Despite mydoubtswhether Beijing would pull off a successful Olympics and the controversy over free press, human rights, the Opening Ceremony, and other issues, in my opinion, China hosted an amazing Olympics. The skies were blue, there were large tracks of greenery, the Olympic Green was very attractive, traffic was not a problem, the volunteers were helpful and spoke English, security was present (most of the time, until you hear my friend’s story) but not imposing, the city was clean (almost sterile), the new subway is sleek and modern, and people were friendly and helpful. Everything was very well done, with a few exceptions. Visitors who didn’t speak Chinese were still at a loss when trying to communicate with taxi drivers and average folk. The buses shuttling spectators between venues were overcrowded and no one knew how else to get between venues. But my biggest complaint is the re-sale ticket market. There were a few scalped tickets available but nothing to justify the many half (or more) empty events. Where were all the other tickets? Where were the tickets to the Water Cube? Nonetheless, those who know Beijing, I believe, were all similarly impressed with how well Beijing pulled off the Olympics.
Unfortunately, those changes were not lasting. Despite the fact that the Paralympics are currently going on, the skies have already greyed over, the pollution has returned, and the streets are jammed again. Some of the changes will remain, though: the renovated airport (now one of the largest in the world), the modern, extensive subway lines, the unique venues of the Water Cube and the Bird’s Nest, and Beijingers pride in having hosted such an unrivaled Olympic games.
If you’re curious for more insight into China and reading the blogs of China-based expats isn’t enough for you, also check out NBC’s lessons in Chinese Culture 101. I can’t say I wholly agree with the portrayal, as many are far from complete and give only positive snippets of Chinese culture, but what makes them interesting is NBC’s take on Chinese culture.
I expect that with the upcoming election, China’s continued phenomenal growth, the 2010 Shanghai Expo, the 2010 Guangzhou Pan Asia games, and everything else, we’ll continue to hear a lot about and from China.
As of this morning, my plane tickets to Beijing are bought and in hand! I have a place to stay and the promise of Olympics Games’ tickets. Beijing Olympics, here I come!!!
I’ll be in Beijing from the evening of August 14th to the morning of August 19th if anyone wants to meet up. Yay!!!!
As of yesterday all the food & drink vendors and retail outlets in and around Shanghai’s subway stations have cleared out their inventory and closed. No more grabbing breakfast in the subway station for me. They’ve even put tape over the doors to make sure no one sneaks anything inside. Some larger, more established outlets are still running, such as McDonald’s.
How do they decide who stays and who gets closed down?
Do they compensate the stores that are forced to close?
I have a theory about why Americans downplay their culture of hugging when living as expats in China.
In the US, it is customary for female friends who are close or who haven’t seen each other for a long time to hug as greeting or farewell; the same is true between a male and a female friend. (Male friends shake hands.) Friends who are not close, will usually wave or say hi; in more formal situations they may just shake hands.
In the 2 years I’ve been in China, I’ve noticed that American expats whether in Beijing, Shanghai, or elsewhere have completely abandoned this cultural norm.
Americans have adopted the practice of kiss-kiss, or kissing the air while touching first the right cheek then the left cheek. Two girls, and a girl and a guy will do it. (Two males continue to shake hands.) They don’t even need to be close friends, mere friends or familiar acquaintances are given over to the kiss-kiss greeting.
This kiss-kiss greeting is common in Latin American culture and European culture. Notably, French and Italians do 2 kisses, while Argentines and Dutch do 3.
I, as an American expat in Shanghai, have become accustomed to doing the kiss-kiss greeting and farewell to such an extent that when Americans who are in town visiting hug me I am shocked and feel somewhat uncomfortable.
Anyway, on to my theory… My theory is that, largely due to the current administration, because Americans are so hated abroad, we try to diminish our American-ness by adopting other cultural styles. We try to make ourselves seem less American by acting like Europeans or Latin Americans. We attempt to show that we are citizens of the world and embrace other cultures by adopting them as our own, rather than beating them down, much as has been done in Afghanistan or Iraq. Obviously, this more of a necessity and common practice in expat life since daily we seek to be accepted by associates and friends from around the world who are frequently not fond of America. As expats, we are attempting to minimize our American-ness in the presence of a global community and seek acceptance among our kiss-kiss-accustomed peers.
I’m curious to know, if this is just a phenomenon of expats in China, or if this happens among American expats elsewhere in the world. Comments on the expat experience elsewhere and agreements (or not) with my theory are welcome.
