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Bob's Travel Tales
5 Oct 2013
28 Sept 2013
Arabian Tales - Khalid Seeks a Wife
Khalid is looking for a wife. I find this
out when I ask him if he has his own place, only to uncover a world with echoes of
Jane Austen…
“Why would I have my own place while I’m still
single? Here, we live with our parents until we get married.”
“Twenty eight.”
And how old are you?
“… Twenty eight.”
Ah. So, you’re under some pressure…
Actually, he was joking with me: guys usually get married between 22 and 30 years old here.
Actually, he was joking with me: guys usually get married between 22 and 30 years old here.
Do you have a girlfriend, at
least, I ask.
“We don’t have girlfriends.”
And, it’s not easy to meet girls; single men and women don’t mix socially. Even our lunch cafeteria has a separate
table for women-only. Although, due to the mix of cultures, foreign travel, and Western influence in UAE, a lot of men do have relationships with women, Emirati and non-local, but in secret.
“We don’t have girlfriends.”
And, it’s not easy to meet girls; single men and women don’t mix socially.
So, how do you meet girls?
“You get your female relatives to look for
you. My sisters are out there, although I don’t trust all of them to pick
wisely. There have been a couple of girls I've seen that I liked: I found out their
names and got one of my sisters to research: 'Typical for you Khalid; you
picked married ones,' she said.”
Can’t you use Facebook?
“Well women don’t post their picture on
Facebook in our society, so it’s not a lot of help.”
Often, one of his sisters will invite a
girl for coffee in a local mall and Khalid will go there covertly so that he
can at least take a look at her. Some mothers are on the look out for schemes like this though, and won't allow it. In order to meet her and have a discussion, he
may have to get engaged.
Dubai Mall 'Diving Men' Sculpture |
But, when I saw him the following Sunday,
he looked unhappy: “Another of my sisters showed up as well and she brought her
two young children with her. They spotted me immediately and ran up; “Uncle Khalid,
Uncle Khalid.” My cover was blown.
This is not an arranged marriage. Neither
party is forced to tie the knot. Sometimes they have quite a long engagement,
as they get to know each other, before making the decision to marry. It’s the
initial meeting that seems difficult.
A couple of weeks ago Khalid was going to a
wedding. Now there’s a perfect opportunity for you to meet girls, I said, as we
shared lunch. But no; men go to a wedding feast, …just for men.
At the end of
the evening, most of the men leave; then, the groom’s immediate family (father &
brothers usually) take the groom to the women’s wedding, place him on a
throne next to his bride, and leave him there…
"My sisters are starting to despair of me; I haven't liked any of the girls they've found - they're beginning to think I don't want to get married..."
"My sisters are starting to despair of me; I haven't liked any of the girls they've found - they're beginning to think I don't want to get married..."
Link: Girls_of_Riyadh is a book about looking for a husband in Saudi Arabia. It relates the trials of engagements and marriages, from a women's point of view. UAE is not Saudi, but there are similarities. Worth a read.
21 Sept 2013
Arabian Tales - The Expat Bubble
I like to go for a walk in the morning;
early, when the day is at its coolest. The only people around at that time are
maids. I know they’re maids, not just because they are almost all Filipino, but
they all call me ‘sir’.
“Morning sir,” ...and they say it like I’m taking attendance
in a Grade 5 classroom; polite and practiced.
We've never had a maid in Calgary, Canberra or
Cardiff (may I add at this point that we don’t have one here!), yet a lot of
people, the majority maybe, have one here; some have a nanny as well. The
houses are all built with a maid’s room – a small bedroom with a washer &
dryer installed and a toilet with shower off to the side, often under the
stairs. Every morning I see them washing the family car, walking the dog, going
to the corner store, or even at 6:30 in the morning playing with a small child
in the grass. And, I didn’t
mention the pool boys and gardeners…
Mall of the Emirates - Luxury Brands |
Dubai Mall - Fashion Show |
If you want to eat out, there are wonderful
licensed restaurants in the Western hotels (Rotana, Crowne Plaza, Hilton,
Radisson); so many to choose from.
