Andrew 'Avery' Stewart

Well, by now those of you who have seen the news will have seen what has actually happened to Marysville (and if you watched the ABC news last night you would have seen Parent).

Parent is still up in Alexandra, although she hopes to get back down here by sometime today - they find out more at a meeting at lunchtime.  Mike (Nat's brother) is now over here with us.

Again I'd like to thank all of those who've made offers of support for Parent, it's amazing to see how many people care for her so deeply.  The only thing I can say is thank you & to ask that people keep in touch with Parent over the wee while as, although she has been inundated with offers now, she will very likely need the help is in the months to come.

Marysville has two people confirmed dead & another 3 believed to be dead.  From what I understand they were not people immediately close to Parent, however Marysville is such a small community that undoubtedly someone Parent cares about deeply will be directly effected by the loss of lives.

On a personal level, my thoughts & best wishes go out to all those still dealing with the bushfires, be it those in threatened townships or those CFA Volunteers trying to protect them.

As some of you will have already seen/heard/read by now, Marysville was gutted late yesterday by Bushfires.

We've just had a call from Nat's mum (Parent, or Di depending on how you know her) saying that she is safe as are all those who chose to remain in the town; however, in terms of the township, it has been utterly devastated, Di's house & business amongst the many properties lost.

We are still working on how to get Parent back to Melbourne, however although we've had an awesome offer of help in this thanks to freudau, the issue is that the area is not accessible by the public & may not be for up to another 24 hours or more.

Either Nat or I will post more once we know more about whats happening.

Notice to people that I my ability to access my personal e-mail & LJ is almost is dramatically curtailed at present due to my computer blowing up on me. If people need to contact me either SMS or phone me.

P.S. Many thanks to Kirmish for use of their PC.

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Firefly meme-thingy...

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I seem to have picked up the blog thing bug again... anyone know a cure?

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The Potion Maker
the_taosium is an opaque, oily beige liquid leeched from the bones of a whale.
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Yet another fun meme brought to you by rfreebern

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I think someones been watching too much Wim Wenders. Well I at least I hope its the original and not the schmultzy Hollywood bastardization...

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... if only for the fact that most seem appropriate.


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Blame sleazemonkey...

1. Angelina Jolie
2. Cate Blanchett
3. Carrie Ann Moss
4. Nicole Kidman
5. Johnny Depp
6. Viggo Mortenson (sp?)
7. Rachel Griffiths
8. Alison Hannigan
9. Amber Benson-? (Tara out of Buffy)
10. Natalie Portman (anything but SW)

& now the 5 people I'd like to see fill out this meme:
nikkicat, kowari, girlofmystery, freud_au & orethule (not that I've ever seen them actually do any of these meme things [save Kowari])

A repost of an e-mail from Nat; sorry if this hits you twice...

--- --- ---

Hello,

Firstly I thought I'd better let people know that we are fine and had
not
heard anything about the kiddnapping in Siem Reap until we started
receiving SMS. We are in the same town and it's not big, but the
situation
is well contained.

For news on our travels:
Monday night we joined the tour group in Bangkok, having spent 3 days
relaxing, eating and shopping. We didn't see much of the city, which I
am
a little sorry for, but we needed the break, and to just wander. We
felt
much better for it and, as it turned out, the relaxed attitude was
usefull.

Tuesday morning we get up at 5am to have bags in the foyer by 5:45am
and
at breakfast for 6am. We were on the bus and out of Bangkok by 7:30am.

A few hours later we stop at the Cambodian border to change busses and
before we could get our bags out, our guide has had his passport taken
and
is being seriously quizzed by the Thai police.

It was a good hour, and many concerned conversations, before our guide
was
taken into custody and we were transferred into the hands of a
different
tour operator. We were all very concerned and didn't want to leave him,
but he said it was best if we went on, and gave us details for the
hotel
in Seim Reap.

On the other side of the border the new tour operators tried to get
more
money out of us for a new bus, which we refused. A little while later a
bus appears and they put us on it, saying that we will not need to pay
for
it, but they would not be joining us and our driver did not speak
English.

