After leaving the airport I headed back to Paul and my mom's apartment.While driving down the freeway I saw massive buildings on both sides of the freeway surrounded by sand. The city looked extremely futuristic while driving down that road. Their apartment was in the Marina District and only a short walk away from the beach. Dubai is an amazing city in its modernity. It has 13 of the fifty tallest buildings within its city limits which is 26% of the worlds tallest 50 buildings. It, along with the rest of the Arab Peninsula, is building like crazy so that number could continue to rise. The other interesting thing I noticed is when we went for a walk along the beach. The beaches in Dubai are amazing in the aspect of how packed they are with foreigners. It definitely is an international city. The women on the beaches dress just like they would on a European or American beach. I even saw a women sunbathing topless, which wouldn't be a big deal in Europe, but seeing it in the Middle East threw me a surprise. Dubai is very similar to Qatar in its aspect of wealth. While walking down the beach I saw Ferrari's , Porches, BMW's, Mercedes, Bentley's, and a host of other nice cars. The region is definitely wealthy, from its most Conservative areas to its most liberal.
After walking on the beach for a while we headed back to my mom's apartment. While sitting with my mom I told her how I wanted to see the Burj Khalifa, so we drove over to the Dubai Mall, which is the largest in the world. We walked around it for a bit, and then headed to get a drink across a pond from the Burj Khalifa. It was a magnificiently large building, about double the height of the Empire State Building. While sitting there I had a turkey panini with avocado, which was the first time I had had avocado in a year. After that we headed back to the apartment and I crashed.
The next few days blended together. I ate a lot trying to gain back some weight. The only significant thing I had to do was the day after arriving in Dubai I had to go to the airport to pick up my bag. I went with my mom and we took the Dubai metro to get there. Everything in Dubai is enclosed due to the sandstorms. It was amazing seeing a bus stop because it had automatic doors on it like a grocery store would. They are identical to bus stops in the states, but are fully enclosed. It was nice since there were sandstorms when I first arrived in Dubai. The metro also has good views of the city since the majority of the metro is on raised platforms and there is no conductor so you can look through the front of the train, which allows for a full view of the city. Once we arrived at the airport there was a bit of a mix up as they sent my bag to be delivered to the apartment. It took a minute to for them to figure it out, but once they did they still gave me the equivalent of 50 USD in the local currency for the hassle. After we got on the metro we headed to the building Paul worked in. It is located a mile or so away from the Burj Kalifa, which in turn gave beautiful views of the skyscraper. After that we headed back to the Dubai mall and had PF Chang's. Once finished there we headed back to my moms apartment.
Over the next few days I slept a lot, had a lot of food to try and gain a few pounds, and went on beach walks with my mom to collect shells. The sandstorms were also quite bad over those few days. It made taking pictures pretty difficult, and also stung the eyes when the winds blew. One day my mother and I went to a souq, the souqs are much more modern in Dubai then in Doha, we had lunch sitting on a large pond. On the pond, boats would continuously drive around taking people to different parts of the souq in a Venetian way. On the opposite side stood the Sail, which is a world famous hotel that is shaped...well like a sail. The souq was quite nice as it was full of old furniture stores, with all the furniture made out of beautiful pieces of wood, which in this part of the world is a rarity. Outside of the souq there was a vendor that I bought a bag from. You can wear it like a backpack, and it is made of a blue cloth, almost like a hemp/cotton mix. Overall the souq was beautiful with its views of the Sail, and its interior.
The following day I went with my mom to the Emirate Mall as the sandstorms were still pretty bad. This is the mall where you can go snowboarding if you want to, as there is a giant slope built into the mall. It has everything a ski lift, a bob sled run, and even snowmen. It is an extremely large mall, and like the Dubai Mall is grand in every way and hardly leaves any room for wanting.
The next day I went out to Atlantis with my mom and Paul. The sandstorms were still pretty bad so you couldn't see the opposite side of the bay, but it was still beautiful. Atlantis is an expensive hotel that is built on a man made peninsula in the shape of a palm leaf. Inside the hotel there is a massive water park and huge aquariums everywhere. We walked around for a while and then we headed to a restaurant inside of Atlantis. It was a huge buffet with really good food. I could have anything I wanted from Indian and Middle Eastern food, to sandwiches and BBQ. After filling my stomach I walked around the pool area of Atlantis, which was grand as well. After we drove around for a while and then headed back to the apartment.
