Berlin, Germany

We're visiting our head office in Berlin for a round of intensive planning meetings for our company direction in 2006.

Above is an image of one of the main Berlin shopping streets all decked out with Christmas lights.

It's cold - damn cold! It's so cold that it makes you wish that it would snow so that there was a good reason for being chilled to the bone. It supposed to sleet on the 24th - Christmas Eve.

We leave Berlin on Friday to head for the very center of Germany where we'll spend Christmas with J's family in a sleepy little spa town that has hot water pools - so at least for some of the time we'll be warm!

We're spending New Year's with some friends in Stuttgart, and we're hoping that it will snow down there for us, as the Black Forest will be beautiful with some of the white stuff decorating the woodlands.

Internet connection will be almost non-existent for us in this time so, until 2006, this is most likely our last post.

Being resident in the Middle East brings a certain poignancy to the reason for Christmas - the birth of Christ - even though his real birthday was actually in April.

It all happened here in this region - in a little town called Bethlehem.

What I find most fitting is that when Jesus was born, the story tells that among the first visitors to pay respects to the Messiah were 3 wise men from the East - following a bright guiding star, riding camels, and bringing gifts of gold, myrrh and frankincense.

To me, this speaks of a respect and an affinity between the religions of the East and West that existed in that time. (Or maybe it was because there was just one doctrine back then?!)

I trust that one day, we'll reach that level of understanding again - for the sake of this small planet's future.

We just have to find a way to stop all the bitching and fighting - and that begins with each and every one of us finding a place in our hearts and minds, and in our actions, that reflects understanding and tolerance towards others; their differences and varying beliefs. I have a dream!

If we were all the same, wouldn't the world be a boring place?! Vive la difference!

To all people celebrating the Christmas season, may this time be filled with peace and joy - a time to reflect on what is important to you, and to give thanks to the people who enrich you - just by being in your life.

Oman - Nizwa, Muscat and inbetween

Whew - did it! Here's the promised Oman post.
If you click on the images, they'll open up as larger ones.

Enjoy!

Before anyone goes to Oman on a self-drive excursion, there’s one essential item that you have to acquire. The book “Off-Road in Oman” by Heiner Klein and Rebecca Brickson is mandatory luggage. Full of interesting facts on Oman, great maps, directions and images, it is a must-have, and we’ve discovered it to be very accurate. Some of the road conditions have changed since the book was written, but so far this has been to our advantage, as more sealing of gravel roads takes place in the country.

2 weekends ago, we took a couple of days off work, and headed off on our next venture into Oman, to visit Nizwa and Muscat over 4 days. The following post is divided into chapters dealing with various places and experiences that we had over those 4 days.

THURSDAY
We were heading to Muscat on the inland road via Nizwa, so this meant that we had to travel to Al Ain in the Abu Dhabi emirate to cross over into Oman.

Border Crossing
We hadn’t done our homework to find out where the border crossing was for Nizwa from the UAE. Once in Al Ain, our inner compasses deserted us, and we took a few wrong turns – aided by some not-so-accurate directions from a few petrol station attendants that we asked for help, and by the lack of any signage that pointed to the border. When we finally got there, the adventure truly began!

A lack of any signage also at the border post (we didn’t see any Arabic signs, let alone English ones) made this experience more memorable.

The UAE officer was a young arrogant man who couldn’t manage a smile or a greeting as he asked for my licence and car registration. When he gave these back to me together with a piece of paper, I asked him where we should go next. “Go forward, go forward – to border”, he said impatiently, pointing over his shoulder. So we went to the border – big mistake! We got sent back to get our passports stamped at a little window which was just past the first stop, and that we’d completely missed and driven by. This meant waiting in line again (luckily not too busy or long) to see our arrogant UAE officer. As I waved the paper at him, he waved us through, probably laughing hysterically (as we were!) at making the 2 women drive through the border post again! This time, we stopped at the passport control, filled out the forms, paid the departure fee, got another stamp on the piece of paper and again drove to the man who had turned us back. Yay – we had the magic number of stamps on our paper this time! He asked for our car insurance paper (and we had gotten one written in Arabic, as we had been warned that this was a requirement to go to Oman), checked the car plate number against the document, and then with a wave and a bow, sent us on our way…

…to the Omani border control post!

The Omani officer was much friendlier than our UAE guy. We were “invited” inside the building, where we were asked to go to the Cashier window. No one there, so we waited patiently. Finally, the same officer came over and J was able to pay her entry fee into Oman. To my delight, I discovered that NZ passport holders can enter Oman for free! With payment done, and passports back in hand, we headed out of the building – chased by one of the security guards shouting, “wait, you no finish, you no finish!” He led us back into the building where he took us to another counter to get our passports stamped. By this time, we were hysterical and could hardly contain ourselves. Thanking the Omani guards and rushing back to the car, we collapsed in tears of laughter at the whole ordeal – and we were only 4 hours into the trip! A quick stop at Customs, a cursory glance into our car by the officer, and we were in Oman!

To Nizwa
The roads in Oman are fantastic. Long stretches of tarseal, and our Honda MRV relished the chance to comfortably cruise at speeds that seem too fast when driving on the congested SZR in Dubai – or even on the Al Ain – Abu Dhabi highway. We were concerned about earlier reports that we’d received about petrol shortages in Oman, so we filled up whenever we could. It soon became apparent that the shortages were over.

