The Unseen Connections

I was talking to my friend Rafa during my field trip yesterday, and we had a very interesting conversation. Rafa is Italian, and have a 19 year old daughter. I have two daughters, 13 and 9, so I try to exchange notes, and understand what kind of misery awaited in the future as a parent, or is there any light at the end of tunnel! Rafa mentioned that he is bringing her daughter here (meaning Dubai and RAK) for a vacation in March. I obviously asked, seriously? Why? Just like quite a few people at hive naturally suggested. Dubai or UAE won't be my top vacation destination, especially a father-daughter one. So Rafa said; have you considered the following:

• Have you seen the prices of car rental?
  • a full size SUV rental coast at Dubai Internation Airport is $200/week!
• Have you seen the prices of top hotels?
  • name brand hotels are 1/2 to 1/3 of their counterparts in Europe in prices
• Have you seen how many pristine beaches you can go to in UAE?
  • opportunities are endless, and it is empty compared to Europe
• Have you considered what teenagers likes to do the most?
  • Yes, shopping!

Sigh! An Italian who lives 2 hours south of Venice is telling to hit UAE, while I am planning on taking my family to Venice over the spring break! No Shit!

Just a couple of days back when I was strolling around old town Dubai, fairly early in the morning, I had the place to myself pretty much. I was telling myself. Damn! I rather like it here. I like to walk around these building and do some shopping. I like to talk to random people and ask them about their families, and tell them about my own family. Something I miss in the west! No one here, back in the US, ask a random person on their first visit, "How's family?", and see people responds with honestly and have a conversation about how our respective wives are giving us hard times! :)

Here I can spend hours trying different perfumes, without knowing their brands and just trust the smells, and not worry about that a nice smell is NOT going to cost a month of future college tution of one of my kids!

Where is the conflict of cultures?

Are we really that different? Young kids in Middle East still do TikTok and Facebook. They are glued to the phone just like my kids. Young couple still hold each others while they walk and hang out at the mall the same way!

Yes, they look different (more beautiful that the overweight us) and yes they wear a hijab. But is that a problem? People can dress like as they please. Also dressing up is a personal statement and I don’t want others to tell me how I dress so why it can’t go both ways?

I am very proud of this particular shot, I think the stride, motion and confidence is well captured on this shot. It is amazing what I phone can do sometimes.

I need to stop going over the top in ranting and board my flight back to Houston and I finish writing this post from my phone. There is a lot on my mind and it’s rather hard to organize my thoughts, but if you think Middle East is backward region, please look inside and think again. There is a lot to learn from looking inward.