The following day the sandstorms had cleared up somewhat so we decided to drive to Abu Dhabi. The drive takes about an hour and is through some barren land. Once we arrived in Abu Dhabi I could tell how different it was from Dubai. Each of these cities make up a different Emirate, which are all aligned together to form the United Arab Emirates. They closely resemble states, but with slightly more autonomy from what I gathered. When we arrived we drove down the corniche which reminded me of Doha. Abu Dhabi is also the capital of the U.A.E, which is where Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nayhan lives who is the current president of the U.A.E.. The president is one of the seven Emirs. The seven Emirs are the rulers of the Emirates. There is one Emir for each of the seven Emirates and the seven together pick one among themselves to lead the nation as a whole. The palace of the president was like everything else in the U.A.E. grand and magnificent in its size and splendor. Even more amazing was the capital building which had a massive dome top, which I unfortunately could not get a very good photo of due to the sand still in the air from the sandstorms that had been occurring. I was dropped off for a while in order to go and get some photos and then after my mom and I continued along the corniche to the other side. On the other side was a water complex, where the water sports of Abu Dhabi are located. My mom had to use the restroom so before walking the corniche we decided to head into the mall located nearby to find a toilet. After arriving inside my nostrils were immediately invaded by the spices of the Middle East. It had been a smell I was missing, since Dubai is so modern that is lacks the distinct smell of a lot of the Arab peninsula. Inside the mall was much more conservative, to a very similar level as Doha. Most of the individuals inside of the mall were of local decent and wore their thawbs. This is not similar in Dubai as Dubai is an extremely international city full of people from all over the world, and most dress in a Western fashion. After we headed back to the corniche where we walked along the water for a bit and looked at the amazingly blue water. Once this was finished we headed back to the car and back towards Dubai. On the way back we stopped at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Masque which is an enormous white mosque along the water. It was once again grand, which was becoming a common theme in the U.A.E. I took some photo's of it and then headed back to Dubai.
The next morning my mother and I went on a boat ferry hoping to get some nice views of the city. Unfortunately the sand storms had begun again, this time with a furry previously unknown to me, and seeing anything on the coast was impossible. It was still nice to get out on the ocean and feel the breeze. Also the sand wasn't as bad out there so the air was clearer, which allowed me to breath more freely. After I arrived back, I thought the hunger games had come out. So I went with my mom and Paul to the theater to see if they were playing the hunger games. Unfortunately I was a day off on when the film came out, so instead we went to the hotel next to the mall to have a drink. The bar we went to was on a high floor with a pool that was designed in a way that looked as if the pool was going off the side of the building. In the evening the sandstorm had died down a bit so it was clear and you could see all the massive buildings surrounding the bar with the ocean a distant view.
Later that evening I went out to a bar with a young guy who worked with Paul, named Mathew. On the way we picked up this other guy whose name was Michael to come along with us. Once we arrived to the bar it was far different then any other bar I had been to in Dubai. It was not upscale at all and would be a regular pool hall bar in the states. We played a few games of billiards and they were good friends with the manager of the bar, who was English and loved talking about sports. After a while another friend of theirs came who was a mercenary who was formally employed by the US army, but was now helping to train pilots in the U.A.E. and was a weapons expert and analysis for the government. I ended up talking to him for a while and since I had just come from Southeast Asia he was talking to me about how he used to be a mercenary working for governments in Southeast Asia most notably Vietnam and Laos. He told me how he worked in drug enforcement and was in charge of breaking up the cocaine trade and movements within those countries. He also told me about how half the cocaine they would confiscate would be taken by other soldiers or government workers in order to use or sale. Beyond that he also told me about the different scary experiences that happened to him including different gun battles he had. Beyond that he told me about his wife who was Eastern European and worked for Emirates Air.
After that they wanted to take me to a place that out there. We ended up going through these doors that led to a secretive back room. When we got back there I heard loud Indian music and Indian women sitting and dancing on the stage. The women were being sold for the night to the highest bidder. What would happen is the women would dance on stage one at a time, while the rest sat on chairs behind. Surrounding the stage were tables where men sat to watch. The crowd was mainly Indian, but there was also some local Emirattees dressed in local garb. This was strange because a lot of local places do not allow this, since these are illegal enterprises and they are worried that locals who are dressed in traditional garments will either attract government officials, or will sell the local enterprise out to the officials. The women, while dancing, would flirt with certain men who seemed to be regulars. Once a women was sold, she would be given a tiera and the other women would clap for her as she went off the stage. From what I gathered the starting prices were between 1000-1500 USD for one night.
