thegoodfellas/blogset-br huggingface dataset:
serve everything from lamb tangias (slowly cooked lamb in an oven) and mechoui (a whole lamb cooked slowly over an open fire) to more adventurous fares like cow brains, sheep head meat, and boiled snails. Yes, I tried everything. And then had a second helping. For dessert, I went over to the chicken and lentil soup stalls and washed everything down with some fresh squeezed orange juice. Sahara Desert, Morocco. The top item on my list of things to do on my travels was to sleep under the stars in the Sahara. Even if it meant that Id have to lie on a camel blanket and under the same camel blanket I used to ride in on. After everyone fell asleep in the tent, I felt completely alone (in a good way) out there in the Merzouga desert and watched for the stars for a good long hour before I eventually passed out. Dades Gorge, Morocco. Im going to do it. I know I shouldnt, but I cant help it. The Dades Gorges were gorge-ous. Pun undeniably intended. Located in between the Atlas and Anti-Atlas mountain ranges, everything from the winding mountain pass to the berber villages, rock formations and ancient kasbahs were just stunning. And that was before the sun began to set on everything bathing it in such deep shades of earthy orange and red tones. Gorgeous. Merzouga, Morocco. A days journey east of Marrakech is the gateway to the Merzouga desert, where travelers can experience a bit of the Sahara and ride a camel into the sunset. We spent the night dining on Bedouin cuisine, sipping hot mint tea, and trekking arduously up a deceptively massive sand tune to provide back-up vocals to our Bedouin guides as they sang Bob Marley standards. We slept under the stars and left the Bedouin camp just before dawn to ride back to the village with the sunrise. My camel is the empty one at the back. Along the way, I got off my camel, ran as fast as I could ahead and waited for the camels to come around the dunes. Needless to say, I got my exercise for the day. Casablanca, Morocco. After Mecca and Medina, both in Saudi Arabia, Casablanca lays claim to the 3rd largest mosque in the world and the tallest minaret in the world. The interior was just absolutely grand and immaculate. The former king spared no expenses in the design, material and construction of the mosque, bringing in the best granite and marble from Morocco and Italy along with 10,000 artists, craftsmen and workers to bring life to the details of this massive undertaking. To enter, you have to take off your shoes, which is a given in any mosque, but even then I felt like it was wrong for peoples dirty feet (not mine, they were clean, they are always clean, even when I walk barefoot through mud and dirt) to touch the floors, parts of which were made of glass to look down into the baths below in a non-creepy way. Giza, Egypt. The
Great Pyramids. Some places unfortunately suffer from people having an overly romanticized notion of what it should be rather than what it is. Ill admit to that being the case here. Long before coming to Egypt, I imagined that when I arrived, Id be riding a camel, wearing a khaki explorers shirt, and sporting a headscarf to protect myself from the constantly blowing sands of the Sahara. The pyramids would stand in the distance with the intense heat of the desert rising into the air creating a mirage of a lush oasis. An old nomad would be leading his camel to the east and when our paths crossed, he would share his water and some ancient Arabian wisdom. Heres how it actually happened. I woke up, put on my khaki explorers shirt, wrapped my scarf around my neck and head and got into an air-conditioned van. I sat for 40 minutes through Cairo traffic with a guide I could barely understand, let alone derive wisdom from, and arrived near the pyramids next to a KFC. Unfortunately, not a mirage. (Side Note: I love KFC. Just maybe not by the Great Pyramids). I dont want to take away from the incredible feat that was the building of these step pyramids. That part, I was still humbled by standing in its presence. The part where there were security guards sitting idly by on the steps, telling me I cant climb on the pyramids...then later inviting me to climb the pyramids (for a price, of course), not so much. An extraordinary place, but sadly one diminished by the legions of hawkers offering to sell me every kind of souvenirs or telling me to take a photo of them and then asking for money. That said, everyone is entitled to making a living and as a visitor and tourist, I shouldnt really judge. Cairo, Egypt. Built during medieval times, the Citadel of Cairo, a preserved fortification is also the site of the Alabaster Mosque commissioned by Mohamed Ali Pasha in the 19th century. The mosque was built in the domed style of the Ottoman Empire. Since Turkey was next up after Egypt, I got a glimpse of a domed mosque before I set foot in the old Constantinople. Abu Simbel, Egypt. In hindsight, its incredible how many of my days started in the early hours of the morning before the roosters have had a chance to crow. At 3:30 am in my Aswan hotel room, I heard someone yell up from the empty streets below telling me to come down. With some measure of trust, I walked for a few slightly nervous minutes down an empty back-alley to eventually join with a group of 20 others travelers that morning to Abu Simbel. Safe now in my cramped mini-van escorted by police convoy, I tucked my legs in and resumed sleeping for the next three hours. Besides being one of Egypts most spectacular ruins, the impressive bit in all this is that these two giant temples dedicated to Ramses II were actually piece by piece, disassembled from
