I am worried

This story worries me. I will be in Dahab in the summer for a couple of weeks diving, then I wanted to go go to Aqaba, Taba and then enter Israel to visit a couple of friends and tour for a couple of weeks. But this guy's profile (creepily similar to mine) who i am sure is no spy what-so-ever is in trouble and his Canadian passport isn't really helpful right now. hmmm...

from BBCnews.com


'Mossad' trial resumes in Cairo
Mohammed al-Attar
The defendant proclaimed his innocence to reporters in court
The trial has resumed in Cairo of an Egyptian accused of spying for Israel.

Defendant Mohammed al-Attar, who has dual Canadian citizenship, denies charges of being a Mossad agent.

The 31-year-old says a confession he made was extracted under torture by Egypt's intelligence services and has asked the Canadian government for help.

Three Israelis also accused are being tried in their absence. The trial began on Saturday but was adjourned when Mr Attar's court-appointed lawyer quit.

"I call on the Canadian government to give me a lawyer and to prove my innocence," Mr Attar told reporters clustered around his cage before proceedings began.

"My confession was under torture," he added.

A former student at Cairo's al-Azhar university, Mr Attar is accused of contacting Israeli agents in Turkey and spying on expatriate Arabs there and in Canada.

Denial

A transcript of his confession seen by a Canadian newspaper said he had recruited gay or impoverished Arabs in Canada for Mossad, the Israeli foreign intelligence branch.

Mr Attar denies being homosexual, although it was cited as a reason for an application he made for refugee status with the United Nations.

Israeli officials say the Israeli authorities have only learned about the case from the media.

Human rights groups say torture, including sexual abuse, is routinely used by the Egyptian security services during interrogation of prisoners.

The government denies systematic abuse, but has investigated a number of high profile torture cases.

Egyptian cowboys

deep in the countryside of the delta, you find wonders.. I love this shit, I wish you can understand what this guy is saying, It is hilarious and dirrrrty!!!

I love this guy!! my favorite egyptian male belly dancer EVVVVER!

week in review

first I want to start by sending a big fat FUCK YOU to al-azhar for causing an intelligent 22 year old go to prison for 4 years just for being critical!

"Abdel Kareem Soliman's trial was the first time that a blogger had been prosecuted in Egypt.

He had used his web log to criticise the country's top Islamic institution, al-Azhar university and President Hosni Mubarak, whom he called a dictator."

On an inappropriatly different note, this week was unexpectedly shock-full-of-party! my weekend in New York extended until Thursday! Chinese New Year, Mr. Black, NYU, Townhouse !! hilarious experience! I met the editor of a big new york news paper that will remain nameless who had asked me to go to dinner with him then opera the following night! danced my ass off at Mr. Black on sunday which was only backup since Hero had a line too long to stand in, but turned out way better.. Met with Andres from Madrid, was a slightly awkward reunion.. oh and those two guys Caroline and I met in a random gay bar in Osaka, they turned up too and one of them was a freak, apparently obsessed with gogo dancers at Mr. Black who turned out to be like 18! speaking of gogo dancers, Erik was getting raunchy with a hot one at Urge at like 3 in the morning, they both seemed to love it, i was just watching. after a couple of those huge margaritas from foodbar with kevin and erik.. oh my god, and that random persian boy at 4 in the morning who was like see you in the bathroom downstairs before I even know your name.. and who was that christopher erik introduced me, they are dating, but we meet, go to dinner, drinks, then take a cab ride back to bed.. all three.. thats just uncalled for. I need to get it together and get some work done or else!

Kaaboul!!!

Kaaboul épisode 2
Uploaded by rouisk

flashback 1991

diaper included

bumpy road

the bumpy road to Siem Reap. its bumpy.

recollections

it was raining while we were on Ko Tao but the day we were leaving, the weather was perfect.

