All of these pics are of the United Arab Emirates. I took them with Abbu’s webcam, and hehe the quality is not that great for which I apologize in advance. Pics from Afghanistan & Pakistan have yet to be developed and scanned, but Insha’Allah I’ll post them here as soon as they are. I was born in Sharjah in the UAE, so in a way this was a coming home of sorts – but the country has changed quite a bit since I last visited it five years ago.
Any Guppy living in the UAE? You’ll be able to recognize the first pic instantly, ‘volcano fountain’ in the Corniche in Abu Dhabi. The sign in the front in Arabic is a Dua.
we were driving from Abu Dhabi to Khorfakkan (just five hours by car) when i took this pic. i think it was somewhere around here where there’s a small mosque located in a massive field of date palm trees. There’s nothing around for miles and miles, just a small mosque surrounded by hundreds of date palm trees.
Abu Dhabi and Dubai in particular seem to be in a competition to build the biggest skyscrapers; once this is completed, this will – allegedly - be the tallest building in Abu Dhabi. I couldn’t take the picture all at once, so had to take it in three segments.
I don’t know why but I really like this pic. From one of our living room windows, it was while the sun was setting and just the sight of the small mosque next to the building… well I don’t know why, but I like it.
there are seven emirates in the UAE (Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ajman, Sharjah, Ras al Khaimah, Fujairah, and Umm al Quwain). Khorfakkan is considered a small part of Fujairah; I fell in love with this place. Very peaceful & serene. It has these large hills made entirely of gravel and sand, not very pretty to look at, but Khorfakkan’s right next to the ocean.. while we were there, I was very surprised to notice the number of tourists prevalent, particularly from Russia. When I was growing up in the UAE, there were hardly any tourists around.
this mosque is located in Sharjah. Sorry for the quality, the pic doesn’t illustrate it well at all but Sharjah has some of the most beautiful mosques in the UAE. I don’t know the precise name of the area, but there are two stunning ones close to the Continental hotel by the area where all the Iranian dhows are lined up.
One of the more sadder aspects to the trip was during Sharjah… the UAE govt. apparently has allowed SOME (not certain how many) women to migrate from Russia to work as prostitutes in the country; at the Continental hotel in Sharjah, there was a new one every night. If you have read one of Robert Fisk’s recent articles in the Independent, he discussed this occurring in Lebanon. But i had no idea it occurred in the UAE as well.
They died in silence for humanity had closed its ears to their cry ~ Khalil Gibran
And finally … what dictatorship is complete without a grand picture of the President? Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan, President of the UAE… nice chap, though, implements a great deal of humanitarian projects in Palestine (rebuilding of the Jenin refugee camp after the attack), Chechnya, Kosovo, and most recently in Afghanistan. While I was growing up, it would have been considered arrogant of him to allow these massive portraits of him put up around the country. But i guess when you are swimming around in billions of petro-dirhams, vanity is a virtue you can afford.
I apologize, I know it’s hard to see this pic, obviously took it at night and did not come out that great. Sheikh Nahyan with his fourteen sons; the ruler is sitting in the middle in the bottom row.
All of them were wearing the traditional Emirati attire for males, the dishdasha and jalabiya (wrong spellings); it actually looks gorgeous, especially on little kids. i fell in love with the traditional wear. Same thing with Afghanistan, loved the Afghan turbans with baggy shalwar kameezes.
It’s almost like a mini
US in so many
ways now. At one time, many
many decades ago,
Dubai, Sharjah and Fujairah
were homes to my immediate and
extended family. That was
before my birth, but from
the pictures they have from
back then, UAE was a much
different place.
The best part of life
in Arabia as per my
family was being able
to hear the sound of the
aw~dhaan in the earliest
morning hours shattering
the barriers of silence
in one of the most spectacular
places on Earth. My family
and relatives are particularly
fond of memories of watching
the sun set over the horizon
across the desert.
AhmadJee, i wasn’t allowed to take the other camera to Pakistan & Afghanistan otherwise those pics would have been developed at once. Insha’Allah i’ll get them scanned soon then post em here as soon as possible.
Ums, meant to say this weeks ago - many thanks for all of your messages in the Khilari forum. i really appreciated your replying to my silly questions during the World Cup.
the sound of the Azaan at Fajr shattering the silence, and the sun setting over the desert. You have described it as though from a book! Did you use to live in the UAE? Yes, Sheikh Nahyan’s still in power. He is rather elderly now, and it is widely believed one of his sons will take on power within five years. Sheikh Nahyan spends a fair portion of his time in Geneva, Switzerland. Wildly popular amongst many Arabs in the UAE.
wow supurb pics nadia.. i mean u have some great skills i guesss
anwyay nice pics building scenery .. i dun know i love to go to dubai because i like shopping malls n stuffs.. i guess dubai has some best shoppung calls than anyother muslims countries(i guess).
Nadia_H, my immediate and
extended family lived
there many many decades ago,
before my birth. From
all the accounts I had heard
from them, I could walk
thru the place mentally
even before I flew down
there literally
i miss that place…thanx for the memories from Khorfakkan specifically…it is a beautiful place…we went there on so many family outings…heh…got some neats childhood pics from there myself
and i’ve heard it has changed a lot as well…last time i was there was in 96, for a couple of days…and it sure had changed a lot then 2 from when i was living there in 93
