push your limits. whatever doesn't kill you ... only makes you stronger.
seek the truth. knowledge is power. dare to be different.
speak your mind. endless passion and ambition.
sleep when you're dead. be extraordinary.
seize the day.
rr
About ryanrowe.com
posted by Ryan Rowe
Today I am traveling to Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia, for a short 36-hour trip related to work but with a bit of tourism thrown in of course.
Most of Saudi Arabia is only an hour’s flight from where I live in Abu Dhabi yet this is my first visit to the country. Since moving to the region a few years ago, my ‘Middle Eastern’ experiences have so far consisted mostly of day travel to a few of the Gulf nations (Kuwait, Oman and Qatar) and relatively little of the UAE itself, sad to say. A weekend trip to Istanbul and a week in Isra*l, Jordan and Palestine round out my regional travels. Frankly, I have tended to favour more far-flung or ‘exotic’ destinations in Asia, Africa or Europe.
But I can say this - few destinations in the Middle East hold as much allure or mystery for me as Saudi Arabia, which, being the birthplace of Islam, is a must-see for anyone wanting to learn more about the religion and the ‘Arab’ culture. There are also the stories in the international media of human rights issues and restrictions on freedoms that I am lucky enough to enjoy. Hopefully this will help provide me with a different perspective on life in the Middle East.
Riyadh, with its religious police (Mutawa) patrolling the streets, ensuring that the local population follows strict Islamic law, is considered to be much more conservative than Jeddah. Alcohol of course is totally prohibited here. So is interaction between single men and women who are not of the same family. Appropriate dress and prayer at prescribed times (five times daily) are other things that seem to be within the mandate of the Mutawwa’in. From what I have heard photography can also be sensitive, and I have been told to avoid meeting the eyes of local women. I find myself wondering if the t-shirt I am currently wearing is a bit too risque (on it are written the words ‘Concordia University’)!
From what I understand, single women may not travel here (even for business) and any visit visa (business or tourism) is only provided through a locally-based sponsoring organisation. So this place is not really a destination for wandering travelers or a last-minute weekend destination, and in my opinion, is way off the beaten path. 
As I will only be here 36 hours, I have set myself a brief itinerary to try and give myself a taste of Riyadh. I have the late afternoon and evening to explore so I will begin with a trip to the Batha area of town, which is the downtown / city centre and site of the National Museum, a public library and the King Abdul Aziz Memorial Hall. I would also like to see Hara, which apparently is the epicentre of the local expatriate Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi community, which is the largest segment of the country’s foreign population.
Poverty in Saudi Arabia is a real problem and consequently, slums do exist here. Some examples are poorer communities in the southern and eastern part of the city, such as Al Aoud, Sebala, Shamissi, and Al Suwaidi. The last one is most well-known for the attack on a BBC correspondent several years ago. Al Suwaidi is apparently a breeding ground for Al Qaida activity in Saudi Arabia. So I’ll try to avoid that one! Apparently these poor communities are mainly populated by expatriate workers but there are many Saudi nationals who live in relative poverty, considering the huge oil wealth of the country. Iit may be a bit naive and unrealistic to attempt to visit these places during a 36-hour trip (and my first visit) and I think I’ll have to satisfy myself with learning the lay of the land before I venture into unknown and possibly unsafe locales.
However, this article sheds some light on the problem of poverty in Saudi Arabia:
At the end of the day, what I am looking for from my Saudi Arabian experience is a brief glimpse beneath the layer of extreme wealth in this part of the world… Appreciate that this is ambitious but if I can began to chip away at the mystery in my short 36 hours I will be pleased.
June 11th, 2009 at 0:00
posted by Ryan Rowe
Well, it’s been another spell since I last wrote on here. Sorry for the long absence.
I’ve been busy lately getting involved with providing relief aid/funding to assist with the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan. Currently in its fourth week, some 3 million people have been displaced by the military campaign against the Taliban.
Many of the Pakistani people in the UAE come from the NWFP and are thus directly affected by the fighting. Many are among the poorest people living in this country - i.e. the taxi drivers and construction labourers who are a very very large section of the population. One such taxi driver I met about 10 days ago hasn’t spoken to his family in weeks. He works 14-16 hour days making perhaps 1000 dirhams a month (US$275). Although he barely spoke English, the sadness on his face was clear, but his situation was bleak. As mobile phone communication is cut off and due to the mass displacement of people, people such as this man may not even be able to get money to their families, or even speak to them, much less travel home to find them and see if they’re ok.
Here are a couple of photos of cool Pakistani taxi drivers I’ve met around Abu Dhabi (photos were taken in November 2006):
As the fighting intensifies, this has the situation to escalate into a humanitarian disaster. People are being forced to flee their homes with just the clothes on their back - injured, homeless, and destitute - the most vulnerable being the elderly, women and children. Many people have no access to clean drinking water / adequate sanitary facilities, so conditions are ripe for the outbreak of disease. Polio, which was on the path to being eradicated, is now on the rise again.
