At a sandwich store yesterday, I order in English. The guy behind the counter is big, with a coarse face. Somebody you’d see as a bad guy in a James Bond movie. While we wait for my order, he asks if I speak any French. “Only a little bit”, I reply in French. A smile […]
The Teach
Friday prayers have finished and a lot of Palestinian flags and Keffiyehs can be seen in the streets. It’s the traditional time for clashes between Palestinians and Israelis, which means some parts of Hebron are better avoided. The area around my accommodation is calm as always and people are hanging out in the streets. From […]
Yoshin Pole
It’s New Year’s eve today (in the local calendar) and as part of the celebrations, a huge pole was erected on Bhaktapur’s pottery square. The small square was jam-packed with locals and a couple of visitors. More than a hundred people were working on erecting the pole with ropes and supporting tree trunk constructions. Even […]
Kota Bharu
Travel guides, either printed or online, pretty much agree that there is not much to see in Kota Bharu. And right they are. One of the few sights is the big central market, conveniently located near the hostel. I went there with two fellow backpackers I met at the hostel. The market is, compared to […]
Flying over Ice
There’s icebergs floating down there. Somewhere between Greenland (unfitting name) and Canada, the sea looks incredibly cold. I’ve spent a fair bit of the flight with looking out the window and thinking about going to a country I was never much interested in. Thinking about how it came to that. Retracing my steps, it started […]
Around the City
Southeast Asia is a dangerous place. Lots of people, including visitors, get killed in traffic accidents. That’s not really on peoples’ minds though and when westerners are going to any country in the region, they are usually more afraid of Malaria. Palestine is probably a much safer place, especially for visitors. The Israeli occupation kills […]