Rediscovering my roots: Egypt 2010
Since I came back from India, I had my heart set on discovering more of Asia. To be more precise, I had my heart set on going to Viet Nam. I wanted to fully experience a country with a rich 20th century history, a country that overcame incredible odds to rebuild itself, and continues to do so.
Then I saw the trailer for this film:
Upon seeing this, I came to a few realizations:
- I haven't been to Egypt since 1991.
- I was too young to fully grasp the shattered remnants of one of the greatest civilizations on Earth.
- I needed to reconnect with a missing part of my personal past. One that I inherited. One that I didn't quite understand.
- It would likely be one of my last chances to go to Egypt.
Although I thought the film to be rather mediocre, the beauty of Cairo as featured throughout the film; the chaotic, beautiful mess it has become, is what I want to see.
I want to travel the length of the country, top to bottom. I want to trek for several days and nights through the Sahara. I want to see Aswan and Luxor. I want to indulge myself in Alexandria. I want to go to Israel. I want to meet my family again. I want to eat street food, get sick, and then eat more street food. I want to buy firecrackers and set them off. I want to smoke the 'shisha' and sit for hours in the men's only coffee shops. I want to fully understand it all.
Most importantly, I want to understand why the hotbed of civilization since the beginning of civilized man, continues to be the hotbed of civilization until today. I want to love it. I want to hate it. But I want to understand it.
I leave December 17th. I return January 9th. And I can't wait.
A Nepal taxi horror captured perfectly…
I know this comes about four months late, but I randomly found this blog post on the horror of being driven in a taxi from Pokhara to Kathmandu.
http://page59.com/post/469525767/pokhara-to-kathmandu
As I read it, it made me almost sick to my stomach with my own memories of the fear and dread I felt on our seven-hour taxi ride from Butwal to Kathmandu, complete with fog, mountain roads, and gut-wrenching images of other head-on collisions that we saw moments after they happened.
Then it reminded me that I need to start planning my next adventure. 
The Road Trip – An American Thing
I woke up this morning with a strong desire to take a road trip. Then it occurred to me that I haven't taken a road trip in two years (except for that small one I took in January). Then it further occurred to me that in general, Europeans don't take road trips!
Living in northern California, road trips were a very regular way of getting away from the hustle and bustle of San Francisco city life and the techwelming Silicon Valley. They were a way of letting off some steam. Road trips were big there because many people had cars, at least those of us living in SF and working in Silicon Valley.
Very few months went by when we didn't take road trips. We'd often take short day trips to Napa and Sonoma. Then there were the longer ones to Tahoe, Big Sur, Santa Barbara, and the national parks. Perhaps what made it so easy to road trip in San Francisco, was the relative proximity of so many amazing places. Summers in northern CA were an opportunity to throw the top down on the car, escape the bonechilling fog of San Francisco and hit the road for a little good old American frontier exploration.
Heck even Kansas City saw its share of road trips to St. Louis, Memphis, the Ozarks, Nebraska, etc.
I don't miss my car here. In fact, I don't want to ever drive again if I can avoid it. I'd gotten so used to my car as a utilitarian vehicle for transport, that I began to resent it.
Europe is a mass transit culture, inter and intracity. I know very few friends with cars here, and they rarely use them for recreational purposes. Most people I know here would avoid driving if they could and they often do. Most friends I had in California couldn't comprehend life without a car or vehicle of some sort. It was a mental and financial burden that I was glad to shed when I came here.
But there are those moments when you just wish you had a car to hit the road and to escape from reality for a bit. I think I need to get some friends together for a European road trip this summer.
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