Te visa is finally in my passport. A ticket to the boat, together with a lot of american dollars are in my wallet. I'll wake up early tomorrow morning and head down to the port in Aswan. Probably a long day of waiting, but then! Sudan coming up! And I'm excited!
The last ten days in Egypt have been great in many ways, but in the same time a bit annoying, I'm just waiting. Sudan feels like one of the biggest things of this trip and I've been really worried about visas and boat tickets since I arrived in Cairo. But everything was sorted out today and now I'm just excited again.
Not sure if I'll be able to post any updates from Sudan, but I'll find out in a couple of days. Otherwise I'll be back again in Ethiopia.
Keep up!
söndag 11 april 2010
tisdag 6 april 2010
My new friend, The Nile
Yesterday I had my last glimps of The Mediterranean Sea. I said "Hello, Goodbye" to one of my best friends the last couple of weeks in Alexandria before it was time to head back to Cairo again. Luckily I won't be left alone now. I have a new friend which I'll remain close to the coming weeks, The Nile! I don't know why, but it feels a little bit more exotic.
Some days here in Cairo, but tomorrow it's about time to get on the road again. Another nightbus will take me down to Luxor where I'll do the last preparations before boarding the ferry to Sudan on Monday.
Everything is just perfect here in Cairo at the moment. It's been a little bit to hot during the day, but now, when the sun is going down, it's just so great. No more time or inspiration right now, but you'll hear more from me before I'm moving on to Sudan.
Keep up!
Some days here in Cairo, but tomorrow it's about time to get on the road again. Another nightbus will take me down to Luxor where I'll do the last preparations before boarding the ferry to Sudan on Monday.
Everything is just perfect here in Cairo at the moment. It's been a little bit to hot during the day, but now, when the sun is going down, it's just so great. No more time or inspiration right now, but you'll hear more from me before I'm moving on to Sudan.
Keep up!
torsdag 1 april 2010
Pictures coming up! Finally!
Yes! I've finally found a place where the internet-connection is good enough for uploading pictures. Of course I couldn't connect my camera to the computer (everything can't be perfect...), but here are some older pictures from Turkey, Syria and Lebanon.
I'm in Dahab, Egypt, at the moment and I'll stay for two more days. It feels like paradise right now. Snorkeling in the Red Sea during the day and relax at the balcony (with the same sea five meters away) in the afternoons. Kind of like my life over here. Will give it another try with the camera tomorrow and hopefully I can give some more pictures from Syria, Jordan and Egypt, including one of the best pictures ever of me. You better look forward to that! Also some more writing tomorrow night.
Coming up now: 13 pictures from my life between Kiruna and Cape Town. Enjoy!
Hagia Sophia, Istanbul. The spring is in the air.
"Life is good to you"
Yes, being a Swede can create some problems.
Apartments for rent? Cappadocia.
Sunset, Cappadocia.
Me and my best friend in Cappadocia. We had a really good time together.
Bye bye Turkey.
I made a dream come trough. Finally.
Kind of cool trees!
And a big surprise in Bsharri. Crazy!
Crac Des Chevalliers. The coolest playground so far.
I just had to. The sea was so beautiful!
Salaadin Castle. Also a cool playground.
I'm in Dahab, Egypt, at the moment and I'll stay for two more days. It feels like paradise right now. Snorkeling in the Red Sea during the day and relax at the balcony (with the same sea five meters away) in the afternoons. Kind of like my life over here. Will give it another try with the camera tomorrow and hopefully I can give some more pictures from Syria, Jordan and Egypt, including one of the best pictures ever of me. You better look forward to that! Also some more writing tomorrow night.
Coming up now: 13 pictures from my life between Kiruna and Cape Town. Enjoy!
Hagia Sophia, Istanbul. The spring is in the air.
"Life is good to you"
Yes, being a Swede can create some problems.
Apartments for rent? Cappadocia.
Sunset, Cappadocia.
Me and my best friend in Cappadocia. We had a really good time together.
Bye bye Turkey.
I made a dream come trough. Finally.
Kind of cool trees!
And a big surprise in Bsharri. Crazy!
Crac Des Chevalliers. The coolest playground so far.
I just had to. The sea was so beautiful!
Salaadin Castle. Also a cool playground.
måndag 29 mars 2010
Good news. And bad.
