Blogs from Middle East - page 874

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Middle East » Bahrain July 21st 2008

We arrived in Bahrain (small island country off the coast of Saudi Arabia) at 2am one night after a 7 hour flight (delayed again!). Flying over India, Dubai and Myanmar was great, although take off was intense amidst a thunderstorm with lightning strikes every 10 seconds for at least an hour. At 2am, walking off the plane all dazed and tired, we realized it was kinda hot. 43C in fact. Waking up the next day in our cheap hotel we looked out the window into the nearby buildings and realized: we are in the desert! White houses, flat, sandy landscape and mosques were very different sights to Asia. We hired a car our first day (spending half the time learning to drive on the right) and circum-navigated the island. Very intense! At one stage the temperature ... read more
Electricity?
Dusty sunset
Desert!

Middle East » Iraq » West » Al Asad Airbase July 21st 2008

Happy 30th Birthday. Just another day in Iraq. I did not even sleep in. I did want to plan a good birthday party so on my day off we will celebrate. I have received lots of great gifts for my birthday. My co-workers sent me two birthday’s in a box. It had all of the items that I would need for a party - candles, streamers, balloons, plates, hats, blowers, etc. They also sent some funny singing items, a coffee mug, button, and card. Everyone here likes the singing coffee mug. Megan and Drew sent me a great birthday package too. It had lots of art supplies and games for me to use while avoiding boredom here in Iraq. When that package arrived it was wet which concerned me. Usually if a package is wet and ... read more

Middle East » Turkey » Marmara » Istanbul July 20th 2008

Our Last Day in Istanbul There was one more site I wanted to see before leaving so I got up early and took off. I guess because I've raised 2 boys and spent 25 years sitting in some type of sports bleacher, this site seemed amusing to me. The site--The Hippodrome. This was a gigantic stadium built during the 3rd century and was in the middle of Constantinople. It held up to 100,000 people but now all that remains is the footprint, which is a park, and some remains. One remain is an Egyptian Obelisk which was built in 1500 B.C. It was brought to the stadium by Constantine. It's only a 1/3 of its original height. Another remain is the Serpentine Column, dating back to 479 B.C. The top of the column was knocked off ... read more
Base of the Egyptian Obelisk
Spice Bazaar
Spice Bazaar

Middle East » Syria » South » Bosra July 20th 2008

We had a great day out in Bosra. The city is a couple of hours on the bus to the South of Damascus. It seemed that we had to travel halfway to Beirut just to get the bus though! When we arrived in Bosra we were unable to find any accommodation. There were 2 options: sleep on blankets on the floor in a big room behind the “1001 Nights” restaurant, or pay US$200 to stay in 5 star luxury. We took the third way - exploring the site and returning to Damascus! The restaurant allowed us to leave our now unneeded baggage with them and they even booked our bus ticket for us. Then they pointed us in the right direction and we went out to see the ruins in 40 degrees of midday heat! First ... read more
The Amphitheatre
The Amphitheatre
Under the amphitheatre

Middle East » Oman » Muscat July 19th 2008

Dave’s week-end was such a catalogue of mishaps (to be polite) that I may as well go through them in chronological order…….. 1 - There is now irrefutable proof that the speed cameras in Oman work !!! Driving down from Sohar towards Muscat with the sexy Swedish number Dave spends all his time lavishing attention on, Dave triggered a camera at c. 160kmh (ahem !!) 2 - After the first dive on Friday the people on the boat were treated to a glorious surround sound experience of Dave emptying the contents of his stomach into the Arabian Sea - there was a significant swell and unfortunately baots appear not to be Dave’s strong point !! 3 - About 10 minutes later, possibly the most comical moment of all occurred when Dave was making another bee-line ... read more
Gentle loving attention
Oops

Middle East » Syria » North » Aleppo July 19th 2008

ok, here's the entry on the actuall Aleppo, Syria (as opposed to the drive to/from there). I was consering going to Syria soon after finding out that my friend's wedding is close to Syria on the Turkish side. A visa, however, was $175 in Syrian Embassy Washington, which was too high for a one day excursion. In Antakya (a city I was staying in), I accidentally found out that there will be a one day tour to Aleppo, Syria for $30 and that 16 Americans have already signed up. I decided to join as well. This wasn't actually a tour. We would be dropped off and picked up, but were on our own in Aleppo. We ended up spending about 8hours in Aleppo and 8 on the border (separate blog entry: http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Syria/North/Aleppo/blog-302737.html). I didn't particulary wish ... read more
Street
Restaurant Ambiance
Car maneuvering through traffic. (the red one)

Middle East » Syria » North » Aleppo July 19th 2008

There are two separate parts to this trip, both of equal amount of time of satisfaction. Border Crossing and City exploration. I will talk only about the border crossing here and Aleppo in another entry. On the way to Syria, Syrians asked all the Americans, and no one else, to go with them. Turned out they wanted nothing more than our parents' names. What surprised me at the border is that the Duty Free shop priced everything in US Dollars, but the exchange rate board did not list the exchange rate for the US Dollar. Also, I was advised by our tour guide that my being born in Russia is a problem and that I shouldn't tell anyone that information. Other than that, after we passed the border, all our passports were collected by the tour ... read more
Syrian duty free shop.
Showers in the public bathroom on the border.

Middle East » Israel July 18th 2008

Today's the day we went off to Israel. Chris' dad, John dropped us off at the Eilat border, and I got questioned at security because of my surname, as they thought it sounded a bit suspiscious or whatever! Was a bit scary at the time and I was really weirded out as to why they wanted to know the first names of my Nonno and Nonna!! But anyway, not long after we got through and got in a taxi that took us to the bus station where we were going to catch a 5 hour long bus to Jerusalem. The bus ride was full and wasn't too bad, apart from this random guy sitting diagonally across from Shona and myself, and stared at us practically the WHOLE time. Even if we looked at him or made ... read more
wwooooo
Sunset
Jerusalem

Middle East » United Arab Emirates » Dubai July 18th 2008

On my first night in Dubai, i kicked back with a bottle of Asahi beer on the terrace of the Bahri Bar, and regarded the Burj Al-Arab as it shifted colours from green to pink, and sent beams of light dancing across the sky from it's rooftop. I like this dhow-inspired, world famous building but i don't think i respect it very much. A glass bottomed swimming pool, restaurant in an aquarium, dancing fountains, extortionate suites and thirty quid cocktails? Let's face it, it's pretty silly. Not that silliness should be discouraged but as Abdullah the laughing taxi driver told me later, 'who is paying this much money just to sleep, habipti?' I spent a day trying to take in what are considered to be the city sights. As is often the case, the more interesting ... read more
Muggy Evenings, Dubai
Peregrine Falcon, Falcon Centre, Dubai
Spices, Spice Souk, Dubai




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