TravelStream™ news feed for member smash on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/smash en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 28 Feb 2006 17:36:04 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smash/uae_and_islands/1135117080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smash/uae_and_islands/1135117080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smash/uae_and_islands/1135117080/tpod.html Tue, 28 Feb 2006 17:36:04 -0500 Desert, water, and lemurs

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Al Ain, United Arab Emirates

20-Dec-05 UAE - Dubai to Al Ain
We arrived in Dubai around noon and picked up a car and a SIM card for the cell phone. The villa that we are renting with the Ramaniappans graciously allowed us to drop luggage there early, so, with our load lightened, we headed southeast to Al Ain in Abu Dabi, right on the border with Oman and near Saudi Arabia. The road is straight, lit, and tree-lined; it was a pleasant one-hour drive.

Just north of Al Ain is the Oasis of Hilli, which also has an archaeological park. We stopped in there to see some 3000-year-old tombs. We discovered a pleasant little family park overrun with mynah (and other) birds; the ruins (some reconstructed) were scattered about.

From there we drove into the center of Al Ain, which is a maze of roundabouts. We found our way to the souk, which was mostly shops, but there was also a vegetable, fish, and meat market. Many of the stand owners wanted their pictures taken, so of course we obliged.

There were fewer restaurants than we expected, but a search turned up the Rainbow Muslim restaurant. Dishdashaed and bearded men filled the place. As soon as we walked in, three men got up very abruptly and rushed out, probably because of Roswitha, or because we were infidels, or because they had finished. We were talked into Chicken Tikka, Lamb masala, rice, flat bread, a small plate of veggies, and bowls of laban (yogurt). It was all very tasty and cheap.

Working our way out of the city's maze, we drove south to the resort of XXX, which lies near the base of a steep hill, and has some hot springs. The manager said that the hotel was built 20 years ago, but it must be more. The resort is owned by the municipality of Al Ain as a family park. Back in its day, the resort must have been a grand place, but it is now just very tired. Still, it is comfortable and cheap.

Before retiring for the evening, we decided to take a drive up the hill, called Jebel Hafeet. This is a new road, well lit, which climbs up to almost 1100 meters in a series of sharp switchbacks. At the top are a Mercure resort hotel, a radio tower, one of the UAE's president's palaces, and a wide parking lot with a snack bar. In almost any other country, this would be where couples would go for some "parking," but that is not allowed here. A group of men in dishdashas was parked at the top, dancing and singing at the fence which looked out onto the plain. Nearby was another car with two black-draped women chatting with each other and someone else on a cell phone. ("Hey, Shanya, guess where I am!"). A few other cars were parked around, but not many. Just as we were leaving, around 9 PM, more cars started to arrive.

21-Dec-05 UAE - Al Ain through Oman to Fujairah
Breakfast at the hotel was sad, but it's not surprising given that there are so few guests. We drove back up Jebel Hafeet to see it in the daytime, and the construction is quite a feat. The palace is impressive, but the view would have been better if the air were clearer. We stopped off at the Mercure for a Turkish coffee, a Blue Mountain espresso (both outstandingly good), and a bit of internet, which Al Ain seems to lack.

We then headed into the center of Al Ain. The first stop was a small fort built in 1940. From there, we went to the Museum and Eastern Fort, which was the birthplace of Sheikh Zayed. The museum was very well done, covering the same ground as other museums, but with rich displays and good explanations. The fort is the one which is on the UAE 10 Dirham note; it has a room filled with fascinating photos from the 1960s. A woman who worked at the restaurant had henna patterns on her hands which she had painted herself; she allowed Roswitha to photograph them.

The livestock market is right next to the museum and fort, so we wandered through it. The only livestock we saw were goats, most of them in trucks (which looked they had not moved in years), although a few were carted off in a car trunk. We spoke with a few of the merchants; many were from Pakistan and came here because the business is good.
The people at the museum made an excellent recommendation for lunch. Al Yaher is a typical mideast restaurant, and very popular. Many cars were lined up keeping the carhops...er...hopping, and the tables were full of men. We retreated upstairs to the family room. When we arrived, a large family was finishing, and the little boys were encouraged to talk with us. Two other couples were also there while we were, and preferred being screened off from us. We had fried liver, hummos, salad, banana fathath (a banana and grain mash), and flat bread, washed down with guava juice and pomegranate juice. It was excellent.

Next on the plan was to enter the Sultanate of Oman through Buraimi (which shares the oasis with Al Ain), and drive across the northern portion to another UAE Emirate. However, neither our map nor the road signs cooperated; it took us a long time to find our way into Buraimi. There is not a formal border at this point; the border check is about 50 km inside of Oman. We checked out the Buraimi souq and fort, but did not waste much time there. One of our German guide books mentioned Fossil Valley to the northeast of town. We found the roads to get us there, but could not find a sign in the right area. The nearest one was an arrow-shaped sign which had been hollowed out. Roswitha had the idea to look at the sign going in the other direction, and there we found...the Buraimi Sewage Treatment Plant.

The border check is located in a beautiful new building which has only been use for about a month. For reasons which were not clear (our Bahrain visa was supposed to work), we had to pay 120 dirhams for entry visas. But, the overall experience was much better than we had entering Belarus.

The road to the east coast, on the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean, took us through sharp limestone mountains which reminded me of the desert mountains of west Texas. Only it was more desolate. Near Sohar, we turned northwards, rather than south towards Oman's capital of Muscat. Before we crossed the border back into the UAE, Oman dinged us for another 20 D as a car departure fee.

Across the border lie Sharjah, the third largest and most fundamentalist emirate. We passed quickly through it to the next emirate, Fujairah, and our hotel. After checking in, we had a spicy chicken shwarma, avocado juice, and grapefruit juice at the Green Valley Cafeteria, another busy car-hopping place.

The hotel, like many hotels in the three Arab countries we've visited, is licensed to serve alcohol. For a long time, it was almost impossible to get alcohol unless you were a guest, but they've slowly been liberalizing it to the point that most hotels are the places that locals go to party. In fact, they have become towering party discos where some people also attempt to sleep. This hotel in Fujiarah (the Ritz Park) has five bars. On the top are an Indian bar, a Russian bar (with the "Hottest Russian Band in Town") and an Old-West themed bar, with old posters, barrels, a rustic bar, and floor tiles signed (in the same hand) by all the cowboy movie greats (James Stewart, John Wayne, Paul Newman, Bud Spencer (you remember him, right?), and so on). "The Hottest Filipino band in Town" was playing on the mezzanine. As a result, the hotel thumped strongly well into the morning.

22-Dec-05 UAE - Fujairah to Ras Al Kumairah
The Ritz served breakfast upstairs in the Western-styled bar. We walked through the door, stepping confidently over the signed tiles. The place went silent as all eyes turned to look at the strangers. With nary a word, the entire group of Filipinos stood up, straightened themselves out, and quietly slipped out.

Fujairah has a sad little museum, and a striking fort where the emir lives. It is located in the dumpy old town, which seems to be built from adobe, and is falling apart, although the fort looks to be in good shape.

The east coast of the UAE lies on the Indian Ocean, with town like a string of pearls heading up to two disconnected pieces of Oman and the highest mountains in the region. We drove through many of them on a large loop which took us along the narrow strip between the dry mountains and the sea. Uncountable oil tankers floated off the coast.

Just north of Al Bidyah lies the oldest mosque in the UAE, built around 642, the year after Mohammed's death. It has no minarets, just four oddly shaped cupolas. Non-muslims are not allowed in, so we only admired it from the outside, and from the two similarly aged towers on the rocks above it.

Khor Fakkan has a neat little fish market. Since this coast looks towards a different body of water than others we'd been to, we were hoping to see different fish. While most were the same, new ones included something that looked like a lamprey, and also angel fish. We stopped for coffee in the Ocean Hotel, and spoke with the dive shop to see what the area was like for diving. Shark Rock has whatever white-tipped sharks have not turned up in the fish market. Anemone reef is good for sea horses and manta rays. There are also two diveable wrecks.

Further up the coast in Dibba, which is controlled by three different emirates, there is a magnificent mosque and a quiet beach. A very pleasant expanse of beach is decorated with flat-topped mesquite trees, and is designated for families only.

We drove through the steep mountains, not quite able to find the road we were looking for, but still made it to the east coast and Ras Kumierah, which is another of the emirates. Just outside of the city of Najil is the site of the ruins of the Queen of Sheba's palace, or so it is fabled. The directions were sketchy, and some of the markers have changed. The place is not signposted, but we made it through three small towns to the base of a small rock foothill in front of the great massif rising up into Oman. Goats were all around as we parked and started to climb up the hill just around sunset. The hill has lots of scree (and lots of goat pellets), but some cement steps have recently been built part way up. Goats were along the steps, and on top, and we even found the decomposed bodies of a few that had died up there. As we wandered around and looked at the ruined stone walls which covered the flat tops of two connected hills, the evening Muslim prayer sang out from three mosques in the hills below. We descended as the sky grew dark.