Then commenced the Cha Cha Cha road. Oh my arse!!!
It was dirt and bumps and holes and the like for 2hours untill we
stopped
for a half our break. We get back into the bus to be told we have
another
3 hours of this to go. Andrew had taken us to the back of the bus so we
were suffering a little worse than most, so I have given him a lesson
on
choosing seats.

In the meantime we are all working out what to do if we arrive in Siem
Reap and there is no one there. We had a couple of plans and we were
all
ready to stick together and wait a day if we needed to hear from
Intrepid
in Melbourne or what ever.

We drive on, and on, and on....

Eventually we arrive in at the hotel and we are alocated rooms by
someone
who turns out to be our new tour leader. We all start breathing again,
and
head off for an excellent dinner, and much needed beer.

It was one way to ensure that you have a memorable birthday.

It was all made up for the following day was Ankor Wat. Truely stunning
and very moving at times. Seeing the monument in use with monks and
shrines well kept was awsome. As was the very steep steps up to the
final
shrine in the heart of the temple. It was constructed to ensure that
you
are humbled when you reach the top and they succeed. I was more humbled
by
the rain and wind and having to climb down again. Kinda scary but one
of
those moments you don't forget.

Today we went and saw the floating villages and then gave blood at the
childrens hospital. It was very clean and professional.

So yes we are safe and leaving Siem Reap tommorrow at dawn (again!). I
will keep you all upto date on the next level of excitment.

Cheers,
Nat

Well it's been a bit since I last posted, since then Nat and I have vacated Egypt (sad), arrived in Casablanca (happy), traipsed out to Marakech (stress!), gone into the Atlas Mountains (wonder!), returned to Casablanca (odd), left Morocco (sad) and landed in Bangkok (excited). In the process (primarily in the Souqs of Marakech) I have had my faith in the Arabic tradition of the Haggle restored (and found that Nat & I make quite a good haggling team!).

So.

Having finished the trip through Egypt, Nat & I went and saw Ep III. Nigel, I am behind you 90%. The missing 10% is that you just need to add that he shouldn't direct either.

The departure from Egypt was, save for our sadness at leaving (esp. of leaving Cairo), painless. We had a friendly and open taxi driver by the name of Said who was more than happy to chat about being Arba'teen (Fourty), a widowed father with two children, his siter in St. Kilda and an arranged marriage for which he needed 2000 Egyptian pounds (about AU$450) as a 'gift'.

The trip from Cairo to Casa (Casablanca) wasn't long in travel time: 4 hours Cairo to Dubai, 7 hours Dubai to Casa, but it had a 7 hour wait in Dubai during the middle of the night.

Eventually we get in to Casa, get picked up from the Airport via Le Grand Taxi, a Mercades Benz used to do city-city taxi trips. This cost us about three times the amount going in by Train would have cost, but it was arranged directly by the hotel we were staying at and after being up and 'active' for 30+ hours it was worth the lack of hassle.

So, we spend all of a few days in Casa, arriving on the Tues 31st May amd heading out to Marakech on Thursday the 2nd June. Casa is a nice city, just very plain. It isn't really that old as a city. Even though there's been a settlement of some description there for about 1000 years, it's current incarnation is less than 100 years old, primarily a product of French Colonialism and modern Capitalism. Even it's biggest tourist attraction, the Hassan II Mosque, is less than 20 years old. One of the highlights here wasa actually going shopping in the Central Markets in the city two mornings in a row and being recognised by the stall owners (though me with my build amd hair colour makes that less of a feat).

Marakech; a place of great renown and with a myth and mystique all of its own. We spent 5 full days here (plus a night either side) and aside from a mild anxiety attack from me on the first night there (just too much too quickly - travelling over 20,000 kms, including through two completely foreign countries, in less than a month was kinda stressing for me) we proceeded to have a great deal of fun.

We wandered around the Djemma El-Fna, the great square, where performers, shoe shiners, apocatheries, henna artists, orange juce merchants and snake charmers all ply their trades. Around the edge of this are restaurants and hotels galore. And through the middle of it all a constant stream of traffic, pedestrian and vehicular. There were scooters every where with new model Vespas their Kings and Queens.

