Saturday, November 04, 2006

Impressions of a traveller to Libya

Thanks mb my friend for sending me the article below about Libya in the press :

A changing city .....Excerpt



"However, if you happen to have taken the phone number of that stranger you met
in the morning, and if he happened to invite you to the beach, you might find
yourself swilling bootleg schnaps cooked on a stove-top pot as the stars twinkle
overhead. Of course, you would also wake the next morning with a poisoned
headache, sand fleas biting your face and outside your hut the surreal scene of
teenage girls in black hijabs splashing in the surf atop inflated Donald Duck
rafts. "
[ref]

The author also liked the shopping available in Libya but then I'm surprised when he says :


"The Euro-clothing stores, with their soccer jerseys and Armani shoes, are
nearly all aimed at men; most women wear the traditional hijab and shop for
fabrics in the medina, or old city"

Whaaaaaaaaaat , First September street , Gargaresh Road, Jaraba street , Mizran etc... all have men's clothes only nooooooooooo way , because the clothing stores are also aimed at women. I mean if many ladies wear hijab , what do they wear under it ? a bikini, La Perla underwear ? or maybe some fashionable clothes ?
Sometimes I'm amazed at the naivetee of jounalists.

What is this window displaying here ( hattip Khadijateri ) ? men's clothes ? Don't tell me men in Europe or America wear this type of clothes .... hmmm !

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know what you liked about the article he really didn't describe anything in an imaginative way.
I also noticed his math isn't that good 1 dinar=1.25 dollars? since when
and since when is 1.7 million a third of libya's 5.6 million people? there was another blog that said tripoli has 70% of libya's 32 million population, pure arrogance makes u wonder why they write these articles ? to present a country or prove their stereotype right?

Akram said...

at least he was right on this ,Evenings in Tripoli are a bit of a bust for visitors looking for night life. Libya is one of the world's few remaining dry countries. The best bet is a leisurely dinner a few kilometers east of town, at the Hoffra Fish Market. It is a slippery, slimy alley of fishmongers, who offer squid, shrimp, farouge (a local fish) and other catches by the kilogram.

Anonymous said...

yes that is true independent visitors won't have any fun if they don't know any of the locals. even though there are some bowling alleys and billiardo clubs but they're hard to find.
As for drinking being a source of leisure that depends on who u are and how depressed u are :).

Highlander said...

Anonymous ( I guess the second anonymous is you too ), who said I liked the article ? :P

A.Adam , I know did you see the fantastic tales :) , yes the fishmarket is cool .

Anonymous said...

Thats a bunch of Crap. Who ever wrote that HAS never been to Libya. The Majority of shops are amid at women. But in anycase, we are at war Highlander, so dont be offended, we just must begin using the same propoganda tactic as them, thats all.

As far as the nightlife, we got parties. :) but you just cant walk around and go to club, becuase they are non-existant, we have nadees's which are all family oriented, but I mean its not hard to find, nightlife, ifyou live here, i have been to tons of parties, and BBQ's at farms, which are a billion times more fun then any nightclub you will ever go to. :)

In anycase, this is good, hopefully they will all go home, and stop trying to pervert my country. It brings me great pride to see that the government has a alchoal band and governs by shariah law. These forigners want to exploit our women, they want to have them take off their clothes, and engage in explicit pornography. Sorry bud, thats not happining. Our girls, are good god fearing soilders of the lord. We dont want your alchoal, or your filth. Hopefully the government will keep the historic ban which is part of this nations heritage, and hopefully they will round up all of the "Sub-Saharean" who are killing the men and women, and spreading drugs and aids, at a alarming rate. Look at the orientals in libya, what a amazing community, my cousin took me to their hoods, last time I came, I never knew we had them in Libya, but they are wholesome people, unlike these rodent drug-pushing hip-hop, car jacking rodents. The government is trying to go African, in culture, and every other aspect as a berber this makes me super happy, but we need to go Imazighan in our cultural revival. libya has never had ties with the people in sub-sahera becuase generally the olden ones knew better. We need another war with chad, we gotta secure the mountain regions in the south from the rebels. And we need to go to the UN, and fight with Egypt, about their theft of Libyan Land. This is the year 2006, we want our rights. How is it that our indigonous boarders have been cut so drastically. egypt is generally in the farthest corner of eatstern north africa, its a little countrty, the majority of it is in Sudan today. We also must abolish the AU, this thing is stupid what are we doing in Sudan, let them kill each other, dont send our people down their cease pool, what a backwords people, FGM, and al kinds of jahel. Take themoney Libya gives to the AU, and put troops their, and have them shot anything that doesent look like it belongs. Libya is 99% Arab/Berber, Libya is 99% Sunni Muslim, it should stay that way, we should join the arab league or better yet work with Turkey to make the IU. in anycase, just a few thoughts and ideas from a non-existant person :)

Anonymous said...

Highlander, I'm not sure where this post is headed. All I can tell you is that after eighteen years of marriage, I have two observations about women and clothes.

1. Women's clothes always cost twice as much as men's clothes.

2. Women always ask men: "Does this make me look fat." To which there apears to be no correct answer.

Any advice in this matter would be helpful as my wedding aniverisity is comming up this month.

Anonymous said...

Curt, take her to a good restaurant,
cloths anyway, she'll get them whenever she wants

Euh,High, this show-window reminds me a lot of the english ones

Maya M said...

Highlander, you see yourself that the hijab is blinding for the Westerner.
The author has seen headscarved women in the street, possibly 5 out of 15 (just a guess, of course I don't know the correct ratio) and after that he cannot see anything related to women, neither can he reason anything related to women!

Anonymous said...

maybe its just his prejudice that blinded him?
Or do woman have to show their bodies and hair to be acknowledged by men? I thought you liberated them?