Pakistan/IDPs/ Newly arrived displaced people at Jalala camp. Mardan district North West Frontier Province. © UNHCR/A.Rummery/7 May 2009.
If you’re reading this, I urge you to take the time to visit the website of any number of humanitarian organisations working on relief efforts in Pakistan and donate. We all need to do our part, please - here are a few organisations I recommend where you can make an online donation:
Pakistan Red Crescent Society
United Nations Refugee Agency
Medecins Sans Frontieres
The United Nations estimates that perhaps as much as US$600 million is needed to cope with the current crisis. The money raised will help establish refugee camps and provide food, drinking water, clothing, medicine, shelter, and other basic supplies, for example:
- US$100 can provide a survival kit, with essentials such as blankets, cooking utensils and a stove
- US$200 can provide shelter to a family in the form of an all-season tent
- US$500 can fund the construction of two fresh water wells to provide clean water for refugees
- US$1000 provides a therapeutic feeding kit to feed up to 100 children
If you are interested in informing yourself in more detail about the crisis, I recommend ReliefWeb (http://www.reliefweb.int), which is a portal for information on humanitarian efforts ongoing around the world.
If you have any comments on the above, please feel free to comment directly below or email me by using the contact information provided on this site.
March 5th, 2009 at 21:26
posted by Ryan Rowe
Hi there guys,
Am off to Mumbai (Bombay), India for the weekend. Flying out of AUH (Abu Dhabi International Airport) in about three hours and get in very early tomorrow morning, around 5am local time. Time difference is about 90 minutes ahead of us here.
This is kind of a last-minute trip, another one of those holiday getaways planned around a Muslim holiday that has been announced by the UAE Central Bank at the last minute. The UAE CB governs banking holidays - I work for a financial institution. The holiday is the Prophet’s Birthday.
Agenda for the weekend - meet up with my old friend Marino Francispillai, with whom I go way way back, around the days of IBM (c. 1999) although I knew him for a few years before that through his brother Steve, also a very good friend, and with whom I studied in high school / CEGEP. Marino will be in town on business - am looking forward to catching up over the very familiar dark rum and Coke.
Will also hang out with my friend Freya, who is a local but now transplanted to Abu Dhabi. She’s got a great crew of pals in the city and I have gone out with them before - should be good fun. Am also planning to meet up with a few NGOs in the city that are working in the famed “Asia’s largest slum” Dharavi (now made even more famous after featuring so prominently in the movie Slumdog Millionaire - a great film - if you haven’t seen it, go, now!). I want to become more familiar with the poverty and development problems affecting this city of approximately 20 million people.
No other plans beside that - except maybe get a tattoo. Probably not - but you never know - my last trip to Mumbai in May 2008 was for the specific purpose of finding myself a tattoo parlour. That adventure didn’t quite work out.
This will be my fourth trip to India and my third trip to Mumbai. Am looking forward to it - I love this country!
By the way - great book I recommend - Shantaram. It’s a novel about an Australian convict who escapes from prison and flees to India. He spends eight years on the lam, becoming involved with the criminal element of the city, working as a doctor in the slums, and even going on to fight in Afghanistan. An amazing story - if slightly embellished.
My review - from Facebook:
I find myself wondering if all of these things really did happen, but I am sure like many writers, there is a certain element of embellishment and exaggeration used to illustrate points and keep the reader entertained.
This book helped re-stoke my muse and at the same time, taught me a few interesting things about India
while I was travelling through the country!Good job, Shantaram!”
February 26th, 2009 at 0:18
posted by Ryan Rowe
I received the news a few days ago that a popular professor at Schulich passed away. Unfortunately I did not have the opportunity to study under him, or even meet him. But upon reading his bio, I was surprised to discover that he was the professor that orchestrated the development of the MBA school’s MGMT 5150 Management Skills course. It was my first class ever at Schulich and in the weeks that followed, the course set in motion some of the defining learning experiences and themes of my B-school experience, i.e. ‘reframing’ and the ‘15% approach to change’. Lessons that have stayed with me to this day.
A copy of the course outline is available here:
Thank you Professor Lucas.
January 26th, 2009 at 0:19
posted by Ryan Rowe
Tonight is the beginning of the Chinese New Year, which began with today’s New Moon.
Here in Abu Dhabi, my only Chinese friend in this country invited me and about 20 other people to a Chinese New Year’s celebration at what she says is one of the few good and authentic Chinese restaurants in the city - the Beijing Restaurant. Here is a map that Shu prepared for the benefit of anyone in the city who wants to try it out. Her description of how to direct a taxi there is “Behind the Madinat Zayed shopping centre or Gold Souq, next to Shoe Mart.”
