Cairo, Egypt

I got the chance to leave Yanbu so I went to Cairo, Egypt for a few days. Cairo is characterized by crazy drivers, lots of smog, security in front of all tourist attractions, and most of the people working odd jobs to make a living. Egypt as a whole is way more liberal than the rest of the Arab world as people are allowed to drink and women aren’t as oppressed here. The people are friendly for the most part but are this way for a reason. They always want you to buy something or have something else in mind to take your money, especially in the tourist areas. This place kind of reminds me of parts of India but more liberal. Amitabh Bachchan!...this was the general call-out by everyone after they found out I was Indian. I told one guy I was from America and he gave me a dirty look…. The good part about being in another country is that you can be who you want to be as tourists often get haggled a lot here. So from then on, I was ‘an Indian from India with bad English.’

Come Happy, Leave Happy. This is Egyptian motto. After being in jail for a month, it was nice to smoke shisha and drink some beer.

I went to the Egyptian Museum to look at all the artifacts of the Egyptian kings/queens of the old, middle, and new kingdom. They also had a pretty large section for all of King Tutankhamuns’ burial possessions. Sadly you couldn’t take pictures inside but this was one of the better parts of the trip. I went to the Cairo Tower for some pretty good views of the smog-filled city and the Cairo Opera House. The next stop was an open market (souq) called Khan El Khalili. So as I went along, a random guy, who’s name I later found out to be Moud, showed me the “real” Khalili after noticing me taking pictures on the street. He spoke English pretty well but I knew in the back of my mind he had a purpose of being so friendly. He showed me some of the famous mosques in Islamic Cairo and took me to a place called Saids’ Papyrus store where they sell authentic Egyptian Papyrus. I couldn’t really take pictures inside but it was so unreal. The highest quality paintings, hues, and textures... all crafted by 7-12 year olds. So I sat there and chit chatted with the owner and his guests/staff. He explained how to spot a fake papyrus and how to absorb the beauty of the colors and the art. They are in such a small corner of the town that they don’t get advertisement of the shop…so they do this type of thing for tourists. I gave them my contact info and thanked them for their time and hospitality. The Khalili is a place to get accosted by Egyptians trying to sell things (and who look like they’re on drugs). Some even take to pulling you by the arm into a store for live demonstrations. In my case it was for cologne and perfume. I ended my first whole day smoking shisha on the street with the taxi driver that picked me up that night and had a buffet style dinner thereafter. Why, you ask? Yeah, you try communicating with someone who speaks only one language.

So the best part of the trip was seeing the Pyramids of Giza, Sphinx, and the temples surrounding the Sphinx. I was able to go for a horse ride around the area of Giza and see the real poverty of Egypt too. Once again, it reminded me a lot of India. There are three pyramids that are advertised most of the time and nine total. After dodging the Egyptians who love to pester tourists at Giza, I went to the Salah Din Citadel and the Coptic areas of Old Cairo (pics below). Everything in these areas is decently cheap and the people really want tourists’ money (as with any other part of Cairo). By this time in my trip, I had learned how to fend off these types of people, but did meet some pretty Indian-friendly folks on the street in Old Cairo.

I will be in Yanbu for about another month or so (?). Then again, I may just be stuck here for a while.

Cairo

Yanbu Al-Bahar, Saudi Arabia

Bukra Kallas. Bukra Kallas.

Those words essentially sum-up the Saudi Arabian mentality. They translate to "Tomorrow, finish," and is said throughout the day when they don't want to work anymore. Alas, Saudi's are lazy. Very lazy. I guess its the sun and horrendous heat that makes them be that way. Instead of going to Al-Jubail, I came to an even more remote town called Yanbu. After a little over two weeks in Saudi Arabia we haven't made much progress on the startup of the unit I am on. Most of the people here are not that friendly, dislike any foreigners (even those that are of Islam but from other countries), think they can coerce anyone (or think they can), and have this indifferent, do-what-I-want attitude to everything. Women are beyond oppressed in this country and are treated like property. I kind of feel sad in a way for the women here as they are just a prisoner in their own society. There is not much to do in this town besides look at a bunch of desert and stay indoors... that's not saying I can't venture outdoors, but I prefer not to be burnt to a middle-eastern crisp. On the plus-side... the food is fairly cheap everywhere, and tasty. There are alot of south indians and pakistanis everywhere so I don't feel too out of place....oh and there are other people from UOP here to feel my pain so that isn't a bad thing either.

