holyrockthrower's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries TravelStream™ news feed for member holyrockthrower on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/holyrockthrower en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 27 Mar 2008 06:35:17 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com What's going on here?! — Dubai, United Arab Emirates http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/holyrockthrower/2/1206613620/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/holyrockthrower/2/1206613620/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/holyrockthrower/2/1206613620/tpod.html Thu, 27 Mar 2008 06:35:17 -0400 Look at ME! I'm wasting my life savings on an ill-conceived return trip to Dubai!
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Sorry for not posting more here, you guys...but I've kind of run out of happy and exciting stories.  Unless you want to hear about being homeless, or about my screaming match with a drunken Saudi, a 70 dirham taxi-ride and other self-pitying stories, then I'm afraid I have little to post.One interesting thing did happen here--there was a massive explosion yesterday of an illegal fireworks warehouse, not unlike the illegal meth labs that blow up in Cincinnati.  Here is the story:http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2008/03/26/dubai_rocked_by_explosions/6422/I saw the aftermath of it myself.That's the funny thing about this place...first, Dubai gets the worst rainstorm in history, which destroyed the map we painted on the floor of my restaurant.  Then there is the worst traffic accident in the history of the world which involved a 200+ car pileup.  Now we get a massive explosion??  What's happening to this place?  Is someone trying to tell us something?
]]> A typical day in Dubai — Dubai, United Arab Emirates http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/holyrockthrower/2/1206336000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/holyrockthrower/2/1206336000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/holyrockthrower/2/1206336000/tpod.html Tue, 25 Mar 2008 02:25:08 -0400 Look at ME! I'm wasting my life savings on an ill-conceived return trip to Dubai!
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

After days spent in Sharjah or in Bahrain, I finally did what I was supposed to do last night--I went out to Dubai.&nbsp; It was a typical day, and I had many adventures I would like to share with you:First, I went to return the faulty SIM card at Carrefour.&nbsp; It turns out the card wasn't faulty at all; they simply couldn't activate it because, for some inexplicable reason,&nbsp;Carrefour gave me the store's copy of the form, as well as the&nbsp;xerox of my visa.&nbsp; They needed both of these things to activate it; when my SIM card didn't work, I was forced to buy a new one.&nbsp; The people behind the counter&nbsp;weren't going to give me my money back either.&nbsp; I asked them, how is it my fault that they screwed up the form?&nbsp; Carrefour made the mistake, so Carrefour ought to pay.And they did.Boring, I know.&nbsp; I went out to the American University in Dubai, but I couldn't find my way around as easily, because somehow, within the last 9 months, they added all these other skyscrapers and nothing seemed to be where it should.&nbsp; I was warned about that, but <i>crimony.&nbsp; Dubai, the Instant City.I went out to dinner.&nbsp; If you read my other blog, you might be familiar with the fact that I painted the floor of the Nuevo in the DIFC.&nbsp; This is where the whole "Instant City" thing&nbsp;has its weaknesses--apparently, the building was not made waterproof, and during a severe rainstorm last month, the entire place flooded.&nbsp; Ruined the mural of the map we painted and everything.&nbsp; So much for Liz's immortality.&nbsp; So much for all the hard work (much of which was done while I had a case of Salmonella), so much for 24-hour shifts, and so much for my professional experience.That was demoralizing, but I still had to get home to Sharjah before midnight, because that's when the hostel closes, and I would be locked out.&nbsp; I took a bus, but it left me somewhere unfamiliar...I had to take a taxi to the hostel, but&nbsp;they didn't show up, and didn't show up.&nbsp; Finally, this guy gave me a ride.&nbsp; He was an old-school Arab who insisted on buying me lots of food (I just ate an hour earlier) and lots of fruit juice.&nbsp; While I am touched by his hospitality, I was aggrivated--it was 11:50 pm, and I couldn't seem to communicate the fact that I was in real danger of being locked out all night, and that I really didn't need to eat food.&nbsp; I did in fact&nbsp;made it back, by the way, with a cup of fresh orange juice.&nbsp; So I guess it all works out in the end.Well, I admit it.&nbsp; This is another boring journal entry.&nbsp; Boring, and negative; exactly the things I'm supposed to avoid.&nbsp; But maybe somebody somewhere will learn something useful from it--mostly that we can push our way through some things in life (such as demanding a refund) but ultimately our time here is not our own.&nbsp; There is very little we have control over--such as the weather, other people's restaurants, and curfews.&nbsp; I guess that's why the Arabs always say "Inshallah"--God willing.
