IwSFutCMD's Xanga

Mwen nan Pòtoprins, Ayiti

Sat, 29 Dec 2007 00:45:31 GMT

Whoops, sorry for not updating in a while. I've spent all of my internet time either uploading photos on Flickr (so I don't lose them like every other trip I've been on) or on SF0 tasking.

Anyways, I don't really feel like going into great detail, but we went to Jakmel, saw a whole lot of Vodou stuff and came back to Pòtoprins yesterday. I got really sick (head cold) and we couldn't fly up to O'Kap today, so I took it easy and Kai bought a bunch of souvenirs. We're flying up to O'Kap tomorrow and coming back on the 31st. Then, we're going to do the New Years thing and do some shopping on the 1st, just in time to return to the States. If you want my stories, for now, the best way of getting them is to sit me down for a cup of coffee when I get back and I'll keep you informed.

Mwen nan Pòtoprins, Ayiti

Sun, 23 Dec 2007 16:57:51 GMT

Still in Pòtoprins. I'll be heading to Jakmel later today.

We've changed hotels to one closer to downtown called the Palace Hotel near Champs de Mars. It's pretty nasty, but it's cheaper (we got it down to US$40 for a double).

Two days ago, we had one of the most interesting experiences here in Ayiti (or anywhere I visited, honestly). The Vodou traditions here are very much kept under wraps it seems (not like religious traditions in other countries, outside of perhaps the Yezidis). However, when we visited the Cemetary of Pòtoprins, we were approached by a rather frightening-looking fellow who offered to show us around. He then brought two of his friends along, which was more than a bit unnerving, especially as this is an above-ground cemetary--the graves are not dug, but are in place as tombs. As we got deeper and deeper into the cemetary, we became more and more sure that we were going to get robbed, kidnapped, or killed. Remarkably enough, he just ended up taking us to a church in the center. Afterwards, he offered to take us to the "Bawon" (Bawon Sanmdi, made famous by a certain James Bond flick). We go with him. The cemetary begins to look more and more claustrophobic. It was probably a trick of the light, but it seemed to get a bit darker as well. We turn a corner. We hear screaming, crying. We look up to see a grand black cross, covered in fetishes and the blood of sacrificed chickens. Dead birds are strewn about. There's a crowd here, circled around two people: a gibbering man and a topless, flailing-about woman. The man falls into Kai's arms. He freezes, and our guide (Mesye Alexandre) yanks him free.

We saw a bit more of the cemetary, but then began to feel in even more danger, especially when our guide motioned to a man carrying a shotgun and he appeared behind another grave. We told Mesye Alexandre that we had had enough and he took us to the exit. We slipped him 200 Goud and emerged safe.

Strangly enough, the next day we ended up in the midst of an Aventist revival march, which ended in front of the national palace with some political slogans aimed at getting the government to support the people of Ayiti to a greater extent. I had another 'celebrity' experience of a bunch of people all vying for my attention. I don't think traveling is good for my ego.

By the way, it's not a good think to say "I got Goud up the ass". Personal experience - trust me.

Mwen nan Pòtoprins, Ayiti

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 13:28:38 GMT

I'm in Pòtoprins (Port-au-Prince).

I arrived two days ago from Miami. We went straight to the Wall's Guesthouse in the Delmas district of Pòtoprins. After settling in for a bit, we went downtown and explored a bit around the central palace and the museum areas. The next day, we met another traveler at the same guesthouse from Uganda. So far, he's the only other traveler we've met (all the other foreigners are aid workers or documentarians or missionaries, etc.) We ended up traveling with him throughout the city yesterday, visiting the Marché de Fer (the Iron Market) which is this huge ediface dedicated to open-ended, freewheeling commerce. You can buy turtles there! Today, we're changing hotels as to get to downtown from where we are, we have to either take a long Taptap (which is basically a flamboyantly decorated pickup truck that seats people in benches in the bed) or an expensive taxi.

Prices in PaP are actually quite expensive. It's not easy to find a place for less than $30 per person. Restaurants run around at least $5-6 per meal. It's quite suprising considering the rampant poverty.

A note on Haitian money - officially, it's the Goud (or Gourde, in French), at about 36 to the USD. However, due to the fact that 5 Goud was pegged to 1 USD for such a long time, 5 Goud is often called "1 Haitian Dollar". Which means prices are basically quoted in units of 5 Goud. Which is a pain in the butt, especially when people refer to a bill marked "25" as a "5". Or a coin marked "5" as a "1". And you don't know if they're referring to Haitian dollars or US dollars. Woof.

Anyways, we're probably staying one more night in Pòtoprins, then on to Jakmel (Jacmel).

I'm in Miami, Florida, USA

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 04:00:39 GMT

Wow, it's been a while, no?

I'm on a new trip - a short stop here, then to Ayiti (Haiti).

