Doha had one of the best skylines in the world.
Aside from its roads, Qatar is one of the safest countries
in the world for Westerners to go about their business. …but its not to say the
Qatari criminal justice system isn’t busy….the prisons are full to bursting,
mainly with inmates from India, Nepal, the Philippines and Pakistan,
incarcerated for petty crimes that wouldn’t even warrant a caution in most
other countries…
Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world to ban women
from driving. Saudi law also forb its women from getting inside a car unless
they are with their husband or a close male relative. …..Saudi women are not
normally allowed to travel on public transport either. If they are permitted,
perhaps in a medical emergency, they have to sit in a special rear compartment
so as not to offend the male passengers.
….the cheery young Pakistani taxi driver…..Omar….. “Mostly.
Western passengers and Filipinos are very respectful. Not Arabs though. Very
rude people.”
….Dubai….the least Arabian
of all the major Gulf cities, yet the one easiest to enjoy.
Beirut….was a city of contrasts….there were the
bullet-ridden buildings and crumbling backstreets, areas that looked war-torn
and ragged, and then there was the sparkling affluence of the cornice. I could
not recall a city where the contrast was so stark….
“Lebanon has some of the best-preserved fossils on Earth,”
the young woman told us…..
Like their counterparts in Beirut, the local women of
Istanbul favoured T-shirts, jeans and uncovered hair instead of hijabs and
abayas.
Jordan….Amman…… the street got busier and the traffic did
too. The beeping was almost on a par with India…..
……Jerusalem… I’d never seen so many soldiers hanging around
a city, except for perhaps in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan’s capital…..
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