I managed to climb Mt. Sinai in the dark, in order to be at the top at sunrise. The climb is not difficult except scrambling up the path, under a brand-new moon, with only the light from a head-torch is a bit tricky. The view was magnifiscent and the scenery on the route we took back was beautiful.

After a hearty breakfast, which we so deserved, we drove to Cairo (via a tunnel under the Suez canal) and here I am. Yesterday I saw the Pyramids, it felt surreal to be finally be there, and the Egyptian museum with mummies and stuff from Tutankhamuns tomb (i.e. stuff which is not at the British Museum or away on a temporary exhibition).

Tonight I'm taking the night-train to Aswan so I'll be celebrating the New Years on the train (who am I kidding, I'll be fast asleep, despite my fascination with trains I find it very hard to stay awake until midnight) and the next few days I'm going to explore Upper Egypt. And the 7th I'm going to Spain via The Czech Republic on an already confirmed flight. Sounds too good to be true.

So... happy new year!

So, Christmas has come and gone.

From Damascus, which is a fantastic place, we went to Jordan. We went to Mt. Nebo where allegedly God showed Moses the promised land, there is a great view from there over the Jordan valley and over to Jerico. We camped by the Dead Sea and saw the lights twinkling from Jerusalem, it's was a bit strange to know that the lights on the other side of the water were in Israel. I went for a cold but nice early morning swim, it's a strange sensation to swim in the Dead Sea. The salinity is very high so swimming is a bit difficult, you just float - and don't even think of trying to get to the bottom 'cause you just bob straight up again. It also feels strange on the skin, very smooth, almost slimy. And as soon as you go out of the water your skin and hair is all salt encrusted.

And you know what; I had white Christmas! The 24th I was at Petra (a magnificent city carved out of rocks, those who have seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade might know what I'm talking about) and when we woke up early on Christmas day it was snowing. We drove through the surrounding mountains, in about an inch-deep snow (I know, it's not much but this is the Middle East I's talking about here) on our way to the Wadi Rum desert where we thought we were camping the next night, but we had a Christmas surprise waiting for us: instead we spent the night in a bedouin camp.

And now I'm in Egypt. We crossed over the Aqaba Gulf with a ferry to Nuweiba and are now staying in Dahab. I went snorkelling in the Red Sea today, the visibility was fantastic and my freckles really love seing a bit of sun (I've been cursing myself the last month for hacing packed sunscreen which just takes up space in my bag but finally I had use for it). This time the lighs twinkling at the other side of the water are in Saudi Arabia.

I'll stay in Sinai for the next couple of days and hopefully climb Mt. Sinai, then go to Cairo where I'll be spending New Year's Eve.

Today I've been wandering around the old city in Damascus, watching live go by. I had a very interesting conversation with a guy from Afghanistan in an Iranian mosque, in German, who explained how Islam split up into Sunni and Shi'ite (my German isn't very good though, but I understand quite a bit) and the history of the religion. We then moved on to politics, the Israel/Palestine confliction and how the West sees Islam - and how muslims think the West sees Islam. Interesting indeed.

My Arabic is still very poor, I only know a few words and the only thing I can write is the numbers, but I'm sure that in 2 weeks time I'll learn a bit more.

Merry Christmas

After driving through the lovely Turkish countryside I now know that

- Tangerines are in season
- Massey Ferguson is the dominant brand of tractors on the market in Turkey
- Dur means stop
- The majority of Turkish farmers have a mustache
- Bay means gentlemen and bayna means ladies
- The ongoing price for citrus fruit at a road-side stall is 1 lira per kg (that's about 46 ISK)
- No, you don't get sick after eating a whole bag of oranges in one day
- Even though it's winter it doesn't mean you can't get sunburned
- In Turkey the woman's place is not only in the kitchen - it is also on the field

I went to Cappadocia, hiked in amazing landscape and went ballooning (yes, as in flying in a hot-air balloon), then headed to Syria where I am now. I've looked at crusader castles, temples and ruins, markets and camels. A few days ago we camped in the desert close to Palmyra, about 120 km from the borders to Iraq, it was a beautiful starry night but very very cold, layering is the name of the game when camping in the desert. And now I'm in Damascus, which is claimed to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world An amazing place, vibrant and chaotic and wonderful. After Damascus we go to Jordan, I'll be in Petra the 24th and in the desert by Wadi Rum the 25th, don't know when or where I'll be able to use the internet next.

