Different countries are different*

We spent a day in Amman, the capital of Jordan and a city of 2 million people. Some highlights included a trip to the Citadel on a hilltop overlooking the city and a Roman amphitheater still almost entirely intact that could seat 3,000 people, just on a random street in the middle of the city surrounded by shops, restaurants and city folk going about their normal lives. We also met up with two other classmates who are traveling in the region at a really cool nightclub that had fresh all you can eat sushi.

We also went to two really interesting sets of Roman ruins at Jerash and Umm Qais. Both were built around the 3rd century BC. Not only were they huge and largely still intact (desert air good for protection - many of the stone streets still have the wheel indentations from where Roman chariots wore them down still visible) but they also have so much history. An area might have a wall built by the Greeks protecting a Roman fountain that had a Byzantine church built on it that was turned into an Islamic mosque that became an Ottoman fort.

Jordan seems very different than Oman.

First, it is noticeably poorer. Jordan does not have any significant oil, so it is forced to rely on tourism and standard trade and industry to sustain the economy. And tourism has been slow over the last 6 years as the conflict in the middle east has worsened and after there were a few bombings in Amman a few years ago.

Secondly, the refugee situation in Jordan is much more immediately visible. Jordan has ~6 million Jordanian residents. It also has ~2 million Palestinian refugees and ~500k Iraqi refugees. While Jordan is one of only a few Arab countries who recognize Israel, the number of refugees we have met who refer to their home as being in territory occupied by Israel is a little unsettling. The two countries do have generally peaceful relations though.

Third, while both countries have a generally arid landscape, Oman has a large stretch of coastline where most of the people live. Jordan has only a few dozen kilometers of sea access, and most of the population lives inland along the north-south stretch running along the Jordanian Valley down to the Dead Sea, then south along the border with Israel to the coast. The need to secure water and lack of good land for farming are clearly evident.

Jordan, maybe more than any other place I have been, has an incredibly dense past. Jordan was controlled at various times by Mongols, Persians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Babylonians, Byzantines, Jews, Christian crusaders, Islamic caliphates, Ottomans and the British before finally becoming its own kingdom in 1948.

We went to lunch by one of he historical sights in Umm Qais. We had an incredibly beautiful panorama from our table. Not only that, it hammered home how close together everything is. Sitting in Jordan, we could also see the West Bank (Palestinian territory), Israel, the Golon Heights (Israel / Syria dispute), Lebanon, and Syria. Our guide then showed us the border in 1948, the path the Israeli tanks took through Jordan to Syria in the 1967 war, and the current borders. It really hammered home how Israeli/Palestinian conflict is such a common fact of day to day life here. In Dubai and Oman, it felt much more removed, even though those countries do
not even officially recognize Israel as a country. Looking around the intersection of all these countries, you can start to see why...


Actual bullet point on key takeaways slide in global business class at Stanford

Middle East Fashion Update

The clothing choices here are worth noting.

In Dubai and Oman, almost universally, local men wore long white full length robes called dishdashas. In Dubai, men also wore a white headdress held in place by a black rope thing like a crown. In Oman, men also wore a headdress but it was tied a little differently and typically had a multicolor design.

Women in Dubai and Oman wore full length black robes, usually with a burqa covering the face completely.

In Jordan, most people wore western clothes. Many women wore head scarves though and many men wore headdresses. There are 3 primarily headdresses in Jordan - white, black checked, and red checked. We asked one of our tour guides if the colors had any significance. She said that historically white was worn by Arabs from the gulf, or by Jordanian Arabs in the summer due to the heat. The black and white checked was a historically Palestinian design and the red and white checked was a historically Bedouin design.

Today though the colors don't mean as much as all the headdresses are made in China anyway.

Oman - oh, man!

We had an awesome time in Oman, a tiny country of only 3 million people that gets very few American tourists but should get many more. It's an interesting example of a wealthy, friendly, peaceful Middle Eastern country that still has very conservative Islamic values.

In addition to the adventures I highlighted in the other posts, we had a lot of fun in Oman.

Our first day we spent driving up to the Jebel Shams, the highest mountain in Oman at 10,000 ft. It gave us some great views of the Grand Canyon of Oman - much like the Grand Canyon of the US but a little more narrow and with a few more goats and a lot less people. We spent the night in Nizwa, the traditional cultural capital of Oman.

Our second day was spent at a really nice beach resort, snorkeling and then relaxing. Nearby this beach, apparently a large portion of the economy comes from smuggling. Iranian pirates bring goats across the Gulf of Oman in speedboats and trade them for American cigarettes from the Omanis. The Omanis accept this arrangement both because it nets them goats and because (according to the guide book) "piracy is ingrained in the region's cultural heritage and the local people do not want to frown upon the past". I do not know the current goat-cigarette exchange rate though.

Our third day we drove through the desert sand dunes to an Omani beach where we saw nesting sea turtles. This was surprisingly cool. These huge sea turtles swim away as far as India, southern Africa and Australia during the year, but come back to nest in the same beach they were born at in Oman. During the peak season, there can be hundreds of turtles nesting on the beach every night. We saw about a dozen, but it was very cool. Once they got to the beach, they would let you come up and watch them dig a big hole, lay their eggs, and then bury them. Most nights baby turtles hatch and then swim off into the ocean, but we couldn't see any. We did have a guide who was exactly like Borat though. Niiice...

