Arabian Days and Nights

The last night that we spent in the UAE we decided to take a desert safari. Dune bashing at 50km/h with a driver named Rashid, One Canadian, One German and Two Danes was priceless.......especially since we were in a Hummer H2 (driving through Dubai in the hummer was actually more comical as the car took up two lanes!).

The famous peach coloured Arabian desert sands are located west of the Hat

ta mountain range, a large range of mountains to the south east of the UAE and it shared with parts of Oman (I say parts because the country of Oman is in three parts (look at a map to see)).

At any rate, Rashid came to pick us up at 3 pm, and we headed towards the mountains. We drove for about 20minutes on the desert highway before we finally slowed towards the meeting spot for all the other desert tour running that day. You see, while there are only four people in a car, plus the driver, several other cars take other tourists and we all meet at a bedoin camp for dinner and a show.

After emptying some of the air from the tires, and snapping some photos we got our first taste of dune bashing.....it was like a rollercoaster ride only with limited seat belts. While driving I found the accident log, the last entry said something like ‘accident, wheel balancing’. There were no other entries after that. As I was in the car already on the dunes, I thought it best to suppress the anxiousness that came over me and enjoy the ride.......so that is what I did.....of course, I would find the stupid accident log.....lol...

After driving up and over several sand dunes, bashing into the sand, watching Rashid the driver man the wheel we stopped on the top of a larger dune and brought out a snow board. That’s right we went sand boarding!!!! This was actually the only thing that I wanted to do, and why we ended up in the VIP Hummer Tour and not on the land cruiser tour. Rashid let the first two Danes go, and as they were going, I was carefully watching what the heck they were doing. The board was an old snowboard complete with the sockets for your feet, but we were all instructed to put the our bare feet beside the sockets. The first guy went, and wiped out near the bottom. Ditto for the second. Then I was up....I was slightly nervous.....got on the board, and looked at Rashid for confirmation that I had the position right...he looked at me then mentioned what I understood as ‘go, lean forward, look like a beach boy surfing’. From the pictures, you can see that I exactly what I did. I was surfing the UAE and it was fantastic.... for the 50 meters that I managed to stay on the board for..... When we booked the tour, max warned me that although sand boarding is fun, the hard part actually comes when you have to get back to the top of the sand dune. ..... in 40 degree direct sunlight, up an incline of 60 degrees, without friction is fun....carrying a sand/snow board is fun....er...the most intense workout on the planet. Really, this stage of the boarding is what decides how many runs one wishes to do....I ended up doing three....before another van showed up.

My last one was monumental though. Really. By this point I had the technique down to my version of a desert science. I got on the board, shifted my weight from the front tothe back, and a gliding i went.....then I hit a bump right at the bottom of the dune.....and flew into the sand. Head first. My mouth was apparently open too, which meant I not only got a face full of sand, but also a mouth full of sand. You can see on the picture of me at the top of the ‘sand run’ all the sand that was stuck to me (and my teeth!). The wipe out also commemorated a glorious rippage of my pants..apparently taking a face plant also calls for serious strain on the bums of not so travel friendly plants......the rip was right down the middle.....and I didn’t actually realise that they were ripped until we reached the camp (20 minutes later), had walked around a bit then realised that slight breeze on my rear end was a little too breesy.....I got max to take a picture so I could inspect the extent of the rippage...and it literally went from the top of my pants (where the belt loops are), to the middle of my thigh.... my pink and purple underwear was not exactly discreet.... luckily i had a second long sleeved shirt with me....for the cold 27 degree Arabian desert nights (to be fair, this is at least a 10 degree drop from the day time heat). I quickly wrapped it around my waste and the ripe was half covered.....it was THAT big.....

When we finally arrived at the Bedouin camp, outfitted with flushing toilets for us tourists, we were greeted with traditional Arabic coffee, dates and sweets. The coffee is very ‘thin’ but they add cardamom it, so while it looks like brown water, the taste is out of this world. The dates came from one of the several date farms in the UAE. Dates are grown in the Oasis’s, in palm trees. These were just roasted, without any additional sugars....yum....finally the sweets are deep fried dumplings that look and taste like a fluffy timbit, but they had a dark sweet viscous honey drizzled on them. It looked and tasted like a mix of honey and molasses...and those fresh out of the fryer were divine!

