I have a long time ago realized that I have to speak as good Arabic as possible, to fully be able to understand the Arab world. Otherwise it is impossible!
Anyway, now I am ready! And I have spent pretty much the last two weeks finding the right place and three cities have been suggested: Damascus, Cairo and Sana´a. Damascus, Syria, which was my first choice, basically due to that I dreamt about the souks of the old city. But nothing happened there, so than I thought, time to go on. Syria seems stale….
After talking to a lot of people, they said, go to Cairo, because this is where the Arabic you want to learn exists, like the Arabic in the films and music that all of the Arab world understands. Good idea I thought, I have always liked Cairo a lot.
But then I met an Irish and very colourful character in Muscat, Oman, named Brid Beeler, full of energy and life, and she said, Sana´a is the best place…..it is the real Arabia! Hmmmm, I will take a decision this week, so, question is where will I end up for ten weeks?
Continue reading on explorermikaelstrandberg
There are no posts. Why not be the first to have your say?

MIKAEL STRANDBERG-Swedens internationally celebrated explorer Mikael Strandberg was born in 1962 in Sweden. He started his p…

”Ramadan is the best time of the year!” said my teacher Rashad with passion and continued: “It is a time when you get closer to God, when you think about who you are, feel compassion with others and show your most generous side. And it is a time of big co

Even though I feel completely knackered, since preparing an Expedition takes an enormous amount of concentration, good manners, positive attitude, strong beliefs, little sleep, many worries, well, I am looking forward to going to Yemen more than anything

Life is very much about taking the right choices, to dare, where others fail to see the possibilities. That is the gut feeling I have about going to Yemen to study Arabic.

Oman! I have just been back in Sweden for three days and I wish with my heart that I was back in this spectacular country. What then is it I miss and long for?

I have never felt as vibrantly, emphatically alive as I did on February 27th, over a lunch of baby corn with chicken and rice.

As I arrived at the Dennis Severs’ house in the Shoreditch neighbourhood of London, there was not much to distinguish it from the others in this Georgian Terrace, surrounded by modern office blocks. One of the guardians of the house was waiting just outsi

On our recent visit to Istria, the northernmost province of Croatia we tore ourselves away from the sunlounger to explore the coastline at Limski Kanal (also known as Lim Fjord or Limski Channel). This deep sea channel cuts inland with steeply sloping woo

When we visited Istria in Croatia this summer, the joys of lying by the pool were wearing abit thin after the first day (for me anyway) so we decided to hire some bikes.