Depending on where you live, one of the neatest things about living in an Islamic country is the exotic sound of the call to prayer five times per day. I say "depending on where you live", because, if you live next door to a mosque, the first prayer of the day, which comes somewhere between 3 and 5 AM (it changes with the seasons), can be more rousing than the most obnoxious rooster. It'll scare the heck out of you the first time you hear it. But, after a while, like living next to train tracks...you don't even notice it anymore.

We're right in the middle of about 3 or 4 mosques, and when I go home at night, or when I get up to go to the gym in the morning, all of them start singing. It's really mesmerizing, and not a little bit eerie at times. Still, next to camels, it's probably the quintissential Arab experience.

For more, including lots of downloadable audio clips (which I've not figured out how to insert here), check out this site.