Don't Judge Me

It is an historic day here in Tunisia as the first elections since the 2011 revolution are taking place. Although Islamist parties are slated for big wins, it seems at least some Tunisians are not enthusiastic about further moralizing and restrictions on individual freedoms from political and religious leaders.

The Morning Fix

Moving inland toward the west, away from Tunisia's Mediterranean coast, I arrived in Kerouan yesterday morning. Because of its ancient and imposing Grand Mosque, this town is known as the holiest Islamic site in North Africa. I found a small and very basic room at the Sabra Hotel for about 8 dollars, whose best feature by far is a view of the towering main gates of Kerouan's ancient souk (market). The downside of the location is I abruptly woke up at 4:30 this morning to the imam's call to prayer over the nearby loudspeaker at a mosque, along with the racket below at the hotel's cafe (see photo above) where a waiter was busy outside noisily setting up dozens of tables and chairs. After prayers at the mosques, male worshipers were at the cafe by 6 am getting their early-morning fix of coffee and cigarettes.

Land of the Lotus Eaters

The island of Jerba is as far south as I will go off Tunisia's Mediterranean coast. As you can see from how I am dressed in the above self-portrait, it is cool on the island now (and also very windy). From here I will start heading inland toward the west, where it will be warmer. Jerba is known as the island of the lotus eaters, and although I haven't seen anyone eating lotus here (whose root, by the way, is delicious when cooked Japanese-style in soy sauce and toasted sesame oil), there are a lot of pomegranates and dates for sale.

Elections will take place in Tunisia on 23 October, and it is predicted that the Islamist parties will win a majority of seats. This is exactly what many westerners fear as one of the outcomes of the Arab Spring -- a stronger foothold for the conservative Islamists in countries like Tunisia and Egypt.

On the other hand, it looks like no threat of revolution anytime soon in the Unted Arab Emirates. The UAE's leading sheiks are dealing with the five activists arrested (see 26 April 2011 blog posting, "Prisoners of Conscience in the UAE") by keeping them locked up in prison without access to open and fair trials for "publicly insulting UAE officials," the insult being a petition to UAE leaders requesting, among other democratic reforms, the right of UAE citizens to vote (http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/10/08/uae-families-plea-free-activists). The following comments off the web give one an idea of how many Emiratis feel about the imprisoned activists.

Many UAE citizens have expressed support for the trial, staging pro-government rallies in front of Abu Dhabi’s Federal Supreme Court at every hearing.One of the demonstrators, who asked to be identified only as Thabet, says many Emiratis are highly offended by criticism of their leaders. "They are our fathers, they are the people who took care of us. They are the people who took us from our mud houses to what we have today, so in that sense it was very hurtful. My anger towards (political activist) Ahmed al Mansoor was the anger I would have towards a brother. He’s part of a family and the head of that family is Sheikh Khalifa," he said. Abu Dhabi resident Ahmed Jumaa had similar words. “Maybe I will allow you to attack my brother, but I will not accept you to attack my royal family," he said. Rights groups say the five defendants, their families and their lawyers have received death threats as a result of what they say is an “ongoing campaign of intimidation.”

Well Done, Please

I arrived in Sfax yesterday. Located south of Tunis on the Mediterranean coast, this is Tunisia's second largest city. Toward evening I headed for In Time, a small pizza and sandwich restaurant recommend in my guide book. I settled in at an outside table and after waiting fifteen minutes or so for a waiter to come and take my order I finally got up to go inside the restaurant to find him. Just before entering, I heard a woman screaming and then saw waiters frantically running around. Then I noticed the flames and smoke coming from the rear of the restaurant, inside the kitchen. Some of the restaurant staff ran around to the back, hooked up a garden hose, and began spraying water into the kitchen window to try and douse the flames. After about fifteen minutes a firetruck arrived and by this time a crowd from the nearby apartments had gathered, holding handkerchiefs over their faces to try to block out the nasty smelling smoke. I hung out for a while and snapped a few photos as the fire was eventually extinguished, then decided to head to another restaurant as it didn't look like the In Time would be serving up any more meals on that particular night.

