I have been here for 4 days and feel like I know quite a bit of Shanghai. I spent my first two days wandering the streets not really paying attention to the direction I was going which was ok because there are AMAZING buildings here and I hear that Beijing is even more impressive. For those of you who warned me about Shanghai weather, it was sunny and blue for the first two days. Now it’s overcast but we’re leaving today so no worries there.

So far China reminds me of South America. That is the back streets of Shanghai. Granted everywhere there are large shiney buildings. Some gaudy like the Pearl Tower, others impressive like the Jin Mao building with 88 floors. But it’s the back streets where the locals live, those who don’t live in the skyscraper apartments. Their laundry hangs from the windows. Plumbing is attached to the outside of the building. Little children running around with their bottoms out for the world to see. There is what we would call poverty but I think I’ve gotten used to seeing people not live as I do and knowing the difference between real poverty and the hunger behind it. I’m sure I can learn more. Granted, people living in these homes tucked away could use more, but they looked happy sitting out on the chairs in the alley ways watching their children play and laughing at me walking by, getting lost in the maze and passing them numerous times.

I understand why GAP requires insurance when traveling. There are the streets of Rome where drivers are impatient and ready to bump into you. And the traffic of Cairo with it’s haze and many many vehicles going somewhere not so fast. But here in Shanghai, it’s a different sort of controlled chaos. Adding to the cars are scooters, motorcycles, bicyclists and pedestrains all on the streets. Everyone is aware as they move in this finely orchestrated dance. Streets lights mean nothing unless you are in the more fancy districts. Sidewalks are places where not pedestrians walk but where concrete and bricks are unloaded. And through all this, I haven’t seen one vehicle puff out black smoke from their exhaust. Sitting in this internet cafe right now is doing more bad for my lungs with the smokers near by than walking along the streets. Some vehicles are so quiet. I don’t know if they are electric or just coasting without the engine on. It’s quite an amazing thing. Actually what is amazing is I haven’t been bumped into yet as I take charge and step out into oncoming traffic. They’ll dodge me, it’s what they know.

Map of China

This year I head to China with a good friend Monique.  China was her idea and she kindly asked if I’d like to join her.  During the past few years, I have traveled mostly alone so it’s great to have someone else to get excited with.  She and I will meet in Shanghai and join up with GAP Adventures and do the Highlights of China tour.  I worked with GAP before on my trip to Peru back in 2002 and really liked how they did things.  Small groups (this time I think we have 7 people including us), local guides and the freedom to explore on our own.

Before Monique mentioned it, I honestly had no interest in going to China.  I guess Asia has always been a little further on my list but I have no particular reason why.  Maybe gorillas and jungles seem more appealing at this point.  But after some research and reading, I am now quite excited about seeing China, her culture and her people in the country of origin and not just Chinatown in San Francisco. 

Chinese Visa

China is very particular about their visas as I have found.  As I was between statuses of an H1-B and a Green Card, I wasn’t sure of the paperwork I needed to bring to the Visa office in San Francisco.  Also I was warned/advised to have all my accommodations determined before hand.  Since my first couple days were in flux as to where I was going to stay, I didn’t have anything booked for that period.  However I did bring my passport, my tour confirmation, my flight confirmation, a passport photo and my application form.  I got up at 6am to hop aboard Caltrain for a 40 minute ride north to the city.  From there I walked another 40 minutes to the Chinese embassy.   Here I waited another 40 minutes in line before the doors opened to allow people inside.  There were about 30 people ahead of me already.  Once inside I received a number and waited.  This part was easy.   I just watched a scrolling screen in English and Chinese characters notifying people things they probably already should have known before they had gotten there.  Within minutes, it was my turn.  It was only 9.15 but the lady behind the glass seemed to already have had a long day.  Her microphone kept cutting out so I couldn’t understand what she was saying, as was mine and she was not happy at all about the paperwork I provided.  Eventually with much reluctance and arguing, she turned me away.  I needed more paperwork.

My second visit to the consulate was less dramatic.  Again the train ride and walk but I dropped off my paperwork relatively easier than last time.  I had booked a hotel so that was covered and I brought my Adjustment of Status paperwork which after some coddling, they allowed.

