Saturday, October 16, 2010

Started in Dubai...ended in Qatar.



I sat shotgun in this Bell Longranger helicopter... my pilot:"do you speak English mate?"..."yes"..."don't touch anything."
               Burj Al-Arab and coastline from 3,000 feet. The haze is a mixture of fog and pollution.
             The uninhabited world project. The islands are there for the buying...where are all the takers??
                                          That's how they do it.
            This is Dubai Creek...the souk is behind Rolex tower...my Iranian friends docked right here...
                                    A soon to be private beach home on one of the 'Palm' branches...
           The Dubai Gold Souk is a massive jewelry and raw gold market. Hundreds of shops line the     street and back alleys with gold, gold and more gold. 
                 Look at the shoppers...mostly Westerners...Dubai Souk is a shady place for shady business.
                                                      This man's face says it all for me.
                This man's shop is a perfect example of marketing towards Western consumption rituals.
                                    A big busy place the Dubai Souk is... easy to get swallowed up.
 Just passing by/ snapping a picture... I was invited by the crew to hop on board their vessel docked in Dubai Creek... Just me, my camera, a cliff bar and some sunglasses, the boat was docked roughly 3 boats out or about 60 feet off the pier... would you go?
 They live in Iran and have a license to ship goods from Dubai back to Bandar Abbas each month. Not a short journey...they had been on the boat for two weeks strait. The crew spoke a little English and understood some of my Arabic...but Iranians speak Farsi...the communication barrier was intense but rewarding. 
                              They proudly fly the Iranian flag 50 miles off the coast of their home.
                            'Aref' spoke some English...a few sentences... he still made me laugh.
 The crew was really a heartwarming bunch... they had so little but shared so much...their language, their political beliefs, their jokes...and some Iranian tea with a cigarette. I can't thank them enough for their hospitality, wherever they might be...
 'Morteza'...the first mate...spoke decent English and served as a translator for the crew...He was educated and polite and gave me all of his contact information in Iran, "for if I ever want to visit, I have a sleep." The crew asked me to stay on the boat and set sail for Iran in the morning as a deckhand...too far.
                                                                   The Qatari sun.
                               Al-Jazera TV is housed in Qatar...a news anchor reads her notes.
                                                                     Camel.
                                                                      Camel meat.
    I have become a self-proclaimed connoisseur of Shwarma...the UAE has the best so far, but I hear Lebanon is pretty good.
 Falcons are highly valued luxury animals in Qatar and the UAE... sure, it's safe...just wear the glove...and watch out for the razor sharp talons... judging by the hissing and scratching, this bird was pissed and for the first time on my journey...I felt uncomfortable.
 Falcons like these...sold at the Qatar Souk in Doha...can be purchased for roughly $800,000.
                                                                    Amazing creatures.
               Still a product of mother nature no matter how high of a price tag we place on her head.
                              This man makes custom bracelets from heating plastic over hot coal.
                                           This man designs, crafts and sells custom hookahs.

4 comments:

  1. I'm currently editing an extensive blog concerning my recent travels...be on the lookout.

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  2. I'm always looking for good deck hands (1st mate kinda resembled Danny). DA

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  3. dude sick post. only one flaw--you pussied out on sailing to iran haha...those helicopter shots are whats up

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  4. William - love this post man. I can't beleive you passed up a chance to deckhand on that Iranian Sciff. I'm so glad to see you haven't let any preconcieved American judgments cloud the great experiences you are having. Keep it up - I love the stories!

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