As far as whether I like the practice, in some ways I do, as it feels refreshing and somewhat less awkward than the standard American hug. However, sometimes I do miss the benefits and closeness of a hug.
I made another video for my job, this time showcasing Spanish language faux pas. Yes, it’s a script and yes, it’s meant to be a joke. The explanation is below.
Girl: Oh, you want me to say it in Spanish. Alright. Bueno. Creo que soy bastante fluida.
ENGLISH: Good. I believe I’m quite fluid.
Error: fluida = fluid, not fluent.
Correction: Fluidez is the correct way to say fluent, not fluida.
Girl: Es porque empecé a estudiar cuando estaba en la escuela, cuando era niño.
ENGLISH: This is because I started studying when I was in school, when I was a boy.
Error: niño = boy, not child
Correction: Joven is the correct way to say young, not niño.
Girl: También tuve muchas oportunidades de práctica con mi vecino en mi cama.
ENGLISH: Also, I had many opportunities to practice with my neighbor in my bed.
Error: cama = bed, not house
Correction: Casa is the correct way to say house, not cama.
Girl: Sé que aún tengo muchos errores. Pero de eso se trata el aprendizaje de un idioma. Práctica, práctica, práctica.
ENGLISH: I know I still have many errors but that’s how it is learning a language. Practice, practice, practice.
Girl: Trato de usar mi Español en todas partes, como cuando estoy ordenando comida mexicana .
ENGLISH: I try to use my Spanish all the time, for example, when ordering Mexican food.
Girl: Me gusta chiquita pechos, chiquita fajitos, con un poco de sabrosos huevos. Mmmm . . .
ENGLISH: I like little (human) breasts, little fajitos, with a small side of flavorful eggs.
Error: Pechos = human breasts, not chicken breasts.
Error: What she refers to as fajitos should be fajitas, a typical Mexican dish of grilled meat served on a tortilla.
Error: Sabrosos huevos can be construed as testicles.
Correction: Pechuga de pollo is the correct way to say chicken breast.
Title: italki.com. Aprenda un idioma extranjero
ENGLISH: Learn a foreign language
Girl: ¡Oh! ¿De verdad? Estoy tan embarazada!
ENGLISH: For real? I’m so pregnant.
Error: embarazada = pregnant, not embarrassed
Correction: Avergonzada is the correct way to say embarrassed, not embarazada. (List of false Spanish cognates.)
As if this could get any more absurd, today I was I was verbally attacked (albeit on the internet) by a Chinese person who was upset that I wasn’t equally outraged at CNN’s coverage of the T_bet situation. He claimed CNN’s coverage was damaging to China’s reputation and full of complete lies.
My response:
1) I haven’t seen any of CNN’s coverage therefore I can’t agree or disagree;
2) I’m not in T_bet, nor have I been following the historical-political situation; therefore, I am in no position to say what is truly happening or who is in the right;
3) I am not the outlet to which you should be expressing your grievances because
a) I already live in China, not in the US,
b) I do not control CNN, and
c) I don’t even own stock in CNN.
4) Perhaps you should be a little more open-minded about the whole situation and try to see both perspectives.
5) Did you ever consider maybe it’s the Chinese media that is telling the lies?
6) Since when did China have a good reputation to begin with in the English-language press?
Perhaps what’s more embarrassing and damaging to China’s reputation is that Chinese people are searching for fellow countrymen’s pictures and information on the internet to hunt them down and throw rocks at their house all in the name of nationalism. (I sure the West can still remember what happened last time a population had feelings of such extreme nationalism (think WWII).)
Maybe the reason the Chinese government maintains the Great Firewall of China and heavily censors the media is not for self-preservation, but to protect foreigners (expats) from the violence and anger that ensues when Chinese citizens don’t like what foreign governments or news media say and do. (That was a joke, by the way.)
P.S. If this doesn’t get my blog blocked in China, I don’t know what will.
In the past 3months, I have eaten more bread than I have in years. I started out in Chile and Argentina, 2countries that eat a lot of bread, meat, and cheese. Then I went on to Egypt and Jordan both of which eat a lot pita bread with cheese. Then on to East Africa where the staple breakfast is toast with either jam or egg on it. Living in rice-eating China, I’d forgotten that bread is the world’s staple. The majority of the world, aside from East and South Asia eat bread. I think I’m ready to go back to eating rice.