Some things have happened the last couple of days. For some of you these things might be really good, but for some of you probably not. Not very bad, but I don't think you will open a bottle of champagne and have a big, big party... Anyway.
A week ago I received an offer I couldn't refuse. The editor of the "travel part" for the swedish website N24.se send me an e-mail and asked if I wanted to run a travel blog at their site. This is really good for me because it's a great opportunity to write for a bigger "crowd", the bad thing is that I'll write in swedish.
For those of you who understand swedish, you'll find the new blog here: http://nyheter24.se/bloggar/resebloggar/fran-kiruna-till-kapstaden
I'm not sure if I'll have enough energy or time to run two blogs at the same time, but I'll really try to do some shorter updates here now and then, just to keep all of you english-speakers updated.
And now over to the last reports from Mr. Magnusson and his travel from Kiruna to Cape Town. I left Beirut a couple of days ago, heading back to Syria and Damascus. Was a bit bored in Beirut, but it was really nice to just relax for a couple of days. Back in Syria again, a country I'm in love with. The situation is a little bit hard for me because there are a lot of things which I'm not very happy about. The fact that it's a dictatorship and some of the social consequences from the religion is not really what I like, but I'm not able to hide my feelings. The people are so friendly, the atmosphere is so great, the food couldn't be better, it's easy to travel around in the country and there's a lot of things to see and do. I'm one of those who love to walk around in a new town for a couple of days, both Damascus and Aleppo are really good for that, but there's also a lot of beautiful landscapes, some great old castles and ruins, the sea and a lot of other things.
Did spend three days in Damascus this time (I'll probably go back for a couple of months when it's possible) and just had a really good time! But everything has an end, and so my time in Syria. On the road again, this time to Amman, Jordan!
One night in Amman before it was time for one of the big highlights of this trip, Petra! It's crazy, go here! Because of that I had a couple of lazy days the last weeks I'm full of energy at the moment, which is perfect over here in Petra. Except of the main sites there are a lot of fantastic mountains for some soft climbing, and I like it! Will stay here for two nights before I move on again. Seven hours of total freedom today and another ten-twelve hours tomorrow.
Heading back to my hostel now for a big dinner and a calm night. Although I'm young and have been saving energy the last days it's a tiring activity to climb mountains in 30 degrees and a burning sun...
Love love!
A week ago I received an offer I couldn't refuse. The editor of the "travel part" for the swedish website N24.se send me an e-mail and asked if I wanted to run a travel blog at their site. This is really good for me because it's a great opportunity to write for a bigger "crowd", the bad thing is that I'll write in swedish.
For those of you who understand swedish, you'll find the new blog here: http://nyheter24.se/bloggar/resebloggar/fran-kiruna-till-kapstaden
I'm not sure if I'll have enough energy or time to run two blogs at the same time, but I'll really try to do some shorter updates here now and then, just to keep all of you english-speakers updated.
And now over to the last reports from Mr. Magnusson and his travel from Kiruna to Cape Town. I left Beirut a couple of days ago, heading back to Syria and Damascus. Was a bit bored in Beirut, but it was really nice to just relax for a couple of days. Back in Syria again, a country I'm in love with. The situation is a little bit hard for me because there are a lot of things which I'm not very happy about. The fact that it's a dictatorship and some of the social consequences from the religion is not really what I like, but I'm not able to hide my feelings. The people are so friendly, the atmosphere is so great, the food couldn't be better, it's easy to travel around in the country and there's a lot of things to see and do. I'm one of those who love to walk around in a new town for a couple of days, both Damascus and Aleppo are really good for that, but there's also a lot of beautiful landscapes, some great old castles and ruins, the sea and a lot of other things.
Did spend three days in Damascus this time (I'll probably go back for a couple of months when it's possible) and just had a really good time! But everything has an end, and so my time in Syria. On the road again, this time to Amman, Jordan!
One night in Amman before it was time for one of the big highlights of this trip, Petra! It's crazy, go here! Because of that I had a couple of lazy days the last weeks I'm full of energy at the moment, which is perfect over here in Petra. Except of the main sites there are a lot of fantastic mountains for some soft climbing, and I like it! Will stay here for two nights before I move on again. Seven hours of total freedom today and another ten-twelve hours tomorrow.
Heading back to my hostel now for a big dinner and a calm night. Although I'm young and have been saving energy the last days it's a tiring activity to climb mountains in 30 degrees and a burning sun...
Love love!
tisdag 23 mars 2010
Posting comments...
