So I am back and catching up with the latest stuff on the web.
Here are some good stuff:
A Amazing visual music search feature to find other other artist
you may like
Google Labs Aptitue Test: How different do you
think?
Iranian Blogger protesting a blog crackdown >
Study reveals how painting eyes follow you:
Just got home. It is 5:00am I left Doah at 1pm. You do the math.
Stuff happned on the way not just ready to talk about it just now, I will provide pics and videos once I get some rest and over this fight or flight phase.
It is good to be home.
Looking at it now and thinking on how I will be in Kuwait tomorrow shows how really more developed tha
n the other countries we are. Our roads and cities and population are so ahead of the other countries
in the area. Yet we are behind in terms of free trade and allowing of foriegn investments. But that is
changing. I believe in 20 years the whole Gulf will be in the same level and that each country will h
ave a speciality.
Really enjoying Qatar, its really relaxed here and just feels cozy, found out that Khaleeji can own 3
houses in Doha and as much as they want outside the city limits. Wouldn’t minf a house here to relax and get away from Kuwait, and once they build that bridge betwen Bahrain-Qatar it will cut 6 hours from the trip, and they are saying that a bridge between Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Now that will be amazing. For I will be skipping those Saudi roads and make a trip 1/3rd the time if you went through Saudi. Though I am not sure about the humidity here, my glasses fog up, and my clothes stick to me like I jumped in the pool.
I visited Cornell - Qatar, and all I have to say is I want to be a student again. This place is a work of art. It just screams learning and expression. The architecture is just out of this world a mix of Islamic and ergonomic and geometric shapes. The classr
ooms are all high tech and the walls are whiteboard. So you can write everywhere it really feels like a place of learning. Oh! and the coolest thing they have these “pods” which are cluster of iMacs scattered around the building. You can check email, do homework, anything on these things. How cool is that
? What I loved the most was how they controled light there. it is all ambient and deflected or shaded. Gives it this very warm and light feeling. I love natural light so seeing this just gave me lots of ideas on how to control light in houses to avoid using lamps.
Glad I stayed an extra day so I can wander and finish my business. Sadly I am leaving tomorrow. I want to go back to Kuwait dont get me wrong. I just enjoyed my tour around the Gulf and seeing places that are still new and not known like Al-Ain and Doha. Both beutiful places and it is even better meeting
some really old friends and making new ones.
The old friends part is a good one. I was in Al-Ain and talking to the guy with me about my friends in college, and Omani and Emierati and how I lost contact with them and really would love to meet them. So I am at Al-Ain mall checking my email. And this guy comes and say “Salam” and it is my Omani friend that I haven’t seen in 7 years! 7 Years and I was just talking about him 2 hours ago!
We caught up and exchanged numbers and he still keeps in contact with the Emierati who lives in Al-Ain!. It was great meeting them both again catching up on old times and the people we interacted with and our college days.
Life is just weird and amazing like that.
Gives me more incentive to visit Al-Ain and really just stay there than Dubai. It is better weather (dry like Kuwait) cheap rooms, good people, and I got a friend that I can hang out with. The only time I went to Dubai was to go to City Center to visit the book store and look for the P910. I was in/out in 45 minutes. Then to a business meeting. I was glad I didnt have to spend any time there more than I needed to.
So tomorrow I go home. Feels like I have been gone more than a week.
I made it to Qatar. The trip took 7 hours and 41 minutes. It was long and confusing since they are no
signs telling you how far Salwa (Border) is. So I a driving driving seeing signs to Hofuf, Riyadh, Dam
ma, but no Salawa. I even found the old border crossing that is closed now, but there are these worker
s there that are cleaning the place. It place is closed why do you need to clean it? They told me its
another 70km to Salwa so I sped of on my way there.
The border place on Qatars side is really nice. Its has these old style look for the buildings and the
re was a female who checked my passport! And the people there smiled! It was a nice sight.
Doha is really nice and enjoying my time here. Will leave to Kuwait either today or tomorrow depending
on what I need to get done and the time I have left. The less I avoid driving during the night in Sau
di the better.
Once I get home I will try to catch up with everything and post more about my trip and scan the polaro
id pictures I took. Yes! I use a polaroid! Oh and I got the SE P910! It rocks, there isa slight learni
ng curve, but I am getting used to it.
RAR!
Just a quick link for people.
Some guy found someones digiam and is posting pics
and explaining pics
Enjoy
Tiredness been a long couple days and no time to get on the internet. Being in Al-Ain is great its a n
ice place reminds me of Kuwait a bit but what pisses me off is these damn round abouts. They are just
annoying your driving then slowdown, stop, round about, rinse, repeat. When I drove to Sharjah last ni
ght it took me longer to get to the highway then to Sharjah. Seems they are fixing that now moving the
main roads to bridges and removing them.
