We stayed at the Australian Hostel mostly, until Phil got sick of the dogs barking upstairs and I got sick of them turning off the internet at 11. Phil moved to the confusingly-named Dahab Hostel, and, since there were no more rooms, I stayed at a place downstairs that was pretty sketchy.

Things I should have photographed:

• Tahrir Square
• The altercation in the street
• Super-Gad
• The couchsurfing dinner at Farfela
• Old men smoking sheesha

Things I should have photographed:

• Sam, Erin and Christian
• Phil running the tables at Tree Bar
• Anything, you know, underwater
• The knockoff liquor stores (John Warner’s red-label whiskey, for example)
• The huge street fight near the coffee shop

After one night at an overpriced hotel, we found another one downtown. We discovered some amazing food, such as something I’d never heard of before called Koshary. We visited the Pyramids, of course. On camels.

But the highlight was meeting up with some people from couchsurfing.org and going on a day-trip with them out into the desert. It was about half Egyptians, and half expats. Everyone was really fun and friendly.

I went on a tour of a spice plantation, which was educational and got me out of the city for a day. If I had been more ambitious, I would have taken a dala-dala bus to see more of the island.

Freddie Mercury is from Zanzibar, which is something they won’t let you forget.

Things I wish I had photographed:

• my tour guide, Omi
• the guys at Warere, esp. Chi Chi
• trivia night at Mercury’s bar
• the old women watching The Expendables subtitled in Chinese and dubbed in Arabic on the ferry
• the late-night scene at the Dar Es Salaam airport

Photo: Lawrence Lucier

I was on this early morning flight with an airline called 1Time Airlines, which I took to be a bad sign. But then they played this song while we were seating, and I felt like well, at least they get my cultural milieu.

Oh Land: Sun Of A Gun

Photo: Bernard Oh

Lately I’ve become obsessed with a Facebook app called The Travel List Challenge.

Now I don’t agree with their choices at all, but, that notwithstanding, did you know how poorly-traveled I am compared to my friends? Jill Diamond wins with 36 places, followed by Minu Aghevli with 34 places, and Maryka Baillie with 33. I, on the other hand, have a comparatively pathetic 18 22.

I’m even below “Average User” who has 23.

There are a few near misses, for example:

• The Eiffel Tower: Yes, I went to Paris with Buxton AES, but not to the Eiffel Tower.
• The Sears Tower: Noah, Dorothea, Megan, Irwin, Tony and I played hooky from school one day and went to the top of the Prudential Tower in Chicago a la Ferris Bueller, but no, it wasn’t the Sears Tower.
• The Statue of Liberty: Have I seen it 100 times? Have I sailed past it on my way to Ellis Island? Sure. But no, I haven’t been to the Statue of Liberty.

There’s only one thing to be done about this sad state of affairs!

At the jump is the complete list.

United States

1. Alamo San Antonio, Texas
2. Atlantic City Boardwalk Atlantic City, New Jersey
3. Crater Lake National Park Oregon
4. Death Valley National Park California
5. Devil’s Tower Wyoming
6. Empire State Building New York City, New York
7. French Quarter New Orleans, Louisiana
8. Gateway Arch St. Louis, Missouri
9. Gettysburg Battlefield Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
10. Glacier Bay Basin Alaska
11. Glacier National Park Montana
12. Golden Gate Bridge San Francisco, California
13. Grand Canyon Arizona
14. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Hawaii
15. Hollywood Boulevard Hollywood, Califonia
16. Las Vegas Strip Las Vegas, Nevada
17. Metropolitan Museum of Art New York City, New York
18. Mount Rushmore Keystone, South Dakota
19. Napa Valley California
20. Niagara Falls New York
21. Portland Head Lighthouse Portland, Maine
22. Redwood National Park California
23. Rocky Mountain National Park Colorado
24. Sears Tower Chicago, Illlinois
25. Smithsonian Institution Washington, D.C.
26. Space Needle Seattle, Washington
27. Statue of Liberty New York City, New York
28. Times Square New York City, New York
29. White House Washington, D.C.
30. Walt Disney World Resort Orlando, Florida
31. Washington Monument Washington, D.C.
32. Yosemite National Park California
33. Zion National Park Utah

