Sinai, Jordan and Israel

September 8th, 2011 | By Lee | 7 Comments »

So the past 10 days or so have been pretty hectic for me as I have been very, very busy. Since I last posted on Luxor, I have been to: Hurghada; Sinai Peninsula; Jordan; Israel; Moscow; Abkhazia and am now relaxing in Sochi, Russia. Except for Hurghada, Sochi and Abkhazia, all of those were repeat places so I was able to re-visit some favorite places quickly and spend some quality time in new places like Abkhazia. For this post, I am going to quickly go over Hurghada through to Israel which includes the uncanny Petra and will post about Russia and Abkhazia next post as I am behind on my blog and want to get out and enjoy my last day in Sochi on the beach. So here goes.
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Sheikhs, Sultans and Sand

November 2nd, 2010 | By Lee | 9 Comments »

I’m not exactly sure where to begin here because the last 5 days in the Emirates and Oman have been a blur. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with this extra time that popped up on my trip but I am positive I made the right move staying in the UAE. I got to really know Dubai, seeing friends and meeting new ones. I also took a classic and very comprehensive road trip around all 7 Emirates and the Musandam Peninsula and Madha in Oman. The Emirates and Oman boast some of the best desert scenery you will ever see and there is so much going on in all 7 Emirates that it’ll make your head spin. You can’t help but wonder how they will fill all these resorts and buildings, where they find all these dirt cheap laborers, and what these places will look like in 10 years. I was here three years ago and it looks a hell of a lot different than it did then.
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Iraqi Kurdistan

October 25th, 2010 | By Lee | 16 Comments »

Going to Iraq is not an easy decision to make. There are a lot of pros and cons to weigh before you make your “final final” decision. Going to Baghdad and the rest of Arab Iraq is still a no go for tourists without official business. However, the northern semi autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan has been pretty safe for the past few years and is generally considered to be a safe place. So I decided to fly Atlas Jet Airlines into the capital of Kurdistan, called Erbil. A funny thing happened in Iraq…it was really pretty nice and very pleasant. Now I am not saying it is the type of place you’re going to buy a vacation home but they allege they are trying to turn it into the next Dubai. They have a long way to go but they seem to be doing pretty well with what they’ve got to work with.
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Walk Like An Egyptian

October 21st, 2010 | By Lee | 3 Comments »

“Man fears time…but time fears the Pyramids”

A great quote I believe and one that captures the essence and the presence of the Pyramids. Nobody knows when and how they were built, there are theories, some good and some are out there, but it’s one of life’s great mysteries-that’s still a mystery. They’re the definition of what a wonder should be. The Pyramids are the only remaining wonder of the original seven wonders of the ancient world and are perhaps the most amazing and impressive thing to see in this world. This was the second time I have been in the presence of the Pyramids at Giza and it was as awe inspiring as the first time. I could barely take my eyes off the millenniums old structures. Different viewing angles and the different angles of the sun tell a different story every minute but the one thing that remains the same is simply, the Pyramids are timeless.
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The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

September 25th, 2008 | By Lee | 5 Comments »

People give the Middle East a bad rap. Perhaps for good reason at times, but not everywhere in this holy region is a mess. One such place is the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Jordan is home to some of the most impressive archaeological sites in the world. It is home to the Kings Highway, the most scenic highway stretch you can imagine winding in and out of majestic mountains. It also shares the Dead Sea with Israel and across the sea are a lot less tourists to muddy your swim. Additionally, Amman, Jordan’s bustling capital, is a melting pot of culture and curiosity. However, nothing can match the ancient Nabathaen city of Petra for sheer wonder. Jordan has it all and I will document this wonderful country along my trip from Jerusalem to Petra and the Gulf of Aqaba.
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Eye Opening Iran

July 27th, 2008 | By Lee | 7 Comments »

When I first was planning this trip I was a little wary on whether I was going to include Iran in my itinerary or not. I had always been curious about this rogue nation of sorts. After giving it a lot of thought I decided that I was going to be so close in Ashgabat that I would have to go and see it for myself. I had missed an opportunity to go there in February during my Middle East tour and was not going to miss it twice. After jumping through major hoops to get my visa to go there (it takes upwards of 2-3 months and in America you have to go through the Pakistan Embassy because there are no diplomatic relations between our countries), I was off on my adventure.
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Bombing in Yemen

March 18th, 2008 | By Lee | 1 Comment »

I woke up this morning to hear of an unfortunate incident in Sana’a, Yemen where three mortar rounds exploded near the US Embassy in the capital. No US diplomats were injured but apparently there were some injuries at a girls school located nearby and to some Yemeni officials. This is just 6 weeks after two Belgian tourists and two Yemenis were killed outside the capital by unknown gunmen. Yemen has had a recent history of violence toward Westerners and their interests going back to the USS Cole bombing in 2000. This is very sad to me because I feel that Yemen is such a wonderful country and I hate to see these things happen in the Middle east or anywhere. It gives people the wrong idea about the people of these countries and how nice they are as opposed to the few crazy radicals. It’s really too bad.
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Thoughts on the Middle East

February 11th, 2008 | By Lee | 4 Comments »

As I am back in New York now and have had a very long flight home to reflect on my trip to the Middle East, I have a few thoughts. First, the Middle East is a very pleasant place to visit. The people are very nice in all of the countries that I visited and I never felt unsafe at any time in any country. In fact, they were more hospitable than most western places that you could go to. The streets are generally clean and most countries, especially the new Gulf countries have all of the comforts of home.
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Scenes From a Mall in Dubai

February 10th, 2008 | By Lee | 2 Comments »

Yesterday was the final day of my trip and I flew up from Yemen to Dubai to catch my long flights home. I had a 12 hour layover in Dubai yesterday and I was debating what to do with myself. I had already seen everything that I wanted to see and in fact all there is to see as the rest of the city will be completed in a few years. So against everything that I believe in I went to the Mall of the Emirates which is the biggest mall in Dubai and one of the biggest in the world to kill the time. It was actually pretty interesting, as far as mall experiences go.
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Sana’a, Yemen

February 8th, 2008 | By Lee | 13 Comments »

I don’t think there are too many places left in the world that would make God smile, but Yemen is one of them. Yemen has been inhabited forever and in many ways it is the birthplace of all our lives. In the days of yore, Noah’s sons knew it as the land of milk and honey, Gilgamesh came here to search for the secret of eternal life and most famously, a woman simply known as Sheba called this land of Yemen her home. However, since the book of mythology has closed, Yemen had been locked away in a hidden corner of the peninsula-until now. Yemen is coming of age and showing itself to the world and let me tell you: Yemen sits at the crossroads of two continents, with flavors of Africa, reflections of Morocco and reminders of Arabia and to travel in this most traditional of all islamic countries is a priviledge that I won’t soon forget.
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