Well, well, internet again. Not too much of that when camping.

I really like Turkey -the people, the landscape, the food- but what mostly makes me happy is that it's not cold. Mind you, it's not warm either, but even when camping I'm doing OK. That's what I was mostly worried about before leaving, not that I would get kidnapped, mugged or raped, but that I would be freezing to death in my tent, wearing thermals and all. It might change when we venture further inland but it's quite OK for now. Icelanders, having a knack for making long words, would call this síðermabolaveður or long-sleeved shirt weather, weaklings like me would consider this flíspeysuveður (fleece coat weather). Enough about the weather, on to other things.

I am know in a town called (there the azzar goes again) Selçuk, close to Ephesus, on the Aegean coast. Ephesus is the best preserved classical city in the eastern Mediterranian and is very impressive, even though most of my knowledge of the Roman Empire comes from the Asterix books and my knowledge of the area before that is non existing (no cartoons about that, you see). The library in Ephesus was built in the year 135 AD and was rivalled only by the one in Alexandria, Egypt. Here Cybele was worshipped, with time she became Artemis and when the Romans took over Artemis became Diana and Ephesus became the Roman provincial capital and quickly acquired a sizable Christian congregation. Supposedly this is where the Virgin Mary retired in her old age and St. Paul and St. John were seen wandering the streets of Ephesus.

So, this is how I learn my history. Maybe I should have paid more attention in school.

Yesterday I visited Troy, soon I'll be visiting Olympos and then we head inland to Cappadocia. After a week or so I'll be in Syria. I don't know when I can use the internet again, so even if there are no new entries in a week it does not mean I've been bombed, only that I've been camping. I do highly appreciate getting emails and text messages (yes, I use the phone as an alarm clock and there's network connection here). I was very happy when I checked my emails earlier and had loads of emails, but over a half of them are word-of-the-day emails, in English and Spanish. And when I turned on my phone yesterday I had three new messages (yay!), but one from Vodaphone in Greece and another one from TelSim in Turkey (so, at the moment I'm covered not by one but three networks!). So, feel free to drop me a line, but I'm not promising anything in return (except gratitude).

But now I'm off, a BBQ is waiting for me (I will not loose weight while in Turkey, that's for sure!).

P.s. Brian, I have finally learnt the difference of Doric, Ionic and Corinthian columns. I always for got to look it up, but now I know. Did have to come to Turkey for it though.

P.s.s. David, have you taught those Texans to enjoy peanut butter properly yet? You know it's not perfect without the sound effects!

Thorunn Greta kitladi mig...

7 hlutir sem eg get

- talad kiswahili (alla vega nog til ad bjarga mer)
- komid otrulega miklu doti i otrulega litinn bakpoka
- farid med tungubrjota eins og „hnodrinn i nordri verdur ad vedri thott sidar verdi en tha fer nu ad verda verra ferdavedrid“ afar hratt an thess ad fipast
- eytt klukkustundum saman vid ad lesa, pusla og leysa krossgatur
- sofid a otrulegustu stodum. Eg a frekar erfitt med ad halda mer vakandi ef eg er i bil, lest, bat eda flugvel og havadi hefur litil ahrif a mig ef eg er eitthvad sybbin
-----
7 hlutir sem eg get ekki

-talid upp 7 hluti sem eg get
- saett mig vid thad ad fullordid folk skuldar peninga. Mer er alveg meinilla vid thad
- thagad ef eg se stafsetningarvillu
- tholad ad vera i gotottum sokkum
- bakad almennilega sukkuladikoku. Hef serhaeft mig i osta- og skyrkokum i stadinn
- bordad gellur og raudmaga. Eg er ekki matvond en eg kugast bara yfir thessum fineriis proteingjofum
- klarad eina einustu krossgatu i storu storu krossgatubokinni sem eg keypti i Edinborg i haust. En eg get heldur ekki vidurkennt ad hun se of erfid fyrir mig... eg tharf bara meiri tima (og sma sjalfsblekkingu)
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7 hlutir sem eg vil gera adur en eg dey