We found our way back into Ras Al Kumierah, checked out the mall (where we had a late pizza lunch), and found one of the few hotels around. King Kong dominated the movie theaters in the area, so we instead did a driveby of RK's old town; nothing grabbed our attention. So, we had a light dinner at The Vegetarian's Restaurant (Rawa Coconut, Alu Mata Tomato, and lassis).

23-Dec-05 UAE - Ras Al Kumairah to Dubai
After breakfast at the Vegetarian's Restaurant again (Onion Tomato Roast, Butter Dosa, Alu Mutter), we headed south down the coast to the only emirate we had not yet hit, Umm Al Qaiwain. It lies on a peninsula jutting into the Persian Gulf, and has a small old town. The National Museum is, yet again, in an old fort, but it was closed on Friday morning. We walked around shooting a few photos, and saw a small flock of parrots which seemed to live in the palm trees in the fort.

We then continued on through the emirates of Ajman and Sharja, until we arrived at the villa we are sharing for a week with our friends Suku, Latha and their family. The huge Emirates Mall is nearby; we shopped for a few basics at the Carrefour there, had lunch (Döner Kebap) and also peeked at the indoor ski slope, which looks very similar to SAWS just outside of Tokyo.

UAE lessons
· Take more time - there were several places where we would have liked to have spent a bit more time.
· Seven countries (!) according to the Century Traveler's Club.
· People are very friendly, and the food is very good.
· Drive up Jebel Hafeet and marvel at the possible reasons for its existence.
· There are many coffee-pot roundabouts
· Gas is relatively expensive (compared to Qatar and Bahrain), but stations are somewhat sparse.
· Be attentive to the costs into and out of Oman.
· Get a camel muzzle; it is an odd thing.
· Some sights are not well sign-posted.
· There is not much history to be found - because of the elements, nomadic past, and relatively recent governmental creation, much is just not documented.
· Most of the museums are boring and sad.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smash/uae_and_islands/1135230960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smash/uae_and_islands/1135230960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smash/uae_and_islands/1135230960/tpod.html Tue, 28 Feb 2006 17:18:49 -0500 Desert, water, and lemurs

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Dubai, United Arab Emirates

This will be our first visit to Dubai

List of things to check out:

* Jumeirah Mosque - an insight into Islam - night photos
* "City of Gold" - the famous Gold Souk - Deira (near Baniyas Square) Sikkat al-Khali Street
* Spice Souk - next to the gold souk, Baniyas Street. In front of Abra Station
* WILD WADI Waterpark - Jumeirah Beach Road
* Sheikh Saeed al-Maktoum House - history museum - Near Al-Shindagha Tunnel, Al-Shindagha Road
* Jumeirah Beach - Behind Wollongong University - kite surfing
* Dubai Creek, Al Seef Street - eat @ FataFeet
* Al-Fahdi Fort - Bur Dubai
* BASTAKIYA - artists quarter
* camel market of Al AIn (near the border of Oman)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smash/uae_and_islands/1134625800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smash/uae_and_islands/1134625800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smash/uae_and_islands/1134625800/tpod.html Wed, 28 Dec 2005 00:56:31 -0500 Desert, water, and lemurs

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Doha, Qatar

15-Dec-05 Qatar - Getting oriented
The Qatar national museum is supposed to be interesting, and a great intro to the country. However, we would not know; it was closed. In fact, we found out that several similar places are closed for improvement prior to the ASEAN games which will be here next year. So, we walked along the Corniche, and encountered a dockside fish market. We stopped into the Mövenpick hotel for an ice cream, and discovered the magazine Marhaba, which turned out to be a treasure trove of information about Doha and Qatar.
We grabbed a shish kabob and mango juice at the Bye-Bye Cafeteria, and then headed out to book the "desert Adventure" tour which will take us to the Inland Sea and sand dunes. Since it takes an experienced 4WD driver, we decided that we should not do it ourselves.
We'd like to use the bus, but we cannot figure it out. We have a very impressionistic bus map with few clues. None of the sparse bus signs show a route number. There is no schedule. We found out that the bus system was put in place only about a month ago, possibly in preparation for the ASEAN Games. It still has lots of kinks to work out.
We learned in Bahrain about the Friday night horse racing, and decided to not miss it here. The Racing and Equestrian Club is south of Doha, so we took a cab. There is no entry cost, and they don't bet or serve alcohol, making for a different racing experience. However, the horses are magnificent. We watched a couple of races (Keheilan, owned by Mr. Essa Bin Mohammed Al Sulaiti, won the purse of QR 40K) as well as the crowd. This was the first time that we'd seen a concentration of westerners, and most were better dressed than us (which was not hard).
With a bit of effort, we caught a cab back into town, had a shwarma (chicken & beef), and then wandered the souk. Mostly, it is a bunch of small shopping malls and stores, crowded with evening shoppers. However, there is an old open-air souk which the city is rebuilding. Rather than making it like any other shops, they are rebuilding it in a traditional style, with rough walls, narrow passages, small shops, and the feeling of an old market. It is not complete, but many shops have already opened up. Roswitha compared it to Santana Row in San Jose, with its faux old feel, but in this case, it is pretty cool. It will be really special once they finish it, but it is not clear that people will come. We wandered through the clothing shops, with all manner of traditional dress as well as new stuff, a cobbler section, spices, and housewares. In a spice shop they let us taste various items, and we walked out with some dried berries, an interesting nut mix with dried figs, and some candy. We were also introduced to a Halva made of ground sesame seeds, grains, and sweetened with date juice. Back in the market, a several older men were relaxing in their wheelbarrows. We walked into a courtyard where a band was playing traditional music.
16-Dec-05 Qatar - Friday souk
The Friday souk should be on Friday, right? Friday morning we grabbed a taxi down to the Thursday and Friday Souk, which is roughly 10 KM southwest of Doha. We even managed to not get too overcharged for the ride. The T&F souk is basically a strip mall, full of the usual housewares and clothing shops. It was dead. We really expected that something with the name would be the hopping place on the weekend, but it did not look promising. Then, in one corner shop, we found what we were looking for, a line of hooded falcons sitting on perches. Most were sitting quietly, turning their heads to any sound, while a couple were ripping at bits of meat at their feet. A few had managed to cast off their hoods. They were beautiful as they perched on their bits of Astroturf. The shop keeper tolerated us, and allowed us to shoot some photos. Periodically, some Arab men came in to examine the birds, donning leather gloves and picking up birds that grabbed their interest. They examined their feet, tail feathers, and eyes. In another shop, a man came in with two sons in tow. The older son, probably around 8 years old, seemed to be there to pick out his first bird; he was more nervous than the birds. He put on a glove, unhooked and picked up a falcon, and held it up for his father to examine. The younger son (about 5) did not seem nervous at all as he stroked the bird's tail until his father gently told him to stop. The older son held up the bird so that his father could remove the hood, but the falcon kept jerking and biting, and the son's hand nervously pulled away. Several times the father had to tell his son to move the bird closer. They finally got the hood off, and then closely examined the bird. Once they decided to put the hood back on, they first rubbed it along the bird's chest, and then tried to place it, but the bird refused, flapping and biting. They tried several times, each time the kid moving the bird away from the father's reach. The whole time, the younger son was trying to get in and help. It is clear which one will be the better handler.
Across the main street is the wholesale and retail souk, with vegetables and fruits, some from Thailand and Indonesia. This was a bit busier, with people doing household shopping. We saw rambutan and dragon fruit, as well as custard apples, avocados, and chiles. The next building over had the fish market, which was busy as well. There was an area where you could pay to have your just-purchased fish cleaned. A small meat market had carcasses and pieces of meat hanging, eggs, and live chickens. The map said that there was also an animal and pet market, although it was not real clear where it was. We saw a residential area, and what looked to be more warehouses off in the distance across an open area. As we got closer, we could smell the livestock, and off to the left was a large area with camels. Unhappy-looking camels, fenced in with chain link. We shot a few photos, and then walked over to covered areas with sheep and goats. And then more sheep and goats. We were drawn to the sounds of chickens further back, and found them, along with pigeons, ducks, turkeys, and more. Most were in small cages in small rooms. There was one room which seemed to be a shop with pet birds, including parrots, various finches, fancy pigeons, and pheasants and peacocks. A group of boys was looking at the birds, and then wanted us to take their pictures. Of course, we complied.
This seemed to be about the end of the market, so we walked out to the main highway to see if we could flag down a cab. A Bangladeshi man in a car asked where we were going, and offered to take us there. He dropped us off near the souk near the hotel, and subtly rubbed his thumb and forefinger together, asking for payment. A taxi would have cost us about 6 Riyals, so I gave him 8, against his opening bid of 10.
We asked the Sri Lankan guard at the hotel for a restaurant suggestion. He does not like Pilipino food; it's too hard to pronounce. Arab food is not spicy enough, and it is too greasy, but there are some not too far away - "just look for the Shisha." We ended up having fried chicken biryani and chicken curry at the Aroma Restaurant. It being Friday, not much is open.
In the late afternoon, as things were starting to open up, we walked to Fort Doha, which at least one schedule said might be open. We passed the area around the Heritage Center (which was closed on Friday afternoon) and mosque. Very many South Asian men (and no women that we saw) were streaming in to the large square, and police were stationed at every street and corner, waving people away. We asked one policeman what was going on, and he said, "It is crazy," but gave no other information. We got to the fort, but were waved away as well, although it is nowhere near the square. The new Great Mosque stands next to the new palace of the emir, including a noted clock tower. We shot some photos with the setting sun, and then crossed busy traffic over to the corniche which circles Palm island in the center of the large bay. Still, South Asian men were streaming in the direction of the square over 1.5 km away, and being directed by yet more police. We never found out what was going on.
The stroll along the corniche was pleasant. There were families playing cards, having picnics, playing with RC cars, and strolling. It was a real mix of people, ranging from Qataris, young Indian couples, Westerners, joggers, and even a roller blader. Dhows make the short trip from the corniche to Palm Island, which has a nice beach and restaurants. There is a large display on the Corniche for the ASEAN games, with a count-down clock and the mascot of the games, a sporty anthropomorphized oryx. We walked the 7+ km (3+ miles) almost to the end, and then turned in toward the Doha City Center, which is a huge, modern shopping mall. Although it was already dark, construction of newer skyscrapers continued; we walked between several of them.
The mall is four stories of shops on top of two stories of parking. Like a pearl (a common symbol in Qatar), an ice rink lies at its center. It has all of the standard international stores like The Body Shop, Nike, and the Gap, plus a huge Carrefour (French Walmart), Woolworths and Debenhams. The food court boasts Burger King, KFC, Hardees, and Cinnabon, but also numerous local chains with Syrian, Moroccan, and Qatari specialties. We got lebneh from the Syrian place, and ordered a kofta kebab, hummus, and stuffed wine leaves from the Lebanese joint. The place had no system at all, and was total chaos. People ordered and then lined up to try to get the cooks' attention to actually get their food. Although we thought that we had enough time, the process took too long and ran us right up to the time that our movie was starting ("The Family Stone", which was disappointing), so we had to wolf it down.
The multiplex theater was modern and very comfortable, and charged accordingly (about $10/person). People in the theater had no problem carrying on conversations during the film. A group of boys were playing loudly at the front, and the usher kept sweeping the screen with his flashlight. After the movie, we decided to hit the restrooms. Normally, this is not a big deal, and not worthy of reporting, but the restrooms in such a modern place are likely a point of interest for westerners. In the men's room, there are often no urinals, so everyone uses a limited number of stalls. (I know, women are giggling at this.) On the women's side, the ladies are often waiting outside the stall for a kid inside, so it is not clear if there is a line or not. The mothers with kids assume priority - especially if they are covered head-to-toe in black - and take their place at the front of the line. Inside the stall is a western-style toilet. The seat, floor, and walls are drenched with what I assume is water; a spray hose hangs on the wall. If there is a toilet paper holder, it is likely empty. In some cases (but not in the City Center stalls), there are dirty footprints on the seat. So, what do you do? Dry off the seat with your precious stash of paper, or squat over it, assuming what you have to do involves squatting? Should you then use the sprayer to wash your hands, the seat, and the already-drenched floor? Do you even want to touch the sprayer? How do you get these questions answered?