the mountain it was originally carved into, and moved uphill into a man-made mountain since the rising water levels would have eventually submerged the temples underwater completely. Nile River, Egypt. I had an entire felucca to myself for 3 days. An entire felucca. On the Nile. An entire felucca. To say that being able to lounge, read and relax and move at the whim of the north wind up the Nile was amazing is the biggest understatement of my travels. Luxor, Egypt. As most backpackers through Europe would know, after youve seen a handful of churches, all but the grandest of churches catch your interest. The same applies to Egypt and its many temples. By the time I got to Luxor, I had acquired enough temple entrance tickets to make a mini flipbook. Luckily, Queen Hatshepsuts temple was already quite the sight as you approach from a distance and see the mortuary temple sit at the base of a colossal cliff face. Despite a campaign to erase her name from the records by her successor and the natural damage caused over centuries being lost in the sands, the restored temple still retains much of its original splendor. Long before Cleopatra, Hatshepshut was the Egypts original female badass ruling the kingdom for 22 years. This was the 2nd place where the security guard wanted me to buy another entrance ticket for my tripod. Tripod in my hand is a tripod. Tripod touching the ground needs a ticket. White Desert, Egypt. Egypt is known for its ancient temples along the Nile, and those three little pyramids at Giza, but go west to the desert and you can eat, drink and sleep under the stars. And then wake up to this beautiful white desert. The sand was chalk-like in feel and some of the rock formations broke off with relative ease. Delicate, beautiful and white. Black Desert, Egypt. Close to the White Desert. Except black. And it was on the way back to the Bahariya Oasis. Mt. Sinai, Egypt. This was my view of the sunrise on Mt. Sinai after hiking for 3 hours in the dark passing camels and many shops along the way selling coffee, karkade, and snacks. When I started my travels, I planned on chasing the sun, following it east around the world and then south of the hemisphere when summer would begin there. This meant that even with every remotely warm piece of clothing I had, I started to freeze around 4 am while I sat near the summit, waiting to climb the last few hundred steps at dawn. Just before the top, I negotiated a cup of noodle down from 30 LE to 15. Freeze dried noodles never tasted so amazing. It warmed me up enough to comfortably sit at the top of Mt. Sinai slowly clicking away as the sun came up. Mt. Sinai, Egypt. The trek down was easier, but not nearly as nice when the sun started to beat down hard. It was worse for the camels since the only people who seem to have paid
to ride down were heavily overweight people who did not want to walk. Dahab, Egypt. There is perhaps no place with better conditions to learn how to scuba dive than in the Red Sea at Dahab, other than perhaps a swimming pool. The water was a perfect 79F for every dive and visibility was incredible. In subsequent dives in Thailand and Indonesia, surfacing was usually a bittersweet affair, but every afternoon dive meant breaking the surface slowly over velvety smooth water with the setting sun gently warming you up. I could trade weeks and months of ordinary moments for just seconds of that bliss. Dahab, Egypt. How do you beat a day of scuba diving on the Red Sea? A night sitting by it, smoking a hookah and watching the boats sway. Istanbul, Turkey. I think of Istanbul and I think of this ancient center of an entire empire that through siege and conquests changed hands from the Greeks to the Romans to the Ottomans and finally to the Turks. I think of a city that bridges Europe and Asia and a place so beautiful and revered that even when the city was taken by the Ottomans, the emperor could not bear to destroy some of the iconic churches of the Byzantine empire and instead converted them to mosques. The Hagia Sophia, the most famous of these churches, became a model for many Ottoman mosques over the next few centuries, including the Blue Mosque. Even though I am not a Muslim, I still stood in awe and silent admiration under the domed roof of this holy site. In the courtyard, I felt like I could just sit along the steps for hours watching the clouds blow by. Despite a suicide attack nearby in Taksim square just a couple of weeks before, I felt completely safe here almost like within a fortress wall. Hagia Sophia, Turkey. The Hagia Sophia itself, first a church, then a mosque, and now a museum, was so vast and expansive when I first entered the nave. The security detail was not so happy with my tripod for some reason, but not before I managed to capture these two scenes of movement within the museum. Istanbul, Turkey. The gateway to Asia. I made my way from Sultanahmet to the Eminonu Ferry Docks, walking through an empty Grand Bazaar that was slightly creepier than it should be (especially through the section with all the mannequins). From a high-up vantage point you can see the flow of Istanbul traffic, which was a lot less hectic than actually being down there waiting to get onto the ferry to cross the Bosphorus river. Cappadocia, Turkey. After two months of backpacking through Muslim countries, I jumped at the chance for an all-you-can-eat-and-DRINK night of entertainment. That and I did practically everything you could do already in Cappadocia being stuck there for longer than I had initially planned. Whirling Dervish and other dancers performed and brought members of the audience in to participate. Your guess as to whether or not I belly-danced and had a
