access and edit when you're online, so DropBox does the job now. Maybe with the rollout of HTML5, offline services will improve.

Google Translator works like a charm for communicating with your new friends in a different language. Speaking is one thing, but writing nice sentences takes much more time to learn.

Boulter.com/GPS for converting GPS coordinates into the correct format for GPS devices. You can grab a decimal coordinate from Google Maps by right-clicking and selecting "What's Here" and then plug that into the calculator on Boulter.com and you get a coordinate that Garmin likes. Here's another GPS converter from the FCC.

Amazon.com's Cloud Drive offer 5GB of free storage with the maximum file size of 2GB, making it easy to send massive files between travelers (like GPS maps, etc.).

Portable Apps.com is supposedly the best way to ensure data protection when moving between different computers, but I haven't used it yet since I'm connecting via my own netbook most of the time, even in internet cafes, where most likely they can give you an ethernet connection, if no WiFi. Using your own netbook is much safer than random computers at internet cafes, where there might be keyloggers storing your usernames and passwords. I don't any access any financial sites from public computers.

These are just the tools I use to manage the online side of this trip. They're not all the latest and flashiest, but they get the job done :D

Snapshot: Ethiopian Child in Gorgora

2011-10-06T19:27:00.002+03:00

6 October 2011

A beautiful Ethiopian child in the village of Gorgora on the shores of Lake Tana. If you can get past the flies, you can see the symmetry in his facial features, which triggers our brain to recognize a good-looking face. And we should be thankful to his ancestors, who are also all of our ancestors, as humankind originated from this part of Africa. Isn't his tolerance not to be bothered by flies amazing? [Shot in July, 2011 using Canon 50D/Tamron 18-270 at 55mm, f/4.5]

Press: Article on BikerCamps.com

2011-10-04T18:32:00.002+03:00

4 October 2011

Got an article published on BikerCamps.com, a motorcycle travel website. Same as the previous one, but longer :)