Author Topic: Travel Culture  (Read 6462 times)

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Offline JMT

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Re: Travel Culture
« Reply #180 on: November 19, 2019, 01:36:56 pm »
I agree.  Which is why I don't buy their whole "Canada is full of far-right, white supremacist, Muslim haters" rhetoric.

Unfortunately, there are far too many of us with that mindset, though.

Offline Goddess

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Re: Travel Culture
« Reply #181 on: November 19, 2019, 01:52:01 pm »
Unfortunately, there are far too many of us with that mindset, though.

I guess, if you label anyone who doesn't think like you do as a white supremacist. 

*"you" here does not mean JMT, it's the generic "you", the Don Cherry "you"

I think back to the big fracas on the Fort Mac community facebook page where dozens of Muslims attacked a Jewish girl, detailing all the ways they wanted to kill her and abuse her corpse and all those of her family.  Honestly, nothing I've seen a Canadian do compares to what I witnessed that day.  Even when they show those videos of people on the news telling others to "Go Home!, Go back your country!" - it doesn't come close to the pure unadulterated hatred I saw that day.



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Offline cybercoma

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Re: Travel Culture
« Reply #182 on: November 19, 2019, 02:05:14 pm »
I agree.  Which is why I don't buy their whole "Canada is full of far-right, white supremacist, Muslim haters" rhetoric.
Just because we're not "the most prejudiced country in the world" doesn't mean those voices don't exist. They do. And they should be appropriately criticized for their knuckle-dragging idiocy.
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Offline cybercoma

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Re: Travel Culture
« Reply #183 on: November 19, 2019, 02:08:24 pm »
I guess, if you label anyone who doesn't think like you do as a white supremacist.
This bullsh!t?

Put the Koolaid down, Goddess. There isn't a single person in the world who thinks it's racist to have a "difference of opinion."

When a$$holes like Don Cherry thinks he can recognize foreigners by the way they look and criticizes them for not wearing poppies, meanwhile the pics of the Wexit convention on Nov 10 shows a bunch of Boomers without poppies, yeah....he's racist. What he said was racist. How he thinks is racist. He's trash with a trash worldview and should summarily dismissed as such.
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Offline Goddess

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Re: Travel Culture
« Reply #184 on: November 19, 2019, 03:04:30 pm »
Just because we're not "the most prejudiced country in the world" doesn't mean those voices don't exist. They do. And they should be appropriately criticized for their knuckle-dragging idiocy.

I agree.  I just think it should be called out whoever it is.
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Offline msj

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Re: Travel Culture
« Reply #185 on: November 23, 2019, 12:05:24 pm »
At the grocery store the other day and some Metallica song comes on (one of those from the ‘90’s so more pop than metal).....

So it works: music triggers memories whether intentionally or not.

While inside a large room filled with tapestries at the Pitti Palace in Florence an older French woman’s cell phone rings out.

Saxophone.

Da dun. Da dun. Da dun da dun da dun da dun daaaa duuuuuunnnnn da dun da da dun.

Pink Panther theme!

Even the Italian lady standing at the door smiles.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palazzo_Pitti
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Offline msj

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Re: Travel Culture
« Reply #186 on: January 19, 2020, 07:27:46 pm »
So, for our Xmas/New Years' 2019/2020 trip we went to Egypt and Jordan with Intrepid Travel:  https://www.intrepidtravel.com/ca/egypt/explore-egypt-jordan-127167

It was a comfort tour and 19 days long.

We left a few days early to Cairo so we booked a few mini-tours too using Intrepid.

They are just like G Adventures who we have used in the past and will continue to use both G and Intrepid in the future.

Egypt:

Left Vancouver Island on the 6AM ferry on a Saturday morning and took the blue bus to down town Vancouver and then the sky train to the airport.

