Geography 101

It’s almost like living in the bull’s eye of a dart board. We are on the Arabian Peninsula surround by the GSC or otherwise known as the Gulf State Countries. Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates or the UAE. All these countries lie to the southwest of the Persian Gulf. On the opposite side of the gulf lies the hot spot of Iran. Across from the Gulf of Oman on the parallel shore sits the perennial hot spot of Pakistan with India right next door on the coast of the Arabian Sea. If the US seventh fleet does come to the region as speculated, then they should be sailing past our front door. I’ll keep you posted. Can you spell nuclear disarmament? It’s early days but the little bit we have seen has been extremely impressive. Great roads, outstanding architecture, very clean surroundings with NO graffiti to be seen. The people, dress code and language are right out of central casting. I’m temped to take pictures of the women dressed in their burkas and hijabs and the men in their thawbs or dishdashah and mussar head gear. However, I am hesitant for fear of insulting them but more so for looking like a tourist, so I purposely take pictures from a distance. One of the hotel employees and our guide were gracious enough to let me take their pictures. I met a couple of women from Kuwait today when we were out on our snorkeling trip to the Daymaniat Islands. They were so nice I had to give them Canada pins, and they too let me take their pictures, even though they weren’t in traditional dress. The snorkeling was great, but the water was cool at 23C. Lots of turtles and colorful fish and the coral was alive and flourishing, It’s always a challenge to get your sleep pattern back to normal and with a 9-hour time difference, and while keeping that in mind, it will be a few more days I’m sure before I’m able to get my head straightened out. Allahu Akbar الله أكبر