After our welcome coffee and treats we went for a came ride. I grew very fond of camels on our ride to Oman,when I met that camel on the highway (driving at 140 km/h). Camels are pretty cool. They are the perfect desert animal because they can actually smell water up to 20 kms away, only need water once every two or three weeks in the summer, and two months in the winter AND are very comfortable to ride. BUT they make the funniest grunting sounds....

To use the words of my sister....I was accosted by a camel.... and was the last one to ride this particular camel because he was getting too loud. Haha.

The night ended with a wonderful “traditional” Bedouin dinner (which had a slight lenabese flare to it), and a show by a ‘traditional’ Bedouin dancer (who was actually Russian....we shared our hummer with her on the way back to the hotel)......

The next morning we got up, said goodbye to Dubai and headed to the airport.....

The next morning we got up, said goodbye to Dubai and headed to the airport.....

Dubai Souq's.....get your bartering on my beautiful lady

After venturing to the Jumeriah Mosque and the Ocean seaside, we headed towards Diera, home to the 14 kilometer long Dubai Creek, and the hustle and bustle of old Dubai (the part of the city that hasn’t fallen victim to the building boom and hyper luxury). Dubai creek is a creek about twi

ce the width of the Rideau canal and runs through the north a

nd south side of Dubai. The north side is called Diera and the south side is called Bur Dubai. The creek itself is filled with lots of different types of boats from multimillion dollar yachts to Iranian, Indian and Omani traders boats called Dhows, and tiny open sided ‘boat tax

is’ called Abras (see the photo?). The best way to get across the creek is to take the 1 durum ride on an Abras, which carry as many a

s 40 000 passengers everyday! The boats themselves

are wooden motor powered and can carry about 20 people on each trip. It was pretty

cool riding them as they look and drive like normal boats, only they don’t have any sides. It was pretty interesting to watch the driver navigate the thing with all the people on it....but besides the rather large run in with the docking station, it was a pretty smooth ride.

Crossing from Bur Dubai over to Diera led us to the traditional

Dubai Souqs. A souq is a merchant market selling everything from electronics, to clothes, to spices, food, and gold. The Diera souqs

are organised by type of goods. There is a spice souq, a gold souq, a perfume souq and a covered souq (which sells clothes, primarily imported from India). We started at the spice souq, which was pretty small but fantastic! I have never seen such a large volume to spices in my life. There were dozens of coffee bag sized bags of Iranian Limes, Saffron, dried roses, cumin, red, white and black pepper, menthol crystals, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, frankincense and myrrh (which one guy kept repeating ‘like the three wise men’). The gold was in the other souq.

It is imposs

ible to walk through any of the souqs without being bombarded by all shops

owners asking if I wanted to buy something, while I was taking some pictures max started talking to one of the shop keepers...when I showed up I realised they were talking in German, really because it’s pretty hard to travel anywhere without running into some who speaks German---especially if you are traveling with one with a radar. Then we switched t

o English and gave us some samples of camel chocolates and chocolate covered dates, and smells of vanilla pods, Iranian saffron, and menthol. We found out that he was a spice trader from an Iranian father and a Turkish Mother who has spent time in Germany and can also speak English......well sort off.

...at one point he asked max ‘where he found this cheese’. Both max and I looked incredibly confused because there was no cheese in sight.....we looked at him again...when he repeated the word ‘cheese’, it sounded more like ‘she’. So he was asking ‘how did you find she’.....we inferred that what he meant was how did you guys meet......lol..

.it was pretty funny... in total, the man spent about 20 minutes showing us around his tiny shop(which was probably the size for a garage of a golf cart), we didn’t buy any spices as well, we aren’t headed home just yet....BUT, he gave us his card, and I will for sure head back there on the way back......

The gold souq was slightly overwhelming as by this point I was getting annoyed at the constant badgering for me to ‘come and buy beautiful things’....

gone are the days of being completely ignored while shopping in Hungary..... I did stop in one shop to look at a sea pearl....it was a beauty....a greeny-grey coloured pearl on a bed of diamonds.....for the price of 1800 Durums it would have been mine (sans bartering)....but....it left it in the safe hands of the shop keeper as I did not have the money, nor the necessity for a sea pearl necklace....it

was still nice though....very nice....

