My Favorite Rumi

Having visited Turkey recently, I was amazed to discover the simple beauty of the writings of the 13th century Persian poet and Sufi mystic known as Rumi. All of our Turkish guides were quick to pull out their pocket collection of Rumi and share their favorite quotes. Something for everyone!

The background is fascinating, to say the least. Born in the Persian Empire in what is now present day Balkh, Afghanistan, Rumi traveled west with his family at the age of ten to settle in Konya, Turkey, where he lived most of his life and produced his famous works, some 70,000 verses, written in Persian. He is sometimes called Balkhi for the province of his birth, while the name Rumi, meaning "the Roman", comes from the name of the province of Rum where Konya is located, the area being called that because it was once part of the Eastern Roman Empire. Rumi (1207-1273) is buried at his shrine which is now a popular place of pilgrimage, called the Mevlana Museum in Konya, and he is often given the title of Mevlana, meaning "master." His followers founded the order of the whirling dervishes famous for its Sufi dance ceremony.

The Mevlana Museum in Konya was well worth the visit. We also got to see a whirling dervish ceremony, known as "sema", which was held in a caravanserai (caravan palace) built in medieval times like a fortress, both for religious use and as an inn and stable for travelers. There were five men in white robes, positioned with one in the middle surrounded by the other four, twirling counterclockwise with their left foot as the pivot, starting up four different times and switching places at the direction of a sixth man, to the music of four musicians with reed, drums and sitar like instruments, no photography or clapping allowed, creating an atmosphere that proved soporific for some. I was able to keep my eyes open for the entire hour, treated to a glass of tea at the end.

Rumi's work has become increasingly popular in recent years in the West, through the work of various translators such as Coleman Barks and performers such as Shahram Shiva. While this may seem surprising for an 800-year-old Muslim writing in Persian, his works deal with the human condition in a very personal way and appeal to our common humanity, not limited by the strictures of religion, race or nationality. According to one Rumi scholar, Dr. Majid Naimi, "Rumi's life and transformation provide true testimony and proof that people of all religions and backgrounds can live together in peace and harmony. Rumi’s visions, words, and life teach us how to reach inner peace and happiness so we can finally stop the continual stream of hostility and hatred and achieve true global peace and harmony.” Not a bad message for the world we live in today!

Sufism, a spiritual, nonviolent, apolitical creed of Islam preaching tolerance, flourished in medieval times but apparently is hated today by Islamic fundamentalists like the Taliban and al-Qaida of the Wahabbi branch, as evidenced by recent terrorist attacks on Sufi shrines in Pakistan. With the rising popularity of Rumi, perhaps Westerners will gain a better understanding of Islam and the complexity of the current divides in the Islam world. Some see the appeal of Rumi, Sufism and Islamic spiritualism as a promising development to counter the rise of Islamic extremism.

Barks, who has been a significant force in popularizing Rumi in America through his books such as "The Essential Rumi", has been criticized for relying on other translations and taking liberties with the language to make the verse more universal and accessible. I do not know whether what I've come across so far comes from Barks or another source, but I can attest to the popular appeal. Of course, I have no idea if the popular versions of his verses in circulation on the internet are accurate translations. If Rumi is worthy, as some believe, of elevation to literary greatness with the likes of Dante and Shakespeare, then perhaps a definitive English language translation will someday prevail.

With that caveat, here's what I have collected as my favorites verses from Rumi, in no particular order, source and translator unknown:

"The wound is the place where the Light enters you."

"My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that, and I intend to end up there."

"Ignore those that make you fearful and sad, that degrade you back towards disease and death."

"If you are irritated by every rub, how will you be polished?"

"You were born with wings, why prefer to crawl through life?"

"Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment."

"Let yourself be drawn by the stronger pull of what you truly love."

"Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond."

"Start a huge, foolish project, like Noah…it makes absolutely no difference what people think of you."

"Be empty of worrying.

