Sherpaveien i Hardanger

Buførevegen er en gammel led over Folgefonna Nasjonalpark, hvor bøndene drev kyr og sau i historisk tid. Det var ikke tilstrekkelig beitemark i Liene over Sørfjorden, så bøndene måtte ta i bruk stølene på den andre siden av fjellet.

Det var selvsagt tøffe tak den gangen. Ikke minst fordi buføringa skjedde på en bestemt dag hvert år, slik at assistansen kunne komme over fjellet med hester til å frakte ost og melkeprodukter hjem. Hvis det ble uvær eller tidlig vinter, må det ha vært en fryktelig tur, opp omkring 1600 meter over havet.

Håpet er nå at denne spektakulære stien skal få økt oppmerksomhet og flere besøkende. Det er jo en herlig ferd med utsikt til to fjorder, is og fjellheim. I denne hensikt er det at arbeidslag med sherpaer er leid inn til steinlegging og reising av varder. Disse hardføre og arbeidsomme menn har nærmest turnert Norge med trappebyggingen sin. Resultatet er solide turstier som ikke vil tråkkes i stykker, men ligge stødig i hundre år.

Trappa er altså en severdighet i seg sjøl, der den bukter seg fra Reiseter og om lag 600 meter opp til Eggja. Jeg vil tro at den kan skape et større marked for overnatting og servering, og ikke minst for alle de gode gardsproduktene som finnes i Vikebygdkrinsen, hvor vikebygdingane ikke kan få fullrost arbeidshestene fra Everest. Se filmen og du forstår hvorfor!

Jeg har dessverre ikke bildene av sherpaer og helikopter tilgjengelig her nå, men de kommer, så sving innom om en ukes tid igjen. Foreløpig pynter jeg med gårdsdagens motiv, tatt ut gjennom Sørfjorden. Så vakkert er det når skyene letter...   :)

Lofotens cruiseanløp

Det er søren ikke bare-bare når cruiseskip med hundrevis av passasjerer skal legge til i en tettsted uten havn og attpåtil skysses omkring til perifere soner av Lofoten. Jeg hadde det oppriktig moro da jeg utforsket dette temaet, og mye takket være en maserati som sleit med clutchen og en svært trivelig tysker i bobil, fikk jeg enda en bunke gode minner fra Lofoten, som jeg jo har skrevet til dels hjertevarmet om tidligere her i bloggen (galleri, diving in Lofoten, Aqua Lofoten Coast Adventure).

En svært erfaren sjåfør!

En ganske usedvanlig tysk penlder ...

Kort sagt: mange folk i dette landet her gjør en jobb de er stolte av og de er virkelig morsomme å bli kjent med. Utrolig trist at de ikke har den toppledelsen de fortjener, men jeg ønsker dem av hjerte lykke til. En ting har de i hvert fall, og det er en av landets vakreste arbeidsplasser!!!

Et trekløver du ikke finner makan til!

a Tramp in Paradise

This was wasteland not long ago. Now Port Ghalib, a divers and longdrinkers paradise.

Port Ghalib is not my kind of place. Well, the above water part is not. Everything is designed out of sand to facilitate the tourist's needs and desires. It took me a couple of days before I could see that this is actually an important part of Egypt's industry and that a lot of Europeans actually enjoy and maybe even need to come to such a non cultural ghetto to warm up or just do nothing.
    Some of the visitors in Marina Lodge do not even snorkel. It is madness to me. But I do realize that they appreciate the stay, for one reason or the other. I mean, they actually seem happy to be here, doing pretty much nothing except sipping a drink and stretching by the pool - and I am the only grumpy one.

I am ... a snob.

I am realizing that I am a snob, much more than them. I am a cultural snob, not wanting to mix with the touristic underclass cramming uninteresting places like this, which is unworthy of my refined and experienced presence.
    Actually, I am more and more avoiding to enter conversations with climate travelers. I am the odd one staying to himself, or being seen communicating with the pool-guy, hoping to find traces of a real story, not just plastic-fantastic.

A friendly talk and a cup of tea - even with no business. Very good guys. Look for their kind!

