A Few Answers for TJ and 8th Grade

While we were in Dubai, we didn't get the chance to visit the Burj Al Arab Hotel or any of the other fancy hotels along the coast. We stayed at the Miami Hotel in the Gold Souq area (with satelite TV). Wendy was right about the budget!

UAE has several different Emirates (like little provinces) so all of the UAE isn't the same. But, Dubai is very western...with huge shopping centers filled with western shops, restaurants, Hollywood movies... Dubai is very international! It's very modern and is even in the process of building an indoor snowboarding facility.

Oman is a desert...but it is also very colourful. There are many wadis (desert river beds)that are a source of ground water so you can find many palm trees and plants. During the summer khareef (monsoon season) in Salalah (where we are right now) it rains alot and turns the entire landscape green The dry winter wadis become waterfalls and lagoons. The people here also plant flowers and grass on the roadside in many cities and water them to keep it colourful. The desert hills are like layers of chocolate with many shades of brown and the sand in some of the desert dunes are reddish in color.

As for Africa...we hope to visit many countries but we also don't want to rush like we did at the beginning of our trip through Eastern Europe.

Grab a map or check this one out: http://www.africaguide.com/afmap.htm

Here is our planned route...Yemen, Djibouti, Eritrea, (back to Djibouti if the Eritrea/Ethiopia border is closed), Ethiopia...(fly over Sudan)...Chad, Niger, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Cape Verde Islands...(fly to Sao Tome/Principe)...Equitorial Guinea, Cameroon, Gabon...(Fly to Madagascar via South Africa)...Reunion, Mauritius, Comoros, Mayotte, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa (including Lesoto and Swaziland).

Thanks for reading and asking such great questions!

Nowhere in Nizwa...

Even now, in a sort of town, guys walk around in the full dishdisha and kave hats, the local dress, with khjanars or daggers attached to their belts on one side and mobile phones attached to the other...all are very friendly and interested to know why foreigners would come so far when they've only had paved roads the last number of years and it usually took 6 weeks to get to the capital, Muscat, before by camel train..

Can't believe we're gone 3 months already...Heidi got word yesterday that her visa can be processed for Yemen which was delaying us somewhat until we contacted the Canadian Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia...all is well...now we just have to get to the border and then get through bandit country without our travel permits and enjoy the local customs and traditions that have disappeared in the West such as greeting each other for a 5 minute ritual asking after your mother and brothers and it's such a formalized exchange but every person respects it or just sitting on the ground on a mat in a parking lot and serving up some chai/tea at 10 pm with a bunch of friends chewing the fat...there is ample time for everything here as people have too much time on their hands...the weather is hot and dry and this is the coolest month of the year...the local hotels all sport swimming pool memberships and the usual motley crew of Western oil and gasmen along with an assortment of teachers enjoy most afternoons sipping Indian beer and sampling the buffet, a life removed from their Indian and Arab counterparts....we head back for Muscat tonight as it is cooler to travel then and after securing our visas, Heidi will visit a couple of prestigious International schools before taking off for the border...she just loves interviews and the prospect of working again whereas I could quite happily retire from working life...

The Sultanate of Oman

hidden deep in the Arabian peninsula. lies the windswept sultanate of Oman. It can be described like the people as each mirror the other.... gentle, pleasing, deliberate and deeply contrasted. With the old traditional bedouin communities co-existing with modern GSM satellite phones, with camel races in the desert sands next to SUV suburbans ....the main road goes through wadis(flash flood rivers) jebels( mountains) and faraj( water channels) that run from the mountains to precious fields below...their is no harmony here but a oneness and contentment we have yet to feel anywhere else...the sheer isolation coupled with modern advances....camels and donkeys run wild while goats graze in the lower mountains...Oman will be a hard place to leave...

Under the Veil of Iran

Maybe the Internet is illegal in Iran and maybe it isn't but after reading two articles in the English language newspapers of Iran about webloggers and journalists who were imprisioned, it just feels better writing about this country after we have departed.

Getting a visa for Iran seemed difficult...suspisious and secret...with the appearance of many rules and regulations, yet, the sense of no rules at all. After the labour of filling in the application 3 times and going here and there to pay in advance and copy all the documents our application was placed on the counter at the Embassy behind the clerk and we were told to wait for 2 weeks and then come back. When we returned, the papers were in what seemed like exactly the same location on the counter and the clerk looked at them and said a confident "yes".

This post isn't finished - just can't seem to save it as a draft - I'll come back to it...

How to Get a Yemeni Visa...The Easy Way

1) First,pull out all your teeth

2) This will save you the trouble of pulling all your teeth out later for them and presenting it to the officials on a silver platter.

3)Pull out all your hair....in Marc's case, that would include his beard as he has more hair on his face now than on his head.

4)Whistle dixie...now that's more like it..

5)Then go to door #2.

6)Forgot to tell you that no door #2 exists.

7)Touch your finger to your nose and say some magic words so something that might sound like it's a bit magic.

8)Then go to the top of the tree and read the secret message.

9)Then, go under the bridge and talk to the ugly troll.

10) Go to the Canadian Consulate for a letter of introduction but don't be surprised if they will say they have no paper left and refer you to the British Embassy.

11)Go to the British Embassy as they handle all Canadian problems, except, of course this one and are of no use whatsoever. They will say they can help you but won't as you're a Commonwealth country and are no longer responsible for you people.

12) Beat your head against the side of a wall and go home and rest as tomorrow will serve up another day like today...

Welcome to UAE

It's the oasis in the desert, the calm before the
storm of Yemen and Africa but well worth a
visit..Dubai is a shopper's paradise and the
crossroads for all the world's cultures, most of which
are there to work as serfs to the emaris but if you're
on an ex-pat package from the Western countries, it's
off work by 2pm, leisurely swim at the Hilton and
clubbing...heat is blistering even in February and
wind on the East coast town of Fujirah which we're at
now, strong enough to blow you over...a nice few days
respite...

Iran...the Land of Contradictions

Having travelled over 3000 miles in Iran over the past month, we both feel that we have had an opportunity to get to know the people, the culture and the language of this unique spot but only to a small degree.

What we noticed most above all was the kind, genuine hospitality of the Iranian or Persian peoples. This encompasses a wide group including Minabi, Baluchi and Galostani, but the general feeling was one of overwhelming generosity and a real sense of koy seeing and meeting strangers. Each town and village was a little microcosm of life form the Zorastrian city of Yazd to the border towns of Khorastan.

The contradiction lies in the fact that such a wealthy country educates its labour force to such a high degree, yet provides no sustainable employment for so many and there only real option is to leave.

The earth beneath their feet is plundered but very little true wealth is absorbed above the ground.Every day we are reminded of who really rules the roost. Army checkpoints prevail the further south and east one goes. The fabric that holds this society together are its people,woven with many strands and above all, a charisma this traveller has had the pleasure in finding out.