united arab emirates – ToewsTravels

sri lanka 2013 – getting there and back

i went to the beautiful island of sri lanka over the jewish sukkot holiday in october! the journey there and back was half the fun. it was only financially feasible (dirt cheap, actually!) to fly out of amman, jordan. strangely, the cheapest way to get to amman from beer sheva is to take a four hour bus all the way to the extreme southern tip of israel to cross the border from eilat, israel to aqaba, jordan, and then take another bus five hours north to amman. in eilat i stayed with some of my classmates who were doing their internal medicine clerkship there. thanks to mayuri for letting me sleep in her bed while she was gone! i really wanted to do my internal medicine clerkship in eilat as well but alas the spots were limited and luck wasn’t on my side this time. a frustrating thing about this border crossing is that there is a monopolistic taxi mafia on the jordanian side. even though the city of aqaba is just a few kilometers away, they collaborate with the military to prevent anyone from walking. they charge exorbitantly for the short trip into aqaba and physically accost you when you try to arrange with others to share a cab. the bus from aqaba to amman on jett, the national bus company of jordan, is very pleasant however – there is even a stewardess who makes fresh arabic coffee and sandwiches for passengers on request! in amman i had a few hours to kill, so i smoked way too much shisha and chanced upon a huge brand new beautiful shopping mall called the galleria that had just opened!

after a late night flight to dubai, i slept on the airport floor in terminal 2 (an antiquated terminal for low cost airlines only), and found an excellent breakfast place across the street from the terminal – foul (arab bean paste) with pita and pickles for $1! i then took the metro south to the dubai marina, which is a huge new development that i hadn’t been to yet. there is an excellent mall there, and a new epically tall building that is shaped like a spiral, ostensibly defying the laws of physics! then i took a monorail out onto one of dubai’s massive man-made island paradises called the palm – from space it looks like a palm tree jutting into the gulf of arabia. at the tip of this palm tree is an opulent hotel called the atlantis. after numerous unsuccessful tries, i was able to find my way into the guests-only area through a back entrance. inside the hotel is the largest aquarium tank in the world, which when it was first unveiled contained a whale shark, the largest fish ever to be held in captivity. there is one of the nicest water parks in the world there as well, but unfortunately it is grossly overpriced so i was not able to avail myself of its awesomeness. finished the day at the dubai mall – the largest in the world! the newest proliferating coffee chain in the gulf region is canada’s own tim hortons! there are about four outlets in the dubai mall, which i patronized about as many times! on my way back from sri lanka i again went to the dubai mall and spent an entire day there, because how could anyone ever get enough! kobe bryant was also visiting the mall that day with his entourage as publicity for its huge nike store.

coming back through jordan i spent a few late night hours discussing islam and christianity with a proselytizing muslim gentleman on the streets of amman. the following day i was able to cross from jordan into israel at the allenby border crossing – the most direct crossing between amman and jerusalem, saving an entire day of buses. interestingly, the reason tourists can cross from jordan to the israeli-occupied west bank but not the other way around (at least without a jordanian visa issued in advance) is that jordan officially still considers the west bank to be part of jordan (as it was before 1967), so will not issue visas at the border because in their view it is not a border. there is also another border crossing between northern israel and jordan – but it is in the middle of nowhere and public transportation is lacking, necessitating expensive taxis. the allenby border crossing is the only crossing that most palestinian residents of the west bank may use – and it is understaffed – so it is insanely overcrowded. it can take hours to push through the throngs of hundreds of palestinians trying to push their way to one or two open windows. there were some elderly women who were quite literally being crushed. more than one palestinian shared with me during the push-fest that they believe israel deliberately understaffs the terminal so as to make the crossing less than easy. then come the israeli interrogations, which in my experience are more intense there than elsewhere. always an enjoyable “welcome home” to be interrogated like you are a criminal.

will make detour for epic malls!

petronas twin towers, kuala lumpur, malaysia

the cheapest way i could find from china back to israel was rather circuitous, just the way i like it! a seven hour flight from beijing to kuala lumpur, malaysia only cost a little over $100! kuala lumpur is famous for being a luxury shopping and eating destination. the malls were copious, spacious and extravagant, and there was lots of cheap and delicious food! and one can stay in inexpensive parts of town which is nice. though malaysia is almost entirely muslim, the food courts were pretty crowded even though it was ramadan! i went up the “kl” tower for an amazing view, and saw the famous petronas twin towers, which way back in the day used to be the world’s tallest. malls and food!

