Road Trip: Part 2

The road to Dubai from Doha is an interesting novelty for a first time traveler but is probably considered a hassle for the experienced veteran. Your first time through you laugh at the missing roads that are still on the map, comment on the Arab style border towns and truck stops. You want to take a picture with the border guard (that never happened but you think about it) maybe even ask to look at his assault rifle. You laugh at the inspections because even they seem like a new experience. Even the bureaucracy to get a visa makes a good story at least. I wonder if I will enjoy all the little nuances and delays the next time I go.

We’re still driving … aren’t we?

The week before the trip we ran into several obstacles that some might have interpreted as divine intervention pointing us to the airport and not the border. At the beginning of the week Kara and I got into an accident when somebody rear ended us. After enjoying a night in the hospital, some tests and back aches we were cleared to go on our trip. The next day “Big Red” Zach’s LandCruiser was giving him some fits and he had to take it into the shop. We did not know if it would be ready so we started looking for Air Arabia tickets on the web. The day of the trip we still didn’t know if we had a ride and subtle hints were being dropped by all of our co-workers. The way I saw it was if God didn’t want me crossing the border then he was going to make it impossible. He had my attention and I was listening and I just told him that I have a hard head so please make it clear.

At 2:00 the truck was ready to go and we were on our way. We bought some last minute road trip munchies, loaded up “Big Red”, fired up the GPS and did a lot of praying.

But it’s on the map

Within the hour we got to the border which we found to be somewhat unimpressive. It was a couple of plastic barricades and a single soldier with a cammo t-shirt and no visible insignia of what country he belonged to. He was enjoying some tea on a rug in the middle of the road. Interesting. Our conversation went something like this. I put additional explanations in parenthesis because words are only part of the language here.

Us: “As-salaam alaykum” (General greeting meaning peace be with you)

Him: “Wa alaykum as-salaam” (the reply)

Us: “Ma Baraf Arabi” (Literally: I don’t understand Arabic. Translated: As you probably have guessed I have yet to learn the language of your country. Pease compensate for my ignorance/arrogance and speak in my native language which I’m going to assume you know is English. It’s more in the inflection then the words.)


Him: “Where you going”

Us: “Dubai”

Him: “The road has been torn up for 20 years now” (You’re not getting through here)

Us: “But it’s on the map” (You are obviously hiding something and have the power to make the road passable if you want to”

Him: “I know but it’s impassible, you need to go to Salwa” (1. Are you kidding me 2. Of the three of us it is my job to know if this road is passable or not, guess what it’s not 3. Go away)

Us: “You’re serious”

Him: “Yes, people come here all the time and I have to tell them to turn around” (There are a lot of dumb westerners who can’t find their way out of this county.”

Us: “Shokran” (Thank you)

Him: “Goodbye”

Actually the guy was really nice and laughed a lot. I guess when you are stuck out in the middle of a wasteland and your only conversation entails have to tell people they went the wrong way you get a sense of humor about things. So we sent a text message to the girls that we would be a little later then we thought did a U turn and headed to Salwa.

The real border

After another hour of driving we got to the passable border crossing. Our first impression was “Wow this looks big.” Do we go into that line or that one? We ended up going into the right line and learned a new Arabic word. We now know that “mar - key – ah” means that they want to see your license and registration. Going through the border was pretty easy, they just checked our paper work stamped our passport and told us “Good Luck”. Huh, good luck thanks guys … I think.


So Zach and I were excited we had conquered the border without any problem at all. The only problem was we never saw what looked like a Saudi Uniform and we didn’t get an entry stamp for SA just an exit stamp from Qatar. But hey at least we didn’t have to get inspected, the road was nice and the border crossing looked relatively well taken care of woo hoo.