I'm traveling with my friend Kai, who I met here in South Beach, Miami. We got in a little beach time today, but we have to get up early to make our plane tomorrow. So more exciting updates tomorrow when I arrive.

I'm in San Francisco, CA, USA

Fri, 06 Apr 2007 07:42:50 GMT

I'm back in San Francisco. I had to come back from भारत due to a lack of funds. I'll be staying here for a little while while I get my things in order. If any of my readers are in The City, throw me a comment and we can have lunch or something.
I'm thinking about Azərbaycan next, or possibly Україна. Regardless of which I choose, it won't be for at least a few months to a year. I'm going to die w/out traveling.

Monday, January 08, 2007

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 07:44:29 GMT

I'm in à²¬à³†à²‚à²—à²³à³‚à²°à³ (Bangaluru).

I want to apologize for my absence. It's hard to get to a computer sometimes. I also want to apologize to my readers because I'm going to need to take a hiatus. à¤à¤¾à¤°à¤¤ (India) just takes too much out of me to leave me with the strength or will to write anymore, along with my constantly dwindling money supply. I might pick it up again (and certainly will next time I travel out of the country) so keep your subscriptions and whatknot. Anyways, wish me luck for the remainder of my stay in à¤à¤¾à¤°à¤¤ (India). Looks like I'll probably be moving here to à²¬à³†à²‚à²—à²³à³‚à²°à³ in a month or so to get a job (or at least I hope so).

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Wed, 27 Dec 2006 03:53:49 GMT

I'm in à¤®à¥à¤‚à¤¬à¤ˆ (Mumbai).

Just before I left to get on the plane, I went for a walk and ended up running into a bunch of Turkish punks. They were so cool. Just hanging out with them for 2 hours made me want to stay in Ä°stanbul forever. And they didn't even speak any English or Arabic. And the girls were SO cute.

Afterwards, I went on to Ø§Ù„Ø´Ø§Ø±Ù‚Ø© (Sharjah). That was a damn strange place. First off, it's too clean. Everything seems so artificial there. Secondly, about 95% of the people I saw there were foreigners, 90% from the subcontinent. I've got no problem, of course, with open immigration, but I also happen to know that the people who come there live a very different life from the Emiratis. In fact, out of all the people I saw, I only saw two Emiratis working (both at the airport at passport check desks). All the rest were foreign workers.

The day I was leaving, I wanted to do something that exemplified the Emirati experience, so I went to the mall and bought some new shoes. My train of thought:

"Ugh, look at this place. Such crass commercialism! And I bet all the families here even have some Desi 'slaves' to cart it all ho...hey! Steve Madden! For 149 Dirhams (about US$43)? No way!"

Infectious place.

The funny thing is that it's a place firmly within the First World, yet it seems to have arrived not from a Western model, but rather as a smooth continuum from the previous lifestyle of the Arab traders.

I had a lot of trouble finding a coke bottle (I collect them from countries I've been to). I thought I would have to come home with a stupid can. Then, I found a place so alien to Ø§Ù„Ø´Ø§Ø±Ù‚Ø©. A trash heap on the side of the road. I through my can on it, then looked over and saw a dusty coke bottle buried under some plywood. This is how all the best of the bottles come.

On the plane to à¤®à¥à¤‚à¤¬à¤ˆ, I met a really nice Parsi guy with whom I had a great conversation about the dynamics of the modern Parsi (Zoroastrian) faith. I seem to run into a lot of Zoroastrians, at least more than an average American should.

But my friend Darshana (American girl, Indian extraction, travelling with me for a month) kind of screwed me over. She told me that I couldn't stay at her family's place for the first few days so I would need to get a hotel (which isn't a problem). She asked me how much I wanted to spend, and I said ~400 Rps (~US$10). She said her family "wouldn't let me stay in a place like that" so I told her that I could go up to 1000 Rps (~US$22). She then booked me for one that was 3000 Rps, saying that "it was the only one they could find" also informing me that I would have to pay for all of it. I'm not mad at her, being that she's one of my best friends, but she's gonna need a little talking to. She seems to think I'm some sort of little lost puppy here. I don't think it's quite settled in that a week ago, I was in what's considered a war zone.

Also, I've eaten once here and it was the best vegetarian meal I've ever tasted. This is going to be a great trip for my tastebuds.

Ben İstanbuldayım, TÃ¼rkiye

Sat, 23 Dec 2006 13:28:40 GMT

Back in Ä°stanbul. I haven't updated in a while because I've actually been quite busy. I stayed at the university until the 21st (the day I left). I didn't do anything really exciting until that day, however, I did meet an American woman who was doing some research on the Kurds for her master's project. She was the first westerner I'd seen since Ankara.

