Hey Folks,
I hope everything is well wherever you may be!
I
have known Andrew since I was five. We became fast friends in England where we
overlapped for a little over a year before my family moved back to Nashville
and we have been able to see each other, as a conservative estimate, once every
two years. He is easily my oldest friend. It is one of those natural
friendships that requires little upkeep and one that we are both able to ease
right back into even after years of being apart.
As
some of you may know, Kenya just went through a rather important election, the
first since the widespread Post-Election violence in 2007. Because many local
schools were closing for the week to be voting stations and because of concerns
about safety, the Academy moved our mid-February week off to the first week of
March to coincide with the elections. Partly because it sounded like most shops
and restaurants would be closed and that the Academy might have to go into lock
down if anything bad did happen, which it thankfully did not have to do, and
partly because of that looming threat of unrest, I decided to take the week to
travel.
Fortunately
for me, Andrew currently lives in Duabi in the United Arab Emirates, a mere
5-hour direct flight away. Funny thing about direct flights, though, is that
they tend to be more expensive than those circuitous ones. So, naturally, I
headed down to Ethiopian Airlines to book a nice cheap indirect flight through
Addis Ababa for a very reasonable, and some might say outrageously low flight. I
made sure to check their safety record online before departure and everything
checked out.
It
turns out that you do indeed get what you pay for, however, and instead of
arriving in Dubai at 3 in the morning as planned, I did not arrive until 8:30. I was stuck in Addis for about five hours over the course of which it
seemed Ethiopian was playing mind games with the passengers: the plane computer
broke, the bused us back to the terminal, fed us cake and water for dinner, passed
us through immigration to get a hotel and, before we could leave the airport,
grabbed us at the last minute to board a new flight. So pleasant.
My
first interaction with the local Emiratis occurred at immigration. Only men
were employed at immigration and they all had a certain swagger to them,
something I couldn’t quite place my finger on but something that felt very
strongly like aloofness. They all wore impeccably white robes from their ankles
up to their heads and were crowned with thick black rolls of fabric that held
their ensemble in place. Their beards were equally flawless and looked as if
they had been shorn by precision lasers instead of human hands. Their feet
reflected a certain, shall we say, metro-sexuality; they were obviously very
well taken care of and had been on the receiving end of many a pedicure. It was
very apparent that these men spent a lot of time, and money, on their
appearance. I later learned from Andrew that the Emiratis, especially the men,
have it made and that even for a low level government position, like an
immigration passport stamper, they make about 80,000 USD a year. It’s no
surprise the Arab Spring did not sweep through the UAE like it did in other
parts of the Arab world. My passage through immigration was painless, probably
because of the cheerful, well-paid immigration officers, and I was through to
the Duty-Free where I was able to purchase some small tokens of appreciation for
my hosts.
As
I had absolutely no access to Internet over the course of my delays, so Andrew,
too, was caught in an elaborate dance of misinformation from the Ethiopian
Airlines desk in Dubai. But, regardless, he was there patiently waiting at
Arrivals. A quick picture to assure my mother I had arrived safe and sound and
we were off.
Hey Ma
I
can only assume I was poor company at the beginning of my stay in Dubai as I
was almost twenty-six hours with out sleep. Andrew kindly showed me up the
apartment and to the room of his apartment mate’s that I would be
requisitioning for my time there (thanks Lewis!) and I promptly passed out for
five hours while Andrew made an appearance at work. After I was roused by his
return, we went out on his balcony to reminisce about our past trips. It was
here that I got my first real, non-drowsy view of Dubai.
Andrew’s
apartment is on the 27th floor which means it has fantastic views.
It is so high up that my ears popped, not once, but twice on the elevator ride.
The apartment looks out over, first, the parking garage and pool for the
apartment, followed by a bustling road, a beautiful mosque, and a sprawl of two-story
villas. Eventually the land runs out and the Gulf begins. We were out there at
the perfect time, right as the sun was setting over the water, illuminating the
distant waves and highlighting the skeletal scaffolding of the port.
Soon
enough, Beth, Andrew’s other roommate, came home. Andrew knows Beth from home in
the UK; I had just missed her after I left for the States. Two years ago, after
I was returning from my study abroad, we had Christmas dinner at their house
along with the Speers, Andrew’s family. So although, Beth and I don’t go way
back, we still go back and it was fantastic to see her. After some great
conversation, we headed over to Alex’s, Andrew’s friend from work, apartment
for Ping Pong and Pizza. Alex is French, studied in Quebec, and now works in
Dubai; he is an overall great guy and an international man of mystery if I have
ever met one. It’s nice to see that Andrew is a good judge of character.