Nippon - incomplete report

already back, its difficult to think back even just as far back as two days since the actual travel ended. coming home always feels the same, it makes what happened abroad seem unreal, which in retrospect, it usually is.
japan is ... hard to explain I guess.. we did it the right way by going direct to Kyoto then Osaka then Tokyo, making it from a smaller less hectic city to a medium one then a bigger one. biggest surprise in japan was the food: SOOO GOOOOOOD!! and nothing really like what we think of here as Japanese food, as a matter of fact we had to look for sushi, Japanese food happens to be far more exciting and tasty than what we think of it here. Other surprise: Japanese people are sooo nice!!! and down to earth!!! I didn't really expect that to be honest. What wasn't a surprise is that standard of living is very high, these people are generally very privileged. the cheapest coffee is starbucks and there is a very high volume of dior and chanel clothes worn by seemingly normal people. despite the high high standard in dressing and eating, people are so nice. this only brings to mind how things in the states re very very different. it maybe possible to find gourmet supermarkets like dean & deluca to find something close to what is totally standard in Japan but once you step into a dean & deluca it suddenly feels oppressively elitist. at the same time you get people who act snobbish for shopping at whole foods (very sad, if only they knew what is available out there in places like japan) but there are those who think that sporting a starbucks coffee cup is a status symbol (again the cheapest coffee besides Macdonald's coffee in japan) and finally those who justify acting like total bitches because they shop at banana republic or some shit like that (hilarious) THANK GOD, BUDDHA AND ALLAH that people in japan are just better, and these things don't get to them.

However, they are not perfect either. obsession with living their roles as consumers is a bit too much for me to handle. girls go way over board in their 'baby doll' image. they actually have eye-widening surgeries, etc...

Hokuoukan business inn + sauna

just a quick one using the free internet at the apple store in osaka, holy rape! last night I experienced a japanese "business inn and sauna" and it was a great learning experience.
after a few hours of bar hopping with caroline at about 2:30 am I checked into the infamous business inn + sauna which is very very near our hotel which is very central in Osaka. the facility is 24/7 and is actually very fancy. admission is based on age so I only payed ¥1700 which includes an overnight stay since it was after midnight. aparently men go there when they miss the last train out of Osaka and need a place to stay. They can bathe and play with each other or just take a nap or sleep. Obviously others just go there to play. I went to sightsee! and I am glad I did, besides seeing I did some participating which was very interesting and almost fulfilled my japanese desires.

I think its obvious that I am just using the free internet here and not really buying a laptop so this story will have to be continued later.

from one bed to Ko Chang to another in Kyoto

crazy transition and trip. Ko Chang is incredible, my favorite place in Thailand, my favorite beach in the world, I miss it. I met a very nice guy, Alex, and we even shared a bungalow my last two days. BUT, thats another story to tell. Now, I have a couple of minute to write about the trip from a remote beach on a remote island to downtown Japaneses style hotel all in one travel sequence! which took 30 hours!!!

last two nights in Ko Chang I had almost no sleep and on the morning of the 21st I got out of bed ( I wasn't sleeping) at 6 am to walk in pitch black darkness on the beach to the opposite end of the beach to wake Caroline up in her bungalow. I walked back, packed, said good bye to a very special new friend and walked back to meet Caroline, take a taxi (which is a pick up truck where you sit in the back on either side) to the pier where we sat on the roof of a boat to take us to main land, then wait for a bus to take us to Bangkok, we get off on the high way 7 hours later, take a taxi to the airport, wait for a few hours for our flight, fly at midnight to Tokyo, take the Narita express from airport to tokyo station, only have 10 minutes to find our platform for the Shenkensen bullet train to Kyoto, take a bus from the station to our Ryoken (traditional Japanese Hotel) and finally we have a bed.
You can't make this shit up!
the super fast train from Tokyo to Kyoto is only 2.5 hours, otherwise an 8 hour bus ride! our plane landed at 7:30 am and we were in Kyoto by noon! what a transition, from being hot, naked on the beach, where nothing is on time one day to being cold, dressed in multiple layers in a super clean super fashionable place the next day. words do no justice to this transition, it must be experienced. my mind is fucked. I love this place and that place.

