Blogs from Middle East - page 1184

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Middle East » Qatar February 6th 2006

After a weekend full of shopping (which included a stop at the World's biggest shopping cart...until Dubai builds a bigger one next month ;), I had a chance to finally experience some the Qatari culture and food. I finally went to the souqs on Saturday night. Souqs are local markets where a goods are plentiful, as is bartering. It was quite a bit different than I imagined. In my head, I envisioned a market similar to those in Turkey with open air stalls. However, the Qatari souqs are basically just streets and streets of small stores grouped together. There are different types of souqs--gold souqs, tailoring souqs, fruits and vegetable souqs, etc. We were in the tailoring area, which apparently equated to men. The only other time I've felt like a bigger minority was taking the ... read more
Souq
Funny Sign #1
Funny Sign #2

Middle East » Jordan » South » Petra February 4th 2006

Minutes before we were about to board our ferry from Nuweiba (Egypt) to the Jordanian port of Aqaba, we received a frantic text message from my parents telling us of a ferry sinking in the Red Sea and hoping we were OK. We were fortunately heading across the Red Sea in the opposite direction and in a much more modern and safe catamaran ferry (like the ones plying the Marlborough Sounds) . We crossed quickly, comfortably and without incident; taking only 1 hour as opposed to the estimated 5 - 36! hours for the slow ferry. Should anyone head out this way we would recommend avoiding the slow ferry as it is only USD11 cheaper than the fast ferry (USD50) and it is rumoured to be nasty. Immigration at the Jordanian border was a lolly sramble ... read more

Middle East » Israel » Jerusalem District » Jerusalem February 4th 2006

When we decided to travel down through the Middle East to Egypt we had no intention of visiting Israel or Palestine. This was partly because we wished to travel on to other Islamic countries who would not grant us entry visas if we had been to Occupied Palestine (as they refer to it), and partly because of our own, particularly my own, political views and prejudices in favour of the Palestinian cause, their right to their own state and the end of the Israeli occupation. I had spent several years boycotting Israeli produce for instance, as my own way of not giving any support to what I viewed as the illegal activities of the Israeli state, and was happy to rant to anyone about how unjust the situation was and how I never intended to visit ... read more
Fashion Accessories
Ramallah
Damascus Gate Old City Jerusalem

Middle East » Qatar February 3rd 2006

I used to complain that I missed out on the "real" University experience because I lived at home or on my own during University and never lived in a dorm. Be careful what you wish for! Fast forward almost 10 years, and I live in a dorm. It's a dorm filled with those in their mid- to late-twenties, mind you, but do not be mistaken, it's a dorm. (I also finally included some more photos of the "dorm--yeah, it's kinda blah, but I'm doing my best to spruce it up without going broke!). There are definite positive and negatives of living in this environment. The positives are that you are never lonely and there are always people to hang out with. This can also be a negative, as "me time" is hard to come by, especially ... read more
The Bedroom 2
The Kitchen
The Dining Room

Middle East » Iran » North » Tehran February 3rd 2006

simorgh/raamtin Hotels are both great on the famous Valias avenue parks/street so green and so clean earthquakes can be a worry and Tehran is poised for a big one any day the mountain range of Damarvand with Tehran sitting on the foothills is a great escape out of city life. Good ski resorts and just great open space speed traps are a popular past time of Iranian police... read more
Speed at your peril
an awesome day out in the mountains
The winding road to the Caspian Sea

Middle East » Iran » North » Kashan February 3rd 2006

El ultimo mensaje quedo incompleto por un fallo del ordenador asi que proseguire con el relato: Como decia, eramos los unicos "catolicos" y extranjeros, pero a nadie le importaba, eramos unos peregrinos mas. Durante el viaje a Qom cantaron las desgracias del Hussein, que murio en la batalla de Kerbala junto con sus seguidores y familiares. El es un heroe para el chiismo y los iranis lloran cada anyo su muerte, durante la celebracion del Moharram, que este anyo se celebra desde el 31 de enero hasta el 9 de febrero. Una vez en Qom nos dejan 30 minutos, para ir a rezar, o en nuestro caso para deambular por el patio de la mezquita. Para entrar en el recinto ( en principio la entrada esta prohibida a los infieles!) me dejan un chador, esa especie ... read more

Middle East » United Arab Emirates » Dubai February 1st 2006

In researching a route to Egypt we found a flight on Air Arabia that stops off in the UAE, in Dubai. "You been there?" "No." "Yeah me neither." That's how we found ourselves staying in the Emirates for 2 days. Dubai is currently heralded as the hippest city in the world. In practical terms that means open up your pockets and let the town rape you of your wad. Unlike it's Middle East brethren, Dubai is unable to suckle at the oil-lactating teat as its waning reserves expect to tank out by 2015. But not to be shown up in the arena of the obscenely rich, they've come up with other plans to engorge their bankroll-- seduce money from the world's elite. Put up a song and dance about how great a place it is ("hippest ... read more
6 star luxury
Another Hotel Resort
24 hrs a day for 6 months  and we're still Smiling

Middle East » Iran » West » Esfahan February 1st 2006

El hotel de Kashan , el unico que podemos permitirnos, es un poco.....como decirlo, incomodo ( solo hay un lavabo y una ducha para todas las habitaciones) y un poco sucio....pero eso no nos tira para atras. La idea era tener como base Kashan para visitar la ciudad sagrada de Qom, pero paseando por la ciudad conocemos a Mohammed un tio local que es un poco friki que nos lleva a un museo donde trabaja su colega, Hamid. Ambos hablan ingles basico pero el suficiente para charlar un rato y acabar quedando con Hamid, al dia siguiente, para ir de excursiona Qom en un autobus de peregrinos. El viaje empieza el dia siguiente, a las 7 de la tarde. Subimos a un autobus lleno de devotos chiis que nos llevara primero a Qom ( a ... read more
kashan
kashan
kashan

Middle East » Iran January 31st 2006

Long distance buses Iran’s long distance buses are of two types. The older and the newer buses: The older buses are by Mercedes Benz and the newer once are from Volvo, Scania and MAN buses. The Benz is about half the price as the other 3 but much slower. Comfort wise as well the other 3 looks better than the Benz. You go to the terminal and tell them where you want to go and by the ticket. In Esfahan the price seemed constant however in Tehran you can negotiate. First I was told the Volvo bus from Tehran to Istanbul was IRA350,000/= then the Scania people told me it was IRA250,000/= and finally the MAN people told me they can give me a ticket for IRA200,000. I have been in a Volvo and MAN and ... read more
Local buses in Iran
Unofficial shared taxi in Iran
Tehran metro that extends to the suburbs

Middle East » Iran January 30th 2006

Woke up at 6:30am and hurried to the Bank Melli Central branch only to find out that they don’t change TC's. Well now my only hope is the good old Sri Lankan embassy. Mehdi had the address in his diary and we went there. To see they have shifted. They had shifted 2 years ago but information wasn't updated in the Tehran direct inquiries. Then we stopped by at the Syrian embassy and asked them if they knew the new address of the Sri Lankan embassy. I figured that if an embassy is to move they should at least notify the embassies nearby. Fortunately they had the new address and telephone numbers and it was nearby. I went to the embassy and I spoke to the 2nd secretary Mr. S. Dawulagala and he was kind enough ... read more
Me, Mahdieh and Hassan




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