Some Info on Tunis, Tunisia, the land of the rising tune.

<RANT>
    1st off. KEEP YOUR XURRENCY EXCHANGE RECEIPTS? Tunisians love dollars, but hate local Tunisian cash, which turns into pretty paper once you leave the country. Don't assume that just because you paid for it that it is valuable.

    2nd off. JUST BECAUSE A HOTEL HAS 5 STARS, DOESN'T MEAN IT IS ANY GOOD. Most of the stuff in my 5* hotel room didn't work.
</RANT>

    I got the impression that whilst tunisians are generally a nice bunch of people, a western tourist tends to bring out the worst (carpet sellers, tourist klingons, "genuine" roman coin sellers). We represent a big pile of cash, and I often wished I looked like a local. However, some bloke did stop to offer me a lift ( which I declined because I wasn't going anywhere).

    Their method of transport - the louage (randomly timed cars with predetermined destinations) is inspired. Transport supply follows demand and there is no problem with train strikes etc. etc. The same sort of thing happens all over Africa - where people are not at the mercy of crap public transport companies.

    Tunis is next to Carthage. Loads of people lived here for a while until the Romans came and totally wiped everyone out. Then they totally trashed the place.

    Mechanical stuff like busses and hotel fridges eventually break, and are not always fixed. That is just the way things are. A bus which breaks down in the middle of nowhere might just be left there.

These pictures free for non commercial private perusal. ©cip, 2000

Email me at:cip1000@sobi.org


Ingrate goes