]]> A day on the town — Bahrain, Bahrain http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/holyrockthrower/2/1206212580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/holyrockthrower/2/1206212580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/holyrockthrower/2/1206212580/tpod.html Tue, 25 Mar 2008 01:50:08 -0400 Look at ME! I'm wasting my life savings on an ill-conceived return trip to Dubai!
Bahrain, Bahrain

I went to Bahrain today, to visit a friend who is doing an internship there.&nbsp; The thing is, I left my (brand new, indestructable) digital camera and its USB port in the hostel, so you'll have to come back later to see the pictures.&nbsp; Some of which I can never publish.The coolest thing about Bahrain is the tree of life--a tree somehow growing out in the desert with nothing else around.&nbsp; We also visited the Bahrain fort, which was built by the Portugese when they had the island several centuries ago.&nbsp; And we went to the heritage museum.I guess none of that is very interesting (you had to be there).&nbsp; I can tell you some things about Bahrain, however.&nbsp; 1.&nbsp; It is a desert island, most of which is off-limits to folks like you and me.2.&nbsp; The leaders aren't as cool as in the Emirates--they create traffic when they leave their palaces, instead of driving their own Landrovers down Sheikh Zayed and getting stuck in traffic.&nbsp; They've walled off most of the island for their own purposes, instead of living in a palace along the waterfront with a public&nbsp;beach on one side, and neighbor on the other side.&nbsp; Yeaaahhh....I should stop talking now.3.&nbsp; The Saudis criticise everyone else, flog women who get gang raped, and yet come over every single weekend for their stupid drunken orgies and congest the entire city with their traffic.&nbsp; Thank you, Saudi Arabia for making me a slightly more bitter person.4.&nbsp; Like many Gulf States, Bahrain is making strides in virtually everything.5.&nbsp; There are Sunni/Shia tensions.6.&nbsp; It was very windy the day I was there, which was the remnant of a fierce sandstorm in Saudi and Kuwait.I guess this is still very boring.&nbsp; I'll try to improve it when I put my pictures up.
]]> Crash Landing! — Sharjah, United Arab Emirates http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/holyrockthrower/2/1206060420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/holyrockthrower/2/1206060420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/holyrockthrower/2/1206060420/tpod.html Fri, 21 Mar 2008 03:13:36 -0400 Look at ME! I'm wasting my life savings on an ill-conceived return trip to Dubai!
Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

In the past 24 hours, the following bad things have happened to me:1.&nbsp; Got off airplane.&nbsp; Could not find friend who works with horses and could put me in touch with Sheikh Mohammed.2.&nbsp; Got off bus too early and had to spend an hour and a half&nbsp;hiking&nbsp;through construction zones,&nbsp;locating City Center to find a Carrefour to buy basic supplies and a SIM card.3.&nbsp; Got held up in Carrefour for half an hour buying SIM card.4.&nbsp; Spent two hours finding taxi to take me to Sharjah.&nbsp; It was too late at this point to catch a bus, and last I heard taxis really aren't supposed to cross Emirate boundaries.&nbsp; 5.&nbsp; Came to youth hostel at 1 am.&nbsp; It was closed.&nbsp; I banged on the door, rang the bell, and finally admitted defeat.6.&nbsp; Hiked around Sharjah for another hour, looking for a hotel.&nbsp; After the third or fourth attempt I found a hotel that had one room left for $100--more than I wanted to spend.&nbsp; Way out of my budget.7.&nbsp; Stayed up all night pondering the situation.&nbsp; I couldn't call anyone, because my SIM card wasn't working.&nbsp; In the morning, I searched for a telephone card for the better part of an hour.&nbsp; Most places weren't open at 6 am.&nbsp; I also looked for a new SIM card, but they were the year-long subscriptions, not the temporary ones.&nbsp; Finally, I got ahold of a phonecard, but when I took it back to the hotel, it wouldn't work.&nbsp; I borrowed the guy at the front desk's mobile and called; the hotel cannot be reached.8.&nbsp; Went to a payphone and went crying home to Mom.9.&nbsp; Went to the mall to exchange my SIM card.&nbsp; The Etisalat people told me that they sold me an old-fashioned one at Carrefour and that I had to return it to them.&nbsp; Problem is, that's a three hour trip back to Dubai, which would cost 40-50 dirhams either way.&nbsp; When they cost 90 apiece, it isn't worth it.&nbsp; So I bought a new one.&nbsp; Then I discovered that I had dropped 80 dirhams in a taxi.&nbsp; My LAST 80 dirhams.&nbsp; 10. Fought my way through Sharjah City Center's Carrefour to buy a new pair of shoes (my others being decrepit).&nbsp; In doing so, I lost my Algerian friends who had come along for the ride.&nbsp; I fought arrogant people for a taxi, then came back to the hostel.&nbsp;This is what they call a crash landing!&nbsp; I was literally sweating blood at several points.&nbsp; Literally.&nbsp; No more of this monkey business now, or I will just go home early.&nbsp; I mean it.More to come, hopefully far happier and funnier than all this.