Praise for the North African Noddy

After about a week in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, I took the train south along the Mediterranean coast. Normally these beach towns are packed with tourists from Russia, Germany, France, etc. staying in the gigantouan beach resort hotels, soaking up the sun, and buying up armloads of tacky souvenirs. It is now the end of the high season and this combined with the fact that about half a year ago a violent and bloody revolution took place in Tunisia has taken its toll on this region's tourism. Though there are some tourists around, for the most part the hotels are practically empty, and thus for less than 30 dollars a nite you can stay in a deluxe room at a 4 star with balcony, sea view, and pool. If that is out of your budget range, 10 dollars will also get you a room with a balcony and a sea view, but at this rock bottom price don't be surprised to find you're sharing your room with cockroaches, and have drunks and prostitutes for neighbors.

In any case, the revolution was a success. The dictator has been ousted from power, the tourists are starting to trickle back, and the noddy trains are up and running. I don't know what these tourist "trains" are called in the US but in the UK noddy refers to a dunce or simpleton. The noddy trains do look silly out on the roads ringing their bells and carting around tourists, and they are not even trains but rather a chain of connected wagons pulled by a vehicle that resembles a small steam locomotive. Though they do look goofy, I have to admit I ride them. They are a cheap way to get around town, or to orient yourself with a new place. (Here in Sousse, for example, for about a dollar and a half you can take a noddy train 10 miles out to the suburbs.) In fact it is such an economical and enjoyable form of transportation that I'm considering going for a world record as the first person to traverse all of North Africa via the noddy train.

Tunisia Post Revolution

My first impression upon arriving in Tunisia's capital recently was that maybe it is premature for tourists to be visiting so soon after the revolution that took place earlier this year. I arrived at night and the city streets seemed dimly lit, but maybe that is normal here. Along one section of Habib Bourgouiba, the main avenue in downtown Tunis, there were soldiers, tanks, and barbed wire. Bags of garbage yet to be picked up by municipal workers littered the streets and, to make matters worse, it must have rained recently because in some places there were pools of standing water. Also, there is a definite shortage of bottled water in the city and the lines in the grocery stores are very long. This too could just be the norm in this city, and I noted as well that most shoppers waiting in those long lines were buying only a few items, unlike in more developed countries, where jumbo carts are often filled to overflowing.

After sleeping off some of the jet lag, I had a distinctly different perspective the following morning when I left the hotel and went out to explore the city. The sun was shining, most of the bags of garbage were gone (the street cleaners come out late at night), and the city seemed colorful and vibrant. Soldiers, tanks, and barbed wire were still around, but in the light of day this did not have the same ominous feel as at night on the dimly lit streets. There aren't many tourists in Tunis right now but surprisingly the hotels are fairly full. A hotel worker told me this is due to Tunisians visiting the capital for studies or pour les affaires, which I imagine could include taking care of various post-revolution business, whatever that might be.

En Route to Tunisia

It has been several weeks since I have been out on the road. After summer travels in Morocco (and a little in Spain) I returned to Abu Dhabi to refresh and repack. I did some editing work while there, got to know the 2 new feline residents at my wife's and my apartment, dropped off by a cat-loving neighbor who has left Abu Dhabi for good. The two weeks were also a time to rest up, eat good vegan food, practice yoga, and occasionally do a few rounds of 15-floor stair climbing inside our apartment building. This is actually much more physically demanding than jogging, and cooler this time of year as the stairway is air conditioned.

I am currently at the Beirut airport en route to Tunisia, and had no plans to do a blog posting but I have a 7 hour layover here and free use of the Internet. Not even 12 hours into my trip and already have encountered several strange occurrences. At Abu Dhabi Airport this morning at 4:30 am I was drinking tea waitng for my flight to Beirut, while Middle Eastern Airlines was phoning my wife trying to find out where I was. It turns out oddly enough that the flight unexpectedly left before its 5:05 am scheduled departure time. Later in the morning, here at Beirut's airport, when I went through security there seemed to be some sort of problem and the security guard started searching through my bag, fascinated by my little portable iPod speaker (" Beautiful," he reverently proclaimed while holding it up and admiring it) and hinting several times that he would not mind at all if I decided to lighten my load a bit by presenting it to him as a gift.

So, 4 hours to go and then hopefully I will be out of this airport limbo and on my way to Tunis...