Grand Mosque from Shangri-La |
I took Carol for dinner at the Emirates Palace Hotel. You drive up the ramp into a courtyard. As soon as you bring the car to a standstill you are surrounded by uniformed staff that open the doors for you to step out then valet your vehicle away before you’ve even stepped into the hotel. This hotel is more opulent than most but the same principles of service apply at most of them. See the links below.
Our personal favourite is the Shangri-La.
We both agree that our best meal ever was in the Pearls and Caviar restaurant
there. This is set on an island behind the hotel sitting across the water from
the Grand Mosque. As soon as they valet your car, a driver takes you from the
courtyard to the restaurant, by golf cart…
Then, at the end of each day the maids gather in the park in small groups, with or without ‘their’ children and dogs, to grab a bite and share news of home.
14 Sept 2013
Arabian Tales - Bedouin Hospitality
We were only taking a shortcut to the
beach… On a weekend break along the coast of Fujairah we found ourselves in a
housing estate; the outside walls of the houses were spectacular. I got out and
took pictures.
Front wall of house on Fujairah Coast |
An Arabic man drove up and stopped: “What
are you taking photos of?”
The houses and walls; they are so
spectacular, I told him.
“Really?”
We drove off, but he followed beeping his
horn and flashing his lights. We stopped and Carol lowered the window. “Would
you like to see inside one?” he said.
‘Well, yes, we'd love to,’ Carol replied.
“Because this is mine, right here – please
come in.”
The Bedouin are famous for their
hospitality. As the explorer Wilfred Thesiger wrote: Even though starving, they
would give their last food to strangers who came to visit, making sure they’d
had enough before they ate themselves (see link below).
Hand Painted Ceiling |
Leaving our shoes by the door, we followed
him through the main entrance into the foyer where, removing his headdress, he
offered us a seat on one of several sofas. He called out to the maid ‘tea for
the guests’, and introduced himself as Hassan. His sister joined us and then
his mother. Carol and I speak no Arabic and they spoke only limited English
making for an awkward start until his wife Ayesha arrived – she spoke English
well.
Ladies Lounge |
The women all wore brightly coloured
clothes, not the traditional Emirati outdoor wear of black gown (abaya) and scarf (shelagh),
although their hair was covered.
Eventually the tea was ready and we were
ushered in to a lounge where the maid served us cups of tea, glasses of water
and small sweets. They offered us lunch but we’d eaten so we declined; they
didn’t join us but sat and watched. This made us self-conscious about which
hand to use or whether we’d drop the china cups on the beige carpet.
The lounge was brightly coloured with an
elaborate hand-painted ceiling. This is my house, Hassan said, and you may
photograph anything you wish… except the ladies, of course. Of course, I said,
knowing it’s a definite ‘no no’ to photograph women in the Arab world.
Men's Lounge |
Hassan’s father called out from a room at
the back. ‘He’s insisting we give you more food and orange juice, as a gift
from him,’ Ayesha said. The maid brought orange juice and we drank it. They’d
been to Europe she said but never Canada and listened in disbelief as we
described the cold.
‘Did you want pictures of our house because
you are building one?’ No, I explained, the houses here are very different from
those at home; and very beautiful.
As we got up to leave, Hassan’s father Ali
appeared: he wanted his picture taken with me.
Hassan took us through the rest of the main
floor as we left. We realized we’d been hosted in the ladies lounge as we
entered the men’s lounge on the other side of the foyer. This was a larger room
in more conservative colours (greens and browns) and it had its own entrance,
to the side of the main entrance: ‘so male guests can enter the house without
disturbing the ladies’. Behind this was the dining room; Emiratis sit on the
floor to eat; cushions set around the outside walls. I’ve eaten a meal like
this and it’s no picnic!
We thanked them for their generosity and
promised we’d call on them again if we returned to the area.
My friend Mohamed said: "I'm so glad there are people still inviting strangers into their house; with so many outsiders in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, I was afraid this tradition had died."
http://www.amazon.com/Arabian-Penguin-Classics-Wilfred-Thesiger/dp/0141442077
Fujairah Sunset - over the Gulf of Oman |
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