There should be direct flights between Asia and South America. With the increasing amount of cross-continent travel (I met a number of Chinese in Argentina and many South Americans live in China) and the large trade volume between the 2 continents (notably Brazil and Japan), I believe a direct flight is necessary. Perhaps Air China, JAL, Cathay Pacific, or LAN Chile should think about offering that service. Here are some examples of current inconvenient routings: Shanghai-Beijing-Los Angeles-Santiago, Chile; Beijing-Amsterdam-some random islands-Guayquil-Quito, Ecuador; Hong Kong-Kuala Lampur-Cape Town-Buenos Aires-Ushuaia, Argentina.
Having now traveled to all 7continents, I can say Europe and South America are my favorite. (This probably leads you to the question of why do I live in China? and leads me to the goal of living Buenos Aires after I’ve accomplished all I intend to in China.) I love Europe for its history, architecture, and progressive, forward-looking ideas. I love South America for its contemporary culture, particularly its music and dance, and the color and vibrancy of the culture as well as the people’s relaxed nature. South America’s natural scenery from high, snow-covered mountains to sun-baked beaches is also amazing. The United States, Mexico, and Asia, in my opinion, have the best food. Asia also has an unrivaled entrepreneurial spirit, which at times I love and other times I hate, but is certainly to be admired.
I’m very proud to have accomplished my goal of traveling to all 7continets, even a year earlier than my deadline! 90 days, 29 blog entries, and 18 flights later I’ve returned to where I started from, Shanghai. Concluding a major trip like this can be challenging but trying to sum it up is proving to be even more difficult. I saw some amazing places, met some great people, found some countries that I might like to live in and some that I wouldn’t dare live in, and learned some things that can only be understood through traveling. While I won’t be going traveling again for a long time, I’ll always be a traveler, whether that’s through my memories and photographs, through other people’s stories and photos, or far into the future when the opportunity is right again. I hope you have enjoyed the stories and pictures from my travels over the past months and I welcome you to continue reading my blog as I transition back into blogging about China, as well as tourism and business within this most populous nation on earth.
P.S. Before I leave the topic of traveling, let me again post my alphabetical list of countries visited (original post 10-23-2006) to see how I’m doing now.
A: Austria (Republic of Austria), Argentina (Argentine Republic) B: Brazil (Federative Republic of Brazil), Bahamas (Commonwealth of The Bahamas) C: China (PRC), Czech Republic, Canada, Croatia (Republic of Croatia), Chile (Republic of Chile), Cambodia (Kingdom of Cambodia), Columbia (Republic of Colombia), Costa Rica (Republic of Costa Rica) D: Denmark (Kingdom of Denmark) E: Estonia (Republic of Estonia), Egypt (Arab Republic of Egypt) F: France (French Republic), Finland (Republic of Finland) G: Greece (Hellenic Republic), Guatemala (Republic of Guatemala), Germany (Federal Republic of Germany) H: Hungary (Republic of Hungary), Hong Kong (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the PRC) I: Italy (Italian Republic) J: Jamaica, Jordan (Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan) K: Kenya (Republic of Kenya) L: Laos (Lao People’s Democratic Republic) M: Mexico (United Mexican States), Malaysia, Monaco (Principality of Monaco), Macau (Macao Special Administrative Region of the PRC) N: New Zealand, Norway (Kingdom of Norway) O: P: Portugal (Portuguese Republic), Poland (Republic of Poland), Panama (Republic of Panama) Q: Qatar (State of Qatar) R: Russia (Russian Federation) S: Singapore (Republic of Singapore), Spain (Kingdom of Spain), Slovakia (Slovak Republic), Sweden (Kingdom of Sweden) T: Taiwan (Republic of China), Thailand (Kingdom of Thailand), Turkey (Republic of Turkey), Tanzania (United Republic of Tanzania) U: United States (USA), United Kingdom (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) V: Vatican City (State of the Vatican City) W: X: Y: Z:
Guess I need another trip through the Middle East and Africa to finish off O (Oman), W (Western Sahara), Y (Yemen), & Z (Zaire or Zimbabwe). That will just have to wait…
Nairobi, Kenya
Getting off the plane in Nairobi (yes, I know, I’ll get to Tanzania in a bit) we were greeted with just perfect weather–Egypt and Jordan were too cold, Zanzibar was just a little too hot and humid, but the temperature in Nairobi was perfect. We had a very pleasant flight experience with Kenya Airways and most likely due to the turbulent situation in Kenya the flight had many extra seats so we got plenty of room. The Kenya visa process was also very quick and painless and a lot cheaper than Tanzania’s, only $50 this time. A bit nervous about being in Kenya, we opted for a taxi hired within the airport to take us to our hotel, Kivi Milimani, for 1200Kenya Shillings, about $18.