Al Ayn
About 50km out of the town of Ibri, we turned left and headed for the village of Al Ayn. This road led through a beautiful valley that was surrounded by hills. This area is famous for its beehive tombs, and we could see them on almost every hill. We turned around in Al Ayn and came back to the main road to continue towards Nizwa.

Jabrin Fort
Another 50km down the road and we were turning right to go to the Jabrin Fort – one of about 4 we were to visit over the next 4 days! Most of the Omani forts are being restored and this was no exception. Entry fee is 1 Rial (10 dirhams) for 2 adults and the money goes to the restoration fund. It was an elegant labyrinth of stairways and rooms, and we were amazed at the beautiful plasterwork, and the detail in the paintings on the ceilings and the wood carvings. Doors are beautiful heavy works of art, and this fort had an amazing central courtyard that had 2 wooden balconies facing each other. Back on the road, the trip to Nizwa ended as dusk fell, and we drove through the town to our hotel on the other side – the Nizwa Hotel which is part of the Golden Tulip chain. We had a delicious buffet dinner by the pool, and a reasonably early bedtime – because the next day was going to be a long one.

FRIDAY
Why is it that we’re always up earlier on our holidays?!

The Nizwa Souks
The off-road book had mentioned the goat-market auction, and because it started early in the morning, we were breakfasted and in the Honda heading back to Nizwa by 8am. Parking the MRV, we were surrounded by Omani farmers and their families coming into Nizwa with livestock and produce to sell. We got some interested stares – particularly from the kids – but the stares soon turned to smiles and waves back to us. This was something that we found to be an endearing trait of the Omani people. The goat souk was starting to fill up, but nothing was happening. We wandered through the other souks – meat & fish, fruit & vegetables – greeting the vendors and receiving friendly greetings in return. M still wasn’t comfortable pointing her camera at people to take photos – and there were some beauties which she missed because she didn’t want to be rude. One memory is of a group of about 6 older men sitting on a wall outside one of the souks – all leaning on their rifles that looked like muskets of old. We headed back to the goat market where it was busier than before. As we were standing there, an Omani man next to us struck up a conversation, telling us what was going on. Mussalem was from Salalah – the home of frankincense - about 1,000km away and deep in the south of Oman. We vowed to make the trip to Salalah one day from what he told us – it sounded beautiful.
The activity at the market suddenly got more frenetic, as men dragged their goats into the ring and started to shout at the surrounding people: extolling the attributes of their animals, and naming their price. How anyone knew who had bid the best price was beyond our comprehension, but it all seemed to work out! We were amused by the younger boys emulating their fathers by practicing their livestock handling skills on the baby goats. Some of the women also got into the action, and were seen to be buying and selling livestock. There were older men shuffling through the crowd, leaning on sticks, with one hand clutching plates of honeycomb which they were selling. All around us was confusion and mayhem and we loved it. Reluctantly, we left the market to continue on our journey.

Al Hamra
Al Hamra is a beautiful town with a very large date plantation. In the early morning sun with smoke from fires rising in the still air, it was a great place to visit. The village people waved to us and called out greetings. We were pleasantly surprised to find so many people who spoke very good English – it was awesome to be able to talk to them and find out more about what they did and who they were. It made us feel very ashamed of how little Arabic we knew in return.
Misfah
From Al Hamra, we drove up an incredible sealed switchback road, (reminiscent of those in the Italian Alps), to the town of Misfah. Here, the houses are built into and around the rocks that are part of a cliffside, and it has to be seen to be believed – it’s truly beautiful. We had friendly young girls calling out to us from their windows high above us, to ask us our names and where we were from. The air was so clean and still, and from all around the valley, you could hear people in their houses talking to each other.
Wadi Ghul
Leaving Misfah, we came down the switchback road and headed for Wadi Ghul, driving though some beautiful countryside with the towering Hajjar mountains around us. The very steep road leading up into the mountains is sealed for quite some distance and accessible by car, and our 4WD made easy work of it. We were heading for the highest mountain in the Hajjar range – the 3,000m Jabal Shams. The seal turned to gravel – still accessible by car in dry weather – and we were now in the heart of the Hajjars. Jabal Shams towered above us as we wound our way up the road. Access to the very top is not possible as there is a radar tracking station for the Omani Airforce up there, but we did make it to about 1700m before the gate stopped us. We paused at the top of the road to take photos, and to talk to the airforce security guards at the gate, who were washing up after breakfast.

Coming back down, we turned left off the main road onto a track that led us to some awe-inspiring scenery. At the track end, we were greeted by a couple of families who lived here, and were selling rugs and bracelets that they had woven from their goats’ hair. The rugs are beautiful, and commerce is no stranger to these people - even the children know the value of trading and bartering. J and I are very soft-hearted when it comes to haggling, and there wasn’t much done – we were content to pay what they wanted for 2 rugs and some bracelets. We walked into the small village – really about 5 huts – to find that they were perched on the edge of a 1,000m cliff – what an awesome view! We quickly found out that to take photos of the people would cost us 1 Rial per shot! We were invited for coffee and sat on a mat in the sun, with these delightful people crowding around us – offering us delicious dates and cardamom coffee. The kids were a delight and quickly grabbed our cameras to take photos of each other and of us. We were more than happy to let them do this, as it then didn’t cost us anything for the photos, and they got some great shots too! We were introduced to all the family members, even the 2 month old baby. Sadly we had to say goodbye, and as we got back to the car, there was a last-ditch attempt by some of the people to sell us more rugs and bracelets!