Americas

1. Andros Island Bahamas
2. Angel Falls Venezuela
3. Cave of Crystals Mexico
4. Christ the Redeemer Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
5. Galapagos Islands Ecuador
6. Iguazu Falls Argentina and Brazil
7. Lake Titicaca Peru
8. Macchu Picchu Peru
9. Mayan Pyramids of Chichen Itza Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico
10. Pacific Rim National Park British Columbia, Canada
11. Teotihuacan Mexico

Europe

1. Alhambra Granada, Spain
2. Big Ben London, England
3. British Museum London, England
4. Canals of Amsterdam Amsterdam, Netherlands
5. Cathedral of Seville Seville, Spain
6. Cinque Terre National Park Italy
7. Colosseum Rome, Italy
8. Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh, Scotland
9. Eiffel Tower Paris, France
10. Grand Canal Venice, Italy
11. Great Mosque of Córdoba Córdoba, Spain
12. Las Ramblas Barcelona, Spain
13. Leaning Tower of Pisa Pisa, Italy
14. Louvre Museum Paris, France
15. Matterhorn Switzerland
16. Notre Dame Cathedral Paris, France
17. Pebble Beaches of Nice Nice, France
18. Puerta Del Sol Madrid, Spain
19. Rock of Gibraltar Gibraltar
20. Ruins of Athens Athens, Greece
21. Ruins of Pompeii Pompei, Italy
22. Sagrada Famila Barcelona, Spain
23. Sedlec Ossuary Czech Republic
24. Sistine Chapel Vatican City, Italy
25. St. Peter’s Basilica Vatican City, Italy
26. Stonehenge Wiltshire County, England
27. White Cliffs of Dover Dover, England
28. Winchester Cathedral Hampshire, England

Middle East

1. Dead Sea Israel/Jordan
2. Dome of the Rock Jerusalem, Israel
3. Grand Mosque in Mecca Saudi Arabia
4. Hagia Sophia Istanbul, Turkey
5. Petra Jordan
6. Wailing Wall Jerusalem, Israel

Africa

1. Mount Kilimanjaro Tanzania
2. Ngorongoro Crater Tanzania
3. Pyramids of Giza Egypt
4. Victoria Falls Zimbabwe

Asia / Pacific

1. Angkor Wat Angkor, Cambodia
2. Ayers Rock Australia
3. Bora Bora Polynesia
4. Easter Island Statues Polynesia
5. Forbidden City Beijing, China
6. Glowworm Cave New Zealand
7. Great Barrier Reef Queensland, Australia
8. Great Wall of China China
9. Kiyomizu-dera Kyoto, Japan
10. Kremlin Moscow, Russia
11. Mount Everest Nepal
12. Mount Fuji Japan
13. Petronas Twin Towers Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
14. Sydney Opera House Sydney, Australia
15. Taj Mahal Agra, India
16. Temple of the Golden Pavilion Kyoto, Japan
17. Tian Tan Buddha Hong Kong, China
18. Varanasi Uttar Pradesh, India

Update 4/3 My father tells me that I’ve been inside the White House age 7.

Update 4/14 Phil Dunn reminds me that I’ve been to Teotihuacan on the Buxton all-school trip.

Photo: Tommy Chase Lucas

Because I’ve been listening to it so much, I should mention this newish album by Grimes called Visions (Amazon). It’s quite good. Her earlier albums were a bit over my head.

I love this anecdote from Wikipedia:

In 2009, Boucher and her then-boyfriend from Tennessee constructed a 20-foot houseboat, named the “Velvet Glove Cast in Iron,” with the intention to sail it down the Mississippi River from Minneapolis to New Orleans. The cargo included chickens, a typewriter, 20 pounds of potatoes and a gifted copy of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Boucher and her companion adopted the names “Varuschka” and “Zelda Xox” for the trip. Due to engine trouble and subsequent harassment from the Minnesota police, the journey was cut short and the houseboat and chickens were impounded.

