A Year Ago...in Libya

After finishing my Politics master's at Oxford in June 2007, I began a 5-month journey to North Africa, Middle East and East Africa treading mostly land and sea routes. I had planned this major trip for at least half a year and had intended to visit less-frequented countries especially those that were, at least in popular minds, "conflict zones." Many people had asked why I was traveling solo to these "dangerous lands." For me this was a journey of discovery--to get a first-hand glimpse into what it means to live in a deprived environment and to understand how ordinary people fare behind the traumatic and not so child-friendly stories we read on BBC, CNN or Al Jazeera. I also thought that traveling for an extended period to unstable polities would build on my political science training, which was getting a little abstract and methodological for real world applications.

To put it short, I wanted to see the normality behind the wars and suffering that we take for granted. The reality is of course much more complicated, mentally draining and mind-boggling, as I will relate to in my later entries.

Despite much planning, research and questioning on Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree forum, my journey was filled with uncertainties from the start. Budgeting time and money for such a long trip was difficult, as was figuring out the safest and most efficient routes to cross 2 continents and 13 countries. But the biggest worry was getting the proper visas to set foot on so-called pariah states: Libya, Sudan, and Syria. Visiting Israel and the Palestinian territories was also problematic, as an entry/exit stamp from the Jewish state would get me shunned by most Arab countries. Add to this were complications on my Taiwanese nationality, which many governments either downright refuse to honour (e.g. Lebanon, Pakistan, Tunisia) or hold unpredictable policies towards. My trip, in fact, underwent several changes to account for the dizzying array of possibilities.

Eventually, I narrowed down to 2 overland routes to end in my home country Taiwan: 1) Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Yemen, Oman, India, Singapore; 2) Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Yemen, Oman, India, Singapore. The two paths were by and large similar with the exception of the initial legs, and both posed challenges. In the end, I took a gamble and settled for the second route. I wanted to pay a return visit to Said of Maztouria, who was my host during my first trip to Tunisia in 2006. So Tunisia was a logical starting point. Besides, I wanted to visit the rather secretive Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and its famous Roman and Greek ruins. Thus on 20 June, I boarded a British Airline plane departing London for Tunis despite much opposition from my mother.

It marked the end of my studies at Oxford and the inauguration of my overseas adventure. I was very excited.