Mahdia, Kairoun, El-Jem and Jerba

Sitting in the internet cafe in Jerba, situated in the south of Tunisia off the east coast in the Med, the sun is beating down on the streets outside (thanks air-conditioning, you are not entirely evil). Local merchants line the small streets of the tiny town of Houmet Souq, the capital of Jerba, peddling their hand crafted wares the likes of which prevail in all the cities and townships across Tunisia.

On Wednesday I was in the remote place of Mahdia. Less than 2 hours by train from Sousse, where I was based for the best part of a week, this town is set on a peninsula darting out into the Mediterranean sea. Bathed in sun it is only a little fishing port and home to some of the finest woven silks in the whole of Africa. Apart from the mosque in the centre of town and the beaches that stretch both north and south along the coast there is not much to see and do there other than sip some mint tea in the cool shade of some olive trees.

The following day I visited the very holy city of Kairoun. The 4th most important religious place in the Muslim world. 7 visits to this city are equal to one trip to Mecca. With a towering mosque dating back to around 600 AD this town is a beacon for tourists. Bus loads of holiday makers are unloaded outside the mosque at regular intervals but surprisingly manage to disappear into the Medina with barely a trace. The tiny alleyways are dotted with carved wood doors and a local tells me that the metal stud work you see, infrequently, has some significance to the Fatimas. Here more than anywhere so far you are hassled beyond belief by locals trying to sell you goods from their stalls or locals trying to dupe you for your money by offering you tours of the city. It can be an intense experience and is often very in your face. Although it may seem rude you often have to totally ignore them unless you are out to haggle for a bargin in which case fill your boots. Eye contact is the best way to draw attention.

Friday and my last day in Sousse and the central coast I headed to El-Jem. A small township about an hour from Sousse it is home to the third largest colosseum from the Roman Empire. Built around 1800 years ago and funded from the lucrative olive oil trade it is a monumental eliptical structure. After 1800 years, as i'm sure you can appreciate, it is not exactly in immaculate condition, however it is still accessible on most of the tiers and you can wander through to the centre stage where you can imagine the gladitorial battles and summary executions that used to be held here. Ironically most of the executions were in the form of Christian hangings and beheadings by the Arabs sometime after the Roman demise.

I'm now in Jerba, as I mentioned before and I shall be here exploring the beaches for the next few days before I venture into the desert and attempt to find Luke Skywalker's home from A New Hope and Mos Eisley Spaceport along with the other top Star Wars attractions.

Until then....Rat a ran wim joct co jappi qaff, WaaaOw!

Salaam Tunisia

Once again i am on the travelling band-wagon and have arrived at my first destination. An extremely late flight arrived in Monastir,Tunisia, around 1.30 am. It's a very small airport and is a package holiday destination. It has to be the end of summer as the plane unloads more senior couples and groups of old women looking for a late bit of sun and who had surrounded me on the flight nattering tripe and passing around boiled sweets.

As the package tours pile onto their bus transfers i am left with the reality of doing things on the cheap. It's 4 hours until the trains begin and i have little choice than to wait it out on the platform. One thing can be said for the Tunisian railways and that is that they are punctual.

My first city is Sousse. Dating back hundreds of years it is home to an UNESCO World Heritage Medina and the Boujaffar Beach resort. Inside the towering stone walls of the Medina the town is alive with a bustle that I have only experienced in Marrakech. Berber silver, woven garments, traditional pottery and tagines line the stools and street sellers shops and even the slightest glance at the goods for sale will earn you a full sales pitch which is often flattery and compares you to famous white actors and musicians. Tom Cruise is the funniest so far.

The food is very traditional, cous-cous with meat and vegetables is common place, delicious and very cheap. Boujaffar Beach is a European tourist trap and although the beach is stunning it is crammed with sunburnt white folk trying to squeeze in a bit of colour before the winter chill sets in. Still, at 30 degrees in late September who can blame them...fortunately i am not lobster pink yet and don't fit into the cliche.

