They call this place the the Holy Land you know… Palestine is home to some of the holiest places on Earth for three of the world’s great religions: Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

When I thought of doing a trip to Israel and Palestine more than a year ago, I was mainly motivated by curiosity and a desire to be adventurous and see the “real” Middle East. I wanted to spend Christmas Eve in the Manger Square in Bethlehem, attend Midnight Mass in the Church of the Nativity, visit various holy sites in Jerusalem and surrounding area- a pilgrimage of sorts for me given that I spent seven years of my childhood attending a school where the Christian religion was fully integrated into the curriculum.

But this trip has become much more than that for me. It’s an enormous opportunity to learn about the Arab – Israeli conflict, which I have come to see as essential to “Exploring the Mysteries of the Middle East”. Until now my knowledge of the conflict has been superficial at best, and to be honest was so deeply complicated that I wasn’t even sure where to start. The impressions I did have were naive and largely formed from what I had seen in the media over the last 10 to 15 years.

Recently I watched a documentary titled “Occupation 101″ which discusses the effects of the Israeli occupation of Palestine on Palestinians. It is a sobering film to watch and while I tried to keep an objective mind about the images and opinions I saw and heard in that film, to be quite frank it made me realise that there is so much more happening out here that is not shown in mainstream media or fully understood by people abroad.

And it was in that context that I began to see this trip more as not just a religious lesson but also politics, history, society, geography and how war affects the psychology of people.

Sometimes I don’t realise I’m learning until I’ve learned it and other times I realise it while it’s happening.

A bit of both is happening on this trip. Back in Amman while strolling the streets I met Mahmoud Touqan, the owner of a local frame-making shop which has been in his family for generations. He is originally from Palestine and when I told him I was coming here he was pleasantly surprised. I spotted a desktop calendar in his shop which discusses the effects of the “Separation Wall” on the Palestinian community (it is akin to the Berlin Wall in some respects) and it really impacted me. He kindly offered the calendar to me as a gift and I accepted it, of course (never refuse a gift from an Arab, it would be insulting).

So I arrived in Bethlehem a little more than 24 hours ago… In the darkness of early evening (the sun sets at 5pm here) and came upon the Wall all of a sudden. It is 8 metres high and formed of concrete blocks, electronic fence and barbed wire. It was put in place to keep out the “suicide bombers” and when it is finally completed it will be approximately 700km long.

The streetlamps illuminate the Wall in an orange flow, casting the graffiti art in an eering setting. At every few hundred metres, there are tall watchtowers with reflective glass, with Israeli soldiers inside of them. Security cameras and spotlights are everywhere. It feels like a prison, and, well it is, because the people inside it cannot leave unless permitted to do so by the Israeli security forces. At least 250,000 Palestinians live in enclaves surrounded by the Wall. The town of Bethlehem is one of those.

I am staying at the moment with a Muslim Palestinian family in the Ad Duhesha Refugee Camp. This camp has approximately 15000 people living in an 1 sqkm area. Those who live here are the sons and daughters and grandsons and grandaughters of people who originated from towns that are now either outside the West Bank and are located in Israeli territory (both the 1948 and 1967 borders displaced Arabs not only to modern-day West Bank and Gaza but to other countries such as Syria and Jordan where they were not actually welcomed); or the refugees are from locations that have been occupied by Israeli settlers or the military within the current borders of Palestine. As these people can no longer live in their homes they are forced to move into other pockets of Palestinian territory where existing communities must absorb them.

The family I am staying with originates from a small town named Beit Talal (sp?) Located not far from Bethlehem and located in Israel but to which they cannot return. The Wall is part of this strategy to restrict their movement. Many Palestinians are restricted from travelling with Israel and in order to go abroad most travel to Jordan to fly from Amman.

Mohammad Al Kateb is the head of this family of six and they live in a two-bedroom flat. Mohammad is a soft-spoken man who appeared not to trust me when we first met as he regarded me with careful eyes and a wary smile. I attempted to break down the barriers by engaging in playful banter with his 11-year-old son, Anas, who is the second man in charge.  He speaks English very well and will certainly break many hearts when he is older. Using my limited Arabic (I have learned more Arabic in the last five days that I have in two and a half years in Abu Dhabi) I got them laughing. A bond begand to form…. Anas and his father, who is also known as Abu Anas (which means he is Anas’ father, a traditional nickname in the Arab community or at least on Palestine), drove me back to their home about halfway up the hill on which the camp sits. Their car sputtered along the dusty road in the cold air of the waning sun and despite the friendship that we began to build I wondered what I was getting myself into. I thought of the dinner and drinks invitation I’d received earlier from some English-speaking Palestinians and a flash of regret hit me for turning it down…

The conditions of the refugee camp were much better than I expected. The word “camp” in fact had conjured up images of tents and makeshift homes made of corrugated iron siding and blue tarpaulin covers as you might see in the slums of India or Brazil. But here there were proper homes with BMWs parked in the driveway, alongside others which at best could be described as “works in progress”. My home for the night was to be one of these.

I was greeted at their home first by Anas younger sister Basma (8 yrs old), who is a cautious one and seems more mature than her years (they do say girls mature faster than boys). The little one, Zinedine (named for the French / Algerian football player), is about 5 months old and reminds me of the Pillsbury dough boy. He’s got big soulful eyes and while he is too young to interact with he just sits in your lap and he’s nice to hold on to. But Shada, a hyperactive 3 year old has a very possessive and jealous streak about her when it comes to her “walla” and she is constantly kissing him and attacking him with love and her clumsy (and potentially dangerous) toddler hands.

The mother, stayed hidden until I’d met the rest of the brood, emerged from a back room to say hello. She is a beautiful woman with deep dark eyes and a shy smile. For cultural reasons, did not offer my hand to shake hers, preferring to err on the side of caution. Later on she became comfortable enough with me to let me snap a few photos of her with her children and also ask me a few animated questions.

The love in the home was thick and they welcomed me warmly. We sat in their living room and talked for a while and got to know each other, they gave me a tour of their home, and offered me copious amounts of tea, coffe and biscuits and despite what appeared to be their meagre means. I accepted of course…. 

It struck me that despite the conditions under which Palestinians are forced to live, they can be so happy because they have each other and enough love between them to keep each other warm on the cold nights. Theirs is a simple life but rich beyond my own imagination, something I may have forgotten in recent years as I have pre-occupied myself with working and studying and partying. And I guess these are some of the lessons I am learning here that I didn’t really anticipate. And oh so great to be learning them at Christmas here in the Holy Land surrounded by people like this.

Mom, Dad, I’m in good hands. See you on Boxing Day. 

©2009 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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hi, just a quick message, managed to make it into israel yesterday, after more than four hours at the border crossing. it was nuts, but an amazing experience… and as usual the latin connection followed me, i met a Brazilian / Palestinian girl in the immigration hall, she had traveled through Dubai and Amman to get to where we were and was going to a little outside Ramallah in Palestine to visit her family.

As for me, following the border crossing, it took me almost as long as the crossing itself to get from the border to Tel Aviv where I met up with my friend Joey Seroussi.

I took two taxis from the border to the Jerusalem bus station (one was a shared taxi costing me the equivalent of US$22 or 75 shekels), then a bus from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv (18 shekels), and then a shared taxi from Tel Aviv to Joey’s place (50 shekels).

When I showed up at Joey’s place I was informed that it was the first night of Hannukah! Could i have picked a better day to arrive… a traditional meal of egg salad, eggplant salad, omelette, bread and cheese was on the table along with a fried jelly doughnut..!  Happy Hannukah to my Jewish friends all over the world!

Later in the evening, Joey took me around the city and I have to say that this place is a somewhat like a mix of Montreal and Rio de Janeiro. It’s a very “green” city (at least in the wintertime) with vibrant street scenes filled with lots of individual little store fronts, selling newspapers and magazines and pastries, coffee shops, juice bars, clothing stores, pizzerias, bagel shops, pharmacies, etc… plus from what I’ve heard it’s got an amazing nightlife.

The club Joey took me to was a private lounge he has a membership at called Shmone, which means “Eight” in English.  Eight is also meant to be Infinity (if you turn the figure eight sideways), and eight is the number of candles on the menorah, the candles that burned without going out thanks to a miracle from God (according to the Jewish religion)… in fact while we were at the club, the singer at the front of the live band and did an impromptu lighting of the menorah ceremony on stage… It was quite cool.

I’ve been told it’s a must to come back in the summertime and hit the beach and visit other parts of the country.  Perhaps a 10-day jaunt is in order for summer 2009?  Hmmm I can see the itinerary now, I’d do a couple of days in Petra which I missed this time around, as well as see the holy sights in Jerusalem which I won’t be able to see comprehensively on this visit (given the scarcity of time and the fact that I am staying with a local family in a different town).

This afternoon I went to a bookstore and picked up a Lonely Planet for Israel and the Palestinian territories.  It may sound silly, but I feel naked without.  They are great books to guide you when you’re unsure of what to do next… and they certainly help save a few shekels, pesos, or yuan or whatever the currency is onf the country you’re in!  Walking back to Joey’s place from the bookstore, I walked through suburban Tel Aviv, I came upon five Orthodox Jews (Hasidic Jews) in a children’s playground, using the swings, the merry go round and the see-saw. It was the funniest sight and I so wanted to get a photo of it, but they are very touchy about photography.  I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask but they turned me down…

An interesting point in Orthodox Judaism, at a certain point in their lives, they will go to study in a communal setting called a yasheeva, where some of them may stay for their entire lives, becoming religious scholars.  But these scholars don’t go on to teach at mainstream universities, they will pass on their knowledge to other Orthodox Jewish students…  Some of them may choose to be in the real world.  Note to self to read up more on the topics they study, and whether they share their learnings with the outside world so as to gain new perspectives.  Another interesting point of note – apparently there is a sect of Orthodox Jewism called Magna Carta, they are based in New York and are still waiting for the “promised land”, basically they do not feel that Israel is that place and they are opposed to the existence of Israel as that promised land for all Jews, everywhere.

At the moment I’m now back in Jerusalem, waiting for a bus to the Bethlehem checkpoint (7.9 shekels) at which point I will cross on foot at the Damascus Gate and try to grab a shared taxi into town.  I haven’t been able to get in touch with the guy who arranged my accommodation and am hoping I won’t have a problem once I arrive in the town.  My mobile phone is not working here (as it’s a UAE phone with provider Etisalat which not surprisingly doesn’t have a roaming agreement with the Israeli providers).

I will then be in Bethlehem for the next three nights, which is Palestine-controlled territory.  I will be staying in a little town called Douha Town (or Doha Town) with a Muslim Palestinian family.  This was all organised by a fellow I know through a girl I met when I was in Uganda in August 2008.  He works for an organisation called the Lighting Candles Organization and he set up the family stay for me. I figured it would be an amazing cultural experience to stay with a local family and also give me a better understanding of what these people go through on a day to day basis.

apologies for the somewhat disjointed nature of this posting… just some scattered thoughts I wanted to get down in writing…

Signing out for now…

©2009 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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At the King Hussein border crossing between Jordan and West Bank going thru Israeli border control.

I’ve been here now for three hours and counting and no telling when I’ll be done. Others have been here for longer than I have. One Dutch girl arrived at 8am this morning and just went through now, almost six hours later.

The scene here is quieter now than it was when I first arrived, I think because the border is closed to new travelers. There are ppl of all nationalities, Japanese, French, American, Jordanian.

The immigration officers here seem to treat everyone here pretty equally.  They are stern, professional and totally uncaring - this seems typical of most border officers I have seen in my life. No visual indications of discrimination although I am sure the immigration officers do racial and ethnic profiling for obvious reasons and they appear to do extensive background security checks. Remember that Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency is one of the most highly sophisticated in the world.  There are people here who make this trip on a regular basis but still get stuck for hours waiting to be cleared for entry.

They’ve taken my backpack away. Don’t know when I’ll see it again. I also went through some type of biometric scanning device which blows high-velocity puffs of air at you. Apparently to see what you have under your clothes. Something called Sentinel Express I think.

I haven’t dared to take any photos, mostly because I don’t want to risk having the camera confiscated.

There are paramilitaries here, some of them with huge looking machine guns and dressed in plainclothes and reflective sunglasses. Maybe they’re settlers?

Most of the security / immigration officers here are early twenties, maybe 17-18-19… Regular people just doing their jobs, most of them are probably Israeli Defense Forces doing their two years of mandatory military training. Most of them are women too, many of them extremely attractive, the Eastern European heritage very apparent (i.e. Descendants of WWII immigrants). It’s almost closing time now and getting quieter in here.  Everyone thats still here is waiting for their passport to come back and get cleared for entry. Some of the immigration officers are walking around with walkie talkies and clipboards, and when they’re not busy they stand around just like 19 yr olds do, laughing and talking with each other looking at their mobile phones and probably looking forward to finishing work, hanging out with their friends and going out for drinks.

Youth all over the world, we all think of similar things, across religious lines, ethnic lines, youth everywhere have so much in common (sports, romance, television, parties) it is interesting how some become fanaticised, even the well-educated, the well off, (am thinking of the recent cases of US Somali youth who have fled to join the Islamist rebel cause in their homeland).

I wonder why it happens.

Being here, stuck at the border, probably being scrutinised at this very moment (maybe they are even googling my name and are coming up with ryanrowe.com?), I don’t have a problem with it. It is part of the experience, of learning to appreciate the things that people go through here, on all sides of the conflict. And I don’t want to take sides, I am here to learn and understand, to speak with the people.

Signing out for now…

©2009 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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So I checked out of the Movenpick Dead Sea Resort and Spa this morning, deciding to head for Tel Aviv, Isra*l via the King Hussein border crossing.