17-Dec-05 Qatar - Dune bashing
We spent the morning catching up with things, so the first major event was, of course, lunch. We'd heard about Egg Rolls (not the Chinese kind) at juice bars. The Bye-Bye seemed to be the right place, and they had an egg sandwich listed; the car hop said that it was a roll. So, we ordered that and a veggie sandwich, along with papaya juice and chickoo juice.
Nassar picked us up in his Land Cruiser. A couple from South Africa was already in the car, and we stopped by the Marriott to get Richard, a Chemical Engineer from Chicago working for a few weeks in Qatar. Nassar drove south to meet up with the rest of the tour cars parked near the Sealine Beach Resort. In a line, the 4x4s headed off the end of the road and on into the dunes. We climbed steep dunes, tested the rolling point by driving along the sides, and careened down huge hills. Every once in a while, Nassar was able to get the car into a sideways slide, and whooped with joy. Someone asked, "Have you ever rolled it?"
"Yes! Yes!"
We were bounced around violently inside the vehicle, and whooped ourselves. Several times we were driving down into a valley as the next car was scurrying up the dune in front of us, seemingly angled 90 degrees vertically from our frame. The whole while, energetic Arabic music was playing on the car's stereo. Although the air conditioner was running full blast, we were often sweating with the motion and excitement. The cars made a couple of stops to get out, take pictures, walk around, and for the drivers to have a smoke. We drove for a long time, zigzagging up and sliding down, about 40 KM until we reached the edge of the Inland Sea, just as the sun was setting over the sea and Saudi Arabia on just the other shore. We then drove back towards the north, crossed a bit of water, banked along a dune next to the Persian Gulf, and arrived at the BBQ. They had set up a fairyland of kerosene lamps, and plastic tables and chairs; we instead chose to relax on the rugs set on the sand. There were also tents with rugs and lounges, but the air was pleasant enough to sit out. We watched the rising full moon, and then they announced that dinner was ready. The spread included Chicken and lamb kebabs, rice, pita, tomato salad, hummus, and a spicy potato salad. For dessert, they served tea, coffee, and Lebanese sweets. Sated and relaxed, we piled back into the 4x4 for the rest of the return, another harrowing, but short, ride - this time in the dark.
18-Dec-05 Qatar - Driving North
With a rental car, we set out to find something interesting on the Peninsula. Something. Anything.
Just north of Doha are some so-called "Loam" houses, or, as I'd call them, adobe. We took a short detour off Highway 1 and found them without too much trouble. Yup, adobe, in the form of a small fort. People had built on to them, and were clearly still living in them.
The town of Al Kohr lies on the east coast, about 40 km north of Doha. We finally found an open museum, a small one describing the history of the town and pearl fishing. Al Kohr also has reconstructed several old watch towers, which were used to watch for invaders coming across the flat surrounding lands. We stopped in to Al Arabia Cafeteria, a Turkish restaurant near the tiny town center. The place was hopping with people dropping in for take-out. We got two pies, which were basically flat, thin calzone with tasty fillings, one cheese and honey, the other cheese and thyme. We had also ordered a mix of salads, but the waiter/carhop forgot them.
Further north along the coast are a few hundred rock carvings along a hill near the sea. The directions were sketchy, and it was clear that the roads had changed since the description had been written. We drove down a dirt road near an abandoned date orchard, but it ended in a gate. An older man with a rough turban waved us forward. We told him the name of the area, and he started pointing and describing where to go, in Arabic, of course. With some more gestures, Mussar said that he could direct us to them, and invited himself into our car. He used the international method for communicating with foreign language speakers - he spoke loudly. Somehow, with Roswitha's Arabic studies, we were able to get the idea across that he has 4 sons and one daughter, and that we have no kids. We also understood that the large compound up ahead was owned by the Emir of Qatar, and then he communicated that it was where Mussar was taking us. He reasoned that someone there would be able to speak English. He yelled at the gate; presently two guards (one assumes) came out, basically in their underwear, and asked him, and then us what we wanted. He gave a quick explanation and we mentioned the name of the place. They pointed to the ridge not too far away, and said that that was it.
"Can we take this car?"
"No, you need 4x4."
And that was it. We thanked them and apologized for disturbing them, and drove off. Mussar went on about where we should go now, and then told us where to drive to get gas, which we really needed. We decided to drop him back at his place. He seemed to be the caretaker for a beach, and invited us in to hang out on the beach, but we wanted to get going. With some difficulty, we left him and his colleague with a tip.
After finding a gas station, we headed west towards the other coast. Along the way we looked for another fort, but never found it.
We suddenly came across a small fortress built of stone. As we pulled into the empty parking lot, and old many looked up from watering his garden, and shuffled off into his ramshackle house, emerging moments later with keys. He waved at us to follow him through a gate and into the fort. He walked around and unlocked a series of doors which turned out to house museum displays, including pottery (which we could touch if we desired). The fortress is built in a typical style, with three round turrets and one square one. The sun was low in the sky, making for good light. Once we were done with the rooms, he locked them up. We thanked him, and gave him some baksheesh.
We drove further west looking for a private game reserve. At one point there were fences on both sides of the roads, and we looked over and spotted many oryx (oryxii? oryxs?) pawing the desert floor. They pretty much ignored us as we shot some photos. We were surprised that we were at a dead end, and even more surprised when the road we wanted to take turned out to be into an army camp. So, we drove back past the fortress (which we determined is called Rekkiya), and turned left towards the north coast, where the emir's family first established itself on Qatar. There was nothing to see. The northernmost city is Al Ruweis, which has a dhow harbor for boats to Bahrain and Iran. There was not otherwise anything to see.
So, we drove back to Doha, hit City Center for a fine Arabic meal (pomegranate chicken kebab, a mixed salad, flat bread, rice, yogurt dip, freedom fries, and orange juice) and a movie (King Kong).