Paradise

Transport

Smokes

In Ko Tao, an island with very little village and alot of woods, and remote bungalows, I went to Amsterdam Coffee Shop, a place I was told about by this Italian guy I met in Chiang Mai. I found it at the end of the strip of shops near the piers, its on the roof of a dodgy empty building and like its name suggests you go there for grass.
I climbed the steps to find the bar with two guys sitting their and the bartender, I asked discreetly if I can buy grass and I was told "yea but you have to stay for a drink" so I do. I sit down on a stool and look over next to me to find a big gun (loaded with more amu sitting next to it) WOW! what am I doing? I get a beer, chug it so I can leave as soon as possible then get two joints one to smoke there and another to go. by this time the sun went down and it was totally dark. luckily I had my flashlight so I had to make my way back to our bungalow one kilometer away but walking through dense jungle and a loosely defined path, I am high and freakig out from the gun that was next to my elbow. What an experience that was, Somehow I found my way, although I got lost for a moment..
the following night I went for some more, I bought a couple of joints and we smoked at the Banana Rock Bar right next to our bungalow built over the water in a little bay, it was great, Caroline, Rob, this french woman, two sweeds we sad on and relaxed and smoked.
That was the begining, in Cambodia things were much easier since one gets bombarded with offers to buy smokes as one walks down the street especially in Phnom Penn, also Happy Pizza is available at almost any pizza shop and there are alot of them. I do not recommend happy pizza, although it sounded cool, it can be lethal, if you have too much It fucks with your stomach and you stays in your system forever, plus we don't know whats really in it.

Cafe'terior

during our one night in Bankok before leaving for Cambodia we stayed away from Khao San (the tourist, backpacker street) and headed out to get lost in the city. We were pleased to find a couple of really nice, well designed, great atmosphere places. one was a cafe/bar near the river on a quiet street across from the old royal palace in a converted early twentieth century mediteranean inspired building. the building itself was repeated many times over this area copied here and there. the interior of the cafe was well balanced and simple, good selection of color, second hand furniture and simple touches of paint made it what it was. we continued walking and found another sweet little spot. it looked closed but we found out that they were about to open, its a bar/interior design office! what a great idea, its my fantacy. The guy who rents the building (all three stories, living on top, office on second and bar/cafe on the first) invited us in and welcomed us with cold Chang beers and a joint. we hung out there all night, it was the best meeting of local Thais we have had. the guy was going on and on about how he sees something in me that is special, etc etc, I liked the talk (why should I not when someone is spending so much time flatering me) but I wasn't sure where it was going.

Mohamed Au Cambodge

O Cambodia, I guess It was a place I wanted to come to but never thought it would happen this quickly, soon and this easy? I shouldn't say easy, because it aint. traveling in this part of the world still feels like an adventure for the most part, there is constantly the illusion of discovery, like you are the first one to take this road to see this place, but in reality thousands of people do it. also, the type of people that come here and travel here are totally diffirent.. thats for another blog, BUT back to Cambodia, it felt like a total adventure getting there.

We opted for the land route from Bangkok to Siem Reap a 12-14 hour trip with half of it over an internationally renouned road, known for being in the worst condition possible, making for a super bumpy ride. The notourious road is supposadly left unrepaired because Bangkok Airways pays the a powerful Cambodian politician to stop the road from being fixed, forcing most tourists aiming for Siem Reap to fly with their airline since they monopolise the route. for the exception of morning traffic, our ride from our hotel to the Thai/Cambodia border was fine. then we were taken to a strange little resturant/rest stop near the border where our passports were collected and we each payed 1300 Baht (almost double the $20 visa cost) this ofcourse is seen as a service to avoid us any hassle as the border itself. after a lunch (rice) and getting to know some of the other riders (Merv: a professional Rugby player English, Nick: a professional poker player New Zealander, Britton: a student/social servant/teacher who has been living in Nepal for a month and is now traveling / lied about being married to avoid being hasseled by men (althought I don't see why anyone would turn Merv away from their bed) Canadian) we then proceeded to the actual border.