Our last day in Oman we drove along the scenic coastal road back up to Muscat, the capital city. We stopped for an hour and played in a huge limestone hole in the ground called the Demon's Crater. In Muscat, we toured the Sultan's Palace, mosque, and surrounding grounds which were beautiful. We then shopped in a cool market, or souq and got some Omani souvenirs. Finally, we went to a great Indian restaurant on a hill overlooking the city. We topped this all off with an M&M Blizzard from the Dairy Queen by the waterfront near our hotel.

After a week in Oman, I was quite impressed. It was amazing how quickly we got used to sheiks driving around speeding on desert roads in the saloon cars (non 4x4 vehicles, or sedans), the eerie but majestic sound of the call to prayer from the mosques five times a day, or the sight of women in burqas crossing the street as we listened to hip hop music on our ipods in our Hertz rental car. It was also amazing how culturally fascinating, scenic, and extremely friendly Oman and the Omani people were. While it was unbelievably expensive to visit, I still look forward to visiting again some day.

Bedouin sand dune adventure

Today we drove from the beach north of Muscat through the Arabian desert into the center of the country. We drove through beautiful craggy mountains, rocky desert, some blowing sand and quite empty countryside into a place called the Wahiba Sands.

These huge sand dunes rise up out of an area of otherwise flat and rocky countryside. The wind continuously blows them around so they are always in different shapes. In fact, the Omani border with Saudi Arabia is legally undefined in a large section because the shifting sands make recognizing exact locations difficult (and the area is only occupied by tribal nomads).

We had a great time hiking up and running around the dunes. And, as everyone advised us, just when you think you are in the middle of nowhere in Oman, some Bedouins will find you. And sure enough, a family of 3 kids and a teenager did. While only one of them spoke any English, we were able to learn that his favorite soccer team was Real Madrid which he watched from the satellite dish at his house in the desert.

And we scrambled up and then sprinted and jumped down the dunes with the little kids, which is fun in Arabic, English, or any other language.

Survivor Island Oman

Today we got up bright and early, just after the morning call to prayer, to drive to the beach. We then hopped on a beat up old fishing boat Jason had arranged with a captain and a guide and set out into the Arabian sea.

About a half hour in we arrived at a tiny little island part way between Oman and Iran. Surprisingly the boat just dropped us off with some towels and snorkeling gear and told us they would be back for us in a few hours. While our island was quite beautiful with a white sandy beach surrounded by a brown rocky cliff, being left alone in the middle of nowhere Arabia was a bit unsettling. So we jokingly named our little island adventure Survivor Island Oman.

The snorkeling turned out to be absolutely incredible though. We had beautiful clear blue water and the most colorful coral I've ever seen. Tons of cool fish, a red shark, a few rays, and a pair of cuttlefish (like squid) mating which was incredible. There were also a number of sea turtles swimming around. My favorite, who I nicknamed Tommy the turtle, let me just swim around with him for like 30 minutes. Super cool.

In the end, the boat did come back for us and eventually brought us back to the mainland. We spent the rest of the afternoons and evening at a nice beach resort hanging out by the pool, playing ping pong, and relaxing. For dinner, they brought a grill and food to the patio outside our room and we barbecued some chicken tikka, lamb kebabs and jumbo prawns. A great dinner, but no cuttlefish.

Dubai - Welcome to Middle East Mayhem

My Middle East trip began with a day in Dubai, the most liberal city on the Arabian peninsula and the largest city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

I am traveling with three friends from Stanford - two of my roommates, Rob and Jason, and another friend Owen. We spent our first day of the trip in Dubai basically to all meet up from our various flights in and to catch a flight to Oman.

The first thing we did upon arriving in the Middle East was, of course, go to the best water park in the Middle East. The Wild Wadi Waterpark (www.wildwadi.com) was awesome. It featured the pitch-black Tunnel of Doom, the Jumeirah Scairah (at 80 km/h the fastest waterslide outside North America), and several pretty cool water slides called blasters that shot you up the slide before you slid down it. But the best parts were the views of the Arabian Sea and the Burj al-Arab hotel right next door. The sail-shaped Burj is both the signature landmark of Dubai and reputedly the nicest hotel in the world.

Since I am coming back to Dubai for a week later this trip, I will save most of my commentary on Dubai until then.

But here are a few first impressions:

• Despite the occasional English mistranslation or knockoff (like Safestway grocery store, TGI Thursdays restaurant) Dubai was impressively first world.
• Dubai is under incredible construction. 20% of the cranes in the world are currently in Dubai which is even more amazing since there are only just over 1 million Emiratis who live there (and about 3 million expats, largely poor Indian workers and rich Western expats)
• Dubai is incredibly rich. The city just exudes wealth - in fact the biggest contrast I felt with China was that while China just feels like growth, Dubai feels like money

Winter travel plans

After an intense but awesome quarter at Stanford, I am preparing now for another month exploring a new part of the world. This trip will be a mix of business and pleasure that will take me to four countries in the Middle East which are new to me. Here's the rough itinerary.

• Dec 11-12 - Dubai (fun)
• Dec 13-17 - Oman (fun)
• Dec 18-26 - Jordan (fun)
• Dec 27-Jan 1 - United Arab Emirates (mix of cultural and work meetings)
• Jan 1-6 - Egypt (mix of cultural and work meetings)

The work meetings are part of a Stanford study trip to the Middle East. We are planning on meeting real estate developers, hedge fund and private equity fund managers, government ministers, energy companies, and more. I'm really looking forward to seeing the crazy growth in Dubai first-hand and to compare it to my impressions of China and India this summer.

Like this summer, I hope to update this blog regularly. Stay tuned.