Being the snob I am, I  complained about the stupid guy in the water taxi, about the hilarious fee for internet usage and about the ignorant male receptionist who could not make easy decisions. I was also not pleased by the fact that it was too late or too early the two first times I ordered shisha. So I was the difficult one.
    Well, to tell the truth, even I softened up somewhat during my stay. A couple of the guests were really nice and we had some good conversations - enough for a russian guy to think I was hitting on his wife and daughter and for a sweet elderly German couple to share their stories.

confusing non believer

Before I leave, I also have a wonderful talk with Dalia and Fatima, working in the reception and everywhere else. They appear to be the only ones to speak good English in this place. I am told that the staff really wondered who I was, when I arrived. I had noticed a curiosity among them. My beard first brought them to believe I am Muslim, so they respected me.
    "No, I am not," I answered when a guy dared ask.
    That made them assume I was Israeli, and they stopped liking me.
    "No, I am not," I answered when another guy asked, and I added "I actually do not stick with a religion."
    That completely confused them. So without knowing it, I had been the talk of the hotel. But not only the hotel.

When the end is good, everything is good (Norwegian saying...)

The last night on the shuttleboat, a local passenger told me that he had told another guy on land about me. There are some nice fellows working in this place (especially my cap-man).
    "A Norwegian?" the other fellow had asked, not sure who he meant. "Well, I only saw one guy as you describe, he was talking with everybody..."
    "THAT is the guy!" my fellow passenger had said.

So, that was just a small report from the talkative non believing snob... ending his stay in Marina Lodge, a clean and fairly reasonable hotel in the artificial and half finished oddity of Port Ghalib.


Welcome to ... Cairo!

an Islamic deal

Not a big deal, you might say, but one I have never experienced before. I am in a tourist trap called Marsa Alam, about wich I will share my grumpiness later, but even here, among ridiculously overpriced suvernirshops in the "souk" (tourist trap shops), I had an interesting human encounter.

I was looking for a cap, as I seem to have forgotten mine on the bus. The first shop in the shoppingstreet (sorry "traditional style souk") had one to my liking. Price 75 Egyptian pounds, about 10 Euro.
   "OK," I said, and left, without the cap.
    "Wait, do you not want the cap."
    "Maybe, maybe not, but I believe that you will think about this conversation and remember the right price when I return later."
    "OK, you will get it for 50."

That is the lowest price I expected, so I agree without further ado, but he invites me to sit and begin to discuss politics and religion. He is on the hard core side of views. Women must be covered, and all that. And Allah is all merciful. Muslims do not condemn anyone. Islam is open and tolerant. I have heard all this a few times now, and I sincerely agree in that the religion is open and tolerant, especially as it is performed here in Egypt. That is one of the reasons why I like the country.
    But the view the guy has on women provokes me profoundly. Maybe even more because he works in a place like this, where bikinis flourish.
    "I do not really want to work here," he honestly admits. "But I have to."
    Times are hard, and will get harder, so I understand him. He is a very nice guy, except for all his conservative opinions concerning women. I deeply recommend sex before marriage, free flowing hair and claims that it is on high time to take another step in equal rights in Islam. The first and only step so far was great and important - but was made about 1400 years ago. Time for an update, a 2.0 version of the Koran, maybe. I have been told that scholars are actually working on a new interpretation, and that the Koran gives room for a lot of improvement in this matter, but this is not at all necessary, according to my new friend here.

Back to the deal. He tells me that he would work with cows, rather than attend the needs of tourists. This is why I like him. He is straightforward and honest. More honest than I first imagine.
    "You know, I hate this job. It is against the Koran to be unfair and unjust with people."
    I have no clue what he is talking about.
    "I will not let you pay fifty for that hat," he then says. I would feel terrible if I do that.
    "What do you mean?"
    "We do not pay more than ten for it. You should pay fifteen."
    "Come on! This is a tourist trap, Europeans who come here can afford fifty. It is OK."
    "No it is not. It is unfair and against Islam."
    "You mean it is Haram?"
    "Yes, if I take those money, they will disappear quickly. I will rather earn 40 honest pounds in a day, than 200 in this way."
    "You really mean this?"
    "Yes. Those 40 will help me more than the 200."
    "Lets say 20 then."
    "No. 15. Not more."
    "Can I leave five by the side, as a gift to your children?"
    "No."

He means it. I have just been "counterhassled" downwards to a very, very low price for a cap that fits me perfectly. I leave promising not to add his name to the story, as he would be fired if is boss found out.

My fascination of this country is watered and fed once again. The contrasts, the human stories, the confusion and turbulence between development and tradition ... but the last place in Egypt I expected to find such a good Muslim, was here, in Marsa Alam. I will complain about the place later, as promised above.


Welcome to Egypt!