Asia

Doha, Qatar

Posted by Jim St. George on November 27, 2017
Posted in: Asia, Qatar. Leave a Comment

Mark swimming in the Persian Gulf

Qatar is a strange place. Sitting on a little peninsula on the northeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula, it is a world of contradictions. Based on petroleum wealth – it shares the world’s largest natural gas reserves with Iran across the Persian Gulf – Qatar is rapidly modernizing, yet it imposes punishments like lashings for illicit alcohol consumption. It has the world’s highest per capita income, but treats many of the enormous number of ex-pat workers as little more than slaves. Alcohol is served legally only in fancy international hotels but Qatari men can only enter in non-traditional clothes (and Qatari women aren’t allowed to enter at all). Qatari officials have done an amazing job with architecture in the new part of the city but it is one of the least pedestrian-friendly places we’ve ever been. It is an Arab country and key U.S. ally – it hosts a large American military base and has played key roles in both the war in Iraq and against ISIS – but largely allies politically with Iran.

In other words, Qatar is a strange place. Here are two numbers that are stunning and go a long way to explaining this strange place: 2.3 million and 300,000. The first number reflects the number of foreign workers in Qatar, 2.3 million. The second is the number of Qatari citizens, 300,000. In other words a tiny number of native citizens being served by an enormous army of imported workers, mostly, though of course not exclusively, from the Indian subcontinent.

Some of the many cool high-rises in Doha

Yet I was surprised by how much I liked it. The skyline and architecture and all that was way better than I’d expected. And it is all very much a work in progress, at times seemingly just one big construction zone. There’s a nice, long walkway along the coast – once you get to it; crossing the highway that runs along it is an act of faith – that comes alive in the evening as the temperatures start to cool down, the buildings lit in color, and neon-rimmed dhows plying the bay. There’s a beach a couple miles north of town that we walked to, through ugly construction areas and along stretches that would have benefited from sidewalks (did I mention Doha is distinctly not pedestrian friendly?) so we could swim in the Persian Gulf.

One of the highlights for us was staying at the W Hotel. It’s stunningly beautiful and, because of that Starwood status we have, they upgraded us to a very cool suite, one of the nicest rooms we’ve had in this long adventure. That was really handy, since for a good part of the day it’s just too hot to do much, even in November (I can only imagine what it’s like here in the summer!) and we could hang out in all the space we had.

The W Hotel – the lobby on top, Mark in our too-cool suite

Perhaps the biggest tourist attraction in Doha is the Museum of Islamic Art, opened just nine years ago in a building designed by famed architect I. M. Pei. At the age of 91 he had already retired but the Qatari coaxed him out of retirement (think $$$) and he spent six months traveling in the Muslim world for inspiration. He ultimately rejected all the proposed sites for his museum, insisting instead that it be built on an artificial island so no other buildings could ever encroach. And believe me, it all works. The building and interior design are gorgeous and alone are enough to justify the price of admission; oh, wait, that wouldn’t take much since the museum is free, always my favorite price point. But the collection was impressive too, containing artifacts dating back to the 7th century, from the time of Muhammad himself. All beautifully displayed, I found myself wondering how the heck 9th and 10th century glass could have survived all those years.

Pages from ancient Korans, the top one dated from the 7th century, the bottom from the 8th. Given that Muhammad died in 632, the top one in particular would have been written by people quite close to his lifetime.

And then there was the walking along the Corniche, around the bay from the downtown area a couple of miles to the Museum of Islamic Art. Early mornings were cool and pleasant while during the daytime it was intensely hot. In the evenings, though, the temperatures dropped, the lights came on, and people came out. The strangest thing for me was seeing women out, obviously walking for exercise, with their full-body burkhas flowing in the evening breeze. As it got darker it seemed as though they got eerier and eerier, as though the Grim Reaper himself was stalking.

Art along the Corniche, with the city’s skyline in the background

As for food, you have two choices: local fare at reasonable prices with no wine or alcohol, or fancy hotel restaurants at unreasonable prices with wine and alcohol. We compromised. Lunch would be at a local place – good Indian, good Lebanese, and good Persian – and dinner would be at a fancy restaurant either in our hotel or a neighboring one. It worked.

That was Qatar. We were kind of there just to check off a country but I found myself intrigued. I’m even looking forward to going back in four or five years to see how much it has changed. I expect it will be a lot.