The hotel had beautiful grounds and a swimming pool. Each room had a private balcony. Despite all the worry about being in Kenya, I went out for a wander and to buy some water. In Nairobi I found nothing to indicate there was so much violence going on in other parts of the country. The Kenyans I met were mostly all very genuine and helpful. Except for the violence that’s shattered the country and the reputation Nairobi has for theft (”Nairobbery”), Nairobi seems like it would be a very nice city–it has a lot of potential.
Intrepid’s Overland trip Serengeti Trail into Tanzania
That night we met our guide and group to start our 8day/7night safari into Tanzania. The following morning we left bright and early, like we’d do every day of this trip. Our transport for the next week would be a large custom designed Bedford truck that would carry essentially everything we needed for a week: food, cooking equipment, tents, sleeping bag, etc. First thing in the morning, our guide taught us how to store everything in our personal lockers by first unpacking everything from our bags and then laying it flat in the space. All 19passengers plus guide, cook, and driver and everyone’s stuff had to be stored away and carted around in this truck for the whole week. While it wasn’t uncomfortable, I’d say this big of vehicle is less than ideal for a safari. We were sure bounced and shaken and covered in dust/dirt all across Tanzania. With the rerouting of the itinerary due to the situation in Kenya our 8day/7night safari was really more like 3days of safari and 4days of a lot of driving to and from the Serengeti.
Serengeti, Oldupai Gorge, and Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania
Driving into the Serengeti the first day we saw countless grazing animals in the pastures on either side of the road: zebra, giraffes, gazelles, impalas. It was a great start! That afternoon we went to the Oldupai gorge, one of sites of ancient man in the Great Rift Valley. We learned about different species of humans that had passed through the area millions of years ago and the particularly noted discovery of human footprints that had been preserved for over 3million years in volcanic ash (think Pompeii). It was very neat to be in the place where humans might have developed from their ape-like ancestors. I’ve always found this topic very intriguing, particularly as a result of reading the Earth’s Children’s Series.
During the 2 or 3days in the Serengeti we saw Vervet Monkeys, baboons, African Elephants (as opposed to Indian Elephants), rock hyrax, zebra, warthogs (think Pumba from The Lion King), hippos, ostrich, giraffes, impalas, Thompson and Grand Gazelles, lots and lots of wildebeest–the supposed backbone of the Serengeti, hartebeest, topi, waterbuck, African Buffalo, mongoose (think Timon from The Lion King), Spotted Hyenas, jackals, cheetahs, and of course, lions.
As if this wasn’t enough, after the Serengeti we descended down into the Ngorongoro Crater, a sunken caldera (my third of the trip), where we saw almost all of these animals again, though in much greater numbers and closer. Highlights of the Crater were seeing our 4th of the Big 5–black rhino, 3 adult and 1 baby rhino; and pink flamingos! The Ngorongoro Crater has to be one of the most spectacular places on land for sheer density and variety of large wildlife.
As part of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, the Masaai tribespeople are allowed to live and heard their animals within the conservation area. We had the opportunity to visit one of their villages.
An unexpected delight of the safari part of the trip was the bird3-life which was very diverse in size, ranging from sparrows to ostrich, and very colorful including bright yellow and shiny turquoise. I had not expected such amazing birds in addition to all the large animals. The Serengeti is very mesmerizing and anyone could stare out at it for hours trying not to let their eyes trick them into seeing animals that are really only bushes. While I went to Tanzania with this picture in my head of very dry empty plains with one tree just off to the side and clear skies at sunset, that was not our experience. There were a lot of trees, even at times thick high brush, and lots of clouds and rain. It rained both nights we camped at Seronera (an area within the Serengeti) and even rained on one day. Apparently we were there at the start of the rainy season.
