The 'T'' word

Yesterday afternoon I learned via CNN that Osama Bin Laden had been killed. What struck me most was not the event itself, but that I didn’t hear about it before evening. In Sharm el Sheikh there is a strip of bars and cafes along the beach and most have international news showing on flatscreen tvs throughout the day. For the royal wedding they brought in big screens and had the volume so loud you could hear the commentary while swimming in the sea. Yesterday there was a big soccer match on and most tvs were tuned to the sports channels. It may be that news updates about Osama were running as supers, but if so no one felt the need to change the channel for more information.

I thought the news of Osama’s death would generate at least some reaction – positive or negative – but as the BBC’s Jordan correspondent put it, “in this part of the middle east there has been little response… countries like Jordan and Egypt are not interested in fundamentalism”.

In contrast, when I turned on BBC world news last night it was all they were talking about, and still all the following day.

Ironically, yesterday morning while doing some research for an article about life in Egypt post Mubarak, I came across a number of articles about terrorist attacks and threats in the Sinai Peninsula. I’ve since decided that once you are in a country it’s best to maintain any pre-existing ignorance about local terrorism so as not to become unnecessarily paranoid. It was only after learning this I noticed the metal detector in the lobby of my hotel, and I could not decide if I was more concerned that it existed or that it was not being used.

Two weeks earlier on the flight to London we followed the daylight from KL and our route took us over Pakistan and Afghanistan. It was a stunningly clear day and as we went over the Hindu Kush, you could see small villages built strategically close to water streams in deep valleys, which were cut off from neighbouring villages by huge mountains or wide ravines, and others built into the rocky mountain faces. Witnessing the vastness of both Pakistan and Afghanistan and these extreme mountain ranges, I could understand how someone could become lost forever here – intentionally or not. It was the most incredible view I have ever seen, as much because from 30,000ft it looked so peaceful – was hard to imagine the military presence, fighting and poverty occurring right below us. These are two countries I want to go to but this was probably the closest I will ever get to them.