Four days later, I picked up my visa.  While waiting in line there was a man directly in front of me who seemed to think there were imaginary ducks overhead.  He would fart loudly to the left of me and wander to the right looking in the sky and around, possibly thinking this distraction would cover up the fact he farted quite loudly.  Luckily it didn’t smell.  But he did do this 2-3 times.  I would have waited a day line with this guy compared to the next companion I had in my line inside to pick up the visa and passport.  This “amazing guy” often said amazing… to the point it could be a drinking game.  He was nice, but I felt like he had just been released from jail and hadn’t been around people in a long long time.  He was teaching in Korea for two years (maybe North from his exclamations of how amazing our country is with our freedom and choices) and was planning on teaching in China next.  I told him I was an Engineer and he proceeded to go off about how Engineers are closed minded people who cannot change.  His father was an Engineer.  I see daddy issues.  He eventually chilled out on another topic talking about how important it was to be positive and not hold grudges to then go off again about Engineers and how they are necessary for running shoes, because he likes his running shoes, but he wished they would loosen up.  He was actually swearing at this point.  It was a little awkward and I had momentary lost the humour of the situation, so I told him to not worry and that I wouldn’t take what he was saying personally.  After all I work with computers and not actually engineer real things. ….. Then we talked about computers and how he doesn’t get them but he uses them.  Once that window opened up for me to get my paperwork and run, I thanked him quickly for something then rushed to the window, almost reaching through to hug the lady on the other side.

So that’s the start to my China trip.  Oh, I am bringing US Dollars to China, so I shouldn’t have the same start as I did in Egypt where I was waiting for money from my friend.

I’ll try to keep in contact via Multiply and Facebook but I heard these might be blocked in China so I’ll see what I can do.  If you sign up as my friend on Multiply, you’ll get automatically notified when I do a blog post.  Otherwise you can wait until I get back.

再见    –  zài jiàn    –   Goodbye!

11 of us hiked Half Dome this weekend. It was Haig, Karineh, Eddy, Kim, Marc, Laila, John, Jim, Bert and myself. We started on the trail around 6:15 and ended at various times later. John, Karineh and I ended around 10 1/2 hours later.

The hike starts with a gradual climb on a concrete path. It was still dark at this point. Eventually it leads to a water fountain and sink. A great place to fill up any water (it tastes great!). From here start the stairs go up and up past the two sets of water falls. The stairs are uneven, tilted and make for interesting walking. The first set of falls are Vernal Falls then Nevada Falls. There wasn’t much water running at this time in the season but it was still pretty. All the way to Half Dome the trail varies from stairs, sandy cobblestones, switchbacks and even a flattened sandy area up by the campsites (past the waterfalls). There is some shade for sun reprieve and even a little more easy going hiking but that doesn’t last longer than 30 minutes to an hour. The rest of the trip is pretty much up in one form or another. Which is what makes it fun.

The trick with Half Dome, which alot of people are learning, is to start very early. A 4-5 am start is not unheard of, and if you want to avoid the heat of the day and the throng of people, it’s the best way to go. The other trick to make sure you bring enough water and food for the day, but not to over do it. I always end up bringing too much water (around a gallon this time) and I end up paying for it by a heavy bag. But I usually give away a 1/2 litre to people I see on the trail because they just don’t bring enough. Full fingered gloves are helpful in avoiding blisters on your fingers. I brought half fingered weight lifting gloves this time but I got blisters from the cables on the way up and down. The cables can be difficult if you don’t plan it right. Take it slow and steady breaking on the planks or posts when you can. Going hand over hand will help maximize strength and allow people to go past you on their way down if they going down the inside of the cables. If you can handle it, going down the outside of the chain on the way down, seems easier and oddly safer to me. Again two hands always on the chain and keeping view of what’s infront. Butt first works for me, but for John he walked more forward. It was a long hike back but we made with not too many aches and pains. I think it would be lovely to skip the dome once and just do the falls to hang out at them and enjoy their nice cool water. Maybe next time.

We stayed at Cedar Park Lodge in El Portal and picked up pizza from Yosemite View Lodge/Pizza shop. (I’ll add the name when I find it).

John, Joe and I swung by James Lick Observatory on the way home because we tried a new windier way home (which will probably be the last time we do that. It started promising and after 2-3 hours of it, well that was just too much!

Thanks all for coming on the trip and I’ll add links to everyones photos when I get them.