Hooti Caves
Coming back through Al Hamra from Wadi Ghul, we turned off for the Hooti Caves, following the road signs. There was some confusion on our part as to where these actually were, and we soon discovered that the last sign said that they were 3.5km ahead. There were no more signs after that, and with some sleuthing, we discovered that there is some major construction going on at the entrance to the caves, and it appears that they are going to be made into a major tourist attraction, complete with some sort of railway system to take visitors into the caves. The only other way to get to them was by walking 30mins, and we decided that we had better things to do! Next time perhaps!

Nizwa Fort
We headed back to Nizwa to visit the Fort that dominates the town. Again in the process of restoration, the fort is a wonderful place to visit. It has a great little shop in it, where you can buy rugs, frankincense, pottery, copper and silverware – and all profits go to the restoration of the fort. The rugs are expensive in comparison to what we had paid the village people up Jabal Shams, but the pottery and metalware is very reasonable for a tourist site.

Off to Muscat
We had had enough sight-seeing for the day, and after the Nizwa Fort, we got into the Honda to head for Muscat. We were soon barreling along a 2-3 lane highway all the way to the capital of Oman. Again, we timed our arrival on dusk, and quickly made our way to the Chedi Hotel.

The Chedi Muscat
What can we say about this place? We had decided to give ourselves a treat and stay here. It is beautiful in a sterile sort of way – and we wouldn’t stay there again because of its lack of atmosphere. The Chedi is also built on the eastern approach to the Muscat International Airport, and at certain times of the day depending on the wind, the aircraft feel as if they’re landing on top of you! With one Omani Rial equaling 10 UAE Dirhams, the meals can be very expensive – especially when any alcoholic drinks are factored in. The food is not to be faulted – our dinner was delicious, and a plus for the hotel is that the buffet breakfast is included in the room tariff – and the breakfast is amazing!

SATURDAY
Up again early, as we had to be in Muscat at the Oman Dive Center at 8:30am, and Muscat traffic is just slightly better than rush hour in Dubai. We had a gorgeous breakfast – lots of fresh fruit and yoghurt, fresh breads and pastries. There was also a large choice of cooked food which we didn’t sample.

Winding our way through the traffic, we made our way into Muscat. The Omani driving habits are certainly better than the UAE standard: they can actually use indicators, and don’t push into lanes, or weave in and out of lanes in an attempt to get another few metres ahead!

Muscat is built in the valleys of the Hajjar Mountain range – little pockets of suburbs surrounded by high hills and cliffs. The construction of the roads is an artform – we marveled at the magnificent engineering.

The new road to the Oman Dive Center has only been open for a few months, and as we descended towards the beach, the road felt more like a ski-slope – so steep was the angle.

Oman Dive Center
They’re a friendly lot at the dive center, and there is a cute resort next to it where we would prefer to stay the next time. A few of our fellow divers were staying there, and said that the chalets were very comfortable and modern. The beach was great too, and has very shallow water for quite some distance. We were quickly kitted out with our dive gear, and then walked in thigh-deep water to the diveboat which was anchored about 100m off the beach.

Diving off Muscat
All aboard, and we were racing out of the bay and along the coast of Muscat to a little island where we would do our 2 dives. Watching the oil tankers coming into berth at the remote filling stations off the coast was very interesting.

The first dive was onto a couple of pinnacles sitting in about 30m of water. Here, the dive crew knew the location of a frogfish, so J and I were treated to our first sighting of this seemingly prehistoric creature. There were also lots of honeycomb moray eels, lionfish, tuna, mackerel and other smaller reef fish. The visibility wasn’t that good, but we had a great time, and M took a few more images to add to her underwater collection.

After a brief rest back onboard the diveboat, with hot coffee and biscuits, we descended on our second dive. This was at no more than about 8-10m, and there was so much to see on one of the biggest hard coral reefs that we have ever seen. The plate coral stretched as far as the eye could see – and beyond. Here we saw more eels, scorpionfish, and M’s favourite – anemone clownfish. We saw the tiniest baby clownfish that we had ever seen, and as M took photos of it, the motherfish was attacking her camera and banging it with her nose!

We headed back to the dive center – happy that we had managed to go diving again.

Muscat
We drove around Muscat for the rest of the afternoon – stopping to view the fort at the entrance to the harbour and the Sultan’s palace.

Being a bit weary and cool from our diving, we stopped at the Starbucks on the large stretch of public beach, and sat outside, sipping hot drinks, watching the sea and the people cruising by in the cars. We really enjoyed ourselves – Omani people driving by, car windows down, and returning our smiles with no inhibitions – we could see their eyes smiling as well as their mouths! The Omani women are beautiful, and have no problem with making eye contact and smiling at you. We find this with the Emirati women too – it’s just that we don’t see too many, and we certainly can’t see into their heavily tinted car windows!