I guess I had all my fun on my last assignment in Europe as this is about a 180 from all of that. I expect that I'll be here for another 1.5-2 months...but with the way Saudis work...it may just be longer...so hopefully I can visit some of the surrounding countries.

Chicago, Illinois (exotic, I know)

It's been a while since I last updated. Let's recap: So I took my trip to the US (Atlanta, Miami, and South Carolina) and then came right back to Rotterdam for nearly a month. It was the most uneventful month of June as I just simply lost interest in traveling. I passed the time by taking long runs through the city-center of Rotterdam, getting gawked at by ugly Dutch-Indian women, and being denied from clubs/bars simply because I'm a brown man (more on this below). I did manage to make it to a beerfest with Andrew down in Antwerp one weekend in June (can't remember which). Over 200 beers in one place with a bunch of crazy Belgian and American expats calls for a wild time.

Alas, being in Holland for that time period just made me dislike the aggressive Dutch-folk even more. Andrew visited Rotterdam for a weekend and of course, we head out one night. After hanging out at a bar for a good part of the night, we decide to test some others out in the area. Seeing as how this was the first time I had actually been out in the city, I didn't know what to expect. Fail. Lesson learned: The color of your skin will not grant you access into these establishments very late at night regardless of your sober...or inebriated state.

Finally, I left Rotterdam in the beginning of July. I have been in the US for about two months now awaiting an assignment. UOP made it's employees take a second furlough so I used the week of August 17-23 to visit my parents and attend a wedding reception in Florida. I then took a trip to Philadelphia and New York City for the first time (sad, I know). I didn't want to leave New York. It is definitely a top city to visit as there is so much to see and do.

I have been staffed and re-staffed on a couple of jobs in Qatar and Saudi Arabia and am slated to go to Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia at the end of Ramadan (end of September).

All pics are here:

Cologne (Köln), Germany

The picture above is of the Dom Cathedral. This thing is HUGE. The picture cannot say enough. Cologne has a lot of Roman cathedrals that are pint-sized versions of the Dom all over the city. There isn’t much architecture. However, I did take the tour of the chocolate museum (Schokolademuseum) which teaches you how to get from the cocoa plant to the chocolate aphrodisiac we all have grown to love. The picture below is of a young girl in Honduras (where a lot of cocoa is harvested) that I thought was funny for some reason. She doesn’t look too happy. Maybe she didn’t get her World Outreach Program support check…or maybe she didn’t get her share of chocolate. Who knows. Haha.

Next comes the highlight of this trip. On my way back to my hotel after a day of sightseeing, I stop at a random Mexican-ish restaurant to grab some dinner. I sit outside, enjoying a “Kölsch,” and do my usual people-watching antics. I look over to my right and hear two guys speaking Chicagoan English. One of them then gave me the ‘what up’ nod. The next thing I know is that I am pulling up a chair and engaged in full conversation about Europe, Chicago, and German beer-drinking. It turns out that these guys were stationed in the middle-of-nowhere Germany in the Air Force and were in Cologne for the weekend. After dinner, I ended up going out to Friensenplatz (bar/club area) with these guys. I’m going to make it a point to say that people in the Air Force are huge and make me look very very small. They are so large, that the bouncers at atleast 4-5 clubs and bars in Cologne refused to let us into their establishments solely because one of them was ‘too big’ and would cause trouble if he got too drunk. Finally we found a few places to go and cause mayhem. I paid for it big time the next day.

What comes out of this is the age-old conclusion: You do some pretty interesting things while traveling and meet some pretty cool people too. But hey, atleast I can tell people that I have another place to go when I go back to Germany.

In the coming weekends I am heading to the states (ATL and MIA) for a work ‘furlough.’ Then it’s back to Rotterdam for who knows how long…so don’t ask how long I’ll be here.

Paris, France

After Queen's Day it was off to the City of Lights to round out the weekend. Somehow, I managed to get a first-class train down there.

Siobhan and I ended up staying near all of the touristy areas that inflate the price of everything known to man. The good part about this was that we could see the Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tower from the hotel room.