]]> Why am I doing this? — Cincinnati, Ohio, United States http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/holyrockthrower/2/1205628540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/holyrockthrower/2/1205628540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/holyrockthrower/2/1205628540/tpod.html Fri, 21 Mar 2008 02:46:36 -0400 Look at ME! I'm wasting my life savings on an ill-conceived return trip to Dubai!
Cincinnati, Ohio, United States

Hi Everybody!&nbsp; I liked writing the other one so much that now that I&nbsp;am travelling again, I will try to keep another.One piece of opening advice--never buy your plane ticket at the last minute.&nbsp; And don't keep running scans on it to check the price; it will only drive the price up.&nbsp; This much I have learned at the expense of 400 extra dollars.Thank God, I am getting a refund on most of that...I am travelling back to the region on vacation, by which I mean "research".&nbsp; I guess I can go crying home to Grandma for extra funding if things get out of hand.Things are going to get way out of hand.&nbsp;&nbsp;
]]> My love-hate relationship with Dubai — DUBAI, United Arab Emirates http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/holyrockthrower/dubai-2007/1183058100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/holyrockthrower/dubai-2007/1183058100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/holyrockthrower/dubai-2007/1183058100/tpod.html Mon, 02 Jul 2007 12:20:44 -0400 Tales from the East--The American University in Dubai, and What I Did There
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates

Well everybody...it's over for real this time.&nbsp; The semester's over, and now I'm going back to Cincinnati for the rest of my life.&nbsp; I'm kind of sad about this.&nbsp; And kind of not.Things I will miss about Dubai:1.&nbsp; Always being warm enough2.&nbsp; Shiny skyscrapers!3.&nbsp; Being able to cut to the front of the line on buses...and also that sense of moral outrage when a man sits in the Ladies' section (will I really miss this?)4.&nbsp; Watching construction (which actually gets done!) of the Burj, and virtually everything else5.&nbsp; Actually liking and respecting the leaders of the country6.&nbsp; Sheikh Zayed Road, and being able to say things like, "I was walking/sitting on Sheikh Zayed", or "We have to take Sheikh Zayed", or "Sheikh Zayed is on your left!"7.&nbsp; Being able to walk through construction zones and not get in trouble, and walk through virtually anything else.8.&nbsp; Swarming rich people who give you free stuff ("My driver will take you")9.&nbsp; Knowing the exact layout of the city10. Being no more than four hours away from India, Europe, Turkey, Africa, the rest of the Middle East...and virtually everywhere else (except the USA)11. Safely being able to take rides from strangers12.&nbsp;Conversation starter: "Where are <i>you from?"&nbsp; The world is smaller than you think13.&nbsp;Being able to walk to the beach--curse inland Cincinnati and its filthy river!14.&nbsp;Haggling and student discounts, and automatically being a favored student for attending AUD...15.&nbsp;...and the fact that the picture of the Sheikh and I on my phone actually means something to the people here.&nbsp; Nobody's going to know who he is when I return home.&nbsp; And I'm sorry for that.16.&nbsp;High standard and low cost of living...and NO TAXES.17.&nbsp;A non-stagnant economy--Creativity, potential, opportunity, and growth.18.&nbsp; Global news19.&nbsp;My friends: Ahmad the restaurant guy, Julia,&nbsp;Tayebeh, Muhammad the Omani, Thayr, Pegah, Jamal, Sattar, Komail, the Saudis, Anwer, Marshia, Zia,&nbsp;Sharan, Nad, Nakisa, Khalifa, the guys who helped me out when I got locked out of my room, and Sheikh Mohammed, who isn't actually my friend per se. Things I will NOT miss about Dubai:1.&nbsp; Getting stood up!2.&nbsp; Waiting for hours in the scorching heat for a bus3.&nbsp; And being poor enough to have to take a bus in general4.&nbsp; Being paralyzed Friday mornings5.&nbsp; Getting outraged over the crime reports in 7 DAYS (although I will miss reading 7 DAYS)6.&nbsp; Having to run the border and pay to do it.7.&nbsp; Racism, classism, nativism, and other forms of arrogance and degradation8.&nbsp; Officious security guards!9.&nbsp; Flying into a rage at people who don't understand the Middle East, and call the Emirates a "third world country"...no wait.&nbsp; That's not going away.10.&nbsp; "Are you from Russia?"11. Superficiality and showing off!&nbsp; Phoniness and self-aggrandizement!&nbsp; People with really shiny cars who withdraw thousands and thousands of dollars from the ATM and make me wait in line!12.&nbsp;The huge discrepencies in wealth between the ultra-rich, and the ultra-poor, and very little room in the middle.13.&nbsp;And discrepencies between what the law states and what people actually get away with.&nbsp; Hedonism and hypocrisy, and me being forced to use the slanderous word "immoral"There.&nbsp; I think that takes care of it.