19-Dec-05 Qatar - The singing dunes
We had a mysterious map which pointed us to GPS coordinates for some singing sand dunes. It was not clear whether we'd be able to get out to them in our little rental car, but we decided to give it a go. The road south to Saudi Arabia is heavily used by big trucks, and is under major construction, so the directions were not quite right, but we figured it out. The road turned out to be much better than we expected; it seems to service the pipelines and a radio transmitter, so we only had to walk about 1 km through flat desert. There was a small run of dunes, and the trash and old campfires seemed to indicate the popularity of biggest one. Clearly, lots of people come out to listen and party. Dune singing is rare, and; it only happens when the conditions of sand are right, driven by wind which causes little avalanches. The resonance of the falling sand creates the song. Although it was windy, it did not seem to be windy enough for a full concert. The dune was very steep, and neither of us made it to the top by climbing up the face. However, sitting on the face, we could hear moments of slight rumbling. Then, by stepping along, we loosened cascades of sand, and heard it more strongly; it sounded like a low thrum of a large engine. Most of the time, however, the sound was drowned out by the buzzing of the many flies which surrounded each of us.
Satisfied that we had heard the dunes at close to the GPS coordinates, we headed towards the southwest coast, and then looped upwards towards the town of Dukhar and the oil fields. We saw oil pipelines (the refineries are mostly on the east coast), a couple of cement plants (one of which had built a new odd triangular fort), some oil flares and one big fire, and lots of trucks. Dukhar is the town which seems to operate the fields, but we really did not find the town. It is on the map, and there is an exit, but all we found was a large gate for Qatar Petroleum. We did find a small strip mall which had one of everything; it seemed to be all we could see of the town. So, we had an egg roll (Indian burrito) and lots of stares.
Dukhar also stands near a ridge of limestone cliffs which are noted for their scenic beauty. We saw them (including the one that looked like Bart Simpson), but could not get close because we did not have a 4x4. We drove back towards Doha, with one last stop in mind.
They hold the camel races in the morning, so we had low expectations of seeing anything. A whole town has grown up around the track, supporting it and housing camels year round. And, sure enough, as we got close, we saw groups of camels, each group with its own colors of blankets, being led to the track for exercise. There are no grandstands at a camel race; spectators and owners drive alongside the track during the race. The owners shout commands to the jockeys with walkie-talkies, cell phones, and bullhorns. So, we drove right in and kept pace with several trotting groups. Roswitha hung out the window and shot pictures as the sun set, to the great amusement and "hellos" of the jockeys. Even the owners driving their Lexus 4x4s were laughing.
We navigated our way back through the roundabouts of Doha until we reached our hotel, and went across the street to a Filipino restaurant. There we ate Pansit mix (chicken & noodle dish), Bulalo (beef soup), Lumpiand Shanghai, and Buko (coconut) juice. Yummy.
Deciding that we had exhausted Qatar, we decided to head to Dubai a day early.
Qatar lessons
· If you're a tourist, don't bother. If you're getting paid to be here, that's adifferent matter.
· Lots of stuff is closed. Maybe it will be open by the ASEAN games at the end of 2006.
· Taxi or car.
· It is very easy to get around using English.
· People (and not just tourist-related ones) are warm and friendly and helpful.
· Go dune bashing
· Camel lips flop around when the camel runs
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smash/uae_and_islands/1133934300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smash/uae_and_islands/1133934300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smash/uae_and_islands/1133934300/tpod.html Wed, 14 Dec 2005 04:31:38 -0500 Desert, water, and lemurs

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Manama, Bahrain

Bahrain lessons
· Most things of interest are closed from 2-4 PM. Or at noon onwards. Or open at 4. Or not at all.
· Toilets are mostly clean and modern, but bring your own paper. Unless you want to use the sprayer or hose which is in most stalls.
· There is no bus map. It is not obvious where buses go. But, they are very reasonably priced when you can work them out.
· It easy is to walk around the old center of Manama, but beyond that, you need a car.
· In restaurants, be careful that you are only getting one when one is what you want, and learn to say "stop."
· It is very easy to get around using English.
· People (and not just tourist-related ones) are warm and friendly and helpful.
· Anand Bhavan is a great place to eat if you are in the souk area. Tell the owner that you know the crazy "European" who likes it very hot.
· If you are here on a Friday in the winter, check into the horse races. (We found out too late.)
· Wind towers seem like a great idea.

8-Dec-05 Dubai to Bahrain
In Dubai, we had time to browse the Duty Free shops (wine prices are reasonable, scotch is typical) and have a cappuccino. The airport is a mix of people, ranging from full chalabi to westerners in shorts.

Flying to Bahrain, we saw the Burj al Arab, one of the palms (manmade islands in the shape of a palm tree - you can buy a lot and put a house on it), and not much else, because it was very foggy. Breakfast was a croissant and a sweet roll.

Upon arrival in Bahrain, our luggage showed up missing. Two of the four bags were logged as still being in JFK, with no mention of the other two. Emirates is not the main airline in Bahrain, so they had shut down the counter. With some patience and persistence in the departure hall, we were able to get some toiletry kits.

After an 8BD (we probably overpaid) taxi ride to the Bahrain Int'l Hotel, we checked in to a dated, but OK room. Our toiletry kits seem to be one for a man, and one for a woman, but neither includes soap nor shampoo.

The tourist information shop is barely that; it's a bunch of Indians (like most of the businesses we're seeing) with a tchotchke shop that somehow got the designation. From them we got a map and a suggestion for a vegetarian Indian restaurant where the proprietor eats dinner. With new maps in hand, we wandered up to Anand Bhavan (Shop 207, Road 343) for a lunch for which we were not too hungry. They asked us to go upstairs to the "family" section (there was a woman, after all), where we ordered a Thali lunch, Mutter Paneer, an Onion Masala Dosa, and a couple of sweet lassis. While we ate our very tasty lunch, the owner came over - he'd heard that we had been sent there - and apologized that his restaurant was not on the main street where the rent was three times higher. He also wondered if the food was too spicy, and was quite surprised when we enlightened him that it was not even close. Finally, he apologized that the place was so empty, but said that it on Thursdays (the start of the Arab weekend), it filled up a bit later in the day. This seemed to be true; as we thanked him and bid him goodbye, the place was starting to hop as all the Indian shopkeepers were flowing into his place.

We had time to kill before the Bahrain National Museum opened up, so we walked around the closing-for-the-weekend cloth and gold souks ("Yes!" "Sir, look here." "Yes!" "Sir, you want a kefieh?" "Yes!"), which were basically shops with the usual junk, briefly logged in at the Batelco Internet Center, looked at the outside of the uninteresting Friday mosque, and wandered the King Faisal Corniche seafront, where families of kids and black-draped women were having picnics and playing catch. Having still more time to kill, we walked through the Manama's government center's cluster of ministry buildings and made our way to the Crowne Plaza for a drink and an attempt to resist the pull of jet-lag sleep.
Dodging the famously fatal traffic, we walked over to the Bahrain National Museum, which does an excellent job of showing the history of the Island, starting from the prehistoric Dilman period through to just before the modern day. The amount of information they've gleaned from burial grounds is impressive, but how would they know that a 40-year-old man's tomb was dug from the time he was 16, and that the bodies of his two children were laid to rest before him on the periphery of his tomb's circular wall? We learned how they identify the age of a skeleton from the amount of fusion between the bones, and that Arab traditions include burying the umbilical cord of males under the mosque and females in the kitchen. The museum was a good introduction, but jeg lag was starting to turn us into the walking dead. So, we headed back to our hotel.