And this leads me to the title of my missive and the location of the restoration of my faith in the ancient Arab art of Haggling: the Souqs of Marakech.

A souq is a market; think along the lines of Vic Market and you have a starting point, but not nearly an accurate comparison.

So why my faith resored? Well it comes down to being able actually haggle with the merchants; theatre and rehtoric combining to produce an interactive show that makes the simple buying of an object a pleasure both for the merchant and the customer. And boy did this happen.

Good examples of this were when Nat spotted a braclet that Orethule will no doubt want a good look at, a stunning piece of Labradourite set in silver. Now what we had noticed was a small sticker attached to the piece that had two prices, being Dh1200 and around Dh500. From what we figured these were opening and minimum prices respectively. So the merchant opens up with Dh1500. (AU$1 = Dh6.4)

Now before I go on I must point out a small fact that is highlighted in the Lonely Planet and became very evidant after a few days (and the gaining of a bit more awareness): most Moroccans thing tourists are dumb. Not in a lack of intellect sense, but more in the fact that we (the tourists) tend to be lacking the basic awareness of how the world works from a Moroccan Arabs perspective. I believe the merchant above made this assumption.

So we haggled, feigning poorness, lack of budget, appologising for insulting him withg our offers, using Arabic back at him in quoting prices and using bits of 'street' Arabic we'd picked up in Egypt, pretending/attempting to leave the shop, good/bad cop routine between Nat & I depending on who wanted what - full of the kind of melodrama that I can enjoy (from time to time). I the end we got the braclet for Dh530 leaving a rather bemused but happy merchant.

Repeat this a few more times. It was fun. Even more so when, on our last day as we were picking up a few small bits, we haggled with one of the 'tourist shop' owners and managed to knock just under a third off the price. The best bit was watching a slight 'bemused' smile form on his face when we started. He was obviously used to tourists just paying up his listed prices, but when it became a haggle he was more than interested - I think because it showed we had a bit more of an awareness of how the Souqs operated than the average tourist.

At the heart of the matter for me was that as a result of actually being involved in the haggling process, everything we bought in Morocco actually has a story behind it, as well as (for the most part) good memories of the stall owner or craftsman behind the object (in many cases the stall owner was the craftsman or a member of their family). It also gained us respect as individuals in the eyes of each of these people, in part because we were prepared to haggle, but also because we were (in most cases) trying to do as much of it in Arabic as we could.

I will miss shopping in Marakech... sigh...

Any way, the other aspect of the Djemma (and to a lesser degree the Souqs) was the food. Kebab, Tarjine and Pastilla are wonderful, so are the kofta and calamari (actually cuttlefish), but after a while, when thats all thats on the menu, it gets tyring. Its not that the food was bad, in fact it was (for its price) damned good, just all very much the same.

Well as for sights in Marakech. We spent all of our time in the Medina, visiting the Musee du Marakech, the Ali Yousef Medersa, the Katoubia Mosque, the Palais du Badi and the old Kasbah. We also went on an overnight trip into the nearby Atlas Mountains.

The Musee is stunning. The building was restored in the late 90's and it is magnificant. Nat & I spent the better part of two hours in there. There isn't actually a great deal to look at in terms of exhibits, a few v.small side rooms, but the key exhibt is the building itself. I cannot begin to do it justice with words, so pictures upon our return will have to do.

The Medersa. A very beautiful place for very different reasons to the Musee. It was a lot simpler in look, but had a sense of faith to it that was kind of inspiring. You see a Medersa is a Theological College where the Islamic Arabs of the 10-12th centuries would study the world as a whole, not just Theology.

The Katoubia Mosque. Unlike Egypt, where non-muslims are allowed in Mosques outside of Prayer Times, Morocco has a strict policy that active mosques are off-limits to non-muslims so we were limited to viewing it from the outside. This Mosque is most famous for its mineret, which is 70m tall, making it the tallest mineret in Africa up until the building of the Hassan II mosque in Casablanca.