Think of who created thought!

Why do you stay in prison

When the door is so wide open?"

"I have lived on the lip

of insanity, wanting to know reasons,

knocking on a door. It opens.

I've been knocking from the inside."

"Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving. It doesn't matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair. come, even if you have broken your vows a thousand times. Come, yet again , come , come."

"Be like the sun for grace and mercy. Be like the night to cover others' faults. Be like running water for generosity. Be like death for rage and anger. Be like the Earth for modesty. Appear as you are. Be as you appear."

"All people on the planet are children, except for a very few. No one is grown up except those free of desire."

"You wander from room to room

Hunting for the diamond necklace

That is already around your neck!"

"This being human is a guest house. Every morning is a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor...Welcome and entertain them all. Treat each guest honorably. The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond."

"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder. Help someone's soul heal. Walk out

of your house like a shepherd."

"Poems are rough notations for the music we are."

"All day I think about it, then at night I say it.

Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing?

I have no idea.

My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that,

And I intend to end up there.

This drunkenness began in some other tavern.

When I get back around to that place,

I'll be completely sober. Meanwhile,

I'm like a bird from another continent, sitting in this aviary.

The day is coming when I fly off,

But who is it now in my ear who hears my voice?

Who says words with my mouth?

Who looks out with my eyes? What is the soul?

I cannot stop asking.

If I could taste one sip of an answer,

I could break out of this prison for drunks.

I didn't come here of my own accord, and I can't leave that way.

Whoever brought me here will have to take me home.

This poetry. I never know what I'm going to say.

I don't plan it.

When I'm outside the saying of it, I get very quiet and rarely speak at all.

We have a huge barrel of wine, but no cups.

That's fine with us. Every morning

We glow and in the evening we glow again."

"Out beyond ideas of

wrong-doing and right-doing

There is a field,

I'll meet you there

When the soul lies down in that grass

the world is too full to talk about.

Ideas, language, even the phrase,

each other

doesn't make any sense."

"There are thousands of wines

that can take over our minds.

Don't think all ecstasies

are the same!

Jesus was lost in his love for God.

His donkey was drunk with barley."

"Love isn't the work of the tender and the gentle;

Love is the work of wrestlers.

The one who becomes a servant of lovers

is really a fortunate sovereign.

Don't ask anyone about Love; ask Love about Love.

Love is a cloud that scatters pearls."

"Some Hindus have an elephant to show.

No one here has ever seen an elephant.

They bring it at night to a dark room.

One by one, we go in the dark and come out

saying how we experience the animal.

One of us happens to touch the trunk.

A water-pipe kind of creature.

Another, the ear. A strong, always moving

back and forth, fan-animal. Another, the leg.

I find it still, like a column on a temple.

Another touches the curve back.

A leathery throne. Another, the cleverest,

feels the tusk. A rounded sword made of porcelain.

He is proud of his description.

Each of us touches one place

and understands the whole in that way.

The palm and the fingers feeling in the dark

are how the senses explore the reality of the elephant.

If each of us held a candle there,

and if we went in together, we could see it."

"Today I'm out wandering, turning my skull

into a cup for others to drink wine from.

In this town somewhere there sits a calm, intelligent man,

who doesn't know what he's about to do!"

"Love Dogs

One night a man was crying,

Allah! Allah!

His lips grew sweet with the praising,

until a cynic said,

"So! I have heard you

calling out, but have you ever

gotten any response?"

The man had no answer to that.

He quit praying and fell into a confused sleep.

He dreamed he saw Khidr, the guide of souls,

in a thick, green foliage.

"Why did you stop praising?"

"Because I've never heard anything back."

"This longing

you express is the return message."

The grief you cry out from

draws you toward union.

Your pure sadness

that wants help

is the secret cup.

Listen to the moan of a dog for its master.

That whining is the connection.

There are love dogs

no one knows the names of.

Give your life

to be one of them."