My driver, Amar, another friendly Jordanian, pulls away from the hotel parking lot and we begin talking. He says he leads a simple life and is happy. He asks where I’m from. “Canada”, I say, “but I live in Abu Dhabi”. I’m sometimes shy to admit this, since I’ve lived there two and a half year and speak barely any Arabic. Amar tells me he’s been to Qatar (his cousin lives there) and has visited Kuwait and Dubai as well. He says he doesn’t like it. “Why?”, I ask, “is it because they are not “really Arab”?”. I’d heard this expression from another Jordanian I’ve met here. “No”, he says explaining that he doesn’t care whether they’re Arab or not. “They’re all so fake these countries. It’s all about money and business. I don’t want to worry about those things. I have a good wife, and three kids: Khaled – 11yrs, Youmna – 13 yrs, Massa – 4 maybe 5 years old – this is all I need.” I ask him if he’ll have another. “Maybe”, he says with a laugh, “we’ll see.”

Amar holds a pharmacist diploma but is unable to find a job in his field so he has spent the last eight years working as a driver for Hertz Rent a Car. He says its a “not bad job”. Although he finds it difficult to scrape together the funds to put his children through school he still manages to do it – he understands the value of education. It is really the most critical foundational element for development, for without it, a country’s citizens and industry inevitable become less competitive against other countries.

As we drive through the countryside, stray donkeys wander along the shoulder of the highway, flatbed trucks chug along, piled high with fruits and vegetables from the country’s farms. Tomatoes, lemons, olives, eggplant, this is how the rural communities make a living, irrigating their crops from underground aquifers, and using huge tent-like structures to cover their fields, presumably to protect from the elements and create a greenhouse effect. Jordan is one the most water-scarce countries in the world and of course, water is an integral part of the conflict in the Middle East.
Occasionally I see someone on the side of the road with a herd of sheep or goats or camels. “They’re the rich ones”, Amar explains, ” the ones with the animals can produce milk and meat”. I tell him about the Hutu and the Tutsi in Rwanda and how they were divided up generations ago on the basis of how many cows one had. Those with ten or more were a Tutsi and the rest were Hutu.
He points out gypsy camps in otherwise-empty fields and says they are from Turkey. “They beg and steal and we don’t like them”, he says. “They stay in the countryside during the winter and return to Amman in the summertime.” I see them everywhere….
This is the Jordan I really came to see… and when we finally arrive at the border crossing and discover it is closed for the rest of the day, I am not disappointed to return to Amman and enjoy the opportunity to see the city I missed the first time around…
And here I am now, in Amman’s City Centre eating another delicious beef shawarma meal and wandering the streets..
Thankfully I have a better hotel lined up for this evening… The Firas Palace Hotel at 30 dinars a night and working heating system.

Until next time….

©2009 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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If you’ve been following ryanrowe.com, you’ll know I’m in Jordan at the moment. My journey began yesterday in Amman (Jordan’s capital) and before it ends six days from now, I plan to travel to both Israel and Palestine (West Bank).

Coming in from Amman’s airport on the bus yesterday evening, I chatted up a friendly-looking Hashemite University student. We discussed briefly his studies in risk management and his brother who had spent time working in Abu Dhabi. I told him of my plans for a trip to Palestine (omitting any mention of Israel since I am unsure of general sentiment here towards that country). Indeed he told me that he was pleased that I referred to Bethlehem as “Palestine” and told me that he himself was Palestinian (with a Jordanian passport) having been born in Ramallah. He also told me that approximately 35% of Jordan’s population consists of Palestinians (migrants or refugees depending on how you look at it) and another 20% of Iraqis. Egyptians and Syrians are another large chunk too. I find myself wondering generally about the attitudes towards Israel in this country and I wonder if Israelis ever visit Jordan for tourism. Note to self to find out what bilateral trade amounts to Israel – Jordan.

Last night, my hotel (see Last-minute booking in Amman), the Sydney Hostel, was right in the heart of Amman in an unimpressive building with fluorescent lighting at street-level. Climbing a flight of stairs I entered a warm-looking hotel lobby with a friendly (and very gay looking) front desk attendant. A computer with Internet access stood at the ready and two other hotel staff sat in a common area watching television. One of them, the hotel manager, enthusiastically promoted their US$60 tour to the Dead Sea.

Before going to sleep, I did a bit of research on the web and quickly discovered that the Dead Sea beach the hotel was planning to take me to (Amman Tourist Beach) is actually quite dodgy (strewn garbage on the beach, dirty toilet facilities, poorly maintained and inadequate refreshment facilities). Basically – stay away!

A bit annoyed that the hotel would charge 60 bucks and pitch it as great I headed to my room thinking about alternative plans,

Two days in Petra? Tour around Amman? Head straight for Tel Aviv? Or splurge and stay at one of the famous Dead Sea Resorts and spas (i.e. Kempinski, Marriot or Movenpick)? I would sleep on it and decide in the morning.
Unfortunately their rooms left a lot to be desired – I was shown to a simple room with a minimum of furnishings. The bed linen was threadbare and on closer inspection, I found stray hairs on the sheets.

Totally disgusted and ridiculously tired (it was half past 1am at that point), I decided to sleep in the clothes I wore on the plane and use my backpack and a sweater as a pillow to avoid being dependent on the linen to keep me warm (no central heating either). At 4am, I awoke to the sound of traffic whizzing by outside my window and being totally frozen from the Amman early morning cold; I woke up the night manager who gave me a heater which was barely capable of heating up a radius of one square metre around itself.

At 10am, having slept fitfully and still very tired and already needing a break after one night of backpacking in Jordan, I decided to book myself into the 200$ a night five-star Movenpick Dead Sea Resort and Spa complete with pick up in Amman by a hotel car. 

Generally speaking, my assumption is that, when traveling off the beaten path, cheaper is better IF you want to get to know the locals and get a real sense of a country and its culture. Reason being that you’re forced to do more on your own rather than have a hotel concierge arrange it for you. Breakfast at the shawarma place on the corner, shopping for souvenirs at markets rather than in a hotel gift shop, watching the locals shop for groceries or chat on street corners, etc etc you get the point. 
But I have foregone that for a day or so. I’ll tell you about my day of so-called “luxury” in my next post. 

©2009 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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I’ve just gone through an electronic gate at the Abu Dhabi Int’l Airport without seeing a single immigration officer and without waiting in line AT ALL (the line was empty). I used my e-gate card. 

In previous posts I mentioned my intention to apply for an e-gate card ahead of my trip to Jordan, Israel and Palestine as a fail-safe for getting back into the UAE. Despite numerous assurances from different sources that the UAE would not have a problem with an Israeli stamp in my passport, I wanted to take no chances.

You see, the e-gate card allows you to pass through immigration electronically without having to present your passport (in fact, technically I can now enter the UAE without my passport, but have do a fingerprint scan/read). It sounded great but it didn’t appeal to me at first (they introduced it a couple of years back) since I figured I would have had to stand in line three different times at various gov’t offices with a dozen passport-size photos, two dozen copies of passport ID page and UAE residence visa and a couple hundred dirhams in cash – plus I actually enjoy getting the entry / exit stamps when I travel abroad. It’s like the gold stars I collected in school or the stamps at Second Cup (Canada) or Costa Coffee (UAE) . But with all the traveling I’ve been doing lately waiting 45 min in line at midnight on a school night is quickly becoming too high a price to pay for another colourful stamp. So earlier this week I made a single trip to the Abu Dhabi Int’l Airport where I got into an emtpy line and was served immediately by a friendly individual who spoke perfect English, didn’t need any photos of me or copies of anything just my passport and 200dhs and in less than ten minutes I had my e-gate card! Complete with a fingerprint, signature scan and digital photograph taken on the spot.

How refreshing 

©2009 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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I’ve just made myself a reservation at the Sydney Hostel in Amman for 14 dinar a night (about US$20).  They also offer an airport pick-up but I think the public bus will be more fun. 

Photos of the Sydney Hostel
Midtown, Prince Mohammad street, Downtown, Amman
+962 79 5748889

Here is the hostel’s marketing pitch from some website online:

“>>>>(( OUR BEST SERVICE IS PICKUP FROM THE AIRPORT ONLY FOr 20 j.d , NO MATTER HOW MANY PERSONS YOU ARE (from 1-4 persons) & WHAT TIME YOU ARRIVE )) ((( FREE BREAKFAST )))) ***** DAILY TOURS ***** See Details Below >>>>>> The sydney hostel is the best place for backpackers to meet,situated in the city center from where you can explore your tour to east or west of amman.all roome are furnished very well with private bath,hot shower 24 hrs,centrall heating,refrigerator,T.V & private satellite reciever. Our staff speacks well English and French & they are always ready to help you with all touristic informations and inquiries. THE HOTEL IS SITUATED IN A QUITE AREA .. AND…. * Away from traffic noise. * Bank and ATM service just opposit to the hotel. * 5 Minutes taxi to Abdalli station. * 5 Minutes walk to the main town. * 5 Minutes walk to post office. * 10 Minutes walk to BOX COFf’E ( Famous place in all travell guides books ) A SPECIALL SERVICE FOR OUR GUESTS,THAT IS WE OFFER A DROP BACK TO THE AIRPORT FOR ONLY 20 j.d .BESIDE WE DO DAILY TOURS AND TRANSPORTATIONS TO ALL OVER JORDAN WITH LESS PRICES AND BETTER SERVICE. ** Desert castles. ** Madaba,Mount Nebo,Dead Sea. ** Jerash,Ajloun,Umgais. ** king Way down to petra. ** Wadi Rum. Contact details will be given to you on the confirmation email that you will recieve after booking.arrivals before 9.00 am will be charged for the night before.”

©2009 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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This visit to Ethiopia has been absolutely amazing, inspiring, saddening, heart-wrenching and humbling all at the same time. It’s hard to describe these experiences, but I’m going to try my best.  Telling you how I feel about these is even more difficult, I need to reflect before I can try to share those….

So where do I start? The last couple of days here in Addis Ababa have been pretty intense… Our local crew (seeThe local Ethiopian crew from December 5th, 2008) have been showing us around the city, taking us to spots both well-known and off the beaten path.

Yesterday morning we met up with Abraham for a journey to the top of Entoto Mountain.  It started out as a short walk from the Piazza area of town, just in front of Castelli’s Restaurant (which has become our meeting point).  We trotted up Cunningham Street, stopping for a late hamburger brunch at La Coquette, located across from a local cinema and at a major intersection making for great people-watching.  We continued on down the road to an impromptu bus stop, to begin our planned journey to the top of Entoto Mountain.

Ethiopian mini-buses are a common sight on the roads of Addis. Blue side paneling with white roofs, they are converted cargo vans with ten to twelve seats, and a capacity of about 25. The driver will usually decorate the bus with various religious articles, bumper stickers and other assorted paraphernalia. A ride in one of these typically costs between 0.50 and 1.00 Birr (about 5 to 10 cents US). As we boarded, the bus parked in front of it began to reverse and hit our vehicle. The drivers of each bus yelled at each and other this was When Cornelia noticed the Norwegian sticker plastered on the rear windshield which said (in Norwegian) “PLEASE KEEP YOUR DISTANCE”.   Since the buses remained parked about 6 centimetres from each other, we were close enough to get a good photo of the sticker, which will be posted in due course. The bus we boarded was one of six we took that day to complete our journey to the top of Entoto. 

Along our journey I saw a number of things, all of them interesting, some of them sad, some thought-provoking, and others just typical images of daily life in Ethiopia:

- A barefoot boy of about seven years of age eating discarded fruits out of a rubbish bin on the side of the road

- A woman with no eyes begging for money

- An artist friend of Abe’s dressed Rastafarian-style, showing off photos of his artwork (one of them I am considering buying – a v v cool mirror/painting combination)

- a road built by the Chinese, presumably as part of their bid to extend their sphere of influence to emerging markets in Africa (Ethiopia being one of the few African countries which has natural resources to offer China – Ethiopia’s main exports are coffee, flowers and qat – the last an edible narcotic illegal in the US but legal in the UK).

- elderly women carrying huge loads of dried grass, branches and other underbrush on their backs, hobbling down mountain roads while groups of five or six men lounge on the roadside in the shade)

- panoramic views of the city of Addis from a curving mountain road

- plantations of eucalyptus trees which apparently are water-intense and were introduced by Australians in 1905. The heavily forested mountain-side is now an important source of firewood for the city.

- a long line-up of people sitting on the ground with piles of jerrycans (gasoline cans) around them – they were waiting to fill them up with water at 0.25 Birr for 10 litres (about 2.5 cents US).  That may not seem like much but in a country where those who work, do so for about a dollar or two dollars a day, and many don’t work at all and resort to begging or making money from unstable means (such as working as an independent tour guide), the plight of Ethiopia’s poor begins to dawn on you.  A new friend here who is doing a fellowship with the Ministry of Water told me that NGO estimates are that about 30% of the country is covered by the water distribution network.  The government estimates it at about 50%.  The lack of access to clean water by the local people of course exacerbates the existing problems of disease, poverty, and famine.

On our sixth and final bus change, I got outside of the bus to stretch my legs and began talking to a group of local men in their late teens and early twenties.  One of them introduced himself as Maradona.  Another, who spoke broken English and had a bright but wary smile, approached me and introduced himself as Samuel.  He told me that they were a group of friends but he was the only one who spoke much English at all.  He recounted how he had learned his English from giving impromptu tour guides to foreigners that he would encounter randomly in the city.  At twenty years old, he had just finished a technical course in baking and confectionery and was looking for work and seeking to expand his skill base.  He seemed like someone with a bright spirit and a good heart, so I introduced him to Abraham who I felt might be a good role model for him.  The two of them immediately hit off, so we invited Samuel along on our journey and began our final ascent to the peak.

Entoto Mountain overlooks the city of Addis and is situated at 3,200m above sea level (Addis itself is at 2,500m above sea level) and is home to the former capital of Ethiopia, Entoto.  Emperor Menelik II and his wife Empress Taytu lived at the top of Entoto over 100 years ago and ruled the country from that naturally defensible location.  It is now the site of a museum and a monastery and the emperor’s former palace.  More recently it has become famous among Ethiopians as the source of a “holy water” which can cure people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.  Today there is a small community of sick and disabled people who live atop the mountain.

