In my India journal (the Oct 24th entry), I relate the over four hours of chaos it took to procure a boarding pass, since I was denied entry on my first flight due to not carrying my foreign registration paperwork with me (required for all non-tourist long-term foreign residents of India). Once I made the round-trip back to my apartment, sorted out an alternate reservation, and showed the proper documentation at the airport, I finally started heading toward my gate, figuring everything had to be smooth from here, right?

Well, almost. Until the woman at security held my backpack and said, "You have a small knife in here?"

"Wha...? Not that I remember, no."

Sure enough, *under* the pen in the pen holder was squeezed my little Swiss Army Knife that I don't even remember having. Luckily, the other foreigners around me diffused any possible tension, laughing and saying things like, "I've lost so many of those now."

So I did not get scolded or detained or anything but the woman did record the incident in her giant book. So now Delhi International has a record that an I, an American, tried to carry a knife into the Middle East. Awesome. I mean, she actually wrote "knife" as if the little smaller-than-my-pinky-sized knife (that, let me repeat, fit in a pen holder) was equivalent to something actually intimidating or dangerous.

I was surprised how many white people were on the flight. (But I shouldn't have been.) And I took very careful note of how they were dressed as this was something I was especially concerned about. I wanted to dress comfortably, but appropriately. But women on the flight were wearing sleeveless shirts and capris (which I rarely even see in India) so perhaps it was not as big of a deal as I thought?

Drinks before take-off, hot hand towels, and a choice of entrees; I almost forgot what taking a non-budget airline was like.

My first view of the Arabian Peninsula from the plane was startling. It was so very... beige. This place is, like movies and Google Earth suggest, really a giant desert. Barely a hint of green (only the tiniest specks of trees as we descended into Dubai), it is a city on the sand.

I saw a giant spike alone in the distance that looked like something out of science fiction movie. As it was dusk (making for awesome clouds) and hazy, it was hard to be sure, but I think I was looking at the Burj Khalifa. Wow.

All the passport takers I saw were male and were wearing a white robe and a white headdress thing with the black rope crown. Okay, technically these are called a ghitra and iqal according to a handy pamphlet I picked up, but google "ghitra" then google "arab white headdress thing". The latter is what I'm talking about. I'm told that this is kind of equivalent to a business suit, fashionwise.

Once through the Dubai passport control, one notable thing: Yes, you can buy alcohol at the duty free.

I suspect my first impressions would be different had I come directly from the U.S. But, after living in Delhi for 9 months, what I noticed is that everything looked so spread out. Palm trees everywhere! The buildings were all so new and clean. The traffic was relatively quiet (i.e. no honking) and organized (people stayed in their lanes) but they did drive fast, mind you. The lack of vegetation was startling. The little supermarket we stopped at in Al Ain seemed like food heaven. Beef! Avocados! Cheese! Pork, even.

I also was surprised how diverse the consumers (and clerks) in the supermarket were - even outside of Dubai. Indeed, people from all over the world live in this country.

The weekend in this part of the world is Friday and Saturday (instead of Saturday and Sunday) because Friday is a holy day in Islam. Which meant my awesome hosts spent the weekend with me!

Al Ain (which, when said quickly, sounds kind of like "L.A") is a pretty big city, half a million people, and most of them with cars. So how does it come to have so few traffic lights?

The answer: Roundabouts. Triple-lane-deep traffic circles of tension and terror. On the one hand, you can drive through the city, even in heavy traffic, and rarely have to actually stop. On the other hand, holy crap, how do you enter and exit these things without getting in another driver's way? I'm glad I was not doing any driving this trip.

I think we learned too late that asking the locals where the "waterfall" was sounded a lot like just asking where "wadi madbah" was, so we kept getting directed to the mostly dry river gorge without knowing which way to turn after that. (According to my amateur Google Maps interpretation, we went the wrong way from 24.0904 N, 56.1170 E, going downstream instead of up.)

It was so hot and dry out, it was hard to imagine that any water was anywhere along this gorge, though we did spot a pool at one point.

In any case, it was very pretty scenery and worth the trip.

Now was a funny bit. We had to exit through the UAE border, even though we had not officially gone through the Omani border entry yet. Would they let me "back in" to the country even though I had sort of technically never left it?

The answer to that: No. We had to turn the car around, drive past the "Welcome To Oman" signs, past the no-man's-land hotel, past a sign that said "ATM" that pointed to the middle of the desert, and finally to the Omani border so I could get entry visa stamp.

The domed building was spacious and not too crowded. Ten people there, if that, many in the rimless hats with embroidered designs that are a fashion in Oman, I'm told. Despite the few people there, the Spanish couple we were with met another Spanish couple there (what are the chances?!) I filled out the visa form, a local man helping me by reading out the English that was already written on the form. Unecessary, but cute, though I admit, I had never heard of a "Third Name" or a "Fourth Name" before, like they have here. Also, just like India, I had to assert my place in line (sigh.)

About 30 minutes later, we were back at the UAE border and my passport now had new stamps!

We went to the local stadium and watched a soccer match in the world "Under-17" league (which I interpret to mean 16-year-olds with the occasional 15-year-old) between Mexico and Sweden. What a great opportunity that must be for the kids! The game was fun and had a fair audience, a very large portion of them Pakistani and Indian migrant workers. Luckily, we were seated in the "family" section as said workers were all men. In any case, it was interesting to see all the different people and clothing styles. Everything from typical western wear to the full-on eyes-only burqa.

Speaking of football, I was reading the local magazine and learned to my utter shock that there is an Al Ain football team. No, not soccer. Football. American football! The Al Ain Desert Foxes.

