Home » United Arab Emirates Qatar Bahrain » Stories about Middle East Trips (2)

These are recent stories - the rest are in my latest book,"Walking Through Adversity."

Stories about Middle East Trips (2)

Rob bryant
2006-01-09 11:39:38

Displayed times (last time: )

Sadam Hussain, and world events. At dusk, I took another stroll along the Persian Gulf in the opposite direction and took in the smells and lights of Doha at night. The city was lit up with gold and blue lights and was gorgeous. It was much more comfortable since it was only 105F (freezing huh?). My day off was made complete with a meal in the Grand Ballroom as a storm blew in over the gulf. It was awesome to hear music from all over the world being played in the ballroom. There was Turkish, African, Oriental, and of course the classics from Bach and Beetoven. However, I almost fell out of my chair when there right in the middle was, "Sittin' on the dock of the bay, watchin' the tide roll away…." It was great to see the reaction on the faces of the Americans that choked on the gourmet foods being served in such a classy hotel. The musical diversity characterizes the area as well as the locals are from Africa, Asia (mostly India), Saudi, Europe, North America (typically advisors) and of course the Middle East. When I checked out, the hotel employees lined up to say good-bye and the manager told me this was unusual, but since I was so kind to them, they wanted to pay me this curtousy. Being nice always pays off and the Golden Rule will always be the best policy to treat friends, strangers, employees, and of course family.

When it Bahrains, it pours - After passing through customs, I was met by our Bahrain site manager. On the way to the site, I was reminded that despite the clothing, religious differences, and domination of women, how Westernized the Middle East really is. The language here is English, everyone has nice cars and big houses, and "money" is king. But the classic illustration was when I saw an Arab driving a Mercedes, with one hand on a cellular phone and one hand picking his nose hairs with tweasers. I even saw a woman driving and putting on make-up simultaneously. These is definitely the Western way to ...