Travel: The Middle East

Flying into Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), we knew we were heading into a very different world. After 19 months of traveling around South Asia we were about to begin a brand new adventure through West Asia (A.K.A. The Middle East). We knew Abu Dhabi was very (oil-) rich, clean and expensive, but we had no idea just what a contrast it would be compared to India.

When you think of Syria what do you think of? Whatever may come to mind, I bet it's not basketball. But basketball is exactly what Syria has become to us. Well, that and Mohammed.

Right now we're in a village called Kemaliye, located in a remote, isolated valley in eastern Turkey and there's not a foreigner in town besides us. Most of the Turkish "tourists" here are people in town to visit family. This is an amazing place. And we're not even supposed to be here! Our train ticket said "Final destination Erzurum", and Erzurum, near the Armenian, Georgian and Iranian borders, was where we were heading. But, when a really friendly 65-year old man named Hilmi invites you to get off the train 5 hours early and take an hour-long mini-bus ride over the mountains on a dirt and gravel road to visit his hometown with him, you simply do not say "no".

So there we were, two nights ago, celebrating Canada Day here in Istanbul by watching the Euro 2004 semi-final between Greece and the Czech Republic when Greece suddenly, somehow, inexplicably, won the game in extra time to advance to the final against Portugal (who they've already beaten once by a score of 2-1 in the opening game of the tournament). It was just us and about a dozen of The 5 Pack A Day Guys sitting in our hazy smoke-filled hotel lobby, with me and Son being the only ones a) not smoking and b) cheering for Greece. The reason we were alone in supporting Greece, in a room full of people, was due to the fact that everyone else was Turkish and, considering that Greece is Turkey's age-old enemy, few Turks feel any desire to cheer for their Greek neighbors. But, in all honesty, the only thing The 5 Pack A Day Guys really felt any desire to do was have another smoke, but that's beside the point