Lazy Days
If you got it, flaunt it
This guy is only an interloper here on the rooftop, but he's obviously a natural when it comes to striking a pose in that soft light of the late afternoon....
Lazy Days
Just another lazy Sunday in Dahab today. Except on a Tuesday. Or is it Wednesday? Doesn't really matter. Don't ever forget that time is just, like, a social construct, or something....
On This Day: Magar falafel
This culinary discovery was originally made on 14 March 2023, which by some sorcery appears to have only been one year ago (although a full 366 days thanks to that wacky 29th of February, so makes sense that it feels much longer).
It also seems a more appropriate repost than usual, as it's brought to you from the land/region of the original falafel - although today's fun travel fact is that Egyptians actually call falafel 'ta'ameya', because here they make them with fava beans rather than chickpeas
We've never met a free sample worth the social awkwardness of politely declining, especially when it comes to consumables, and the streak continued the other day when presented with this deep-fried, off-menu goodness made by the proprietor's mother - and now we're hooked!
Let us introduce you to batuk, which we immediately dubbed the 'Nepali falafel', for obvious reasons, and suggested that they be added to the menu, also for obvious reasons.
However, made from black lentils, they should actually be called 'Magar falafel', as they're a specialty of that specific ethnic group, and mostly made for weddings and other festive occasions.
Based on this sample tasting of one, solitary batuk, we can pronounce without any reservations that they're an exquisite culinary delight, and somehow even tastier than their Middle Eastern brethren. Mmmm mmmm!
Of course it should also be noted that by that point in the day we already had a belly full of various grilled and fried meats, along with a generous amount of moonshine. But still....
NB: Photos of the now twice teased grilled meat platter from this same place are still forthcoming....
Mary Poppins v Mad Max
As previously alluded to, the beach here is rarely crowded, at least at this time of year. But that doesn't mean you can't still come across some intriguing scenes at any time of day. Like this one at 6.15am a couple of mornings ago.
From the 99¢ coffee and Mary Poppins v Mad Max crossover bicycle to that guilty looking cat who's just about to abscond, there's a lot more going on here than it might seem at first glance. And all bathed in the warm light from the just risen sun. Good stuff....
Sunrise in Dahab
Soundtrack provided courtesy of some chickens, roosters and other assorted local birdlife…
Meow-na Lisa
The backlog of cat photos from here in Dahab is getting borderline unmanageable, so best to start clearing them out!
This one was originally taken back on 19 February (wow, the time is really flying, isn't it?), and is arguably the best of the lot.
Of course, taste in amateur feline photography is highly subjective, so you can be the judge....
DIY Laundromat
When your place doesn't have a washer (or dryer), but it's a shortcoming that's remedied for a total cost of around €2.87.
Neon green wash tub¹ = E£120 (~€2.26)
Bamboo clothespins² = E£20 (~€0.38)
8-metres of rope³ = E£12.50 (~€0.24)
Not pictured: Months' worth of laundry detergent = E£25 (€0.47)
¹Different sizes come in different colours* at the lovely little home goods shop around the corner, so the neon green wasn't by choice, but in hindsight it really ties the rooftop together
²Probably the nicest clothespins I've ever used, and definitely the nicest I've ever owned
³Sold by the metre, excellent value; makes the mind ponder other potential uses for rope
*What's more, one size up was yellow and one size down was pastel pink, and I've really never been a fan of Easter aesthetics, so neon green was the de facto only option
On This Day: Still ‘stuck’ in Malaysia
On the Left: Managing to escape on the last flight out of Slovenia, just before the whole world shut down on 16 March 2020.
On the Right: Not quite managing to fit all of the Twin Towers into the shot, while wandering around Kuala Lumpur on 16 March 2021.
You win some, you lose some....
On This Day: World's Greatest Bathroom Tiles
Six years later and still haven't made it to Kaunas to try and find these amazing tiles. Which, in the big picture of things, is probably for the best, as it's always good to keep some hopes and dreams and life goals on the back burner, just in case you need them....
Originally posted on 17 March 2017 in Ljubljana, Slovenia:
Calling these the greatest bathroom tiles ever created doesn't do them justice. They're the work of Gyva Grafika and can apparently only be found in the bathroom at Galeria Urbana in Kaunas - more than enough reason for us to put Lithuania's second city on our bucket list.....
Local beach bums
And the award for the Most Comfortable Looking Cat in Dahab goes to....
Rainy season in the desert
March is one of the wettest months of the year in Dahab (see full climate chart below), when mother nature lashes the town with a deluge of truly biblical proportions: 1.2mm of precipitation and a holiday-ruining 0.5 days of rain on average - out of totals of 7.24mm and 2.2 days annually.
Or to put it another way: it almost literally never rains here. The question for the professional meteorologists is if those few drops of rain yesterday evening and again this morning will officially count as two days of precipitation. If so, it's a 400% increase on the norms and is really going to skew those averages.
This is technically for Sharm el-Sheikh, but it's much more detailed than the Dahab one, and Sharm is just down the coast, so the info should more or less be the same.
On This Day: Cat in the Hat
Pinko (or technically Pinko IV, as cats in Nepali villages don't have the longest life expectancy): A Literal Cat in the Hat
Originally posted on 18 March 2023 in Pachabhaiya, Nepal:
We've already made several references to Dr Seuss in recent months (usually in the description of a ridiculous looking tree), so apologies in advance for being repetitive, but it'd be a real dereliction of duty if we didn't share this shot of the literal cat in the hat who was sitting next to us at breakfast this morning....