One place I went to in Al-Ain that was just stunning with this mountain that they pretty much covered
with grass and water canals, and built chalets for people to get for FREE, as well these (tents with A
C) around that people can also get for FREE. This was just one huge park on the mountain, greenery, a
lake. They say on weeekends it is full totally packed with people staying here and coming to visit an
d change the scenery. Then you can take the ride up the mountain to the top. This was the first time I
saw the altimeter in my car actually change. We went up 1010m and the view there is just stunning. Re
ally felt like I was top of the world. The road was very smooth and with lots of turns. I wanted to go
down and get a Porsche or something and just take it going down this road. They even created place fo
r people to park and take pictures and make out. The top has two buildings, one is a hotel that you ca
n rent a room in and weekends are full with waiting list. Then there is some sheik’s palace. Also a bi
g open area for people to park their cars at the top and do what ever. Really worth checking out if yo
u are ever in the area.
When visiting my friend in Sharjah Univeristy I was amazed on the size of this thing and it didn’t hav
e a monorail. It was that big, the buildings are huge structures and reminded me of Disneyworld or Epc
ot center, especially with the American Univ at the top with its dome. It was all covered with grass a
nd flowers these guys are spending good money on this place and it is worth it. One thing I didn’t lik
e about the area was it just seemed too big and too fake. I am used to the universities and schools th
at grew over time with builds scatterd around the campus, this place was just made big and quick. I ju
st didn’t feel it was a university.
The dorm I visited was more like a hospital, but my friend informed me this is the old one and he agre
es. The new ones are a lot better looking. Security is very tight there controling who comes and goes
and supposedly there are kids who are spies trying to figure out what you are and and politcal conitat
ions and doing piracy scans on computers. So if someone asked “got any computer games” you say “no” si
nce if you share it with him, he can come down you on computer piracy. As a place of learning and shar
ing of knowledge having spies in dorms kinda makes me feel uneasy about it.
The other people in the dorm were friendly, and I was hoping for some keg party or dancing girls, but
we are in Sharjah and not Florida U. There were kids in rec area playing games, and watching tv. Your
standard dorm life. It was a good mix of cultures and nationalities I liked how it really brings peopl
e together and allow them to get to know other people. My friend invited be his partner in a game of C
out. Cout is a game that I dont know how to play well. I know the basic concepts but strategy wise I s
uck. We played against these two other guys also from Kuwait. We were kicking ass at first hitting 30
/ 10. Then my friend went to bring our delivery and thats when the trouble started. I mentioned Saudi
roads suck. This is what I experienced and understand that this is due to the country is huge and the
government would rather have good city roads where the people are, then the ones in the outskirts.
So somehow this debate turned to Shia vs Sunna, the two other guys one was sunna the other shigey. Boy
did it get big and religous and political, concerning Kuwait, Saudi, cultures in the gulf, Iran, Iraq
. Just everything under and over the sun. I wanted to get back to the game we were kicking ass in. Yet
the debate went on. And this was a debate a really proper debate. Each guy was giving his point and b
acking it up, and if he didn’t like what the other person said he gave reasons why. Listening to them
was good stuff since I learned some stuff about Islam, but really there was arguing the same thing but
from different points. They both were saying cursing another religon is wrong, what the terrorists ar
e doing is wrong and not Islamic and they are not Muslims. That Kuwait has some pretty good religous t
olerance.
Then they agreed to go back to playing cout and kicked our asses royally. These guys were good. You ca
n tell these debates help them get to know each other and be creative.
It was refreshing to see a good intelectual debate going on.
Work is going good, I should be done in two days and start driving back home again. Need to contact me
friend in Abu Dhabi and meet up with him.
Oh and Sharjah road signs sucks! I go so lost they had them the size of post it notes!
Well I made it, took me longer an expected but I made it. It was a long trip but was enjoyable. Unlike
the Kuwait->Dammam road that is filled with gas stations the Dammam->UAE was very empty, almost every
100km a gas station. The roads were much better expect when you reach Hofuf/Al-Hasa. It seems the Sau
di just made the main highway go through the town and they are no signs or indication on where you are
going except the roads to Riyadh and Mecca. I ended up following a car with plates from Dubai and hop
ing he was going to UAE since no one else knew how to get there.
Hofuf/Al-Hasa is a strange town. It reminded me of a movie set cause driving that main road you see bu
ildings right by you, but when you look behind them there is nothing. It was a very strange feeling. O
ne amsuing thing I saw was “Al-Hasa Driving School”, talk about oxymoron. Also saw a building for arch
elogical studies, I plan to stop by there on the way back and see what that was about be intresting to
see what they have there.
So I maded it out of Al-Hasa and drove to Qatar/UAE that was a great road it was wide but still one la
ne each but you had room to overtake and avoid oncoming traffic and was very smooth. The only issue wa
s the rolling hills, so if you planned to overtake you saw nothing infront of you then suddenly a car
comes up from the hill. There were no gas stations but I didn’t mind it. The landscape was covered wit
h dots of arfaj. It was a very calming and enjoyable and relaxing sight. Seeing them cover the desert
all the way to the horizon.