Turkish fan following who wrote me a lovely little thank you note at the end of the night. Cappadocia, Turkey. Getting stranded in the middle of Turkey because the entire country was on holiday and practically every bus in and out of the region of Cappadocia was booked for 5 days longer than I had intended on staying turned out to be a mixed blessing of spending an extra 5 days visiting fairy chimneys. Lots of and lots of fairy chimneys. One day on a motorbike, another in a minivan, and third on a bicycle. After that, I felt like I had certainly seen my fair share of fairy chimneys and did everything I could to avoid seeing another fairy chimney for the rest of my stay. Admittedly that was an impossible task to begin with since the hostel I was staying in was actually built into one of those fairy chimneys. Still, that place was felt magical, especially when you can get miles away from anyone else with no sign of modern civilization. At that point, you cant help but feel transported to some far away land. Until you get to that next tourist stop where the hoards of Turks on holiday come pouring out of large air-conditioned charter buses and ask you to take a photo of them with your camera because you (an Asian person with a camera) are the tourist attraction yourself. Istanbul, Turkey. A couple of weeks before arriving in Istanbul, a suicide bomber blew himself up and injured 32 other people in busy Taksim Square. This was not exactly encouraging news before arriving in a foreign country, but when I met a local in Taksim, it sounded like the residents of Istanbul hardly let this event cause more than a skip of a beat in their routines. If they felt still felt safe, I wasnt going to let fear keep me from enjoying myself from experiencing Taksim both day and night. Petra, Jordan. In my mind, Petra has always been defined by the image of a giant Roman building carved into the mountains at the end of a dark narrow sandstone gorge, almost hidden away like a treasure. This scene was made famous in the climatic journeys end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Knowing little about Petra itself, I was absolutely blown away when I made my way down that famous walkway, known as the Siq, came face to face with that same view Id seen in so many famous photographs of the Treasury and then discovered that this was only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The place is just incomprehensibly vast with the many tombs, monuments and facades seemingly carved right into the sandstone cliff faces. To put this into perspective, you are able to buy a 1, 2 or 3-day pass to visit and fully appreciate Petra. And the kicker on top of this is that 85% of the ancient city is still underground and undiscovered. Petra, Jordan. At the top of Petra, two signs point outward and declare All Places
From Here and The View [at] The End Of The World. There you can look down across the valley beyond Petra and have tea under ragged tents at the Last Shop at the end of the world. Petra, Jordan. As my friend and I walked out of Petra along with the setting sun, we were accompanied along the way by a security officer who wasted no words of flattery for my friend. Somewhere between I drink a lot of camel milk, you know, it is like viagra and You want to know Bedouin man? I think she got the hint and we slipped away. Wadi Rum, Jordan. If theres an arch, you climb it. I think thats written in the Genenva Convention somewhere. Wadi Rum, Jordan. While traveling, I witnessed some spectacular sunrises and sunsets that swung my heartbeat one moment from a near frozen lento tempo to a racing vivace the next. The burning red desert of Wadi Rum was perhaps one of the most dynamic and captivating, rivaled only by the dramatic sunset in the Valley of the Moon of the Atacama Desert. Coincidentally, Wadi Rum is also known as the Valley of the Moon. Dead Sea, Jordan. Its true. I swear. A tomato is a fruit, not a vegetable. Oh, and that thing about being able to float in the Dead Sea too. This lake between Jordan and Israel has long been an attraction since the biblical days of King Herod and David. The salinity of the water is so high here that life cannot flourish, hence the name. It also means you are as buoyant as a balloon in this thing. I weight about 150 lbs, but you can weigh a whole lot more than that and youll still float. A caveat to travelers: you will feel every cut on your body that comes in contact with the water. Also, dont drink the water and avoid water exposure to the eye. When they tell you that the water taste horrible, dont question that claim. Happy floating. Amman, Jordan. Right in the middle of the busy and noisy center of Amman is an old Roman amphitheatre. I watched the sun set, from the nosebleed section of the theatre, the last fiery yellow light of the day slowly being pulled away like a falling curtain from the houses high on the hill across from the theatre. The only other people there were a couple of visitors walking across the seats and a few locals who probably see visitors like myself standing there everyday, watching in awe as twilight made way for the night in their city. Chiang Mai, Thailand. If you ever have the choice between an elephant and a camel as transportation, always go for the pachyderm. They dont have humps that ride up your rear. They may occasionally assault you with their trunks if you buy a bag of banana, but no humps. Thats my elephant scratching himself on the tree after I disembarked. Pai, Thailand. Pai had one of my favorite night markets, selling souvenirs that were