After that everyone took off, but I went with Mathew to another bar where he was going to meet some friends. At this other bar I met a Swedish motorcycle gangster who was good friends with Mathew.This bar was pretty cool as it was a nice rooftop bar, but wasn't over the top like a lot of Dubai bars. The Swedish guy looked exactly what you would expect him to . He had a shaved head, beard, and was quite muscular with a lot of tattoos. He owned a motorcycle shop where he fixed up Harley's and also built his own bikes. After the bar we headed back to the Swedish guys apartment, with his girlfriend, and another friend. Once there he told us some of his stories about his bikes and some clients in the other Emirates. He also let us have some salty Swedish candy that he loved, but everyone else seemed somewhat unimpressed by. In his spare time he was also a wielder and showed me some of the weapons he had made, which to my untrained eyed seemed to be pretty well made. He was also working on a suit of armor. On our way out he showed us in the garage the bikes he was working on, and there were about 9 bikes in the garage, and most of them were Harley's.
The next day I took it easy, as my mother and I were planning on heading to Oman the next day. My mom, Paul, and myself went to the movie theater and saw The Hunger Games, which I enjoyed. The theater in Dubai was very nice, and like Southeast Asia there was assigned seating. Beyond that I rested and read for the rest of the evening and went on a quick beach walk with my mom. I went to bed semi-early in order to be rested for Oman the next day.
The next morning we dropped Paul off for work and my mom and I headed for Oman. The border crossings are very interesting as they don't stop you on the U.A.E. side which means you can drive right through the border check, which we did. In order to get into Oman we had to stop at an insurance place between the two borders to buy insurance for the car. The insurance man told us that we had to get an exit stamp before we could carry on so we had to drive back to the U.A.E. border to get our exit stamp. That was pretty easy to do as I'm sure plenty of people drive through and we were shortly back on our way to Oman. After getting our car insurance we went to the Omani border. After getting to the border we had to get out of the car and go in to get a visa. The visa process was quite simple and since we were going to Oman through the U.A.E. we didn't have to pay any visa fees. After that we were back on the road to Oman.
Oman is a country far different then anything else I had experienced up to this point in the Middle East. For starters it was mountainous with tall jagged peaks. The country is also an oasis when compared to the parts of the U.A.E. and Qatar I had visited. With an abundant amount of trees and a decent level of greenery as well. The other major difference I noticed was Oman's age. Muscat the capital used to be an empire that covered present day Oman, Yemen, and a few parts of Africa. They were an empire famous for their incense, one of which is Frankincense. Frankincense was and is grown in this area, and gets it name from the period of the crusades. The Franks, who were a European people and participated in the crusades, brought Frankincense back with them from the region, hence its name Frank-Incense. Locally Frankincense is also known as Olibanum, which is derived from the Arabic al-lubān which translates to "that which results from milking." This is in reference to the way it is gathered, as it is a sap that comes from the Boswellia tree. The ancient city of Ubar, which is in present day Shisr was a historically significant center for Frankincense. I mention all of this because this is how Oman was different. When I was in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, and other parts of the Arab peninsula I felt like I was seeing where the Arab world was heading, but when I was in Oman I felt like I was feeling where it had been.
Once we arrived on the coast of Oman we still had quite a drive to undertake before we made it to Muscat. We also had not printed any maps of how to get to our hotel or addresses, we had to find it by other means. When we finally arrived in Muscat we had no idea where to go, so we pulled over to ask a taxi driver where to go. Pretty soon there were around 20 cab drivers next to the car window explaining to me how to get to our hotel. I told them thank you, and they shook my hand while saying peace be with you. We followed their directions and ended up down on Muscat's corniche, which was far different than any other I had seen on the Arab peninsula. Where Dubai and Doha had beautiful modern Corniche's, Muscat had an old feel to theirs. There was fishing huts all the way up and down the beach, and the other side was full of local shops and homes. When we finally arrived to where the cab drivers had told us to go, we realized they directed us to a knew housing/resort complex that had the same name as our hotel, but was not our hotel. We saw another taxi driver in the resort and asked him if he knew where our hotel was. He told us yes, but that we were on the opposite side of town. He told us he would take us there if we wanted to follow, since the person he was picking up was being dropped off in a similar area. We told him thank you, but that would not be necesary. He told us how to get there and gave us his number just in case. After that we got back on the freeway and headed to the part of Muscat he told us to go to. Once we got there we still couldn't find the street so we stopped in front of a LuLu's grocery store and asked another taxi driver for directions. He told us he didn't know where it was, but he would try and help us find it. So we ended up following his taxi around for a while before he finally pulled over and apologized for not finding it. We tried to pay him for his help but he humbly declined and said may peace be with you. We ended up going into a hotel near by and they told us our hotel was literally right around the corner. Once we found it we were relieved and headed in to get our room. It was a very nice hotel, with a traditional vibe to it. You could smell the spices inside of the building. Once we were in the hotel we left to go exchange money into the local currency. The nice thing about Oman is they readily accept Emirati money as well so it makes exchanging it not as urgent if you are travelling between the two countries. We went to a mall they had just opened up, but there was no money exchange so we went back to the Lulu's next door and exchanged there. On our way out we ran back into the last taxi driver who had helped us, he was friendly and was glad we made it. He once again wished that peace be with us and we said our goodbyes. Once back at the hotel we had dinner at a restaurant downstairs. It was a local eatery with pillow cushions on the seats and with people smoking hookah all around. I had goat cheese, with cucumbers and pita, and my mother had a good fish soup. After that we headed to bed.
