The Middle East

There are no hard rules about where exactly the Middle East is.  Some consider it to be a geographical term and others consider it a political one.  The term "Middle East" began as a Eurocentric term for the area separating Europe from the Far East.  Most agree that the area consists of the transcontinental region from Turkey to Central Asia, plus the Gulf Area.  Many also include Egypt due to its territory in the Sinai Peninsula.  Others consider North Africa to be part of the Middle East as well.

Definite Middle East countries include: Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

North African countries that often get lumped in are Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, and Sudan.

Middle East history goes all the way back to ancient times.  It is the birthplace of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  Many other ancient belief systems such as Zoroastrianism were also established here.

Islam is the largest religion in the area.  Almost every country, except Cyprus and Israel, have Muslim majorities.  Iran, Iraq, and Bahrain are mostly Shia while most of the other countries are predominately Sunni.  Islam plays a huge role here as the legal systems in most of these countries are influenced by Islamic law.

©Test Tube News

It's a scary place for gays.  Being gay is illegal and punishable by imprisonment in Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the U.A.E.  In Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen, it is punishable by death.   Most of these places aren't high on my travel bucket list anyway.

Arabs are the largest ethnic group in the Middle East.  The five most spoken languages are Arabic, Farsi, Turkish, Kurdish, and Hebrew.

With such a large region there are of course many problems.  One of the biggest problems is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  One of the biggest mistakes lately was President Trump, going against years of U.S. prescient and recognising Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.  Almost every other country in the world recognises Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem as illegal which is why all of the foreign embassies are in Tel Aviv.  Here's an NBC video I found out on YouTube showing some of the reaction to the U.S. action.

©NBC

There's currently a big regional power struggle in the Middle East between Iran and Saudi Arabia.  Each wants to be calling the shots in the region.

©Test Tube News

Update 2025:  Here's a short YouTube video about why didn't the Arab world unite.

©History Matters

UNESCO

UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.  It is a specialized agency of the United Nations whose purpose is to promote international collaboration to further fundamental freedom.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place recognized for special cultural or physical significance.  "Place" can be a building, a city, complex, desert, forest, island, lake, monument or mountain.  The selection process is a difficult one.  Being listed as a World Heritage Site is a big deal as some funding is provided plus it brings lots of tourists.

There are currently 1,031 UNESCO World Heritage Sites.  Italy has the most with 51 sites.  Followed by China (48), Spain (44), France (41), Germany (40), Mexico (33) and India (32).  Only twice have sites been removed for failing to maintain strict standards.  Oman's Arabian Oryx Sanctuary was removed in 2007 and Germany's Dresden Elbe Valley was removed in 2009.

UNESCO Sites in Czechland

Czech Republic is fortunate to have 12 UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

- Historic Centre of Český Krumlov

- Historic Centre of Prague

- Historic Centre of Telč
- Pilgrimage Church of St. John of Nepomuk at Zelená Hora
- Kutná Hora: Historical Town Centre with the Church of St. Barbara and the Cathedral of Our Lady at Sedlec
- Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape
- Gardens and Castle at Kroměříž
- Holašovice Historic Village
- Litomyšl Castle
- Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc
- Tugendhat Villa in Brno
- Jewish Quarter and St. Procopius' Basilica in Třebíč

In the 1990s, the United States Congress enacted laws that require an automatic funding cutoff for any United Nations agency that accepts Palestine as a member.  Well Palestine joined UNESCO and in 2011 the USA (and Israel) began withholding financial support.  By withholding dues for two years, both the USA and Israel lost its votes in the UNESCO General Assembly back in 2013.

The lack of U.S. support has had a huge impact on UNESCO's ability to promote freedom of expression, press freedom, gender equality, clean water, and education programs for girls throughout the world.  These are key things that the USA should want to have a voice in and now don't.  The Obama administration has tried to change the laws to allow for UNESCO funding but it hasn't been successful in Congress.  These laws need to be changed before Palestine joins other U.N. agencies such as the World Health Organization.

Update:  July 2019, two new Czech locations were designated World Heritage Sites.

In 1945, UNESCO was created in order to respond to the firm belief of nations, forged by two world wars in less than a generation, that political and economic agreements are not enough to build a lasting peace. Peace must be established on the basis of humanity’s moral and intellectual solidarity.

UNESCO strives to build networks among nations that enable this kind of solidarity, by:

• Mobilizing for education: so that every child, boy or girl, has access to quality education as a fundamental human right and as a prerequisite for human development.
• Building intercultural understanding: through protection of heritage and support for cultural diversity. UNESCO created the idea of World Heritage to protect sites of outstanding universal value.
• Pursuing scientific cooperation: such as early warning systems for tsunamis or trans-boundary water management agreements, to strengthen ties between nations and societies.
• Protecting freedom of expression: an essential condition for democracy, development and human dignity.

- See more at: http://en.unesco.org/about-us/introducing-unesco#sthash.ui7bwnpJ.dpuf

UAE & Oman Trip

I'm back from my little get away to the United Arab Emirates and Oman, and away from the Czech cold.  It was great.  And the weather was nice and sunny.  35°C (95°F).  Thank goodness for plenty of SPF 55.

I flew in to Abu Dhabi and made my way the 2.5 hours to Sharjah.  It's basically a suburb of Dubai.  With all of the traffic it's a little more than an hour to Dubai from Sharjah but I guess that's what happens when gas is so cheap.


The next day was my day trip to Khasab.  This was by far my favorite day.  It was absolutely brilliant!  I loved cruising down the fjords in an Omani dhow.