- verda eitthvad
- laera kofun
- eignast barn
- fljuga i loftbelg
- klifa Kilimanjaro
- fara i bakpokaferd um Venezuela, Kolumbiu, Ecuador, Peru og Boliviu
- verda rosalega flink i spaensku
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7 gallar i fari minu

...nei, eg nenni nu ekki ad velta mer upp ur thvi. Eg tala thegar eg a ad thegja, thegi thegar eg a ad tala, er smamunasom og thver og thrjosk og.. bara alveg frabaer. Naesta spurning, takk.
-----
7 stadir sem mig langar ad fara til

- Galapagos eyjarnar
- Israel
- St. Petursborg
- Zanzibar (aftur)
- Machu Piccu
- Faereyjar
- Tekkland, Slovenia og Kroatia
-----
7 hlutir sem eg segi oft (eda hef gert undanfarid, ordavalid er annad thegar eg er ekki ad vinna)

- teşekkür ederim (takk a tyrknesku)
- ne kadar? (hvad kostar thetta? a tyrknesku)
- no thanks, I don't want to see your cousin's carpet shop
- It's 'Asta; A-S-T-A
- Farfuglaheimilid, Reykjavik City Hostel, how can I help you? (segi thad m.a.s. thegar eg svara minum eigin sima)
- sure, just leave a post-it on my laptop or send me an email, otherwise I'll forget.
- jaeja
- ja (a innsoginu)
- Marie, mon coeur, can I borrow your buspass?
- rideau, roronner og miroir (hef verid ad laera fronsku og r-in eru svo erfid)
- coffee? sure, can I have foamy milk and cinnamon please?
- Matynka, how do you spell...

Hmmm, thetta voru nu fleiri en 7. En hef nu lika lag a ad tala mikid.

I've now met the group I'll be travelling with, we are only five plus two drivers and none of us have been to these areas before so we are up to quite an adventure. We leave Istanbul tomorrow and head down to Gallipolli where we camp and then go to Troy. We are very flexible when there so few of us, and with border posts closing down and others opening we better be.

Am off now, going sailing on the Bosphorus.

I've started travelling again, so I guess it's also time to start posting blogs in English again. At the moment I'm battling the blessed Turkish keyboard where nothing is in the same place as I'm used to, but in turn I can write fun characters lıke ş, ğ, ı, ç and ü.

So... I flew Iceland Express to Stansted and took the bus to Heathrow, where I spent the night. I had very much looked forward to a few hours of writing my journal, writing letters and read the novel I got as a present before I left, and maybe read up on the places I plan to visit, but no. I fell fast asleep as soon as I had rolled out my camping mattress in a quiet corner, with my legs through the straps of my backpack, and woke up the morning after to the sound of suitclad businessmen in a hurry to catch their flight. I still had plenty of time so I took another nap before checking in myself, so much for the plans of using well the time I had to kill.

When I arrived in Istanbul I took the bus to the city, found my hostel and spent the evening in the lovely company of Canadians (French Canadians of course! But the ronronner will still only be for the Farfuglaheimili Francophones, Canadians and others). Today I have been...

... the music, blaring Turkish pop music, just got turned down; prayer time. At prayer time you can hear the muezzins from several mosques call out the azzar, the prayer call, way more beautiful than any pop music.

...where was I before the azzar? Yes, today I have been exploring the city, been to Aya Sofia, The Blue Mosque and The Grand Bazaar, which is grand indeed, a huge area with all kinds of shops and stalls. And just wandering around is great, there is so much to see and feel and smell and... it's feels great to be travelling again. It sucks not to know the language though, so far I can only say merhaba (hello), lütfen (please), teşekkür ederim (thank you), evet (yes), hayır (no) and I know that Iceland is Islanda. I got a CD with Turkish at the library about a month ago, but I had to return it without having learnt a word, and I'm afraid that in this case the thougt doesn't count.

Thanks to the lovely people who've sent me emails, I checked my mail at Heathrow and you can't imagine how happy this old heart was to read your messages.

Well, time to get some food in me (most likely a kebab).