actually pretty neat and creative. Between every few souvenir stands would be a food or drinks stand which, if you know me personally or through my writing, is right up my alley. You see street performers in every country doing everything from being performing tricks to standing completely frozen as a statue. This guy was original. For a donation, you can just take one of the paint brushes provided and use his body as a canvas...and he stood still for the hours he was there doing this. He definitely earned his keep. Pai, Thailand. Some hot springs in Pai explicitly warn to no boil eggs in the thermal pools. Not this one, they even sell little bags of regular chicken and eggs and the much smaller quail eggs in ready to boil plastic bags. All you do is take one of the bamboo sticks lying around the thermal pool, hook your bag up to the end of it and let it sit in the water for 20 minutes. Since the water is about 20 degrees below boiling, the soft whites dont fully solidify, making for a tasty but unusual egg eating/sucking experience. Since the hot springs had a sulfurous smell, you could lie and blame your post-egg consumption flatulence on the hot springs. Really, it wasnt me * fart *. Ok that was me this time. Pai, Thailand. The best way to get around Pai is to rent a motorbike. We rented 5 for 6 people and looped around the city stopping by temples, hot springs, and little waterfalls like this. Bangkok, Thailand. This is Khao San Road better known as backpackers central. This place is packed with vendors running the gamut with fake shoes, fake backpacks, fake watches, fake IDs, and probably even fake chickens. At night, the bars open up along with food vendors selling anything from piping hot corn to freshly fried up Pad-Thai. Buyers beware, the whole place can get quite messy. Chumphon, Thailand. It takes 8 hours to get to Chumphon from Bangkok by bus. You get used to it. I promise. I arrived at around 5 am and waited with a fellow traveler for dawn and the Lomprayah ferry to arrive at 7 am to take us to Koh Tao. I recall the morning being quite calm and beautiful, except for a gentle breeze blowing away at the flags. This lasted until we boarded the ferry for nearly 3 hours of stomach churning, up and down, wave crashing, boat action that I somehow slept through it. My English companion did not fare so well and was wide-awake through the entire thing. Paradise comes with a price sometimes. Koh Tao, Thailand. Another day. Another island. Another sunset. No less spectacular. After our tumultuous boat ride to get to Koh Tao, we settled into our $15 beach front bungalows and rented motorbikes to ride around the island. This beach and an afternoon nap more than made up for the early morning stress. Koh Tao, Thailand. At night, the low tides on Sairee Beach allow you to walk out
deep along the shoreline. Along the beach, fire dancers perform to pumping music while everyone drinks from buckets of Sangsom and Coke/Soda. I spent Christmas Eve here with some a contingent of English and German travelers, starting with a Christmas feast at the Big Blue Dive Resort, followed by buckets on the beach, lots of dancing, and a pre-morning dip in the water. Nang Yuan Island, Thailand. A small set of islands just northwest of Koh Tao, Nang Yuan is certainly a contender for the title of paradise in a photograph. This was taken on Christmas Day. I still get little palpitations thinking about what a great day that was. After spending the day swimming and lounging on a stretch of smooth undisturbed sand, we hiked to the top of one of the islands. From there, you can see that the three small islands are interconnected by a long sandy beach and surrounded by crystal clear aquamarine and turquoise water. Uluwatu, Indonesia. On an edge of a cliff is a Balinese temple with this breathtaking view of the crashing waves. Below, it is stormy and violent while above; the temple looks out, peaceful and calm. Kuta Bali, Indonesia. If you want the quiet peaceful beaches of Indonesia, you get as far away from Kuta Bali as you can. This place is also known as little Australia, where half the population of Australia goes to party during the holidays. Theres a strict uniform code for the Australian guys thats limited to either wearing a Bintang (local beer) tank-top or going shirtless. Those are the rules. If you see a group of 5 guys, all wearing matching tank tops in the colors of the Power Rangers, you can mostly guess that they are Australians. If one of the 5 happens to be shirtless, it may just mean that his tank-top got dirty from last nights party and its being washed. Dont give him a hard time. I tried to avoid most of this on New Years Eve and went down to the beach where I witnessed the most incredible non-stop display of it-must-be-illegal-at-home hand-held fireworks from 10 pm to just past midnight. Nusa Lembongan, Indonesia. Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present. Marcus Aurelius So wise, but sometimes living in the moment too much can have its consequences. I stopped at a nice little resort on the south end of Nusa Lembongan for a dip in the pool and a cold drink. And then a little longer for a nap. And just a bit longer to see the sun start to set. And then set. And stayed for dinner. Next thing I knew, it was dark and I still had to ride back to my bungalow, somewhere on the west side of the island. This wouldnt have been such a daunting undertaking if 1) I had a real map, 2) the road was more than just a rocky path through the jungle and 3)