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Travel

I spent a few years living in Cairo and in rural China, teaching English.

Here you can read, in excruciating, unnecessary detail, exactly what I did every day during those periods. See my drawings of the local curiosities. Check out all the cool stuff I found on the street.

               
Month of Egyptian ExileNotorious OccurencesMonth of Chinese ExileNotorious Occurences
September 2003I arrive in Cairo and penetrate goat-clogged alleysJanuary 2005I arrive in Beijing. Mustache freezes to face
October 2003I find an apartment and attempt to decipher local babbleFebruary 2005I travel around China and reach Yilong, my village
November 2003I amass a vast hoard of datesMarch 2005I try to teach vast hoards of peasants
December 2003I wallow in utter obscurityApril 2005Agricultural announcements
January 2004I get a job teaching EnglishMay 2005Price of eggplants plummets
February 2004Joys of the Amboobit ButagazJune 2005I am converted by North Korean propaganda
March 2004Joys of smouldering mounds of rubble and plastic trashJuly 2005I explore Eastern Tibet and reach the Taklamakan desert
April
2004
I catalog the deformed kleenex vendors of CairoAugust 2005I reach occupied Lhasa
May
2004
I visit an Oasis and Upper EgyptSeptember 2005I cycle across the Himilayas
June
2004
Exodus to JordanOctober 2005I enter the land of the foul
July
2004
Syria, Lebanon and TukeyNovember 2005I almost die, but escape to Japan



Also while in China I collected a quantity of brilliant "Chinglish" phrases from signs and packaging.
A few of these are transcribed below

- To protect wild animal, we live in some earth.
- 1. Can be dissolved
  2. Cannot be dissolved
  3. Special solid wastrel
        (Labels on three trash cans, Emei Shan)
- Protecting birds is protecting humans themselves -Leshan
- No smoking or joking - sign in elevator, Chengdu
- NO CONFLAGRATION - Zen Buddhist temple, Kunming
- Please don't make a confused noise when chanting - ibid
- Dust, weed, deadwood - trashcan inscription, Kunming
- Delicious food that none cannot refuse - packaging label
- The Live Oyster That Carbon Roasts - Name of Restaurant, Nanning
- Eating Method- Eat it Directly - inscription on dried squid
- Massage Error - ATM message, Yangshuo
- Internationalized Human Living Villa
- Entertainment Lounge for Irregular Flight - Guilin airport
- Tooth Grinding Stick - a packaged food
- I am a cat-like robot - T-shirt inscription, Yilong
- I only want juicy ones - ibid.
- Protect circumstance begin with me - ubiquitous trashcan label
- Expiration: 18 Diana - label on cannned pineapple
- Psot Hotel - Hotel by Post Office, Nangarze
- Friendshit Restaurant - Shegar turn-off, Tibet
- Tibetan Handicrap Shop- Barkhor, Lhasa

Also, here are a few collected by other travelers ...
- Please do not kick Buddha
- No smoking. Wood burn fast. Burn you ouch.
- No occupying hole when train mounts
- Paper Urine Slice - Name of aisle in grocery store
- Leave me undisturbedly. OK! - Sign on fire extinguisher
- Don't empty bowels in all places- Xian
- Enter my behind - sign on restaurant
- No Sputtering
- Crawling prohibited
- I eat stick - T-shirt inscription

While living in Cairo, I noted the following items listed on local restaurant menus-

- Turkey Cock Pizza
- Cocktail Salt Pizza
- Foul Dishes
- Tourist Restaurant: Liver, Brains
- Chicken Bane
- Brain Egypt Exlent  (This I dispute)
- Meat Bool
- Potato Ships