The next morning we had a huge buffet before checking out of the hotel. After that we went to the Sultan Qaboo Grand Mosque, which is the largest mosque in Muscat. In order to enter to mosque, women have to wear a head covering and cover the skin of their body besides their hands. Men have to wear pants and cannot wear shorts or a tank top. Inside of the mosque they have the second largest hand-woven rug in the world and also the worlds second largest chandiler. It was an absolutely beautiful mosque and I was quite happy to finally be able to go inside of a mosque as a lot of the grand mosques in the region are off limits to non-believers. The architecture was absolutely beautiful and the gardens outside were amazing as well. Inside of the marble court yard you could see young children heading to and from the main building on their way to prayer. It was a very beautiful and peaceful experience. While there I learned that the Sultan of Oman is an absolute ruler meaning he has absolute power. Even the king of Saudi is not an absolute ruler as he still has to answer to the royal family, which makes the Sultan of Oman one of few actual absolute rulers in the world. The interesting thing about the man is he goes on tours of the country and he holds open hours where any one of his citizens can come and personally file their grievances with him, rich and poor. He is also largely responsible for uniting his country as before him the inner parts of the country, while still being part of Oman, were ruled mainly by religious leaders. The people tend to love him as he has modernized the country and brought relative wealth to it during his reign.
After the mosque my mother and I drove to the old part of the city, which was amazing. This is what I imagined the Middle East to look like. Old white buildings, where people sit on their rooftops, with narrow market ways full of spices. The old town also had forts all around. In older times the old part of town would have been nearly impossible to conquer as it was completed surrounded by steep cliff faces on three sides and a protected bay on the other. On top of that the mountains that guard the three land sides of the city have a man made wall that was built on top of the cliff faces, and the one side facing the ocean has two forts on each side of the small bay. The city was built like a fortress, which makes sense that they were never officially conquered by any European power, even though a few tried. It was quite amazing being in the old part of town and seeing the watchtowers that still remained of the wall high up on the cliffs of the mountains, along with a few small forts dotting the cliffs and the two beautiful forts out on the bay.
We parked in the old part of town and walked around the streets for a while. I attempted to climb up the rocks to one of the forts as I saw a walkway, but when I got to the entrance to the fort it was closed shut and none of them were open to visitors. After that we went to the old souq, which made me happy as it reminded me of an actual souq, instead of the modern souqs in Dubai. This souq had the smell of incense and spice, stores full of old compasses and knives, fabric stores, and everything else. My mom went into a store that was selling old jewelery and wanted to buy a mother of pearl bracelet and earrings. She was mainly bargaining with the guy and got him down a fair amount, but then I heard him say something that contradicted a previous statement. I called him out on it and he lowered the price a bit more. To top it off we told him we would take the deal if he would throw in three postcards as I had yet to send my nephews and niece one from Oman. He agreed, we said thank you and headed off. Before leaving the souq I found a cool incense store, where I bought 6 different types of incense in their natural dried resin form. In this form the only way to burn them is to put them over a piece of hot charcoal that slowly lights it. I must say the incense smelt amazing. After that I quickly filled out the postcards and put them into a mailbox and my mother and I drove out closer to one of the forts. We got fairly close and I was able to take some pictures of them with the gorgeous blue bay. We were right near a current fort where the soldiers were surprisingly friendly and told us to have a nice day. To be honest everyone in Oman was friendly, and they were perhaps the friendliest people I have met on my journey. After my camera ran out of batteries we decided to start heading back to Dubai. On the way back we stopped at the corniche one last time. I found a starbucks so I decided to buy my dad a coffee cup from Oman knowing how much he likes starbucks. After that we drove down to one of the beaches and I walked along the beach with my mom so she could collect some shells. Once finished we hopped on the road and headed back to Dubai.