At the top of the mountain, we visited an HIV-positive boy of 8 years old, who lived in a hut made of branches and mud and covered with a blue tarp to keep out the rain. It had no running water and no electricity and it was a small room about the size of a bathroom.  At least three people lived there, consisting of the boy, his mother, and another woman (who was HIV+).  None of them work and depend on begging to pay the “house rent” of 65 Birr a month (6.5 dollars US) and buy food and water. HIV medication is provided free by a local aid agency. The boy, who was diagnosed with HIV five years ago (it was not clear during our visit how he contracted it) cannot speak apparently due to permanent complications from spinal meningitis. Oe of the consequences of spinal meningitis is deafness.

Meeting the boy and his mother was the objective of our visit to the top of Entoto Mountain. Our other activities while we were up there included a two-hour hike through mountain-top farmland, playing soccer (football) with local schoolchildren, a visit to local artist Wasihun Amake (sp?), a tour of the museum and palace hosting artifacts from Emperor Menelik’s reign.

There’s so much more I could write about… the dinner out at Zebra Grill with Will Davies and Bryn Saxe last night, the nightcap at Harlem Jazz, our visit to the Merkato (one of Africa’s largest markets) today, the time spent with Abraham, Solomon and the newest member of our local crew – Samuel… but will save some of those memories for my next update and others for my grandchildren.  Until next time… 

©2009 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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I’ve mentioned this before on my blog and I’ll mention it again… more and more I find myself becoming a traveler intent on socio-cultural experiences rather than historical, political and geographical ones. Essentially I find my travels are becoming less about visiting touristic sites, or touring the country, or hitting all the “must-see” destinations listed in a travel guide and more about meeting local people, spending time with them, learning a bit of their language, their culture, their thoughts and ideas, and trying to open myself to new perspectives.

A great book I read recently – “Shantaram” – tells the story of an escaped convict who flees to Mumbai, India. On his first day in the city, he meets a local named Prabaker, who offers to guide him around the city, and ultimately becomes one of his closest Indian friends and confidants. This story came to mind after a day spent hanging out with three Ethiopians we’ve come to know through a good friend who has traveled here twice before.

Solomon, Abraham, and Sable are three twenty-something locals and today, they spent the afternoon and evening hosting us in Addis Ababa. It started with Solomon taking us on a walking tour of the Piazza area, which included a visit to the beautiful St George’s Church and Museum (where we learned about the religious history of Ethiopia). Did you know that Ethiopia was one of the earliest Christian countries? It is an immensely religious country and to visit St George’s is a solemn and memorable experience. Ask around for the Arch Deachon Mrabato who can give you a guided tour of the grounds. Personally the 60 minutes I spent with him left me feeling as if I had just gone through a session of intense meditation.

Following our visit to the church, Solomon took us to a local restaurant where we had some delicious pizza and tea. We treated Solomon to a vegetarian spaghetti (he is fasting at the moment and is avoiding meat products – an Orthodox Christian rite) and enjoyed chatting with him and sharing our contrasting ideas (Europe, North America and Africa). He mentioned at one point that he felt that anyone who was not a Christian would by definition consider themselves to be above God and sinless. My thoughts on this is that one need not be religious in order to be able to distinguish right from wrong and good from bad. Ethics and moral values need not be dictated by religion… I wanted to talk about this with him but wasn’t sure how he would react.

Solomon is a friendly fellow, 22 years of age, and about 5′8″ in height. He was wearing baggy blue jeans and an oversized long-sleeved shirt, untucked and looking comfortable. Complimenting his mini twigs (I can’t think of a better name to describe his cool hair style), he has a tough-looking face, with a kind heart and a nice smile, making him someone you’d feel very comfortable having as your guide in a strange city like Addis. To add a bit of colour to this description, Solomon is in his first semester of studying nursing at the local KEA MED college, along with his best friend Abraham. Tomorrow they will take us to visit the school.

Our next stop was the Naremud Cafe, across the street from the Castelli restaurant (one of the more famous restaurants in Addis), where Sable works as a waitress. She is a tiny little woman of 25 years of age with a beautiful, broad smile and a sweet disposition. She speaks only a handful of English words, so we relied on Solomon to translate for us. She will be starting English and French courses in a couple of weeks and is looking forward to broadening her skills so that she can improve her economic position in society….

Abraham joined us at the restaurant after a little while. He is slightly taller than Solomon, with a head of curly hair of which used to be a massive cool-looking ‘fro! (he showed us photographic proof). Abraham is a soft-spoken fellow of 26 years of and hails from a town called Dessie, north of Addis, in the countryside. He shared with us many of his views of life, a number of which I shared and others which I liked so much I have written them down so as to remember them.

After a few macchatos (a type of coffee very popular in the local cafes around town), Cornelia and I were a bit sleepy (and cold as the night-time temperature in Addis at this time of year is about 15 degrees) so we adjourned our get-together and headed back to our new hotel, the Weygoss Guest House, a couple of steps up from where we stayed last night. We agreed to meet with our local Ethiopian crew later on in the evening.

Later on, Abraham and Sable (Solomon had to take a night of studying) they took us to the Addis Ababa restaurant where we tried injera cuisine and honey wine, two local Ethiopian specialties. They taught us Ethiopian phrases and shared stories relating to culture, cuisine and city life. We took photos and shared laughter and smiles. And we promised to meet up again tomorrow for another day of hanging out in Addis.

Does traveling get any better than this?

©2009 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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Passing through immigration yesterday at the Dubai Airport, I took the opportunity to quietly ask the officials whether an Isra*li passport stamp would present a problem for me upon re-entry to the UAE. I phrased it in the context of a trip to Palestine and that I would be unable to avoid getting the passport stamp because I would have to pass through Isra*li territory. They confirmed it wouldn’t be a problem. This gives me additional comfort after I received the same answer from officials at the Abu Dhabi Airport when I traveled to Qatar last month. Various web sources are also reporting that an Isra*li passport stamp won’t cause a problem for me (it’s only Isra*li citizens that can’t enter the country). Although I do need to censor myself by adding the * in every mention of the word Isra*l because the telecommunications filtres will otherwise pick up my website and ban it from viewing by those resident in the country.

The stamp (if they do indeed give it to me, because they might not if I ask them not to) would cause a problem for me in the next year though, as I intend to travel to Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Iran during the course of 2009.

I purchased my ticket for my Jordan / Isra*l / Palestine trip yesterday and my travel itinerary for the next month or so is as follows:

December 3 to 9 – Ethiopia
December 18 to 25 – Jordan, Isra*l and Palestine
December 26 to January 6 – Canada and USA (Montreal and New York City)

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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Hello folks, I’m writing to you from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where I’ve decided to spend the UAE National Day / Eid-al-Adha (Festival of the Sacrifice of the lamb) holidays with my girlfriend.

Due to a fortunate coincidence of the UAE’s 37th birthday on the 2nd of December and the celebration of the end of the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, I ended up with six public holidays with only one working day in between (tomorrow – Thursday). I’ve taken it off and we have booked last minute tickets to Addis Ababa from Dubai with Ethiopian Airlines (total cost for two round-trip tickets US$958, plus the taxi transport to and from Dubai, which is approximately US$130). Tickets were last-minute because the holiday schedule was only announced by the government earlier this week (Monday), 24 hours ahead of time. This generally happens around holidays which follow the Islamic calendar and so are determined by the lunary cycle (such as Eid-al-Adha).

My first impressions of Ethiopia began in the Dubai Int’l Airport before we even boarded the plane. As we approached the check-in counter, we groaned on noticing a long line of colourfully dressed people with half a dozen suitcases, boxes and bags each. After waiting a couple of minutes I noticed that several counters were staffed by Ethiopian Airlines crew but only one had a long line in front of it. We moved lines and were served in less than 15 minutes. And as soon as we changed lines so did everyone else. Strange…. What an arbitrage opportunity!

I happened to notice in line that many passengers-to-be had huge boxes to check in. I couldn’t figure what all of the luggage might be (gifts to take home to the family?) until a fellow sidled up to us in line and slyly slipped around in front as if to take his turn ahead of us. Cornelia (my girlfriend) promptly informed him that we were ahead of him following which he said he’d just been making sure?? He told us that he’d traveled to Dubai on business and was bringing back boxes of mobile phones for resale in Lagos, Nigeria! Who needs free trade agreements huh? I wonder what the markup on the phones has to be to cover his plane ticket, hotel and food in Dubai and the excess baggage charges!!?!?

On boarding the plane, it was fairly orderly, until a gentleman in a pimpin’ shiny light blue suit and rose-coloured sunglasses began shouting at the cabin crew when they informed him he wouldn’t be able to travel to Ethiopia without a visa in place (I believe he was a Congolese national). He made sure that everyone on the plane knew he had a diplomatic passport, while holding up the take-off and insisting that he didn’t deserve to have to spend the night in the Dubai Airport while waiting for a visa…. they finally “off-loaded” him (air travel industry term) and we set off for Ethiopia only 30 min behind schedule. I was surprised though, in all my travels, I have never seen someone become so irate on a plane.

Another surprise was the rap music playing during boarding and during takeoff and ascent. Snoop Doggy Dogg baby…. hahaha. Cornelia and I felt like getting up and dancing in the aisles.  Very amusing.

We’re now on the ground in Addis Ababa, staying in an ant-infested but otherwise nice and cozy hotel known as the Edsonatra Lodge and Catering Services. THe internet is bloody slow and there is a bar next door playing very loud music (just before some latin style tunes, I can never seem to get away from the latin influence ) but otherwise we are very happy. We are paying 350 Birr a night (about US$35). The staff here are extremely friendly and except for the ants (and the fact that there is no bathroom en-suite, we are ok with it).

On our way in from the airport, I remarked that in comparison to Rwanda, it felt more secure, safer, somewhat more sedate, despite being a country with a population 10x larger, and a much larger capital city than Rwanda’s Kigali. My impression in those first 10 or 15 minutes was that Rwanda has such a horrible past that it conjures up images in one’s mind and causes one to assume that the people who have suffered such depravity must also be somehow affected in a similar way (though that isn’t the case at all – Rwanda is a fantastic country and has affected me deeply in a way somewhat like Colombia – it really touched my heart). In comparison it is Ethiopia’s reputation for poverty, starvation and disease that dominates my mindset here, not violent crime or war (though it does sit in a rather precarious geopolitical position with Somalia and break-away province Eritrea as its neighbours and had a 30-year civil war).

Other observations is that there appears to be a large Italian influence here, most immediately visible in the form of Italian restaurants and names all over town. But did you know that Ethiopia is the only African state never to have been colonised? There were periods of Italian influence in the late 1890s and 1930s and attempts by Italy to take sovereign control over the country but were never fully successful (there was a brief occupation by Italy in late 1930’s but that’s it).

OK, thats it for tonight. We’re here until the 9th of December. More updates to come.

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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Tonight I met a fellow who in the course of conservation over a three to four hour period helped me realise I am too impatient and judgemental off the mark, that my three-chance rule is probably a good measure by which to begin getting to know people, and that, despite having lived here for nearly two and a half years, I still know too little about Abu Dhabi to justify leaving this place because something “better” awaits me elsewhere.

Some secrets of AD which bear further exploring and which I will quickly jot down here:

- Al Dhafra restaurant and other eateries and coffee houses around here
- the old souks (Iranian souk, vegetable souk, Garden souk, etc)
- the traditional fishing dhows
- you can get fresh fish grilled for you at the Fish Market

All of these are in the Mina Zayed Port area of town.

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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After gazing at a long-stemmed rose for about 10 minutes this evening, I noticed a few things about it which struck me as odd:

1) it had an almost undetectable fragrance
2) it had no thorns
3) its stem was a single branch with no other branches stemming from it, given its length, I wondered how many roses were produced from the original rose bush?

These observations are leading me to wonder where the rose was imported from… I bought it at Abela, a supermarket here in Abu Dhabi…. will have to see if I can check back with them on this.

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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You might be rich enough to buy a nice car, but all the money in the world won’t get you a parking space in Abu Dhabi…. This is just around the corner from my office.

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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Happy birthday Mom!  Love you very much! Looking forward to seeing you at Christmastime!!!
xx

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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When I walked into the Irish Harp pub at the Sheraton in Doha last night, the first thing that struck me was that it looked it a lot like the layout and interior decor at 3rd Avenue, the pub at the Sheraton in Abu Dhabi.

The second thing that struck me was the overwhelming number of men in the place. When we first arrived the ratio was easily 99 to 1.

When I saw all the men I asked myself why would they come here when they can go to the UAE? Why put themselves through the pain! What is it about Qatar that is so alluring?

I posed these questions to Carine, the second half of the two Lebanese friends that are hosting me in Doha this weekend. Her answer was that this place is boomtown. There are opportunities here that can’t be found in the UAE.

Considering the country’s dynamics, it starts to make sense. The whole country itself only has about 1,000,000 people, per capita GDP is the highest in the world, it sits on top of 15% of the world’s natural gas reserves (a commodity which hasn’t even come into its own yet) and a serious shortage of skilled labour and professionals. Economic growth for 2009 is projected by the IMF to be 21.5% (post financial crisis analysis) and inflation here is at about 14%, higher than anywhere else in the Gulf and salaries are accordingly higher than those paid to expats in other Gulf countries.

In speaking to Carine and Charbel (her husband), I mentioned that this place, and the other oil-rich countries in the region have been experiencing an Oil Rush, comparable to the Gold Rush of the mid 19th century in California, where men of all ages headed West to find their fortunes. It’s not that much different in this part of the world. And living and working here, I should be honest with myself – I am one of them.

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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Well I’ve just gone through the immigration at the Abu Dhabi airport en route to Doha, Qatar and I took the opportunity to ask the officials what the policy is on having an Isra*li stamp in my passport (** are used to avoid having my website blocked my the telco filtres here). To make my request seem more innocuous I explained that I would be traveling to “Ramallah, Palestine” in December but that I would have to pass through Isra*l to get there. This is not necessarily true since you can travel via the West Bank.