It
was a great relaxing evening but soon enough we were heading home, across the
bustling highway. Now is as good a time as any to talk about Dubai itself, as I
was stuck by the combined absurdity, immensity, wealth and unnatural nature of
Dubai at precisely this time as we were walking slowly back home. Massive
skyscrapers claw towards the sky, lit haphazardly by office lights and residences;
sleek high-class luxury automobiles zip along a perfectly crafted highway,
eight lanes wife; a Space Age metro system soars above the road, its stations
appearing like interstellar spaceports dotted rhythmically along the track. My
immediate thought, I am not ashamed to admit, was that it looks exactly like
Coruscant. For the uninitiated, Coruscant is planet from the Star Wars universe
that is covered entirely by skyscrapers and industrial structure and is home to
the Jedi Council among other administrative headquarters. It is a big ball of
lights, sounds, and activity. The bizarre thing about Dubai is that it has not
been around that long and the view you get from the main drag is all there
really is. The huge buildings line the road obscuring all else, but once you go
behind them, the illusion is broken for nothing lies beyond them, just low
lying houses and desert. It seems illogical, but it makes you appreciate the
power of money and the ludicrous things it allows you to accomplish.
The
next day, Andrew and I drove down to Abu Dhabi, an Emirate just down the coast from
Dubai that is apparently the more conservative, economically at least, version
of Dubai and that is headed by Sheikh Khalifa, President of the UAE. He also lends
his name to the Burj Khalifa, tallest building in the world located in Dubai. During
the economic downturn in 2009, they had to abandon construction on the then Burj
Dubai. Sheikh Khalifa knew a good self-marketing chance when he saw one and offered
to pay for the completion of the tower under one circumstance, they chance the
name from Burj Dubai to Burj Khalifa and, voilà , there you go. Here is what it
looked like as Andrew and I drove by it:
Burj Khalifa
Our
mission was to see the Grand Mosque, inside and out. Andrew had been once
before, but it was dark and he was wearing shorts so he was not allowed inside.
Poor planning. He must have been busy before hand. Knowing full well about the
regulations now, and because we had a nice dinner with Beth’s parents that
night, we came well prepared and looking dapper in our khakis and button downs.
The
Mosque was stunning. It is made of pure white stone, I am assuming marble, and
has four pristine minarets that shoot up at each corner of the building. A
dazzling colonnade, replete with inlaid flowers of mother of pearl, surrounds
the courtyard of the mosque. The entry way had some beautifully crafted tiles
and intricate designs and Arabic calligraphy in the stonework. Inside the
mosque itself, they had obviously spared no expense. The carpet inside is
apparently the largest in the world and took two years to make. Enormous
chandeliers hang from the ceiling. These, to me at least, seemed a little over
the top. They are all sorts of gaudy colors and really do a disservice to the
breathtaking pure white domes they dangle from. The Qibla wall is engraved with
all 99 names of Allah from floor to ceiling. The mihrab is coated in gold leaf
and has a serpentine movement that makes the viewer imagine it as some sort of
eternal flame, ever radiant. The effect was increased by the beautiful muqarnas
towards the top that scatter light and increase the incendiary feel even more.
See photos with captions to help explain that Islamic architectural jargon!
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
A little much, don't you think?
Mihrab
Maquarnas, see what I mean!
After
exploring the main prayer hall, Andrew and I set our sights on climbing up to
the top of one of the minarets. After asking numerous security guards who all
looked at us like we were nuts, we found a janitor who looked intrigued by the
idea. He didn’t say no, and that was a good sign. He said ask a security guard,
so we wandered away, and wandered back, and he looked at us with eager eyes. You
could tell that he kind of wanted to show us up there, but in the end we unfortunately
failed in our mission.
We left the mosque and grabbed a quick coffee with
two girls that went to Vanderbilt and are teaching English in Dubai, small
world, eh? It was pleasant enough, but we had dinner to catch so we sped off
into the sunset.
Dinner was at Seafire. Seafire is at the Atlantis
hotel. The Atlantis hotel is at the top of that utterly implausible and downright
amazing feat of engineering that is the Palm Jumeirah. Yeah, I went there, and
yeah, it is as cool as it looks.
Dinner was with the Kristies, Beth’s parents, and
it was a truly enjoyable affair. The Kristies know how to enjoy life to the
fullest and every conversation is full of laughter. I won’t even try to explain
how delicious the food was, but I can safely say that I consumed the most
tender, delectable steak I have ever eaten before. No description could do it
any justice so I will just stop there. We headed our separate ways after dinner
and Andrew and I began to prepare for the journey ahead.
Oman
Since Andrew and I hit adulthood, we have made a
tacit pledge to explore as much as we can when we finally meet up. We travel
extremely well together, and, at this point, have travelled to eight countries.
So, naturally, we decided to go on a quick road trip this time around right
down the other coast to Muscat, Oman.
