Istanbul

What?

You thought that if we bought tickets to go home, we’re really going? And skip this beautiful city? No, no, no, no... too many ties to my country’s and the world’s history. Nope, we had to visit, even if is just for four days.

Leaving the warm Egypt, we prepared for a thermic shock: Istanbul is with ten degrees latitude North of Cairo that translates in a difference of almost 40 degrees Fahrenheit in temperature. We layered all our clothes and hoped for the best.

These ladies are not playing, they're cleaning!

In The City

Flying from Cairo to Istanbul, there is certainly a cultural shock. I didn't expect such a dramatic contrast, after all what's the difference between Egypt and Turkey?

We spent three weeks in Egypt, we've been everywhere and it would have only been fair to spend at least the same amount of time in Turkey. Surprisingly - it is the sixth most popular international touristic destination, ahead of Great Britain or Germany. Turkey receives more tourists every year than all South America, three times more than Australia and New Zealand combined, five times more than Japan or Egypt! People come here from all over the world to see various ruins, Cappadocia, seaside resorts and, of course, Istanbul. I guess all I can learn from the statistics is that we have a pretty good chance of a vacation in Turkey sometime in our future. At this point we look at it differently. With time and energy running out and the winter coming, we had to settle for just a quick stop. To get from Cairo to Romania it is cheaper to stop in Istanbul.

Kidnapped in Egypt

I woke up at 5 am on Monday morning with the sudden realization that we've been highjacked. No, I wasn't dreaming, my mind continued to work during the night and put together many puzzle pieces. The only question was the correct term. I made my instant coffee and I got out on the balcony. The sun was rising behind the mountains of Saudi Arabia, across the gulf. It was quiet, nothing was moving, another glorious morning in Sinai. I checked the dictionary, we haven't been highjacked, we were kidnapped. I started to laugh. There were few questions left, I had to make a plan and organize our escape. The Internet wasn't working, so with no additional information I had to make several alternative plans and figure out a strategy. Kidnapped without even knowing. An uncomfortable feeling was settling in, but there was still something funny about the whole story:

With the Arab spring revolutions, security in Egypt has been in question. From outside, there are concerns about safety, but many travelers have reported a nice experience, "it is safe without the crowds," touts have sold their camels because of lack of tourists.

This is the Sinai peninsula from the air

The Richest City in World

We flew from Cape Town to Dubai on Emirates. It was quick and comfortable. Then, too fast for me, the girls took a right and disappeared behind some door toward the transit area. They would take a plane to America, by themselves for the first time in our lives. The three of us took a left and got on a long line to immigration. We had all the time to study the young men working there. They were all in long white dresses, spending inordinate amounts of time arranging their scarfs on their heads, walking around, taking a sip of water, occasionally checking a passport or two. It was 2 am and they were in no hurry!

Apparently this is too small and they'll built another one

Kuala Lumpur

It seemed odd to have to take the train from the bus station to get in the city, but this was the reality. We were 40 km away from the capital of Malaysia. Mihai managed to choose between the three different kind of networks, buy tickets and get us on the right platform. Then we just walked around with our heavy backpacks trying to find the needle in the haystack. We thought it would be easy to find the address, but there was no map... We chose a corner, stayed put with the bags and left Mihai to wander around. After half an hour of walking round and round, he found the hotel. It was there all along!

A multileveled guesthouse, with shared bathrooms and plenty of stairs, it offered us a quiet family room. During the day, it gave a wonderful feeling that it was just for us. Come night time and it suddenly became alive, people eating in the kitchen, smoking and listening to music loudly on their phones. Fortunately for us, around midnight they would go to sleep. We would be awakened by “Jar of hearts” by Christina Perry played continuously, until we were sick of it. Still, we didn’t move; it had good internet, and that’s a rarity.

Our main raison d’etre here was to obtain visas for South Africa. Mihai looked over the requirements before leaving and decided to obtain them from Singapore or Malaysia. Trying to fill out the papers on internet, he read: apply in the native country or country of residence. This was not possible for us. He tried his luck in Singapore, but got a categorical refusal. Now we tried it again in Kuala Lumpur.

Wonderful Malaysia

Like many countries, Malaysia is trying to promote tourism and in the process is using various slogans. Wonderful Malaysia. Malaysia, truly Asia. Amazing Malaysia. Occasionally slogans have some truth in them. For us Malaysia has been wonderful.

Malaysia is wonderful

We've been in the country enough times that we

Alone in Xining

Do you know anybody who knows anything about Xining? I heard a thing or two and I wanted to come here, it was on our way to Lhasa. Against all logic, the train tickets to Lhasa are sometimes harder to obtain and more expensive, but still, it is the only logical connection. The other options that might have worked for us would have been Beijiing, Shanghai, Chengdu or Xian. The trains from Xian leave between 6 and 10 am and I didn't want that long day on the train. We spent the night instead and arrived in Xining in the morning. A private cab offered to take us to our hotel. It would be a great experience, we rode for a long time and at one point, with the rising sun in front of us, the driver stopped the car in the middle of the road and tried to take a picture on his cheap cellphone. We couldn't believe it! When we found the three star hotel, the reaction of the reception staff was somewhat disconcerting. It was like they never saw another tourist before! At least not a white, western tourist. We booked the hotel on a chinese booking site because there wasn't any option on other websites. It was a strange feeling to be unable to have any sort of communication. After a while I started to look for just one white person. Officially - I declare that I did not see any caucasian in these 48 hours, since the train station in Xian, 900 km away.
Ileana has been sick and decided to stay inside. The children were given options and they still decided to stay inside. On the first day I walked around the center of the city, without even taking the camera.

With 2.2 million people, this might seem like a small village by Chinese standards, but wherever someone looks it is a construction site with huge high rise buildings. The brochure from the hotel claims this is the summer vacation spot for the whole China, with perfect weather and multiple attractions. My one guide mentions some attractions, 150 km away, too cold to even consider a trip there. Lonely Planet on iBookStore crashes constantly so its useless. I made a plan on my second day, I offered the children the option to come they declined again. I visited this city alone and I liked it.

I was the only visitor at the Giant Mosque, I paid admission, but I could only enter the yard. It is beautiful, 700 years old, it seemed small to me, but they say it's big. The front part was rebuilt recently. There is a sizable muslim minority in this part of China and you can see it on the surrounding streets.

Dongguan Giant Mosque

Nobody told me that the Nanshan park is closed for the season, I sneaked in and out, but it was worth the trouble. The brochure said it's flat, but should have said "at the top of the mountain, there is a little flat area". There is an old mosque about the top and an big empty white building right on the top. There is an amusement park on an adjacent hill. At the bottom of the mountain, another Buddhist temple.

In the evening the children agreed to come with me for a few minutes. This is Xining at night, at least downtown.