Showing 1-17 of 17 results
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Morocco must investigate Saudi "maid-trade"
Blog: The View from Fez - 15 September 2011
Back in early September, the recruitment committee of the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry announced that recruitment companies would be established and will be licensed to bring in housemaids from Morocco, East Asia and South Africa. The move has caused outrage in unusual places. Ibn Warraq reports for The View from Fez.
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1930′s Ablution in Saudi Arabia – Have You Been Here?
Blog: Vagobond.com - 19 May 2011
Saudi Arabs abluting before praying in a Middle Eastern city. My grandfather took this photo sometime in the 1930's 0r 1940's.
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But how do YOU say it?
Blog: ginger beirut - 22 November 2010
One of the challenges of learning Arabic is its diglossic nature. The fact that two languages or different varieties of a language coexist – with one form used for writing and another, quite different, for conversation – can make life hard for would-be students. For those wanting to learn the spoken dialects, it is difficult [...]
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How Not To Enjoy World Travel – Part 2
Blog: Vagobond.com - 24 September 2010
Don't read anything about the country of place you are going to. That way you won't understand the culture, the traditions, the history, the climate, or anything else. You will be able to have a completely one dimensional experience.
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Budget Airlines in Turkey and Morocco – Air Arabia
Blog: Vagobond.com - 10 August 2010
We are back from Turkey now and in Morocco again. It is just a few days until Ramadan begins and we are going to celebrate most of it up in Sefrou with Hanane’s family. It’s a mixture of feelings to be back- part sadness and part joy, for Hanane anyway. For me, I always suffer [...]
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Days 543 & 544: Another Mad Scheme
Blog: The Odyssey Expedition - 2 July 2010
Mon 28 & Tue 29 Jun: I was a little iniquitous last time I left Africa, and for that I am truly sorry. Africa is many things, but it’s definitely not rubbish. Infuriating perhaps, but not crap. Eritrea, or rather Massawa, really warmed the cockles of my heart, and it’s hard to stay [...]
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Day 536: OK, Where’s The Catch?
Blog: The Odyssey Expedition - 29 June 2010
Mon 21 Jun: Turki gets up at some horrendously early hour of the morning, but I was allowed to sleep in until 8am, and then we both headed over to the Eritrean Consulate. Again, Turki took a day off work to help me out (miles above and light years beyond the call of duty). [...]
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Day 511: Qatar On A Hot Tin Roof
Blog: The Odyssey Expedition - 3 June 2010
Wed 26 May: Urgh me drinkie too muchie. I’ve seriously put on a stone in the last six weeks, what with all my Dominos pizzas and KFC. I need to get moving and get grooving before I turn into a big fat Jabba slug. I found out that the bus for Qatar (only 40km across [...]
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Day 510: Singin’ In The Bahrain
Blog: The Odyssey Expedition - 3 June 2010
Tue 25 May: Oh yes, I’m back ON THE ROAD! After saying my final farewell to the delectable Kassie I bundled myself on the 9am bus to Bahrain via Dammam in Saudi Arabia. Panicking over all the horror stories I’ve been told about Saudi customs, I wiped all the TV shows and Hollywood movies off my [...]
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Day 508: Deliverance
Blog: The Odyssey Expedition - 2 June 2010
Sun 23 May: Tracking numbers are so cool. I got to watch online as my passport arrived in Bahrain yesterday and then arrived here just after 8am today. The DHL guys even called me and explained where I had to go to pick up my maroon booklet of doom. As always, Andrea was on hand to [...]
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Days 501-507: What Happened, Happened
Blog: The Odyssey Expedition - 2 June 2010
Sun 16 – Sat 22 May: 500 days on the road and a good 200 of them have been wasted waiting for either visas or boats. In situations like this you can’t help but acquiesce and go with the flow. The other plans you could have gone for – maybe a new visa for Iran [...]
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Days 487-493: Quiz Night
Blog: The Odyssey Expedition - 2 June 2010
Sun 2 – Sat 8 May: On Sunday morning came the news I was waiting for – my Saudi invitation was in the bag! Within just a few days I’d be finally buzzing through to Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE. I headed like a bonanza bongo bang bang buckaroo over to the Saudi embassy. Only I [...]
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Days 466-472: A Dead End
Blog: The Odyssey Expedition - 2 June 2010
Sun 11 – Sat 17 Apr; So there’s always plan B, right? Well, it all seemed simple enough. According to the Lonely Planet I could get a transit visa for Saudi as long as I had a Bahraini visa and a valid ticket from the bus station. So first thing I was up [...]
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Dubai is… a map that gets updated every day
Blog: Chickstravelflicks - 14 March 2010
My family and I moved to Canada from Dubai in 1997. At that time Dubai was a not-so-talked-about dot on the map, vaguely located “near Saudi Arabia”, for many people. Some people even wondered if we went to school on camels or had to hunt for our food.
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Drive from Saudi to Bahrain
Blog: Bit of Dubai - 16 December 2009
This is something I did last year and thought of writing about for the benefit of my blog readers. Last October I was in Riyadh for a business visit and had to pay a visit to Dammam as well. As … Continue reading →
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Day 4 - Boom Boom Pow in Aqaba
Blog: Hello, Pineapple? - 9 July 2009
The roof top of The Petra Hotel in Aqaba, Jordan features a unique view. To the south, Saudi Arabia, to the west and across the Red Sea, the Egyptian Sinai region, and, to the north, Israel. In other words, a lot of news making geography. For CAD$2/night we mingled and slept on the roof of the old hotel, across the road from what was declared to be the best nuts in the Middle East. That is, there was a line up of bulk food stores that only featured nuts in baskets. Most famous were the BBQ'd cashew nuts. They were VERY good, and lived up to the reputation.
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Black and White
Blog: An Englishman in Dubai - 26 April 2009
After spending a couple of weeks in Dubai it was nice to get back on the road and into the region. Me and a colleague started off with a couple of days in Riyadh. It is always best to travel with other people and Basil who grew up in Riyadh was great to hang out [...]
Showing 1-17 of 17 results