Along the way, we decided to stop off at the Al Osra restaurant, which was recommended through various sources. Although we were not hungry, it made sense to eat on the local schedule so that we'd not wake up hungry in the middle of the night. Once again shooed upstairs to the family section, we had a Greek salad (although there was the traditional feta, there were also carrots and corn), hummus (bitter and tasted like it was from a mix), Lebneh with zatar (basically sour cream), and Shish Tikka (meat). All of this was served on Disney-themed placemats and snowman-in-winter plates. I'm not sure what the recommended specialty of the place, but in our curtained-off family cell, I'm not sure that we had it. Not recommended.

Back at the hotel, we confirmed that our luggage had not arrived - JFK seems to have sent it the day after we left - so we collapsed into bed.

9-Dec-05 Bahrain
The sound of jack hammering in the building next door did not keep us from falling asleep, and the night was not bad for a first night.

Breakfast was a typical middle eastern spread, with fresh vegetables, olives (better that the usual California cardboard ones, but not very good for the middle east), cheese, Foul, lebneh, and strong coffee. They also had western-style eggs, potatoes, and sausage.
There are three bus stations within walking distance of the hotel, so we tried to figure out what goes where. Schedules are posted along with destinations, but nothing resembling a map. The information is pretty ambiguous, and things that people told us did not make much sense to us, although we've probably sorted out the main ones we need. Regular busses cost 100 fils (about 30 cents), and minibuses running the same route are 150 fils.
Bus determinations done, and a bit of grocery shopping under our belts (chocolate bars and a jar of honey packed with nuts), we went to the Lebanese restaurant at the Tylos hotel. The staff there did not seem to be Lebanese, but they were rather disorganized. No menus were to be had because the place was under new ownership; it was now a Nepalese restaurant. They could make whatever we wanted, even Italian. Of course, we did not, and instead ordered Daal Baht and curry chicken, which came with rice, sautéed greens, and a tomato sauce. It was all mighty tasty, but turned out to be rather pricey, probably mainly because we got twice the amount we had ordered.

Our luggage had arrived intact, so we did a bit of organizing and then headed out to the island of Muharraq, and onward to Arad Town using our newfound bus knowledge. There we found the Arad Fort (Qala'at Arad), built in the early 15th century by the Portuguese. As Forts go, it's rather compact and unimpressive, but it does have nice nose-shaped boiling-oil features. It has been restored, although there's not much there except for the stone walls lit by the setting sun over the bay.

While we were waiting for the bus, an Arab in full dress stopped his car to single us out from all the other people waiting and asked where we were going. He offered a ride all the way into town. On the ride in, we discussed how Bahrainis are much friendlier than, say, Kuwaitis, and how so many of the trees and gardens on the island have been supplanted by houses. It was not clear whether he considered this to be a good or bad thing because he talked about "too many" trees.

Friday night brings the people out, and we walked around the cloth souq to not buy stuff or do much window shopping. We also managed to avoid buying the singing camel.

Dinner found us at Al Rawazin (Municipality Av., +973-17227227), yet another "international" restaurant with good Arabic food. Not touristy at all, it was decorated with benches, coarse tapestries, and rich colors. Arabs (men and women) were reclining and smoking Shisha from huge polished hookahs, with smells of pineapple and cherry smoke in the air. We had a mixed salad (not on the menu) of hummus, baba ganoush, tomato sauce, tabouleh, and olive salad, and a mixed grill with lamb, kebabs, chicken, onions, peppers, and cucumbers. We ate with our hands, using pita to scoop things up. The drink, a Cocktail "International," made of mixed fruits, was mighty tasty.

10-Dec-05 Bahrain - market & museum
To our surprise, the hotel breakfast was not the same as the previous day. But the real breakfast news was the loud gaggle of Arab women who seemed to dominate the restaurant, between loud telephone conversations with someone outside the window (with appropriate giggling), cooing at babies, and snatching condiments and such from other tables. It is not what we'd normally expect of reserved Arab women. Clearly, we don't understand.

We walked over to the central market, which had primarily fresh fruits and vegetables. We found a wide range of common stuff, with a few of the more exotic items thrown in, like custard apples, bitter melon, many varieties of dates (some of which we bought after sampling), long green things which were neither beans nor burdock, and more types of cucumbers than I'd ever seen. The stall owners were very friendly, even though it was a busy, working market. Most shopkeepers were Indian or Pakistani, although there were certainly numerous Arabs, Afghanis, and Saudis. They let us photography freely, and were usually amused to see the photos on the digital camera.

With some effort, we also found the fish market in another building. Although not huge, there was still quite a range of fish and seafood, including grouper, tuna, octopus, blue crabs, catfish, anchovies, squid, parrot fish, and even shark. Everyone was trying to sell us something, and they had as much fun as we did. Many folks posed with their most interesting fish. Although none of the fish was on ice, it all looked and smelled quite fresh.

After a confusing taxi ride to the south side of the city, we arrived in the neighborhood of Adlya. We were looking for the Crafts Market, but were dropped nowhere near it. We were also looking for a place called Casa Blu (suggested on virtualtraveler.com). The maps we had of the area seem to be mere approximations, and we did not really know where it was anyway, so we were quite surprised to look up and see its sign. It was a bit early for lunch, but this seemed to be our opportunity. Like last night's dinner, it was a reclining type of place, with Shisha waterpipes and food. There were 2 robed couples in the huge place, which was decorated in strong Bedouin motif and deep blue walls and ceilings. (They made reference to the Tuareg Blue Men, fierce desert fighters.) We had a mixed plate and a greek salad. The mixed plate had spiced lamb pastie sort of things, which were just heavenly, spinach samosas, potato dumplings, hummus, lebneh, and "spicy sauce," as well as pita and some veggie garnish. Roswitha had a strong Turkish coffee, her first coffee in 6 months, while I had pomegranate juice.

A short taxi ride took us to the Al Fateh Grand Mosque, which is open to non-Muslims. We had to remove our shoes, and Roswitha had to don a black robe and beige Hijab to enter. Our tour guide was a Frenchman who had converted to Islam, and had been living in Bahrain for 3 years. We were there between the noon and 3:00 prayers, so the place was quite empty. It is modern, having been built in the late 1980s and was rather stark and geometric.

Our tour guide's shift was over, so he kindly dropped us off along the eastern corniche where we strolled along the water. We saw the dolphin park (but did not go in), the ice rink and bowling alley, and the marina. After a time-killing drink at the Diplomat hotel, we visited the Beit Al-Quran (Koran House). It had some photo exhibits showing that Moslems worldwide are just regular people. (I make fun, but these were actually several very good portrait series by a few photographers.) The museum has an extensive collection of ancient and modern versions of the Koran, including the world's smallest complete Koran (made in the 18th century), and excerpts painted onto rice kernels, split lentils, and sesame seeds. Overall, it was beautifully done. Several of the Koran's were as artistic as some of the most wonderfully illustrated bibles we had seen in the past.

After a session on the internets, we went back to Anand Bhavan for a small dinner. Our host suggested Manchurian rice (cauliflower and other vegetables fried into balls and cooked in a spicy sauce, over an almost Chinese-style fried rice) and Cumin rice (cumin sauce over a fragrant lemony rice). Delicious.

11-Dec-05 Bahrain - car day
The car was to be delivered from Oscar's Rent-a-Car at 9:00. At 9:30 we called: "No problem. No Problem. The driver will be right there." At 10:00 we called: "Our other office is closer to you. Call them." We called them: "We don't have a car. The driver is getting one and will be there in 30 minutes. He will bring you to our office." OK, so we lost 2 hours. Still, we were finally mobile.

The first stop (after the actual first stop to put gas in the car, at $0.80/gallon) was the Al Khamis Mosque, the first mosque in Bahrain (possibly built as early as 682 ACE) when Islam came here. The minarets have been reconstructed, as have a few walls. It sits stark against the busy road which now seems to otherwise ignore it.
From there, we drove west and north of Manama, to the Bahrain Fort, which is actually three or more forts, only one of which - the youngest, about 500 years old - was reconstructed. Bahrain has been at the crossroads for a long time, and several civilizations have built fortresses on this site which is one of the few accessible to ships because of the coastal reefs which surround the island. The reconstructed fort is from the time when the Portuguese ruled, and it is huge, surrounded by a wide and deep moat.