I've understood that some of you are having some problems with posting comments on my posts. I know that it seems to be a bit confusing with the "gmail-accounts" and that kind of things, but you have to do is just to choose "anonym", "anonymous" (or something similar to that) in the list and then sign with your name in the post you're making. It works out for me, without having to sign in or anything, so I think it should work out for you also.
I'm in Beirut at the moment. Have to say that I'm a bit disappointed by this town. It's even more like Paris than I expected before I came here and that's not really what I'm looking for at the moment. The nightlife is excellent though, and it's nice just to relax at my hostel with a couple of cool people all the day long. Wake up late, eating excellent breakfast and just relax before heading out late in the night.
Moving on back to Syria tomorrow or on Thursday. Damascus is coming up for a couple of days before I'm leaving for Jordan.
The sun is smiling to me, and I'm smiling back!
I'm in Beirut at the moment. Have to say that I'm a bit disappointed by this town. It's even more like Paris than I expected before I came here and that's not really what I'm looking for at the moment. The nightlife is excellent though, and it's nice just to relax at my hostel with a couple of cool people all the day long. Wake up late, eating excellent breakfast and just relax before heading out late in the night.
Moving on back to Syria tomorrow or on Thursday. Damascus is coming up for a couple of days before I'm leaving for Jordan.
The sun is smiling to me, and I'm smiling back!
söndag 21 mars 2010
Cedars of Lebanon!
Finally I'm here. In the country I've dreamed about for such a long time. A heaven for a vegetarian. Yesterday night I crossed the border to Lebanon!
Yes, another shared taxi across another border, this time from Syria to Lebanon, and one hour later I arrived in Tripoli. Had a good night beside the sea together with some new-found friends and a couple of Efes, but the thing I' ve been really looking forward to were about to take place today. The Cedars! And it fell out even better than I hoped.
To get to the small village and ski resort called Cedars you have to take a minibus from Tripoli up in the mountains. The view from the car is actually anough for a day trip, but there are more good things coming up. The bus will take you to a small town called Bcharre from where you have to arrange a taxi trip up to Cedars. But Bcharre is not only a place where you jump out of the bus and try to find a taxi as soon as posible. Bcharre is also the place where one of the most famous poets in the world was born, lived during his first twelve years and also burried. His name was Khalil Gibran and I'm sure many of you know about his most famous book, The Prophet.
After some two hours in the house where he was born and at the museum where they have collected a lot of his belongings, paintings and writings (you can see his coffin as well) I moved on up the hill to Cedars. Wow.
The trees are so amazing and the atmosphere is just perfect, as in the surroundings (I can see how Gibran were inspired to write as he did). It's been one of the worst winters ever for skiing, there's no snow at all, so no skiing for me this time, but a lot of walking around in the park where most of the trees are. I had such a god time! And then back again down the mountain to Tripoli where you ca get a falafel for 0.50 euro. Add to this that the falafel of Tripoli is probably the best I've had so far in my life and you can see why I don't complain at all at the moment.
The sun is smiling towards me, and I'm smiling back!
Yes, another shared taxi across another border, this time from Syria to Lebanon, and one hour later I arrived in Tripoli. Had a good night beside the sea together with some new-found friends and a couple of Efes, but the thing I' ve been really looking forward to were about to take place today. The Cedars! And it fell out even better than I hoped.
To get to the small village and ski resort called Cedars you have to take a minibus from Tripoli up in the mountains. The view from the car is actually anough for a day trip, but there are more good things coming up. The bus will take you to a small town called Bcharre from where you have to arrange a taxi trip up to Cedars. But Bcharre is not only a place where you jump out of the bus and try to find a taxi as soon as posible. Bcharre is also the place where one of the most famous poets in the world was born, lived during his first twelve years and also burried. His name was Khalil Gibran and I'm sure many of you know about his most famous book, The Prophet.
After some two hours in the house where he was born and at the museum where they have collected a lot of his belongings, paintings and writings (you can see his coffin as well) I moved on up the hill to Cedars. Wow.
The trees are so amazing and the atmosphere is just perfect, as in the surroundings (I can see how Gibran were inspired to write as he did). It's been one of the worst winters ever for skiing, there's no snow at all, so no skiing for me this time, but a lot of walking around in the park where most of the trees are. I had such a god time! And then back again down the mountain to Tripoli where you ca get a falafel for 0.50 euro. Add to this that the falafel of Tripoli is probably the best I've had so far in my life and you can see why I don't complain at all at the moment.