Anyhow, the first guy I asked didn’t speak any English so he referred me to a colleague who told me there were no worries. As if to double-check he asked one of his yellow dishdasha wearing colleagues (the others were wearing white) and this fellow said that no I would not be allowed back in to the country.

Although doubtful that I had received correct information, I said fine and went through the gates… I then called the last fellow over and told him quietly that I’d seen a website online that there were no issues entering the uae with an Isra*li stamp . He asked me if I wanted to check with an immigration “officer” to make sure. I smiled and said sure let’s do that, making sure to tell him that I didn’t doubt him at all but that I just wanted to know what the policy was. 

He walked me over to a corner office where half a dozen locals in dishdashas were gathered around a desk; a man in a military uniform approached us and spoke to us in Arabic. I heard the words Palestine and Isra*l. He smiled and gestured to me with his hands and said, “No problem!”. I asked him a different way just to make sure, motioning to my residence visa. He nodded and smile. This was enough to satify me – for now – I’ll double check when I come back through immigration on Saturday night. 

The moral of this story is double-check and triple-check things here, so that you don’t risk being disappointed or getting frustrated.

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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So, I’ve decided to return home to Canada over the holidays.  My last trip to Canada in August 2008 was far too short (only four days in Montreal, plus two days at Mont Tremblant for my friend Vince’s wedding) and I really need to be spending more time with my parents and siblings whenever I can – since I don’t know if I’ll ever head back to Canada permanently. I miss them and I think they miss me!  So I’m shooting for a trip out to Montreal on the 26th of December and will aim to return to Abu Dhabi on the 6th of January.

When I was back home over the summer, I reminded my parents that while I would return in December to Canada, I would not be around for Christmas! The reason for this is because for some time now I have been wanting to visit Bethlehem for Christmas Eve.  So this year I will fly to Amman, Jordan from Abu Dhabi on the 18th of December, spend a couple of days touring Petra (one of the New Seven Wonders of the World) and then travel overland into Isr*el to Jerusalem and then into Palestine for the Christmas Eve celebrations. I am also hoping to stay with a Palestinian family for one or two nights while I am there, and if possible, a one or two night trip to T*l Av*v to visit a friend of mine who lives there.  This is all a bit ambitious and will be finalising my travel plans in the next few weeks – stay tuned.

Since I arrived here in the Middle East two and a half years ago, my travels around the region have been few.  I’ve been to Qatar and Kuwait on single-day business trips, I’ve done a short day trip to Oman to do some dolphin watching with my sister Corinne and her family and aside from that I’ve been to Turkey (which is considered by some to be part of Europe) for a three day trip and that’s about it.  As for the UAE itself, I haven’t even toured around the country all that much.  Dubai and Abu Dhabi here and there, but none of the more natural attractions, such as Fujairah on the Indian Ocean coastline, or a visit to the sand dunes of the Empty Quarter, or a climb up the UAE’s highest peak – Jebel Hafeet.  All things on my to-do list but, like I said, in two years, I’ve done pitiful amount of travel around the region.  This trip is part of my effort to change that and what better place to start than the Holy Land. In fact it’s probably the one place that most people are likely to think of when they think of the Middle East?! 

Apart from my upcoming holiday travel, other Middle East trips are a day-trip to the UAE / Omani border tomorrow to go hiking in the mountains and a weekend trip to Doha – Qatar on November 13-15 to visit a few friends that live there (a Lebanese couple that moved there from Abu Dhabi 9 months ago, and a Qatari friend who I studied with in high school). I am also hoping to visit Saudi Arabia in the first week of February 2009.

Regards my planned trip to Jordan / Isr*el / Palestine, a couple of things are vexing me as I try to finalise the details – namely whether an Isr*eli stamp in my passport will prevent me from returning to the UAE, and secondly whether the overland trip from Bethlehem – Amman can be done quickly enough to allow me to return to Abu Dhabi for a quick flight out to Canada on December 26th.  Working on these issues 

Good night!

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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It’s been a few weeks but I’m finally getting around to posting the 15 or so photos I took at the Canadian Thanksgiving celebration at the Sheraton Corniche in Abu Dhabi on October 12th, 2008.

The event itself was attended by over 400 people; our group alone was about 40 and occupied four entire tables! Was a great way to gather a big group of Canadians together and let them get to know each other.  Social networking in this city is essential to helping oneself settle in properly, so everyone needs to do their part in organising group dinners, parties, get-togethers, movie nights, whatever.

It was organised by the Canadian Club of Abu Dhabi, by a fellow named Ian McNabb.  I discovered the Canadian Club of Abu Dhabi through my friend Shu Liang who forwarded a random email one day telling me about a monthly pub night at PJ’s at the Royal Meridien. I decided to try it out and doing so was one of the best decisions I’ve made.  A number of my closest friends in the city emerged from the group of people I met that night and nights to follow. Thanks Shu! 

If you are new to Abu Dhabi and interested in being added to the Canadian Club’s mailing list (and being informed of Canada Day, Thanksgiving Day, Terry Fox Runs, Pub Nights and other such social affairs and events) don’t hesitate to contact me and I can put you in touch with Ian.

Ah yes… the photos of Canadian Thanksgiving in Abu Dhabi can be seen by clicking here

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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For the second time in a week (and second time during my time here in Abu Dhabi), I am sharing a taxi with a stranger I met on the street. The taxi shortage in the city of Abu Dhabi is becoming so acute that I am forced to find alternative ways of procuring transportation when I need to get somewhere. But the effect is also felt in other ways. For instance, during lunch hours, I am more or less bound to the neighbourhood around my office during my lunch hour since tring to find a taxi can eat into that precious break from the office. Not to mention the fact that it is somewhat frustrating and very hot outside (30+ in this “autumn” weather)!!

Buying a car doesn’t really make sense for me as I explained in an earlier post from October 3rd 2008. Given the absence of a comprehensive public transit solution in the city, taxi-sharing is actually quite common among a large segment of the population. In fact I’ve just exited the taxi and two Indian fellows who appear not to know each other have just gotten in. 

Somehow though, until now I seem to have been living outside the mainstream (and knew it).

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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I had a stimulating intellectual conversation this evening at the end of which I realised I may be interested in studying the development / workings of the human mind through fields such as sociology, psychology, behavioural economics, and how that can contribute to international development and poverty reduction.

My thinking out loud for today…

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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Photo par/by Ladislas Kadyszewski 

My friend Christine Leibovict passed away earlier this week after a long and courageous battle with breast cancer. She was 31 years old.

Christine and I first met during spring of the year 2000, when we took a class together at Concordia University.  I remember her most for her fun-loving and easygoing attitude towards life, her inquisitive and curious nature for the goings-ons of her friends, and especially as someone who never minced her words. She was not afraid to tell someone what she thought.

Beginning with her diagnosis in September 2004, she sent regular emails to friends and family to tell them how she was doing.  She used the emails to educate us about the disease, the process and treatments she underwent to try and rid her body of the disease, and to share her progress along the way.  She undertook to learn as much as she could about the enemy she was facing and then used that knowledge to begin helping other people and increasing awareness of breast cancer.  She participated in fundraisers and had even begun launching a foundation to educate others about one of the lesser-known challenges of cancer – fertility preservation.

See my article on ryanrowe.com from April 21st, 2005 - Keep Fighting, Christine!

I have also attached here an article written by Christine about her journey and how she used art and photography to tell her story (la 5ième Saison).

As you can see from the article, Christine was a fighter and an optimist.  She turned her battle against cancer into a way to help others, and despite the incredible darkness she faced, she managed to find the positive in her situation – what she learned from herself, and the life experience that it came to be.  To face one’s own mortality must be one of the most immense challenges a human being can encounter.

As a memorial to Christine, I have also posted a few photos from over the years I’d known her.

In loving memory of Christine Leibovict on facebook

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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We create our own destiny because we are free and rational beings that can make choices about the things we do. I think we believe in God and in fate because it’s comforting to the human mind that we are not responsible for the choices we make.

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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I am currently sitting in the first class lounge at Doha International Airport, sipping a cold beer and eating salted nuts. When I arrived at the Qatar Airways counter at Moscow Domodedovo International Airport this afternoon I was quite chuffed when they informed me I’d been upgraded to first class.

Of the half-dozen or so premium traveller lounges that I’ve been through in my time, this one ranks among the best. My criteria are comfort of seating, ambiance, and services offered. The other notable one I’ve enjoyed include the British Airways lounge at London Heathrow (see my post from xxx).

The first class lounge at the Doha airport (there’s a separate one for business class) is one of the nicest lounges I have ever seen – free massages, showers, nice buffet, full bar and great comfortable seating with soft lighting making it easy to doze off comfortably while waiting for your flight.

As for the flying experience, I had my own box-like mini-compartment offering a fair degree of privacy, with a chair that folds out into a flat bed. That is serious leg room! They offer you champagne on departure (I opted for OJ instead) and a menu with a choice between five mains. You get a full setup on your tray, with real cutlery and dinnerware, some exquisite-tasting salad dressing, a choice of fine wines, cheeses, etc.

This is only my second time flying first class, the first was with Etihad through Paris. (See my article “xx”). I found the overall service to be only marginally better with Etihad (they’ve got their INSPIRED program which lets you order anything you want (food / drink) and have it prepared by chef specially for you, as long as the ingredients are on board). Also the Etihad cabin crew were also slightly more attentive. However the layout of the seat is better with QA. Etihad’s flat bed is too complicated to operate and too narrow for my frame.

Generally speaking, while flying first class is a great experience, the added benefits it seems to offer (i.e. the level of attention and service, the flat bed and the added privacy) are not key criteria for me when I fly. I can see however that it may be worth it for some who require the most in privacy (i.e. celebrities, politicians, royalty or high profile businessmen), the disabled who need to have a certain level of attention or those who absolutely require a decent night’s sleep and are time-constrained.

Off to Abu Dhabi now! Until next time!

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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Well, I am in Moscow at the moment, alone in a random bar / nightclub drinking a cool Stella and watching buxom Russian blondes gyrate to dance music.

I arrived in Moscow early yesterday morning but tonight is really the first chance I’ve had to relax and mingle with Russians. I started off the evening by going for dinner with my sweet friend Ekaterina who I first met during my New Year’s Eve trip to India in Dec 2007. We reunited at my hotel and she took me on a stroll through the city streets in the Verskaya neighbourhood of the city. We ended up at an Italian eatery named Mi Piace where we dined on delicious tomato soup, drank white wine (one glass) and told stories over pyromaniac table adventures.

Interject muse of rr – I feel so free, so free to do whatever the f*ck I want, except for swearing because I need to pay tribute to the UAE censor authorities – and I want to fly like a bird, see the whole world and learn every language and talk to every free spirit and soul on the planet, getting into their heads and absorbing the culture of the people, I am a citizen of the world – sorry cool dance song being played by the DJ so my muse just took over the BB keyboard. 

Following dinner, I walked Katya (how many nicknames do you have?) to a civvie taxi, meaning a makeshift, spur-of-the-moment taxi operated by a normal bloke with his own car, i.e. he is not officially a taxi driver, when he sees someone who needs a taxi he stops and picks them up and takes them to their destination in return for an agreed-upon fee. I find it a terribly efficient system of employment and transportation to be quite honest. I set Katya on her way with a one-cheek kiss and continued my jaunt around the city streets, looking for a bar that would give me a taste of Russian culture tonight. During that journey, I spotted a female bus driver seemingly hand-powering her electric powered public bus, a trio of young Russian students laughing at a homeless guy, a suite of Bentleys parked outside an expensive hotel, a couple of men drinking beers by the handrail on the steps leading down into an underground station, a half-dozen lingerie shops within a 500 metre length of road, a happy smiling couple oblivious to everything but each other, funky street signs requiring deciphering by yours truly in order to determine whether they were PECTOPAH or a bAP .

In the brisk night air I love city walking, people-watching and living the urban life.

On my way to nowhere I bought a single long-stemmed rose which (right now) has become a short-stemmed rose as a result of subsequent adventures between then and now. Tomorrow I will stare into The Heart of the Rose – google it. 

So during my stroll, I did find a few bars and cafes and lounges but they weren’t quite what I was looking for. I wanted something that would let me interact with Russian culture. This one bar I walked into had the numbers 24 on a sign and bAP with stairs leading downstairs. It seemed like a decent choice. I walked downstairs and opened the door and found half a dozen drunk Russian businessmen singing karaoke.you don’t get better cultural opportunities than that. So I ordered a beer and inserted myself into the group – not to sing – but to observe.  it didn’t take me long to realise that Russian karaoke presents an excellent opportunity to connect sounds with letters and syllables. 

Humm… Its getting late, and now I am at my second stop – the Russian nightclub with the gyrating blondes (only now it’s blond guys – I think it’s time for me to get out of here!!).

Peace out.

P.S. My long and meandering silliness above will probably be famous someday – so don’t laugh me. Most geniuses are somewhat odd or eccentric.  Van Gogh was also a nut – he cut off his ear. 

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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Wadi El-Hutan, Egypt: The ancient Tethys Sea receded between 250 and 35 million years ago. 

Comparing present day environmental change with perturbations back in the deep past has always interested Zalasiewicz, a lecturer in geology at the UK’s University of Leicester. Here he imagines what distinctive traces humans might leave in the strata and how the past is improving our knowledge of climate change.

CNN:How far does our geological knowledge go back?

Dr Jan Zalasiewicz: Right to the beginning. If you look at meteorites then we have bits of the origin of the solar system — that’s a little bit over 4,500 million years ago.

There has recently been a report saying that geologists have found some rocks which are possibly over four billion years old. And there are certainly crystals that have been found that are in excess of 4.3 billion years old. So we are getting very close to the origin of the Earth.

A more or less continuous record starts from about 3.8 billion years. From there, by and large, there is a very good record. The Earth really has a fantastic record of the past. Because of the peculiarities of the way continents and oceans form on Earth it is far better than anything one could ever hope to find on Mars, Mercury or Venus. Earth is the history planet.