Carried 3 bags - mine was about 13 kg, wife's was about 11kg, and our carry on which included my laptop which was about 7kg. Packing was a challenge as we were expecting mostly cool weather, including freezing in a camp in Jordan, with some nice warm weather in southern Egypt. 

Flight left on time at 1:25pm and we arrived in Frankfurt at 8am or so.  Brushed our teeth and then found a beer and our gate to our connecting flight.

Arrived in Cairo around 7pm Sunday night, was met at the airport as arranged and taken to our hotel.

Problem is that our hotel had changed.

By the time we figured this out and we got to our proper hotel it was around 10pm and we were tired and hungry. Also tired of going through baggage x-ray machines and pat downs as we entered each hotel. Paranoid police state where the terrorist have clearly won. 

Next day we went on a tour of Cairo - Muhammed Ali Mosque, some other Mosque, etc. 

Our hotel situation got sorted and we were moved to our proper room with a view of the Giza pyramids which could be seen off and on through the smog/fog/dust of the late afternoon.

Next day was a tour to Saqqara which is a really old step pyramid going back to the 2nd dynasty. Went in one tomb and saw some RCOP (really cool old poop).

On Wednesday we went to the Coptic part of town which is under lock and key: need to pass by the police prior to entering.

Saw the cavern where baby Jesus, Joe, and Mary took refuge, saw a Greek Orthodox Church (St. George) which had a cool circular design, and rode the subway to find some kushari (a carb heavy dish of rice/pasta/lentils mixed with tomato paste and hot sauce on the side). 

That night we met the rest of our group for the big tour of Egypt: us (2 Canadians), 3 Americans - one guy from San Fran, two guys from Wisconsin but living together in London, a young lady of Indian heritage from Melbourne, Australia, and 2 Pakistani-Americans - an aunt who has lived in LA for far too long and her niece who behaved like a princess. 

The following day we finally crossed the street to go see the Giza pyramids and Spinx - RCOP!

Seeing the Sphinx in its entirety is neat because you get to see the work on the back side. It has a tail which has been more protected than the damaged head which we all have seen.

In the afternoon we went to the Egyptian Museum which has about 130,000 different RCOP things to see including King Tut's (could have won a grammy) mask, and burial boxes (gold leaf all around) etc etc...

Then we settled in for the night as the next day we were going to go to Alexandria!



« Last Edit: April 22, 2020, 12:21:56 am by msj »
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Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Travel Culture
« Reply #187 on: January 19, 2020, 09:11:39 pm »
Very cool travels.

"Saw the cavern where baby Jesus, Joe, and Mary took refuge"

So... what ?  How do they say they know this ?

Offline msj

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Re: Travel Culture
« Reply #188 on: January 20, 2020, 10:15:21 pm »

"Saw the cavern where baby Jesus, Joe, and Mary took refuge"

So... what ?  How do they say they know this ?

The whole time my wife called it the alleged refuge cavern.

I dunno: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saints_Sergius_and_Bacchus_Church_(Abu_Serga)

Say a lie long enough and people will believe it I guess. 
« Last Edit: April 22, 2020, 12:28:11 am by msj »
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Offline msj

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Re: Travel Culture
« Reply #189 on: January 20, 2020, 10:45:37 pm »
It was a Friday that we left Giza for Alexandria. Like Saturday at home but with call to pray 5 times during the day and men on their prayer rugs outside of overflowing mosques.

The plan was to hit the catacombs, stroll along the Mediterranean, and check out the library.

But first we had to get there and when there is fog the highway is shut down because between how they drive and how thick the fog is it is too dangerous.

A couple of hours later we we moving again and saw the catacombs (cool), experienced the refreshing sea air (a relief after being in stinky Cairo for 5 nights), and visited the modern library which has several galleries/museums in it.

Then off to a Syrian restaurant for the first really good food experience on the trip.

The hotel was waterfront and it was awesome to listen to the waves on the patio.

The next day, after a quick garden tour of Al Montazah, we headed back to Cairo to catch the night train to Aswan.