About a mile down the road we realized we were in a no man’s land between the two borders. We hadn’t entered SA we had just left Qatar. Soon enough we saw a building that looked a little more, how would I put it, utilitarian. We got past the first guards who checked our papers next we were pulled over for a full search. They took out most of the things in our vehicle and checked my computer. They did a search for all images and movies. The only thing that caught their attention was a movie I had where two trucks were crashing in the sand dunes. They liked it so they played it a couple of times, laughed and let us through. The only thing I was worried about was some campaign mail from the states that was forwarded to me in Qatar. I had stuffed it in my laptop bag on my way out that day. It had pictures of George Bush and Military personal. Judging by our limited conversation I’m assuming that my new friends wouldn’t be able to read the wording on these flyers so their judgment of them and then me would probably come from those images. So you like this war huh? He didn’t say anything and let us go on our way. After buying a 7 day car insurance policy for SA we were on the road.

This was really SA. Since it was dark by now we really couldn’t see any of the landscape but the torn up roads and 30 years old huge Mercedes semi trucks gave us the feeling that we were not in Qatar anymore. The only interesting thing was the lines on the roads were yellow on the side and white in the middle.

After less then an hour we were at the border again and going through the process in reverse. Getting out of Saudi was easier then getting in and the next stop was UAE. There was the same no man’s land between the two countries and we had to go through another inspection. Seriously though, what could we possibly bring out of SA that wouldn’t be allowed in UAE. UAE is one of the most westernized countries in the Arab world while SA is well SA. I did think of something funny though. Now any border I cross I can always say “Hey, at least it’s not Saudi Arabia.”

The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful. I made a friend at the country fried chicken place who was from Egypt. He seemed to take it as a real compliment when I told him that we have places just like this in Texas. We are all not so different after all.

Road Trip: Part 1

Pain in the neck



After our accident I didn’t know how Kara would be feeling but the pain in her neck has gone away and she feels great. It happened while we were in Dubai on vacation.



To infinity and beyond



Well we made it. Zach and I are back from our little adventure on the Arabian Peninsula. We’ve been planning this in one way or another for the past month and a half and it was well worth it. Our trek took us from Qatar, briefly through Saudi Arabia (2 hours of total driving), through UAE and into Oman. We stayed in Dubai (UAE) at night with Kara, Danna and Libby who flew there.

There were a couple of reasons for the trip. One was to go to an RTT (Regional Training Time) to learn how to work in churches in this area. It was the first time I had gone to a conference where the focus was on leadership skills in a church. I honestly did not know what to expect but I found it pretty interesting and was glad that we went. Zach and I wanted to do some exploring in the Omani mountains as well. This was why we drove as apposed to flying. While we were playing Lewis and Clark the girls did a lot of shopping and girl bonding stuff. The last reason was to test the path between Qatar and Oman and see if all the ghost stories were true. Since this is a lot to write about I won’t do it all in one post so stay tuned. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think my life is so exciting that it requires a multipart series but lets face it this is the best material I’ve had in a while and I need to make it last.



Socks, Underwear, GPS unit and Satellite phone



Preparing for this trip was a little different from any other road trip I have been on. It might be a little bit from experience, a little from my new surroundings but my to-do list was a little different. Some new additions were:



- Passport

- Saudi Arabia Visa

- GPS Unit

- Satellite Phone

- Used only when testing but was questioned about it at the border

- Register with the embassy

- Embassy phone numbers – The 24 hr Oh Crap! line

- 4 different currencies - You can just call me Jason Bourne from now on

- Check travel advisories

- Road map of the Middle East – On this map all of Israel is called Palestine

- UAE / Oman off-road guide

- IPod - Not a necessity but we didn’t have these in College

- Cell phone - A certain CO trip engrained this into my head



First Look



All of the above were pretty easy to get, especially since we are in the IT department and get to play with the cool toys. The biggest hassle was the Saudi Arabian visa. No lie, it took us 6 trips to the embassy to get this. This was mainly because there was no written instructions on how to apply for one. At least none that were offered to us. Each time we would go they would just tellus what we did wrong and to go away. The trips went something like this:



Trip 1: Get the paper application. We had to convince the guy that we needed more then one. He told us to Xerox it even though he had a stack in front of him. We eventually got the original from him. After this we had to get a letter from our employer saying that we worked here, a passport photo and a copy of our passport. This was one of the first times I have filled out government paperwork and it asked for my religion.



