The first feeling of claustrophobia I can remember experiencing happened about 9 years ago when I looked at the World map and saw Bahrain...
I was wrong about it, Bahrain is not claustrophobic at all, on the opposite, it is a breath of fresh air, truly amazing... And surprisingly the weather is also that, there's a constant breeze in summer days, contrary to what happens in Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, where the humidity rises to extreme levels of unbearableness...
Bahrain is a true pearl (pearl fishing is also a widespread tradition in Bahrain and the fishermen have a traditional song that makes me crack up laughing every time I remember how my friend sounded imitating it - he claims it was due to the song and not the water pressure in their simple diving suits that killed many of them). Bahrain was called Dilmun a long time ago and some historians believe that if Eden of the religious scriptures exists, it was here. The Babylonians believed that to attain everlasting life in the hereafter your body should be buried in Dilmun, thus over 100,000 tombs can still be found in the tiny island. More overwhelming seen than written about is the Tree of Life, right in the centre of the island there is this flourishing tree, somehow living, without a known source of water, in the middle of a deserted area... I clicked some pictures the last time I was there...
I was wrong about it, Bahrain is not claustrophobic at all, on the opposite, it is a breath of fresh air, truly amazing... And surprisingly the weather is also that, there's a constant breeze in summer days, contrary to what happens in Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, where the humidity rises to extreme levels of unbearableness...
Bahrain is a true pearl (pearl fishing is also a widespread tradition in Bahrain and the fishermen have a traditional song that makes me crack up laughing every time I remember how my friend sounded imitating it - he claims it was due to the song and not the water pressure in their simple diving suits that killed many of them). Bahrain was called Dilmun a long time ago and some historians believe that if Eden of the religious scriptures exists, it was here. The Babylonians believed that to attain everlasting life in the hereafter your body should be buried in Dilmun, thus over 100,000 tombs can still be found in the tiny island. More overwhelming seen than written about is the Tree of Life, right in the centre of the island there is this flourishing tree, somehow living, without a known source of water, in the middle of a deserted area... I clicked some pictures the last time I was there...
If you prefer visiting it by sunset (like me) you might get lucky and see foxes and the Arabian oryx in the wild... In prime location you can find the Portuguese Fort, impressive building really, with amazing landscapes!!!
Although I could spend a long time talking about Bahrain, the main purpose of my claustrophobia feeling now is Dubai, it's a concrete jungle, it's beautiful in its sense and I really admire how fast it grew and makes me proud to be part of its growth, but I need to ground myself, I'm craving nature and natural landscaping... I keep on escaping to the small population of Nad Al Sheba, the closest piece of haven I could find in Dubai, it's just quiet, authentic, you can actually spot some stars in the sky at night and you can hear crickets in the silence... Just amazing!!! And the drive back is pleasurable as well, as you see the colors of the skyscrapers in the horizon...
The furthest escape I'm planning to make in the coming weeks is to Khasab, I've never been there, although was many times by the border, but my friend warned me that if I would ever go there I would have to do the honours of being guided first by him and his family, so I've kept my word to break my first Khasab experience with them... And this is it!!! We're planning to visit in the next couple of weeks...
Khasab is a little tip of Omani land surrounded by Emirati land, the capital city of the Musandam Peninsula by the Hormuz Strait. As I started reading about it, I found out that there is an Island with a small village only accessible by boat from Khasab called Kumzar. Well, I thought that I could not be much surprised by the Arabian Peninsula anymore after living here over 7 years, I’m so glad I was just proved wrong!!! Kumzar village is made of these old stone houses you can’t see anywhere else around and the landscape is promised to be wonderful. But, check this out… They do NOT speak Arabic, they speak a language called Kumzari which is a mix of Farsi, Hindi, English, Portuguese and Arabic… Isn’t that utterly AMAZING?!?!?!?
Well after this small discovery I’m booked already to go again in February with some other friends… So this time I will try to figure out the best way to get out there and what else will surprise us and later on we’ll just repeat the highlights!!!
YYYYEEEEEYYYYYY!!! Very exciting!!!
Khasab is a little tip of Omani land surrounded by Emirati land, the capital city of the Musandam Peninsula by the Hormuz Strait. As I started reading about it, I found out that there is an Island with a small village only accessible by boat from Khasab called Kumzar. Well, I thought that I could not be much surprised by the Arabian Peninsula anymore after living here over 7 years, I’m so glad I was just proved wrong!!! Kumzar village is made of these old stone houses you can’t see anywhere else around and the landscape is promised to be wonderful. But, check this out… They do NOT speak Arabic, they speak a language called Kumzari which is a mix of Farsi, Hindi, English, Portuguese and Arabic… Isn’t that utterly AMAZING?!?!?!?
Well after this small discovery I’m booked already to go again in February with some other friends… So this time I will try to figure out the best way to get out there and what else will surprise us and later on we’ll just repeat the highlights!!!
YYYYEEEEEYYYYYY!!! Very exciting!!!
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