Once we left Dubai, we were legitimately driving
through the desert evidenced by the fact that Camels dotted the landscape every
kilometer or so. All along the way little camps popped up, all fenced in and with
ATV’s at the ready, all waving the UAE flag. It was strangely beautiful, if
monotonous. It only took about an hour to reach the beautiful, if a bit
unorganized, border with Oman. The border crossing coincides with a series of
jagged mountains that rise from the desert like the fangs of some long dead dragon
of old. Our American passports were tools of great expediency as we were
quickly waved through when we showed them, while other nationalities were
frequently stopped and searched.
Once in Oman, the drive was actually pretty dull.
It reminded me of driving in Florida, lots of palm trees and small shops of a
similar architectural style. The ever-present minarets looked not dissimilar to
the church steeples that dot the Floridian landscape, especially if when you
squint. What stuck me most was the amount of construction going on. Every ten
kilometers a new roundabout or overpass was being fashioned. Each existing
roundabout was adorned with an elaborate faux mosque or some other equally
elegant structure with strong overtones of Islamic design. And, strangely, from
the border all the way to Muscat, four and a half hours driving, the road was
lined with streetlights. The entire way. It didn’t strike me until about
a quarter of the way into our drive but once I realized it, and much to
Andrew’s chagrin, I wouldn’t stop commenting on it. It was bizarre and
indicative, along with the construction, of a major recent influx of money into
Oman.
We arrived in Muscat in the early afternoon. I
could not have imagined a city more distinctly different from Dubai. The city
sprawls for well over ten miles along the coast, not because of a large
population, but because of its location sandwiched between the Gulf of Oman and
sharp mountains similar to those I described at the border. It is made up almost
exclusively of square white buildings. The square, white or off-white buildings have all the potential
to be clunky and sovietesque but are just stunning set against the jagged dark
hills and mountains that stand in such stark contrast to them, while the
buildings’ elegant pointed windows break the plain nature of their form.
To
add to the architectural beauty of the city, there are small, rotund,
cylindrical forts that are perched high up on almost every sharp ridge,
ostensibly as look outs over the ocean. The Omani empire came into conflict
with the Portuguese when the Iberians made their way to this part of the world.
Just as the Portuguese had a presence in Mombasa, the Omani empire once held
sway here. The Omanis militarized well and their remaining forts are truly a
sight to behold.
Andrew had been down to Muscat for business before
so we made a quick stop at the hotel he had stayed at for a quick drink and advice
on where to go from the concierge. We decided to head in the general direction
of the old town and soon found ourselves zipping around an old town that had
obviously not been designed with cars in mind, which made it all the more
enjoyable. We parked and decided to explore on foot. It was around 3 o’clock
and the place was dead. Hardly a soul around. We quickly realized we were at
the palace compound and had narrowly beaten a few busloads of German tourists
to the spot. We noticed a small fort on a hill, as you do in Muscat, and decided
to have a go at it. We hopped a fence and climbed up a poorly maintained staircase.
We got a great view of the Royal Palace, there was no flag flying so I am
assuming Sultan Qaboos was out and about. From our vantage point, we soon
realized we could access the inner palace structure, so, not wanting to catch
the attention of any guards, we scurried back down the stairs and over the
fence, blending quickly into the crowd of Germans.
Cheesin in front of the Palace
We
followed a tour group along and tried to gain access to one of the larger forts
but it was closed for repairs, I’m telling you, every thing in Oman is under
construction. From our position outside the fort we could see the palace as it
faced the sea. There are four rather imposing guns that point out towards the narrow
inlet and speak to a time when assault from sea was a real threat to the Omanis.
These guns were very modern though, so it appears the threat has not passed.
We wandered the old city for a bit more, and then
hopped in the car and headed to the Souk, or market. The market began right by
the ocean and, via a series of narrow passageways, wove its way up the mountainside.
It was teeming with German tourists, just hordes and hordes of them. Whenever
Andrew and I encountered two paths that diverged in an Omani souk, we took the
one fewer Germans did, and that made all the difference.
The souk was packed with goods that were mostly
unappealing to young twenty something American males. I had no pressing need
for a burqa, no real desire to blow the bank on elegant gold jewelry, and
certainly no craving for intense Arabic incense. So we ducked and wove through
different alleys, until we emerged in a rather quiet lane farther back in the
market. This section of the souk was
covered, giving it a more intimate atmosphere. There was a very small looking
store with three sturdy, thick, ancient wooden doors resting against the storefront
and an elderly Omani man sitting at a cluttered dusty desk through the entry
way. This place had potential and we both knew it.
We eased inside, careful not to disturb any of the
precariously perched curios. We noticed a rather cramped opening into what
appeared to be a back room and the seated man gestured back as if to say, “go
ahead, check it out.” We shuffled through and found ourselves in a veritable
gold mine of Omani history. The back room was a good ten times larger than the
entry way and packed floor to ceiling with all sorts of historical accouterment.
