Here are some more pictures of Cairo. Phil Dunn and I came back from Dahab to go on a felucca boat with couchsurfers, but it was rained out. We had some good times though, we went to the Citadel (and the military museum there) and the Egyptian Museum. You’re not allowed to take pictures inside the latter place, which is annoying. There is a midcentury Indiana Jones feel about the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
We stayed at the Australian Hostel mostly, until Phil got sick of the dogs barking upstairs and I got sick of them turning off the internet at 11. Phil moved to the confusingly-named Dahab Hostel, and, since there were no more rooms, I stayed at a place downstairs that was pretty sketchy.
After Cairo, we took a long bus ride out Dahab on the Red Sea. We hiked Mt. Sinai and went scuba diving and snorkeling. Saudi Arabia was visible across the gulf. I learned that when renting a bicycle, you really want to make sure the tires are already inflated. If they have to inflate them for you, that means they’ll probably deflate before you get there.
Things I should have photographed:
Sam, Erin and Christian
Phil running the tables at Tree Bar
Anything, you know, underwater
The knockoff liquor stores (John Warner’s red-label whiskey, for example)
Phil Dunn and I met up in the Cairo airport first thing in the morning on February 2nd. We were both totally jet-lagged, and Phil had just witnessed an epic fistfight right before I got there. We spent an hour or so in the Airport sorting out cellphone contracts and hotel reservations, it was all pretty surreal.
After one night at an overpriced hotel, we found another one downtown. We discovered some amazing food, such as something I’d never heard of before called Koshary. We visited the Pyramids, of course. On camels.
But the highlight was meeting up with some people from couchsurfing.org and going on a day-trip with them out into the desert. It was about half Egyptians, and half expats. Everyone was really fun and friendly.
I spent a week or so in Zanzibar, mainly in Stone Town. It’s a beautiful and ancient, but a bit touristy now. Stone Town is characterized by it’s tiny twisty streets that are too small for cars. Also lots of ornately carved doors. I stayed at Warere Town House which made up in friendliness for what it lacked in elegance.
I went on a tour of a spice plantation, which was educational and got me out of the city for a day. If I had been more ambitious, I would have taken a dala-dala bus to see more of the island.
Freddie Mercury is from Zanzibar, which is something they won’t let you forget.
Things I wish I had photographed:
my tour guide, Omi
the guys at Warere, esp. Chi Chi
trivia night at Mercury’s bar
the old women watching The Expendables subtitled in Chinese and dubbed in Arabic on the ferry
I was on this early morning flight with an airline called 1Time Airlines, which I took to be a bad sign. But then they played this song while we were seating, and I felt like well, at least they get my cultural milieu.
Now I don’t agree with their choices at all, but, that notwithstanding, did you know how poorly-traveled I am compared to my friends? Jill Diamond wins with 36 places, followed by Minu Aghevli with 34 places, and Maryka Baillie with 33. I, on the other hand, have a comparatively pathetic 18 22.
I’m even below “Average User” who has 23.
There are a few near misses, for example:
The Eiffel Tower: Yes, I went to Paris with Buxton AES, but not to the Eiffel Tower.
The Sears Tower: Noah, Dorothea, Megan, Irwin, Tony and I played hooky from school one day and went to the top of the Prudential Tower in Chicago a la Ferris Bueller, but no, it wasn’t the Sears Tower.
The Statue of Liberty: Have I seen it 100 times? Have I sailed past it on my way to Ellis Island? Sure. But no, I haven’t been to the Statue of Liberty.
There’s only one thing to be done about this sad state of affairs!
Because I’ve been listening to it so much, I should mention this newish album by Grimes called Visions (Amazon). It’s quite good. Her earlier albums were a bit over my head.
In 2009, Boucher and her then-boyfriend from Tennessee constructed a 20-foot houseboat, named the “Velvet Glove Cast in Iron,” with the intention to sail it down the Mississippi River from Minneapolis to New Orleans. The cargo included chickens, a typewriter, 20 pounds of potatoes and a gifted copy of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Boucher and her companion adopted the names “Varuschka” and “Zelda Xox” for the trip. Due to engine trouble and subsequent harassment from the Minnesota police, the journey was cut short and the houseboat and chickens were impounded.
I went to Zimbabwe in January to see Victoria Falls. They are beautiful, the land is beautiful, the economic situation there is tragic.
ATMs dispense US dollars, because the local currency is worthless. If you buy something, you can expect the $1s and $5s you get back to be extremely worn and faded, but never torn, which I suppose is the result of a lot of very careful handling. The $10s and $20s are, on the other hand, pristine.
I was just reading the millionth story about Apple’s cash on hand, which is right now about $100B and was trying to think of something better for them to do with it than buy Facebook.
They could afford to offer every high school student in the US their choice of one free Apple product. There would be the obvious public relations benefit, but I think it would also boost their bottom line eventually just by adding all those customers. Plus it would be in sync with their education initiative, and it should finally put any doubts about their PC market share to bed.
Additionally, it would be nice if eligible students could refuse the offer and $1,000 would be donated to an education-related charity instead.
Does anyone how many high school students are currently enrolled in the US? The census says there are 55.5 million students pre-k through 12, so I’m going to guess 20M (assuming there could be an uptick in enrollment if such an initiative were announced).
Then you multiply that by an estimated wholesale and shipping cost of $1,500 (which is pretty generous, since most of the kids are going to ask for iPads) and you get $30B. Assume another $500M in administrative costs.
So, less than a third of their growing cash reserves. They could afford to keep it going for several years.
Update 3/19: You can find out in just under an hour from now what they’re planning to do with it. I will bet that they’re not going with my plan, nor are they buying Facebook. Listen in live at 9am Eastern.
This song by School of Seven Bells got me through a bumpy flight this morning. Get their album Ghostory. It’s so nostalgic! It reminds me of something that happened 20 years ago, but I can’t remember what it was now. Perhaps you can remind me?
