***
We all know people who love to sleep. Gabi once had a wool-knit hat that had the words "Captain Sleep Team" sewn into it. In the last month, Julie fell asleep at 10:45PM on New Year's Eve while I danced on the bed she was sleeping in; during a parade of Kung-Fu performers happening three feet behind her; in a bar during the AFC title game. But there can only be one King of Sleep, and I'd like to think I found him, along the side of a highway in Istanbul, Turkey.
As the picture shows, this man was snoozing in the middle of the day on a six-inch strip of concrete along a busy three-lane highway. I mean, there are naps, and there are naps where you could very easily wake up dead. Why did he sleep on the strip and not on the infinitely safer sidewalk directly in front of him? Why sleep in the most uncomfortable and dangerous spot in sight? Because it was there. Sleep King, I salute you!
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It would take many sessions of ALL OVER ABROAD to relate the adventures Gabi and I had in Egypt. But one especially memorable one was our trip down the Nile in a felucca (Egyptian sail boat), pictured below.
What you say there is pretty much the entire boat. Gabi and I, the captain and his mate (pictured), and four other souls slept on those mattresses. As for our fellow travelers, there was an ultra-marathoner (the woman in the hat), who had just completed a 333 kilometer race across the Sahara; a man from Basel (small world!) on an extended spiritual journey--he'd also just completed an on-foot desert trek; and two Polish engineers on a Brokeback-style vacation away from their wives. One half of the Polish duo (Ennis, the other guy was clearly Jack Twist) is on the left.Gabi and I thought we'd be on board for, like, eighteen hours total. That turned into about forty. There were some language issues. But sailing down the Nile was a really incredible experience, and for me, it was one of the highlights of the trip. It's just a really fascinating way to see Egypt. Plus, there were some drum circles and Gabi hit the guitar by candle-light. Good times.
***
Finally, China is a really awesome place. But, there is some pollution.
No, that isn't fog.
Until next time, True Believers!
Posts
That smog is insane. It looks like the morning after the apocalypse.
ReplyDeleteI particularly like the sheets on the boat featuring a pickacho type character and the words I can make out are "Hello Brother's.... you much happiness together"
ReplyDeleteAshley, the text you're referring to reads, in full:
ReplyDeleteHello Brother's
I wish both of you much happiness together
It was printed on the sheets on the mattresses and on the canopy above them. So you really couldn't look anywhere without reading it. And after a while, it does start to drive you insane. I mean, who is I? Are the brothers the mice Or the people (presumably brothers?) reading it? And why should they find happiness together? Were the sheets custom made for gay Polish couple?
See--madness.
Clearly it must just be a very poor translation. I saw many of these on my travels this summer, though maybe not quite this bad.
ReplyDeleteFirst, why would it be "Brother's" possessive? That's mistake #1, and indicates that whoever came up with this really doesn't know his stuff.
The rest of it depends a little on who the sheets were made for, but let's assume it was for something like this boat that knows it's carrying many people from many different cultures. It is probably meant to say something like "May we all find happiness together as brothers."
Or I could be completely wrong.