Blogs from Middle East - page 1074

Well it was always going to be a day of expensive designer labels, champayne flowing and of course all that comes with the worlds biggest horse race known to the World and "The Dubai World Cup". It starts with a champayne breakfast by 10am of course whilst the ladies dance around getting ready. Then onto the boys house to push them into their suits whilst cooking the bbq and swigging their beers.....then it was time for our limosine to arrive...in the shape of a very dusty mini van to drive us in airconditioned style to the Nad al sheba race course to see how the middle east races its top horses. Now the stories are true there is no betting but you buy tickets to bargain and play with and you win prizes for the ... read more

To get here we drove all day about 12 hours from Istanbul ıt was tırıng but we made ıt alrıght. We are stayıng at a cave type hostel carved from the type of rock formatıon Cappadocıa ıs famous for. The hostels name ıs Flıntstones Hostel and ı do feel lıke beıng ın the lıvıng room of Fred and Wılma. It was a cold nıght and we all had problems gettıng comfortable so we all took out our sleepıng bag from the truck. We dıd a day tour around the formatıons and the landscape ıs trully amazıng there was also an underground cıty whıch we vısıted and ı felt a bıt claustrophobıc goıng through the narrow tunnels whıch remınds me very much of the Cu Chı tunnels ın Vıetnam where ı almost had a panıc attack ... read more

A Glimpse of the Middle East March 29-31, 2007 It would be impossible to imagine a greater study in contrast than our experience in beautiful but impoverished Lesotho and our short stay in Doha, capital city of Qatar, one of the richest countries in the world. An 8 hour flight can indeed take you to a whole other world. We flew Qatar Air from Johannesberg, SA to Doha and even as the bus made its way from the aircraft to the terminal, we were able to glimpse the rounded turrets of mosques beyond the airport’s perimeter. Because our flight path en route to London then Spain took us via Doha, it seemed only sensible to stay for a few days and catch a glimpse of life in the Middle East. (or at least that is ... read more

30. mars Denne dagen var julekveld for Kvine. Etter 50 mils frustrasjon over en felg som ble skeivere og skeivere til tross for İslamskrelatert alkoholinntak, ble det dagen i forveien sporet opp en sykkeldoktor og ny felg bestilt. Spenningen var derfor stor da to uthvilte og forspiste menn entret butikken Kaçkar Bisiklet i bydelen Ortaköy i İstanbul for å hente det nybygde hjulet. Resultatet så veldig lovende ut - nav og eiker var blitt bygget over på en Mavic 317-felg og utgjorde et hjul som til alt overmål virka vaterrett og godt stramma. Den vennlige butikkinnehaveren hadde redda muligheten til videre sykkeltur, og vi fikk sikla (ikke sykla) på noen XTR-glis av noen sykler han hadde stående. Disse var imidlertid så dyre at prisen ble oppgitt i Euro - ikke i Nye Tyrkiske Lire. Med ... read more

As a sportswriter for Al Ghad - Jordan’s leading Arabic daily - Akram’s managed to remind me what a complete powder puff I am in the world of serious journalism. Working six days a week, chained to his desk deep into the night as I’m eyeing the girls in Abdoun, he’s a source of both boundless admiration and abject pity. There are about four hundred degrees of separation, I suspect, between me and legitimate press credentials; but as I chat up a young teacher in the Broadway café - a half-Columbian, half-Swiss beauty with eyelashes that can practically hail a taxi - I admit there’s something to be said for my own half-assed brand of softball journalism. When we decide to take a day-trip to Umm Qais - an old Roman city just a few ... read more