The beach area is fantastic – and open to all people in Muscat. An area like this is something that we really need in Dubai – we’re in danger of losing all the easily accessible beach areas to hotels. We watched groups of young men ignoring the “No soccer on the beach” signs and playing on the hard sand at the water’s edge. Everywhere where there is a stretch of flat land in Oman, you’ll find a graded area with 2 goals that has been marked out as a soccer pitch – they’re football crazy in this country!

We had made dinner reservations at the Al Bustan Palace for 9pm, so we headed back to the hotel to shower and change, and head back into the old town of Muscat to visit the Muttrah Souk.

Muttrah Souk
Located by the harbour on the Muttrah Corniche, the souk is an amazing labyrinth of alleyways and corridors with tiny shops laden with clothing, perfumes, fabrics, carpets, silverware, frankincense and all sorts of souvenirs. We loved it – it was so much fun to walk down the alleyways and barter for lovely pashminas and for bags of frankincense and bottles of perfume. We quickly spent about 2 hours here before having to leave for dinner.Al Bustan Palace
We had made dinner reservations at the Beach Pavilion restaurant at the Al Bustan Palace. Earlier in the day when we had stopped in to book our dinner appointment, the hotel was tranquil and quiet. When we pulled up just before 9pm, it was a different story. It appeared as if the whole Muscati police force was in attendance, and there were mostly Mercedes and BMW limousines with diplomatic plates parked everywhere. Valet parking had been cancelled for the night due to the influx of VIPs! We finally found a carpark, and trudged back to the main entrance, only to find it blocked by 2 very BIG bulletproofed Maybach Mercedes limos with gold crowns on the numberplates. We quickly surmised that His Royal Omani Majesty, Sultan Qaboos bin Said, was in attendance!

Inside the hotel, the security was thick. We first encountered a group of armed Omani policewomen clustered around the entrance of a ballroom, and after exchanging smiles with them, we quickly headed into an elevator to the beach level. On the way down, our elevator opened on another floor, where a group of heavily armed Omani policemen could be seen, looking into the elevator to see if we were a dangerous threat! Nervous now, we smiled at them as the elevator doors closed and we descended to our floor!

Walking out to the restaurant on the beach, another event was happening on the front lawn – Porsche was revealing their 2006 lineup with cars surrounding the dinner tables, and all the prominent clients were in attendance.

The dinner at the restaurant was delicious – we pigged out on Arabian lentil soup for entrée and then a grilled seafood platter to share for mains. The diving had made us weary, so we skipped dessert to head back to the Chedi to get some sleep – because we had another early start in the morning!

SUNDAY
Another delicious breakfast and back into the car to head along Highway 1 for a while, before turning off for Rustaq. This was going to be one of our more adventurous days and we were to experience some of the most incredible terrain that we have ever driven on.

Nakhl
The first settlement we stopped in was the village of Nakhl. The fort wasn’t yet open (before 10am), so we ventured through the village to find the hot springs. The road wound through date plantations, and it was evident to us that there was a lot of wealth in this area – the houses were large and very beautiful. We’ve noticed that the Omani country women wear very colourful clothing, and they look beautiful with the bright colours contrasting with their dark skintones.

We found the springs and got out to look around. A woman was washing clothes in the stream, and a goatherd stood on the bank, being fed by the owner before being driven further up the hillside for the day.

The water was warm – it was beautiful! The wadi was very green, and with the early morning light filtering through the trees and the mountains, it was magical too. We found the source of the spring – bubbling up from beneath the earth’s surface. 3 young men stopped to have a chat with us before they drove off with waves and toots on their carhorn.

As we stood by the stream, we could see little fish living in the warm water. I wondered if they were the same type of fish that were found in warm waters in European spas – where the fish nibble on the skins of people who suffer from psoriasis, removing the dead skin and leaving the new skin to heal. We dipped our feet in – and yes, along came the fish to nibble on our feet! They tickled - and our feet felt refreshed for the rest of the day!

Nakhl Fort
Yet another fort! This one was interesting because there was evidence that children lived here – there were bedrooms for the children as well as schoolrooms. The towers in this fort were solid – and the ladders were interesting – wooden logs stuck into the walls and poking out so that the soldiers could climb up them into the ramparts.

Leaving Nakhl, we drove closer towards Rustaq.

Wadi Mistal, Gubrah Bowl
About 16kms from Nakhl, we turned left off the main road onto a gravel road for Wadi Mistal. For the first few kilometers, the road is straight and smooth, and the Honda’s handling gave M the confidence to try it out at speed on the gravel. We set up quite a dust trail and it felt like we were on the Paris-Dakar rally! Slower speeds were required once we reached the foot of the mountains, in order to wind our way through the narrow gap into the Gubrah Bowl. The Bowl is enormous – a big flat plain with mountains on every side – it feels like a volcano crater. M had taken an odometer reading, and although we felt like turning back, we had only traveled for half the distance. We decided to drive deeper into the bowl. It was one of the best decisions that we made on this trip.

Travelling through the bowl, we’d passed many side roads with signs pointing to villages that were dotted around the area. Coming closer to the end of the bowl, we passed a school that we assumed serviced the whole area. Later, we were proven to be correct in our assumption.