Doha as seen around the Corniche in daytime and at night

Genuinely impressive architecture

Mark in front of the Museum of Islamic Art

Artifacts from the museum. Clockwise from the top left that’s Iranian glass from as early as the 7th century; a 17th century jeweled falcon from India that includes diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and sapphires; a 13th century glass vase from Syria; and a gem-studded dagger and scabbard from India dating from about 1800.

Mark caught me inspecting some old wooden doors

I made it to the beach that day, too

The morning we walked to the Museum we saw these camels and riders lined up right next to the royal palace. We weren’t sure what was going on, but it certainly made you feel as though you were on the Arabian Peninsula!

Doha’s old souk is a couple miles from the new, modern city. Not the most impressive souk we’ve ever seen but certainly worth a visit. And, importantly, this was where the good (alcohol-free) local restaurants were.

Speaking of which, here is Mark at Parisi, a nice Persian restaurant we ate at one day that was one of the most colorful places we’ve ever enjoyed for lunch

Aqaba

Posted by Jim St. George on November 24, 2017
Posted in: Asia, Jordan. Leave a Comment

The Gulf of Aqaba from our hotel

Our last destination in Jordan was Aqaba, the almost-landlocked country’s only seaport. The city sits at the tip of the Gulf of Aqaba, which itself is the northeastern extension of the Red Sea. Given Aqaba’s location at the very intersection of Asia and Africa, along with its easy access to Red Sea shipping, it has been an important trading city for millennia.

There was one big event here more recently. In 1917 the Arab Revolt came to a conclusion here in the Battle of Aqaba, ending 500 years of Ottoman rule in what was then called the Province of Syria, or what we might today call Greater Syria. You may have seen the battle on the big screen; one T.E. Lawrence was a senior advisor to the Arabs and the battle was depicted in the movie Lawrence of Arabia.

The Al-Sharif Hussein Bin Ali mosque, built in 1975. It is named for Hussein Bin Ali, the Sharif of Mecca who proclaimed the Arab Revolt in 1916. After the Revolt’s success he rejected the Treaty of Versailles in protest of the Balfour Declaration and the British and French mandates in Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine; he had fought for freedom, believed he had been promised freedom, and wanted to lead a pan Arab nation. Instead he was exiled to Cyprus, though today his great grandson is King Abdullah of Jordan.

And that’s about all that was interesting here, which is why there are so few pictures. I wanted to see Aqaba and I was intrigued to find myself in Jordan, where you could go a couple miles east to Israel, maybe another seven or eight miles south along the Gulf to Egypt, and just 16 miles straight south to Saudi Arabia. Ultimately, though, there’s really not much to do here. The Gulf of Aqaba is supposed to be an excellent area for scuba diving, but we haven’t done any of that in eight or 10 years. There’s a beach, and we spent plenty of our time there, but it certainly wasn’t one of the great beaches we’ve ever seen.

For the most part the restaurants were … OK. We continue to find it weird how many restaurants won’t (can’t?) sell wine or liquor and that just makes them kind of boring. There was one great and unexpected find: a Chinese restaurant that made us feel as though we were right back in China. Otherwise? Meh.

Nothing like a fine St. George – one of two main Jordanian wineries – to wash down Chinese food

And thus, after a four-hour drive back to Amman where we enjoyed one last great lunch and an overnight stop, it was time to leave Jordan. Petra, of course, was the standout star, but I’m also glad I got to bob in the Dead Sea. From here we fly down to Qatar where we’ll spend nearly three weeks on the Arabian Peninsula.

The beach, from our hotel room

Petra

Posted by Jim St. George on November 18, 2017
Posted in: Asia, Jordan, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Leave a Comment

We climbed this mountain in Petra for the views. We stayed for the friendliest cat ever.

Petra is stunning. A UNESCO World Heritage Site and Jordan’s most-visited site, it is on pretty much every list of things you have to see in the world. Mark was here 20 years ago but this was my first visit. A lot of places can seem over-rated once you get there but not Petra; it is stunning.

The quick history: Established in the late 4th century BC as capital of the Nabataeans – a nomadic Arabic people – it sat at the crossroads of various trade routes and thus flourished. The Nabataeans’ great talent was in controlling the water supply in this desert region, thus creating an artificial oasis. Through the use of dams, cisterns, and water conduits they managed the water that fell as flash floods and saved it for when it was needed. With the wealth created by trade (and selling water during droughts) the Nabataeans carved grand buildings and tombs into the sandstone rocks.