At the end of the Gold Souq there was a couple of cloths shops, which we stopped at to look at. Again, it was actually pretty hard just to ‘browse’ around or touch anything without a pestering shop keeper coming up to you and pushing goods on you....it was 33 degrees outside and I was hot...so when we walked by a shop selling long skirts we stopped I found two different skirts that I liked.....and the shop keeper said they cost 310 dirhams.....which is about 85 bucks....they were nice skirts but not that nice... This was my first experience in bartering and it was quite interesting.... back and forth and back and forth..... a lot of ‘but my friends this is high quality’ from the merchant and a ‘but that is way too much for me, and it’s not worth that price you can buy it somewhere else cheaper’ we ended up getting the price down to 180 dirhams.....which is about 50 bucks....still a little high but taking the advice of a friend....I paid what I thought it was worth to me. On a complete side note, one of the skirts was so long that I wore it the next day as a dress! Success!!!

We stopped for a Turkish Coffee and a melon

Sheeshaa on the creek, then called it a day!

(the picture below is an Iranian spice trader's boat)

I came to the land down under....

Silence.

I guess this is the best way to describe this month's action on the blog-o-sphere. But I'm back (on the blog, not home), and have tons and tons of stories to tell.......A good old room-mate once told me that she couldn't post her facebook photos out of chronological order, and once she told me that, I too developed the compulsion for order of the chronological sort, and so (with t

he exception of this post), I will recou

nt my adventures from the beginning.....or at least from where I left off...

But first.

Australia. Yup, I arrived here about a week ago, drank an ice coffee, said hello to the people I'm staying with and collapsed. literally slept for days. Now, almost a week of venturing not further than a 10 kms from the small Sydney burb, I feel rejuvenated and ready to roll!

First impressions of Australia are as follows:

great. nice. warm

(although they are still in winter). friendly.

at least that was the first day. and today. the rest of the days it has been raining. I guess there is something comforting about exploring a new place whilst in the rain. actually, the rain may have been one reason why my exploring has been limited to a 10km range.

But today we got out and about----to a animal refuge called Koala Park in West Pennant Hills, NSW (New South Wales). The park itself started in the 1920s to help safe the Koala from extinction. During that time Koala's were being killed for their furs and this park and safe haven was created for Koala's to live....the park eventually expanded to care for all of aussie-land creatures.... In addition to Koala's, there were Kangaroos, Wallabies, Penguins, aussie birds, dingos, flying squirrels, pretty much everything aussie. The Koala's were the cutest things ever!

All the hens, roosters, peacocks could not be caged...and at one point we spent 5

minutes watching a peacock chase, but never catch, a turkey. They were running in and out of cages, squawking (the peacock,not the turkey). it was hilarious. I couldn't decided if the turkey was outsmarting the peacock as the peacock always seemed to miss the turkey, but the peacock seemed super iritated by the turkey...kind of like the peacock was the older sister (or brother) chasing the younger smaller turkey.... i was cheering for the turkey (wonder why?) ......

Tomorrow we are headed to a surf festival on Manly beach. should be fun (and I'll take loads of pictures). I must also say that besides today, my brain seems to always forget to grab the camera when we leave the house. Maybe it's my subconscious reminding me that i have 1900 photos that i have yet to go through.........

But before I begin the adventures in Aussie-land......back to the Middle East....

A special birthday post

For all the folks reading my travelling/living/ranting/talking to myself blog, I have been out of internet for a couple of days now....have no worries, I have kept writing, and will post shortly!!!

Before I do, however, I would like to send my finest birthday wishes to a friend in Ottawa. HAPPY BIRTHDAY my dear!!! Have a splendid day

and sorry I couldn’t be there to give you a birthday hug and birthday cake (with the use of your eggs and milk of course!).

I got you some Doritos, nacho cheese UAE style. I checked, they were made in Saudi Arabia J

See?

I did get you a cake for your birthday (as I have every year since I met you); it’s just here in Dubai. It’s even Canadian. A McCain Deep and Delicious made in Canada!

See? no sprinkles, sorry but you can imagine...right?

Happy Birthday to you Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Catherine, Happy Birthday to you!!!!!