Driving along the north coast (and through several small towns, including one where school was letting out for lunch), we arrived in Budaiya, where the king has one of his palaces on the water, overlooking the King Fahad Causeway, which crosses over to Saudi Arabia. Along the way, we discovered that most of the roads have periodic traffic-slowing humps which happen to be really inconvenient and really slow things down. In other words, they work, and they probably contribute to the large number of car repair shops we've seen. In Budaiya, we looked for the Anatolia Turkish restaurant. Instead, we found a little place ("Middle East Restaurant") which seemed to have a booming take-away business. In fact, for a dive, it was so busy that it had to have fit one of the two rules for such places:
· The food is outstanding
· The food is cheap
They had two carhops who ran out to the cars which were driving by (and blocking traffic), took the orders and money, and ran the food back out after the customers had turned around up the block. We were lucky enough to find a parking space, so we went in to take a look. We ordered grape leaves (dolmades), hummus, a Turkish salad, and a fried fish with the yellow-colored rice. Since there was no place to sit, we drove back to the beach (a local favorite) right across from the school which had been letting out. We sat on one of the benches right at the water's edge, ate, and mused about the place. We were staring out at the water which separated Bahrain from Kuwait, and, just beyond, Iraq. Just off to the right, across the Persian Gulf, was Iran. We were not far from one of the world's major hot spots, eating lunch along a rocky beach. We were also discovering that the rule that the place met was that the food was cheap.

Sated, we wound our way down the coast. We were too late for the Al Jasra House where Shaikh Isa Bin Salman Al-Khalifa, the Emir of Bahrain was born. (Many places close at 2:00 PM.) We drove past the causeway to Saudi Arabia, past the Formula One Bahrain International Raceway, and found ourselves at the Al Areen Wildlife Park. The park was created in 1976 for the pleasure of the King, and was opened to the public 10 years later. It has a range of grazing mammals from the Middle East, Africa, and India, including various sorts of gazelle, dik-dik, spring bok, goats, sheep, giraffes, porcupines (larger and uglier than I had imagined), camels, and so on. A similar range of birds includes crested heron, stripe-neck geese, ducks, flamingos, ostriches, emu, Indian peacocks, African storks, Egyptian vultures, crowned cranes, and banded doves. For a cute little zoo (of 10 square kilometers), it was well done. The visit included a 45-minute bus ride, which we shared with several Arab families, with the women and girls in full cover.

At that point, we were about half way down the country, and the sun had set. So, we drove back through rush-hour traffic to Manama and the Grand Mosque to do some night shots. The cupola and minarets were lit, making for a good subject. We were there until it was closed down, and the lights were turned off - right in the middle of a photograph.

We returned the car, and stopped at a restaurant in an alleyway right by our hotel to pick up some kabob (highly recommended by a gentleman sitting there), some flat bread, and a yogurt drink. We supplemented this with the (cheap!) leftovers from lunch, and had a meal in our room. The kabob was excellent.

12-Dec-05 Bahrain - tour day
Abulla Muhanna of Ghadeer Excursions (tel. 17-412571, mobile 3-9817997) picked us up at the hotel for a half-day tour. He had already picked up another couple (from Lebanon), so we immediately headed south and west towards the town of A Ali, site of some of the oldest burial mounds, dating back to the Dilmun period 3000 to 4000 years ago. The town is built all around them; houses respect the perimeter of the huge mounds. The burial mounds have all been excavated, with the contents taken to the Bahrain museum and other archaeology locations.

Following the formula of tours everywhere, we stopped at a factory, in this case a pottery maker. It carries on an ancient tradition of Sumerian pots (updated as banks) made from Bahraini clay from just west of town. The pots are made by hand (and foot, to turn the potters wheel); three guys turned out three very consistent types of pots as we watched. Today's generation has no interest in carrying on what many generations of this family have done, so the factory has imported potters from Asia. They mix the clay, make the pots, fire them (in gas-fired kilns which are sealed up with clay before firing), and paint them. Needless to say, we did not buy any, although we shot lots of photos of the patient potters.

Driving farther south, past the pipeline which crosses from Saudi Arabia to the Bahrain refineries and onward to Gulf tanker docks, past the estates of the royal family, past the limestone and marble quarries, past stationary Bedouin camps (they are not allowed to roam) and their camel herd, and into the oil and gas fields, we came to the Tree of Life. It is a lone 600-year old Saudi mesquite which taps into water far below the surface, and is a bit of an icon. While it seems respected, it also is pretty abused. It is covered with graffiti, and even has a line of bullet holes where some soldier shot it with a machine gun. Trash littered the area. Still, it survives. A military unit was conducting exercises just beyond the tree.

As we were driving down, we were stuck behind a slow-moving caravan of oil drilling equipment. Like a band of Bedouin, the line of trucks was moving a full operation to start on a new well. We encountered them again after we visited the tree; they were starting what is probably the island's newest oil or gas well. We continued past them to Bahrain's oldest well, the one that totally changed the economics and politics of the region, and possibly the world. Its oil is long gone, but it still produces natural gas, which you can hear whooshing through its pipe.

From there, we drove past the king's desert palace and followed the pipelines to the King Fahd Causeway. The first island crossed by the causeway houses the palace of the King's fourth wife, who is 25 years old. We traveled to the artificial island which makes up the border, and stopped for a ride up the tower and to have a cool beverage. The island takes the form of a figure 8, with the waist being the no-man's land between the two sets of border control. The Saudi side looked more commercialized, and even had that scourge of American imperialism, McDonald's.

Abdulla dropped us back at our hotel, and recommended a nearby restaurant for lunch. He suggested the fish and rice, plus all the dates you can eat for 1 BD (about US$ 3). Al Ahli serves "all kinds of traditional food," and they tried to prove it by bringing each and every one of them to our table. The place got very quiet when we walked in - we were clearly Westerners, and Roswitha was the only woman for the whole time we were there - and it took a while until the place warmed up again. Clearly, we were the afternoon's entertainment. Besides the (two!) large fish and rice, we had a salad, melon, meat stew, soup, flat bread, and a condiment made of peppers and curry leaf. They kept trying to bring us more, but we finally figured out what was going on and waved each new item away. Most people in the place were eating with their hands, so I did as well. When we paid, we found that the tally (probably with stupid foreigner tax added in) had come to 6 BD. (We also seemed to be the only ones getting a little bill tray with gum, cumin seeds, and toothpicks.) Still, it was very good.

13-Dec-05 Bahrain - Craft Center and beyond
The Heritage Center on Government Road houses the Pearl Diving Museum. Except that it's not there, and no one in the place where two maps says that it is know anything whatsoever about it. Maybe it's over in the diplomatic area. Or maybe not.

So, we walked southward through the souk to the Craft Center, which has a program for local women to make and sell handicraft. Some of them also cook food at home and serve it in the café. Except that they don't - the café is closed. We got to see them make paper, and looked at a few other things, including some rather impressive stained glass. It can be customer ordered, but it is likely not made by the 40 women supported by the Craft Center.

Heading further south, we walked through some gardens to Adliya, which looks like a hopping place popular with expats. We decided to stop into Señor Paco's Mexican Restaurant for lunch. The guacamole is was pretty good (6/10), the salsa mediocre (4/10), the margarita about right (7/10), the BBQ pork ribs not bad (7/10 - a real smoker but sweet sauce), and the chicken burrito boring (4/10). The place even had sopapillas. There was a group of US expats there for their (daily?) fix. Two Arabs also ate there - it was clearly their first time - and did not know what to order. They clearly did not like the soup or Fajitas.

A taxi took us over to Muharraq island to the Sheikh Isa Bin Ali house, which was built around 1800. It has been nicely restored, showing beautiful wood and wall carvings. A walkway goes along the full top of the building, which is constructed like a fortress. The house also features a wind tower, which is a large vertical scoop facing 4 ways that will capture the wind coming from any direction and circulate it into the house. Horizontal doors inside the house can be used to manage and direct the flow. A neat design. Another house of similar age, Beit Seyadi, lies nearby, but, alas, has not been open for 3 years.
We hit the souk in the evening to find some Iranian saffron and some dresses. Some of the spice shops have a layered pile of spices; you buy a vertical slice and use it to season meat and chicken. We also hunted for interesting salt, but only came up with Iranian fleur de sel which did not taste special.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smash/europe03/1054507440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smash/europe03/1054507440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smash/europe03/1054507440/tpod.html Sat, 03 Dec 2005 18:48:59 -0500 Driving around Europe in a minivan: 36,000 km and 37,000 photos

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Berlin, Germany

Every day should start off with a good breakfast, and our hotel, the Honigmond, fit the bill.

The hotel had been suggested by Ed Ward, an American journalist who has lived in Berlin for many years. Ed, an expert Jazz critic, writes for many publications, also writes album liner notes, and is a guest correspondent for Terry Gross' Fresh Air on NPR, offered to take us on his 3-hour walking tour around Berlin. Of course, we managed to stretch it to more than 5 hours, not counting the beverage breaks. We are not worthy to capture the range of detail which he described, although we can hopefully reflect a small part of the cynicism and humor.

Most of the tour took place in the old East Berlin, and many remnants remain, including pieces of the Berlin Wall, marked paths of the wall, and a stark (in the English sense, not the German one) memorial. There is a Wall museum (which we did not visit), and, of course, the museum at Checkpoint Charlie (which we had visited on previous trips).