the next day i took a bus to singapore to see more malls! singapore is such a nice place. extremely high standard of living and prices to match. for the most part, they’ve made their cash off naval trade and science. a fascinating cultural (and culinary!) milieu of chinese, malays, tamils and countless others. and the lingua franca is… english! my friend apurva is going to medical school in singapore, and he was kind enough to let me stay at his place. we ate some more amazing food and i spent a few days riding on one of the world’s most efficient public transportation systems and endlessly walking around some of the best malls the world has to offer, such as my personal favorite, a futuristically shaped one called the “ion.” one day i took a one hour ferry to a nearby indonesian island called batam and back. indonesia is a whole other world, and i’d love to go back sometime. i also hit up singapore’s resort island of sentosa for some sneaking into luxury hotel’s beachfronts and to see one of singapore’s two casinos – which singaporians have to pay $100 to get into, but is free for everyone else. an arguably overbearing government is about the only drawback of living in singapore – even the sale of chewing gum is strictly regulated.

singapore from the ferry to batam, indonsesia

the next dirt cheap flight brought me to sri lanka for a 30 hour stop! quickly regained my appreciation for the subcontinental sideways head nod! i found my way to the idyllic beachfront town of negombo, and spent the night in what ended up being a room in a family’s house. the next day did some body surfing in the indian ocean and then went to colombo, the capital. being white, i was (rather awkwardly) very much the center of attention in an underground restroom “facility.” also in a cafeteria style restaurant where every single one of the dozens of clientele literally stopped everything and stared with rapt attention for the entire ten minutes that it took the white person to eat a plate of food with his hand. no, don’t worry – i was using the right hand. overall though a really enjoyable time – there is something about the blunt rawness of life in india and its similar neighbors that helps positively reorient a person’s perspective on life if one lets it – even in just 30 hours.

i then traveled back to israel through sharjah, in the united arab emirates, and amman, jordan. that made eight countries in a week, which is sort of crazy! getting from amman to israel turned out to be more of an adventure than i had planned, as it was the eve of eid al fitr (the end of the muslim month of ramadan), which complicated the logistics in a number of ways. but i made it, and second year, starting with anatomy of the thorax, has been really great so far!

sukkot 2011: from the caucasus back to israel

i flew home from armenia on a brand new low cost carrier called flydubai, which is super inepensive! the first few hours of my layover in dubai were spent waiting in line with hundreds of afghani tribesmen who were on their way to mecca for the hajj. when i finally got out of the airport, i took the amazing metro system to the tallest building in the world, the burj khalifa. i learned that if you took all the iron re-bar used in its construction and laid it end to end, it would reach a quarter of the way around the globe! on my way back to the airport i chanced upon the emirati equivalent of a walmart, and, realizing that everything was significantly cheaper than in israel, indulged in some shopping. managed to make it back to the airport just in time!

i flew back to amman because it was way cheaper than into israel. after a night in a super sketch hostel, i spent a day getting back to israel. five hours at the allenby bridge border crossing. overall though, an amazing break: i almost forgot i was a medical student! but it is good to be back 🙂

srilankan airline’s successful attempt to fatten me up

fly sri lankan airlines! they served a meal as we flew from kuwait to dubai. then another as we flew from dubai to colombo, sri lanka. and this was by far the most inexpensive leg of my trip so far. i was planning to spend the day in colombo looking at temples and whatnot, as my flight got there at 4:30 am and didn’t leave until midnight. (by the way, i planned this all this way). but i remembered something from the the airline’s website about them providing a free hotel if your layover was long enough, so i decided to ask them because i was very tired. turns out they would provide a free hotel, and before i knew it i was being whisked away by private taxi (at their expense) to what turned out to be a luxurious beachside resort, replete with multiple pools, and unlimited food!!! and it was amazing, gourmet food. might i say that it was the best day of food i have ever had in my life. also unlimited locally grown ceylon tea (ceylon is what you might think of sri lanka as if you’re advanced in years).

