Tea Pots and the Fujairah Cityscape

Neighborhood mosque near my hotel.

Old Fujariah fort. The foreground is what the area looks like without irrigation.

An example of the city's round-a-bout art. That's one big tea pot!

Furairah has spent a great deal of effort and money decorating its roads. Every major round-a-bout has a giant sculpture in the center. Most seems to be Arabian in theme with an element of water added. The colors are bright and in stark contrast to the surrounding desert.

Sunrise Fishing Trip

Oil tanks along the coast of Fujairah. Signage on the tanks showed that each tank held ~30k+ cubic meters.

Moon at sunrise over Fujairah--taken from the Indian Ocean.

Fujairah at sunrise.

Some of the many, many ships anchored about 6-8 kilometers off of the coast of Fujairah.

Today I went sea fishing. I watched the sun rise up out of the ocean as we made our way out onto the water. The initial attempt was trawling--one tuna (small) in an hour. As

we were trawling, we made our way all of the way out into the anchorage area where the ships await passage through the Straights of Hormuz or until their wares are ready for loading in the Fujairah area. The tankers are simply massive.

Fishing total for the day: one small tuna, one barracuda, one silver belt, eight red mullet, and six hammour. I selected a small sample for my dinner and the rest went to the staff for their families. It was a fun morning.

More Photos from the East Coast Day Trip

Flower on the biggest mint bush I have ever seen.

Downtown Khwar Fakkan--One of the Shaikh of Furairah's palaces on the hilltop.

Beach in Khwar Fakkan. The little Jeep pick-up is being used to pull in huge fishing nets. There is another one doing the same thing about three hundred yards to the left.

This will be my first attempt at using a Google Earth link to show where I was today. Link is here. If you see the kidney-bean shaped loop, we explored the eastern side of that loop starting in Fujairah and as far north as Diba and back with plenty of side trips to the coast and the interior hills too. The little cut out in the center of the kidney bean that is roughly shaped like Australia or Texas (okay, squint a little...) is an exclave of Oman.

Day Trip along the East Coast of the UAE

First stop: Al Bidyah mosque. Oldest mosque in all of the UAE--established in the 15th century.

Al Bidyah mosque.

Me in front of a banana tree and next to a lemon tree. No, I did not sample the bananas.

More of the farm that I visited.

My new Pakistani farmer friend with the result of his efforts.

Today's adventure was a "guided" tour north along the coast road from Furairah. Guided was a little loose because I asked the guide, Mani, to shake it up and let me do some of the directing. He seemed to appreciate that fact that I sat up front with him and just wanted to talk about what we drove by, rather than sitting in the back with an "entertain me--I dare you" attitude. We hit it off and enjoyed our five+ hours together. He shared with me his fifteen years of living in the UAE, places that he had lived, jobs that he has worked, and what it is like for a non-Muslim living in the heartland of Islam. I asked him to stop at quite a few places that were not on the agenda. My favorite was a farm along the coast that grew everything from bananas and dates to mangoes and citrus fruits. It was wonderful and smelled so good I didn't want to leave. The young Pakistani farmer (pictured above) was a little reluctant to let some strange guy wander around his farm with a camera until a few dirhams changed hands. I have lived here long enough to know how things work. It was a wonderful day.



I also learned that all of the nationalism that I observed and wrote about yesterday may be more temporally influenced rather than spatially; December 2nd is National Day. So much for my keen observation skills.

It's All About the Hat

Serving Thanksgiving dinner to the troops at Camp Gibson, Kabul. My friend Scott is serving to my immediate right. Look at that wrist action serving that corn...

Photos of Oman

Some of the destruction left behind by Cyclone Gonu in June 2007. This photo was taken in the village of Al Aqr, Oman.

Al Aqr, Oman.

Al Aqr, Oman.

Oman-UAE border taken from the Oman side.

My birthday cake that was awaiting me at the end of my day of travels.

The Trip to Oman

Giant UAE flag on the beach near the UAE-Oman border. I saw many more visible signs of nationalism in Fujairah than in Dubai.