Dubai wasn't quite what I was expecting.  I think it's like when you're the last person to see a new movie.  Everyone has built it up so much that by the time you get around to seeing it, you're like ehhh, whatever.


It wasn't bad but not quite what I expected.  It was very smoggy while I was there so the mega skyscrapers were impressive but not as much as they could have been.  The Dubai metro isn't really geared for tourists.  Every cool building seemed to be an hour away, from each other, on the other side of town.

Plus it didn't really feel like the Middle East.  I did come across people in traditional Arab dress but it wasn't the majority.  Almost everyone working in the UAE is an expat with most coming from India, Pakistan, the Philippines, and parts of Africa.  On the upside there were plenty of really good Indian restaurants and almost everyone spoke English.


It was kind of fun though seeing Baskin-Robbins, Hardee's, Pizza Hut, KFC, etc., advertised in both English and Arabic.

I preferred Abu Dhabi to Dubai.  Even though it is the capital, Abu Dhabi seems to be the underdog since Dubai normally gets all of the attention.  And I tend to root for the underdog.  Abu Dhabi had more of a Middle East feeling.  And with the amount of construction going on there I'm sure that it will out marvel  Dubai in a few short years.

With the whole gay thing being illegal in the UAE, I know that my mother is glad that I'm now back in Euroland.  But it's not like I was there to hook up or to lead a parade or something.  However, I was curious to see to what extent censorship runs.  It's there alright.  I wasn't even able to log in to a gay chat room.

So overall, the trip did what it was supposed to do.  I got to relax for a few days.  There was plenty of sunshine.  I got to enjoy some very cool architecture.  I extended my travel adventures from Europe to the Middle East.  And with Dubai checked off the list I can now look at visiting Israel sometime in the next year or two.  

Khasab, Oman

Musandam is the north exclave of Oman, separated from the rest of the country by the UAE.  Khasab, خصب, is the capital of the Musandam Peninsula.  The town overlooks the Arabian Gulf.  Khasab is home to around 18,000 people.




Khasab started out as a supply port for the Portuguese at the start of the 17th century.

I was picked up for my tour, from Sharjah, and we drove to Khasab.  The drive was only 160 km (100 miles) but it took about 2.5 hours.  There was a bit of traffic on the road but the biggest hold up was at the border.  My American passport qualified me to get an Omani visa on arrival, for 85 Dirhams ($23), but it took over 40 minutes crossing the border each way.

Our Omani dhow

Today was a fantastic day!!  About 20 of us were taken out on a six hour cruise on an Omani dhow.  We spend the day cruising down the fjords.  We were treated to some great food and cast anchor a couple of times from swimming and snorkeling.  Due to the fjords, Khasab is known as the "Norway of Arabia".

Khor Sham

Khor Sham is an awesome 16 km (10 mile) fjord.




Nadifi is a village of around 150 people.  You can't reach it by land.  Almost everyone is a fisherman and the only access is by boat.  Children take a boat to school every Saturday and return home on Wednesday to spend the weekends.  Friday is Islam's holy day so the weekend is Thursday and Friday.

Telegraph Island got its name because in 1864 that's where the British built a telegraph station.  In order to have a telegraph connection between England and India, an underground cable was laid from India to Basra in Iraq.  The island was only manned for a short period of time.

 

One of the highlights of the day was dolphin watching.  I haven't done that since I was a kid in California.  It was a beautiful day and a nice change from the Czech cold.  

Tomorrow's adventure starts with an early bus to Dubai.

Sultanate of Oman

As part of my quest to find some sun when I'm in the UAE, I've arranged a day trip to Oman.  The plan is to cruise on a traditional Omani dhow, down the fjords, to see some dolphins, visit Telegraph Island, and for a bit of swimming.  So here's a little about Oman.


The Sultanate of Oman, سلطنة عُمان, is the second largest country on the Arabian Peninsula.  It borders the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.  There are two exclaves; Musandam and Madha.  Oman is a little smaller than Kansas and is home to 3.15 million people.  Muscat is the capital city.

The Musandam Peninsula is separated from Oman by the UAE.  It occupies a strategic location on the Strait of Hormuz, controlled by Oman and Iran, which is the only sea passage between the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf.  About 20% of the world's petroleum makes its way through the Strait of Hormuz.  Musandam is 1,800 km² (695 square miles) and is home to 31,500 people.

Inside of the UAE, halfway between Musandam and Oman is Madha.  It is about 75 km² (29 miles²).  But within Madha is Nahwa, a UAE enclave.  So inside of the UAE is a piece of Oman that has a piece of the UAE in it.  How's that for confusing?

Oman had an empire, from the 17th century, and it competed with Portugal and Great Britain for control of the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean.  Oman's empire lost it's influence during the 20th century and it became heavily influenced by the UK.

Oman is an absolute monarchy where the sultan holds all legislative, executive and judiciary power.  The Sultan of Oman is Qaboos bin Said Al Said who came to power in 1970 when he overthrew his father.  He is currently the Middle East's longest-serving ruler.  Accordingly, political parties are illegal in Oman.  The country's laws are based on sharia - Islamic law.  Like other Middle East countries, Oman has a problem with Jews and Gays.  Oman does not officially recognize Israel and homosexuality is currently punishable by three years in prison.

Oil is the country's biggest industry but it doesn't produce as much oil as the UAE, Saudi Arabia or Iran.  Oman is trying to diversify its economy in order to reduce the dependency on dwindling oil reserves.  Currently about 60% of the workforce is made up of expats.

Here's an Omani travel video that I found on YouTube.  The second half talks about the dhow cruises from Musandam.

©Unravel Travel TV