An early morning through the Siq en route to the ruins of Petra

Along with the entire region, Petra came under Roman rule some 2,000 years ago. Then, as trade routes migrated more to Syria’s Palmyra in the second and third centuries AD, the city began to fade. When a devastating earthquake hit in 363 the end of Petra as a major city was at hand. Eventually the city, though still known to local Arabs, was lost to Western thought for centuries until, in 1812 a Swiss explorer was shown the site by the locals. Today it is known as one of the great sites of the ancient world.

We hiked into Petra twice. We arrived in Wadi Musa – the modern town from which one enters Petra – in time for lunch, then walked down to the entrance. We weren’t going to go in as it was too late in the day, but we wanted to check it out for the next day. When we discovered that a one-day ticket was a little over $70 and a two-day ticket was under $80, we grabbed at the chance to go in and give it a quick look. We made it as far as the Treasury – the iconic site for Petra – but we ran out of time and had to turn back before seeing more of the ruins. The nice thing about being there so late was that most of the crowds were already gone.

As you exit the deep-cut Siq the first thing you see is the Treasury, this amazing building cut into the rock 2,000 years ago

The next day we got there early in the morning – before 7:00 AM – and had that walk up the Siq (“the shaft”, a narrow gorge formed from a split in the sandstone rocks) almost to ourselves. This was living! After taking more pictures of the Treasury we continued around and then up to the High Place of Sacrifice, a key religious site for the Nabataeans with grand views over the city and surrounding mountains. A lovely woman from Seattle who was already up there told us we had to climb to the Monastery as well and then relax at a little tea tent with the most amazing views of all.

Here we are atop the Place of High Sacrifice. From here it was back down then way back up.

So down we went, out and around through the rest of Petra, and then up, up, and up to the Monastery, some 800 steps if the travel guides are to be believed. We were blown away when we got there, this massive 500-square-foot facade carved into the rock. While it’s called the Monastery in fact it’s more properly a temple, probably to one of the Nabataean kings who was posthumously deified.

After some 800 steps you reach the Monastery – totally worth the climb

Recalling the advise of our Seattle acquaintance, I continued up to find these view points she told us of and sure enough saw one that had named itself Best View. While Mark rested with a comfy couch and some tea in front of the Monastery I continued up to that last spot.

The Best View viewing area was well named

The view was in fact stunning, across more mountains and down 1,000 feet to the Wadi Araba, the huge flat, dry area that forms the border between Israel and Jordan. The Best View’s proprietor had set up a great little area with cushions and pillows and shade right on the very edge of the cliff. Before I could even settle in, though, this cute little cat, not yet full grown, had run over and plopped herself on my lap. And there she stayed until I laid down on the cushions and she laid down on my chest. A great hike, spectacular views, and the friendliest kitty in the whole world sitting on me purring.

I texted Mark that he had to come and, when he saw the picture of me and the cat, he did. Then it got really bizarre. As he sat down with his tea that cat jumped off my lap and climbed onto his shoulders. Where she stayed. For the longest time, just chilling and purring. Leaving those views and that cat were hard but eventually we had to be going.

Mark’s selfie with me and the very comfortable kitty

So Petra was great. There was a weird thing though about Wadi Musa, the modern town on the edge of Petra. This is a major tourist destination, famous throughout the world. We expected to find interesting restaurants and good food but were sorely disappointed. It’s hard to remember the last time we were somewhere with just resolutely below average food choices. And to just rub it in, most restaurants here don’t serve alcohol. Thank god we only planned a two-night stop.

Next stop Aqaba!

As we were leaving Petra heading to Aqaba we stopped at a viewpoint where you can see the narrow Siq leading into Petra

This kind of stuff was all around us

The colors and shapes were almost hallucinogenic

More stuff carved into the sandstone

I’m sure a guide could have told us what this room used to be, but for us it was just a magnificently colored room

As Mark approached the Best View he saw me and the kitty admiring the stunning views. OK, the cat was probably more enjoying my lap, but the views were all they were cracked up to be.

We couldn’t not stop in the Cave Bar for a drink. Set in a 2,000-year-old Nabataean tomb it claims to be the oldest bar in the world.