so i decided not to even go to colombo, especially after finding out how much it would cost to get a ride there, as the resort was an hour in the opposite direction from the airport. turns out sri lanka is turning into quite the tourist hotspot. there were huge ocean waves that i frolicked in between pool, lounging and eating sessions. they were large enough that when one hit you you lost track of which way was up and by the time you figured it out you were washed 30 feet up onto the shore. and then it was time to run back in the catch the next one. it was a lot of fun. then sri lankan airlines flew me in the middle of the next night to mumbai, india, and – who would have guessed – served another fabulous meal!

oman!

i got up really early in dubai, and made my way across town to catch my bus to muscat, oman, about a six hour drive to the east. at the border, an omani guy wearing coveralls meticulously scrounged through every last pocket and every piece of clothing in every bag on the bus – needless to say it took a while. then all the bags were lined up in a straight line on the ground, and for some reason it had to be a perfectly straight line, and a cute little dog was brought out to run back and forth about 80 times, sniffing for drugs i guess. once in muscat, i found myself an inexpensive hotel, the conditions of which i will not disparage you with. it is very hot here. i’m also dealing with the inevitable onset of gastrointestinal issues… but overall all is good. muscat is a very interesting city that is full of contrasts. on the way in, we passed some of the most impressive steel and glass luxury car dealerships that i’m sure exist on the face of the earth, but the downtown souks are basically no different than probably existed here a thousand years ago. there are over a million people living along a 50 km long strip known as greater muscat, but you’d never know it because its basically a bunch of little towns separated by huge rocky mountains, successfully making it seem like you’re out in the middle of nowhere arabia. i really like it. the buildings are all white and subtly arabesque, apparently because everyone here belongs to a form of islam that prohibits outward glamour in any form. i went to the fish market, where they bring in the freshly caught fish and barter for them. i also went to the sultan’s palace. intruigingly, there is this one part of town that is off-limits to visitors; it is inhabited by a secretive islamic sect that came here from iran. when one walks by there are big barriers so you can’t see down the streets and old men that sit there and glare at you until you leave. needless to say, oman is a very interesting place. tomorrow i’ll hang out some more, then take the afternoon bus back to dubai, spend the night at the airport, and fly out early in the morning to doha, qatar, and then nairobi!

uae slaves

i wish i could remember more of the arabic i was supposed to have learned in egypt. i’ve had some interesting convos with people here in dubai; many of the immigrants here are very interesting people.

there are slaves in dubai. rather than people actually owned by others, think laborers who are promised a good life and living if they come – only to have their passports taken away by their employer when they arrive and forced to toil in far less than ideal conditions for many years simply to earn enough to pay their employer back for their ticket and visa to come. for a very informative, albeit long perspective on some of dubai’s problems, read this: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/the-dark-side-of-dubai-1664368.html.

surely dubai is far from perfect. just wanted you human rights advocates out there to know that i know that. the human rights violations are often terrible and atrocious. on the other hand, the oft-held perspective that every laborer is a slave of sorts seems a little on the pessimistic side after walking the generally happy streets of the rougher parts of town – everyone is not depressed and oppressed and, after all, people choose to come to dubai for a reason – a lack of opportunity where they came from. there are people in america and canada too that are trapped in cycles of hardship – and alot of the time its not any one person’s fault. i think we would all do well to pray for the oppressed in this world, whether they are in dubai or anywhere else, and be thankful that we are lucky enough to have our freedom.

a day in abu dhabi

sheikh zayed grand mosque, abu dhabi, united arab emirates

i took a bus from dubai to abu dhabi (two hours away, but in the middle east that’s more like four), mostly to see the brand new, entirely marble sheikh zayed grand mosque, the largest mosque in the uae and one of the largest in the world. it was truly impressive, and air conditioned too! interestingly, the city of abu dhabi is on an island, and is developing almost as fast as dubai onto the islands around it, such as yas island, where they built a state of the art formula one racing complex. apparently, abu dhabi wants to avoid dubai’s rampant and some would argue unthoughtout development track, focusing instead on “culture” – like the world’s largest guggenheim museum and a new louvre museum, both of which are currently being constructed. a very interesting place. i then walked the entirety of the abu dhabi corniche (took some hours longer than i thought it would), ending at another fabulous mall. i love this country, if only for its malls!

everyone in the uae is from pakistan. or bangladesh

it’s great being back in the middle east – the sheesha smoke, the way everyone seems to be asleep at two in the afternoon but wide awake and out on the streets at two in the morning, the way buying anything or going anywhere invariably takes about ten times longer than it should, and of course, the heat. i love it!