Tanzania Observations
Tanzanians are incredibly polite and friendly. Everyone greets you with a cheery ‘jambo’ or ‘hello.’ Greetings are very important in Tanzania, particularly Zanzibar. That’s one of my favorite things about Tanzania–that everyone shows so much courtesy and greets you. They also say ‘karibu,’ welcome, a lot and they truly mean it. Tanzanians are very open and welcoming.
Primary school in Tanzania is taught in Swahili but secondary and college-level education is conducted in English. Students in secondary school who are caught speaking Swahili outside of Swahili class are punished. Many people speak English in the country, though the actual level of spoken English varies greatly; still, I have to give credit to the education system. In fact, I was a bit surprised that the woman next to me on the 9hour bus ride who was buying 3 whole pineapples through the window and throwing her trash out the window spoke such good English. TIA!!! (This is Africa)
Tanzania was a lot more developed, though not in an industrial sense, more in an infrastructure sense, than I expected. It was not nearly as poor as I expected either. People seemed to be doing alright. Everyone, including many of the Masaai people, had cell phones.
What surprised me even more was how expensive Tanzania is! A night at a Serengeti lodge is $225/person full board. Its difficult to have meal in any restaurant for less than $5. Mangoes cost the same in Tanzania where they’re grown as they do in the US, $0.50/mango. There a 20%VAT at most places thereby increasing the cost. Tanzania basically throws all ideas of a cheap Africa out of the window.
Tanzania seems to buy everything from Asia. But not in the same sense that Asia is the world’s manufacturer for products shipped to the US. Tanzania seems to buy things meant for the Asian market. Everything from cars to boats to rice cookers had Chinese or Japanese writing on it. The ketchup was made in Malaysia. Tanzania seems to buy all of its cars, minibuses, and ferry boats used from Japan or Hong Kong as all have those countries characters on them.
Tanzania’s Influences
Everyone seems to have their hand in Africa. Everyone wants to ’save Africa.’ This is no less true in Tanzania. From the Dutch started health center in Mto Wa Mbu to the Lutheran Church doing developmental and social projects to the British Council with its Team Dreams to the Indians running all the hotels to the Chinese and their infrastructure building. I first noticed the influence of the Chinese and Indian from the Chinese Inns and Chinese and Indian restaurants scattered about. As I started exploring more, I found the others. And this is all just in northern and coastal Tanzania. (Seven to 10% of the country’s population is Lutheran.)
I wonder if all these varying influences are actually doing any good. Is Tanzania’s rather decent economic situation (by African standards) a result of, or in spite of, all of these groups having their hand in Tanzania? Are all these parties pulling Tanzania (and Africa) in different directions, leaving the country (and the Continent) without a cohesive plan for development? Or are these groups helping the people of Tanzania bring themselves out of poverty and raise their standard of living? Its hard to say, but Tanzania seems to be doing better than other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Treatment of Women
Most of us have some idea though not a good understanding of the poor treatment of Muslim women in Muslim countries. That is a lengthy and complex topic and I could write about some of the rumors I’ve heard, but lacking concrete evidence I will not venture there. Instead, I will use our stories to discuss the treatment of western woman in Muslim countries and from there you can imagine how it much be for other women. One of the girls on the trip was walking with her brother in Aswan, though he easily could have been her boyfriend. An Egyptian guy came up behind her and grabbed her butt. She turned around freaking out at him. The brother told the guy to go away but the guy continued to badger her and follow them. Eventually the brother had to aggressively push the guy in order to get him to leave the sister alone.
I was in a bread shop in Jordan and these young, perhaps 10-year old boys walked by me and said hello, so I responded hello. Then one of them made a kissing noise at me. I was thinking ‘how old are you!?! you insolent little rat.’ Throughout Egypt, Jordan, and Qatar, whenever Andrew and I would approach a male (usually in a service role), the man would almost totally ignore me and direct all conversation to Andrew. This was rather shocking for me since I’m older and more well-traveled and therefore have always been relied on to deal with things. More than 1time the man would address a question regarding me to Andrew and expect Andrew to repeat it to me before I’d tell the answer to Andrew who’d then repeat it to the guy. It was as if I was deaf or dumb or speaking a completely different language. And perhaps what freaked me out even more was, Andrew went along with it! until I cut in and answered for myself. How demeaning. I understood the situation as a cultural act and was willing to tolerate in short bouts for the limited time I was these Muslim countries but I could not stand it long term.