&nbsp; Anyway, I'd like to stay here really, because I've actually started to build something of a "life" here...but I'm also ready to come home.&nbsp; I really am.&nbsp; I want to talk to my family and tell stories to people who actually care.&nbsp; I'm tired of my travelpod.&nbsp; I'd like to smell the rain again and see green trees for a while...it's been a long time.&nbsp; I'd like to be able to walk outside without that feeling of dread like how we feel in the winter in Cincinnati.&nbsp; Although it makes me sad to leave, and I feel like there's still more I could have and ought to have done, I guess hindsight is 20-20 and there's no stopping that feeling.&nbsp; I've got great pictures I want to share, and all sorts of insights into life in other parts of the world (we're all more alike than we are different), and now I know I can come back any time and be able to meet people I know all over the region.&nbsp; Although I don't want to come back to our stagnant little economy in Southern Ohio, inside a city that is rotting away at the core, and I don't want to have to start working a&nbsp;crap job for a living, paying rent, going to school for yet another year, and living alone, I am ready to do it nonetheless.&nbsp; I'm grateful for my time here, and I think it's my time to go.I'm READY!!
]]> Seinfeld-esque adventure — Dubai, United Arab Emirates http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/holyrockthrower/dubai-2007/1183123680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/holyrockthrower/dubai-2007/1183123680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/holyrockthrower/dubai-2007/1183123680/tpod.html Mon, 02 Jul 2007 11:39:42 -0400 Tales from the East--The American University in Dubai, and What I Did There
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

I went out to find a box to mail all my extra stuff home in.&nbsp; There are no post offices around my area, so I had to head into the center of town.&nbsp; This is like a two-hour journey either way, and when I got to the post office, they told me they didn't sell boxes!I went back to another post office the next day, where the guy behind the desk thought I was the funniest durn thing for buying a discounted, pre-made box...not sure what's so funny about that, but that's the way that it was.&nbsp; Then I went to an internet cafe for a while, and somewhere on my journey back home I must have dropped the keys to my room, because when&nbsp;I woke up that morning my roommate had locked me inside and I couldn't get out.I had to call dorm management, and the manager told&nbsp;my roomate to let me out...I assumed she must have told her I lost the key, but as I fatefully discovered later, NO actually.Anyway that night I got locked out of my room...I pounded on the door, but my roommate didn't answer.&nbsp; It was too late to call dorm management so I just slept in the common room.&nbsp; A little bit, but not enough to successfully pass my final exam.&nbsp; The next night this happened again.Now I have a lot of things to say about the native Emiratis, primarily that whenever I am in a crisis, they are inevitably there to help me out.&nbsp; So when I got locked out for a second time, a very nice&nbsp;fellow student&nbsp;found me sitting around wondering what to do next, took me around the city to kill time, bought me food, and stayed up with me&nbsp;talking about my problems.&nbsp; All this came at the expense of sleep needed to help pass a critical English exam at 9 the next morning.&nbsp; In the end, he went home to sleep, and his friend stayed and we watched Syrian movies till I fell asleep on one of the couches at Internet City.Now, I tried to figure out/file a report on what I thought had happened in the morning...it turned out that&nbsp;I was the one who got in trouble for "making accusations"...long story...my roommate says she didn't know I lost my key, etc.&nbsp; But in my own defense,&nbsp;it's hard not to imagine that she was being difficult with me when she has repeatedly woken me up shouting into the phone at 3 in the morning, forced me to clean my room when she came back at 5 am, and habitually threw my bathrobe in the bidet.&nbsp; When I complained, she stonewalled me.What would <i>you have thought in my place?I put all the stuff I owned in the box I got from the post office and headed to another girl's room ASAP.&nbsp; Heck I'm putting up with that any longer.So at the end of this story, I've wasted two days just trying to find a box, and lost my key in the process.&nbsp; Then, the box I worked so hard to get got locked inside my room for two MORE days.&nbsp; And now it's filled with stuff that shouldn't be there so I can't even put it to the use it was intended for!&nbsp; This is the most self-defeating box I have ever had, and quite frankly, it had better not get lost in the post!I searched all over the city but never did find the keys, by the way.&nbsp; And was slapped with a massive fine for it.&nbsp; Thank you, Emirates Post Box.
