Ear plugs work a charm slept like a log last night had a big breaky and wandered into the old town, taking alleyways randomly and just checking out the lives of the inhabitants. After a while I blundered into the Souk but this wasnt like the other day the shops spiralled out in every direction it was also market day so the streets were a buzz with people. Unlike the Khan al-Kalili in Cairo and the Covered Souk in Istanbul the number of tourists I encountered could be counted on one hand. Also there were no caps or tee-shirts on sale [View Full Entry]

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Getting out of the city this morning to visit some of the villages to the north of the city, cant find anyone to share the cost so going alone, the the driverat the hotel says $16 USD for the day. It wasnt an overly long trip to the first destination, the countryside along the way is barren and rocky except ofcourse for all the qat fields. Havent seen a dog since I have been here but there are heaps running around feral out here, who knows what they eat. The first place we visited was Thilla which turned out to be [View Full Entry]

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Man is the atmosphere of the Souk worth the noise? Not when you have to be up at 4am. I even dragged myself out of bed before the Muezzin after a restless night of constantly interupted sleep. My flight for Yemen leaves at 6.55am so I am showered, eaten, packed an in a cab by 5, the streets were quiet and the trip quick. Check in took forever, but then it was through customs and off for the long long walk to the departure gate. They have an Irish pub in the airport so I am going to have to pop [View Full Entry]

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There seems to be a mosque behind every hotel and hostel so again no need for my $2 Chinese alarm clock this morning. Breakfast was typically Middle Eastern, flat bread, hommus, tea, cheese triangles and jam, quite satisfying really. Then it was pack up, check out and head for the bus stop out the front. It was hot damn hot and I was sweating buckets long before the bus arrived, a friendly bloke from Gujarat (India) missed a couple of his own buses while he waited to make sure I caught the right one. It was of course packed with Indian [View Full Entry]

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It was an early start this morning and the muezzins call to prayer belted out across the city by loud speaker makes alarm clocks unnecessary. The first time you experience this it is incredibly exotic but after about the second day you start sticking in ear plugs, I am glad that it is banned at home. My bus arrived on time and we were on our way it took roughly an hour to pick up the tourists and travel through Ras Al Khaimah, Umm Al-Qaiwain and Ajman three of the smaller Emirites to the border post at Tibat, Ajman is so [View Full Entry]

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This has been a long time in coming I know, and yes I am alive and well. Sharjah is the third largest of the Emirates after Dubai and Abu Dhabi and doesnt have the huge oil wealth of these but there are 4 others that are quite poor in comparison, more about them later. I arrived in Sharjah around 7am and alighted from the bus in the middle of town at Rolla Square. I then grabbed a taxi it took a while because I couldnt get the first few drivers to understand me. Finally however I was on my way and [View Full Entry]

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Its 1am Singapore time and I am wandering around the airport in a daze. As far as airports go this aint a bad one, it has become like a second home for me as I have travelled through here 4 or 5 times now. Singapore is the half way mark of the flight from Australia but due to waiting time and time zone changes it will be 21 hours between boarding the Qantas domestic flight to Melbourne from Adelaide Airport to disembarking in Dubai. I asked the girl at the check in counter to put me with people I could talk [View Full Entry]

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I have prepared a basic itinerary and attached it below, ofcourse these sort of plans go out the window the minute you walk on the plane but it gives an idea of where I would like to go. Only two days to go. Middle East Itinerary Arriving UAE, Sunday April 23, 5.10AM Deira mini bus station - Sharjah every 20 minutes Stay at the Sharjah Youth Hostel (Ph5225070) Pg 325 Visit the Heritage area, Sharjah Archaeological museum, Sharjah Desert Park 9am opening Monday April 24 Full day Dhow tour Musandam Peninsula (Oman) Tuesday April 25 Sta [View Full Entry]

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After a lot of indecision I have finally chosen the destination of my next adventure. I chose this region of the world for a number of reasons the first being the shining review it got from Arthur a Melbourne lad I met in Cappadocia (Turkey) a few years ago. The second because war is a disaster when it comes to preserving a nations historical sites (Afghanistan, Kuwait and Iraq showed the world this) and this region is likely to become even more of a hotspot in the months to come, so I wanted to get in before the American or Israeli [View Full Entry]

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