Trip 2: We go to turn in our paperwork and they tell us we need a UAE visa first. After walking to the UAE embassy we learned the guy in the SA embassy didn’t know what he was talking about and it was suggested we try another day.



Trip 3: We try another guy he accepts our 50 riyals a piece and suggests coming back the next day when they open because the line is too long. He also tells me my passport photo with the blue background will be fine and not to worry about the one with the white background.



Trip 4: We get there early when they open and it turns out I needed the white background photo and we also need the license and registration of the car we will be driving. Thanks, information I could have used yesterday.



Trip 5: We get there early we have our paperwork and we bypass the payment line and go straight to the first window where some guy in traditional garb and a massive beard is waiting. I felt like I was 6 years old saying “please sir, can I have a visa?” I timidly passed him my packet of documents, certifications, 3rd grade teacher character reference and all the other stuff they wanted from me. He looked through it for a couple of minutes and mumbled something about coming back on Thursday at 12:00. I couldn’t believe it, it actually worked.



Trip 6: I show up at the right day and time and see a stack of passports with tickets on the back of them. The same bearded guy is calling out the numbers in Arabic. Now I understand this is a SA embassy in Qatar so English probably won’t be used but it just made things even more interesting. I know my Arabic numbers on paper but I still don’t know how to say them. I guess a lot of people were in the same boat because after 30 minutes of this we all rushed up to the window and chaotically pointed and gestured to our passports on the other side.



In the end I got my passport with a shiny new visa in it. It was only good for a month and I couldn’t spend more then three days in the country at one time. No problem, I’m just passing through.

Another word from The Embassy

Just Kidding

Well a week after we were told to buy ducked tape and plastic wrap we were told that everything was OK and we could continue our dinners at The Ritz without any concern. Most of the "experts" said there wasn’t any real risk but just to be safe we thought we’d cry wolf.

Meeting the locals

While Kara and I were on our way to buy a car we got to meet a local Qatari by the name of Yusolf. We were at a round-a-bout when he ran into the back of us with his car. Apparently he had mistaken our brake lights for go ahead we’ll get out of your way. Yosulf was actually a pretty nice guy and apologized somewhat for hitting our car. He was careful not to admit guilt. In this country though your guilt is dependent on your nationality so it was clearly the fault of Kara and myself. It doesn’t matter either way because the insurance companies no the situation and premiums never change.

After the police came him and Yosulf talked for awhile in Arabic and I received a small sheet of paper. About that time the guy who I lease my car from showed up and said he would take care of everything. From what I observed, the little differences in the culture seem to cancel each other out. A Qatari hits me and it’s my fault but I have a friend who can make it like it never happened. Different I know.

Well after the cars were taken care of our friend Danna took us to the Doha Clinic for what I thought would be a routine exam and a prescription for some meds. It turned out to be a little more serious then that. The doctor felt like Kara had a pinched nerve and kept us there over night to run tests. The MRI showed that everything was OK but Kara would need to wear a soft neck brace for about three days. She seems to be doing better now but still needs your thoughts and prayers.

The hospital was very clean and our doctor made us feel very comfortable. It just wasn’t a fun situation to be in on the whole.

Traveling the land

Kara and I are now in UAE with some friends for a long weekend. Zach and I will be driving to Oman for a few days to do some hiking and 4x4ing. We are not sure how it will turn out but it’s mainly an exploratory trip to feel out the area and get an idea for what is there and what we can and can’t do. Don’t worry that sounds a lot more irresponsible then we plan to be.