The Palais du Badi. Nope, it's not one of my bad puns. This one you can blame the French for. This used was once considered the greatest palace in the world, and upon seeing it's ruins you can see why; it's scale (two 45 m central ponds + four 30 m surrounding ponds) is astounding. It was reduced pretty much to ruins in the 12th Century by a jealous sucessor. Not quite the impact as the other sites, but then again I was feeling a little under the weather that day. Nat might have a differing opinion.

Next is our trip into the Mountains, more correctly the High Atlas. A shorter distance than from Melbourne to Dromana saw us well and truly in the Atlas, at a little village called Ansi at a place called Dar Al-Arabi. It was owned by a friendly and opinionated frenchman by the name of Jean-Jaques and his lovely wife Saida (who is a stunning cook). We were originally supposed to spend a night up in a secluded mountain valley about an hour from the villagem but we were greeted with the first 'real' rain we'd encountered since leaving Australia last year. Yes I know that in London it 'technically' rains, but I don't call an indecisive attempt at getting beyond fine dampening mist 'real' rain.

The rain didn't last long, but it was enough to mean that we didn't get our night on the mountain. We did however get a bloody long walk the next day, up to the campsite and then beyond to a Berber village. It was great in some ways, Jean-Jaques being more than happy to talk about his experiances as an ex-pat in Morocco and of what he was trying to achieve in working with the local villages; but unfortunately, due to time constraints (and a bit of over-exuberance in some of Jean-Jaques conversation) we didn't get to spend the time Nat was hoping for in the Berber village.

One amusing note. The Berbers don't have a connection to the electricity grid, so every thing electrical they use is powered by battery. This doesn't seem to stop them from buying a sattalite dish at the first affordable oppotuinity...

That night we were back in Marakech and staying in one of the tradition Riads that had been converted into am up-market hotel. Damned nice, good food and our splurge for Morocco. What helped us splurge there (or at least helped us justify splurging) was the fact that the owner, Alain had been heavily involved in a lot of NGO's in the region, most notably UN Aid programs in southern Morocco and was now focusing on one paritular group of people in and around Marakech. It is good to be able to support those who do get out there and help where they can, especially when we are supposedly on holiday.

Then off to Casa, a last night there, a quick stop at the Central Market again - where we were still recognised - and then onto a flight to Bangkok. Much quicker connections this time arriving in Bangkok just after lunch.

Well thats all from me at the moment. Hope the world is keeping you all well.

Cause I need a little bit of mindless memery to help make life feel 'normal' at the moment.

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Having just spent a chunk of time in various parts of Egypt, from Alexandria to Aswan, from Cairo to Dahab I have noticed a distinct decline in one of the staple parts of shopping in Egypt, the Haggle.

I have had one place, being the great bazzar of Khan-Al-Khalili, where haggling was rife and pleasurable. We were able to get a pair of galabayya (sp?) for 230 EP (Egyptian Pounds), or about AUD $47-49. As much as, in hindsight I think we paid slightly over the odds for them, it was worth it for the fun of haggling.

So, then Aswan. We didn't do any shopping there, but members of the group we were with did, and got some good bargins which left both them and the merchant grinning from a good haggle.

Luxor. Hmmm... prices tend to start out lower, but they were a lot less willing to haggle, especially if if you hit the tourist Souqs (markets). Note to reader - the things that we bought in Luxor we deliberately didn't haggle for, as we were buying them from the Fair Trade Shop that has been set up there.

So then to Alexandria (Alex), again the lack of a tendancy to Haggle, but slightly offset again by lower and apparently consistant prices - then again Alex is where the Egyptians want to go for a holiday, so their is a level of tourism intrinsic to the city before we non-Egyptians get there.

And finally to Dahab, where the touts sound like they are willing to haggle, but are only offer a 'discount' when you get into the shop. Also the attitude tends to be 'you're a tourist, I can get money out of you', and when it is particularly blatent the interaction between merchant and client, rather than being the fun of a good-natured battle of wits, ends up being a situation in which there is no give and hence no fun nor desire to purchase from that merchant.

Damn.

You see I like the idea of haggling, even if I am crap at it. The simple fact that it makes the purchasing of something that is reasonably mundane into a bit of fun is worth the amount I know I'm probably going to get taken for.