-Corinne

Check out my photos

John’s photos
Haig’s Photos

Alec and I spent two weeks up in Canada visiting some of my old stomping grounds. We spent a few days in each Banff, Lake Louise and Calgary. We camped mostly, only staying in a hotel in Calgary (the Westin thanks to Hotwire’s great deals). We spent over half of our days hiking in Banff National Park, which was great. In all we checked out Takkakaw Falls, Plain of 6 Glaciers, Peyto Lake, Larch Valley through to Sentinel Pass, Athabasca Glacier on the Columbia Icefield, Johnston Canyon, Spray River Circuit and Sulfur Mountain.

The thing about going home which is hard, is a lot of things change. People get older and new people live in the places where nothing once was. However, this time around it seemed like time stood still. There were still tourists who are taking photos of street signs and The Fudgery was still pimping out their fudge… mmm fudge.

We had Caesars every day, trying to find the best one (Truffle Pigs in Field).
We sought out real Canadian food (apparently it’s wild game like bison).
I even reconsidered moving back to Calgary after a beautiful day at Prince’s Island Park.
Then I was reminded by a friend on how cold it got in the winter and how everything looked dirty when the snow thaws. We got to enjoy true Canadian spirit unless you are that mean lady who took our spot at Two Jack Campground or the bored-but-too-busy-chatting-to-be-of-service girls who work at TD Square in Calgary.

To finish it off, we spent time with my family at the end of the trip at my nephew’s wedding (those photos are coming)

I hope to add more info about the hikes, but since I’m heading on another trip in two weeks, we’ll see what’s really possible. For now, this is what you get. Enjoy! We did.

Show me the photos!

Ok so I’m in London at the Travelzoo UK office and Chris offered me a job… again.  Poor guy never gives up.   Some day I might say yes.

Okay to continue from the last post since I had to hurriedly sign off last night.  Basically this guy gropes me for a second or two, (yes not the first time in my life), I was surprised which is probably why I was shocked and ran.  So this camera guy joins me on my walk to kill time because I don’t feel like being set up to buy something at a designated store.   We have a nice conversation and he insists on buying me a soda.   Yeah I don’t drink pop regularly but he insisted and you get tired of drinking water all the time. So that was the first kind deed, him joining me on my walk and wanting nothing in return.  Often new friends want to sell you something, cheap, good deal… etc etc.

We return to the bus except the bus isn’t there anymore.  We’re only 2 minutes late (I swear!) and they’ve left.  Thankfully the guides are still around and the other people on a tour were taken to something, no idea where, but they eventually came back.  I wasn’t worried. I still had two guides and a camera guy.  Full house.  (I’m a bit tired so if I don’t make sense just stop reading, wake up at 4am, get on two flights in two different countries and try reading this again, if the room is moving and you are not, you’re there).  While waiting for the bus to return, we hung out and chatted politics.  Basically the lesser guide (assistant, russian interpretor?? not sure) asked me straight out what the US and Canada thought of the Egypt.  As I mentioned in the last post I said I don’t think most people see Egypt as a part of the evil Middle East… it’s all Pyramids and tombs.  We talked some more and then got onto the subject of massage (thankfully no one thinks of happy endings here so it was one less thing I needed to explain).  That was the second nice thing was just to talk to this man honestly about how the world is outside of our little bubble.  We talked about the sincerity of the Egyptian people. I have always felt welcome and was welcomed where I went.  talking with him reminded me of all the excellent moments I had here in Egypt and how the people treated me.   If I ignored a street vendor, he still welcomed me.  If I needed to use some stranger’s phone they offered it no problem.  Sure I had to make sure I wasn’t being cheated or swindled, but it is a 3rd world country after all.  Which takes me to my final moment.

I’m in the bus with the rest of the group later on and we’re waiting for the guides to bring back more water.  This girl is outside my window begging for money for food.  She’s about 11. This has already happened a few other times and I’m always hesitant in giving money because it can sometimes start a floodgate and a bunch of other kids come.  It’s a catch because who can you help?  I’m always at struggle with this wherever I go and I haven’t come up with an answer other than if I have food I give it.  So that’s what I did. I had an extra Mojo Bar  and handed it to her through the window and made the international eat symbol with my hands and mouth.  She took it, said thank you and walked away.  A few minutes later she came back and tapped on the window.  She was holding up something that she was trying to sell.  The bus moved ahead a few metres and stopped to create some distance between her and the bus.  I guess the driver thought she was trying to sell something.  She came up to the window again and I decided to open it.  She handed me a bracelet and said it was a present and then walked away.  That did it.