The bus ride was frustrated by the PAP’s.

The Pakistani American Princesses were sharing headphones and singing along to their songs.

Sometimes singing in English, other times in Pakistani/Hindi, and other times in Arabic.

Linguistically talented no doubt. Also attention seeking vampires.

I put on my noise cancelling headphones and cranked up some Tool.  A little “Forty six & 2” and “The Grudge” can drown out any princess.

Apparently, however, not everyone had headphones and finally one of the American's living in London broke: I think you should stop singing.

Oh, okay we’ll finish this song, cried the PP’s.

No, you should stop NOW.

———————-

We arrived at the train station early so we walked around. Before I knew it my wife was ahead of me hugging some young man.

I see it was an Aussie that I had biked the Death Road in Bolivia on Xmas day the previous year.

We knew he was doing Egypt/Jordan as we tried to do the same tour with him but he ended up doing the G Adventure tour instead.

So we took the night train to Aswan.  The food was terrible but that didn’t matter as I had a big bag of peanuts and some fruit.

We settled in and actually slept reasonably well (better than Thailand and Vietnam). 

In the morning we woke up and watched the country go by. 

Saw what we thought was a fox but turns out to be a “golden wolf.”

I prefer fox because it had a bushy tail and was trotting along.

But we finally made it all the way South to Aswan!


I've gotta have more cow bell! -Bruce Dickinson
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Offline Omni

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Re: Travel Culture
« Reply #190 on: January 20, 2020, 11:05:35 pm »
I have just been chatting with an old friend who was my driver/translator/go to guy during a number of work trips to Sudan. He drove me up to the north of Sudan where the real pyramids are. He also knew how to purchase a case of beer for a decent price and without getting busted. There was no South Sudan in those days but I happened to be near Juba when the south made a comment by firing 15 80 mm mortars at us. I have a few pieces of the shrapnel stashed up on the mantle above my fireplace. My friend is very happy to see Bashir gone from power. I miss the street food from there. I've tried hard but can't quite get it exactly right in my own kitchen. Maybe I'll just have to take another spin by.
« Last Edit: January 20, 2020, 11:08:15 pm by Omni »

Offline msj

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Re: Travel Culture
« Reply #191 on: January 21, 2020, 12:08:52 am »
An Aussie I met on the Jordan part of our tour went to Sudan using Lupine: https://lupinetravel.co.uk/sudan-holidays-and-tours/

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Offline Omni

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Re: Travel Culture
« Reply #192 on: January 21, 2020, 12:36:31 pm »
An Aussie I met on the Jordan part of our tour went to Sudan using Lupine: https://lupinetravel.co.uk/sudan-holidays-and-tours/

I clicked on the link you provided and immediately I recognized those old pyramids. My friend in Khartoum took us for a drive up there and I was certainly impressed especially as you dig into the history of the place. Leaving the country I got to travel south through the desert and eventually to Kampala. Unfortunately there was a mortar attack in Juba that slowed the progress by a few hours. Eventually got a look at Kilimanjaro and out to the coast at Mombasa and then down the coast to Capetown. A lot of varied landscapes to absorb on that run. My index finger needed a rest after snapping all those pics.   
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Offline Omni

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Re: Travel Culture
« Reply #193 on: January 21, 2020, 05:12:31 pm »
Among a stack of expired Canadian passports I also have one I bet not a lot of others here will have. It was issued by: JAMHUURIYADDA DIMOQRAADIGA SOOMAALIYA. It is a BAASABOOR SHAQO type passport which means it is a Service Passport. It has a stamp which says I am "Direcing Consular Affairs".  And it cost me US$10.00 from a guy on a street in Mogadishu.

Henceforth I shall expect the appropriate respect commensurate to my lofty position.
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Offline JMT

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Re: Travel Culture
« Reply #194 on: January 21, 2020, 06:44:43 pm »
I leave  for Seville in a couple of weeks. 
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