"Be quiet now and wait.

It may be that the ocean one,

the one we desire so to move into and become,

desires us out here on land a little longer,

going our sundry roads to the shore."

"What the sayer of praise is really praising is himself,

by saying implicitly,

My eyes are clear.

Likewise, someone who criticizes is criticizing

himself, saying implicitly, 'I can't see very well

with my eyes so inflamed'. "

"Your task is not to look for love, but to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it."

"You think because you understand 'one' you must also understand 'two', because one and one make two. But you must also understand 'and'."

"Work on your strong qualities

and become resplendent like the ruby.

Practice self-denial and accept difficulty.

Always see infinite life in letting the self die.

Your stoniness will decrease; your ruby nature will grow.

The signs of self-existence will leave your body,

and ecstasy will take you over."

"The way of love is not

a subtle argument,

The door there

is devastation.

Birds make great sky-circles

of their freedom.

How do they learn it?

They fall, and falling,

they're given wings."

"Be helpless, dumbfounded,

Unable to say yes or no.

Then a stretcher will come from grace

to gather us up.

We are too dull-eyed to see that beauty.

If we say we can, we’re lying.

If we say No, we don’t see it,

That No will behead us

And shut tight our window onto spirit.

So let us rather not be sure of anything,

Beside ourselves, and only that, so

Miraculous beings come running to help.

Crazed, lying in a zero circle, mute,

We shall be saying finally,

With tremendous eloquence, Lead us.

When we have totally surrendered to that beauty,

We shall be a mighty kindness."

"Although you see the pit, you cannot avoid it."

"Here is a relationship booster

that is guaranteed to

work:

Every time your spouse or lover says something stupid

make your eyes light up as if you

just heard something

brilliant."

"In Silence there is eloquence. Stop weaving and see how the pattern improves."

"The ground's generosity takes in our compost and grows beauty! Try to be more like the ground."

"Give up to grace. The ocean takes care of each wave 'til it gets to shore. You need more help than you know."

"Learn the alchemy true human beings know. The moment you accept what troubles you've been given the door will open."

"Suffering is a gift. In it is hidden mercy."

"Don't try to steer the boat.

Don't open shop for yourself. Listen. Keep silent.

You are not God's mouthpiece. Try to be an ear,

And if you do speak, ask for explanations."

Belly Dance FAIL

At the closing banquet for the trip I took to Turkey with a Yale group this summer, we were treated to an amazing performance by two talented belly dancers. I had a great view being seated at the closest table, and felt no compunctions about showing my enjoyment, making eye contact with the dancers. To my dismay, this encouraged one of them to pull me from my table to join her in the belly dance. I was not quick enough to wave her off and fumbled badly on stage for what seemed like much too long before they found another victim and I slinked back shamefacedly to my seat, no congratulations to follow, needless to say.

Therefore, with the sole purpose of making myself feel better, I offer you the best Youtube has to offer under the search phrase "belly dance fail". I personally do not believe this is fake although some of the viewers leaving comments did. Sadly, I was not even close to being this good or funny.

Bizarro Law

Yesterday's Gulf News reports that a Filipino man named Joseph Aboutan whose wife died in a car accident while he was driving has been held in jail for more than a year because he cannot pay "blood money" to his wife's family and his children. A court ordered the man to pay Dh200,000 ($56,000) to his own children (two boys aged 14 and 13 and a girl aged 11) and to his wife's family. Apparently under UAE law the father will not be released until he pays the blood money. He says he is poor and will not be able to pay the blood money even if he spends all his life in jail. He converted to Islam while in jail, taking Abdullah as his new name, and says what happened to him is his destiny and he is happy for becoming a Muslim.