CNN:Does a reliable climate record stretch back 3.8 billion years?

JZ: It does, though it gets better and better as the rocks get younger. Way back that far, there are some indications that the Earth was really quite warm. It might have been upwards of 50-60 degrees centigrade, although this evidence is uncertain.

But there is cast iron evidence going back up to 2.5 billion years ago of episodes of cold (glaciations). These leave distinctive marks on the geography of the time which translates into the strata we now look at.

CNN:How would you describe our impact on the planet?

JZ: What we’re doing is coming into this rather dynamic yet delicately balanced system where you switch from one state to another and it’s like we are hitting it hard with a hammer.

Because of the effect of land use changes we are changing how reflective the Earth is. And particularly by putting more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere we’re changing the heat balance of the Earth. The best prediction, held by the great majority of scientists, is that it will tip the Earth into a warmer state, something like that which pertained before the ice ages started (between three and tens of million years ago).

But the timing isn’t certain. When change takes place it often changes at times called tipping points. Things carry on much the same while the system is being pushed and then it gives way fairly quickly and refashions itself into a new system.

If I was a betting man, I would say that somewhere within the next few centuries or perhaps even the next few decades the earth will re-orientate itself into what will likely be a global climate warmer by somewhere between three to five degrees centigrade.

CNN: What is geology teaching us about the climate?

JZ: As we are getting increasingly better at reading the strata we are finding analogous episodes in the Earth’s past which are in effect fossil global warming episodes. There was a very pronounced one about 55 million years ago, and another equally pronounced one about 180 million years ago — well back in the time of the dinosaurs.

Over a few thousand, to tens of thousands of years the Earth’s temperature shot up by about five degrees centigrade. Then gradually over about 100 thousand years or so the Earth’s temperature declined back to more or less what it was beforehand. Those episodes were associated with all kinds of other changes — the oceans grew more stagnant, with patches of oxygen deprivation. Some creatures liked it and spread — some of the kind of algae that form the red tides in the sea today spread far north and south. Other creatures hated it and became extinct. There was a kind of refashioning of the Earth’s ocean systems, the atmosphere and the patterns of animals and plants.

The physical systems gradually got back to more or less the state before, but of course when you change biology you change it forever. Those changes that took place determined the course of evolution of life on Earth thereafter.

CNN:What part has CO2 played in previous warming episodes?

JZ: We’ve got very good records for CO2 for the last one million years because you get bubbles of air trapped in polar ice and those have been drilled, measured, analyzed and they give an entirely consistent story showing temperature rises in step with CO2. There is an argument as to cause and effect — but CO2’s heat-trapping effects have been known for over a century.

Going further back in time it is harder to measure CO2. You can look at fossil leaves or chemistry of the limestones laid down in the oceans or of fossils. They give an idea that 100 million years ago CO2 levels were several times higher that today. But then there were hardly any ice caps on Earth and sea levels were getting on for a hundred meters higher than now.

Though we can’t measure exactly the levels CO2 in the atmosphere at the time, we can see changes in carbon atoms that went into fossils. These can reveal ancient carbon release events.

The worry is that we’re putting in some CO2 and maybe that is only the beginning. We warm the climate a bit and maybe disturb huge reservoirs of methane trapped in ocean floor sediments and in permafrost. If we release those then we could have quite severe warming.

CNN:Climate change deniers often seize on evidence of previouspre-historicperiods of warming as proof that humans are not to blame for the current crisis. Are they right?

JZ: They are right and they are wrong, if you like. They are right in that the earth has seen climate changes on all scales — there have been long episodes of more or less stability and also episodes of sharp changes and we are reading those better and better. Science is advancing quite fast here.

But the climate change deniers are wrong in asserting that humans can’t seriously affect climate: we can and we are doing.

For the past 10,000 years we have been living in a remarkably stable climate where temperature hasn’t changed by much more than a degree globally and sea level hasn’t changed much more than a meter of so. The previous half a million years have been marked by quite sharp up and down changes, every few thousand years of a few degrees centigrade.

We’ve gone out of that into a climate plateau if you like. And we are living in a warm event that has lasted longer than any of the three previous ones. The climate is a delicately balanced machine and it would be best to try and leave it set as it is. All of our lives, our agriculture, our cities, our buildings are based on the world’s geography staying as it is.

The oceanographer Wallace Broecker has worked on these problems his whole life. He has a number of pithy phrases. One goes something like is; ‘The climate is an angry beast. Best not to provoke it’.

It has been an angry beast in the past and our actions may well provoke it again.

What we don’t want is to make it change more quickly than it would do otherwise into something that would be much less comfortable for civilization.

So far, we are a very short-lived species, about 160,000 years. The typical species span is between one and five million years. So we’ve arrived very recently and it’s really only in the last 10,000 years — a blink of the eye geologically — that we’ve developed and it’s only in the last 200 that our effects have gone global.

CNN:In what ways will our layer ofstrata be distinctive?

JZ: I think we are leaving a record which is different in some ways. Climate change does have analogues in the past. We are also beginning to cause a reasonably sized extinction event. There are parallels with extinction episodes in the past — such as at the end of the Cretaceous when the dinosaurs and other creatures died out.

What is distinctive about this one I think is that as well as creatures going extinct we are transporting all kinds of creatures around the Earth. This is unprecedented.

At the same time, we are using large parts of the terrestrial land surface, removing a whole variety of species and replacing them with a very few species that we grow for food.

We are also having an effect on the seas. We are basically removing the top of the food chain. Tuna and shark populations are crashing. We’ve removed the cod from Newfoundland and so on.

Once these species are removed others begin to take their place. Creatures like jellyfish, which we can’t use, are moving in to take that ecological space. Add to that the effect of CO2 making the sea more acidic. Past global warming have been associated with ocean acidification events and also the spread of oxygen-starved dead zones.

We are producing a mixture of all of these, which in some respects resemble these perturbations of the past. And in others like the merry-go-round of species around the Earth, we are producing something distinctive.

CNN:How would you assess the response to climate change so far?

JZ: Even in the course of a decade, it has gone from being a problem on the sidelines, to be recognized very broadly as something that should be taken very seriously. The next step is to prepare and carry out some action that is commensurate with the scale of the problem.

We need to solve the major problems like energy. We need lots of energy but in the long run deriving our energy from carbon is highly dangerous. We need to put alternative forms of energy on stream very quickly.

We also need to feed ourselves sustainably. There are a lot of humans on this planet and we are already using almost all the arable land.

There are things we can do though. In developed countries and increasingly in developing countries there is strongly meat based diets and that uses a lot of energy. With a more vegetarian diet, you can feed more people using less space. I’m not suggesting everybody should do that but I think if one moves in that direction one could ease the path for future generations.

If you take any other species in this situation which finds a habitat and expands, the typical cycle is boom and bust. The thing to avoid at all costs is a bust — it doesn’t bear thinking about.

We are on this tightrope. We have to try and retain our humanity.

I say at the end of my book that if one was to look from the outside at some of the gulfs between the very rich and the very poor it would seem like science fiction.

It seems to me these imbalances themselves are driving practices that are not sustainable.

CNN:How does being a geologist affect your outlook on life?

JZ: One is always aware of the immensity and variety of the history of this planet. I guess what that does is sharpen up the sheer speed and drama of the changes that are taking place now. Geologically, they are remarkable and unprecedented. There is nothing that has hit the earth quite like we have hit it.

One then looks at normal everyday life — trying to bring up kids, teach students at university and prepare them for life afterwards — and yet one is always conscious that the world is changing very quickly. Current and future generations will have to try and steer the world into a state of sustainability.

Links referenced within this article

The Earth After Us — What legacy will humans leave in the rocks?
by Dr. Jan Zalasiewicz
book: http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/EarthSciences/?view=usa&ci=9780199214976

Original article here

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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Recently my close friend KB revealed she is leaving Abu Dhabi – to that place down the road from here – the world’s largest tourist attraction – Dubai.

Here in AD, she lives in one of the nicest buildings in the city; in fact, I’ve always envied her for living there. She’s got a three-bedroom apartment with a huge balcony (yes, big enough to accommodate my Colombian hammock) and an unrivalled view of the city and the corniche.  Its spacious, well laid out and cozy enough to feel like a home. I would love to own a condo in a layout like this one.

Now I should preface this with saying that I am not at all dissatisfied with my current apartment – I quite like living here. The rent is affordable (for now), it’s centrally located and a five minute stroll to the office. I’ve got friends living in the building, and I’ve decorated it so that it’s nice and cozy. I can really call this place ‘home’.

My flat in Abu Dhabi 

See photos of my current flat here

Still, despite being happy with my current place, I am the type of person that always looks for something better and bigger – nothing wrong with that, to a degree.  But KB’s place is attractive to me for a number of reasons, mainly social.

It would mean a place to have larger dinner parties and entertain more people more comfortably, something I’d love to be able to learn to do better – to be a good host and learn how to put on proper social functions. Friends could come over to hang out for the evening, in a place big enough that acquaintances and early friends would feel comfortable, but a place cozy enough that close friends would love to just chill out and call it their second home.  They could stay overnight comfortably if they wanted to, in a second room, in case they drink too much red wine. It’d also be great for hosting people visiting from abroad.  With an extra bedroom or two, they could come and go as they please and let themselves in and out, without feeling like they are intruding on my personal space.

The intensely social environment of Abu Dhabi means that things like the above are an important contribution to a person’s status in the social hierarchy.  To be very honesty with myself (and everyone reading this), I have always wanted to be at the centre of attention, the life of the party, the guy everyone wants to be friends with.  At times I have even thought that living in a place like hers would make a more compelling argument for me to continue living here in Abu Dhabi (yes – that’s right – I am currently thinking about when / how to leave and where to go).

But all of this is a bit materialistic of me – I think. I have been trying to wean myself off big-ticket items, in order to make my lifestyle sustainable on a reduced disposable income.  I want to save more, learn more about my strengths, weaknesses and vices (which include sometimes spending money frivolously) and prepare for the day where I might just be living frugally on a beach off the coast of South America, running a bar and living a comfortable but simple life. Besides all of this, at a more basic level, I want to teach myself to become more socially independent rather than less. I enjoy being with people, but I enjoy being with myself even more. Does that sound odd? 

Having a bigger and better place is also not going to strengthen my friendships or make me a better person.  It’s not going to vastly improve my quality of life or change those things about which I am currently dissatisfied. On top of all this, switching from a furnished one-bedroom to an unfurnished three-bedroom would mean I’d spend an enormous amount of money fitting it out with furniture, etc. I’d certainly spend more on entertainment. And I’d be father away from work, so transport costs would rise, whether that means taking a taxi every day or purchasing a car (one of those big-ticket items I am currently avoiding).

Moving to a larger, more lavish and luxurious apartment is tempting, but thinking through the pros and cons it just doesn’t make sense.

Now I guess the question you’re asking yourself is why do I want to leave Abu Dhabi?

I’ll save that for another day. Thanks for reading.

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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In August 2008 I went on a travelling spree through China (5 days), Rwanda (3 days), Uganda (1 day), Kenya (2 days), Canada (7 days) and the United Kingdom (1 day).

Am finally sorting through all the photos and have managed to get my China, Canada and UK photos online.

Photos from Africa to come soon, there are hundreds so is taking me time to sort through them.

Links are here:

Shanghai & Beijing, China

Chinese Acrobatics Show 

When I discovered in early July that there was a public holiday at the end of the month, I started making plans for a trip somewhere.  China popped into my head (why not?) and off I went. 2 nights in Shanghai, 2 nights in Beijing and then back to the Dhabi!

Montreal, Canada

Trip to Montreal in August 2008 

I’ve been back to Montreal three times since I moved to the UAE in June 2006 but this third trip was the best so far. While it was only 4 days in the city plus a weekend up at Tremblant for the wedding of my friend Vince Purino, it was a tightly packed schedule but I was lucky to get to spend quality time with almost everyone I hoped to see during the trip… there’s never enough time but you do the best you can…

London, UK

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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Shaving my head the other day reminded me how easy it is to take risks and win (or lose).

It also reinforced my view that life is about taking risks and chances and just seeing where the journey takes you. Needed to get this thought out (on paper so to speak) before it fades away, but I am already starting to think about the next ‘risk’ I will take…

Time to step up…

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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So it’s been 24 hours since I shaved my head and I can see that the grass is starting to grow again. It was the weirdest feeling when I went to bed last night and laid my head down on the pillow – the pillow caught against the whiskers on my scalp and made it difficult to rest my head comfortably. Touching my scalp is even stranger – it hurts to rub the palms of my hand against the direction of the growth! And I’d have to characterise it as feeling a little like Velcro.
I have discovered that I have a couple of small scars on the back of my head and I have no idea where they came from. And there are two red bumps – no idea what those are!?!?
My head is pretty round and not a bad shape if I were bald, but it is a bit ‘eggish’ toward the crest / crown of my head. 

So those are my first thoughts about being bald.

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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at the moment I’m totally stoked, and filled with adrenaline.

I have always wanted to shave my head but have been too afraid to do it.  Scared or worried about what I would like with no hair, afraid it would make me ugly, I shied away from doing it. Childish maybe…

Today, on impulse, I said fuck it, and decided to shave my head, one of those things I need to do before I die, to face up to the fear, and to say I have begun to conquer it.

Besides it’ll grow back right?

null 

More photos here.

Face your fears. Live your dreams.

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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UAE hit by earth tremors

The National, originally published here.
Greg Aris, Praveen Menon, Nour Samaha
Last Updated: September 10. 2008 5:37PM UAE

An earthquake off the coast of Iran forced thousands of employees out of office buildings across Dubai and Sharjah this afternoon.

The epicentre of the quake, which measured 6.1 on the richter scale, was located 135km north of Ras al Khaimah near the island of Qeshm, according to Jamal Abdullah, head of the civil engineering department at the American University of Sharjah.

In Iran, one person has been killed and 15 injured, state television reported.

In the Emirates, the tremor struck at around 3pm and lasted for 10 seconds.