On the way back I couldn't remember what road we had used before to get from the inland part of Oman to the coast, and I ended up picking the wrong road. This road took us right through the center of the mountain rage of Oman, it was extraordinarily beautiful and extremely desolate. As we drove along it we could see ancient watch towers on the peaks of the mountains and rugged terrain below that would have made it a nearly impossible journey to have conquered Muscat from that route. We finally arrived at the Omani border post and they stamped our passports with an exit stamp. The interesting thing about this border is that it is in such a desolate part of the country that it is about another hours drive to the U.A.E. border post. This means that for about an hour you are exited from Oman but haven't yet officially entered the U.A.E.. After a while we finally reached the U.A.E. border, but the man told us we couldn't use this border as it was for locals only and told us we had to use a different border a little ways down. After driving for a while we finally found the other border, but when we arrived the man told us we had to get an entrance stamp from inside the building so we turned around and went into the building. After waiting for someone to show up, a man finally did and gave us stamps to enter the U.A.E.. The whole ordeal was pretty tiring, but we had finally made it back into Dubai. I gathered from the whole ordeal that sometimes people miss the Omani border post and have to drive an hour back to get the stamp before they are then allowed to turn around and head back to the U.A.E., crazy! After that we had a couple of hours before we reached the actual city of Dubai. It was a straightforward drive at that point and we made it back pretty easily. Before heading back to my moms we had to go to the airport to pick up Paul who had just returned from a business trip.
The next day I had an appointment at the US Embassy to get pages added to my passport as I had run out. When I went online to confirm my appointment it said that I had never made an appointment even though that was one of the first things I had done when I arrived in Dubai. I decided to go to the Embassy anyways and try and make a that day appointment. It was important that I get pages added, because I was heading back to the US in two days, and if I wanted to take my job offer in Saudi I would need multiple blank pages.
Once I arrived at the Embassy what I expected to happen occurred. The guy at the front door told me and about two others it was impossible and that we would need to make an appointment online. The other two left pretty much after that, but I told the man I refused to leave and that I had made an appointment. I also told him I wouldn't leave until he let me in or I could talk to his manager. He still refused and I told him this was an emergency and I had to get it taken care of. After a little more arguing back and forth he finally told me he would go in and get his manager on the phone. It took him a bit to do it. but he finally came out and let me talk to him on the phone. I told him I was leaving in two days and I needed more passports pages. He asked if I could come in tomorrow, and I said that would work perfectly.
The next day I went back to the Embassy and that time everything went smoothly I was in and out in a little under an hour, with fresh new passport pages. After that my mom took me to a souq a bit outside of Dubai so I could look for a traditional tea set. Unfortunately it was still closed when we arrived so we headed back to Dubai. That night as it was my last night I went out to dinner at a Mexican food restaurant with my mom and Paul. The food was pretty good, but it was great having salsa and endless chips. After that I walked out to the beach to take some night shots of the city and sat to look at the skyline for a while. After that I headed back to my moms to pack my bag and head to the airport.
It was an extremely easy flight. I checked into my flight and went to the terminal. The first leg of my flight was from Dubai to London on British Airways. The only interesting thing that really happened on the flight was when the flight stewardess told me my options for breakfast I asked her what she recommended. When she told me she would probably get the English breakfast because she was English. I nodded and told her that made sense. I took her advice despite not being English and had the English breakfast. Once landing in London I had to recheck in to catch the next leg of my flight from London to New York on United. The only notable thing on that flight was being mistaken for a woman when a stewardess called me ma'am and then blushed when she realized I was a man.
Once I arrived in New York I was interested to see how much they would question me at the border check since I had been gone for almost a year and had stamps from all over, including some countries that are not on the best of terms with the US. When I got to the window it was an old man. He looked through my passport for a bit and then said "Boy Teddy, you've had quite a trip how was it?" I was a little surprised by him referring to me as Teddy, but I told him I had a great time. He then went on to tell me about how he was surprised I listed it as Burma in my passport as that is what they called it when he was in college, according to him. After that he told me welcome back and that was it. It was surprisingly uneventful. I had a few hours to kill after I checked into the domestic flights terminal so I went to buy a water. I was a little surprised at the price, since the three dollars it cost me would have been my daily budget in Thailand. After that I sat in the free lounge that was set up by Mastercard, and all you had to do to get in was have a Mastercard. A couple of hours later I boarded my last flight to SFO. Once arriving I left the flight area and gave my dad who was waiting for me a hug. I grabbed my bag and headed home.
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