And a new adventure begins....part I

And another adventure begins

True to the name of this blog, another adventure has begun. I’ve handed in my

final paper requirements for my Masters (pending approval), transferred my savings to my checking account and got on a plane to Australia. Well actually, its going to take 5 weeks to get there. And the first stop is the Middle East.

I arrived in the DBX at precisely 6 31 pm Saturday. It’s now 1 47 am on Monday morning and I am writing this blog entry. Ahhh jetlag, it’s a wonderful thing.

With the exception of mistaking a ladies prayer room with a bathroom at the airport and pretending that 40 degree heat is nice, Dubai has been pretty cool. But is not at all what I expected. It’s a city with 80% expats predominately hailing from India and Pakistan, but there are plenty of ‘white westerners’ walking around. Some areas is like walking through little India in Toronto, only with Arabic. In fact, there is a second cup here that has both English and Arabic signs everywhere!

Our hotel is in the middle of a thousand other apartment hotels in the city centre. When we arrive last night we decided to discover the city centre and it was pretty amazing.

From the colourful tailor shops filled with Indian Saris, to the smells of pita bread baking in stone ovens, to the thousands of people, honking SUVs and constructions sites, the city is definitely a bustling metropolis.

Its interesting because the building and actually city was no where to be found in the 1950, with the surge of Dubai happening in the late 1990s. Before it was just a small port town that relied on the pearl trade, and now its quite the site to see.

Today we ventured to the Jumeriah Mosque, the only mosque in town that is open to non-Muslims. I had to wear a scarf over my head, which at first I felt a little bit weird about, but soon got used to it. The Mosque was built in the late 1970s and was styled like a typical Egyptian mosque. It was so bright and aerie and large and open it was really neat.

Part of the tour is actually a introduction to Islam as well so the two leaders also talked about the five pillars of Islam as well as some of the other aspects of being Muslim (like how the prayer schedule works, Mecca, the head dress, etc).

They also told us a little bit about the gulf styles of Islam (regarding the traditional black dresses for women and white for men), and some of the traditional head pieces warn by some women in the dessert (that serves both as a measure of modesty and a shield from the blistering heat and sand storms).

After the Mosque we went for a stroll on the Indian Ocean and the water was crystal clear and the sand was sooo white. There were tons of little rocks and stone with some of them covered in dried up oil! I couldn’t take any pictures because it’s forbidden on the beach. The sign also said ‘punishable’ by law. I didn’t really want to risk it!

After the beach we headed into the Dubai Creek and the old souqs....HUGE market places filled with spices, clothes,pots and pans, and...hmmm...gold!!

Back in Canada, with a two week detour .

It guess it's been a while since my last post.

Actually, there is no need for guessing. It has been weeks!

I left Budapest at the end of August, and flew to Berlin for the last of my travel adventures before returning to Canada. These adventures took me through four countries and one principality, ending in Budapest for my final trek to Ferihegy Airport.

We began in Berlin, and drove south to a small German town named Rottenburg. Rottenburg is the quintessential German town, complete with a clock in the town square that chimed every hour, greeting visitors with two marionettes that drank fake wine while the bells chimed. Apparently, way back when (European timelines, so the 16th century), the mayor of Rottenburg was given an ultimatum during the sieging of the city. Drink a gallon of wine or the city would remain under siege. He drank of wine, saved the city and remains immortalized in the city's clock, and in Rottenburg's top 10 must sees.

Rottenburg

is also home to the Kathe Wohlfarht store, a year round Christmas store, filled with all the yule tide treasure you can imagine. and then some more. You were allowed to take pictures in the store, but I snapped this one just before we went in. The store is three floors, and has a large Christmas tree in the centre of it. There was a section of standard Christmas things, like ornaments, garland, and nut crackers, and then there was a large section devoted to these small (and large) wood, sculpture things, with wind mills arms like things on the top. When you put a candle in it, the heat from the candle moves the arms and causes a whole scene to start. Some had Santa Clause, some had the wise men, and others had carousel like horses. Super duper neat-o. Especially since they were all hand crafted, wood carved. the details were fantastic. It was like FAO Swartz, Christmas style. It must see tons of tourists, because all the major 'rules' of the store (like DO NOT TOUCH, or NO PICTURES), were written in four different languages. The staff also spoke English, which was a plus!