Ed's tour took us through numerous sites of Jewish history in Berlin. Before WWII, Berlin had a significant Jewish population, and there are numerous sites associated with this, both positive and negative. Reform Judaism was founded here by Moses Mendelssohn, and his grave is near monuments and a school he founded as well. A major synagogue was saved from the Kristalnacht violence (9-Nov-1938) which hit many Jewish institutions and individuals throughout Germany and Austria, but was destroyed by bombing during the war (1943), and was reconstructed. Like many Jewish facilities in Germany today, it has significant police protection. Various atrocities of the war and Holocaust are commemorated through plaques and sculpture scattered around the city, including the abduction of individuals and burning of books. The latter is a large underground library, visible only through a small glass window in the middle of the square. The shelves are empty.

Old East Berlin had one type of Walk/Don't Walk signals, and West Berlin had another. Both are still in use, and there is a significant effort to preserve the East Berlin signals; one can even find them on posters, postcards, and stickers.

Speaking of endangered species, many elements of Communist Berlin are under assault. Some have been removed, and some are under the gun. There has even been debate about the removal of a prominent symbol of East Berlin, the radio tower on Alexanderplatz.

Grafitti coats much of Berlin, and there are a number of artists whose work is quite recognizable. Ed has followed up on several of them, and told us a little of their stories.

One guy, the Bananen Sprayer, uses his grafitti as commentary on the Berlin art scene. If a gallery is worthy, we will award them a banana at their doorway. (We did see a few cases where he had gone back and crossed them out.) A relatively new hotel which commissioned a different local artist to do each room, and which tries to be very ecologically sound, got a special version of the banana. The hotel is across the street from a building famous within Japan (reflected in the window in the photo below) - Mori Ogai lived here in 1887 and 1888; he translated several well-known German works, including Faust, and is said to have invented modern Japanese literature.

Graffitti is not the only art. Many galleries flourish, and there is much public art, both old and new. While much of the old architecture was destroyed, some has been reconstructed, and much is new (although not all of it is good...).

Berlin's buildings often surround inner yards, or H�fe. They can be delightful or hideous. A series of well-known connected H�fe have been renovated (along with their surrounding buildings) to make stores, restaurants, and art spaces. Sadly, the weak economy has resulted in problems for many of the businesses. In one of the H�fe, at a bicycle rental place, we found a conference cycle, designed to let eight people to go biking together while having a meeting.

Berlin has long been a center of culture and learning, and has produced many significant artists, writers, and its share of Nobel Prize winners. Ed's tour included some graves which he had recently discovered.

Of course, no tour can be complete without appropriate food. Ed is also a foodie, with claimed skills in BBQ - at least he had found a car license plate to attest to it. Sadly, it was not on his car, just one in the street. Still, we were impressed.

The first night, we ate with Ed at a typical Berliner restaurant (Gambrinus), and the next we went to one of his favorite pizza joints (along with a huge group of loud students).

This short stay in Berlin was enriched by our time with Ed. We appreciate the sharing of his time (no doubt more than planned), his knowledge (great because of its cynical twist), and his humor. We learned and saw much that we would not have seen otherwise. Danke!

Sans Souci is a huge palace complex and park which lies to the Southwest of Berlin, in Pottsdam. The main palace and gardens are built in the French style.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smash/europe03/1054419720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smash/europe03/1054419720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smash/europe03/1054419720/tpod.html Sat, 03 Dec 2005 18:26:05 -0500 Driving around Europe in a minivan: 36,000 km and 37,000 photos

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Konopiste, Czech Republic

Josef recommended that we head south to see Konopi�te castle, a hunting lodge built by Austria's Hapsburgs in the 14th century. The last owner was crown prince Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination in Sarajevo kicked off World War I. Ferdinand became the crown prince after crown prince Rudolph shot himself.

Of course, we took the tourist train up the hill.

Since we had to wait for the English tour to kick off, we rushed to the cafe and had a second breakfast.

Ferdinand was an avid hunter, and is said to have killed 300,000 animals (which he counted in his diary). About 7,500 of them are displayed in the castle, mounted, stuffed, or skinned. It is said that on a visit to Yellowstone in the USA, Ferdinand even killed two squirrels by throwing rocks at them (after they took away all his other weapons). We were not allowed to shoot pictures inside, so these were done on the sly. The tour guide had no clue (yeah, right...).

Befitting a hunting castle, there was a bear enclosure (but no bears visible), a display of (damaged) hunting birds - Pose with one!, and a watchdog.

Time to hit the road, Northward to Berlin. After crossing from Czechia into Germany, we stopped at a roadside station to have first dinner, Scott's first asparagus of the season (tender white asparagus is a special event in late Spring throughout Europe), along with a breaded schnitzel, goulash, and a jelly doughnut (known as a Berliner). The second dinner was later, in Berlin, where Scott had his second asparagus of the season.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smash/europe03/1054338540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smash/europe03/1054338540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smash/europe03/1054338540/tpod.html Fri, 02 Dec 2005 19:52:48 -0500 Driving around Europe in a minivan: 36,000 km and 37,000 photos

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Prague, Czech Republic

Oh, the buildings! Architecture from old times to the very new are crowded along the banks of the Vlatava river, with a castle above, and a crowded city below. Numerous bridges connect the two, with the Charles Bridge being the most famous. (It is also infamous - we know of several incidents of theft or attempted theft on or around the bridge - including an attempt on Roswitha's pouch on her last visit. Scott strongly considered putting a mouse trap into his pouch.) Sadly, we really only had one day to rush among the sites, and to spend far too little time with Josef Snitily, a distant cousin of our friend Mark.

Wenceslas Square was our first stop, mainly because of the Christmas carol. His statue was there, but it listed his Czech name, so we got no satisfaction. Also there were many tourists, quite a few dressed in camouflage colors. We saw this fashion a few years ago, and it has returned. So strongly, in fact, that we've seen more camo than Burberry tartans. From there, we navigated the one-way streets to find the Gothic Powder Gate and its neighbor, the Obecní Düm, a wonderful Art Nouveau building built in 1912. Roswitha guarded Waldo (the minivan) while Scott ran in to take a look around.

Connie had suggested that we take in the view of the city from the other side of the river, just below the Technical University. The view was great, and we encountered an unusual sculpture, a huge metronome which oscillated between Yes and No, regarding the choice of the Czech Republic entering the EU.

The next stop was a traffic jam. We were not sure where we were going, but we were not getting there anyway. We tried to get out of it, only to find streets which had been laid out by Escher. Eventually, and with much yelling, we parked near the Prague Castle. At its center sits St. Vitus Cathedral, an impressive French gothic structure built between 1344 and 1929.

Golden Lane, within the castle walls, was a tradesmans' quarter, and Franz Kafka also lived there for a while. However, they charge to go in, and there was too much of a crowd. So, instead, we just looked to see if we could find a big cockroach. We attempted to get away from the crowds to eat lunch, and found a typical Czech tourist restaurant, albeit one which was not too crowded.

Josef, who we were about to meet, suggested that we visit Josefov (no relation), the old Jewish quarter, part of which had been turned into a museum. Running tight on time, and encountering a slow-moving entrance line, we opted to visit only the Staronová Synagogue (built in 1270 - one of the oldest in Europe). From there, we walked through the Staré Mesto to meet Josef at the foot of the Charles Bridge.

A few years ago, Josef Snitily decided to use his new access to the internet to find and meet all of the Snitilys he could. Several had emigrated from Czechoslovakia, and one of his distant cousins eventually made his way to San Jose, where he made himself known as a chilehead extraordinaire. This is our friend Mark; he suggested that we look up Josef on our visit. Josef turned out to be a real pleasure - sweet, funny, and very knowledgeable in local history. We joined him for a drink, and then he took us for a marvelous and informative stroll along the river.

Josef pointed out unique architecture, and locations of key events. Prague has had problems with flooding in the historic downtown, so they built a system of foundations and walls which could be quickly erected; this has already avoided serious flooding. He pointed out where the Polka was first danced. He showed us Frank Ghery's "Ginger and Fred" building, which is right next to Vaclav Havel's apartment.

After a lovely stroll, Josef led us to a local, non-tourist restaurant which happens to share a wall with a large Prague brewery. Of course, we had to have the proper food, so Scott had a roasted pig's knuckle, and Roswitha had pork neck with bread dumplings. Yum!

