Explorer Mikael Strandberg » cairo

His hair has three different colors….

admin — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:45:00 +0000

…and he will travel the world.

That is what my sister said when she was pushing me around in a stroller 47 years ago, when she met a neighbor and briefly stopped and talked to her. I learned that yesterday when I visited my American sister Sarah and met the neighbor. Since than I have traveled to 113 countries and spent more than 2500 nighs in a tent, many of them in a tent which you see to the right here. Photo is taken in the Sinai desert and this was one of the scariest nights in my life. Soon I will pass here again and I will worry less. Since than I have already met the worst demon of all.

As you can see, if you click on the photo to enlarge it, I have even been able to get my bicycle in, the one I used when I cycled from New Zealand to Cairo 1994-96, The reason was that i had been attacked the night before and was worried beyond belief. And trying to sleep then, isn´t easy. I just lay there in the dark, shivering, frightened, listening to every movement, just in case, somebody had spotted me leaving the main road and hiding behind this set of rocky outcrops, coming there to rob me, kill me…well, that is how the mind goes. Eventually i fell asleep, probably an hour before the arrival of dawn. Suddenly it happened!

Somebody attacked me, hit me hard in the right eye, I screamed and yelled, kicked and fought back against the attacker, and I shouted:

“You shouldn´t have done that!”

The attacker turned out being…..my bike. Strong wind had arrived and the bike just fell over and I got the end of my handlebar in my right eye….I did manage to brake a spoke and make life even more complicated, since I still, after almost 90 000 km:s and 7.5 years on a push bike, I still didn´t know how to adjust a spoke properly.

Another voice from the past also turned up yesterday, Bengt, a guy I worked with 1984-85, when saving money to do my first Expedition, from Chile to Alaska on a push bike, at a workshop manufacturing saw blades. He was my boss than and he´s kept track on me ever since and remembers the day I left for Chile. It was the same day the premier of Sweden, Olof Palme, was executed on a street in Stockholm. He came to honor me, traveled a big distance to do that, and that is such a privilege to experience.

I wish I was in Chile right now, because strong winds, grey sky and damp, bone chilling cold has arrived to Stockholm. I thought about yemen this morning and than thi article by a friend, Tim, showed up. Read it here!

Not only Arabic Language Studies…..

admin — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:38:10 +0000

Even though I feel completely knackered, since preparing an Expedition takes an enormous amount of concentration, good manners, positive attitude, strong beliefs, little sleep, many worries, well, I am looking forward to going to Yemen more than anything else in life right now!

It is like a dream, finally being able to try to pick up Arabic and live in a very exotic, demanding and exiting environment like San’a. The reason I choose San’a before Cairo or Damascus was also due to the fact, not only do I wish to cross this slightly unstable country and need to check out its possibility, but learning Arabic and being a real traveller, is being kind of a Robert De Niro of exploration. You have to prepare yourself for the leading role by becoming an Arab. Which is another reason I believe Yemen is the best choice, since I have a feeling very few speak English here, so they´re forcing me to practise my Arabic, plus that it is in many ways, if I am to believe what I have read on the Internet and in books, conservative. Perfect to learn more about Arabian Etiquette, which is harder than any I have ever come across in other cultures. Whilst browsing the Net concerning Arabian Etiquette, I found this link regarding business Etiquette in Arabia.

I have already found out that a gym does exist in San’a, which mean I will have to train as well, 4 times a week. However, I wish I could go today! Please stay tuned through my visit to see how all goes and I will tell you the truth and nothing but the truth!

Where to learn Arabic?

admin — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 06:32:17 +0000

Sana´a Cairo Damascus

I have a long time ago realized that I have to speak as good Arabic as possible, to fully be able to understand the Arab world. Otherwise it is impossible! Especially important if you are setting up an Expedition as the one shown in this little pilot:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3GI-YeZP5E]

Anyway, now I am ready! And I have spent pretty much the last two weeks finding the right place and three cities have been suggested: Damascus, Cairo and Sana´a.

Damascus, Syria, which was my first choice, basically due to that I dreamt about the souks of the old city. But nothing happened there, so than I thought, time to go on. Syria seems stale….

After talking to a lot of people, they said, go to Cairo, because this is where the Arabic you want to learn exists, like the Arabic in the films and music that all of the Arab world understands. Good idea I thought, I have always liked Cairo a lot. But then I met an Irish and very colourful character in Muscat, Oman, named Brid Beeler, full of energy and life, and she said, Sana´a is the best place…..it is the real Arabia!

Hmmmm, I will take a decision this week, so, question is where will I end up for ten weeks?

During my study, please do follow my blog which will give you an insight into a totally different world!

The value of books, new and old

admin — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 09:20:00 +0000

Happiness is to wake up a Sunday morning, dizzy from worrisome thoughts from the day and night before, and pick up one of the loads of books you have next to your bed, and start reading and suddenly realizing you´ve forgotten all worries and suddenly feel full of joy, happiness and see no obstacles att all waiting ahead for you in the future!
The book I picked up this morning was an old book that I picked up back in the late eighties, which I then used for research to write a book about my 2½ years on a push bike from New Zealand to Cairo, The Arabs by David Lamb. A tremendous human being and journalist I came across the first time when doing research for a book after my 2½ years on a push bike from Norway to South-Africa. He had then written a, in black Africa a very controversial, book called The Africans. As good as his about the Arabs.
But the first book on the subject of Arabia I wanted to read, was however, Edward Saids book Orientalism, which has attracted extreme attention globally. I thought that would be a good introduction to this extraordinary subject called Arabia. What a bore! It amazes me that anyone can read more than a few lines before falling asleep. Written by a scholar, for sure. Yawn!
So this morning I started off instead with David Lambs book The Arabs, and he of course is a writer and a story teller and it is a great book. And even though, it is two decades since it was originally published, the book remains a lucid introduction to the main themes of Middle Eastern politics, history and social issues that most westerners find intractable. And, with a bokk like this, suddenly you experience that great feeling of learning and adding new insights into lifeto add to ones knowledge, a supreme feeling.
So, 50% of my research material is 20 years of age almost, but still valid, and I have picked up a lot of new books on the Internet, whose titles have been supplied to me by experts on Arabia, especially my new friend, the humourous Justin Marozzi. One of the more interesting books I have found was whilst walking into a second hand bookshop on Drottninggatan in Stockholm, just to get away from the cold for twenty minutes, waiting to meet my friends Anders and Solan, and then browsed through a section where they were selling books for 2 euro and found Raphael Patais book The Arab Mind! Excellent!
These are happy times, after all!