"Blood money" commonly refers to the money paid by a murderer to the family of his victim. This assumes that a murder has been committed. While the circumstances are not explained, Aboutan was jailed after the accident and later found guilty of causing his wife's death, a case of what we would call manslaughter or vehicular homicide, which does not involve premeditation or intent, a lesser offense than other types of homicide. Apparently the type of homicide makes no difference in the UAE. The National reported in June that that Indian community is raising money to set up a fund to help expatriate Indians who are stuck in jail for failing to pay blood money, usually after traffic accidents.

My husband has warned me that we could be liable for paying blood money if we accidentally kill someone in a car accident. Perhaps it's covered by insurance? At least we can afford it, assuming it's a set sum and not based on wealth of the victim. What makes the Aboutan case so crazy is that it involves his own in-laws and children seeking the payment. I suspect a heartbroken and/or spiteful mother-in-law, who in this case now has custody of the children.

Another equally bizarre case shares space on the same page of yesterday's Gulf News. This report tells of a Pakistani taxi driver accused of beating his passenger to death. The driver picked up an Asian passenger who became unresponsive and could not say where he wanted to go so the driver called paramedics. When paramedics could find nothing wrong with the passenger, the police began to question them for calling an ambulance for no reason. The passenger became very angry and started to beat the driver, who pushed him away. Apparently the passenger was under treatment for his heart, which couldn't take the pressure of the push, and the man went into cardiac arrest and died. Now the driver is being charged with beating his passenger to death. No good deed goes unpunished, goes the saying. Let's hope truth and justice prevail in this one, but I will stay tuned.

Cases like these seem rare, but not unusual, and I applaud the Gulf News for reporting them if only to shed light on what is happening. The system of justice here seems strange to me, but then I didn't grow up with it and haven't studied it. Our system of justice in the USA certainly is not immune to the occasional travesty or miscarriage of justice. At least we don't have debtors' prisons, with never ending jail terms for the poor. Then again, our jails are so full that we have to let hardened criminals go for lack of space. And we have a lot more crime. Surely there's something to be learned from both sides, if we can manage to keep the light on.

Oman: Oh Man!

I got to visit Oman on two different occasions recently, the first time going to Muscat in April as part of a Pittsburgh-based trade delegation representing the Pittsburgh Middle East Institute, and the second time driving to Musandum on Saturday with my husband on a day trip from Dubai. Both times I was impressed by the dramatic scenery and friendliness of the local people, particularly in contrast to Dubai and the UAE.

A short geography lesson may be in order. Oman is a separate country from the United Arab Emirates, and much larger in area, located on the northeast corner of the Arabian peninsula, with the UAE to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest. Unlike Dubai, it has lots of coastland, with the Arabian Sea to the south and east and the Gulf of Oman to the northeast. The part of Oman known as Musandum is a peninsula that points northward to Iran and is separated from the rest of the country by the UAE. Musandum, about 180 kilometers from Dubai, is strategically located on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow shipping channel which leads from the Gulf of Oman into the Persian/Arabian Gulf. The capital of Muscat is on the Gulf of Oman side and a much longer drive/short flight from Dubai. You make a border crossing from the UAE to go into Oman and need to clear customs and obtain a visa, but this is easy and fairly quick assuming you can pay the fees and the line is not too long.

The Sultanate of Oman became a unified nation in 1970 under His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, who is responsible for the modernization of the country and who continues to rule to this day. He is not married and has no children (and is said to be gay!). Several women hold high offices in government, unlike in Dubai. Also, the outside influence seems much more limited in Oman, and the Omani people are much more visible and easy to meet than Emiratis in the UAE. The staff working on the conference for the Pittsburgh trade delegation were Omani men and women, and as a group they impressed us as very hard-working, friendly and gracious.

The people of Oman have had to work harder to get to where they are today because they do not have the abundance of oil enjoyed by Saudi Arabia and the UAE. There is much more of a local lowkey feel to the place, which maintains its cultural traditions while seeming quite tolerant of outside customs. Tourists like us were made to feel welcome, with no concern about how we were dressed. I especially liked the more colorful attire in Oman. The turbans worn by the men were multicolored and unique, and both men and women wore different colors of robes instead of the stark black and white which is the custom in Dubai. To me, Oman looks like an excellent example how an Arab country can enjoy the benefits of outside influence without sacrificing national identity, as Dubai seems at times to have done in its infatuation with extravagance. Ah, the problems that come with having too much money!