Sunrise at the Assalah beach in Dahab
If the sound of waves gently crashing onto the shore isn't something you find relaxing, this probably isn't the Reel for you, sorry....
Enjoy the ride, furry friend!
Spotted this morning: A camel who's about to have a potentially mind- and life-altering experience. Enjoy the ride, furry friend!
The Avant Garde Shadow Puppet Theatre of Dahab
Caught some kind of avant garde shadow puppet performance earlier this evening. Guess it was mostly symbolic. Contemporary art can be quite abstract and confusing sometimes....
Friday ablutions
A super friendly orange street cat preening on the rooftop during the Friday sermon (khutbah), which is the voice heard crackling over the mosque's speakers in the background.
Small Pleasures
The hitherto unknown satisfaction of finding that the entire bag of approximately 0.5kg loose chickpeas you bought fits perfectly into the large empty instant coffee* jar.... #smallpleasures
Bonus fact: 500g of loose chickpeas has the same volume as 200g of Misr Café instant coffee.
*NB: It should be noted that, as helpfully pointed out in a previous comment thread, instant coffee does indeed make angels cry. So apologies in advance to any angels reading this - the primary aim wasn't to make you cry....
Mecca for Kite Surfing
No need to sugarcoat it, this is only being posted to try and keep the beach-to-cat ratio closer to 50:50, as the figurative pendulum has swung way over to the feline side recently.
But since it's here now, guess it's also worth mentioning that Dahab is something of a Mecca for kite surfing. It's also very pretty. Very, very pretty....
Eat good, feel good, do good
Just eat good, feel good, do good. Solid (if grammatically incorrect) advice, especially considering it's coming from an alleyway wall in Egypt. Although perhaps easier said than done....
Cheat Day
Deconstructed burger with a side of fried potatoes smothered in garlic and fresh coriander. Surprisingly satisfying after having barely eaten any meat since Christmas.
h/t to whoever was grilling what smelled to be burgers somewhere near the beach the previous evening....
Another lazy day at the beach
Another lazy late afternoon with nothing but the sound of waves gently lapping the rocks and some kids playing at the beach….
That time of the month
Seems it's already that time of the month again - when the old Xiaomi (model year 2017) really tries its best to capture that lunar magic, yet still comes up well short. Although all things considered, it didn't do too badly tonight.....
LOL
LOL. Records indicate that this was a highlight from an aimless walkabout around the easternmost outskirts of Ljubljana back on this day (23 March) in 2019. Before remote work became the norm and dreary weather could be avoided in perpetuity. What a difference half a decade makes. Haha. LOL indeed, abandoned swimming pool. LOL indeed....
Mariam's Fish Restaurant
Here's another guy who didn't hang around to pose very long. He must've already known that this first shot was gonna be a winner....
Same same, but different
A familiar phrase for anyone who's travelled in Southeast Asia. Although until looking it up a few minutes ago, we'd always associated it with Indonesia. Turns out it's actually Thai, and apparently famously so. From The Culture Trip:
"One Urban Dictionary entry suggests the phrase is used to describe “subtle nuances”, while another accurately states that it’s commonly encountered during attempts to sell something.
Head to a market and ask whether a suspect-looking designer product is the real deal, for example, and you might hear ‘same same, but different’. Urban Dictionary also defines the phrase as ‘just about anything depending on what the user is trying to achieve’.
Beyond its meaning as something being ‘similar’, the tagline arguably has deeper roots in Thai culture. The intentional vagueness it conveys - that something is both the same and yet different, and therefore neither the same nor different - resembles the vagueness that’s inherent in the Thai language itself.
It’s not uncommon to get to the end of a fairly involved conversation with a Thai person and for both parties who are fluent in Thai to have only a limited idea of what the other actually meant (even if neither will admit it)."
On This Day: Can't Get Enough of That Wonderful Duff
Originally posted on 25 March 2022 in Riohacha, Colombia:
"El fin de semana is almost here! Time to loosen that tie, kick off those zapatos and stock up on your favourite trademark infringing adult beverages......."
With a follow-up two days later:
"UPDATE: Went back to the same huge supermarket this morning, in order to actually purchase some Springfield's finest brew, but instead found this in it's place. Can't help but feel somewhat responsible for this. It's a small world, so someone from Fox's legal department following this little page of ours wouldn't be the strangest thing that's ever happened....."
Beach side property
The second instalment in the ongoing series provisionally titled 'Trying to keep the ratio of beach-to-cat content close to 50:50'....
No way, you look fine, babe! 😬
When your hairdresser is out sick, but their replacement says no problem, they got you.
Don't worry, it'll grow back in no time....
Mr Wing eats cucumbers
A lot of the cats in Dahab love cucumbers. Most likely because of the water content (Dahab is dry, it rains an average of 2.2 days per year), but I prefer to think it's because they enjoy the crunching sound they make when munching away on them.
And this cat in particular REALLY loves cucumbers. How do I know? Because this video was taken at 5.50am, after which I left for the rest of the morning, and when I returned a bit after noon, I discovered that she'd decided to move up to my rooftop studio, along with her 2.5-week-old kittens.