The sun is smiling towards me, and I'm smiling back!
lördag 20 mars 2010
The sun is shining!
Had some problems with the internet-connections in the beginning of my time in Syria, but there seems to be no problems over here in Tartus. After two great days in Aleppo I moved on to Lattakia for a night. I joined two new friends from England and Scotland (Jennie and Fred) on the train, and also the day after (yesterday).
Outisde of Lattakia there's a couple of cool tourist sights and we did spend the day together exploring some of them. We started with the old "Saladins castle" half an hour away from the town. The castle it self is mostly ruins nowadays, but the location and the view of the surroundings where amazing! Also quite funny to just climb around in old ruins when the sun is shining.
After the climbing excercises we really felt it was about time to head back towards the sea, and so we did. Minibus for another 20 minutes in the other direction from the town took us to a beach, a beach with almost black sand! Jennie, Fred (and all the locals) thought it was a bit to windy for a swim, but that couldn't stop me. It wasn't very hot, but compared to the lakes in Sweden it was acceptable and I really enjoyed it. Life is good to me!
After a break at a restaurant in Lattakia (where we were invited to the kitchen to choose between the different fishes they had caught today) I took the bus down to Tartus and they moved on towards Hama. But we were about to meat again.
Tartus isn't a very big town and when it comes to hotels aren't the selection very big, especially not for budget hotels. The result of this was that I ended up in some kind of luxury hotel for one night. Not really what I was looking for, but sometimes it's really nice to just relax in a big, soft bed and enjoy a large breakfast.
After thtat breakfast I caught another minibus and went to the cool (and well restored) "Crac des Chevalliers", probably one of the best playgrounds in the world. Huge walls, towers and a big castle, everything very well restored, it was truly an exciting day-trip. And I got to see Jennie and Fred again, as a bonus.
Hitchhiked back to Tartus and now I'm about to move on to the next country, Lebanon. I'm not done with Syria yet, but I'll go south along the coast down to Beirut and then turn east again back to Syria and Damascus. I'm looking forward to arrive in Tripoli tonight and hopefully I'll find a way to get to Cedars tomorrow or on monday. Take a swim in the sea in the morning and then do some skiing in the afternoon, that would be great.
I'm still surprised by the friendlyness in this country, it's really great. You really should go to Syria, all of you!
Keep up!
Outisde of Lattakia there's a couple of cool tourist sights and we did spend the day together exploring some of them. We started with the old "Saladins castle" half an hour away from the town. The castle it self is mostly ruins nowadays, but the location and the view of the surroundings where amazing! Also quite funny to just climb around in old ruins when the sun is shining.
After the climbing excercises we really felt it was about time to head back towards the sea, and so we did. Minibus for another 20 minutes in the other direction from the town took us to a beach, a beach with almost black sand! Jennie, Fred (and all the locals) thought it was a bit to windy for a swim, but that couldn't stop me. It wasn't very hot, but compared to the lakes in Sweden it was acceptable and I really enjoyed it. Life is good to me!
After a break at a restaurant in Lattakia (where we were invited to the kitchen to choose between the different fishes they had caught today) I took the bus down to Tartus and they moved on towards Hama. But we were about to meat again.
Tartus isn't a very big town and when it comes to hotels aren't the selection very big, especially not for budget hotels. The result of this was that I ended up in some kind of luxury hotel for one night. Not really what I was looking for, but sometimes it's really nice to just relax in a big, soft bed and enjoy a large breakfast.
After thtat breakfast I caught another minibus and went to the cool (and well restored) "Crac des Chevalliers", probably one of the best playgrounds in the world. Huge walls, towers and a big castle, everything very well restored, it was truly an exciting day-trip. And I got to see Jennie and Fred again, as a bonus.
Hitchhiked back to Tartus and now I'm about to move on to the next country, Lebanon. I'm not done with Syria yet, but I'll go south along the coast down to Beirut and then turn east again back to Syria and Damascus. I'm looking forward to arrive in Tripoli tonight and hopefully I'll find a way to get to Cedars tomorrow or on monday. Take a swim in the sea in the morning and then do some skiing in the afternoon, that would be great.
I'm still surprised by the friendlyness in this country, it's really great. You really should go to Syria, all of you!
Keep up!
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