What I didn’t mention is gropey guy before he made his mood, handed me a scarab cut from stone and told me it would bring good luck. Then he copped a feel.  When we were walking back to the bus that was no longer there, I saw him on the corner, whistled and threw his scarab back to him.  I didn’t want anything from him.  This bracelet the girl gave me, had a scarab on it as well.  And it’s way more treasured.

So yes, I made it to London and have already printed my boarding pass for tomorrow. The fight from Sharm was 40 minutes late this morning which made a huge rush in Cairo in getting my bags from baggage claim, paying a man 20 Egyptian pounds for the peace of mind for him to carry my bags up stairs and show me where to check in for my flight to London.  Yes if I would have known where to go and if my flight wasn’t leaving in 45 minutes I would have thought it a waste of money but he was an angel at that moment.  While waiting in line for my boarding pass and to check my luggage, the attendants called out “London!” so I was bumped up quickly in the queue.  From there a couple more scans, immigration and passport checks and I was on the bus to the plane.  Quite eventful start and end to this trip, thankfully the middle was calm (relatively speaking).

My plan for the next few days is to start posting some pics, not all of them although I have been able to narrow down quite a few.   I’ll try remember enough to explain what’s going on in each set as well.

Take care and see you soon!

Cheers, Corinne

Today is my last day in Egypt and I’ll tell you my trip has been an eye opener.  I never thought of Egypt as the “Middle East” with Afganistan, Iraq and Iran but indeed it is.  I talked politics today with an Egyptian and the first thing he asked me was in all honesty, how do people think of Egypt. I told him that people are still cautious of Muslims but are mostly scared about what will happen in the Middle East.  I think alot of people when they think of Egypt, they think Pyramids not Middle East chaos.

So today I went to St Catherine’s Monastary and saw Moses’ burning bush. No it wasn’t burning but it was there green and all.  On our way back to Sharm, we stopped by Dahab which is right across from Saudi Arabia (Mom don’t tell Dad I got close enough to see Saudi Arabia.)    In one of the shops, I was alone with the shop owner.  Now in my 12 days of being here (or so) nothing, NOTHING, has ever happened to make me feel uncomfortable.  But this guy, in leading me to see something else, put his bare hand on my ass.  Granted if his hand was gloved, I still would have been offended but geez!  I bolted, shocked, into another store where the rest of the tour group was.  I have never felt so uncomfortable.  Granted yes just a hand on my butt, but we were alone in his shop and he makes a brash move like that and it was a full hand, full coverage, very obvious.  I was just surprised and very very uncomfortable. So now I’m stuck in a store where there is obviously nothing i want to buy.  I wait for about 3 minutes and realize I can’t be kept captive like this. I didn’t want to leave to face him, but I couldn’t just stay there either.  So I took a big deep breath and walked out.

I just got booted off the computer but let’s just say the kindness of other people helped.

I fill in more later.

ciao

In Cairo, I developed a cough due to the serious pollution.  If we drove around it got worse since the road fumes are horrible.  Now that I’m on the coast I’m relearning to take deep breaths again although I’ll get a good one in to find a smoker near by and start coughing again.  I’m so spoilt by northern California.

I landed in Sharm early Sunday morning to find most activities don’t open until 4.  Okay the only activity I wanted at the moment was a massage.  My back and legs are a bit sore from the horse ride I did on Saturday.   I could have done the camel thing but I realized it would have been fun for about 15 minutes then I would have gotten tired of the rocking forward and back on the hump.  This way with the horse, I had my own guide and we got to gallop and run.  I totally want to take horse riding lessons when I get home.   So around the pyramids (yes finally I saw them up close and personal) and into the desert we went.  The desert wasn’t the Lawrence of Arabia kind but more of a rocky terrain.  After the tour, I wandered about with all the other tourists and found myself deep inside the second largest pyramid in Giza.  It’s hot, sweaty, smelly (but better smelly than outside at times actually) and I could feel the thickness of the walls around me.  The claustrophobic would not do well in here at all.  You climb down a steep incline and then climb up another to find yourself in an empty  mid sized room where the sarcophagus used to lie.  The room wasn’t too bad, it was the in between corridor between down and up.  That was intense.  I could feel the thickness of the walls as I tried to catch my breath.  I could feel them closing in and realized, this was a bad place for this and stopped it from happening.  yeah mind.