Paris is a nice city with alot to see and is best explored on foot...alas it is alot of walking. All in all, I think I walked about 10-12 km in two days of being there (lost count somewhere in there). Site highlights include (no particular order): The Arc of Triomphe, Musee de l'Armee in the Hotel National Des Invalides (Napolean's resting place), Sacre Couer Basilica (highest point in the city--good views) and the Montmartre District that is as French as you can get, Notre Dame Cathedral, The Louvre, Ecole Militaire, Avenue Champs Elysses, street-performers, a little bit of the Latin Quarter, Me (yeah, thats right, I said it), Le Grand and Le Petit Palais, other cool buildings, interesting French food, parks, gardens, pretty flowers, and of course The Eiffel Tower.

Along the way, I found some grass that looked good to lay on. I didn't think twice.


People in France are exactly how we think they are: they smell terrible, the men are douchey (is that a word?) and the women... well, the women I have encountered are gorgeous. Some of which annoy the hell out of you when they talk, but hey, they're still gorgeous.

Paris Pics

Too bad I caught a pretty nasty cold in the middle of it all or it could have been better. For those who wonder, I have don't know when I am leaving Holland, so don't ask me. I do,however, think it will be soon.

Amsterdam, Netherlands

On April 30th of every year (April 29 if on a Sunday) there is a big celebration for the Queen's Birthday in The Netherlands. The Dutch call it, 'Koninginnedag', but I can’t pronounce it half of the time. Queen's Day is known for its "freemarket (vrijmarkt)," where everybody is allowed to sell things in the streets. It's basically one big country-wide, drunken garage sale. They have the market and party all night the night before the Queen's birthday in the streets of many major Dutch cities. All of this time in this country, and I had not been to Amsterdam, so my friend Siobhan and I decided to go.

Amsterdam is like everyone says it is. Anything (or almost anything) goes. Ten year old boys will try and sell you alcohol, prostitution being rampant, and marijuana is readily and publically available. Come to think of it, sex is pretty much everywhere in this city. Sex museums, normal-looking women that come up to you asking for sex (I think they are more discreet prostitutes), blow-up sex dolls all over the city, banana shows, cigarette shows, I can go on. The interesting part is that this all even happens in the day time, making Queen’s Day quite the experience for some and a disaster for others. Alas, there were a lot of people....




...and a few arrests. One of which I caught on camera:

Apart from the madness, Amsterdam has a nice atmosphere and has many canalways and sites to see. However, we couldn’t go into any of the museums or major attractions since everything was closed due to the holiday. This will call for a trip back. Side-note: There was an attempted suicide attack on the Dutch Queen that day during festivities in Appeldorn which halted celebrations in most Dutch cities...Amsterdam, however, kept going strong.

I started getting a cold that day as well (I hoped it wasn't the swine flu scare) so the day ended early in preparation for the next day.

More from Amsterdam/ Queen's Day

Madrid, Spain

Once I left Barcelona, I took the high-speed train to meet up my parents and their friends in Madrid. Madrid is little less touristy than Barcelona, thus my Spanish skills of a retarded 10-year old came in a little more handy here. Madrid is a nice city much like Barcelona in regard to the architecture and culture. I did enjoy some more patatas bravas (tapas) mostly by myself since old Indian parents tend to shy away from food that is not in their comfort zone. It was good to see my parents and people I rarely see, so I couldn’t complain about how tired I was from the previous days’ events. Teehee.

People in Madrid, Madrileños, speak with a distinctive lisp. They even make words that have non-‘s’ sounds all lispy (word?). Conclusion: The women sound ok, but the men sound a tad homo. The nightlife is raging along the areas of Gran Via and Puerta del Sol. I didn’t get to really go out since I was babysitting old Indian parents most of the time. That is not a conflicting statement.

We also were able to tour the Real Madrid Football stadium. Personally I think it was nicer for the reason that the people on the tours get to sit in the players seats on the field. I couldn’t buy any memorabilia as I would be doing the better English team a disservice as a fan. One thing we did not do was tour ‘Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas’ which is known for its Bullfighting events. What is not appealing about a 500 kg bull getting gored to death by a human less than half it’s size? Guffaw.