When I got to the UAE border I was suprised on how old school it was. Well when I crossed the Kuwait/S
audi and Bahrain/Saudi borders you just remained in your car until you had to do the customs check. In
the UAE border I had to get out goto a building wait in line do my passport, then get back in my car
drive to customs, get out do the car paperwork. Though customs there was more than just a peek in the
car and let you go. The guy actually opened my glove box, took my bag through the x-ray and then he qu
estioned my radar detector… I forgot to hide it or take it apart when I was at other borders. I told
him it was for “navigation”. He knew I was lying but let me pass.
So once that was done and over I wanted to send a msg to my mom, and call the guy I was meeting in UAE
that I am in the country. I looked at my phone and it crashed. I couldn’t do anything so when turning
it off and on again it didn’t work. That Emierate customs guy gave me the eye and broke my phone. So
I had no way to call anyone to tell there where I was and inform then I was ok as well as getting numb
ers from my phone. I am looking around for some cheap SE phone to get or a place where I can fix my P8
00, but seems the P910 is out so hopefuly I can get that. Then just need a Mac to sync up my addressbo
ok from .Mac (Apple Rocks).
Remeber how I mentioned when I crossed Kuwait/Saudi border I could hear there Radio 1. Well when I was
at the Saudi/UAE border I could listen to 99.7. As much as I hate that station it was comforting to l
isten to the call sign.
So I crossed the border and had 490km more to go. The roads were much better and smoother and some are
as were lighted it was very safe ride and I could go a bit faster. I stopped at an Adnoc station befor
e Abu Dhabi and one after it near Al-Ain and it was like a twilight zone episode. They were both exact
ly the same. Everything! Where the candy was located, the restroom, everything! It was a creepy feelin
g. Those things are very nice and clean and guys pumped your gas and cleaned your windsheild. Mine was
utterly bug blasted. He tried but some of those ones couldn’t get out.
Getting to Al-Ain was all autopilot, I got there couldn’t call my contact for directions so I do what
I normally do when I get lost and no one knows where anything is. I go straight. I ended up finding my
Hotel and and my contact was there in a nervous wreck waiting for me. I got to my room, and just laid
in bed watching tv then just crashed. I drove for 9 hours, had only 3 hour of sleep from the night be
fore. I am an Iron Man when it comes to driving. I could have a nice job as a trailer driver.
Woke up at 10 today and already working, I need to hit the gym for a bit just to move my leg muscles e
ither on the treadmill or bike. Get the blood flowing.
It was a great drive, I would have gotten here quicker but I spent time trying to fix my phone and ask
ing for directions. I think I could have cut and hour or so from my trip.
So after a night in Bahrain with some really great people smoking some amazing Bahraini sheesha. It re
ally does taste a lot better here, must be something they put in the water. Well from talking to these
guys Bahrain is not any different from Kuwait. We all are worried about jobs, life, marrige and how t
he parliment is the pointless and doesn’t do anything for us. We both have the same problems and quest
ions and that we are more similar than different. One thing we agreed on that it is worse in Saudi, mu
ch worse.
Though looking at it all now Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi are one the early developing countires in the G
ulf. We grew up fast and quick and these are the after affects; unemployment for nationals, a corrupt
and confused government and a large number of younger generation that is also confused and worried abo
ut their future and country. They feel helpless to do anything about it. Since they are not given the
chance to work or achive and really do something productive, so they resort to just sit around and do
nothing.
One amusing thing I noticed is the amount of cars from Qatar. Cayenne turbos and other really nice car
s. Seems the Qataris are making Bahrain their playground since they can’t drink and party at home and
the Bahrainis dont like it. They tell me that the Saudis they are used to. They goto their room get dr
unk and get hookers then leave. The Qataris are like invading them, in the streets and places they han
g out in and also after their women.
A cool fact I learned is that Bahrain used to be a farming island. That orignal Bahranis were either ”
bahars” or “gakar”, a trader/fisherman or farmer. But sadly the good water that Bahrain had is gone an
d now is high salt content and not good for growing. The goverment is doing the same thing as in Kuwai
t creating a sewage treatment system so that water can go to farms and other places as irrigation. Thi
s will really help the economy and farmers since “sweet” water has becoming expensive.
The city is really nice and the non old areas are very well planned out with good layout. You can tell
it was a British system for it looks just like Abu Dhabis grid work. Yet here seems better for there
is more places to park, this could just be cause they are less cars here. Also the city is booming, ne
w establishments and complexes are being built. There is this huge Finance Center that is being built
on the sea. I thought only Kuwait, Dubai and Doha were in a building frenzy, but seems the whole regio
n is in an economic boom. I hope it is a good solid growth and not just a bubble with a burst. It will
look really ugly with these nice builds with no one using them.
So now I am off to UAE, its going to be a long drive but I am ready. I just stopped by my car and it s
mells funky. I am not sure where or what it is coming from. Once I get to the highway I’ll roll down t
he windows and fumigate it with clean air. I think it could be from the humidity here or the Kuwait ai
r trapped inside the car really smells.
If you want more information about Bahrain since I am just here for a quick visit and those were just
some observations and things that I gathered I suggest you visit Mahm
ood’s Den a Bahrani Blogger. He can give you a better in depth feel for Bahrain.
Just wanted to note that I really liked it here. Friendly people, beutiful scenery and I really plan t
o come here again & spend more time here.