Hadash Village
The road forked at the foot of the mountains, and we chose to go left. For a few kms, we had been following a rental car driven by a couple of German tourists, and after the first incline, they conceded defeat and turned back – their normal car couldn’t handle the road conditions. We travelled on – and the road became a narrow and very steep set of curves that wound up the side of a very high mountain. At 1500m, the road came to an end – we had reached Hadash Village, a beautiful green settlement with towering mountains behind it going up for many more metres than where we were. As prevalent in all Oman, there was the ubiquitous watchtower perched on a hilltop overlooking the village. Hadash is the start of one of the official walking tracks through the area. It is a 7 hour hike around the mountains to another village called Wakan, on the other side of the bowl. A schoolboy came running down the path with his books strapped into a belt to make it easier for him to carry. As he got closer to us, he became shy, and climbed into the back of a 4WD van that belonged to the village. After exchanging a few words with him, we got back into the Honda to descend back down into the bowl. We couldn’t believe that we had driven up such a steep and mountainous road!

Wakan Village
When we reached the bottom, we then turned up the other road to the right, and this took us up an equally steep road to some villages on the other side of the bowl. This time, we encountered the school vans coming down the roads, taking the boys to school. We loved this part of the journey! The boys literally hung out of the vans waving and shouting hellos to us as we drove past – it was a very welcoming feeling! Again, at 1500m, the road ended in a small village called Wakan. The watchtower is being restored, and there is evidence of some tourism being established here with guest houses. This is the other end of the 7 hour walking track from Hadash – where we had been 1 hour earlier.

Descending the mountain, we travelled back out of the bowl, and past the school, where as the boys were just starting their lessons, the girls were getting into the vans to go home. We found the young girls to be more reserved than their gregarious brothers – we did get waves and smiles, but they were less flamboyant! We followed about 4 of the vans and buses out of the bowl, and they certainly weren’t slow – M was having a hard time seeing through the dust clouds. Gradually, all the school vehicles turned off onto the various roads leading to the villages, and as we reached the winding road that led through the narrow pass out of the bowl, we were alone again. Rounding a corner, we encountered our only camel on the whole trip – standing in the middle of the road eating out of a tree. She stopped eating as we stopped the Honda- unable to get past her. She wandered up the track towards us and passed by without batting an eyelid at us – too funny!

Back onto the main road and off to Rustaq.

Rustaq
A quiet little town – and yes – the obligatory watchtowers and…..a fort! By this time, M was making comments about what an effort it was to visit the forts, it took fortitude and perhaps was better with a little fortification to make the tour more comfortable!

We did the tour up and down countless stairways, through prisons, bedrooms, kitchens, storerooms, school rooms, bathrooms and towers, stopping to visit the more modern lavatories, before getting back into the Honda to head back to Dubai. This was our last tourist stop!
Back to Dubai
Heading out of Rustaq and turning left, we drove for Al Hazm where we rejoined Route 1 and followed the signs for Sohar and beyond to the UAE border. Just as we were beginning to think that we had missed a turning, a sign for Dubai to the left came into view – we had made it! This time, we were crossing back into the UAE at Hatta which is the more popular crossing for tourists between the UAE and Oman. They’re used to tourists here! 2 Riyals (or 20 Dirhams – whatever you have) for car tax, stamp in the passports and you’re on your way again – this time, we didn’t have to leave the vehicle! At the UAE crossing, J got out to get the passports stamped. In front of us, we had seen a black Mercedes turn from the checkpoint booth leading into Oman. The guy was standing in front of J with 3 American passports, telling the officer that they no longer wanted to go to Oman - they had changed their minds and now wanted a visa to go back to Dubai! According to J, he didn’t sound like he was very American! Luckily, another booth opened for J, and we continued leaving an irate man trying to get stamps in his passports, with the guard insisting that he now had to go to Oman!

We hit a little rain as we drove past the Hatta Fort Hotel, but the rest of the trip was uneventful, apart from knowing that we were back in the UAE by the telltale signs of sheer lunacy and idiocy in some of the other drivers around us!

We’ll go back to Oman to do what we didn’t do on this trip. There’s still so much to see in Muscat, and Salalah beckons too.

We love to visit Oman!

Images from the weekend

I promise that I'll get the post on our last Oman trip into the blog soon - it's a BIG post, and it's taking a lot of writing and editing of images - and we're very busy with work stuff right now which, (sob!), has to have priority!

In the meantime, here are some images from the weekend and this morning. You can click on them to open them as larger images.

The tribute to Gotham City continues to rise at the Jumeirah Beach Residences.

Fireworks at the Jebel Ali Sailing Club last night.

The smog is bad this morning.

Hotel Rwanda

On our recent trip to the US, we bought the movie DVD Hotel Rwanda, and played it the other night.

If anyone hasn’t seen it, I encourage you to do so.

It’s one of the hardest movies to sit through that we’ve ever watched.

