Dusty Wyndow Blog

Photo by Globotreks.com I had never seen it coming, in the middle of my chaotic arrangements prior to moving to UAE, that my few-years-old couchsurfing account would be one of the main factors for making it easier for me to enjoy it out there in the desert. Ras al Khaimah, the place I’m living in, is one of those lazy towns with moderate infrastructure, a few malls here and there, a fraction of the amount of cars/people you’d see in Dubai, and a whole lot of senior westerners and young expats, who thought it’s best to move to such a town, away from the extravaganza of Dubai, its horrible traffic and its insanely high real estate prices. I might be mistaken to assume the whole world knows what couchsurfing is. Here’s a summary, as found on the website’s about section: We envision a world made better by travel and travel made richer by connection. Couchsurfers share their lives with the people they encounter, fostering cultural exchange and mutual respect.  Travel the worl...

I still remember that day, I was a bit shy at the beginning, shy in terms of never had the chance to wear the official Hajj clothing ever before. I was browsing through the old emails in my outlook inbox, when all of a sudden an email with the title "photos" from my old friend Adnan was showing there, it took me instantly back to the day he told me he was going to visit me and Sam again in our apartment in Jeddah, back in the days. Well, Adnan was first our flatmate, until he resigned and moved to Riyadh; he had wanted that day to come to Jeddah for a sleepover and a trip to Meccah. It sure wasn't my first, but was surely my first attempt to do the renowned muslim Omrah. Sam, my wonderful flatmate had given me his clothes, all washed and cleaned, and showed me a guide on how to wear them, and all the regulations and rules to go with the Omrah. I have to admit though, such an occasion having its own formalities and structure had definitely added to the glam of it. I re...

It's 5AM and I'm alone at the hotel restaurant, the Larsa hotel in amman, munching on those french bread pieces with some white cheese cubes and lipton tea on the side, while all through it, and among all the responsibilities lying on my shoulders in this very early day, all I could think of was how lousy the service at the restaurant was. Larsa Hotel Restaurant Lobby at 5AM, Amman I thought of the pasta I had yesterday and of how awful the finishing was. It wouldn't take more than a clean napkin to clean the edges properly and make it more presentable. Voila, hopped on from a 3 star to a 5 star dish with only a napkin, and a bit of wits. I looked around and saw an old toaster, the type of toasters that have a metal conveyor belt that runs over a couple heaters and then drops the toast off. The toaster was literally squeeking, dying, and it obviously needed either a fix-up or a replacement with one of those shiny expensive ones. But hey, I'm fine with this one if...

I wrote this on my way back from Erbil: "Here I am sitting in my plane seat next to a giant human being, waiting for this loud seating dispute between the waiter and a passenger to end before we take off. Yes, the body odor of a sweaty Iraqi is exactly what I had been dreaming of the last two nights to be having on my flight to Beirut. I really miss Beirut, though it's been only three days away. Kurdistan National Flag. Courtesy of Nath Halawani Lots of substantial updates took place in my absence. The new PM is the savior we've been all waiting for, it seems. The weather has took another crazy turn the wrong lane. Yesterday it rained as if it were a stormy January night, today it seems it gotten back to miami-like weather: high levels of humidity made sure the hair of every single girl on the shores of Lebanon got a nice unexpected curl. My trip to Iraq is a business-related trip that cost my company somewhere over 5000$, 1200$ of which went only to the hotel ro...

The view out my window Now, where else would you find a sleepless blogger on his business trip discussing the reasons on why he's not asleep and getting ready to the next day's busy schedule? It must be the sudden weather change. I'm sneezing and coughing like crazy ever since I got here. That first moment I stepped foot on Erbil's ground, it kinda took me back to my time in KSA: heavily hot weather, direct burning sunlight and a very dusty atmosphere. A great catalyst for a serious health breakdown, exactly what I'm going through right now. Oh yeah, and the air conditioner is so great I woke up breathless. On the other hand, that fish we had for dinner? Well, um, here's the story. The fish is called "Maskouf" (مسكوف), a traditional, very famous Kurdish dish that is only found in Erbil, where the fish is cooked for over an hour and a half. I wasn't even surprised to find out that, just like in Mina, Tripoli (my hometown), you get to pick y...

I think you'd love to hear what happened before the free hugs, much more than the flashmob itself. Taken by Talha It was Saturday, the day that the factory works only half a day, and thus we finished work at 2:00 PM, went back to the hotel and headed directly to a nearby mall for a quick meal. Meanwhile, I had had sent a msg to my Turkish friend Talha to see whether he has some free time for the afternoon or no. It was a confirmation indeed. Fast forward to 5:30PM, I met him outside the hotel and he automatically notices my camera, asking me about my photography chances in Eskisehir, I replied with "none so far". He was kind enough to withstand my blabbing, my on-going sudden stops in the middle of the crowd only to get a photo I needed to take. Honestly, if it weren't to Talha's tour yesterday, I might've left Eskisehir without visiting anything but the hotel and its surrounding. The town's history is one more marvelous thing added to my experienc...

Day 20 - A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel (Read more about the 30-Day Challenge ) Yes, my dream travel destination is Ljublijana, Slovenia, which should ring a bell for anyone who's already familiar with Paulo Coelho's "Veronika decides to die". There's this desire to relive the story, to stand in the middle of that town's center and look for the window where the whole story started at.

Well actually, she's leaving for a few days to Turkey! And guess what? This is NOT the post to read anything I'm thinking or feeling. It's only sharing the thrill =D

The term "People" should be defined at first: there are the Nigerian people of course, and there are the Lebanese. Actually it is such a frustration to meet this number of Lebanese people always feeding on the biggest portion of the Nigerian income. What's more frustrating is that I left Lebanon to find another Lebanon there, with its same filth, same traditions, same gossip, same political useless debates, etc... That was the Lebanese people. Nigerian? Oh god they're a bliss. Each Nigerian man, child, woman I met have dark skin indeed, but one of the few white hearts I've ever met. It might never come to your mind that the driver working for a white man - of course - holds an engineering degree from a Nigerian university, and thus tears shone on the edge of his eyes while telling me his story and how he's stuffing an amount of 300$ each month in his pocket, which is never enough even to pay the bills.