Postcard from Tripoli.... NOW WITH PICTURES!

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Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 8:45 pm

Who says that only scammers go online in dingy dodgy internet cafes in ropey cities at the arse end of the world? Some baiters have to do it too!

Tonight I find myself sat in said internet cafe at 10pm on the occasion of my 35th birthday in Tripoli, capital of Libya. (Don't ask).
I've been here for 3 days now, with a further 2 days to go until I return home. Alcohol is unavailable in Libya, with severe penalties imposed on those found in posession of it. So erm, yeah. I'm having a swinging time, hence why I'm now passing some time writing you all a little postcard from the edge.

So what's tripoli like then? Well when I got this assignment I must admit, I wasn't looking forward to it. I mean, I'm a white westerner and our American cousins were only bombing this place 20 years ago! Sanctions from the west ended just a couple of years ago, and I therefore assumed I'd be in for a hard time.
The Libyan people are actually very friendly, even though the city is chaotic. Think of somewhere with the pace of life (and similar noise levels) to most Arabic and subcontinental countries.... Karachi springs to mind..... But with a very open attitude to visitors.
Driving in traffic is something of a challenge. The Libyans drive with no thought for safety, and no heed to the rules, if indeed there are any, so accidents are spectacular and plentiful. Libyans also drive on their horns, every 2 seconds literally, so a lie in of a morning is but a faint possibility if you don't have earplugs. (My hotel window doesn't close!)
The food is great, in the style of lebanese really, with kebabs galore, cold mezes and shwarma being the local stuff, although Tripoli is seeing more and more "foreign" food joints such as pizza and chicken open by the week.
There's a surprising amount to see in Libya. The romans settled here around 1900 years ago and much still remains, including the old fort walls and the Marcus Aurelius arch in Tripoli itself, right up to the magnificent ruins at Leptis Magna, 2 hours drive from the city. I visited yesterday (I'll post the photos when I'm home) and was taken aback by the scale of the place. It was after all a city which housed 80,000 romans in it's peak, around 160AD. And the best bit is, you get all this to yourself as there's still virtually no tourism to speak of.

It's been odd being one of the few western faces in such a deeply enshrined muslim / arab enclave, but the only looks you get from people are ones of curiosity. In the medina souk today I wasn't hassled once, and even got into some nice conversations with Libyans keen to practice their English.

In the internet cafe tonight (5 Dinars (about 2 pounds or 4 dollars) for 3 hours or 10 dinars for a 24 hour pass, if you were wondering) there's only 2 other people tapping away on the dual language keyboards. No scamming going on from what I can see! But I never did expect it to be a scamming hotspot....

Anyway, it's been better than I thought it would be.. just goes to show you can never rely on stereotypes of countries.

Now if one of the Mods can tell me where my IP resolves to, (Satellite provider or Tripoli itself I wonder?) then we can call this a bit of baiting research too!

See you all when I get home in a few days, (Saturday) and watch out for those pictures! Wink

Na night from Libya!

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 8:48 pm

Pah! You're in Greece! Laughing

Quote:

netname: COMTONET
descr: COM-TONET, COMERCIAL COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
descr: ATHENS, GREECE
country: GR
admin-c: GB834-RIPE
tech-c: CTN1-RIPE
status: ASSIGNED PA
mnt-by: MNT-C2N
source: RIPE # Filtered

role: C2N ROLE
address: Aigeidon 13 & Seneka, N. Kifisia
e-mail: Whois Privacy and Spam Prevention by DomainTools.com
mnt-by: MNT-C2N
admin-c: GB834-RIPE
tech-c: AL3706-RIPE
nic-hdl: CTN1-RIPE
source: RIPE # Filtered

person: Gerasimos Bonanos
address: Aigeidon 13 & Seneka, Kifisia
phone: +302106249600
fax-no: +302106206850
e-mail: Whois Privacy and Spam Prevention by DomainTools.com
nic-hdl: GB834-RIPE
mnt-by: MNT-C2N
source: RIPE # Filtered

route: 62.68.64.0/19
descr: COMTONET
origin: AS12653
mnt-by: MNT-C2N
source: RIPE # Filtered

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 10:28 pm

Mugatu wrote:

The food is great, in the style of lebanese really, with kebabs galore, cold mezes and shwarma being the local stuff

Man, that sounds good... especially the shwarma...

Mugatu wrote:

Now if one of the Mods can tell me where my IP resolves to, (Satellite provider or Tripoli itself I wonder?) then we can call this a bit of baiting research too!

Sure, turn it into a business trip... so you can have Shiver pick up the expenses... Laughing

Good hearing from you mate... enjoy the rest of the trip.

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 10:31 pm

Thanks for your time to discribe the local. I would be scared to travel there myself. Wishing you a safe trip home. And Happy Birthday!

Baiting Guru Joined: 03 Mar 2006 Posts: 7103 Location: Yes

Nice little travel memo. Sounds very interesting. Safe travels.

Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 1:38 am

Sounds like an awesome place to see.

Ok Red, add another Safari

and let Mugato go back home now. Wink

Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 1:49 am

Mugatu wrote:

Now if one of the Mods can tell me where my IP resolves to

As Don has correctly pointed out your IP resolves to ComToNet which is a Greek company.
However, they provide services much further afield than Greece:-

Quote:

Regions We Serve
Balkans
Europe
East Europe
Middle East
Magreb
Forward East (Iran, Afghanistan Pakistan etc.)
Far East
West Africa
East Africa
Central Asia

BTW, I'm jealous of your trip to Libya. Such an interesting place to visit . . . . . . if you ignore the politics.

Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 3:25 am

Nice travelogue! Armchair bound for right now... so this was wonderful, an escape.

Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 12:35 am

Please post pictures if/when you can we would love to see them.

Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 1:39 am

@ Oxy -

@ Mugatu - Great to hear from you mate! Hope you're having a good time, say hi to my Tripoli character while you're there will you? Razz

Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 7:55 pm

Cheers all! As I say, photos will be posted when I'm back on Saturday.

I spent last night in a town called Al Beida, 2 hours flight to the east of Tripoli before returning to the capital tonight. Al Beida was not as developed shall we say..... it was a little like something out of the film Borat. Nice! Very Happy

still, it was an experience.

I managed to get a room with an internet terminal tonight so no more hanging out in internet cafes. (I think the hotel staff upgraded as I've been here most of the week!) It would be interesting to see the IP info for this hotel, although I'm betting it's the same as it's only a block away from the cafe.... but of course that means nothing sometimes. Can a moderator check please?

It's been interesting but I'm looking forward to the flight home.
Speak to you guys soon!

Posted: Fri Nov 09, 2007 7:57 pm

Sounds like you are having a blast, Mugatu. Can't wait to see the pictures.

Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 1:44 pm

Yo, my honky bro who know how ta roll, git yo ass back ta pimpin ya didgits fore I bust dat chickenhead with my blunt! ...or something to that effect

Happy belated Birthday, my friend! Hope you do it up right tonight!

happy crowd

Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 1:51 pm

Mugatu wrote:

. . . . . . It would be interesting to see the IP info for this hotel, although I'm betting it's the same as it's only a block away from the cafe.... but of course that means nothing sometimes. Can a moderator check please? . . .

Methinks that you are joshing with us Mugatu Laughing

Your IP address remains the same as your first post.

Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 2:26 pm

@Mugatu

Happy belated birthday,

by now it's too late but enjoy your trip

Cant wait for the photos

Elite Baiter Joined: 02 Jul 2006 Posts: 1702

@ B&B & mugatu

In the uk every ip is generally different, however my home town in ireland all resolve to 1 ip, an aol.ie one at that.

The reason being in ireland the infrastructure isnt everywhere some places are in the middle of nowhere - but the clever sods worked out as long as you can chain to an access point you can have broadband, the cost spread around those using the effective WAN ok so you run out every 250 peeps but 250 peeps paying you 40 euro a month for a 39 euro line isnt too bad Wink

Speeds are generally ok, Alan maloy runs the hub its a mixture of cable wireless and fixed wire lans and 1 microwave setup too.

Its quite possible the internet cafe is beaming to the hotel and a few other places too, or vice versa and one of them runs the actual connection.

Most companies will barter for example say to sky - ill give you the 28 pence per day per customer if you let me rebroadcast your channels and sky say "ok" unless of course your virgin - they told sky to stuff it lol.

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 12:09 am

Makes sense Digi one. Thanks for the input on the IP, I feel I've got nothing but stick since I posted! Maybe I should just stay at home in future, the IP should be more believable!

I got back home 4 hours ago now, how does the IP check out Mods?

Photos to follow right here in the next post:

Baiting Guru Joined: 31 Jan 2007 Posts: 12237

Quote:

Alcohol is unavailable in Libya

"During one of my treks through Afghanistan, we lost our corkscrew. We were compelled to live on food and water for several days."

W.C. Fields
(My Little Chickadee)

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 12:46 am

The photos from Libya that I promised, I hope you enjoy them:

The entrance to the Medina Souk in Tripoli:

The Green Square in Tripoli, where locals promenade:

A portion of the old city walls at the harbour:

An array of copper and brass goods in the medina souk:

A local craftsman beats a copper decorative plate by hand in the medina souk:

A Mosque on the hillside amongst farmland in Sirta, Libya:

The triumhant archway into Leptus Magna..... All roads lead to Rome! And this one literally does.

This well preserved road leads west to Alexandria:

The Forum at Leptis, which was covered in it's heyday 1850 years ago. Where all and sundry would meet to discuss politics, life, love, whatever!

The inside of the Basilica, Leptus Magna, where the senators discussed law....

Bath time: The cold outside marble baths at Leptis:

Theatre time! The magnificent amphitheatre at Leptis Magna: 1900 years young.

Cloud number 9: Descending into the grey clouds of London returning from Libya.

And that's it for our tour of Libya guys. Hope you enjoyed it.

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 12:53 am

Mugatu wrote:

... All roads lead to Rome! And this one literally does. ...

Literally? Across the Mediterranean? Shocked

Or the long way via the Levant? Wink

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 1:08 am

Could you imagine seeing Pink Floyd in that ampitheater? Thanks for the pic's!

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 1:25 am

I used to live in Alexandria - the road from Libya must pretty much go through my house!! Wow... I always wanted to go to Libya... I'm so jealous!

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 1:28 am

KD

From a thesaurus:
Lead to - cause, bring about, make possible, initiate, set in motion, produce, result in
Encarta � World English Dictionary � & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

I know... geographically, the Mediterranean Sea is in the way... Cool

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 1:36 am

Thanks!

I love the pics, because I will never see any place that will require a plane. Very Happy

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2007 3:46 am

Thank you! Very Happy

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