Rapiers hung from the walls as did rifles and curved daggers. We were later to
find out that the owner had obtained the weaponry from the local Bedouin. Cool.
There were more ancient doors back there along with paintings, archaic locks,
lamps (the proprietor held one up and said “Aladdin,” with the atmosphere in
there, I half believed him), and other intricately wrought metal items.
Hardly does it justice
The air was heavy, dusty and dank; tomblike in the
most exciting way possible. We poked around for a good thirty minutes before
realizing we were unfortunately cashless and vowed to return the next day
before we headed back. We grabbed a business card and made a mental map of our
circuitous route back to this treasure trove.
We tried to make our way back to the road but got
very turned around in the labyrinth of the souk and our reliance on our
self-proclaimed great senses of direction turned out to be misplaced. We soon
found ourselves high above the market in a residential area. Embracing our new
adventure, we chose to climb higher up the steep inclines and increasingly
ragged paths. Eventually, the paths and the houses ended and rock and scree
began. In our boat shoes and khakis, we looked an odd pair, but we strove on undeterred,
but not unnoticed. We finally crested a ridge and we treated to a continuing
view of the white sprawl of Muscat. As the afternoon sun waned, the local kids emerged
into the shadows of the local mosque onto the dirt soccer pitch to start their
afternoon game.
About fifty meters away down the ridge, a circular
fort topped the hill. New target for exploration. We scampered across the
hillside, past clotheslines and houses and a particularly fresh dog carcass to
the stronghold…. And found it bolted shut. Buzzkill. However, from our new vantage point, we were treated to a great view of the port and settled for a few pictures before
our descent.
The Intrepid Travelers surveying the land
We were planning on camping for the evening but
the area was very well developed, or rather extensively developed, so we
settled on a relatively cheap hotel, certainly not Muscat’s finest. We hit up
the local mall for some fine cuisine for dinner (we settled on the Roadhouse
Diner, an instant favorite).
The following day we visited the souk again and I
bought a really cool old lock (cooler than it sounds, I promise) from the cool
shop at the souk. After a quick trip back to the forts to try to get access,
which failed, we hit the road for the trip back to Dubai.
Dubai
One of the best parts about Dubai is its role as
an international crossroads. I mention this because by chance my time in Dubai
coincided with a visit by a Professor of mine from Bowdoin, Professor Shelley
Deane. Professor Dean currently works at a company called International Alert
where she basically jets between the Middle East and home base in London
helping governments and other interest groups to negotiate peace settlements or
avoid violent conflict. She was visiting her Mother who lives in Dubai so I
joined them for Tea. Just goes to show, again, how small this world really is.
A young boy from Tennessee who lives in Kenya drinking English tea with an
Irish professor whom he met in Maine but who works in London but is visiting
her mother in Dubai. Globalization embodied in an encounter. It was great to
reminisce about Bowdoin, talk about what the future may hold for us both and
discuss good old government stuff, which I haven’t really been able to do in a
while. I had to head out in the late afternoon to get back to the apartment but
was sad to go. I can only hope our paths cross again in the near future!
Andrew
hosted a little get together at his apartment for a bunch of work friends and I
finally got to meet Lewis, recently returned from Kabul, Afghanistan, who
reclaimed his bed and forced me out on to my inflatable camping mattress in the
living room. A big night out was in the works, which coincided nicely with my
last night in Dubai. And a big night out it was, from an aptly named bar named “Rock
Bottom” to other equally dubious places, we had a rousingly good time.
We
woke up early, too early really, the following morning to meet Beth’s parents
out at the Atlantis, but this time for the waterpark, Aquaventure. It was a
great way to wash away the feeling from the night before and enjoy the Dubai
climate before another arduous plane journey. My new favorite discovery, and
word, from the experience is “burquini.” Burquini: origin- English/ Arabic, A
burqa designed to be worn while swimming and participating in other aquatic ventures,
covers all necessary skin with a thin polypropylene layer suitable for swimming. Antonym: Bikini. I
felt rude taking photos.
After
the fun in the sun, some stomach churning water slides and a few goodbyes, I
soon found myself bidding farewell to Andrew and Beth at the airport. It was another
hugely successful Speer/ Taylor adventure and the only thing to do now is to begin
planning for a trip to Kenya.
The
next few weeks look quite exciting on this end. Instead of the traditional “Spring
Break, No Parents!” cry, I will be welcoming my folks to Kenya for a two week
adventure. They just boarded the plane this afternoon! We have an extensive
safari planned, a few days in Mombasa and a few in Zanzibar. Certainly worth
writing about. Can’t wait.
Thanks
for reading!
-Mzungu
about to be reunited with the Folks in sunny Kenya