Traffic Lights
Egypt and Jordan have almost no stoplights. There are a few stoplights in Egypt, however these are mostly ignored. Drivers only really wait at intersections if a policeman is directing them. Otherwise round-a-bouts are the main means of managing traffic. Jordan is largely the same way. Its really quite amazing that a city as large a Cairo can function with out traffic lights.
Retail
From Egypt to Jordan and into East Africa, the retail sector is very underdeveloped. This was a bit bothersome as I wanted to buy fruit, snacks, water, packets of tissue, and maybe laundry detergent. Finding all of these in 1 place in Egypt was nearly impossible as almost no shop sold fruit; in fact, we saw very little fruit throughout the country at all. The shops were all tiny with maybe 1 refrigerated case for Coca-Cola; even Cairo didn’t seem to have any large shops. In Jordan the situation improved with larger, better-stocked stores.
East Africa’s, specifically Tanzania’s retail sector was much more developed than either Egypt’s or Jordan’s. Even fairly small towns had decent sized stores, as well as local markets, that may have multiple refrigerated cases for drinks, frozen meat and/or ice cream.
Living in Harmony
Egypt while being predominantly Muslim has a large Coptic Christian population. Jordan bills itself as center of the world’s 3 major religions. Churches containing ancient biblical mosaics stand beside Mosques in Madaba (Jordan). Tanzania is 40% Muslim, 40% Christian, and 20% tribal religions and other. All of these countries, particularly Tanzania have maintained peace and stability despite difference of religion and in case of Tanzania, tribes. (Tanzanians are very proud of the fact that all their tribes can live together peacefully, particularly in the wake of the Kenya violence.) Each should be held as a showcase of how people can and do get along if they just respect each other.
Hotel Voucher
My flight schedule on Qatar Airways had me flying from Amman, Jordan to Doha, Qatar (Qatar Airways’ hub), a layover there for 13hours, and then on to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Having read online other people’s uncertainty as to their long layovers in Qatar, I called the Qatar Airways office in the US and asked them what to do with my layover. They told me with my fare, I’d have to pay $100 for a hotel room. Granted, that’s cheaper than most hotels in Qatar but still more than I wanted to pay for just over 8hours in a hotel.
So we thought we’d check Andrew’s fare. He spent 20-30min on hold with the Qatar Airways office in the US (as did I but I had the patience to wait ‘to speak with a representative’) before giving up and deciding to ask in Cairo. The Cairo office told him he was entitled to a free hotel room but that when he got to Amman he needed to pick up a voucher. From Jordan, he called the Amman office to ask about said voucher and they said, what are you talking about? Their English was a bit limited, but finally they told him, just wait till you get to Doha airport, they will take care of you there.
When we checked-in in Amman, we asked for our bags to be checked to Doha, so that we could pick them up and take them to the hotel with us. Initially the guy forgot to do that, so he checked us all the way to Dar Es Salaam and then had to go back and reverse that to gives us boarding passes and luggage just for Doha. Somehow this created a problem. When we arrived in Doha airport and Andrew asked for his hotel room, the clerk seemed very annoyed. He kept asking us, ‘where is your boarding pass to Dar?’ Well, we don’t have it, we only got checked through to Doha. The clerk did not like this and it seemed to cause him a lot of extra work. Nonetheless, he managed to sort Andrew’s hotel room. But even more amazingly, I, yes that’s right on my ‘youth fare,’ I was entitled to a hotel room for free as well as transfers and meals!! So much for the accuracy of the information provided by the Qatar Airways office in the US.
For people wondering about your own stopovers in Doha with Qatar Airways, normally layovers of more than 7hours are entitled to hotel vouchers provided by the airline. If you’re really nervous about it, call the local office and ask whether your fare is entitled to a free hotel room, but take whatever answer you are given with a grain of salt, as I was provided incorrect information. If for some reason you’re not entitled, or your layover is less than 7 hours, another option is the Qatar Airways Orxy Lounge, which must be booked in advance and carries an associated usage fee.
At the Airport, Amman
It seems Qatar Airways has changed terminals at Amman airport; my confirmation told me Terminal N, the international terminal, however Qatar now goes out of Terminal 1. When we walked in Terminal 1 of Amman airport, we were immediately security screened for the 2nd time already (the first time being on the approach, when they checked our car). Then looking for the check-in desk, all I saw was a mass group of people and no signs indicating where Qatar Airways was, making me wonder if it was back in the other terminal. No, the sign was just too small for me to see and that mass of people were all waiting to check-in for Qatar Airways. There was no semblance of order or indication of lines. About three different lines were all heading toward the same counter. It was wholly inefficient. Eventually we got to the check-in desk, where the guy screwed up our check-in.