In Dubai, skyscrapers including Emirates Towers were immediately evacuated by security staff. Entry back into the two towers at the foot of Sheikh Zayed Road has not been permitted.

Tremors were also felt in Abu Dhabi with staff at some offices being evacuated.

A spokesman for the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority [ADIA] confirmed that the company headquarters on the Corniche was evacuated for “precautionary measures”.

Australian Alyssa Brown, 29, a legal secretary at DLA Piper in Emaar Business Park near The Greens in Dubai, said: “It happened all of a sudden, and we felt it because our chairs started rocking back and forth and side to side. The blinds started moving too. It lasted for about 10 seconds. Everyone started freaking out, and a lot of people left (voluntarily), because they did not want to stay. People from other buildings have been evacuated, and there are still many people standing outside.”

Mr Abdullah said the earthquake was of similar size to the one which rocked the UAE in November 2005.

“That earthquake measured 5.6 on the Richter Scale. This one was probably slightly stronger and lasted for a longer period of time. The university has several recording stations across the UAE. We’re still compiling all the data from the tremor.”

In Iran, there were reports that some buildings were destroyed in the Hormozgan province.

It was not immediately known if there were any casualties.

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My friend and colleague Matt Petchsy had this to say =)

“Dude, I did not know that this was earthquake country.

I am sitting in my apt (19th floor) and the building just moved. The lighting hanging off my ceiling were swaying for the past 3-4 minutes.

Freaky. If I had not lived in Japan before it would have been freakier.

Matt”

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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Travelling is fun, but waiting in airports and flying long distances quickly gets tiresome. Introduce the airport lounge and premium / vip seating.

It’s not that hard to get upgraded when flying, typically a combination of a smile, a bit of friendly banter and working on the basis that the airline staff is doing you a favour by upgrading will work wonders.

So I am in the British Airways lounge at London Heathrow airport waiting for my connection to Barcelona and I’m thinking about how much of a difference it makes to the whole flying experience. In this particular lounge there is a whole range of creature comforts from showers, lounge chairs, a full buffet and bar stocked with a range of liquors, beers, juices and other beverages. I have decided to indulge myself in kettle-cooked salt&vinegar flavoured potato chips and Newcastle Brown Ale & London Pride cans of beers. I’m hanging with my workmates Luke Harwood (Australian) and Michael Ferguson (Scottish) and trading tales about the world, our work and women.

Thanks to Mike, whose friendliness with the lounge staff got us the entrance in here (on the back of his silver status with oneWorld – the loyalty program to which British Airways belongs), the three hour layover is passing by very quickly.

….

Just found out that our flight has been delayed by 90 minutes back to a 6pm departure which scuttles my dinner plans with Matt and Manel! Doh! Back to the bar for more chips (crisps) and beers….

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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I am, once again, sitting in an airport lounge, updating my website while I wait for a flight out to some international destination….

This time it’s Barcelona in Spain for a three-day annual conference hosted by company for all employees. This will be my first trip to the motherland, one of the old European colonial powers, and the country that spawned an entire continent of Spanish-speaking peoples of indigenous, African and European descent.

My itinerary until Sunday includes attending a number of work-related events (panels, presentations and a couple of dinners / parties) around which I will try to fit a bit of sight-seeing. On my to-do list is a visit to San Sebastian (a popular beach for Spaniards on vacation), la Sagrada Familia (a historic religious architectural wonder which has been under construction for over 100 years and is not scheduled for completion until 2026) and a reunion with one of my Schulich IMBA ‘06 classmates – Manel Sanchez-Tria. My buddy Matt Petchsy (also a Schulich IMBA ‘06 alum) who happens to work with me here in the UAE wand is attending the conference will be joining me to meet up with Manel.
Bueno amigos, por el momento los dejo porque se han empezado el abordaje del vuelo asi que tengo que ir. Mantenga un ojo abierto en este espacio para mas noticias de mi viaje!

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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…the drycleaner has a tab which you pay once a month or so.

…the barista at the local Starbucks already knows what you want when you walk in off the street.

…you have a favourite taxi driver.

…your phone number is on file at half a dozen restaurants for home delivery.

…you have a welcome mat, potted plants and a ‘Welcome’ sign outside your front door.

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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Earlier this week, while flying back to the UAE from England, I had a couple of experiences with the people of the Arab world which piqued my curiosity and which I’d like to tell you about.

The first story is from the plane itself.  While waiting to use the loo on the airplane a man standing in front of me pulled out an airline blanket, spread it out on the floor of the aisle and got down on his knees and began to pray in Muslim fashion, facing in the direction of Makkah (Mecca) as is customary to do. I was fascinated as he was doing it in plain view of anyone who happened to wander down the aisle. I figured that the majority of the passengers on the plane were non-Muslim and would obviously be curious about this behaviour if not considering it downright odd. I myself would probably be too embarassed to do such a thing in front of strangers, even in a country where my religion is the dominant one. I guess I’m a bit self-conscious like that. I also admired his dedication since under the rules of the Muslim faith he is permitted to abstain from prayer while traveling, so he could have picked an ‘easy’ way out. After all, praying five times a day must not be easy, though I imagine as with anything it becomes a habit. I struck up a conversation with him and told him my thoughts, during which he shared with me various views on observing the Muslim faith.

Then, while boarding in London, an attractive young woman caught my eye. She was dressed in form-fitting attire (think of those Juicy-labelled pyjama pants). Medium-length black hair fashionably styled, olive-complexion and Arab / Persian features. She was hot and sexy and she knew it. She boarded the plane and disappeared from my view. I spotted her again at the baggage claim at the Dubai International Airport shortly after touching down. This time, however, she was sporting sunglasses and a head scarf which concealed part of her hair (but not very well). In my eyes, this sudden display of conservatism made her even more alluring, but I was acutely aware that we had crossed borders and approaching her might be culturally insensitive (especially given that family were around her). But my impression was also that she was wearing it more out of respect for cultural norms in the region than in observance of her own beliefs. Were I anywhere else, I would have approached her to say hello and probably inquired about the difference and her personal reasons for doing so.

These two situations are examples of what I see as the diverging perspectives among Arabs on the practice of Islam and Muslim culture in the UAE. On the one hand we have our Kuwaiti friend who stays fast to his praying regimen even when it may not be convenient or comfortable for him to do so, and on the other hand we have the young, attractive and cosmopolitan Arab woman who is coming into her own and seemingly wanting to enjoy it. And they are appearing to co-exist peacefully. This my friends is where East meets West.

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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I am back at Heathrow now, waiting for my flight EK 006 to Dubai.

So I spent my day in London with my sister Corinne and her family. Her husband (my brother-in-law) came along which was a nice surprise.

When they asked me what I wanted to do, I told them I had no ideas in mind and was just keen to hang out with then doing whatever they wanted. We ended up letting the kids (Brandon 13y old and Courtney 12y old) make the decisions. This made sense since they don’t get to go to London very often and this way they would see me as the ‘funnest’ uncle. 

So our itinerary consisted of a stroll through central London’s Covent Garden / Leicester Square / West End neighbourhood, which is characterised by designer-name boutiques, theatres and pubs with names such as the Nag’s Head and the Old Lion. I was surprised to see one theatre headlining a play with Judy Dench and directed by Kenneth Branagh where seats ranged in price from 10 quid (UK pounds) to 32 quid. Bloody cheap! 
We followed up with a visit to Hamley’s, a world-famous toy store with 5-6 floors, split into sections for boys, girls, hobbies, and electronics! There is even a staircase decorated with artwork showing the evolution of the Chronicles of Narnia tales by C.S. Lewis – great books by the way, for all ages.

for lunch we hit TGIF (the kids idea) where we gorged ourselves on monster burgers and I showed them the photos from the last two weeks of holidays. They really liked the gorilla shots and especially the one photo of the gorilla dung. 

Last but not least we ended our afternoon with a trip to the cinema to watch the new X-Files movie, which I must say is nothing special. Wait for it on video.

Oh… And in a class ryanrowe move, three books I picked up at a shop in Montreal were in one of their backpacks and I forget to get them before we said our goodbyes………

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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I’ve just finished the week-long Canadian leg of my hols and now find myself in London, England, where I have a 15-hour stopover before I head back to the UAE.

This was not part of my planned itinerary but the result of an unauthorised change by my travel agent (Al Jaraf Travel & Tourism) following an inquiry about flight timings betw London and Dubai.

This type of random behaviour seems to happen not infrequently in the UAE. What makes it frustrating is that although it is somewhat expected, it is almost impossible to prevent without going to extreme lengths that would cost me time, money and the hair on my head!

Anyway I’ll be in to the office late tomorrow (noon or so) and will probably be quite knackered from the overnight flight (my intention was to get a decent night’s sleep before heading back to the office) – but thankfully my director is pretty relaxed about it all and has said not to worry about it. Thanks Tareq!

So, I am at the moment hanging out in a coffee shop in Covent Garden in central London waiting for my sister Corinne and her two children Courtney and Brandon to arrive from their trip in from Ipswich to see me. I haven’t seen them since April 2007 when they (and my sister’s husband Clive) visited me for two weeks in the UAE.

So am looking forward to the day ahead and spending a bit of time with them before I continue my onward journey.

Photos and a travel update for this latest adventure (Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Canada, England) to come soon!

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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Just arrived back in Canada after 28 hours of flying, waiting, flying (and so on) from Nairobi in Kenya. Still going too. Our flight was diverted to Toronto (instead of landing at Montreal as planned) because of a thunderstorm there. Just on the tarmac at Pearson Int’l refueling the plane before we try Montreal again! Mom, Dad I should see you soon! xx

P.S. The whole flight has been a bit of a laugh. Broken headsets, broken toilets and now the diversion. Have had probs with AC before and expected something to go awry this time as well…. lol trying to keep a good attitude about this all. Some ppl must be more frustrated than me – their final destination is Toronto but due to customs / immigration rules they actually have to clear in Montreal and fly BACK to Toronto. Yikes! 

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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well, i’ve just arrived from Kigali after a gruelling 11-hour bus ride from Rwanda’s capital city. i tried to get myself on to the most comfortable bus possible and though i’d scored a win with JAGUAR EXECUTIVE COACHES, but at only RFr 7000 for the ride, I knew something was amiss.

And I was right. with no air-conditioning, no reclining seats, and zero legroom, this was a serious no-frills deal. but the ride was direct (i.e. less than 5 stops) and took us over a single-lane (each way) pot-holed road through the African countryside.

despite all of these positives, i was feeling the pain about 3 hours into a (stated) 8-hour trip, which turned into 11 hours.

stories and photos to share of lots of things, the gorillas, the kigali memorial, the ride up to kampala (where I am now, rather unexpectedly, after finding out that my friend’s wedding was cancelled on him).

anyway, gotta go, out for dinner and then clubbing with my buddies who were born and raised here.

cheers!

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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The gorilla visit was incredible. Spent about two hours trekking up a mountain through the jungle with a Polish family of three and an Austrian fellow. All of them were in pretty good shape but as for me climbing 600 metres from a base camp of about 2400m it was a very intense exercise. Dave V – I am no longer in the shape I was when we climbed Volcan Baru on Xmas Day in Panama in 2002! Through rural farmland area and then up a marked trail in the jungle, dodging mucky mud traps and then finally led off the beaten path bushwhacking as we began tracking the gorillas.

Our group was led by a Rwandan tour guide named Francis and we were flanked throughout the visit by two soldiers, a couple of locals (one of whom had to carry my knapsack because I was too out of shape to manage the climb with the extra weight (in my defense I was pulling my own weight of 91kg the whole way up)). When we reached our destination I was surprised to see three park rangers waiting for us, just sitting amonst the vegetation in the middle of the jungle. Apparently they spend their days in the jungle, and nights at home.

Watching the gorillas is an intense and intimidating experience. We spent our one hour (that’s all you get) with a family of ten led by a silverback gorilla named Isabukuru. A silverback gorilla by the way is an elder male in a family of mountain gorillas – as it approaches a certain age, the hair on its back turns silver and distinguishes itself from the rest of the family. When a group of gorilla watchers approaches a familly, they are meant to follow a number of different rules, one of the most important of which is standing a minimum distance away from the gorillas. All of the guidebooks and info resources say it’s about 5 metres, but we couldn’t have been more than 3-4 metres away. In fact we were so close to them that the gorillas changed locations three times in the hour that we we were watching.
The fascinating thing about watching the gorillas was how intimidated I felt about being there in front of them. Their range of human-like behaviours is astonishing. For example, there were so many times where I was taking a photo of the silverback (there was only one that I saw) and he would look right into my eyes, watching me. I found myself wondering whether he was debating whether or not to attack me or if he was just thinking what a stupid animal I am standing there for an hour just looking at them do their thing. I have a number of photos of him looking straight into the camera which I will post as soon as I can (yeah right, the cynics are saying!). Another example is the way they take care of their young and each other. At one point of the juveniles (less than 8 years old I think) started to climb up a hanging vine and the elder male pulled him back down gently by tugging downward on the vine. Or when the silverback was lying stretched out and a female came over to him and curled up next to him. He put his arms over hers and lay there close to her. And while we were watching a little baby gorilla popped out of the crook of the mother’s arm! This little baby was absolutely adorable. It had the biggest eyes and was so curious about the human beings which were standing there taking photos of it. It just kept on looking directly at us quizzically… got some great photos of that too.
You might be wondering how it is that the gorillas can tolerate such close human interaction. The ORTPN (the Rwandan tourism office) organises these gorilla visits every day, all year long, and so the gorillas are used to humans gawking at them. The gorilla permits aren’t cheap however (US$500 for a single hour, no more is alloweed) and this is an eco-tourism effort still in its infancy but growing more popular every year. Rwanda is considered the best place in the world to get up close and personal with the rare mountain gorillas (of which there are only 700 left in the world, half of which are in Rwanda, the other half spread through the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, neither of which has programs as developed as Rwanda’s). The history of what may be one of the most successful eco-tourism efforts in Africa (i.e. contributes to the local economy by generating jobs for park rangers, guides, and the obvious multiplier effects on business-owners such as hoteliers, restauraters, taxi drivers, etc) is predicated by the successful efforts of Dian Fossey (an American conservationist) who spent a dozen or more years living in the jungle with the gorillas and whose work was immortalised in the 1980s’ film Gorillas in the Mist. The population of the mountain gorillas has doubled since from ~320 to over ~700 today.