A silly Star Wars meme-thingy... and yes I am still on holiday, but you even need breaks from them to do something utterly meaningless...

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Yes, I know, me and my amazingly bad puns. Any way I have about 30 mins in which to outline our trip so far...

Last Friday saw us start our actual tour, which is covered by the repost of Nat's e-mail...

Saturday - Giza Pyramids + Relaxing in an Ahwa, then onto a overnight train to Aswan. Giza was good, impressive but not awe inspiring - the awe inspiring was actualy the 5000 year old wooden Solar Boat. Amazing that it is in such good condition after so long. Ahwa good - had a chat with one of the other Australia couples (Paul & Liz) that are with us, it was great to see their perspectives on travel, life and everything. Cut to train ride - 12 hours in 1st Class on a train, not bad as it had business class (airplane) seating.

Sunday - recover from overnight train, go for lunch and a felucca ride around the Nile. Saw the Old Cataract Hotel, where Mrs. Christie wrote 'Death on the Nile. Food was great - I'll leave it to Nat to blither about that as my memory is blurred as to what we've eaten where. Speaking of which Nat got her first bout of being in de nile... (HA HA HA, BOOM BOOM!). Wandered back, had tea on a pontoon on the nile.

Monday - Abu Simble, Philae Temple & a Nubian Night - too bloody early a start but worth it (3 am). 3 hour drive out there, 2 hours to look around and hten three hours back. By the gods Ramses II was an egomaniacal bastard. Both his Temple and the one to his wife (which I think was Nefertiti but I'm not sure - the LP is upstairs with Nat) were bloody impressive, both in what they were and the engineering feat that was involved in moving them when Lake Nasser came into being.
Then to Philae Temple, dedicated to Isis. From the Ptolemic period (the bit in which the Greeks pretended to be Egyptians) its stunning and still has a sense of 'faith' attached to it, simple and beautiful.
Then to the Nubian Feast - we had a hometay with the Nubian community on Elephantine Island (the orginal site of the city of Aswan). Again awesome food.

Tuesday & Wednesday - Nat in de Nile (a.k.a Felucca-ing around) - We spent two days just sailing and drifting (more of the former, less of he latter). Nat often found hersef in the Nile, swimming. Had a few interesting encounters with the Egyptian attitude to animals, especially dogs. It ain't great, but I can see why it happens. First time I've actually seen a real pack of domesticated dogs - dominance games and all. Spent some time learning yet more arabic thanks to our Captain, Sallah (a.k.a Teddybear - he may look like one but underneath the cuddly outer is solid muscle, as we found out when he dislodged the Felucca after the level of the Nile fell overnight).

Thursday - Edfu and then Luxor - Edfu has the Temple of Horus. God it was stunning. Probably the highight so far for me. The place is magnificent and for what it is, reasonably well preserved. The solar boat in here (used as a processional carrier for the idol) is gorgeous. It was also full of small tunnels and sets of stairs to odd ledges and the like. It also shared the same sense of 'faith' as Philae did.
Then to Luxor, a small cruise of the local Souq, a rest and dinner. Dinner was interesting. Nat, myself, a young midwife from Sydney, an American from California and a Mexican. Nat plus an ignorant (by his own admission and choice) American debating such things as politics = rant, in which she was supported by both myself and the young midwife; the Mexican not really involving himself. Actually it was reasonably good debate up until he (the American) made a comment about being utterly unafected by the poverty of rural egypt.
Nat, the young midwife and I walked out on him.

BTW there wasn't a cinema in Luxor that was showing EP III. Bugger.

Friday - Valley of the Kings et al... The et al for me was/is a case of stomach not coping with something. I got up to the Valley of the Kings, was impressed but almost from a technical perspective. It had none of the impact that either Edfu or Philae had. I then left them to recuperate in my hotel...

I'll leave Nat to describe from there...

Hello all,
As usual I cant compose from my email at the moment,
as secure pages are blocked. I can read mail, but I
don't have access to my address book, so here I am.

Some words to make Gail jealous: Koshari, Sahlab, and
Khakadai.

