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Henna Hair

Monday, March 31st, 2008

One of my first days in the Middle East and I saw a guy with bright orange hair.  He was a middle aged Arab and his hair looked so strange.  I first thought that it was impossible, but then I decided that there could be a small population of red heads in the Middle East with some genetic material from northern Europe.  In Yemen, I saw a couple more of these guys (of course, I saw no women’s hair so I could only go by the observations of men) and they looked so weird that I was really confused.  Let’s just say that none of them looked chic enough to have gone as far as dying their hair.  Finally, I saw an old man with just the little beard on his chin colored orange.  I asked my guide and he broke out laughing telling me that they use henna to dye it.  That’s when I realized why the color was so odd… henna!  One night while watching local TV there was an old imam preaching who also had the orange hair thing going.  They may think this is a great makeover technique here, but I believe we won’t see it spreading around the globe.

Movement of “Dah” People

Monday, March 31st, 2008

I have to say that other than the way-over-the-top consumer section of the Dubai International Airport, this is a great airport.  I am allowed to arrive without a visa and I enter without having to pay a penny.  This may be the only country I have entered that is free.  All of the passport control personnel are actual Emirate men and they are exceptionally friendly.  And they are intelligent because they put their little stamp on already used pages in my passport rather than the normal stupidity of using a new page (a particularly frustrating activity for us world travelers keeping count of our unused pages knowing they will run out in a bad place).  This airport is so well organized allowing many people to move through the facility as if it is a small airport.  Like many of the airports I travel through except in America and Europe, high speed wireless internet service is free.  If I had to get stuck in an airport, this would be the one I would choose.  Since I will be stuck here for a few hours on June 8th, I look forward to it!  Every airport I have visited could learn something about providing a good experience to the traveler from this airport.  Three cheers to Dubai’s airport authority and my exodus from UAE…

Yemen Update

Saturday, March 29th, 2008
Tomorrow I leave Yemen for Dubai where I will leave the following day for Oman.  Yemen has been fantastic except for having a bit of a chest cold which I believe was caused by all of the particles I sucked ... [Continue reading this entry]

Well, I Thought…

Friday, March 21st, 2008
I was flying to Socotra, but some weirdness happened and I was not on the plane.  I had to buy first class tickets because the flight was so full or so they told me in Dubai.  So, after checking in ... [Continue reading this entry]

Welcome to Yemen

Thursday, March 20th, 2008
Just a quick update to say that I am flying to Socotra Island (you've never heard of it so look it up!) from Sanaa this morning.  Yemen is fantastic because the Yemeni are so warm, friendly and hospitable.  I'll write ... [Continue reading this entry]

Shop Til You Drop in Dubai

Tuesday, March 18th, 2008
I have not been to another place which displays the excesses of Capitalism as much as Dubai.  Lucky for me I had spent a week in Nairobi and not in Bushville, Africa so the shock was not ... [Continue reading this entry]

Goodbye Kenya… Hello Dubai, UAE

Sunday, March 16th, 2008
This is a very sad day and a day of a new beginning.  I had to say goodbye to Pamela, Nairobi and Kenya today, but I get to start the Middle East portion of my trip.  Pamela and I had ... [Continue reading this entry]