Ankur and Genny’s Meandering Tour

Who knew they had beauty contests for camels and to top it off could get sold for $2.7million!?!! Of course, I've only seen your everyday 10-riyal-to-ride-the-camel camel and not any prize winning ones. Personally, they look pretty wonky to me: giant lips, messed up teeth and weird shaped heads. We're planning to go see a camel race this weekend though so if I see any million dollar camels I will post the photos.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hG7wiVHHmYeblP9oagy7DUG8Xp4AD8VTUAU01

- Gen

On Friday, a B1 Bomber crashed and burned at the military base in Doha. Craziness.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/7E60053C-EE39-4E26-A244-6446F7076ADB

No injuries or anything, but still interesting.

We usually hear them (fighter jets) once a week or so by my unofficial tally, but this is the first time I've heard of an accident. Although since I don't know where the base actually is, I'm probably not the best source of information.

According to BBC - Zimbabwe's annual inflation is above 100,000% in February.

That's ridiculous. Like seriously.

The same article on BBC states that "In 1980, US$1 bought 80 Zimbabwean cents, in early March that figure is about Z$50m. A loaf of bread cost Z$7m."

On Aljazeera, "One hundred dollars bought nearly 20kg of local currency on Wednesday "

There's an old video on YouTube about how Zimbabweans were struggling in 2006 when the inflation was only 1200%.

I posted some pictures from Zanzibar. Take a look:

http://www.flickr.com/search/?s=int&w=all&q=%22200803xx+-+Zanzibar%22&m=tags

Money is a tricky proposition in Zanzibar. Some places quote prices in USD, others in Tanzanian Shillings, and even some hotels in Euros.

The only places that we found that would accept credit cards were the big hotels and some places in stone town (not all though).

Upon arrival into Tanzania, we switched a lot of our currency into Shillings. But then the first hotel would only accept USD. (No problem they said, go one hour to a local currency exchange, or we can exchange it back to dollars for a horrible rate). We chose the horrible rate.

We actually had some USD, but no place in Zanzibar will accept the USD small head bills (only the newer version of the Dollar). The same hotel had different currency charges for each thing. Their room rates were in dollars and their food/drinks were in Shillings. No idea. hakuna matata, i guess.

There are actually a few ATMs in Zanzibar, but all of them are around Stone Town (none at the airport for instance). But the first day we went to get cash, there was a power outage on the island, so no ATM's worked.

We managed ok in the end, but it was kinda annoying. Apparently their credit cards and ATM machines are new, so hopefully it'll keep getting better.

We had two interesting baggage claim experiences this latest trip.

First - upon arrival into Zanzibar, we kinda just walked through immigration (got the visa in Dar es Salaam). On the other side of the empty booths was this room where they just took the bags off the cart and piled them on the shelves. no revolving escalator things. super high tech.

Second - Doha is a heavy "transit" airport. Most people travel here as a stop over to someplace less hot. Our flight from Dar was packed (every seat). When we arrived into Doha, we had our e-gate cards and used our fingerprints to get through immigration instantly. So we waited for our bag for a minute and out it came. And then the carousel stopped. Apparently, we were the only ones that had Doha as our final destination.

Lovers exchange blows after man breaks wind

http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/08/03/05/10194830.html

"Two lovers are standing trial for having an illicit relationship and exchanging blows after the man broke wind while in bed. "

-Gen

Picture from Mondoagogo on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mondoagogo/

Guess who I saw tonight?!?!? Someone FAMOUS....

Venus Williams!!!!! :)

She's not as huge (muscles wise) as I imagined but she's very tall. And boy does she have a lot of power!!!! She was playing doubles and they won the first set 6-0 in about 15 min! The second set did not go as well but they won the 10 point tie-breaker...just barely! The great thing about the Qatar Tennis Open is the tiny court so you're still close to the court even in the last row. It was great. I can't wait to see her play singles.

I also saw the Isreali player, Shahar Peer, in doubles and Ankur saw the controversial Indian player, Sania Mirza. She was the one who had her bare feet near the Indian flag and caused all kinds of drama. She was also criticized as a Muslim for wearing a tennis skirt (what else is she supposed to wear?). Unfortunatly she had leg cramps and had to forfeit tonight.

The Qatar Tennis Open continues through the weekend. Hopefully we can make it to the finals!!!

-Gen

Not only is the belly growing but the beard as well. Not mine you fools! Ankur is growing a beard until June. Not exactly sure why but I recall Ankur discussing it w/Steve at the bar a month back and the idea stuck. So now we have weekly shots of the belly and beard. Both are doing fine.

The baby has started to move in the last week or two. To me she seems oddly strong for a little 1 lb. 7-9 inch person. She's kicking around now as I'm typing...she knows I'm talking about her! If her kicking feels strong now I can't imagine a couple months from now!

I don't even want to think about what the beard will be like in a couple months either!

-Gen

Compounds have been bugging me for the last few weeks. 

They're the in-city equivalent to US suburbs.  There's recreation, community, shopping, everything (except work) without leaving the compound.  Some (if not most) compounds are bought by large companies and each villa is given to an employee as part of their ex-pat compensation. 

Most compounds are cookie-cutter construction that looks similar to this (you can even see the sprinkler by the sign).  Blah.

But it really isn't the compounds that irritate me - they are nice houses, safe to walk around in, and usually have a nice pool and gym.  It is the people that live in compounds that have no idea abou anything else in the country or region that irritate me. 

I was having lunch at Texas A&M and one of the staffers (not necessarily working in the university) was boisterous and loud and had no idea what the Corniche was (beach lining the city), what there was to do in Doha (or Dubai!), and looked like someone was speaking gibberish when they mentioned Sheesha (hubbly bubbly/hookah). 

Now, if you weren't from this part of the world, this is normal.  But this guy has been here 8 years.  8 years in Doha time is like 50 years in normal city time.  After 8 years, you should be able to say "Qatar" without making it sound like "Que-targh". 

It isn't just some Americans or Brits or Europeans in compounds that have a similar behavioral pattern.  Other ethnic groups in the region tend to flock together and don't have any interest in mingling or learning others' culture.  Some Indians or Filipinos live in a "Mini-India" or "Mini-Phillipines" by speaking only their native tongues and never venturing out of their comfort zones.  Part of this is habit.  People get used to the famililar and will actively need to break out to explore other areas. 

Similar to suburbanites in the US, it isn't an all-encompassing generalization.  There are plenty of people who live in the suburbs, but not in a shell.  There are plenty of Filipinos who have multi-ethnic friends. 

Maybe I've been watching too many Russell Peters youtube videos, "There's not going to be any more white people, there's not going to be any black people.  Everyone's going to be beige."  The whole world is mixing - we might as well be multicultural now.

Maybe it is my expectations in people.  Perhaps I expect ex-pats to be slightly more aware of their surroundings and perhaps see the sights every once in a while.  I perhaps expect ex-pats in an 80% ex-pat country to try and learn new things instead of hiding in a shell. 

Oh well.  I love my hummous.