- 14:25
- 0 Comments
Our Eid video is now up and running on my YouTube channel. Check it out on the link below.
- 12:24
- 0 Comments
Our flight to Paris was scheduled to fly early this morning. I just had few hours to spare after flying back to Cairo from San Francisco, leaving a bag with dirty shoes and of course, unwashed clothes.
I went over to Dinie's house in Sayyeda Zainab a little after ten pm, merely an hour after arriving in Cairo. Lil was already there, karaoke-ing old songs while playing with her Iphone. I went over straight from Abbasiyyah, and we went to the airport at three in the morning through Uber.
Great service here.
After meeting with Sofe's big sister and her best friend Mira, we quickly became buddies and ready to embark on another epic adventure together. This will be my second Arctic Adventure, and I'm truly hoping that our journey will go on smoothly.
I went over to Dinie's house in Sayyeda Zainab a little after ten pm, merely an hour after arriving in Cairo. Lil was already there, karaoke-ing old songs while playing with her Iphone. I went over straight from Abbasiyyah, and we went to the airport at three in the morning through Uber.
Great service here.
After meeting with Sofe's big sister and her best friend Mira, we quickly became buddies and ready to embark on another epic adventure together. This will be my second Arctic Adventure, and I'm truly hoping that our journey will go on smoothly.
"Hey Nash, glad you made it."
I chuckled. "Yeah, and it costs me my precious sleep."
We arrived in Paris at noon, and decided to get a day-pass because we were scheduled to transit for twenty-two hours. I was planning to just get some sleep at the airport but I can't resist my friend's excitement of exploring the City of Love.
When I reached all the places, I breathed in the cool air, I broke into a grin. I had finally arrived again in the familiar ground.
I had grown accustomed of going abroad every time I had breaks from the university. The excitement of going to new places were firmly etched on my friends' faces as this was their first time in Paris, except for Lil and I. They were happy, taking pictures any chance that they could.
They even did a selfie on a crazy busy road at Arch de Triumph. They were wacky like that.
We end the day with a visit to the Pantheon. Mira was really excited to be there, she took bunch of selfies and photos even though it was almost midnight. My little group seemed over the moon, and I can see that they've grown tired.
Buckle up guys, the more challenging adventure awaits.
Au revoir, Paris. Bienvenue Stockholm.
- 19:02
- 0 Comments
Since Uja and I arrived in Luxor on October, we have explored the busy streets of the infamous Pharaoh land, as well as the sweeping panoramas of Aswan. Excited to be completely immersed in "land of the dead experience", we made the most of our ten days adventure in these places.
"It's surreal that after thousand of years later, the temples and the palaces were still intact piece by piece. Totally amazing."
As soon as we settled in a hostel that is owned by an Australian, Mia - it was time for us to swap the view from the rail for the city at the bank of Nile River and the history concealed within.
"I've been really enjoying our journey here, Nash."
It was only my second time in Luxor after three years ago. Some people would say that I was not quite eligible to be sort-of guide for Uja but hey, I did my job with flying colours.
The key to everything in travelling is confidence. Even if people said something nasty behind your back, just held your head high and be confident. Show how confident you are. Ignore negative thinking and those unpleasant people.
"I've been really enjoying our journey here, Nash."
It was only my second time in Luxor after three years ago. Some people would say that I was not quite eligible to be sort-of guide for Uja but hey, I did my job with flying colours.
The key to everything in travelling is confidence. Even if people said something nasty behind your back, just held your head high and be confident. Show how confident you are. Ignore negative thinking and those unpleasant people.
Our first stop was the Colossal of Mormon. We spent fifteen-minutes admiring the two giant statues, and exploring Madinat Hebu temple while withstanding the forty-degrees heat.
Uja and I later met up with Jie and Asa, adventurous duo Chinese traveller that has been travelling together since they were in Armenia. We were in Hatshepsut Temple when we're having a discussion to go into Wadi Haifa together.
Throughout our journey, we've shown who we are underneath the scarfs appearances to the people that we meet along the way. We've shown kindness, compassion even when they were in need of Arabic-English translators. I've helped translated every single words in Ammiyah Arabic just because the wandering guide didn't speak English. We even helped some tourists from being cheated of paying the clearly overpriced mineral water and three can of Coca-Colas.
Still, we've got enough amount of nasty eyes just because we are clearly Muslim. They expressed such a terrified look whenever they saw us. The stigma of saying that all Muslim is bad people is affecting us all, but Uja and I marched on. We need to set a good example to these people, letting they know that we are plain normal, just like the rest of the people of the world. We're living our daily life just like yours.
I even experienced the prejudice against Muslims when I was in Europe few months back.
It's okay.
Despite of all that, I've made a lot of new friends. New friends that are not judging us based on our appearances only. They bothered about us, they were curious, they asked anything that they wanted to ask and we were happy to answer.
When you set out to see the world, I promise that you will see many incredible people that will see you and treat you for who you really are.
Faith in humanity restored.
- 21:45
- 0 Comments