At Hotel Gorillas now in Kigali (Rwanda’s capital city) – this is a nicely decorated and very comfortable hotel in an upmarket part of town. It’s the hotel where I was meant to stay throughout the wedding celebrations but now that the wedding has been cancelled I will probably make my way to Uganda by bus sometime tomorrow or early Friday. More on that later (yeah right I hear the cynics saying again!!!).

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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I’ve just arrived in Ruhengeri, a very small town, nestled in the foothills of the Virunga Mountains in northern Rwanda.

I came here by taxi (a $100 endeavour) because all of the buses to this part of the country stop running after 6 or 7pm. I found this out from a nice fellow named Johnny who was my seatmate on the flight in with Rwandair Express.Johnny runs an IT solutions company servicing clients in Rwanda and Burundi and was just coming back from a four-day business trip to Nairobi.

He helped organise a taxi to take me down to the bus station and, in the event that service was stopped for the night, to take me directly to Ruhengeri.

My driver’s name was Yasin, he is a Muslim married to a Christian and was born in Uganda. He considers himself Rwandese (? legacy of French heritage I guess i.e. Rwandais) as he was born to Rwandan refugee parents who fled to Uganda after the “first”(!!!) genocide in 1959. In 1994 he decided to move back here to be with relatives. He met his wife, a Christian woman, married her five years later and now they have three kids. Interestingly English is his native language and French is hers. Love knows no barriers!

It was a fantastic drive, progressively steeper, and we climbed a winding road dug into the mountainside. (To date Africa has in many ways reminded me of Colombia – the lush green landscape and diverse topography, the friendly people, the pleasant climate, and, of course, a relatively poor reputation internationally due to a bad history that everyone can’t seem to forget or believe is over (or improving). We passed dozens of people of all ages on the side of the road, returning to their homes in the countryside after a long day. Yasin weaved his way around pothole after pothole in the pitch black while we discussed such topics as marrying cross-religion, the history of Rwanda, job opportunities in the UAE, and Ugandan music. 

I find as I travel more and more these last few years I have noticed that what really floats my boat is talking with people and experiencing way of life of the locals… The touristy sights don’t attract me as much anymore (a good example is China where in Beijing I skipped the three biggest tourist attractions of all – the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, and the Forbidden City – in favour of strolling through the hutongs and dancing aerobics in a public square).

Ok guys, blackberry dying and I left my charger in Nairobi so may not be any more updates for a couple of days). Take care for now!

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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Sitting on 50-seater plane at the moment, about to take off for Kigali, Rwanda. When I get there I have to find a way to catch a 2 hour bus ride to a small town called Ruhengeri which will be my launching pad for a visit to see the mountain gorillas tomorrow in Parc National des Volcans (btw did you know that Rwanda is a former French colony)?

Am up early in the am (6am) to go pick up my permit from the tourist office for the gorilla adventure… Keep an eye on this space for updates when I can… Internet service has been spotty so far.

Cheers!
Ryan

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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I am about to get on a plane to fly to Nairobi, Kenya where I plan to spend one night and part of a day before flying onward to Rwanda. This is my first trip to the African continent and there is a mix of emotions – excitement, nervousness, apprehension, wanderlust.

I’ll be honest, I don’t know much about Africa. Not only have I never been there but I have had relatively few interactions with people from that part of the world.

I think generally there is a lot of mystery about Africa and many people associate poverty, famine, and disease with the name. While the reasons I am going to Africa are, in the first instance, to go to a wedding and do a jungle tour, the most alluring part of the trip is perhaps to see first-hand (and if I am lucky, to understand) a little bit about the problems Africa faces.

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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This is a test post of a picture.

This is my company logo… www.akvotek.com

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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Just got back from China… Nearly 5am here and in a taxi heading back to the dhabi from DBX. Gonna try and catch a couple of hours of z’s before I head into the office!! Expecting (hoping) it not to be a late day at the desk since I am pretty shattered from the flight, not to mention the weekend’s travel adventures!!!

Will update with photos and more stories soon!
Chowder

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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In my view – work to live right? Don’t live to work.

Check out http://www.fullpassport.com

Thanks to Hallie Engel for recommending.

So often we have grand dreams we think may be out of our reach. But we shouldn’t be afraid to fall short because even if we were to fail, we are likely to go further than we would have had we not dared to dream and achieve in the first instance. And in any case, with failure comes the experience of living and helps us to savour and appreciate the sweet taste of success. So face your fears and live your dreams!

Below a few of my favourite inspiring words which I find just so true.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore.
Dream.
Discover.”
- Mark Twain

P.S. I’m not sure that Mark Twain actually said this. Can’t seem to verify on the web. Eric?

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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So I arrived in Beijing a few hours ago and checked myself into the Leo Hostel. This is backpacker style accommodation and much less luxurious then the Ruijin hotel where I was staying in Shanghai. The Ruijin was situated in the area known as the French Concession – a residential and commercial neighbourhood with tree-lined streets which distinguishes it from many other parts of central Shanghai. I will explain later why it is so named – I think that I would be keen to live in this neighbourhood if I were to go to Shanghai for an extended period of time.

Despite being situated in the heart of the city the Ruijin Hotel is a world apart with approx 2 acres of land and is beautifully landscaped with forests, babbling brooks, ponds and a family of ducks. Extremely picturesque. Within the ground of this retreat-like estate you can find half a dozen restaurants and it is also home to the famous Face Bar – a darkened place with shadowy red lighting and multiple rooms with funky decor, lounge chairs and sofas and a pool table.

The hotel rooms came beautifully furnished, with king-size bed, a work desk, and a jacuzzi in the bathroom! Breakfast was included and they threw in a bottle of red wine too! Only gripe was that the shower water was too cold!! 

Here at the Leo Hostel I have done nothing so far this afternoon except sleep and try to recover from my night of partying at the Richy nightclub in Fusin Park in Shanghai. Was out till 4am and only slept an hour before my flight. Don’t get any wrong ideas kids! The hostel here is tucked away in a little hutong not far from Qianmen subway station on Line 2. This is close to Tiananmen Square and what is known as the Forbidden City. Although in the centre of hustle and bustle, it is well isolated from the city din. It is a long and rectangualar and entering from the street I walk through a reception area, a small internet room on my left, a large comfortable lounge area, an artist’s workshop and then a long corridor in the centre of which there is a garden with running water, at the end of which I reach my room number 23. The room doors are wooden, and the corridor is set with matching wooden pillars in an Indian red/brown colour. Something tells me there is a feng shui element in the hotel’s design. More on fen shui later…

The rooms are minimal but functional with comfortable beds and hot water in the showers.

All of this to say that I like the place where I am staying here in Beijing, for less luxury and fuss than the other place I was in. For some reason I feel more clear-headed, tranquil and at peace with things. Maybe there’s some merit to this feng shui idea…

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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Good tune…

Gotta go now… They just turned on the fasten seatbelts sign and told us to turn off our mobile phones…

==

All my bags are packed
Im ready to go
Im standin here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin
Its early morn
The taxis waitin
Hes blowin his horn
Already Im so lonesome
I could die

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that youll wait for me
Hold me like youll never let me go
cause Im leavin on a jet plane
Dont know when Ill be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

Theres so many times Ive let you down
So many times Ive played around
I tell you now, they dont mean a thing
Evry place I go, Ill think of you
Evry song I sing, Ill sing for you
When I come back, Ill bring your wedding ring

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that youll wait for me
Hold me like youll never let me go
cause Im leavin on a jet plane
Dont know when Ill be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

Now the time has come to leave you
One more time
Let me kiss you
Then close your eyes
Ill be on my way
Dream about the days to come
When I wont have to leave alone
About the times, I wont have to say

Oh, kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that youll wait for me
Hold me like youll never let me go
cause Im leavin on a jet plane
Dont know when Ill be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

But, Im leavin on a jet plane
Dont know when Ill be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

Words and music by john denver

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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I am really digging this city and after just 24 hours here found myself wondering whether I should even go to Beijing. But after advice from a locally-based Canadian expat and fellow Schulich IMBA alum I need to go to Beijing for a heavier dose of Chinese culture. Rob Field-Marsham and I just had lunch at the Crystal Jade Restaurant not far from the Shuoi On Plaza at Huai Hai and Madang Lu Roads. Thanks for meeting up with me Rob, hope to see you tonight for drinks if you can!

For my trip to Beijing I have booked a room in the centrally-located Leo Hostel for Friday and Saturday night and am arranging to fly out there tomorrow morning at 9am with Chinese Eastern Airlines.

Sipping a Kirin Natural Style green tea, I am at the moment in a taxi heading down Huaihai Road to see if I can do an hour-long boat trip on the Huanpu River. This should offer some good photo opps and a good way to fill in the time before I head off to watch a Chinese acrobatic show called ERA tonight at 7:30pm.

Huaihai Road seems to be quite the shopping thoroughfare and the people strolling about are fashionable, sexy and self-assured. There are plenty of foreigners walking about and most of them seem to be residents. Here I don’t get approached by anyone hawking tourist wares – quite the opposite from my walk on the Bund last night where street vendors tried to sell me all kinds of trinkets and where a trio of adolescent Chinese girls even asked me to pose for a photo with them! On my to-do list is a leisurely walking tour of Huaihai so that I can to get to know this side of the city a bit better.

By the way – on my way into town yesterday on the Maglev (top speed of which was 301 km/h) we passed a community which was seemingly built amongst a maze of waterways and forests. Does anyone know the name of this place? Would love to check it out.

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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Yesterday evening while walking along the Bund (waterfront promenade along the western side of the Huangpu River) I had an urgent need to use the bathroom. Looking around, I walked into a Bund-side restaurant / cafe and asked if they had a ‘toilet’. Not understanding me at all they passed me from person to person to person but no luck. In desperation I even pointed at my fly and said ‘xixi’, remembering from somewhere sometime that the word meant to go pee. He looked at me and looked at his buddies, who all looked back at me and started laughing their heads off. The guy went to the fridge and brought me a soda drink which he apparently thought was what I wanted… Shaking my head no and smiling, then his wife motioned to me to follow her inside. “Finally!”, I thought. She took me to the back of the restaurant and went to another fridge and pulled out a diet version of the same drink. 

Loving the adventure…

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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Just got off the plane and was very keen to take the ‘Maglev’ a high-speed train that operates by magnetic levitation. I don’t even know where I am going to stay but I figure taking the Maglev will save me a long taxi ride from the airport. I was thinking with my new Nikon SLR D60 I’d get a couple of cool shots of the train but the humidity has fogged up my lens. So I am waiting for it to clear up and I figured I’d put my thoughts down in the meantime.

By the way did you know that there are seven Chinese cities acting as host cities for the Olympic Games? I figured that everything would be based in Beijing and surround area but obviously not! The seven are Shanghai, Tianjin, Qingdao, Shenyang, Qinhuangdao, Hong Kong and Beijing.

Ok lens all cleared up now! Off I go.

P.S. My postings are in local Abu Dhabi time which is four hours behind Shanghai…

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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In a taxi, on my way to Dubai International Airport (DBX), loving the mobility provided to me by my Blackberry. I can finally update ryanrowe.com from abroad without schlepping through the technical crap previously imposed upon me by stone age era internet cafe technology in foreign lands. Now I can update from wherever and whenever and with all the random thoughts and questions that crowd my mind when I travel!

Now, to preface this trip to China, I dreamed up the idea a few weeks ago after finding out about the Muslim holiday in the UAE at the end of the month of July. And here we are! But I have been thinking of a trip for nearly a couple of years now – since my first real interaction with the Chinese culture which my piqued my curiosity. I am intrigued by the sing-song quality of the language, by the artistic qualities of the writing, the shyness of the people, the ancient history of the civilisation and the vast importance and implications this emerging superpower has for the future of our planet.

In just five days I hope to be lucky enough to sneak a peek into the Chinese mind. This is my objective…

Now as part of this journey,I must be honest with you folks, there are a number of adventures I hope to have along the way:

1) I would like to get a photo with a Chinese policeman

2) I would like to immerse myself in a socially intense environment where I will be surrounded by locals doing their thing – smiles and hand gestures are the currency here

3) I want to get ripped off by shopkeepers, taxi drivers and restaurateurs alike because I don’t speak English and because I am a foreigner. And then I want to learn a bit of what it takes to succesfully negotiate with these guys so they don’t do this.

4) I want to be approached by hot Chinese women who will invite me to lunch to ‘practice their English and then leave me with a bill 10 times what you would expect to pay. But I will refuse to accompany them – Pu jiao!

5) I would like to test the myth that one of my brightly-coloured t-shirts (red, green or yellow) may offend an ancient custom or tradition or legend or superstition

6)I will eat dog or cat meat

7) I want to drink at a Chinese university pub or college watering hole.

I want to kiss a local Chinese girl that doesn’t speak a word of English.

9)I want to meet an Olympic athlete.

Carpe diem! Until next time!

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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Am sitting here in the Fuddrucker’s restaurant in the Marina Mall listening to the sounds of an artificial thunderstorm. Thunder, rain, lightning, the entire show plays out over a period of 3-5 minutes.

It goes like this, you’ll be eating or having a conversation with your dinnermates and suddely you’ll be startled by a loud thunderclap. The first time you experience this you will probably look around and wonder what is happening. You’ll notice that the mall lights have dimmed considerably. The thunder claps again and again interspersed with bursts of simulated lightning. People who don’t know what is happening (and kids who do) will rush out to the promenade area. And the rain will begin, drops of water falling out of the ceiling, like a sprinkler system. It will rain down throughout the mall’s maze of walkways (carefully designed for minimal interference with people’s shopping expeditions) and water will begin to accumulate on the floor in puddles which the kids may play in.