carrying on from where we left off, the next day i decided that i needed an unobstructed view of the burj al-arab, dubai’s iconic and massive sail-shaped ultra-luxury hotel that sits on its own little island in the persian gulf. the problem is, such views can only be had from the beachfront of one of two other luxury hotels, which are very strictly “exclusively for guests.” and since being a “guest” for a night runs into four digit territory, i wasn’t going to be accessing these beaches the conventional way. i tried a side entrance first, but alas was rudely turned away after being asked for a room number. i then went to the front and, waiting for security to be adequately distracted, walked briskly through the lobby, trying to look as much as i could like an important but underdressed businessman who had just jumped off a flight and was late for an important meeting and would be very angry and possibly cause someone to loose their job if they tried stopping him. remarkably, it seemed to work! its amazing how much more respect one gets once inside an exclusive luxury hotel…

for those who may be questioning my morality, and i know you’re out there, i would like to relieve you in that i did not partake of the complimentary food and drink inside, nor did i actually use their beach. i just wanted a picture-perfect view of the beautiful building, and it did not disappoint.

i then went to another large mall, the mall of the emirates, which is famous for its indoor ski hill and resort. i spent the better part of the next day searching for the oman national transportation company office where i could buy some bus tickets to oman (the best directions i could find online as to its whereabouts were rather vague). i finally found it in a run-down part of town, cleverly disguised on the outside as a stationary store. i then explored a few more – you guessed it – luxury malls! i also watched the new movie avatar in 3d, because i really wanted to see it.

hi from dubai!

i arrived in dubai in the middle of the night. they have a brand new metro system, so i figured i’d just take that into the city from the airport. but the airport station was still under construction, and i couldn’t find a bus stop or anything, and no one seemed very keen on answering any questions. i didn’t really know where i was going, so after storing my large backpack i figured i’d just start walking, as i’d rather walk aimlessly for the rest of the night than get ripped off by a taxi driver and then walk around aimlessly for the rest of the night. so i set off down the freeway from the airport (there was a little sidewalk alongside), and into the wonderful world of dubai! after a while i found a bus stop, and figured out the bus to take and everything, but then that bus came zooming by without stopping or acknowledging me in any way, so i gave up on that idea. i followed to road signs for the part of the city where my hotel was – they took me through a huge interchange – but you know how sometimes on those interchanges the roads do big loops and figure eights and whatnot? well, needless to say after 45 minutes of walking i found myself back to basically where i had started. and the same thing happened later that night (different place obviously) when i went back to the airport to get my bag and had to find my way from one terminal to another. anyway, i eventually i found a metro station that was open, and it was the most impressive thing ever. a brand new, fully automated (the longest in the world) metro system! i later learned that there was a station open at another terminal at the airport.

i then went to deira, the part of town where my hotel was, to look for it. but i didn’t know where it was. the best i had was a memory of its general location amongst a tangle of streets with arabic names. i searched the chaotic streets and souks of deira for a couple hours looking for it, which was rather fun! deira has a similar vibe to cairo, ie, a lot dirtier and chaotic than i ever imagined dubai would be. i finally found the hotel, a seedy little place that seems to be popular among africans but no one else. the entirety of this part of town has many poor arabs, indians, southeast asians and africans, but no caucasians or emiratis (the only actual citizens of the united arab emirates, who wear these huge white flowing sheets for hats, tied up with camel hair, and gracefully walk around like they own the place [they actually do]). from what i’ve seen, all the emiratis and white folks hang out in the gourmet restaurants and the malls. and they love their malls! i found that out when i then went to dubai mall, the brand new and extremely opulent largest mall in the world, which includes an aquarium and huge skating rink among many other things. the best part is that it is built at the base of the brand new tallest building in the world, the burj khalifa! it is probably the most beautiful building i have ever seen. it was so tall that i had to walk about three miles away just to take a picture that would include the whole thing! then, in the evening, there was a water and light show set to arabic music on the huge lake that partially surrounds the complex. when the fountains reach their climax, it is the tallest fountain in the world, shooting water 500 ft in the air! i then went back to the airport to get my bag, getting lost again as previously mentioned, and then finally, after being awake for 45 hours and on my feet for the past 20, got to sleep.