chaos broke infront of my eyes as we cross the border from the Thai side to the Cambodian side. Caroline never filled her departure card for Thailand which delayed us for a few moments but soon the begging children of cambodia attacked. as we enter through a gate decorated in faux khemer style a large billboard to the side has a picture of two cambodian children with a mark above their image that reads "NOT FOR SALE" it was all a bit strange. and the adventure really began. we were at the mercy of the fuckers who are supposed to get us to Siem Reap, so whatever they say we have to do we do it, its the only way to make it. we were told to switch from one bus to another about three times in the course of 25 minutes. then we were taken to a "Money Exchange" where we were told is our only opportunity to change money while in Cambodia. The "Exchange" was a portable vetrine glass box with money stacked inside, complete with umbrella to protect the worker from sun, it was set up on a dodgy corner, it was all so shady and suspicious, but as horde culture works, as soon as one person went to change their money, another followed and then another.. It didn't feel right to me so I only changed a little bit, less than half of what most people changed. Later it was evident that we lost about 10 dollars per 1000 Baht, which is alot of money.

All this and the actually bumpy road hasn't really started, now we were on our way for a really wild ride, leaving your brain turn into a jelly substance by the end of the trip. we saw poverty at its worst on this road, it was a complete apocolyptic scene, burned fields, shacks overcrowded with families, people bathing and fishing in seemingly toxic water, it was very sad. we stop again midway at yet another rest stop then proceed in the dark for the last leg of the trip. its all part of the plan. as lonely planet explains, the bus belongs to a particular guesthouse and thus they try to delay your arrival so that you are completely beat up by the road and are so tiered that you would simply choose to sleep in their mediocre guesthouse. surely enough, as we approach Siem Reap and particularly as we pass the airport, the bumpy road is suddenly velvet, well lit with nothing but oversized five star hotels catering to the high end travelers coming to Siem Reap to see the world's largest religious building. After passing the strip of out-of-context hotels our bus took us to their guesthouse, but we (Merv, Nick, Brit, Caroline and I) chose to leave with a tuk tuk to Popular Guesthouse.

Everything we have seen within the Cambodian border suddenly was met by a complete opposite, this city has money thanks to its tourism and Bar Street had some very nicely designed cafes, resturants and bars that would fit just fine in New Orleans or Miami. The begging children are ubiquitous non-the-less speaking perfect english, french and japanese as young as 6 trained to sell you whatever they have at any cost, so they will not leave you alone until you buy something, then they leave you for two minutes and return again. The children are definetly a staple theme of this country, they are gorgous with the cutests smiles, smart and acting like adults at such a young age, I can't blame Angelina for taking one home. The Tomb Raider is a cocktail drink at most bars, she really has a legacy here.

We went to The Red Piano then Angkor What! and drank and danced in celebration of not being sold into white slavery and surviving the 13 hour road from Bangkok to Siem Reap. the next morning we go to the floating village (a display of poverty and governemnt corruption) and the LandMine Museum, the best display of a story and the relevant objects I have yet to see anywhere, it was very effective.

Day three begins with an early wakeup call at 5 am to go watch the sun rise over Angkor Wat, our tuk tuk drivers picked us up and on the cold ride to the temple we realised that there are many others like us (no romantic fantacy of being alone infront of the temple with the sun rising behind it) it was clear that there will be a couple of hundred or thousand people there doing the same thing. we spent the day temple viewing and headed back exhasted after being out for nearly 10 hours. skipping alot of detail, but for my own records: I was walking along multiple stands selling shirts and souvunirs when I suddenly stopped and looked to my left and said "Is that Tin Tin" and it was! I found this random tintin t-shirt, there was only one. the night before we were having our first Happy Pizza, a Cambodian specialty pizza that is made with grass, I was talling my travel friends about my love to collect tintin items. very amusing.

By now I am totally infatuated with Captin Rugby, I began to withdraw because I was confronted with the feeling that I have no chance, something I refuse to believe is usually the case, its much easier to say No than to be said No to. So my last two days in Cambodia and the one day in Phnom Penn was overcast with my feelings of insecurity and my lust over this fantacy.