This continues for a short while and then stops, following which poorly-paid cleaning crews (typically from India or Bangladesh) will emerge to mop up the mess.

This is an example of one of many of the strange and seemingly wasteful and pointless displays of the excess wealth in this country and disregard for environmental impact.

Other examples are the development of man-made islands off the coast of Dubai on which billions of dollars have been spent and untold damage has been done to the ocean ecosystems from the dredging of the sea-bottom and the reclamation of land. Consider the famous Ski Dubai resort in the Mall of the Emirates where temperatures are maintained at -4C while the mercury outside soars as high as 50C (see prev article below). Or the anti-desertification initiative whereby millions of gallons of desalinated seawater are used to irrigate the desert so that lush green vegetation can grow along miles of highways.

Ostensibly these initiatives are meant to drive the development of a tourism industry and diversify the economy away from oil&gas, create a more Western-friendly lifestyle and attract investment from people and companies all over the world. But at what cost? Ignoring the dollar (dirham) figures, it has resulted in the UAE having the largest carbon footprint (on a per-capita basis) of any country on earth. It has sustained a culture of excess and hedonistic pleasure and an attitude of environmental carelessness. What would Mother Nature think of all this?

Among the places I have travelled to in the world this is certainly the strangest place I have ever been.

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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Over the last couple of months I’ve taken to hitting the gym on my lunch hour during the workday with my workmate Brendon Barnes.

It works nicely because with the type of work I’m doing I’m able to manage my time so that I can get away for a long lunch (well, it’s really a short workout and a short lunch combined).  In the evenings my schedule very easily gets hijacked by work obligations, or just pure fatigue, or even hunger, and I often don’t have the energy to make it out to the gym (plus in rush-hour, it can be near impossible to get a taxi).

The workouts are intense, combination sets where you alternate one exercise with another, and very little rest in between (say 30-60 seconds).  A typical combo set might see three sets of 21’s (a variation of the bicep curl on an EZ curl bar) with three sets of bench press.  This drives up your heart rate and really gets you sweating.  Brendon’s been a good workout partner because he pushes my limits and also has very good form – meaning he knows how the exercise is meant to be done to isolate the muscle and get the maximum effect.  Being a kiwi (from New Zealand), he mixes up some friendly banter with that no-nonsense, no-bullshit, no-pussy attitude.

Would like to share with you Brendon’s words to me today during a particularly painful session at the gym:

“Pain is weakness leaving your body.”

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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the article exaggerates a little bit but it does capture the essence of what it feels like to live here.

Extravagance part of life in the really rich, oil-soaked emirate
THE STAR
July 21, 2008
Oakland Ross
Middle East Bureau

Source: http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/464057

ABU DHABI–In the imponderable world of unthinkable wealth, it is easy to dream big.

But it doesn’t hurt, now and then, to think small.

Saeed Abdel Ghaffar Khouri was doing a bit of both a few weeks back, when he shelled out 52.2 million dirhams, or $14.3 million – for a licence plate.

Granted, it’s no ordinary plate.

It bears only the single digit “1″ where normal plates carry five numerals, so Khouri’s proud acquisition – purchased at a charity auction – undoubtedly helps its owner stand out from the crowd.

But still – $14.3 million?

It might seem like a lot of cash but this is Abu Dhabi, where 420,000 indigenous inhabitants share in the revenue from 2.5 million barrels of oil a day. They mostly take such transactions in stride.

“They’re astoundingly rich,” said a Western diplomat. “They have to be among the richest people in the world, without a doubt.”

He was referring to the elite, but even the less affluent of this city’s native-born residents are not exactly what you would call strapped.

“A poor Emirati?” said a local journalist, using the term for a citizen of the United Arab Emirates, of which Abu Dhabi is the capital. “I have yet to see one.”

Money talks in every corner of the globe, but nowhere does it speak more volubly than here. With roughly $1 trillion invested abroad – and this was before the price of petroleum began gushing skyward nearly a year ago – this emirate was already the richest place on earth.

People in other countries have probably heard of Dubai, another emirate located a short drive to the northeast, and they rightly associate it with immense wealth.

But Dubai is no Abu Dhabi.

Dubai never had much oil, and what it did have is mostly gone.

Meanwhile, the desert around Abu Dhabi oozes petroleum – enough to last more than 100 years at the current rate of extraction – and this city is poised to eclipse Dubai as possibly the most sumptuous city in the world.

“The oil boom has opened the doors to things that would not have happened otherwise,” said Hassan Fattah, deputy editor of The National, an English-language newspaper here. “Do you realize how far this place has moved forward?”

A recent census found that about 79,000 Emiratis qualify as millionaires, or roughly one person in 10.

Most of these well-heeled folk dwell in Abu Dhabi, and the most prosperous among them are colossally rich.

They are apt to make their homes in the Al Bateen district, a giant checkerboard of massive properties, each occupying several square kilometres of almost priceless urban real estate, each surrounded by ornate walls and elaborate gates.

Among the grandest is the estate belonging to His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates and emir of Abu Dhabi.

Glimpsed from outside, the president’s manse could be described as a palace but in fact more closely resembles a large airport terminal.
Five decades ago, Abu Dhabi was still a remote desert outpost populated by a few thousand Bedouin.

The only way to get from Abu Dhabi to Dubai was by camel train across the sand. There was no road.

Oil has changed everything.

“The Bedouin who 50 years ago was walking in the desert?” said a local journalist. “Today, he’s driving a Lexus and wearing a Rolex.”

At a minimum.

Lamborghinis and Rolls-Royces are a common sight along the palm-bordered streets of Abu Dhabi.

Wealthy residents also like to buy thoroughbred horses, polo ponies, racing camels, and falcons for hunting – an Emirati passion. Air carrier Etihad Airways lets passengers carry falcons as cabin luggage.

“The only rule for wealth management here is, if you’ve got money, spend it,” said the local journalist. “The money doesn’t just stay in the United Arab Emirates. It goes overseas to chalets in Switzerland, homes in the United States.”

Even Abu Dhabians who aren’t downright rich do fine, thanks to a government that provides free education right through university, awards houses gratis to Abu Dhabi citizens when they marry, and dispenses long-term, interest-free loans to its people. It also pays very high salaries for civil service jobs, about 90 per cent of which are filled by native-born Abu Dhabians.

“This is the ultimate welfare state,” said the local journalist.

Meanwhile, the territory’s labour supply is mostly imported – from construction workers to hotel staff to office workers – and outnumbers natives by more than two to one. Many imported workers dwell in crowded labour camps but many foreigners live very well thanks, in part, to an absence of taxes.

“The lifestyle is very good,” said Pam Simmons, one of about 12,000 Canadians who now call the Emirates home. “You think you’ll save money five times over, but no. Your lifestyle changes.”

Housing, however, can be extremely costly and is getting dearer by the day, as soaring oil revenues fuel inflation.

“Prices have gone up tremendously,” said Tamara Trinka, an Abu Dhabi real estate agent originally from the United States. “In some places, they have doubled in the last year. But it’s still a great place to raise a family.”

Or a fortune.

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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Today was a public holiday in the United Arab Emirates, marking the Muslim festival of Lailat al Miraj.  I’ve been trying to soak up the Arab and Muslim culture since arriving here, so I did a bit of digging to find out what this holiday is all about.  Let me tell you a little bit about what I discovered.

The holiday is intended to celebrate the miracle of the Ascension of the Prophet Muhammad into Heaven, also known as the Night Flight or Night Journey.  The Qur’an tells the miraculous story of this journey which occurs in two parts, the Isra, and the Mi’raj.  You can read it in detail here:

The Miracle of Al-Isra and Al-Miraj

In the first part of the journey, the Prophet is met by the archangel Gabriel and provided with a Buraq (a winged horse) to take him from Mecca to Jerusalem (see map below).  When they arrive there, the Prophet stops to pray at the “farthest mosque” (considered by many to be the Temple Mount).  Afterwards he is blessed with a special vision to see Earth and all of its inhabitants.  He is able to see the servants of Allah as well as those who do not believe and the way they will be punished for their sins.

An interesting description of this winged horse, known as the “Buraq”, from a Sahih Muslim al-hadith:

“I was brought by the Buraq, which is an animal white and long, larger than a donkey but smaller than a mule, who would place its hoof at a distance equal to the range of vision.”
Source: Buraq-Wikipedia

From what I understand, an al-hadith is the message of the Prophet.  Having read a few of them during my research, I would characterise them as proverbs, though I doubt that proverbs (in the sense I have known them) are meant to have religious significance.

The second part of the journey is Mi’raj, which is the actual Ascension into Heaven.  As he walks up the stairs to meet with Allah, he sees the various levels of Heaven and meets with all of the Prophets who came before him (although Muhammad is considered of the highest level).  He sees the enormity of Heaven and communicates with Allah.  He doesn’t really speak with Him, because Allah doesn’t communicate in the way that human beings do.  His “voice” is described as an attribute.  What immediately comes to mind is the song of whales in the depths of the ocean…

It was during this meeting that Allah requested that Muslims commit to prayer five times a day.  This is a custom respected by Muslims here in the UAE and in fact is compulsory for all Muslims.  The first prayer is just between dawn and sunrise (the call for prayer these days is at 4:40am), and the last occurs after dusk.  I often hear the calls to prayer in the early morning (getting home from the clubs on the weekend), and from my office building in the evening.  They come from the mosques that are scattered all over the city.  The sound of it is actually quite enchanting.

This being the first religious holiday in the UAE since I arrived in June, I was a bit curious to see how the city would celebrate.  Festivities for Lailat al Miraj tend to be focused on children and bringing the community together.  Having been about the city a bit today, I was a bit surprised not to observe anything marking the special day (or maybe I don’t know what to look for).  But there’s a reason why.

Something interesting that I found out is that Rajab 27 (the night that the Prophet took his journey, 27th day of the month Rajab) corresponds to August 22nd on the Western calendar (Gregorian calendar).  But our holiday was today.  According to various sources, the holiday is actually celebrated in the evening and lasts until the moon rises the following day.  As restaurants and bars (yes, they have them here) were prohibited from selling alcohol from sundown yesterday until sundown today, I expect that this was the fasting period, and the celebration / feast / or break of the fast occurs tonight.  So, I should be out for the party!

I’m hoping to visit a mosque at some point, though I’m hesitant to go on my own, for fear of what the locals might say or think of my intrusion on their spiritual customs.  I think I will ask one of my Muslim colleagues to take me to a mosque someday if it’s appropriate … so that I might understand a little more about this often misunderstood religion.

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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Hi guys,
Just a quick note to mention here that the 6 years of achives on my site from 2002 will be reposted soon, just that until I get them linked into the new blogging software they will be invisible to users on the web.
Thanks for being patient.
ryanrowe

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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Ni hao friends,

I’ve just managed to secure my tourist visa for China for a visit at the end of this month. I will be travelling on the weekend following the 30th of July.

July 30 will mark the celebration of the Ascension of the Prophet (in Arabic known as Leilat al Miraj and which I wrote about on here in 2006). Note from my original article that the holiday in 2006 fell on Aug 21 – this is because religious holidays are dependent on the lunar cycle. In fact this is is a source of frustration for me (and some of my other expat friends) because it makes it very difficult to plan vacation. In the banking business, our public holidays are determined by the UAE Central Bank which usually only declares the holiday one or two days in advance (so yes I am taking a bit of a risk booking my tickets this far in advance). 

Anyhow, so I’m taking a couple of days off around the weekend and making it a five day trip in all. This is a bit impulsive since a month ago I was not even contemplating a trip to China….

No planned itinerary at the moment but rough details are being cobbled together with the help of a few friends and I am thinking of two nights in Shanghai and two nights in Beijing…. Will be the weekend before the start of the Olympic Games so it’ll certainly be busy… Need to find a place to stay!

©2008 ryanrowe.com – have you seized a day lately?. All Rights Reserved.

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Below an article from local press detailing the heat last week in the UAE.

The heat is ridiculously oppressive. The outdoors at midday literally gets as hot as a sauna (I can attest to this as I was in one yesterday).

So hot that I take a taxi from my home to the office – a 500m distance.

So hot that when I once joggin in 35 degree weather, my heart started to beat in irregular patterns and I was breathing funny.

So hot that your hands and face accumulate condensation as you walk outside from an air-conditioned building and your core temperature begins to adjust.

===

Source: ArabianBusiness.com
30 June 2008
UAE temperature hits 51.4 degrees
(Amy Glass)

Temperatures in the UAE surged as high as 51.4 degrees Celsius on Sunday, the National Centre for Meteorology and Seismology said.

The sweltering 51.4 degrees was recorded at Minhad Airport, an inland military base, UAE daily Khaleej Times reported on Monday.

A spokesperson for the National Centre for Meteorology and Seismology told the newspaper Abu Dhabi reached 48.3 degrees on Sunday – its hottest this year, while in Jebel Ali, temperatures hit 49 degrees.

Dubai International Airport meteorology equipment recorded 46.7 degrees and Sharjah 48.5 degrees, the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said Dubai’s highest temperature ever, recorded on August 9, and August 15 in 1999, was 47.5 degrees.

Meanwhile, the centre is forecasting temperatures of about 45 degrees on Monday and Tuesday in Dubai, with Abu Dhabi likely to hit 47 degrees and Al Ain predicted to reach 48 degrees.

©2008 ArabianBusiness.com

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If you’re looking for a decent restaurant in Abu Dhabi that offers something different without killing your budget, you might like the Russian Waterfall Cafeteria off Khalifa Street (corner of Najda), right in front of the Russian Embassy, behind Al Mariah Mall. This is a 15 minute walk from my home.

While it looks like a bakery or a stand and eat fast food joint from the outside its second floor is nice and cozy. With assorted pictures of waterfalls (they look tropical rather than Russian but who am to know?) on the wall and the Russian version of ‘Who Wants to be a Milli