queer – Page 2 – Paul's Travel Blog

The most famous sight in Aleppo is its markets, or souks. Covering miles and miles of covered alleys (sometimes it feels like the whole old city is souk), the souks sell everything from food to fabric to hardware (and of course also souvenirs for the tourists, but those shops make up a very small portion of the markets as a whole). Some photographs:

Closed for business on Friday.

This sweets shop was located in a broader, uncovered area, allowing for this huge display.

A less crowded moment. The souks are generally quite congested during the day. Note the meat hanging for sale on right.

There are, surprisingly, still donkeys being used for transport about the souk.

Ground spice, artfully presented.

Entrance to Khan al-Sabun. The khans, or caravanserais, acted as both warehouses and lodging for traveling merchants. In Aleppo, most still serve their commercial function, and are crowded with shops along and sometimes within their courtyards.

Near closing time.

There is of course food for sale within the souk as well, for the merchants and the shoppers.

Note the built-in hooks. Other meat for sale was hung on the great doors within the souk.

This is just a photo post, for the most part, but if you have a few minutes try googling some other travelers’ blog entries on the gay vendors of the Aleppo souk. There are two shops in Aleppo being run by highly visible (even flamboyant) gay men. They seem quite open about their sexuality, at least to tourists (one young man wearing while we were there a t-shirt that said “Free Sex”), something that is quite surprising to see in the middle of conservative medieval Aleppo.

7 SEP CI 679 HKG-CGK (survived, and video on demand, too), then overnight train from Jakarta’s Gambir Station to Yogyakarta’s Tugu Station

Writing from a 25,000 Rupiah (~USD2.50) hotel room in the middle of Sosro, Yogyakarta’s backpacker district, I see several wireless networks–but none open for me to connect.

In Jakarta for about a day, we took a brief rest between seeing the old harbor of Dutch Batavia, Sunda Kelapa, and Fatahillah Square, the heart of Jakarta’s Kota neighborhood, in the famous Cafe Batavia. According to the Rough Guide, this cafe located in a beautifully refurbished colonial building is the brainchild of an Australian businessman Graeme James. And beautiful indeed–supposedly named twice by Newsweek as having one of the world’s best bars.

Now, the guidebook does not confirm, nor could I find via Google, whether Mr. James is gay, but Cafe Batavia must be one of the gayest places we’ve ever seen! Of course, Cafe Batavia isn’t an openly gay venue. One would not expect such a prominent and opulent restaurant to be patently identified as or exclusively gay. Whatever problems of social or political acceptance there may be, there would also be the matter of having sufficient clientele. But the old Hollywood-type photos that cover the walls are either homoerotic (think just shy of Beefcake–male athletes, men in uniform, etc.) or feature divas/gay female icons. Entering the Cafe one sees a photo collage from some sort of costume/drag party held at the Cafe (several years ago). The coup de grace–the men’s bathroom. Not only is the concentration of homoerotica/camp particularly high (I recall seeing a picture of two men getting married, one in drag, as well as a half naked man curled up next to another on some sort of chaise), but in the place of individual urinals is a trough urinal. Has anyone heard of such a thing in a high end restaurant? Certainly Mr. James just has some sort of fetish for communal urination? I also note that the stalls are very generously proportioned and feature complete privacy (note to Mr. Craig).

Also seen in Jakarta: On our way to Kota in the evening, we passed stand and portable stand (estimate about 50-100 such stands) selling Viagra, Cialis and other ED drugs. Could someone please explain this to me?