Pics from Madrid

Barcelona, Spain

So for the first part of my trip to Spain, I decided to meet up with my co-workers, Andrew and Tom, in Barcelona (Barca), for a raging good time. Barcelona is located in the region of Catalunya, where they consider themselves a separate country from Spain. They love their region so much that some natives actually get mad if you speak to them in Spanish. All in all, the city is beautiful in that it is has a really nice beach areas along with alot of history and architecture. The sights are some of the best in the world and the nightlife is renowned near the areas of Olympic Port and La Rambla, the site of our hotel. Be advised if you do happen to visit Barca: There are pick-pockets everywhere, especially on La Rambla since it is the most crowded and filled with many tourists and shoppers. Come night time, the street will swarm with large black prostitutes, drug salesmen, and lone beer vendors who are trying to make some money. Each group looks relatively harmless but are very experienced at what they do. The prostitutes are very strong and will aggressively try to earn their day's pay. I made the mistake of talking to one of them. This was a bad call. And no, I didn't do what you may think I did. That's just dirty.

In the city there is alot of architecture that is inspired by Antonio Gaudi, such as the temple, La Sagrada Familia, shown below. Personally, I think Gaudi was a flamer who liked making art about trees and insects.

Spanish people are very intimate with each other (what Europeans aren't?) and also very lazy. Pretty much all of the buildings you see are under construction with various cranes around it (picture above). I assumed they just used the time to work to go on extended siestas in the day. Spain does have some really good food as well. Tapas, paella, and sangria are very common for everyday meals. I had the vegeterian paella below:

We had the opportunity to visit the FC Barcelona football stadium as well. Football is king in Europe and Spain is no exception. They love their football club there and pride their team especially against their arch-rivals, Real Madrid. Barcelona was definitely a highlight of my time in Europe.

Barcelona

London, UK and An Interesting Story

So there I am today walking down the street minding my own when a douche Dutch bike cop comes up and screeches his tires in front of me. Yeah, as if that didn't piss me off enough.

Then, two other cops come from behind and on the side surrounding me so I can't pass. The head douche rambles something in Dutch where I interrupt and respond 'Sorry can you speak in English?' He says 'Can I see some identification? And empty your pockets.' I comply with 'Ok, What is the problem?' With no answer, he then starts talking on his walkie talkie to another cop in Dutch... probably giving them my description or whatever. At this point I was somewhere between 'wtf' and 'What is the deal?' Then I asked him again, 'What is the trouble?' Finally he answers by saying that they had a pickpocket in the area and I matched the description with what I was wearing. As filler, the cop behind me starts asking me where I'm from and what I do. I obligingly answer, with really just wanting to say, 'What does it matter to you, doucheface?'

Then they started to searched me. Oh joy. I'd always wanted hot women to take notice of me on the street, but definitely not in this manner. I estimated around 100-150 people with a blank stare on their faces contemplating the same thing I was. So then the original douche then took down my information and ends with a 'Thank you for your cooperation.' In the back of my mind I say 'Yeah, thanks dickhead, go find a murderer or rapist and stop wasting your time on me.' Honestly, I think it was just "Screw The Foreigner Day because after they left me, they stopped an honest looking asian man a few minutes later. Talk about profiling. Oh how I love this place.

In other news, I went to London again this past weekend to see family and my niece. Europeans take days off for Good Friday and the Monday after...Not bad for me since I really don't know the significance of Easter and got some time off for it. There weren't too many pics from either time I went to London, but here are the links.

London-March '09
London-April '09

Next stop: Barcelona and Madrid, Spain. I'll update when the shenanigans cease. ¡Vamonos!

Out.

Belgium... again

So during the first weekend of April, I decided to meet up with Novotny once again in Brussels. This was a good call. I got there Friday night and it was directly out for dinner and a well-known American bar in Brussels called 'Delirium'. They have over 400 kinds of European beer. Nuff said. The next day it was off to Antwerp to meet up a few friends of his at a nightclub. Even better call. European women are ridiculously gorgeous.. too bad my French, Dutch, and German are pretty non-existent. Oh yeah, and these places make trance and electronic house music so much fun to jive to. Got back to Brussels in time for the sun to rise. Baller status:check.

Mayhem

Spreekt U het Engels?

It's been a while since I last posted and alot has happened since. I got the chance to fly a plane in St. Croix prior to leaving there. It's pretty thrilling to be in control of a plane. I didn't pee in my pants nor crash.