Some words to make Thorfinn, Murphy and Jenni jealous:
Turkish Coffee.

Well the plane flight was good, and we recommend
Emirates to anyone!! Then our transfer from the hostel
was waiting for us and getting a visa on arrival was
easy. So far so good.

Our first full day was spent in Khan al Khalili which
is the main bazaar in the Islamic area of Cairo. This
was fun and a good place to start. I remembered how to
barter and Andrew picked it up quickly, we also got
reacquainted with Egyptian banter and our first
introduction to an Ahwa or coffee house. There is a
strong tradition of spending hours sitting in a coffee
house drinking Turkish coffee and smoking a Sheesha.
This is a tradition that Andrew and I took to rather
well, minus the sheesha.

Sunday we went out to Old Cairo or Coptic Cairo
depending on who you talked to. This is where some of
the oldest churches in Egypt are and a few of them are
very beautiful and very full of feeling. I took Andrew
to the one I remembered from last time I was here,
called the hanging Church (it has interesting
foundations). It is over 1000 years old and feels like
it.

We then went back to the hostel and set ourselves up
for an afternoon in a Ahwa. Our hosts local was over
the road and recommended by our guide book as female
friendly, so we pottered over. 3.5 hours, 4 rounds of
drinks and many pages of our books later, we asked for
the bill. The last man to serve us said, it would be
9EP. I assumed this was for the last round of drinks
and shook my head. "we drank more than that." and I
listed in Arabic the amounts we had drank. He laughed
and said I spoke Arabic well (I'm sure it was a great
joke, we all laughed) and then repeated 9EP. That
translates to a little under $2 for 3 coffees, 3 teas,
a hibiscus tea and a semolina and coconut, peanut and
sesame drink. Awesome.

Anyway. I'm getting distracted by food again.

Cut to the good bit:
Wednesday we went on a trip to the deserts around
4hours south west of Cairo. The bus trip was
interesting, and the arrival at the oasis town was
like being mobbed by people shoving dusty brochures in
your face, but eventually we found the people who were
waiting for us and got in a jeep. I have to say that 5
hours on a bus with no air conditioning, a lack of
information about who was meeting us, and a large
bunch of invasive people does not equate to a happy
Nat. Andrew is a very patient man.

At the camp we were fed and watered, which helped a
lot. Then we hopped back into the jeep and went out to
the Black desert.

The drive was long, but stunning. The black desert
looked as though it was once a volcanic plane that had
been covered by sand. Black mountains of rock and
rubble pushed out from the sand and the planes of
black rock. It was like nothing we had seen before.

We then drove on for another hour or so, before we
charged off road into the sand and rock. Not having
been 4wheel driving like this before, it was quite an
experience. High speed and charging through sand,
around outcrops of rock, through a range of stone
mountains which towered above and around us. The most
amazing bit was after about an hour of this we came
down and stopped in a pass that was pure sand, and
overlooked an awesome vista of stone mountains ranging
out as far as we could see. We stopped to take photos
and let our driver giggle with delight and adrenaline,
he clearly loved the driving and had been playing show
offs with another jeep that was doing the same run. It
was strangely reassuring.

Andrew was completely taken by this view and was
babbling about it continuously. I was a little
distracted by trying to slow my pulse rate down and
detach my fingers from the window frame.

We kept driving out into the White desert which is
mostly sand with large outcrops of white stone, which
has been sculpted by the wind. They are around 2 to 4
stories high and randomly scattered across the plane.
Absolutely stunning, but not as beautiful as watching
the sun set behind them, while sitting in the sand
smelling your dinner being cooked over the fire, by
your guide.

The best bit of the trip was camping out in the desert
and lying on my back staring at the stars and the
crescent moon (even if it was upside down). Waking up
to the dawn in my face was pretty special to, but
maybe for different reasons. I have a photo of our
breakfast table, a low table with banana's and bread
and jam, in the sand with only desert and protruding
white stone to be seen. Fantastic!

Now we are back in Cairo and about to join the
Intrepid tour we booked so long ago in a flat in
London. I send all my love to people at home and
around the world. Keep emailing us, we love to hear
what you are up to.

Cheers,
Nat