After the clock, the Christmas store, a short coffee break and some aimless wondering, we headed to the town's history museum. This town was founded somewhere in year 100 (back when t

he Roman's were in charge), and so, it has of history---and some pretty cool weapons to show for it. Here is what most of the museum looks like (with the exception of the creepy dungeon, complete with torture chamber). I obviously did not take good enough notes for this one, but the flag in the photo is so old that it

is being held together by a second piece of cloth sewn into it. The mannequins were slightly creepy.

We spent the rest of the afternoon wondering around the city and the city wall itself (you could

walk all across it). From the tiny windows you could see for miles outside the city, including small vineyards, forests and, er...the motor way...but still, a nice sight. After we were finished scaling the walls, taken ample photos, and bought two bottles of local wines, we got back in the car and continued driving south. Destination: St. Gallen, Switzerland.

Last days in Budapest.....

• I can't believe it, I really can't....but alas, my time in Budapest is coming to an end. I can't tell you how much I have learned about myself, the world around me, and most importantly, about the people who populate it. It's exciting!

I came here with no expectations....I wanted to see what was here before I made any decisions about the people of the country that hosted me, the region and the whole 'living the expat life'. I am glad I took this approach. But I won't lie, there were times when I caught myself judging; judging about 'their way of life', 'their country', and 'their beliefs'. Eventually when the frustration subsided, I got to know the city, the locals, the expats, the customs and also 'got over' what ever the issue was, I knew those judgments were only half true. The other half of the truth was manageable. I guess if we were all the same, the world would be kind of boring anyway.

When I arrived in Hungary back in May I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Having never lived abroad, nor spent extensive amounts of time in a place where I was the second language learner, I guess I was slightly nervous.......the nervousness turned into slight panic when I arrived to, was jet-legged, lost, knew know one and realized that I couldn't just 'ask'.... but, it didn't last long. When they both subsided soon came the 'oh man, what I have gotten myself into, I'm lost, it's raining, it's cold, it's loud, I want my bed'. But then I began to meet some people here, both at work and the fellow 'interns'. Meeting and getting to know these people, their stories and beliefs, caused my perceptions to morph my thinking to, 'okay, so, it's not so bad, maybe this actually could be fun'.

When the old interns left, and replaced by new interns, when friends came to visit and I was suddenly the tour guide and cultural translator, and when a new roommate arrived, exhibiting the same nervous confused behaviors I remember having when I arrived...I knew that I'd finally reached the ' wow, Budapest does have charms beyond Castle Hill'......I think this is a good thing to leave with.

I had my final exit interview with my supervisor and the ambassador yesterday. Besides discussing the standard 'so how was your time here, what was your job, what did you learn, how was your team etc', the Ambassador asked me about the expectations that I brought with me. Both to the job and to the internship. I had to be truthful, and told her I didn't know enough to come with expectations.... but I am leaving with a whole new perspective on things....like poverty, racism, nationalism, minority rights, and history. I also am leaving with a new appreciation for communication, well timed public transportation, Balkan Beats, a stable government and public service and Kraft Peanut Butter (never will I leave the country without a stash). According to the ambassador, my desire for Peanut Butter is what 'typical' Canadians ask for when abroad....I smiled at the fact that my neurotic behavior was a 'typical Canadian thing'. We also talked about the wonderful people that work at the office, their approach to life and their jobs, and the general positive outlook that most bring everyday. This was one of the first places I'd ever worked where people were more worried about their own jobs than what other people were doing, they worked together like nothing I've seen before, and gossip was always that afterthought of a conversation, not the purpose of it. I was amazed at how this impacted my work, and the whole environment of the office. Something I will take with me to where ever I end up.

She also thanked me for the Canadian cupcakes we'd made her upon her arrival (and mentioned that she knew it must have been a 'Canadian' who would have suggested it). (The entire office was thankful for the treat mum).


Hungary is a beautiful country, and like many countries in this region and the world, still struggles with its past, and is unsure of its future. But this uncertainty needn't be a pejorative thing... if properly managed, uncertainly breeds creativity and innovation. Both of which can help move any struggling country, region, or person forward....