The beauty of the surroundings also makes Oman an attractive destination, with coastline punctuated by mountains and interesting rock formations close by. It now seeks to promote sporting events as a spur to tourism, such as the inaugural Tour of Oman, a staged bike race run in February as a precursor to the Tour de France. The air seems brighter and clearer, free of the haze prevalent in the UAE due to endless construction. There is construction going on in Oman as well, but no crazy skyscrapers, rather more low flung buildings. We were told that an entire village had to be moved to make space for one of the new government projects, which I suppose is not too hard to make happen when you're the Sultan.

In Muscat the PMEI trade delegation enjoyed staying in the lap of luxury at the Al Bustan Palace Hotel (pictured), with fabulous pools, gardens, water sports, tennis, restaurants, shopping and conference areas. Many of the guests we met there were European (especially British and German) and had been coming for years. It seemed like a fun place for families since there was plenty to do. It is definitely the conference center of choice, as shortly after our arrival the hotel was also host to the President of Turkey, who met with the Sultan and various government agencies at the hotel. Needless to say, the security was top notch.

Why would Oman be interested in Pittsburgh, you may wonder? Well, the PMEI had sponsored a large trade group from Oman at its last conference in Pittsburgh, and they were returning the favor. Both of us could stand to develop partnerships in areas of mutual interest. At the conference among the topics explored were solar energy, new oil and gas technologies, wireless technologies, and educational programs and exchanges.

One must-see spot in Muscat that we visited was the Mutrah Souk, a veritable maze of shops selling everything imaginable. Whatever you are looking for, you are likely to buy something else first as you get lost in the maze. This is the place to buy frankincense and the ceremonial daggers called khanjars. I liked the men's Omani costume so much that I bought one for my husband, robe, hat, and khanjar included.

The highlight of the visit was dinner at the home of one of the Omani government ministers who spoke at the conference. We got to enjoy a traditional meal with coffee and sweets served afterwards in a special room in the traditional manner. Our group of seven from Pittsburgh was joined by a high-ranking Omani woman who had served as the ambassador from Oman to the USA and her daughter, who was home from studies in London. Our host even served wine at dinner, which impressed us all as extremely gracious and tolerant!

Our trip to Musandum on Saturday gave us more appreciation for Oman's dramatic scenery. We drove north from Dubai, taking us past the neighboring emirates of Sharjah, Arjan, Umm al Quwain, and Ras al Khaimah. Having already visited Fujairah and Abu Dhabi, we can now say we have been to all seven emirates. The new coastline road was blasted out of the mountainside and weaves and winds its way around the coastal area. Evidence of recent rock slides was apparent so we kept our eyes peeled for a wayward boulder. Traffic was light and the area seemed to be sparsely populated as we made our way to Khasab, the capital of the province. The harbor there is where you can hire a boat to explore the winding coastline with the Middle Eastern version of fjords, and remote islands and villages where the inhabitants still speak their own language. It is said to be only 45 kilometers from Iran, with regular and irregular trade of all kinds going back and forth. It's also a fabulous area for scuba diving with many coral reef sites an hour away by boat, but probably out of our league as novices.

We started up the unpaved steep mountain road which would take us to the highest point in the area, but chickened out after about 8 kilometers knowing we had 22 to go. I was glad we did, as the ride down the rocky road was even scarier than going up. Sanity prevailed as we had lunch at the best (and one of the only) hotels in the area, the Golden Tulip. This would be a good jumping off point for a future boat trip. We wandered on the beach for a while and found the shell collecting to be fantastic. As we backtracked to drive home, we saw massive flocks of cormorants flying by, floating in the water, and standing on the beach. Having noticed just one bird on the way out, the difference was stunning.

Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer

I got back to Dubai on July 4 but missed the Independence Day festivities sponsored by the American Business Council, since these were held on Friday, July 2, a weekend day for the UAE, instead of on Sunday which was a work day. I arrived in time for another Muslim holiday, Lailat Al Mi'Raj, celebrating the Prophet's ascension into heaven, the main impact of which seemed to be that no alcohol could be served from Thursday sundown until Friday at 7 p.m. No problem for those making dinner plans so long as they went around 8 p.m.

My husband's law firm moved from its cramped temporary space in the Gate building into terrific new space in Currency House. When we visited on Friday, the workers were scurrying to finish all the last minute installations, and it had the same clean, modern, bright look of K & L's new space in downtown Pittsburgh, with similar furnishings. The lawyers and staff will now have plenty of space with private offices and conference rooms and room to grow, and a convenient location close to the Gate and all the amenities of the DIFC.

I also found myself back in Dubai right in the middle of another shopping festival called Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS), running from June 17 to August 7, much like the very popular winter Dubai Shopping Festival in January and February, only much hotter. Many stores offer 25% or higher discounts on merchandise, and raffles of cars and big-screen TV's take place every week to lure shoppers to make purchases. (Yes, a minimum purchase of AED200, around $55, is required!) The ubiquitous mascot of DSS is a silly looking yellow spring-like character, called Modhesh, which means "surprising" or "amazing" in Arabic. (Image credit: Gulf News archives). Of course, almost all of the events surrounding the festival take place inside in the air-conditioned comfort of various shopping malls. We went shopping for more bedroom furniture for our third bedroom, as it looks like we will be putting up visiting attorneys from other K & L offices, and it was a good time to buy furniture on sale.

It's hot all right, but not too hot for me. Like many people who live here, I don't find temperatures hovering in the 100's to be uncomfortable. A recent survey showed that 45% of the people living here do not consider it too hot until the temperature gets above 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46 degrees Celsius). I am told that there is a law that workers are not allowed to work outside if the thermometer reaches 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit). (Some cynics suspect that the thermometers never get past 49 for that very reason.) I have been checking temperatures n Baghdad where my brother-in-law is working and Istanbul, where I will soon be visiting, and Dubai is right in the middle, with Baghdad much hotter and Istanbul cooler. But as they say, it ain't the heat, it's the humidity that kills you, and I hear that it can get really bad here with windows and doors dripping in sweat just like the people.

My Dubai orientation continues with my first need to seek medical help for unrelenting back/hip pain. Seeking a word-of-mouth referral I was directed by various friends and acquaintances to physiotherapists, herbalists, chiropractors, orthopedic surgeons--plenty to choose from. I also did some internet research and discovered I might need a rheumotologist or physiatrist, doctors who specialize in treating pain and disorders relating to arthritis, which I suspect may be the underlying cause, since I have not suffered any recent injury. I decided to start with an orthopedic doctor to get x-rays and other tests done, hesitating to even say I wanted a surgeon as surgery would be a last resort option in my book right now. We'll see how the insurance and service compares with what I'm used to in the US. I hope I can at least get some temporary relief as I head to Turkey this weekend for a working trip with Yale alumni.

Things seem to be on a slight upswing here, although it also seems pretty deserted if you look outside at the pools and beaches. The big circular project at the entry to the Palm Jumeirah, called the Dubai Pearl, now seems to be rising from its foundations. It should connect with the monorail leading from the base of the Palm to the crescent at the top of the Palm and the Atlantis resort. I assume it will provide a mix of shopping, restaurants and perhaps more hotel or apartments to complement the amenities available on the Palm. The Atlantis seems to be the only hotel open still but others are under construction with a couple of new ones looking close to complete. The big question is how the additional traffic will impact us. I kind of like it the way it is now, not too congested.

