Lee Abbamonte
Try to become the youngest person to travel to every country in the world
The Sultanate of Oman
By Lee | 
3 Comments » The Sultanate of Oman…that just sounds cool doesn’t it? If I was to be any type of world leader I would definitely be a Sultan. It sounds way more powerful than Prime Minister, President, Chancellor or even King. Another reason why Babe Ruth’s nickname “The Sultan of Swat” is still the coolest nickname ever. Anyway, Oman was such a breath of fresh air for me in this region. It is easily the best place I have visited in Arabia. It lacked shopping malls, tall modern buildings, traffic, tackiness but it had a few things called charm, stunning natural beauty, character and uniqueness. Oman saved my soul from the ultra tacky modernity of the new Gulf States and reminded me why I love to travel to far away places.
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The Other Five Emirates
By Lee | 1 Comment » Everybody knows of Dubai and Abu Dhabi which are the main two Emirates (like states or provinces for my Canadian friends) that make up the United Arab Emirates but it sure would make a great Jeopardy question for 99.9% of people to name one of the other five. The other Emirates are Ajman, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain. I spent the majority of my day today driving and stopping in all of them and let me tell you that there is probably a reason that most people haven’t heard of them. It’s because there really isn’t much to see or do in any of them. There are a few exceptions of course…
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Dubai, United Arab Emirates
By Lee | 2 Comments » Dubai is quite a sight to behold. Coming into the city this morning from Abu Dhabi, I could see the tall buildings from 40 miles away in the flat desert. The place is like a huge construction zone. If you’ve been following my posts each day I have talked about how some places I’ve been to are like crane factories, well Dubai crushes all oncomers. The entire city is under construction and it seems like multiple cities are being built within the city itself. Included is the forthcoming world’s tallest building, the Burj Dubai, which technically would be the world’s tallest already although it isn’t finished yet. It is really, really high, over 2000 feet already and they won’t say how high it’ll end up being so nobody tries to beat them before they unveil it. This is kind of the theme of Dubai-what’s gonna be in the future.
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Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
By Lee | 7 Comments » Abu Dhabi is what all cities wish they were; wealthy, clean and very safe. It is the capital of the UAE, the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and in fact it boasts reserves of 9% of all oil on Earth making it the richest city on Earth. Abu Dhabi also has the worlds second largest mosque behind Mecca in Saudi Arabia called the Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan Grand Mosque-it is incredibly awesome to see up close and quite a mouthful to say. Pretty impressive stuff to say the least. The bank, oil and hotel buildings are high, modern and beautiful and the Corniche is something to behold-however; I’ve just about had it with Corniches!
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Doha, Qatar
By Lee | 8 Comments » Doha is the type of place where if you revisit it in 10 years you wouldn’t even recognize it. They are building so much here it’s ridiculous. They are even bidding on the 2016 Olympics and have signs all over Doha for it. Today is Friday but in Qatar it’s like a Sunday so nothing is going on and nothing is open. The idea of the weekend being Thursday and Friday is tough to come to grips with but regardless, downtown Doha is like a ghost town. Aside from walking along the beautiful Corniche with panoramic views of the new skyscrapers, the only thing to do here is go to the mall because that’s what all the people here do. I really hate malls.
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Bahrain and the New Gulf
By Lee | 3 Comments » Flying into Bahrain this morning I was really taken aback once again by just how big and developing this island country is just like Kuwait. From above you can see cranes as far as the eye can see and you can see them constructing very tall amazingly designed buildings and islands. Literally island communities for people to live on right in the Persian Gulf. When you arrive at the airport and all around Manama all you see is ads for the new developments. It is astounding really. Everyone has heard that Dubai is doing this with the countries of the world but it is all of the Gulf States. The region is literally pouring trillions into it’s 22nd century infrastructure and tourist attractions now. You should see some of these plans they have drawn up and already selling to investors. The Gulf is getting ready for the next century right now because they know that within a century their oil reserves will be all dried up. How’s that for foresight?
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Kuwait
By Lee | 1 Comment » I was pretty psyched to leave the terrible weather of Syria behind this morning to head to the 70 degree temperature of Kuwait. Flying into Kuwait was really cool because you are just flying over the Arabian Desert which looks like a huge muddy ocean. There are oil fields dotting the sand in Iraq and Kuwait and again it’s really cool to see it from above; just how vast and huge they really are. Landing in Kuwait was like landing in a really nice fast food laden mall. There are spotless stores, plus immaculate Burger Kings, McDonalds, etc. as far as the eye can see. As I drove into Kuwait City to find my hotel, I couldn’t help but notice how nice the city was.
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Aleppo, Syria
By Lee | 5 Comments » After a long drive in the pouring rain Assam and I finally arrived in Aleppo in the north of Syria to check out the old and new city of Aleppo. The low cloud cover and torrential rains seriously limited the accessability to the city as the souq was basically flooded and extremely muddy. The little Suzuki trucks and the donkeys didn’t seem to mind as they plowed through the puddles and splashed everyone and everything in their way. To be fair, it reminded me of the souq in Marrakech, Morocco which was amazing to be in but the rain and the freezing cold and wind made it difficult to enjoy. It didn’t take me too long to get fed up with the old city so I headed over to the new city.
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Damascus, Syria
By Lee | 4 Comments » The name Damascus just sounds cool and it just has an aura of ancient and interesting in the sound of the word. That is exactly how I feel about Damascus, it has proven to be one of the most vibrant and interesting cities I have been to and I have to say that my $8 dinner last night was one of the best I have ever had-anywhere! Global politics the way they are and the location of Syria have scared many people from visiting this ancient land but from what I have seen so far-those people are missing out.
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Beirut, Lebanon
By Lee | 6 Comments » I arrived in Beirut last night after a weekend in London for my friends 30th birthday. As I stepped off the plane I could sense there was something strange going on. As I collected my bag and headed for the taxi stand, there was a clear military presence at the airport. I got into my cab and the driver who barely spoke any English mentioned there was trouble in Beirut but I couldn’t understand what he was trying to say. The streets were basically empty except for numerous military vehicles and armed checkpoints, it looked as though they had declared martial law-I was a bit unsettled.
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