Flying a Plane is baller

In mid-January, I came to Rotterdam, Netherlands (Holland), for another assignment. Talk about a drastic change in climate. After leaving St. Croix and a brief stop in the states, it was time for my own EuroTrip. This post will be a bit lengthy as I have been to alot of places. The cities visited are in order:

Rotterdam, Netherlands
I got here at the end of January in the middle of winter. Not the greatest temperature change. So for my first weekend in Europe, I toured the city. There isn't that much to see in this town and the city center is overrun by fairly young people, ample shopping areas, a few museums, and "coffee" houses. It does make home to one of the classiest bridges in the world called 'Erasmusbrug.'

It's very diverse, and people from as far as Suriname and Australia live here. The drinking age here is 16+ but you don't see teenagers out wasted on the streets. The people of the city ride bicycles... ALOT, even when its freezing cold, rainy, and windy outside (which is almost everyday). The bike lanes next to the roads are almost the size of a road lane itself. Alas, you need to watch out for pedestrians and bikes equally when you drive here... believe me, I almost hit someone on several occasions. Oh yeah, and did I mention the weather isn't the greatest?

The same weekend I went to this town called Kinderdijk (Kinder-dike) in Holland. Literal translation: Child dike. Ha. It is a windmill far from back in the day where people still live. The land lies below sea-level and they needed the windmills then and even now apparently.

Rotterdam Pics
Kinderdijk Pics

It was a really cold weekend. Really. Effing. Cold.

Antwerp (Antwerpen), Belgium
Antwerpen is a nice little town in Belgium with alot of history in it... so I decided to go, and walk...alot. If you're not into alot of historic museum-going (like me) there are only a few things to come to Belgium for: waffles, chocolate, beer, fries, and mussels (wouldn't know about the last one). Belgian beers are some of the best in the world. De Koninck, Duvel, Westmalle, Chimay.. to name a few. Get one, try one, but watch out. These bad boys have up to 9-10% alcohol.

Antwerp Pics

Brussels, Belgium
Cool city and probably double the size of Antwerp. Again, lots of walking, Lots of little bars and shops to go into and alot of the same story with the waffles, chocolate, beer, etc.

That is the city hall, in the Grand Plaza of Brussels. The story is that the guy who built it way back when killed himself right after. Apparently, he built it wrong. Can you notice what he did?
There is this statue of a mannequin taking a leak, appropriately called Mannekin Pis. Apparently the legend is that he peed on a bomb during WWII to defuse it. They dress it up most times when the city is busy. Somehow, it became a tourist attraction in Brussels. His sister is in another part of the town and her name is 'Jannekin Pis.' Yes of course, statues of baby girls peeing is totally normal.


On this trip, I met up with Andrew Novotny, one of my UOP co-workers. Cool guy, good fun, another story.

To the states for a bit...
The next weekend I came back to the states for a week to attend two weddings. Typical indian wedding mayhem and good to see friends and family. Back to the road.

Bruges (Brugge), Belgium
Neat, clean little city that is a staple and popular attraction in Belgium. Good chocolate, beer, and waffles once again. I visited the De Halve Maan Brewery while I was there and did a lot of walking. One of the beer rooms of Belgian beers is below. This was a good call.

Brugge

I wish I would have stayed here for another day because there was a chocolate museum and diamond factory that I didn't get to tour. That would have been cool. What is a nice Belgian city like this without canalways?

London, UK
The following weekend I went to hang out with family in the UK. It's always fun coming here, even though I was just here in October ('08). I got see my niece, Sienna, and hang out with my cousins Rahoul and Parus. Good food, good times.... that you don't really recall. I plan on going back sometime very soon.

Stuttgart/Boeblingen, Germany
The next weekend's agenda was to take Germany by storm. Mission accomplished. This has been one of the brightest spots so far of my European tour. I went to see my old roomate, friend, and excellent beer drinker, Sebastian.

Southern Germany is very clean, and very generally very posh. I got to drive on the world famous German Autobahn. I hit some pretty high speeds, and topped my little car out. It was by far the greatest driving experience I have had in my life. I just had to get a picture of the glory:


I got to visit the Porsche Museum which is headquartered in Stuttgart. By night, the debauchery started and unfortunately ended. Let's just say that the stories told of Germans, their parties, and drinking capabilities are very true. Alas, I will go back hopefully soon. There is a BeerFest coming up in April :)

More of Stuttgart

That is all for now. I am not sure how much longer I will be on this assignment, but hey... I don't mind. Future trips will hopefully be somewhere in Belgium again, the UK, France, and Germany if I get time. I will try and keep the updates coming more regularly.