In the interesting news department, Hershey World is now open in the Dubai Mall! I will make a point of looking for it next time I am there, as I spent quite a bit of time there during many wrestling tournaments. On the local crime scene, a man was arrested for running to catch the metro. He was later released with no charges filed. I also hear that it's a crime to drive a dirty car in Oman, not sure about the UAE, but that would explain the car wash services everywhere. Finally, the Brit who spent a month in jail and was then deported for kissing women, no his wife, in public, continues to say it was just a friendly peck and he is only sorry to be forced to leave since he likes Dubai and has many friends here. I guess we expats will just need to be a bit more careful as we live our lives in this somewhat confusing, crazy place.

Taking Sports to the Extreme

In a land of extremes, with the biggest, best and richest of everything, I shouldn't be surprised to find a great interest in extreme sports. I never paid much attention to these when I was in the states, viewing them as on the fringe, but you can hardly avoid noticing them here as the big events are heavily promoted and front page news. For a country that does not seem to produce many athletes of local origin, this seems odd, but then maybe the events are more geared to the expat community or to promote tourism.

Abu Dhabi, about an hour down the road from Dubai, seems to be trying to corner the market. In addition to opening a spectacular new Formula 1 Grand Prix track on Yas Island last fall, Abu Dhabi has hosted ultimate competitions in desert racing and air racing. The latest event to make its debut will be the mixed martial arts competition known as the Ultimate Fighting Championship. This event strikes some as particularly inappropriate for a Muslim country that values peace and harmony given the apparent violence of the sport. Sen. John McCain reportedly called mixed martial arts "human cockfighting" but others note that this was before the sport became heavily regulated and that it is no more dangerous or violent than other popular sports like rugby or football.

Talk radio in Dubai has been canvassing local opinion to see what listeners in Dubai think, and of course the reaction was mixed. The ticket prices, ranging from $1,000 to $100, were the biggest surprise for me. I'm not going to be here for the big event, but I have to admit that I'm tempted at the lower end of the price range to attend and see for myself what it's all about. (That's what took me to the Dubai World Cup last month.) The UFC will be held outdoors with grandstands set up in the Yas Island complex built for the Formula 1 race event, and is being billed as a fantastic video and audio spectacle.

Getting to see something new in a nice arena with a big show has been an interesting part of the experience here in the UAE. I can't wait to see what they come up with next! But I draw the line at Mamma Mia on ice, which I saw a sign for today. Now that just seems ridiculous.

The Empty Quarter

We decided to venture out on a road trip to the Empty Quarter (Rub Al Khali) last weekend. This is the largest sand desert on earth, encompassing most of the southern Arabian peninsula, including a large part of the UAE and Saudi Arabia. British explorer Wilfred Thesinger made two famous crossings of the Empty Quarter from 1945-50, probably the first foreigner to do so, with help from local Bedu tribesmen. His journeys were immortalized in his book "Arabian Sands", just released in a new edition in honor of Thesinger's centenary year.

Book in hand, we headed the easy way, by car, to the place where we were staying, the Liwa Hotel, located in the middle of the Liwa oasis, which on the map looks like a green crescent to the north of the desert. From the hotel we got our first views of the endless expanse of massive sand dunes. These were not the white sand dunes of Dubai or the tan sands of Tybee Island off the coast of Georgia where I grew up, or even the dunes pictured in black and white in Thesinger's book. These dunes stretched to the horizon in colors of gold and red, with streaks in shades of salmon, highlighted against the blue sky. The most striking thing, in addition to the colors and vastness of the dunes, was the sand itself, which was blowing around fast and furious and finding its way everywhere. The hotel was evidently fighting a constant battle to keep sand out of the outdoor activity areas, with burlap sacks hung as barriers on the railing along the walkways. I had a hard time keeping it out of my eyes and mouth and found that it could be quite disconcerting.