The next few days i shall be based in Sousse and will day trip to El-Jem, Kairoun and Mahdia (where this entry is being written). I shall then head south towards Jerba, an sland off the south east coast and explore the regions of the Star Wars filming locations of Matmata and Tataouine...until then...

Departure imminent

The summer has come and gone and with it my time in Blighty is once again drawing to a close. The rain clouds loom ever on the horizon (if not directly above us) and i am reminded of how little sun we actually get here. The summer has been fun though. Catching up with friends and relatives has been the main stay of my summer, not a bad way to live life at all if you ask me, but not one that is sustainable as i am constantly reminded by the ever decreasing figure that is my bank balance. Good job, then, that there is little under 2 weeks until i fly to Tunisia and begin my Africa adventure.

The past couple of months have given me plenty of time to think about, plan and organise the various stages of my journey. They have also given me plenty of time to prepare myself for what i think will be the ultimate adventure, Kilimanjaro. Training for this is going well. My fitness is very good right now. I am managing to run about 40 to 50 km's per week as well as fitting in 4 weight training sessions. I am eating myself into poverty though as i am hungry so much of the time. Being super active means you are capable of destroying food without a second thought.

The last week or so i have been preparing all the last minute things i need. Visas are being obtained as we speak, vaccinations, jabs, malaria pills and all the essential medicals are being dealt with and i have been checked over by the doctor to make sure i am not in any serious ill health. Far from it really, apart from my smoking habit, I'm in good shape, possibly the best shape of my life and i have a very healthy blood pressure (105 over 60 for anyone that cares) and nutrient levels in my blood stream.

Winding down my time here i am reflecting heavily over the past few months. I have done very little, not that i was doing a great deal the previous 8 months, but i feel in some ways i have wasted time here in the UK. I'm sure my mum would argue the point in case here but would it not have been better to carry on the travels straight from the previous one? Yes, possibly it would have been a good idea, but also my first travelling experience was just that, completely new, i had no clue what i was doing before i went away and to say that i over packed and picked the wrong things to take is an understatement. Taking a whole bunch of white clothes travelling, for example, is just a stupid thing to do if you want to keep them for more than a few weeks. This time i hope to be much better equipped. My new hiking boots are beginning to break in nicely now and with all the equipment (and probably a load of stuff unnecessary) i need for the various stages of my trip i am relishing the date i get to pack it in my rucksack and leave...

So what is the plan? Well, the first step of the trip is Tunisia. A country i have wanted to visit for some time. Being a film lover i am itching to get to the locations used for filming Star Wars and the Bourne Ultimatum. The coast of Tunisia is meant to be superb and Jerba island sounds simply divine. I have 3 weeks to dive into this historical land which has been one of the Arab centres of the world for a long time. With history all the way through the Roman, Greek and Persian eras i have no doubt that this place will be steeped in history. I'm also looking forward to sampling the cuisine. Tagines with meat and cous-cous...i could eat one right now.

That is only the first leg. The legs that follow i have no doubt will only get more interesting and with them build memories in my life that i will never forget, that will be part of my history and with that i shall leave you with a little snipet i read a little while ago

“Each man lives for himself, using his freedom to attain his personal aims, and feels with his whole being that he can now do or abstain from doing this or that action; but as soon as he has done it, that action performed at a certain moment in time becomes irrevocable and belongs to history, in which it has not a free but a predestined significance.

There are two sides to the life of everyman, his individual life which is the more free the more abstract its interests, and his elemental swarm-life in which he inevitably obeys laws laid down for him.

Man lives consciously for himself, but is an unconscious instrument in the attainment of the historic, universal aims of humanity. A deed done is irrevocable, and its result coinciding in time with the actions of millions of other men assumes an historic significance. The higher a man stands on the social ladder, the more people he’s connected with and the more power he has over others, the more evident is the predestination and inevitability of his every action."