It deals with the civil war in Rwanda. Some years before the time of the movie, the Rwandan people were divided into 2 groups by the Belgians who were in the country as “advisors”. Depending on the width of their noses, the native Rwandans were determined to be either Hutu or Tutsi people. In 1994 soon after a peace treaty was declared for the country, the aircraft carrying the Hutu Rwandan President was shot down. It was never proven which group did it - the Hutu said that it was the Tutsi, but there is wide speculation that the Hutu assassinated the President in order to start a war against the Tutsi. The Hutu then went on a genocidal rampage – to eliminate the Tutsi people. Close to a million Tutsi were slaughtered.

The movie is based on a true story of one man – Paul Rusesabagina who is a hotel manager, and is Hutu. His wife is Tutsi, and they have 3 children. Paul is friends with everyone, and you can see how he nurtures these relationships with some of the things that he does – alcohol for the Army general, special Cuban cigars for the politician – he knows that these “favours” buy him some favours in return, when he needs to use them. He's also portrayed as a loving husband and father - kind and thoughtful - and well-respected by all who know him.

When the Hutu begin their “cleansing”, Paul manages to take his family and most of his neighbours to the refuge of the hotel where he works. The rest of the movie is about his constant struggle to keep the hotel “guests” alive and out of Hutu hands.

It’s an intense film to view – it took us through a gamut of emotions. There is tension and fear whenever Paul has to confront the military or Hutu militia to save his people from being killed: the despair when a run for the airport nearly turns to disaster as the buses head for an ambush: the futility felt by Paul when he sees so many Tutsis dead on the road, and when he realizes that his attempts to win favours with the alcohol and cigars amount to nothing: the disgust when the western world turns its back on Rwanda and offers no aid. Among the despair, fear and futility, come moments of humour, such as when he discovers his wife and family hiding in the bathtub during a raid and his wife aims the shower nozzle at him like a gun: and times of happiness such as when they find their missing brother and sister-in-law’s 2 girls in a refugee camp.

The movie is laced together with sound snippets from actual radio interviews that were taped at the time of the civil war. The most pathetic and disgusting one to listen to is of a (American?) woman saying that they had heard reports of “acts of genocide”, and when questioned further by the reporters, she explains that this is some of the “terminology” that they had been coached to use to describe the Rwandan situation.

Please don’t let what I’ve written here put you off seeing the movie if you have yet to see it. It’s compelling viewing, and leaves you with the realization that no matter how bad the traffic is on Shaikh Zayed Road, or how frustrating the construction can be, there are people in the world who are using all their energy and wits to just try to stay alive.

Life is cheap and has no value – it’s how your life is lived and what you do with your time that makes the difference.

Paul Rusesabagina is a man who made a difference.

The Past Week

To recap what has happened for us over the past week.

After leaving Tokyo, we flew into San Francisco for a few days, to visit our company office and to have conversations with some of our clients, as we learn more about their industries in order to provide them with solutions.

While we were in SF, we had a free weekend – and 2 Saturdays! Flying over the International Dateline from Tokyo meant that we had Saturday all over again, as we left Tokyo at 5pm and arrived at 8am the same day. Very nice - we made the most of it and went shopping. Not many people can say that they shopped in Tokyo and SF on the same day! On Sunday, we rented a convertible and drove down to Monterey. It was a bit cold to have the top down, but we did manage to do the 17 mile drive through Pebble Beach while exposed to the elements. In Monterey, we visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Both of us had been there before, (J in 1995 and M in 2000), but we both love visiting it. There are lots of great displays, and there are 3 very big tanks that have to be seen to be believed – the shark tank, the under the wharf tank, and the kelp bed tank. The bluewater Tuna are HUGE – I haven’t seen Tuna this big! They also have a lot of Hammerheads, 7 gill sharks, a Sunfish, Bonito, Eagle Rays – and something that neither of us had seen before – a Sturgeon fish. This is where Caviar comes from! We were very envious of the 2 divers who entered the under the wharf tank to feed the 7 gill sharks and California Eagle Rays. The rays were like puppies – getting underneath the feet of the divers and tripping them up in their bids for attention and food!

The jellyfish, penguins and giant octopus tanks are also cool to view, and the California Sea Otters are very cute. While having lunch, we were fortunate to see some of these creatures in the wild in the ocean. They dive for shellfish and crustaceans and then lie on their backs to eat at the surface. They balance a rock on their chests and bash their food against the rock to open it – one of the few animals other than man that has learnt to use tools.

After SF, we flew to Austin, Texas for an AMIA conference – the Association for Moving Images Archivists. It was an interesting time and our first participation in this event. AMIA’s next conference is in Anchorage, Alaska in Oct 2006 – that’s going to be an interesting place to go, and I hope that we get to go there!

Austin is more like a large town and we liked it. We saw a little bit of the town as J has a longtime friend living there, so we went out for dinner twice with John and saw his gorgeous apartment that looks out over the hills to the Southwest. Real estate is cheap there and so are the general costs of living. The Austin Hilton where we stayed for the conference is US$120 per night which is cheap in comparison to most US city hotels, and it’s a very good hotel. The Crowne Plaza next door is US$80 per night.