]]> For Katie, my sister — Dubai, United Arab Emirates http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/holyrockthrower/dubai-2007/1182692760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/holyrockthrower/dubai-2007/1182692760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/holyrockthrower/dubai-2007/1182692760/tpod.html Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:14:43 -0400 Tales from the East--The American University in Dubai, and What I Did There
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Alright, kid.I went out to Wild Wadi Water World today, just like you always wanted...and you're welcome to come with me next time I go!&nbsp; But I warn you, it's not worth the discounted price I paid for it. There are like 2 rides, really:&nbsp; a really stomach-wrenching waterslide, and probably the best lazy river on planet earth.&nbsp; At least, I imagine so.&nbsp; I haven't really been on too many lazy rivers, and in fact I only learned what a lazy river was like last winter.&nbsp; The only thing is, it has a specific name (which I can't remember) but it really ought to be named the Butt Basher--because you sit with your butt in an inner tube, and the water jets you so hard that it leaves bruises.Just a warning.Well, this is what it looks like. It's a fun place, really, but I don't think it's quite the way you and I were imagining.&nbsp; I will let you wear my Wild Wadi shirt, however.Love,LizPS--
]]> Really bad pick-up line, Arabian style — Dubai, United Arab Emirates http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/holyrockthrower/dubai-2007/1182630960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/holyrockthrower/dubai-2007/1182630960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/holyrockthrower/dubai-2007/1182630960/tpod.html Sun, 24 Jun 2007 09:45:51 -0400 Tales from the East--The American University in Dubai, and What I Did There
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

"I advice you to didn't go outside at night, because the moon sweared to kill anyone more beautiful than him"There, now I won't forget.&nbsp; And neither will you!
]]> More from my floating Photo Album — Dubai, United Arab Emirates http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/holyrockthrower/dubai-2007/1181419440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/holyrockthrower/dubai-2007/1181419440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/holyrockthrower/dubai-2007/1181419440/tpod.html Sun, 24 Jun 2007 04:37:39 -0400 Tales from the East--The American University in Dubai, and What I Did There
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Thought you all might appreciate an update on all the little random photos I take around town.&nbsp; I started a new page even, because the other one was getting so full.I found this in Muscat.&nbsp; I don't think it was the result of Cyclone Gonu, but I really don't know why it doesn't go all the way down to the ground.From Jumeira Beach Park--the famous horses found round the city.Ok, so I was walking back one night, and there was a fierce gale which blew a lot of sand into my face.&nbsp; The sky was cloudy and cold, and strangely colored.&nbsp; What this was, was fallout from Cyclone Gonu.&nbsp; I snapped a shot of the Marina at this time, when the sky was looking quite forboding and apocalyptic.&nbsp; Unfortunately, although this was the worst that Dubai ever saw of it, things were, and still are, quite apocalyptic in sections of Muscat.First of all, I snapped this one of "Dubai Land" when we were headed out to Al-Ain that once...waaay back.&nbsp; This is a theme park which will eventually house reconstructions of the seven wonders of the world, plus several modern wonders, including a life-size replica of the Eiffel Tower with a hotel inside of it.&nbsp; At least, if the rumors are true.I also snapped this on the way to al-Ain.&nbsp; These constructed scenes are just sitting there in the desert, in preparation for something else.A while back, they had a festival in BurJuman which involved a lot of chocolate and coffee, for free.&nbsp; So every day I would go down and try all the free samples of coffee, and eat all the snack-sized chocolate bars they gave me.&nbsp; And it's true--McDonald's coffee really does taste better than Starbucks.&nbsp; In fact, most coffee tastes better than Starbucks, which is really just like bitter water.&nbsp; Anyway, they had this artist there who makes things out of chocolate, and so I took a picture of her making things out of chocolate.&nbsp; One of her works included a Burj al-Arab-shaped hunk of chocolate.&nbsp;I was walking to class one day, minding my own business, and I came across this in the elevator.&nbsp; I spoke to the two girls in charge of it, and it was, unsurprisingly, an art assignment.There is some artwork sitting around in the art building here.&nbsp; I like it:
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