We'd like to thank Josef for his hospitality, delightful sense of humor, and for sharing so much time with us, along with part of his city.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smash/europe03/1054251900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smash/europe03/1054251900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smash/europe03/1054251900/tpod.html Fri, 02 Dec 2005 19:48:40 -0500 Driving around Europe in a minivan: 36,000 km and 37,000 photos

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Amsterdam, Netherlands

I (Scott) flew into Amsterdam, and had a long enough layover to go into town. No, not what you think, but to go to two favorite museums, the van Gogh museum, and the Staedlik museum. Had I known what would happen to the flight, I would have stayed longer. After taking the bus to Amsterdam's Museumplein, I discovered that I was too early, so I snacked at the Easy Talk Cafe.

The van Gogh museum houses Vincent's works, as well as those of his contemporaries and influences. I've seen it numerous times, and it is always changing, painting a picture of his life, activities, colleagues, and troubles. This time, besides his own work, there were numerous prints from newspapers, magazines, and from his brother Theo which he used to line the walls of his various spaces to make them more "artist-like." There was also a new exhibit expanding on other works of his life and times.

The Staedlik museum houses modern and painfully modern art, as well as a wonderful 20th century poster collection. It is always interesting to see what they have on exhibit.

With plenty of time to spare, I returned to the airport, only to find that my flight to Prague was cancelled. With some effort, I got onto flights to Frankfurt, and then on to Prague, arriving after 11 PM...a long day. I had time for another meal (yum, more Airport food!) and to call Roswitha, who was driving from Graz to Prague to meet me. I also found that my legs do not fit into a Czech Airlines seat.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smash/uae_and_islands/1138777860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smash/uae_and_islands/1138777860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smash/uae_and_islands/1138777860/tpod.html Fri, 02 Dec 2005 01:12:35 -0500 Desert, water, and lemurs

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Mahebourg, Mauritius

* Black River Gorge National Park - new (2002) Visitor Centre in the Black River Valley at the NW end of Park. A new (tarmacked) road leads to the Centre from Grande Rivière Noire on the west coast, 25 km south of Port Louis on the A3. Mahebourg might be a good place for a base hotel.
* Cape Malareux
* Île aux Aigrettes Nature Reserve - nice island just outside Mahébourg. Only accessible with an organized tour - a lot of small islands with ruins of anciens defensive castles. You can hire a fisherman who is going to take you to the Island, visit the places, see a lot of beautiful birds, you can fish and prepare nice local dishes with him.
* The couloured earths of Chamarel, also a tall waterfall
* Trou aux Cerfs - spectacular view over Curepipe, the sugarcane fields and the mountains in the far distance.
* Tamarin(d) Falls - Plaines Wilhems region
* Grand Bassin - crater lake is a sacred pilgrimage site for hundreds of thousands of Hindus. Ever since 1897 they have come to pray to Shiva on Maha Shivaratree which has become the largest Hindu festival outside of India.
* Casela Bird Park - Situated on west coast, near Flic en Flac (beach). This park contains many different species of birds such as parrots, pheasants, and pink pigeons which are highly endangered. There are also other animals to see such as monkeys, tortoises, leopards, tigers and fish.
* Port Louis central markets - most trinkets can be cheaper in Grand Baie, pickpockets
* Rochester (basalt) Falls - drive 3km on a bumpy dirt track into the sugar cane fields, last 500m to the fall are only manageable on foot. Starting point is town of Souillac whose port laguna is also worth seeing. Road to the falls is signposted.
* Natural history Museum, among the numerous stuffed animal species, one can observe the only copy of "Dodo"
* Restaurants

o Verangue sur Morne restaurant which still amazes me how it hangs off the side of the mountain

o Chez Dewa, in Rose-Hill that one can taste the best Dollhs Puris

o La Colombe: Great Chinese & Creole dishes - Rue Hollandais, Mahébourg

o Namaste - Indian - Caudan Waterfront

o Siro Cane - only restaurant in La gaulette,along the southern coast, which is the most remote place of Mauritius

o Cocoteraie Restaurant - Mont Choisi
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smash/uae_and_islands/1133507220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smash/uae_and_islands/1133507220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/smash/uae_and_islands/1133507220/tpod.html Fri, 02 Dec 2005 01:10:24 -0500 Desert, water, and lemurs

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Antananarivo, Madagascar

* Watch out for pickpockets, theft, water, crocs, leeches, getting stuck on roads, false guides

* Mantadia - national park in the vicinity of Perinet
* Ramanofana - Golden Bamboo Lemur, Greater Bamboo Lemur and so on. Real special is the feeding of mouse lemurs and Fenoloka's in dusk at a feeding spot!
* Antsirabe, litte Europe in Madagascar - precious stones extracted in Southern Ilakaka. Thermal source (and produces our National mineral water "Visy Gasy", the only non-boiled water you could drink. Visit Malagasy quarter for more local character.
* Horombe "Huge Grass" plateau - Like discovering countries at same time, in only 41 kms. The desert plateau of the Horombe stretches as far as the eye can see. Rocky hills with ricefields at their foot (Asia) are replaced by grey stone blocks along with yellow grass in winter (People use to say it is like in South - American Andes). Another face of plateau de l'Horombe: spotted with satrana palm trees and tiny baobabs (African savannah)
* Isalo region - South part of Fianarantsoa province, just before entering Toliara's. Ruiniform (strange shape) rocks sculpted by wind and rain. Yellow-to-orange grass with specific palm trees (satrana in Malagasy). Ask tour-operator to arrange this while touring in South part of Madagascar. They call this classic trip "Big South" or "Grand Sud". Or even better, hire a local ANGAP agreed guide. www.parcs-madagascar.com /isalo/guides.htm

o Isalo national Park - A silent park with canyons, home of 50 species of birds, lemurs species (see "Lemurs canyon"), chameleons, geckos as well as plants (such as "Pied d'elephant"). Not to be missed as well: a natural rock pool that receives clear fresh waters from galleries in the rocks.
o Isalo window-shaped rock - nice "view" of the vast park
o La Reine - haughty feminine-shaped ruiniform rock.

* Antemoro paper workshops - Ambalavao less than an hour from Fianarantsoa. Visit workshops that produce Antemoro paper, made from crunched Havoha (of a mulberry tree family) barks. Motifs are made with flowers petals, that are laid on the paste obtained from crunched barks. The whole set is left there for drying and to have the paste hardened. Americans and Japanese are amongst Antemoro paper lovers. Worth seeing as well: Noisy cattle market on wednesdays

* Route Nationale 2, from Tana to Toamasina - 372 km to drive through Imerina soil and then lush rainforests.
* Perinet famous for its Indri population - the largest of all the lemurs.
* Nosy Boraha (Ste-Marie) - series of tiny islands covered with a lush flora: clove trees, cinnamon trees, cocoa trees, vanilla plants and other orchids. Avoid T-trap of Nosy Komba.
* Vakona Forest Lodge (private) is in Andasibe, near Andasibe national reserve. Rent bungalow within forest lodge, (horseriding, trekking) and other sport activities. www.madagascar-contacts. com/vakona/
* Andasibe National Reserve - 150 km East of Tana, at an altitude of 1000m, many species of lemurs (especially, Indri, the tallest one), birds species (falcons, parrots..), orchids... www.parcs-madagascar.com /mantadia/mantadia.htm
* Tsimbazaza national zoo (Antananarivo), if you can't get out of Tana, it's a consolation. May be under refurbishment. www.madagascar-tourisme. com/madagascar/pbzt/
* Anja National Park - Ring-tailed Lemur
* Ambohimanga - 21km north of Antananarivo - Merina Royal Palace (18th cent) surprisingly modest, essentially just a small wooden hut on top of a hill. Later colonial buildings surround the hut as well as a dirty sacred pool, still used to clean circumcision wounds!
* Perinet Reserve - Close to the town of Andisabe - small Eastern Brown Lemurs, Paradise Flycatcher, Cuckoo Shrike, Red-fronted Coua, Crested Drongo, enormous butterflies. huge Tree Boa, abundance of geckoes.
* Diego-Suarez - town, Africa blends harmoniously with Asia, Europe and the Middle East. 3 idyllic mountainsites and bays, on the East Coast, the West Coat and the Bay which is a 156 km of coast. 3 important volcanic and coralline massifs with exceptional reliefs:
o Amber mountain (1475 m) with many microclimates, rainfall in January and February - forest tracks, crater lakes, made-up botanical paths, water falls, view points, lemurs, land and endemic species.
o Ankarana Massif (409 m) - karstic relief whose surface is covered with 400 million years-old "Tsingy" and classified world heritage by UNESCO. Sacred grottoes, flora and dauna adapted to the environoment incuding lemurs, bats and Nile crocodiles
o Tsaratanana Massif (2874 m), highest in Madagascar
o "Baie des Francais" (The sugar loaf) - second most beautiful and biggest bay in the world.
o "Cul de sac Gallois" (la Saline)
o "Baie aux Cailloux blancs" (Ile aux Lepreus)
o "Baie du Tonnerre"
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