Cyprus: 09:00 on Sunday, 29 August 2010

Location Notes:  

Cyprus is hot today.  I was up this morning before dawn in order to drink fluids before sunrise.  This is the 19th day of Ramadan and I am feeling fine but I'm now in the habit of rising before sunrise.  This gives me a chance to enjoy the coolest part of the day.  I stood on the front patio of the apartment and watched the false dawn - that period of the day when there is a faint glow on the horizon that indicates that sunrise will occur in about 90 minutes.  It was cooler than any time of the day to come at about 24C (about 78F).  There was no breeze and nothing but a few nighttime sounds.  It was as if the world were holding it's breath trying to decide the quality of the day.  


At 09:00 it is already quite warm on the front patio (30C/88F), the air-conditioner is already laboring in the livingroom and there is still no breeze outside -- just a faint movement of a few leaves on the tree across the street.  Most likely, it will be too hot to sit outside this evening but the cool morning indicates that it won't be long until the A/C is off and the patio doors are open.


Cyprus is desiccated at this time of year but it has a beauty that underlies the dryness.  The Troodos mountains are dark green now but they are beginning to fade a bit as the heat haze develops.


Rosa and I had dinner on Friday night in Larnaca on the corniche.  It was humid but there was a nice sea breeze blowing in after sunset.  We parked about 1.5 kms (1 mile) from the restaurant and the walk back was comfortable arm-in-arm.  Last night, I cooked at home while Rosa helped.  I made grilled salmon encrusted with Malaysian black pepper.  It is amazing how aromatic Malaysian black pepper is -- it is so much better smelling and tasting than any other black pepper.  While fasting for Ramadan, I crave carbohydrates, so I cooked potato cottage fries with onion, garlic and jalapeno peppers -- first fried then finished browning under the grill.  While fasting, it is startling how much importance I attached to food and drink.  I'll try not to dwell on this in the future.






Upcoming Travel:


I'm flying again tomorrow.  Here is my schedule for the next two weeks:

• Monday, 30 August 2010:  Larnaca - Athens (in transit, not stopping), then Athens - Abu Dhabi
• Tuesday, 31 August 2010: Abu Dhabi, staying at the Shangri-La
• Wednesday, 1 September 2010:  Abu Dhabi - Sydney
• Thursday, 2 September 2010:  Arrive in Sydney and check into the Holiday Inn near the Airport.  Leave in the evening for Manila
• Friday, 3 September 2010: Arrive in Manila, staying at The Peninsula.  Leave in the evening for Singapore
• Saturday, 4 September 2010:  Singapore, staying at the Conrad
• Sunday, 5 September 2010: Singapore - Tokyo, staying at the Strings Intercontinental
• Monday, 6 September 2010: Tokyo
• Tuesday, 7 September 2010: Tokyo
• Wednesday, 8 September 2010: Tokyo - London
• Thursday, 9 September 2010: Arrive in London and check into the Sofitel at Heathrow T5
• Friday, 10 September 2010: London - Larnaca ... returning home
• Saturday, 11 September 2010: Home in Tseri
• Sunday, 12 September 2010: Home in Tseri

As usual ... these plans are subject to near constant change at a moment's notice.

Rant:

I never trust the new channels.  I avidly watch CNN International, BBC World Service and occasionally Al Jazera but none of these news programs show the real situation on the ground.  Good news doesn't sell, but bad news clearly does.  When was the last time anyone saw anything positive about Beirut on the news? Beirut is one of the coolest and funnest cities in the world but the news from Beirut and Lebanon, in general, is biased and bad.  An adolescent in Beirut lights a firecracker and it startles his neighbor and scares a few neighborhood dogs ... This is reported on CNN as a "Terrorist Car Bomb in Central Beirut!"

The way that I see things, there are two primary types of violent crime in the world:  Economic and Political.  Economic violence is about someone stealing or robbing for financial gain.  Political violence is about someone performing a violent act in order to further their political goals.  As a member of the upper middle class, I am pretty likely to experience Economic crime at some point -- and in fact, I was mugged in Sao Paulo several years ago.  The likelihood that I will be involved with political crime is pretty remote, in my opinion, unless I'm incredibly unlucky.

In 2008, Washington DC had the following Crime statistics (according to Wikipedia):

• Violent Crime = 8,554
• Property Crime = 30,369
• Population = approximately 595,000

During the same period in Beirut, Lebanon, the following Crime statistics occurred (according to OSAC):

• Violent Crime = 3,455
• Property Crime = 21,673
• Population = approximately 2,100,000

I have never seen a US State Department travel advisory for Washington, DC but there is a permanent travel advisory for Beirut.  Beirut is more than three times larger than Washington DC in population and yet has a much lower crime rate.

Bottom-line: Political violence is sexy, economic violence is not.  Don't believe everything you see, hear or read in any news source!

Humor Section:

In honor of my being in Cyprus this weekend, I'll tell my favorite Cypriot joke:

A drunk police officer stops a drunk motorcycle rider on the highway between Nicosia and Larnaca.  The drunk police officer staggers up to the intoxicated rider and says, "I'm going to book you for unsafe riding -- you were riding three people on one motorbike!"  The drunk motorcycle rider replies with a hiccup, "OK, that's fair, but is that any reason to surround us?!"




Last Blast:


The world is a very small place.  I firmly believe that, in this day of convenient air travel, I can travel from anywhere in the world to anywhere else in the world in 24 hours or less.  There may be places on the earth where that timeframe cannot be met but 99%+ of the earth must be that accessible.  The earth is that small and it seems smaller to me each and every day.


So, what are my top 10 observations about the earth and its various peoples?:

1. Everyone on the earth wants the same basic things: health, happiness, good friends, comfort and relatives that don't embarrass them
2. A sincere smile will help with understanding in any language
3. Speaking louder does not make you more understandable to someone who doesn't speak your language
4. A lot of people protest against the USA but these same people covet a green card
5. Cultural respect is granted, not earned.  I cannot judge the values of a culture of which I am not part -- even if I think the members of that culture as assholes!
6. People are attractive everywhere -- at least in their own way.  Like my dad used to say, "Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clear to the bone"
7. People everywhere can be categorized as having good intentions or having bad intentions.  Often the people with the best intentions cause the most harm
8. Waiting 10 minutes in line in London is less time than waiting 10 minutes in line in Beijing, Sao Paulo or Cyprus ... it just is
9. It is so much nicer to deal with Customs and Immigration agents in Southeast Asia than anywhere else -- they at least smile and laugh at my jokes when they are rifling my luggage looking for contraband
10. My favorite hotel is my home -- I just don't spend enough nights there so I don't qualify for the top tier of its loyalty program!  :-)

Take care my friends ... until next time