Beautiful & Terrifying

The Teahupoo break in Fiji being surfed in slow motion

My year in cities 2011

Sorry for the lack of posts this year. Running a startup, writing books and other trivia seemed to get in the way.

Aquaba - Petra - Cairo - Istanbul - Paris - London - Berlin - Rio de Janeiro - Ouro Preto - Reykjavik - Dublin - New York - Kiev - Brussels - Derry - Arranmore

Hot Rocks

Entered a photo in an online competition on the fantastic Wired.com
And whatta ye know... My photo was chosen.
Click here

Here comes the hot stepper

The view to the right was what I was greeted with arriving at Tower 42.

I settled down in the waiting room, trying to judge the fitness levels of my peers. I spotted some fat girls and a man well over 60, so I was heartened that "dead last" was not going to be an option.

15 minutes before the start and a lot of people started doing some weird stretching stuff. Sitting on the floor and doing the downward facing dog and all that. I didn't want to feel all left out, so I touched my toes a couple of times. Well when I say "touched" I mean I got down in the general area. I believe the scientific term is "ankles".

We were lead to the basement of Tower 42 given a brief pep-talk and introduction "No one has ever not finished, and please don't die, but if you feel like it there are first aid medics every 10 floors". Before I knew it the gun had sounded and we were filing our way into the stairwell.

The first floor went swimmingly. Full of energy I bounded up 2 stairs at a time. Floor 2 was just as delightful, I even gave some office bunnies a wave and a smile as I ran by. Floor 3 brought an inkling of doubt into my mind as I realised I was already out of breath. But hey, only 39 floors to go. Floor 4 turned the inkling into a giant ink stain of doubt as I ascertained that my pace was unrealistic. Down to 1 step at a time I made it to floor 5 before my lungs threw in the towel and I was brought to a sprightly walk.

By the 30th floor my walk had slowed and I was now using the bannisters for some gravitational assistance. I managed to pass one of the fat girls on the 35th floor (her bottom was obscuring any view of the way ahead). Shelter had kindly put some motivational posters on the wall and Winston Churchill's "Never, never, never, never give up." got me going again. The 42nd came in to view and I made sure to get a Rocky style finish in, bounding up the final steps. Tripping slightly on the way.

At the top we were greeted with a bottle of water and some fantastic views. The room was filled with pasty people and not one of us was able to stifle a cough. Stairs and lungs are not fond bed-fellows. Thankfully we were allowed to take the lift down, back to the reception room where we were handed a bucks fizz. I still had a thirst so I knocked it back and asked for another. The buzz was fantastic.

Up at the top of the room there was a screen with the finishing times. The winner had done the ascent in 4:24, a time which I think the lift would have trouble beating. One by one our times were listed and after an eternity my name flashed on the screen...

9:25... Fairly average to be honest, but with a fine head rush, some sore legs and a massive cough, I was content and made my [very] merry way home.

Thanks to all of you who sponsored me, so far I'm up to 310 pounds which is pretty good I think.

If you didn't get a chance to contribute, please feel free to do so now, sponsorship is accepted up until 1 month after the race!

Click here: http://www.justgiving.com/AP-White

Something for chaaaarity

New year's resolutions are a dangerous thing and if not cemented in some way they are prone to fall by the wayside. Two of my resolutions were to get fit & to help out charities where I could (And you still haven't joined Kiva yet, have you?).

Ever the one to knock as many birds out with as few stones as possible, I jumped at the change of helping out Shelter - a very worthy charity helping the homeless.

So what am I doing? Well I'm joining the Vertical Rush and running up the stairs of the UK's 6th largest skyscraper. Lifts are for losers.

Would really appreciate any amount large or small, so click here to sponsor me 

50 Places to see before you die (revisited #2)

While looking through my archives I noticed the BBC "50 places to see before you die" list and noticed that I had posted about it before. I do feel like I've spent much of the last 8 years travelling and I've been to many unforgettable places, but obviously I haven't travelled nearly enough...

Visited 6 places in November 2002

Visited 19 places in September 2009

and as of today it's 23

Quite disheartening to be honest... Although 8 (Hawaii, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Florida, Niagara Falls, Canadian Rockies & Alaska) are in the US & Canada (invites anyone?)

How you guys doing?

All Kiva'd out

31 loans available on Kiva. 31 loans are fully funded...

Wadi Rum & Aqaba

The fun and games in Petra had to end as I had to be back in Cairo in a couple of days.

I'd heard lots of good things about Wadi Rum, but wasn't quite sure if it was going to spin my cogs. But it was on the way back to Aqaba so I decided to have a look.

And very glad I am that I did, as it proved to be the hands down highlight of the trip. It's hard to explain its draw, but the combination of mountains, valleys, canyons and the vibrant colours just come together to make it an unforgettable place.

We took in the sunset perched on a small mountain, surveying our domain. I threw in some Boards of Canada - Dayvan Cowboy to heighten it all and hey presto, instant special moment (tm). Go there.

All photos of Jordan here

Bedouin Girl

It has been statistically proven that 92.7% of the enjoyment of travel comes from the people you meet. You can stick all the Taj Mahals, Pyramids & Great Walls up your jacksy, give me a street side cafe and some locals to talk to and I'm happy.

My first real chat with a Jordanian came out of the blue. I was walking on a ridge high over the Monastery in Petra and this Bedouin girl comes out of nowhere and says in perfect English "Whatya listening to?", I ask her if the Arcade Fire means anything to her to which she replies "heh?". So she reaches out for the iPod and I duly hand it over. I thought she would have problems using it, but immediately she is sweeping her fingers across the screen like something out of minority report.