We’re now at Frankfurt Airport waiting to embark on the last leg of this journey – the flight to Dubai. By the time we get home, we’ll have been travelling for 26 hours from Austin, Texas via Washington and Frankfurt. Dulles Airport in Washington is shocking - avoid it if you can. This time in Frankfurt is the worst part – 6 hours between flights. Luckily with J’s flying privileges, we’re in the Hons Circle lounge which is what the Lufthansa’s First Class lounges are called in Germany. We made the effort to walk out of the terminal to the main Hons Circle Lounge which is a lot bigger than the others. We clear security and immigration in the lounge before being chauffeured directly to the plane by a Mercedes limo or Porsche Cayenne – damn! We get to walk out by the plane before ascending the stairs that lead directly to the airgate. We like doing this - not many people get to walk beside their plane and get a closeup look at it from the outside.

We’ll be glad to get home to Dubai and back to some relatively warmer weather in comparison to what we’ve had in Japan and the US.

All this travelling sounds rather glamorous, but living out of a suitcase and in aircraft; being stuck in windowless seminar rooms; continuously talking business; looking for new partners and clients; eating unhealthy hotel convenience food and not seeing much of our environment does wear thin. That’s why we make the most of our free time – to blow out the cobwebs and do what we want to do. Sometimes we don’t have weekends when we travel from one place to the next in order to be there for the new working week.

However, it’s what we do – for now!

Tired in Tokyo

We're in Tokyo until Saturday afternoon on business. Thankfully, yesterday was a holiday here - Thanksgiving Day. It's not like the USA holiday - it's about giving thanks to the bread-winners in the family: those who pay the bills. We were thankful too - it gave us a day off!

We walked around in the sunshine; found a great place to sit in the sun and read our books for an hour, before meeting with our office director here in Tokyo. We also walked through our favourite shrine right next door to the hotel - the Hie Shrine. The shrine is a Shinto place of worship, and its history has been marked with violence: the buildings have been burned down twice, but the place is still so calm and peaceful and we love it.

Today was a work day, and we had 3 meetings stretched far and wide across the city. I love Tokyo - the people are so polite and moving around the city is relatively easy with the fantastic rail system. We use it a lot to get from meeting to meeting, so we see a lot of cool sights. The people are a mix - older women sometimes in kimonos; lots of businessmen; young guys trying to be hip; young women who look like dolls, or dress in Hello Kitty gear! Short miniskirts and knee-high boots never go out of fashion with the women! Some of the schoolkids riding the trains don't look old enough to be in school, yet here they are navigating the train system with the experience of people 5 times their age. They are so cute in their uniforms and hats!

Tomorrow, we have more meetings and a press conference with one of our partners to announce a new product that they've integrated with our software.

On Saturday, we hope to get time to visit our favourite store in Tokyo - Bic Camera - if you clicked on this link, the store posters look like this too! 8 floors of electronics goods of every variety, and camera equipment to drool over. English-speaking shop assistants are scarce, but we manage. After all, we can't speak Japanese either, but a smile and a bow gets you a long way!

Miserable in Munich

We're in transit in Munich, Germany - and glad to be leaving soon.

We left a comparatively balmy 25degC in Dubai early this morning, and now we're sitting here in -2degC with snow on the ground.

It was an eventful landing. About 20m off the ground, the pilot aborted the first attempt due to a wind shear warning from the tower. The plane suddenly accelerated and went straight back up in the air, but we all remained calm! The second approach was successful.

Munich Airport is in chaos with a lot of flights either delayed or cancelled.

We feel like we're in the middle of a Richard Scarry book - A Day at the Airport, perhaps?!

We should be leaving in about an hour, although our flight hasn't yet appeared on the Departure Board.

Oh well - hopefully see you on the other side when we reach Tokyo.

Diving in the Musandam

A couple of weekends ago, we went to the Emirate of Fujairah on the east coast of the UAE for a spot of diving. As the dhow was due to leave Dibba Harbour on the Omani side at an early hour on Friday, we drove over on Thursday night.

We stayed at the Sandy Beach Hotel which was comfortable and had a good restaurant. The only downer was the amount of disinfectant that they used to clean the rooms - the smell left us with a headache akin to a mild hangover when we woke in the morning!

Early on Friday we boarded the dhow, and were soon out of the harbour and cruising on a smooth sea - north towards the Strait of Hormuz. After a couple of hours of motoring, and having the luck of a solitary dolphin riding the bow wave, the dhow made its way around the point between Limah Rock and the mainland. We anchored in the shelter of the point with the town of Limah in the distance.

The divers transferred onto the smaller and faster dive boat tender, and we were soon rocketing back towards Limah Rock to do the first dive of the day on the South Wall. Over the side we went, into a cool sea with visibility that wasn't the best, as there was a lot of plankton. It got better as we got deeper, and at around 20m, we were able to see about 15m around us.

The dive was an interesting one - lots of eels, coral formations and fish of all varieties including some territorial hammour. M was diving for the first time with her new underwater housing for her Canon camera and was keen to try it out. As the visibility was not that great with all the sediment in the water, the images were all closeups. The eels were very obliging and posed beautifully, the clown fish were a bit concerned that their space was being invaded, and the lion fish couldn't have cared less!

After an hour, we surfaced to be picked up by the dive tender and taken back to the dhow, where the crew had laid out the most delicious lunch which was devoured by the hungry divers.

The next dive was in the next southern bay on a site called Wonder Wall. Here, as well as eels and fish, we saw resting stingrays and the most enormous porcupine fish that allowed M to swim beside it and actually stroke it! It was totally unafraid, and swam around M for a while before heading off into the deep.

