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Journal of African trips

African trip [I]

Agelasto
2004-05-20 20:57:33

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What you are now reading was written as I traveled in Africa during May and June, 1998. These
thoughts were put down some weeks ago (I returned to Hong Kong on July 1, Handover Day + 1
year), but I was not easily able to word-process my journal entries while on the road, although
checking e-mail proved simple enough.

My decision to travel to Africa was not an especially difficult one. Why not go there? After a
futile search for an academic position (I was even turned down for a post-doc at UCLA because I
did not fit into their funding categories, whatever that means), I realized it was time for another
career change. I think my next career is retirement; in any case, I headed to Africa. My trip was
to be fairly straight forward, traveling South, flying into Cairo and out from Cape Town. I find
moving in one-direction with a definite goal to be motivating, but nothing was planned for in
between entry and exit. I realized I would have to avoid places of unrest or revolution, which
meant flying a few times, but I prefer trains and boats.

Egypt, 1-15 May. Egypt, second only to India, is one of the most fascinatingly complex places I
have ever visited. China is, of course, complex, but I have never felt it to be unfathomable. I
don?t know much of China?s history, literature or arts, but I still feel I understand the way the
place works. I can say the same about most places I visit. Egypt I don?t pretend to understand.
It is layers of history - the Pharaohs, invasions from the Middle East, Romans, Ottoman Turks,
and the British to name a few. I would describe the current civilization as secular Islamic, but if
the past helps us to foretell the future, that will not last for long. (I expect that as population and
poverty increase people will turn away from politicians and toward religion; I think that eventually
Egypt will become an Islamic ...