worse than terrorism...

Those of you who have ever been to Egypt will probably be nodding your heads in agreement here...

Egyptian tourism minister bemoans pushy merchants

Pushy bazaar merchants and poor waiter service are a bigger threat to Egypt's tourism industry than the bombs of Islamic militants, Tourism Minister Zoheir Garranah told AFP in an interview.

When I was in Egypt in 1993, there was all this crap going on about militants attacking tourists blah blah... well, aside from an alleged bomb threat to a Western-style nightclub at the hotel we stayed at, we didn't encounter any crazy militants. For the most part, we found Egyptians to be quite friendly towards tourists...

We did encounter the pushy merchants. And damn, they were obnoxious. The most annoying ones were the ones who would physically push/drag you into their stores, maybe serve you a drink (always refuse these!), and expect you to buy something before you leave... The guys at Khan el-Khalili who swarm you and put a flower necklace/bracelet on you and expect payment are also rather irritating... blah...

Otherwise, I don't remember customer service (restaurants, hotels etc.) being too bad, but of course this trip was 14 years ago...

travel-inspired eating - Portugal

Bacalhau is king in Portugal. Everyone eats it, and there are countless ways to prepare it. Here is one of those ways...

Bacalhau à Gomes de Sá. This variant of bacalhau comes from Porto.

Ingredients:
600 g. bacalhau (soaked overnight)
1 kg potatoes
2 dl olive oil
2 cloves garlic, cut into round slices
2 onions, sliced into thin round half-moon rings
1 bay leaf
1 soupspooon chopped parsley
2 chopped hard-boiled eggs + 1 hard boiled egg sliced in rings
30 g black olives, pitted and sliced
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Skin the potatoes, and boil them in salted water. When cooked, drain water and cut into round slices.

Boil the bacalhau and drain it. Pick it clean of skin and bones and shred it into small flakes.

Heat up the olive oil, onion, garlic, and bay leaf in a wide pot. Stir from time to time until the mixture cooks without getting brown.

Add bacalhau and potatoes, and season with pepper. Stir carefully, and transfer to a baking dish and spread the mixture without pressing it down.

Bake in an oven set to 170 C until the dish browns (around 15 minutes). Take the dish out of the oven and fold in the hard-boiled eggs, olives, and parsley. Garnish with the remaining egg.

Yummy yum...

township tourism is booming...

Township tourism is booming in South Africa

The article mentions, among other things Major Ndaba. We met him when we did a township tour hehe... it's interesting reading about him in CNN...

travelling to Oslo? (with update)

If you are, I strongly recommend not staying at any Scandic hotel. Here's why...

The hotel discriminates against Cubans - article in Norwegian - article in English

So because the United States government has some kind of childish gripe with Cuba, a Cuban delegation to a conference in Norway was suddenly told they were not allowed to stay in a Norwegian hotel. In Norway. A country that does not have some kind of childish gripe with Cuba. How dignified and mature of the hotel owners and certain members of its staff (not). This group of Cubans had otherwise been using the hotel for the past five years for this conference, before the chain was bought up by Hilton...

All that the administrative director of the hotel, Geir Lundkvist, has to say is that he "regrets the situation." Wow. Regrets? What a spineless wanker! (I'll bet he's more sorry about this making Aftenposten and probably a few other blogs than my own than kicking out the Cubans.) He doesn't even have the balls to explain himself. Or tell big boss Hilton to piss off. I wonder what the deal is anyway, what kind of kickbacks he's getting... Then again, it could be a ploy to bring attention to the fact that the hotel owners are a bunch of twats...

Nonetheless, this kind of discrimination is unacceptable. And un-Norwegian. It is not normal to suddenly start banning specific nationalities from hotels or whatever here. I really hope that there is an investigation as to what extent this is legal in Norway. I hope Scandic gets sued for this. In the meantime, stay away from the hotels...

Update: Hah! Charges filed!

stupid, irresponsible tourist

Liquid paraffin frees woman

Oudtshoorn - Rescuers battled for 10 hours at the Cango Caves near Oudtshoorn to free an overweight woman who became stuck in a narrow passage, trapping 23 other tourists in the caves.

Overweight must be the first major understatement of 2007. I mean damn, 23 other people were trapped by that stupid cow's fat ass!

"The woman had been warned she was not suited for the route... She was told at the ticket office that she was too big to take part in the specific section.... The woman was extremely offended and laid a charge with management.

When you're told you're too big to walk through caves with narrow passages, you should listen. The people who work at the Caves know more about them than you do...

Well, I guess it's better to be humiliated than offended. I really hope these others photographed the ordeal and blogged it...

Fortunately, there was no damage to the caves. I really hope they start to get more strict about enforcing the rules regarding who can, and more importantly can not enter the caves...

Happy New Year!

May 2007 bring you happiness, prosperity, good health, and lots of new adventures...