After the game, we drove to our previously-planned dinner: Moroccan buffet! Yummy! I went a little crazy in the cheese plate area - cheddar, swiss, and bleu cheese! Not much of that in India - and enjoyed a fresh salad. By overwhelming coincidence, the hotel with the buffet was same place the Spanish couple we met at the Oman border were staying. We ran into them at dinner.

On Saturday, we stopped at the local mall for an early lunch before touring the city. I'm convinced malls are pretty similar no matter what country you are in. Shiny, air-conditioned, and expensive. Though these malls seem to prefer escalator ramps over stairs, which makes sense with all the flowing-clothes styles.

I was tempted to buy myself an abaya (one of the all-black outfits) from one of the many shops, but was too chicken. It took me about six months to work up the nerve to buy a sari so no surprise there. Though if I went full-on with the headscarf, I'd be able to blend in which I admit is an appealing prospect.

At any rate, I enjoyed the diversity at the mall, though this is still very much an Arabic country. Check out the restroom signs. We also came across about the cutest dad-and-matching-kids ever.

I also enjoyed my first burger in almost 10 months at this chain:

One of the highest mountains in UAE is Jebel Hafeet. It arises suddenly, almost Ayers-rock style, from the sand flats outside Al Ain. (Though around the mountain is some of the only green you will see in the area.)

You can drive to the top on a well-maintained curvy road that apparently has some fame. A sign at the top insists it is "one of the top 10 mountain roads in the world" though we are skeptical of where such a survey was conducted. The wiki article, though, credits it with some fame among bicyclists and Bollywood.

Not far from the foot of the mountain was a little village-style resort. Here, we saw some evidence of greenery (!) and water (!) but even so, this sign was a bit too much to believe.

Trying to imagine water here. Trying hard. Built in early 1955, this is touted as the "oldest water installation in Abu Dhabi recent history". I'm kind of wondering if this is the only water installation built here in all of history. (Note that Al Ain is in the Abu Dhabi Emirate, like a state; we're not in the city of Abu Dhabi.) This dam is sufficiently obscure as to have no wiki entry at the moment.

After we shook our heads, we headed back to the center of Al Ain where the fort is. The most interesting thing about this fort was the built-in air conditioning using a clever system with water in the walls. Indeed, the walls were cool to the touch with not an air conditioner box in sight.

The main exhibition in the fort was quite good. It was about a British man named Wilfred Thesiger, also known as Mubarak bin London, who spent much of his life in the Middle East and Africa. In the late 1940s, he explored "The Empty Quarter" of the Arabian peninsula (southwest of UAE), riding on the dunes on camels with Bedouin locals, adapting to their way of life. The fort displayed some of his amazing photos of that journey. He only died in 2003, so they had a video interview of him as well. Fascinating story.

After our tour, we used the cleanest restrooms ever and then got to sit on couches and be served traditional tea and fresh dates! Very pleasant. We were, again, one of the few people there. (Or perhaps I am just used to the crowds of Delhi.)

Like another Muslim home I have visited, the main area is open, large, and has almost no furniture. Despite that, it is quite comfortable.

I like the paintings in his rooms because the subjects are often smiling. I'm guessing this is either because the people around here are quite friendly (true) or simply that these paintings were done in the age of photography. If he had to sit for the portraits, the smile would be difficult to maintain.

Falconry is a big deal in this area, hence the bird of prey hanging out with the Sheikh in the above painting.

The sign below I saw minutes after I was commenting that I wished signs with rules explained the reasoning behind the rule. I don't mind following an arbitrary rule all that much, but I do prefer to know why.

We stopped at the supermarket at buy munchies for the big soccer game this evening.

Did I say "supermarket"? No, this place is beyond that. Way beyond that. The below sign is not a hyperbole. This is without question the most amazing food shopping destination I have ever seen.

Not only is it the size of a warehouse (perhaps larger than Costco), it is full of every food you can possibly think of. For a country that supports so very many cultures, it also supports all the various culinary traditions. Chinese, Indian, British, Lebanese, Italian, French, you name it. Fresh food. Exotic veggies. Whatever you can think of from naan to fried chicken to noodles. You can get it here.

I also learned a trick about shopping. Because Friday is a holy day in the Islam tradition, going to the supermarket at midday Friday is kind of like going on Sunday afternoon, i.e. during football games back home. Less people on the roads and in the store.

And this is top secret, but we also stopped at a (shhhhh) liquor store. Although residents here, non-Muslims only, can apply for a license to buy the booze, the sales are often done on the down low. No wine posters or neon beer signs. Or even any sign, actually. Even on the front door. You just have to know it's there...

They did have boxed wine. They did not have girly drinks like Mike's Hard, though. If you find your way in here, you are not buying the weak stuff.

This game was apparently one of the most watched sporting events in the world. We watched it streaming in Spanish (with the same Spanish neighbors) while we ate chips, salsa, chicken, hummus, and my first avocado in nine months.

Best Avocado Ever.

And the game was good, too. I had never actually watched a professional soccer game before. (I enjoyed it quite a bit, but I feel sympathy for the pressure the goalies are under... I've been a losing soccer goalie before.) I had 2 glasses of wine. Barcelona won, 2 to 1.

Over the last year, I've had the opportunity to visit many towns with a Muslim population. In these towns, you can almost always hear the six-times-daily call to prayer from the local mosque.

I recorded about 30 seconds of one such call nearby where I was staying. I think it is quite beautiful.

My hosts kindly called upon their regular taxi and reserved him for the whole day tomorrow. Instead of a bus, I get my own personal car. Whoo! I'm off to Abu Dhabi for the day!