Then we had to go through another security check, the 3rd and final one. Both the 2nd and 3rd times, I tried to walk through like normal; however, I was waved off to ‘ladies inspection.’ Discrimination!, I thought. No, just respecting the privacy of women in Islamic countries. Well, the reason for this separation is because they have the walk-through metal detectors which are set to beep regardless of whether you’re carrying metal, therefore everyone has to be patted down. And of course, women pat down women and men men. This seems rather ineffective and inefficient. I believe it’d work much better to just use the metal detectors as they’re intended. Ah well…it makes for a good story, I guess.
On the plane from Amman to Doha
On the flight from Amman to Doha, Andrew and I constituted 2-3rds of the white people and I was definitely the only white female. Besides us, the flight was about 20% Indian (and or Pakistani or Sri Lankan) and the rest was roughly evenly split between Arabs and Chinese (which explains the chaos at check-in). There seemed to be a big group of (predominantly) female Chinese tourists traveling together, while the Chinese men on the flight, I guessed to be laborers in Jordan returning home for Chinese New Year. This was an interesting speculation for me as I’d heard of Chinese workers in Africa and also the Gulf States importing a lot of Asian workers but I didn’t know Jordan did.
As the flight became full, only the row of seats in front of us was left empty. Then a half dozen Arab men, tall, robed, turban-topped, and bearded, came and sat down in front of us. They looked like they could have been the leaders of the Mujahadeen. Andrew and I looked at each other both thinking whaaaat?!? About half way through the flight a couple of the men stand up, figure out which way Mecca is as we’re probably flying directly over it and start chanting their prayers. All of the men take turns standing and kneeling to do their prayers. I’m thinking: does this often happen on these flights? and what are the Chinese people thinking of this?
As if this wasn’t enough for one flight, there was more excitement to come. The time after the captain announces we’re on our initial descent into whereever and after the flight attendants have finished everything and sat down but before we’ve actually landed, is supposed to be quiet time when you remain in your seat. However an impatient Chinese woman doesn’t think so. She jumps up, pulls down the overhead bin and starts pulling her luggage out as if she’s late to catch her flight to Shanghai that doesn’t leave for another 6hours. A flight attendant responds and practically has to drag the woman back down into her seat in time for landing.
The conditions of air travel in foreign and exotic destinations never failed to entertain.
Doha, Qatar
On the 30 or 40minute drive from the airport to the hotel, we passed more American chain eateries than Andrew and I’d seen in the past 3weeks, let alone in any 1country outside of the US. In Egypt we saw KFC, Hardy’s, McDonald’s and we ate at Pizza Hut and Sbarro. In Jordan I didn’t see any. By contrast, in a half hour car ride through Doha we saw everything ranging from Arby’s to Krispy Kreme to Chili’s. What a change.
Speaking of contrasts, after nearly 3weeks of seeing only handfuls of other westerners (tourists) in these Middle Eastern countries, I don’t know what could have shocked us more than for the very white Polish youth soccer team to come walking into the hotel. Meanwhile, Saudis with their red and black head coverings sat around the hotel.
All of the service workers we encountered on the airplane and at the hotel seemed to be imported from other Asian countries. There were Filipinos, Indians, Koreans, Sri Lankans, you name it, that nationality was probably represented. The only place that seemed to have mostly locals employed was at the airport, perhaps for security reasons(?). Andrew and I were aware that countries like Qatar and UAE sought cheap labor from abroad but we had no idea it was on this kind of massive scale. It was like a mini United Nations with all those people working together, using English as the medium of communication. The only other situation I’ve seen like this is mega cruise ships such as Celebrity.
All in all what little I saw of Doha made it seem very liveable and very comfortable, though perhaps that’s just in comparison to Egypt and Jordan.
They’ve even put tape over the doors to make sure no one sneaks anything inside. Some larger, more established outlets are still running, such as McDonald’s.
In the US, it is customary for female friends who are close or who haven’t seen each other for a long time to hug as greeting or farewell; the same is true between a male and a female friend. (Male friends shake hands.) Friends who are not close, will usually wave or say hi; in more formal situations they may just shake hands.
Intrepid’s Overland trip Serengeti Trail into Tanzania
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