A Take 5 from Palestine

Let’s stop for safety and asses the risks and possible hazards. In Istanbul I saw the following problem, someone might climb the scaffolding to access the higher levels presenting a safety risk. Solution: RAZOR WIRE the entire scaffold so people could not climb over the kickboard... at least they had a kickboard!



In Palestine i took the above picture, See if you can spot the hazards. Problem: we want to dig out a cellar Solution: just do it. Note the many best practices here: the steel ladder in the background to access the work area, this is much safer than the common alternative of a wooden pole with slats nailed on it. Also hard barriers have been erected at the open void face to stop people falling in. There was also a rockbreaker down there and few men in their safety shorts,shirt,and thongs. A detailed approval process was no doubt carried out, checking things like that they own the land and that there is money to get payed with. You can see the wall of the neighbouring building (15ish stories) right on the edge of thier land. Also for my geotechnical minded friends digging a 20m hole next to a 15 story building with rock breakers has not collapsed any buildings that i am aware of... lucky.

Istanbul, Turkey – The first encounter

I had from 5pm to 2pm the following day to explore Istanbul. So far i have discovered that turbog make a nice brew, Canadian girls can drink, and dancers and hookas go together. While the traditional dancing for women is belly dancing, for the men it is the much less exciting are of whirling (in a dress) - which is probably good practise in not spewing. I also saw the blue mosque and the hagia Sophia - amassing architectural wonders which no photo will do justice, but shown above are the doors as well as a profile shot of the blue mosque below (and of the belly dancer).



Turkey has an amazingly rich history stretching back to pre-ottoman empire and narrow cobbled streets with ornate rugs. It also has tourists... lots and lots, in fact I counted at one point 75% of all people in the streets were not Turkish. This means that as the tourists outnumber the locals they can do what they please including lots of people walking around reading guidebooks and maps while staring at tourist attractions. Very tourist friendly. I look forward to returning in two weeks.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

First impressions are ones of confusement... there seems to be a lot of space – just 30 sec out on the express train from the airport and there are lush tropical, uhm, swamp. Lush because at least once a day it buckets down, probably how KL got it's name (Muddy city). Dotted amongst this are huge skyscrapers, like watchtowers in the wilderness. When you think about it, it kinda makes sense the view of jungles and plains is far superior to the view of the hairy Greek man’s bathroom who like to leave the curtains open... I digress but i guess it’s just a cultural difference, we like to put sky scrapers in dense urban areas. Other such differences include not wearing sunglasses, or toilet paper it turns out, and wearing your backpack slouched low on your back. I thought to myself ‘when in rome’ and joined in looking like a 16 year old school boy on his way to the boy band tryouts (fingerbang probably a hit in KL) but found it was actually good for keeping the sweat off your back – again these people are not as stupid as they look. Other highlights include being able to order beer by the ‘bucket’ (4-5 bottles of beer equivalent), all day happy hour and they eat frogs (not bad with lots of chilli). They REALY like their twin petronas tower (harry potter eat your heart out) and i have included a photo of it. Note also in the photo the gagle of Indian tourists taking pictures and the duck like men at the bottom of the screen. These are not in fact mutant man/duck hybrids escaped from a genetic lab (as I at first assumed) but are men in bright yellow kneehigh boots that trudge through the lakes all day picking up rubbish. Yes, were it not for the army of Malay duck-men keeping vigil, never-ceasing war, against rubbish in the water, this too would fill up with rubbish like everywhere else. KL tower also hosts exotic animals like snakes, monkeys, and chickens... speaking of monkeys there are plenty at a nice limestone cave / hindu temple (batu) on the outskirts of the city (photo below). Temples, mosques, and charges are prevalent throughout KL and well attended but Malaysia is HEAVILY Islamic with spires minarets and Islamic motifs everywhere. Especially the national monument,museum, planaterium (surprisingly good, they even have an ant-gravity room) and of course the national mosque (where you get to dress up in purple cultist robes).

I have broken nearly all of the travel guide rules starting with only drinking bottled water and no ice... kuala lumpur has 3 seasons – hot, hotter, hottest – luckily it is only hot right now with humidity at 100m visibility (ground clouds) So steering clear of things with ice in them is an impossibility, i have also been walking through the slums and eating food from the street hawkers, yum, so if I don’t post in the next 3 days it will be because i am sitting on a toilet. I generally just point to stuff because i can’t pronounce anything.. yes two of those bulls testiculs and a half dozen of the fried cockroaches? Why not, yes scoop it with your hands please. At least everything is CHEEP (dinner set me back $1.35 accommodation $10). English is very widely spoken (in city areas) but generally not spoken well, despite this I found people friendly and helpful and almost everything is written in dual languages.

As you can tell i now have a bit of time in the airport lounge, and free internet.