Also, the video for this song is worth watching.

Update If you’re near the 2nd Avenue stop in NYC this Friday, you should check out her art opening at Audio Visual Arts. From their site:

AVA seeks to breakfast shadow project theatre music film lecture happening record transmit lunch whittling office garden basement be kind develop front room vacant lot thoughtful exterior sound* motivation friend lasting encounter design holiday this that spirit purpose light vision dinner understand kolob vibe beauty document grotesque strength elderly youth private public here there you yes surround arrive now.

I’m seeing a certain synergy here, because she’s playing two shows at Mercury that night.

Update Oh and I know someone who’s going! Mooshiepoo, don’t even think of taking $200 for that ticket.

I went to Zimbabwe in January to see Victoria Falls. They are beautiful, the land is beautiful, the economic situation there is tragic.

ATMs dispense US dollars, because the local currency is worthless. If you buy something, you can expect the $1s and $5s you get back to be extremely worn and faded, but never torn, which I suppose is the result of a lot of very careful handling. The $10s and $20s are, on the other hand, pristine.

They could afford to offer every high school student in the US their choice of one free Apple product. There would be the obvious public relations benefit, but I think it would also boost their bottom line eventually just by adding all those customers. Plus it would be in sync with their education initiative, and it should finally put any doubts about their PC market share to bed.

Additionally, it would be nice if eligible students could refuse the offer and $1,000 would be donated to an education-related charity instead.

Does anyone how many high school students are currently enrolled in the US? The census says there are 55.5 million students pre-k through 12, so I’m going to guess 20M (assuming there could be an uptick in enrollment if such an initiative were announced).

Then you multiply that by an estimated wholesale and shipping cost of $1,500 (which is pretty generous, since most of the kids are going to ask for iPads) and you get $30B. Assume another $500M in administrative costs.

So, less than a third of their growing cash reserves. They could afford to keep it going for several years.

Update 3/19: You can find out in just under an hour from now what they’re planning to do with it. I will bet that they’re not going with my plan, nor are they buying Facebook. Listen in live at 9am Eastern.

Update 3/19: I’m disappointed.

This song by School of Seven Bells got me through a bumpy flight this morning. Get their album Ghostory. It’s so nostalgic! It reminds me of something that happened 20 years ago, but I can’t remember what it was now. Perhaps you can remind me?

Things I should have photographed:

• The aforementioned car

I recently completed a new site for Kate Howe using the Isotope jQuery Plugin. Sort the projects to see it in action.

Things I wish I had photographed:

• The scuba shop owner with the toe tag tattoo
• The “Africa” nightclub in Maputo
• The two sketchy guys who followed us around Maputo after the nightclub
• The old islamic teacher I met from Swaziland
• The border crossing
• Jane and Lu
• The green car

The lions were particularly spectacular. It was hard to photograph them, because we were instructed not to stand up in the game car, since that would be interpreted as a threat.

The main thing this gallery is missing is an audio recording of Jane’s niece Sophia and her continuing narrative about what candies would be available in her ‘paradise.’ She’s going to freak when she reads Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Things I wish I had the presence of mind to photograph:

• John and Ray
• The Turks & Caicos National Museum
• John’s boat
• Nat and Lamar, my scuba instructors
• Anything, you know, underwater
• Air Turks & Caicos

Things I wish I had photographed:

• Mom and Jim
• Phil Austern coming to visit
• The huge dolphin that swam past me
• Thanksgiving dinner

Here’s another fun site I just finished up: Mood-Tuner for my friend Kate. It’s the companion site to an iPad app of the same name (App Store link).

Whereas my recent site for Ksenya scrolls horizontally, this has little modules that move around and expand and contract. It uses the amazing isotope jquery plugin by David DeSandro.

Here is a fun project I did recently for my friend Ksenya: a blog that scrolls horizontally. She did the design, I did the coding. It uses the open-source CMS we developed at Bureau Blank, and there’s some jQuery to make the columns and image popups.

It didn’t take too long either, which is great when it’s a freelance project. According to my notes, it was under 30 hours.