It's all about the stamps. For frequent travelers, there is a sort of posture and status that is attained when you have to have extra pages added to your passport. Today I acquired a stamp that relatively few Americans have in their passports: The Sultanate of Oman. The UAE-Oman border is 18 kilometers from the hotel where I am staying. I thought it would be a snap to just buzz on down to the first town inside of Oman, have lunch, and say that I had been there. Well, hiring the car was easy. I have made my way across a border or two in my life of traveling, but this one was perhaps the most remote and desolate border crossing ever. First stop was the UAE exit trailer. 20 dirhams, please. Exit stamp; check. Entry visa for Oman? No, sir. What is the purpose of your visit to the sultanate? I want to drive down the road and take a picture. Strange look from customs officer; check. Auto insurance for Oman? No, sir. Please talk to the man in the little hut behind the trailer. Omani car insurance; check. Once I finally made my way through the border with all of my little stamps and certificates in order, I found myself in a wonderful little corner of the world. Cyclone Gonu struck this area in June and caused extraordinary damage that they are still repairing. As I got off of the brand new highway and explored the little villages along the seacoast, I could see the damage left behind. Houses gone leaving only their foundations, palm trees uprooted and lying dead in open spaces, and road after road washed away. It was a good thing I had hired a 4x4 to make my way through sand "roads" and wadis.

After spending the afternoon in Oman, I returned back through the border gauntlet and made my way back to the hotel. The staff, noticing my birth date on my passport, had made me a birthday cake and left it in the room for me to discover upon my return.

Happy Birthday to Me

40. At one time in my life 40-year old people seemed, well, old! Now that I arrived at the top of the hill and am looking at the downward side, I am realizing that it only took a moment to arrive at this destination.

I am celebrating this birthday by using my final days of required leave (R&R for you military folks) sitting on the Indian Ocean (Gulf of Oman on some maps—same, same) in the city of Fujairah, UAE. It was once a small fishing village near the Oman-UAE border. I arrived late last night, so I have only seen the city in darkness, but will go out this morning and explore what it has to offer. Driving here last night, I was amazed at how many families were stopped by the side of the road having picnics in the dunes. It was Friday night (Muslim weekend), so I suppose it is similar to families in the US going to the park on a Saturday afternoon. This emirate is supposed to be much more conservative that Dubai; I suppose I will have to curb my propensity to dance upon the tabletops.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, all-

Greetings from a cold and crisp Kabul. Thanksgiving came to us on a very clear night this year. A group of us from the international community stayed up half the night preparing meals from our respective countries to share with the 700-ish people that will celebrate with us tomorrow. At the end of the long night, we were walking back to our quarters, fully exhausted, but with buoyant spirits, and happened to look up into the unusually clear sky to see a shooting star streak across the sky. Perhaps it is a sign that this Thanksgiving will mark the beginning of lasting peace and security to this beautiful land and its people.

Below is a link to a photo essay web page that a colleague of mine put together to share this holiday. The photos were all taken around Kabul this past month. http://2screwsloose.com/index.html

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my friends and family throughout the world.

Happy Veterans Day

A sincere 'Thank you' to the nation's veterans today -- and every day. When diplomacy fails, it is these brave men and women that willingly put themselves in harms way to allow the rest of us to continue with our lives. There are no finer soldiers throughout the world than our own. To the families of my fallen comrades, bless you.

Science Comes to Afghanistan

For years scientists, pondering minds, and that long-haired TV bounty hunter have been searching for the answer of one of the world's long unanswered questions. You have all visited a Stop 'n Rob like 7-11 and seen one of those multi-generational hot dogs spinning lazily on the rotisserie day after day. No living human has even been spotted actually eating one of these food-like substances. At some point, shortly before the wieners turn into carbon dust, they are replaced with new victims of the slow spinning death. Hark! Rejoice! The question of where the old wieners go has been answered. They are shipped to Afghanistan and fed to expats. I am so proud to be contributing to science.

Thinking Back

Times are changing. Another person that I have worked with since I arrived in Afg has ended his time here and returned home. His departure caused me to reflect on the ten months that I have been away. This experience has been the source of many emotions. I have met some wonderful people that I hope to remain friends with in the times to come. I have been exposed to a culture that while very foreign to me has been welcoming and warm. I am glad to have had the chance to live this experience.