Now I’m in Sharm and you are wondering why I wished people would wear clothes.  Every woman is in a bikini except 2 so far.  And these aren’t the two that should be wearing a one piece (as I have).  That topped with the European men and the nude sun bathing… my eyes my eyes,  I’ve been in a land of modesty too long maybe?

okay I planned to not send this until Monday, but maybe I’ll have a new adventure to chat about.  Lucky day for you, two in one.

Ciao.

-C

I thought Hazem would be a natural barterer since he’s Egyptian.  However he’s a city boy and I think he might not have been prepared for the work it takes to barter.  So imagine yourself, if possible, in this situation.  You are on a side street where there are endless ‘shops’ selling all sorts of things like spices, perfumes, bags, tshirts, nicknacks, cottons shawls etc.  You want some of these things, others you don’t care for.  As you walk down the street (closed off to cars, filled with pedestrians like yourself) you are constantly accosted by new friends.  “Hey Canada!” (they know the flag on my daypack) “Canada Dry!”  (I have yet to see a can of ginger ale, but it sure beat “Canada? Celine Dion!”).  But let’s say you are not Canadian, or not wearing the maple leaf, if you are wearing a floppy hat, you are British, if you are tall skinny and scantily clothed you are Russian and they all have sayings to get the attention of each group….Not sure what they said if you are American because honestly I haven’t seen any.

Anyway, I digress.  You are walking down the street and getting approached by various vendors. If you express any interest in an item, they can give you a good price.  Special deal for the day.  Depending on the item, you can usually get it down to a third of the asking price, but if you don’t know this, you honestly think these men (usually) are giving you a great deal.
They say they bought it at this price.  They say they are working for their father and he would be mad if he sold it for less.  They say theirs is genuine and the rest are fake.  There are so many stories.  Since I’ve been through this in South America, I’ve heard pretty much all of them.  The trick is to get them to name a price.  You act shocked (well you are) and say no way and walk away.  Usually they say then ok ok name your price or they drop it automatically.  You should eventually way underbid a price (say you’ll pay 20, tell them 15 or even 10).  Never, ever buy it until you’ve left the store at least once.  If you leave and they don’t change the price then it’s usually the lowest they will go.  If you leave, look at another shop that is selling the same thing (there always are) then do the same process again.  You can eventually use the stores’ prices against each other, atleast you’ll be better informed.  Unfortunately, my friends didn’t know this game.  Hazem doesn’t like this game and I don’t blame him.  Honestly though, I handled it better than I thought I would and actually enjoyed the process this time.

I’m actually in Sharm el Sheik now and man what a resort I am in.  A salt water lake on land and a swimming pool in the ocean.  Crazy.  I don’t want to ruin anything so I’ll send an update Monday.

Salam!

Corinne

So we have made it to Aswan which is more south on the Nile. Our time in Luxor was pretty nice. We did toured the Valley of the Kings and went into a couple tombs. Then we went to Hatshepsut’s temple (HUGE!), Karnak Temple (even more HUGE!) and Luxor Temple. When I post pictures (hopefully when I get back to Cairo) I’ll go into more details. I do wish I could have gone into more tombs but we didn’t have time for more that day so there were only two.

Our guide said there were over 11,000 tourists that day and that didn’t count the people staying locally in Luxor like ourselves. These were just the people bussed in. so you can imagine how crazy and busy it was. It was difficult to imagine the time when Pharaohs walked the land but I did have a moment (while 40 other people probably in this one stone room) where a Pharaoh would come to this small stone room and make offerings to his god. For about 5 seconds I was able to put myself in that time and imagine what it would be like. It’s pretty amazing.

Today we are heading off for another full day of tours. This time we are joining with a larger group (British) I think and heading Aswan Dam (which is where the Nile is dammed and where all the crock’s stop making their way up the river (as well as the sediment that once made the farm lands more fertile sadly) and we’re going to an island or two.

So some explanation for the mute subject line. Merchants of various kinds approach tourists on the street and try to get them to take a ride on their boats or horse drawn carriages or buy their stuff. Normally I just say la, la shukran, which means no, no thank you. But this time I pretended to have lost my voice. Well the little bugger followed me to the point that I had to cross the street. Next time I’m going to pull a Nell and just start making up my own language.

So it looks like my trip started with a bang and has progressed to a nice lull. When I get back to Cairo you’ll see more stuff because I can just use Hazem’s computer then.

