I've been reading Lonely Planet Middle East, kindly provided to me by the Parker Hill branch library. (Have I mentioned that the public library system is my favorite thing about being back in the states?) No, I'm not planning a trip -- as if I can afford to go to Detroit, let alone Dubai. No, I was curious because a friend of mine is moving to Bahrain to teach business English. Also, LP tends to be somewhat impartial, and I figured I owed it to myself to give myself a quick-and-dirty introduction to that region, courtesy of someone other than the US government.
I had some trouble with this book, because what some Mid East countries would call "thousand-year-old traditions," I call rampant sexism. I took philosophy 101, so I know all about cultural relativism, so I'm going to grit my teeth and stay off that subject here. (I will say that because of the limitations on female visitors, some countries in the Middle East region are at the bottom of my To Visit list). Other things I found interesting, though:
* Bahrain is billed as the easiest of the Gulf states to visit. Could have something to do with nearly 40% of the residents and 60% of the workforce being foreign. You're more likely to find Asian food than schwarma in the capital.
* Egypt: mind-blowing history, bad food.
* "Iranian television is so boring that most Iranians don't bother watching it."
* In Israel and elsewhere, you can save on accomodations at some hostels and budget hotels by sleeping on a mattress on the roof. It's probably cooler, too.
* Many Middle Eastern countries won't let you in if you have an Israeli passport stamp. So choose, or go to the rest of the region before Israel, or to go Israel when your passport's almost expired anyway.
* Apparently when you walk down the street in Jordan, locals will cheerfully yell, "Welcome in Jordan!" and mean it.
* You can go skiing in Lebanon.
* Beirut, now that it's stopped getting blown up, sounds rather fun.
* Camel racing! Bull butting! Bull butting is sort of a bulls-only version of bullfighting, where the bulls bonk heads until one of them gives up -- no blood.
* The "best nightlife" in the nation of Oman is watching turtles nest.
* Qatar sounds pretty boring, but at least alcohol is legal.
* Turkey: get me there so I can eat doener kebab every day. Seriously. They had that stuff in Germany and it was gooooood. And plenty of ancient "Greek" stuff is really in Turkey. Side note: the sizable Turkish population in Hamburg was always cool to me, partially because Turkish Germans were once clueless foreigners with German language skills as bad as mine. Maybe that's no reason to want to visit their country of origin -- presumably they left for a reason. But still, I dig the Turks.
* SUV owners take note: there are many parts of the world where one actually needs a 4-wheel-drive to get from point A to point B. That's what 4WD is for.
* Just when I was sort of getting used to Middle Eastern culture(s), along comes Yemen. Yemen is one of the more untouched-by-modernity nations in the region, and it's pretty unique. Where can I get some qat?
It's worth noting that the edition of LP Middle East I've been reading was published in 2000, and Americans are much more limited in where they can/should travel these days. Ever-weird Yemen used to just be exotic and untouristed; now it's probably a no-go.
Crazy world we live in(tm).
I had some trouble with this book, because what some Mid East countries would call "thousand-year-old traditions," I call rampant sexism. I took philosophy 101, so I know all about cultural relativism, so I'm going to grit my teeth and stay off that subject here. (I will say that because of the limitations on female visitors, some countries in the Middle East region are at the bottom of my To Visit list). Other things I found interesting, though:
* Bahrain is billed as the easiest of the Gulf states to visit. Could have something to do with nearly 40% of the residents and 60% of the workforce being foreign. You're more likely to find Asian food than schwarma in the capital.
* Egypt: mind-blowing history, bad food.
* "Iranian television is so boring that most Iranians don't bother watching it."
* In Israel and elsewhere, you can save on accomodations at some hostels and budget hotels by sleeping on a mattress on the roof. It's probably cooler, too.
* Many Middle Eastern countries won't let you in if you have an Israeli passport stamp. So choose, or go to the rest of the region before Israel, or to go Israel when your passport's almost expired anyway.
* Apparently when you walk down the street in Jordan, locals will cheerfully yell, "Welcome in Jordan!" and mean it.
* You can go skiing in Lebanon.
* Beirut, now that it's stopped getting blown up, sounds rather fun.
* Camel racing! Bull butting! Bull butting is sort of a bulls-only version of bullfighting, where the bulls bonk heads until one of them gives up -- no blood.
* The "best nightlife" in the nation of Oman is watching turtles nest.
* Qatar sounds pretty boring, but at least alcohol is legal.
* Turkey: get me there so I can eat doener kebab every day. Seriously. They had that stuff in Germany and it was gooooood. And plenty of ancient "Greek" stuff is really in Turkey. Side note: the sizable Turkish population in Hamburg was always cool to me, partially because Turkish Germans were once clueless foreigners with German language skills as bad as mine. Maybe that's no reason to want to visit their country of origin -- presumably they left for a reason. But still, I dig the Turks.
* SUV owners take note: there are many parts of the world where one actually needs a 4-wheel-drive to get from point A to point B. That's what 4WD is for.
* Just when I was sort of getting used to Middle Eastern culture(s), along comes Yemen. Yemen is one of the more untouched-by-modernity nations in the region, and it's pretty unique. Where can I get some qat?
It's worth noting that the edition of LP Middle East I've been reading was published in 2000, and Americans are much more limited in where they can/should travel these days. Ever-weird Yemen used to just be exotic and untouristed; now it's probably a no-go.
Crazy world we live in(tm).
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