"Why you have no good music??". I apologise profusely and suggest the album Devotional Songs by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, which despite being in Pakistani, seemed to placate her. She started humming away and shouted "Where your photos??". I clicked on the appropriate Icon and she starts flicking like mad. She happened upon a photo of a girl. "Is that your wife?". "No", I replied. "Not married". "Why???" she asked. God, now not only is it my mother but a random 10 year old Jordanian kid quizzing me about my lifestyle. I tell her it's a long story. She raises her eyebrows and purses her lips, obviously unsatisfied with my answer, but there are more distractions to be had. Within a few seconds she is flinging Angry Bird at unsuspecting pigs and is giggling away to herself.

We're walking down the steps now back to the valley and in a moment of unfleetfootedness she slips in front of some Bedouin trinket sellers. They laugh and she shouts back some invectives that I'm sure would cause a Marine to blush. She then shouts "All your stuff made in China", which is obviously the ultimate denunciation in Bediouinese. She then repeated it in Italian to make sure that 99% of all passing tourists had understood. We walked some more and the conversation dwindled as the Angry Birds took over her attention. At this stage she was actually threatening to beat my high scores, but before she could do so we reached the bottom where her folks were waiting in a cave brewing tea.

She invited me in, but I declined as I had a hot date with a cold shower. I asked her if I could have my iPod back and she gave me the doeyist eyes and asked if she could keep it. I remained firm and told her I needed it. She let the doe act slip, started to smile and said "It's OK, made in China anyway...".

Petra

Petra is one of those places that I had always wanted to visit. I guess it was bloody Indiana Jones that started it all. So when in Dahab it seemed like a jolly good idea to go up and visit it.

The only problem is how to get there. There is a boat from Nuweiba to Aqaba (in Jordan), but apparently it is about as reliable as an Irish boyfriend... Normally it leaves anywhere from an hour to 5 hours late and the journey takes somewhere between 40 minutes and 3 weeks.

This was all a little uncertain so I decided to cut through the promised land, despite warnings that I would be subject to all kinds of questioning and possibly a full body scan at the Israeli border.
Actually the possibility of some physical probing by a buxom Israeli border guard probably sealed the deal.

So early on new years day I made my way to Taba and said my farewells to Egypt. Some minutes later I was saying shalom & how's it going to the first [of many] Israeli border girls (yes, they were all female). She just checked I had a passport, no problem. Then it was time to queue up for a proper passport check. Again another fine lady asked me for my passport and asked what I wanted in her country. I told her I was just heading over to Jordan, which she seemed to accept. She asked if I had any weapons. I thought for a second and the devil and angel on my shoulders had a little tussle, the devil won out (yet again) and I said "Just my hands", trying to crack a nice grin. She was most definitely not amused and looked as if she was contemplating sending me in for a full body search as punishment. I survived and was sent on to the security check which I passed with no beeps. After this I was faced with yet another check, this was the proper passport check and yet again I told the border babe I was only popping through. Passport finally stamped I felt like I had won the world cup, I nearly held my passport aloft. Until I saw there was a final girl waiting to make sure I had my passport stamped.

A quick cab ride through Eilat later I was checking out of Israel and into Jordan, the entry into which being a mere formality. At the Jordanian border there were some cabbies hanging out and doing what they do best (looking shady). It took a mammoth negotiation (involving 4 cabbies, an interested bystander and a lost donkey) but I finally struck a deal and got in a cab to Wadi Musa, the gateway to Petra.

The hassles of Israeli immigration proved worthwhile as I met some Japanese people in a restaurant that night who had spent 5 hours on the aforementioned ferry. They looked frazzled and kept asking how was it possible for the ferry to be that disorganised.

Spent two days walking around Petra, which was indeed amazing. What one doesn't realise is that the building that you see on all postcards etc. (the treasury) is actually one of many such "buildings" and is at the beginning of a long valley. So you're in for a long day hiking up and down stairs and mountains. The highlight for me was the Monastery which is pretty much the end of the valley and up a very long flight of stairs. One final push and you reach a lookout point with some amazing views, all the way over to Israel and down to Saudi Arabia. A fitting end to great day.

Dahab

I was awoken at 5am on Christmas day by the local Muezzin, giving Allah his dues. The last time I was up at 5am on Christmas day I was six years old and had peed myself with excitement.

This time I stayed dry and instead of rushing to the Christmas tree I headed to Cairo Gateway bus station to get a bus to Dahab in the Sinai.

I arrived shaken & stirred many hours later and headed to Dive-Urge where I had organised a room at last minute. The greeting was warm and I was given some Bedouin tea (with sage) and told that there would be a Christmas dinner on the beach in a couple of hours. I skedaddled to the local bottle shop (imaginatively titled "Drinks") and purchased some Stella [sans Artois]. Safely back on the beach, the food was slowly served up and honestly [sorry mom] it was the best Christmas meal ever. It was like the Egyptian chef had taken a Christmas dinner cooking course. Succulent turkey, red cabbage, stuffing, crunchalicious roast potatos, bread sauce... The works.

Spent a week in Dahab, which is as relaxed as it gets. Diving, sleeping, eating, sleeping, diving, repeat until done. Dive Urge is a fantastic place, highly recommended. But after this it was time to get on the road again.

Complete Egypt photo set here