Until next time…

I thought I did, but apparently I must have missed that on my check list. So it’s been quite an adventure the past 24 hours. When I landed in Cairo, I forgot about the $15USD Visa fee in order to get into the country. I *thought* I had some cash, but it appears all I had was 1.17. This fell quite short of the requested total. No problem though! I have two credit cards and even though the bank ATM was either unplugged or just unjuiced the Visa office could take credit cards.

Unfortunately they were both denied twice, each. Damn what to do? So I found an Egyptian who could speak English and he called Hazem (thankfully I had the fore-thought to actually get his cell number). Hazem however, was at the wrong terminal and it would take 15-20 minutes to get to my terminal. So while I chilled and waited… and paced…. and kept bugging my new friend, my story was retold over and over and over again to new people getting added into the mix. Thankfully, I never received a pitiful look of a tourist who should know better. I should but I hate that look.

When I started worrying about my bag that I had to check in, someone must have read my mind because a security guard came to get me and told me to get my things. This is on the other side of the Customs/Visa people.. but that’s ok because they had all left to go sit somewhere in the back room. So out I walked, grabbed the bag and actually contemplated skipping the visa and going to find Hazem… luckily I wasn’t that tired and tried to get back into my holding area. The security guard, a different security guard who didn’t know my story yet, was quite concerned that I didn’t have a Visa and I was on the OTHER side of the visa gate. I called my friend over and again the story was retold.. I think I could retell it now in Arabic myself. So back I went to my chair and waited. It was about 1 or 1.30 am now and I had been waiting for about an hour but time did seem to fly because there were always people around. The women in various stages of dress and cover and even some men who must have come from Saudi Arabia with their long robes and head dress thingy.

Eventually another man came to find me and he had received the money from Hazem and had purchased my Visa and put it into the passport. Then we needed to go find some customs guy to verify it or something (he didn’t seem happy about getting interrupted from his daydream) and then I was out… almost. I had another two queues to stand in and get verified again. Boy they are thorough! I saw Hazem waving in the background (behind all the other people waving) and I sighed. I knew it was all going to work out but it was just nice to see him. Unfortunately our adventure wasn’t completely over yet.

Hazem, in his rush, parked in a no parking zone and as we made our way to the car he started running faster. His car got booted! The man had just finished locking it as Hazem came up to him. So the thought that every one is bribable in the Middle East isn’t exactly true. We tried and I even did the puppy eyes but the man held steadfast. Hazem had to go pay off the ticket. What a night!

As we drove home, Hazem showed me how busy it still was at 2am in the morning. Granted Ramadan had finished that day and Eid started at sun rise the next day, people were planning on staying up all night. I mostly saw teenage and college aged boys, but once in a while there were a few girls out. I think we drove around for 1 1/2 hours catching up on old times and eventually we arrived at home. Cairo reminds me of Lima and other South American cities. Dirty, busy, buildings half finished and people everywhere! I think the drivers are more crazy here though.. yes Tanya it is true. Lima isn’t the worst city.

Today has been a pretty easy day filled with an early morning rise at 5.15 to go see the hoards of people on the street (we missed prayers unfortunately, but it was cool hearing the men on the speakers praying). I did have a nap after lunch because I was running off 6 hours of sleep since the day I left and we couldn’t get in to see the Pyramids since they close up doors at 4pm (and early today because it was a holiday). Tonight we hop aboard a Sleeper train to Luxor and I probably won’t get back to anyone until I return to Cairo on the 18th. But we’ll see in sha-allah (I’m trying to pick up the language as much as I can..so I figure I’ll have like 4 phrases down hehe).

I had an eventful start to my time in Cairo, but so far it’s been pretty tame. The pollution is strong so getting out of the city will be good. It’s equivalent to smoking three packs of cigarettes a day and I can totally feel it on my throat after driving around for a few hours. I will also be surprised if I don’t see atleast one person get hit while I’m here. Luckily the cars aren’t super fast but people are all over the roads walking and the drivers just honk and slow down and don’t really use their lights at night.. well they are basically on low beam and turn the lights on when to warn someone.

Hazem and Hala are great hosts and their kids Omar and Nour are very cute and quite fun. Especially since I have no idea what they are saying although I know how to say “no” now…”la” and I’m running out of finger games…

Until next time!

Salam!