More About the Middle East

So even thought that post about Kuwait didn't have the nicest tone to it and everything in that country seemed to be the color of dirt and that all I wanted to do the minute I got there was leave, I would say the Middle East wasn't THAT bad. This tour started out in Dubai, which I had had a lot of anticipation for with all the hype it has been getting lately with their palm islands and seven star hotel and such. I think if I hadn't worked it up so much I would have been fine with it--I should have followed Aaron's advice--keep your expectations low and you'll always be happy! In general UAE was a lot more welcoming than Kuwait. The first day we arrived we had a FABULOUS lunch at the hotel NEXT to the seven star hotel, so we were almost really cool. It was a really nice resort itself--rooms and villas ranging from 1,000 to 10,000 USD per night and a cool canal running through it (we even got to take a little boat ride through it. I snuck onto the private beach and snapped a photo of the seven star hotel shooting out of my head (rooms from 6,000 to 28,000 per night!!).

It was crazy just how much building there is going on in Dubai. Every single road we drove on had something being built. The main street in Dubai had crane after crane after crane. According to the Gulf News, Dubai has about 30,000 or 24% of the world's cranes right now. But for all the progress and development and skyscrapers they have and all that, I would still have to say that I liked Istanbul a LOT more. It was by far my favorite part of the trip. It's quite the opposite of Dubai, an ancient city with buildings hundreds of years old--and no skyscrapers. The people were wonderful, the food delicious, the mosques incredible, the setting beautiful. The only problem was that we had a blizzard for 2.5 days and I was only there for 4. The other I guess being the fact that my shipment of school materials did not arrive until the second day of the education fair. I found this out when I was stranded in Kuwait and was so mad at DHL and couldn't do one single thing about it. I had lined up one of our alumni to come work at the fair the first day since I was still going to be in Bahrain and she showed up there all ready to help out, with no material and no way of contacting me. Bless her heart.

So if you add that to the blizzard, we had a little damper put on attendance at the fair as well as my plans for touristing on my last day there. I was so depressed when I woke up the last morning and it was still snowing--I had been so exciting to see the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque and there I was so close and I couldn't even see them. Schools were closed, government offices were closed, and all the taxis and even hotel cars were not driving. So I had no choice but to sit in the hotel room all morning (which did give me a little time to work on the blog though, definitely something you need to travel to Turkey to do). But around 2:00 my luck turned and it stopped snowing. Then the sun and blue skies even came out so I hopped in a taxi and took a quick tour of the city. The Blue Mosque was just as beautiful as I had imagined.

Then I went to the Topkapi Palace across the street and do you know what they have in their museum?!?! The Rod of Moses. How on earth?! They also have the cloak of Muhammed and the turban of Joseph. Having walked in not expecting to see anything, I was a little taken aback at how they could have such artifacts. The Rod of Moses?! But you know what, it did feel really spiritual in there, so who knows. Anyway, all in all it was quite an interesting trip, capped off by my luggage not making it back on the plane with me. It apparently really liked the Amsterdam airport so it had stayed there over night. After all the other lovely new experiences, I thought this was a nice way to end things. Luckily, it came the next day as promised. Let's just say I'm not too excited to get back on the road next Wednesday!!!

For more pics of the trip, check out my myspace (link in the right column, or www.myspace.com/taiwanbecca).