On the 21st, Peshkafty and I went to Ù„Ø§Ù„Ø´ (LaliÅŸ), which is the holiest site for Yezidis. It was truly amazing. The funny thing is that Yezidis believe it was the first part of the world that was created. When you look around the scenery of the site, it really feels that way. But visiting that site was one of the most powerful experiences I had in ÙƒØ±Ø¯Ø³ØªØ§Ù†.

There was also a rather funny exchange between Peshkafty and one of the guys who maintains the site:

Guy   -   "Are you Muslim?"
Peshka   -   "No! I'm Yezidi!"
G   -   "Where's your mustache?" (Yezidis traditionally have big mustaches)
Peshka   -   "I wear my religion in my heart, not on my face!"

After Ù„Ø§Ù„Ø´, I headed straight to the border and crossed into Silopi. I stayed the night there, had some pretty awful kebap (what do you expect at 11 at night in a small town?), and left in the morning for Ä°stanbul. It took about 24 hours to get here. I also saw some other foreigners on that bus; a Dutchman and his Chinese fiancé¥® We ended up calling it "The Plague Bus" due to the fact that everybody seemed to have Bird Flu and there were 3 or 4 children screaming at any given time. For 24 hours. But thankfully, we were entertained by a high-quality Dolph Lundgren flick.

Now, I'm going to take it easy here for a night, maybe see a concert, hang out tomorrow a bit, then hop on the plane to à¤à¤¾à¤°à¤¤ (India)

Ø¦Û•Ø² Ø¯Ø¯Ù‡ÙˆÙƒØŒ ÙƒØ±Ø¯Ø³ØªØ§Ù†Ù…

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 15:20:11 GMT

Back in Ø¯Ù‡ÙˆÙƒ.

I took the bus back to Ù‡Û•ÙˆÙ„ÛŽØ±, on which I met a university student who let me stay at their apartment. I checked out their university as well. Afterwards, I went on to Ø¯Ù‡ÙˆÙƒ by taxi. As luck would have it, their taxi driver was from the same town as Peshkafti, the guy I was going to see. Which means it was easy to get to. I stayed two nights in that town and got to eat some real Kurdish homecooking, which was a real joy.

I went to university with Peshkafti and his friends. It's great there; I'm basically a celebrity. Everybody wants to get to know me, big groups of gorgeous girls want pictures with me. There's even one girl who would normally be totally out of my league who's taken quite a shine to me. I think I should start signing autographs.

Tonight I'm staying with Hardi, who was the expert on Camus. Our philisophical discussions have been really interesting so far. I'm going to watch a few more experimental films and drink tea and discuss existentialism for the rest of the night, I think.

Ù…Ù† Ø¯Ø³Ù„ÛŽÙ…Ø§Ù†ÛŒØŒ ÙƒÙˆØ±Ø¯Ø³ØªØ§Ù†Ù…

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 14:01:07 GMT

Still in Ø³Ù„ÛŽÙ…Ø§Ù†ÛŒ.

Yesterday I had a great experience. The day before, I had ducked into a cafe to have some tea and met an old guy who said he worked on TV. He said he'd take me to the TV station tomorrow (which was yesterday). I met up with him yesterday and we went to his station. It's a small Kurdish network called Ø®Ø§Ùƒ (khak) which means "land." He's on a program called (translated) "Program Program," which is a satyrical comedy show. They also show it on KurdSat. After checking out the station he offered to take me up to the mountains around Ø³Ù„ÛŽÙ…Ø§Ù†ÛŒ.

The mountains offer some really amazing views of the city. Unfortunatly, I couldn't get any good pictures out due to the darkness. We made our way up to a restaurant, where we had some snacks, and nargile. The whole time I was driving around with him, I noticed that everybody knew him. I mean EVERYBODY. Even the guys who run the checkpoints would smile when they saw him, then wave him forward. They don't usually do that. I found out why--he's actually a very famous Kurdish actor. His name is Ù…ØµØ·ÙÙ‰ Ø§ØÙ…Ø¯ Ù…ØÙ…ÙˆØ¯ (Moustafa Ahmad Mahmoud) They sometimes refer to him as the Kurdish Charlie Chaplin.

While we were eating, he told me a story about how he wanted to be taken seriously as an actor. He ended up making a film called "Ø®ÙˆÙ„Ù‡ Ù¾ÙŠØ²Ù‡," which translates to...well, honestly I can't remember. He said this was the film he was most proud of. It's supposed to be very good, and actually I'm going to see it tomorrow.

Like with most of the people I spend any time with here, I began to ask him about politics. When I asked him about ×™×©×¨××œ (Israel) he gave the best response I've heard here yet. As he put it, "They [Kurdish Jews] wear our clothes and sing our songs."

He also suprised me in being one of the first atheists I've met in the middle east. That's just not a viewpoint that's popular in this region. When we were talking about it, he kept checking over his shoulder.

Anyways, tomorrow at noon, he's going to show me his film. I'll tell you guys how it is.