This dive was spectacular because of the rock formations underwater. It was a great experience to swim around a big rock and be surrounded by big schools of fish.

Another hour passed quickly by and after being picked up by the tender, we sped off in pursuit of the dhow that had started back to Dibba. We caught up with it in a quiet and calm bay and transferred over, making way under a rising moon and with dusk quickly falling. It was truly beautiful to watch the light fading over the rugged Hajjar mountain range, and see the twinkling lights of Dibba come ever closer.

It was a great day, and we met some wonderfully nice people onboard - it was great to spend time with interesting folk and learn more about life from their experiences.

We stayed another night at the Sandy Beach Hotel, as the next day we were going to travel back to Dubai on the gravel road via Oman and Ras Al Kaimah - but that's another story that will be told later!

Emirates Airlines' New Planes

The weird, wacky weekend weather that hit the Emirates over the past 2 days brought freak winds on Friday lasting for about an hour, and then rain on Saturday. Not heavy rain, and not for very long, but enough to count as rain in the UAE.

The Dubai Air Show is on this week, and this brings a lot of people to town. Certainly there are the plane enthusiasts, but more importantly, there is a heavy business and military presence. Bigwigs from all over the world congregate at major airshows such as the Dubai show to look at what's new, who's offering the best bargains (bribes), and in front of myriads of press cameras, they sign up to purchase aircraft.

Between the rain showers early on Saturday morning, Emirates Airlines showed off their latest acquisition - the Airbus A380. It paraded along the beach in front of the Burj al Arab and Jumeirah Beach Hotel for about an hour, with the pilot putting it through its paces as he banked the plane into turns around the Burj, and displayed the enormous Emirates logo painted on the underneath of the massive fuselage.
Later in the afternoon, we were treated to a fly-past of another new plane for Emirates - the Boeing 777 - for which Emirates placed a US$9 billion order for about 40 planes with an option on 20 more. It only flew past once but, from what we could see, it wasn't as manoeuverable as the Airbus, and the turning circle appeared to be a lot wider.

The best entertainment came from a little Lear (or similar) jet that was flying with the 2 aircraft. It was having a great time chasing the bigger jets through the sky, and flying alongside them as they passed down the beach. It was probably a film crew filming footage for future Emirates' ads, but we had more fun imagining that it was Sheikh Mohammed checking out his latest big boy's toys!

Bab Al Shams Desert Resort & Spa

With the recent spate of visitors flowing through our place, we’ve been exploring places far and wide in our efforts to be entertaining hosts, and to allow our guests to see more than the metropolis of Dubai.

Although it’s a recent and modern facsimile of a fortified desert dwelling, the Bab Al Shams Desert Resort & Spa gets our vote as a place to take people to get a 'refined' feeling for the desert.

If timed for 30mins before sunset, the 45min drive from the SZR Interchange #4, past the Autodrome and heading for the Endurance Village through the desert, is a goody. Watching the sands turn golden red as the sun sinks is a major hit. We're puzzled by the speed limit on this road - 80kph – what’s with that? Plus, as you reach the T-junction and turn right, the plethora of speed cameras is enough to give the brakes a good workout, as yet another and another of the dang things come into view. On the last visit during Eid Al Fitr, with Aussie friend Terri, we were cruising along at 100kph and were passed by the Bab Al Shams courtesy coach doing 125kph, so we happily followed it to the hotel. Obviously none of the cameras were activated, and the driver knew it!

The hotel is very attractive – and it’s fun to wander through looking at all the interesting features that have been artfully designed to appeal to avid photographers.

The biggest attraction is the Al Hadheera Desert Restaurant which is a meandering 5 minute walk from the hotel along a winding paved pathway. Nestled behind sand dunes, it resembles a fortified town, and upon entering the gate you can’t help but smile and be in a good mood. The dining area is a mix of tables, benches and sunken dug-out seating areas, and the whole area is carpeted in rugs laid over the sand.My first impulse is to kick off my shoes and wander barefoot. The food serving area is set up like a food souk, and the chefs are keen for you to try their specialties. There’s a market-like feeling as they call out to you, enticing you with their culinary offerings. Although pricey, it’s a great experience to sit out in the open air under glittering stars, listening to music played by a live band, and eating delicious food. If you’re not careful, you’re full after the entrée, and there is deep compulsion to sink back into the huge cushions for a quick nap between courses.

On our visits, there has been a very entertaining dancer who is incredibly energetic. On one occasion, he was the front half of a dancing horse that made its way from table to table greeting the guests. On another, he resembled a whirling Dervish as he twirled around and around on stage for at least 2 full songs. I don’t know how he did it, and why he didn’t fall over after he finished. His pièce de résistance is to come into the diners to get the women on the tables to try on the skirt and – literally – give it a whirl. J was chosen, and managed a very credible 3 spins in the heavy garment, until gravity made her stop before it all came to a sticky end!

Out the back of the restaurant is an area where there are animals for the children to pat, and you can even go for a horse or camel ride.

The drive home in the darkness is always very quiet, as the passengers either nod off to sleep, or sit in quiet contemplation. It’s one of our favourite ‘touristy’ Arabian experiences – a great night out.