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Urban planning "often" non-existant?Ìý

Try never existant.

I'm gonna wait for the usual well reasoned arguments of:

"Well if you don't like it here, leave" or "It's better here than <>"

Mudman wrote:

I'm gonna wait for the usual well reasoned arguments of:

"Well if you don't like it here, leave" or "It's better here than <>"

Yup only a matter of time, the thing is they forget that Mo is Libyan . Some of the people that are the most reasonable here are actually Libyan (Expatlibyan for example). people who have travelled and realise that for all it's good points (and their are quite a few) Libya has a lot of growing up to do.

justice4pal wrote:

Urban planning "often" non-existant?Ìý

Try never existant.

After all they do have some bolts sticking out of the ground of sidewalks where street lights should have been installed. You gotta give them credit for that.

Things that get me about construction here.

Taking up half the road with sand and bricks regardless of the inconvenience to road users then leaving a mess in the road once complete.

Digging up a perfectly good road surface to connect a property to a power source on the other side. (Check out the recently resurfaced beach road in Gargaresh)

Setting up illegal speed bumps.

6) Cheap Labor: e.g. it is cheaper to hire several laborers from the street to move a heavy object than to get a forklift. There is heavy reliance on hard labor as opposed to tools and machinery in doing things I never thought could be done by hand. This is great! Here is what 50LYD can get you: two guys who would dust down, sweep, mop, and clean every corner of an unfurnished 12000sqf home, water the few trees there are, take out the trash, then go around telling all the neighborhood how awesome and generous you are.

7) Low, Low Thread Count: that's IF you can find all-cotton bed linens. In the whole of Sebha, there was only one shop that carried %100 cotton linens. Price for a sheet that felt a lot rougher than Wal-Mart's 90 thread count? 55LYD!! I could probably go to Elance.com, get a concierge in NYC to drive all the way to Metro Center Macy's in Washington DC, buy me a decent 500 thread count set, have him/her drive all the way back to NYC, and Aramex the whole thing to Tripoli for less than what they charge for the rubbish sold here. And I'm not even considering Amazon or Ebay for price and quality comparison.

8) Power and Water Cuts: get used to them. A surge protector is mandatory if you care about your computers.

Clansman wrote:

Mudman wrote:

I'm gonna wait for the usual well reasoned arguments of:

"Well if you don't like it here, leave" or "It's better here than <>"

Yup only a matter of time, the thing is they forget that Mo is Libyan . Some of the people that are the most reasonable here are actually Libyan (Expatlibyan for example). people who have travelled and realise that for all it's good points (and their are quite a few) Libya has a lot of growing up to do.

We don't forget that Mo is Libyan ...he just rubs us the wrong way... cuz we hate that he's right and that he's so god damn articulate

Ahh. another good tread where you have a good time reading and learning about the country.
Good observations all around.

yadayadayada wrote:

...cuz we hate that he's right and that he's so god damn articulate

yadayadayada wrote:

Clansman wrote:

Mudman wrote:

I'm gonna wait for the usual well reasoned arguments of:

"Well if you don't like it here, leave" or "It's better here than <>"

Yup only a matter of time, the thing is they forget that Mo is Libyan . Some of the people that are the most reasonable here are actually Libyan (Expatlibyan for example). people who have travelled and realise that for all it's good points (and their are quite a few) Libya has a lot of growing up to do.

We don't forget that Mo is Libyan ...he just rubs us the wrong way... cuz we hate that he's right and that he's so god damn articulate

Mo you have registered with multiple user names now haven't you ?

10) BE judged based on how you look: much of your experience in Libya will be determined by your appearance. I do mean the whole racial, ethnic and sexual profiling thing. Libyans lack no confidence in their view of the world and its peoples.

11) Classic, text-book case of : at nearly every store you walk into. This is not uncommon even at work. Of course it largely depends on point 10 above: are you a female who is attractive/slightly-attractive/non-attractive-at-all-but-flirty/non-attractive-at-all-and-not-flirty-but-can't-stand-the-heat-of-summer? or are you a hairy-faced, 30 year-old native of Fezzan? You're in for a tough communication-skills test if you are the latter. And it's a jackpot if you are an attractive, flirty, non-Arab white female with exposed blond hair, nice rack* and no male companion.


12- Guts! : still a LOT better than your average American small town. Perhaps due to a higher percentage of a younger, malnourished population in Libya. I have recently formed a theory that married men everywhere, and not just in the Midwest, are so maddened by their marriages that they believe a larger midsection protrusion aids in creating the illusion that they are handsomely endowed down there, thus establishing their superiority over other males, and deceiving young females into...well..I don't know reallyÌý ...staring at their bursting belt buckles, maybe?


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* The high rate of flat-chested (or are they just "repressed"?) Libyan females makes for a challenging existence for the more voluptuous non-Libyan ones.


Edit: grammar

Clansman wrote:

Mo you have registered with multiple user names now haven't you ?

Do you have the slightest idea how many mirrors I have to have at home?

MoEl wrote:

Clansman wrote:

Mo you have registered with multiple user names now haven't you ?

Do you have the slightest idea how many mirrors I have to have at home?

I thought that was just for your bedroom

Clansman wrote:

MoEl wrote:

Clansman wrote:

Mo you have registered with multiple user names now haven't you ?

Do you have the slightest idea how many mirrors I have to have at home?

I thought that was just for your bedroom

MoEl wrote:

10) BE judged based on how you look: much of your experience in Libya will be determined by your appearance. I do mean the whole racial, ethnic and sexual profiling thing. Libyans lack no confidence in their view of the world and its peoples.

11) Classic, text-book case of : at nearly every store you walk into. This is not uncommon even at work. Of course it largely depends on point 10 above: are you a female who is attractive/slightly-attractive/non-attractive-at-all-but-flirty/non-attractive-at-all-and-not-flirty-but-can't-stand-the-heat-of-summer? or are you a hairy-faced, 30 year-old native of Fezzan? You're in for a tough communication-skills test if you are the latter. And it's a jackpot if you are an attractive, flirty, non-Arab white female with exposed blond hair, nice rack* and no male companion.


12- Guts! : still a LOT better than your average American small town. Perhaps due to a higher percentage of a younger, malnourished population in Libya. I have recently formed a theory that married men everywhere, and not just in the Midwest, are so maddened by their marriages that they believe a larger midsection protrusion aids in creating the illusion that they are handsomely endowed down there, thus establishing their superiority over other males, and deceiving young females into...well..I don't know reallyÌý ...staring at their bursting belt buckles, maybe?


-----------------------------------------------
* The high rate of flat-chested (or are they just "repressed"?) Libyan females makes for a challenging existence for the more voluptuous non-Libyan ones.


Edit: grammar

Totally agree with your "passive-aggressive dudes" observation.

13) Souq, Souuq: Libyans shop differently. As of January, 2011, there's only one or two places in Tripoli that fit the definition of a mall. When a store becomes successful you will soon see other stores selling similar products opening up around it. So, for example, to get your keys copied you'd have to go to one neighborhood in Tripoli, then to shop for a sofa you'd have to travel to another part of the city; for computers and their accessories, you'd have to go to yet another suburb of Tripoli.