There is now a modern highway leading from the coastal cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi to the Liwa oasis, connecting the many farms and small towns of the Liwa oasis area. We were expecting something of an off-road adventure to get out in the middle of the dunes. But we were happy to find a new road, well-marked, going to the area we were looking for, called the Moreeb Dune (Tal Marib), famous for its huge, 300 meter tall dunes. There we discovered expansive flat areas nearby, on the sabkhas or salt flats that run between the dunes, set up so it appeared for desert races of all sorts, including off road vehicles, horses, camels and falcons. The area was largely deserted, with just a few tourists like ourselves, perhaps because a large competition called the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge had just concluded the previous day. We did get to watch a few people try to walk up the dune face--a couple actually succeeded--as well as a guy on a dune buggy going up and around and down. It looked like fun, but definitely not something we would try in a Mercury Mountaineer.

We hesitated to go off-road from there, although we saw some other jeeps doing that, since we had no one to help us if we got stuck. It turned out that there were many areas around the salt flats where it was easy to drive around off the main road. It was fun to get away from the road and imagine ourselves alone in the wilderness. We came across some camels on one of these forays, one of which came right up to our car and seemed much less concerned about us than we were about him! Leaving the car and walking out into the dunes and salt flats, we saw that they were much less barren than they appeared, with small green plants and yellow flowers, rabbits, lizards and insects. Unfortunately, there was also quite a bit of refuse, especially close to the road, including plastic bottles that will probably be there forever. We came across what looked like a burlap sack but turned out to be the hide of a dead camel. It was closer to decomposing than the plastic we saw, with its teeth crumbling to the touch of my shoe.

It's possible and easy to camp out in the desert, and we saw a few campers. Without a good tent, I wouldn't want to, what with all the blowing sand. But it is said to be a magical experience under the night sky. We took many pictures but they don't really capture what I saw in the dunes. Not like the cartoonish pictures I've always had in my head of "desert" and "oasis," but something entirely new, vast and awe-inspiring. Maybe a wide angle lens and filters would help, but it's really worth seeing for yourself.

How did all the sand get here? We don't know, but worth investigating. We get the National Geographic at home and will look for their feature in the February 2005 issue, which has some amazing pictures: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0502/feature1/index.html

After spending some time in the dunes, there's really not much else to see or do in the area beyond the hotel. The local gas station seemed to be the only other option for coffee, and a quite nice one at that (the gas stations throughout the UAE are very nice, like they used to be in the USA in the 60's with uniformed attendants waiting on your car). As we headed back to Dubai, we took a detour to visit a new resort that recently opened on the eastern end of the Liwa crescent, called Qasr Al Sarab. We looked into staying there but decided against it based on location (60 kilometers from the Moreeb Dune) and price (three times more than the Liwa Hotel). But having nothing else to do, we drove 10 kilometers off the main road to look around, and found it stunning. The interior was beautifully done and the views were amazing. (Whether they had problems with the blowing sand, I don't know.) We bought a few things in the gift store, this being the only place that we had found to do so, and the sales person told us that the resort cost $800 million to build! Obviously, the government of Abu Dhabi played a big role, given the need for a new 10 kilometer road off the main highway. But it was not even close to being full. (It might have been busier, as was the Liwa Hotel, during the Desert Challenge the previous week.) I imagine that the price of staying there, expensive as it might seem, was being subsidized by the state, so it was probably a bargain. Definitely worth considering if we ever make our way to the Liwa oasis again.

We also stopped at the Emirates National Auto Museum, which was on the way back to Dubai, but it was closed for no apparent reason. It was Easter Sunday, but in the UAE it was a regular workday--perhaps they were still in mourning for the recently deceased Sheikh Ahmed. We got glimpses of a massive globe on wheels and the world's largest wheeled caravan, but missed out on seeing the world's largest truck and the Mercedes in all different colors owned by the so-called Rainbow Sheikh. No match for the colors of the desert, I'm sure.