When I showed up the restaurant was packed and most of the diners were watching the television in the corner which was showing a live feed from the annual Chinese New Year celebration television show (a marathon four hours!). Shu insisted that it is THE thing to be doing on Chinese New Year. By the way, did you know that some 500 million people travel around the country at this time of year in order to return home to celebrate the occasion with their families? Yikes - think about the traffic jam!!!
Being the culturally aware person I am, I decided to wear red (a sign of good luck in Chinese culture). When I proudly mentioned this to Shu, she promptly informed me I was meant to be wearing red underwear… I, of course, double-checked (I couldn’t remember :)). Out of luck…. oh well, next time.
The food was delicious but unfortunately I didn’t have much of an appetite tonight given that I’m just coming off a brutal cold and am super fatigued. But folks were raving about the frog legs and the pork. What was the BORK by the way Shu? My fave was the fried prawn (fried anything, really). It was basically a family-style set-up with a range of dishes served on lazy susans (a circular flat glassware dish that spins around so everyone can access the food easily). No alcohol served - a sure digression from the usual table-top fare found at a Chinese New Year party but sacrifices must be made when you live in the Emirates.
We made a very excited Chinese fellow even more excited and very happy when the entire table of 20 agreed to pose with him for a photo that he could send to his friends back home. I insisted of course on getting a photo with him myself so I could show MY friends back home.
Photos on facebook so that I can tag those who attended :) Here’s the link
and THANK YOU Shu for the lovely gift you gave us all with the candies and the fortune. What a sweetie.
Ah - I need to plug her blog - you can visit Shu’s website here.
And in the words of my friend Kun - Gong xi fa cai, wan shi ru yi!
January 25th, 2009 at 13:07
posted by Ryan Rowe
I never would have thought….
Ras Al Khaimah is one of the “Northern Emirates” of the UAE - about as far north as Qatar and about a 1 hour drive from Dubai. :p
See photos below.
==============================================
[BEGIN] Heavy snowfall on Ras Al Khaimah’s Jebel Jais mountain cluster
GULF NEWS
By Nasouh Nazzal, Staff Reporter
Published: January 24, 2009, 19:47
Ras Al Khaimah: Snow fell heavily on the mountains of Ras Al Khaimah on Friday night, leaving the Jebel Jais range covered in a thick white blanket of snow.
The extreme cold spell brought the temperature on top of the Jebel Jais mountain cluster, situated at a height of 5,700 feet, to as low as -3 degree Celsius on Friday night, as the snow blanketed an area extending over 5kms.
Major Saeed Rashid Al Yamahi, Manager of the Air Wing of RAK Police, who flew a helicopter to the top of the Jebel Jais mountain, said that the entire area was covered with 10 cm of snow.
“The sight up there this morning was totally unbelievable with the snow-capped mountain and the entire area covered with fresh, dazzling white snow. The snowfall started at 3pm on Friday afternoon and heavy snowfall began at 8 pm and continued till midnight, covering the entire area in a thick blanket of snow,” he said.
The temperature on top of the mountain cluster remained extremely cold during the daytime on Saturday with the temperature rising to just 1 degree Celsius in the afternoon. “Much of the snow was still there even when we flew back from the mountain this afternoon. It is still freezing cold up there and there are chances that it might snow again on Saturday night,” Major Al Yamahi added.
M. V. Varghese, Observer at the RAK Airport Meteorological Office, said that there were scattered rains in Ras Al Khaimah on Friday night which brought the temperature down. “The rain along with the cold easterly winds and low-lying clouds could have bought the temperatures further down on the mountains,” he said. [END]
N.B. Photos obtained in the public domain.
January 15th, 2009 at 18:20
posted by Ryan Rowe
The other day I stepped outside the front door of my building and immediately noticed a strange smell in the air… It smelled fragrant, humid, and very familiar, but i still couldn’t place it… as I turned the corner to catch a taxi I spotted pools of water in the streets and realised it had rained overnight.
here in the UAE it really only rains during the winter season (October - March) and even then it only rains a handful of times, maybe 5 or 6. So we’re really not all that used to it. But when it does rain, it often comes down in cats and dogs and the below photos show the effect on a large city like Dubai.
This is a brand new development in Dubai known as Springs. But they obviously neglected to build in proper drainage system infrastructure.
Also, from the same storm, here are some amazing photos of lightning over the Dubai skyline.
I have other shocking photos of rain-induced flooding in Sharjah, and a video of a rainstorm here in Abu Dhabi… I will try to post those this weekend to satisfy the curiosity of those who wonder what havoc rain might cause here in the sandpit…
Photos provided by my friend Hani “the Hunk Mani” Zogheib.
January 12th, 2009 at 19:24
posted by Ryan Rowe
I went jogging on the Abu Dhabi Corniche today during my lunch hour and I saw something strange. Not that that’s unusual, since it’s Abu Dhabi after all.
I saw a couple sitting on one of the benches on the waterfront. There was an Indian guy and stretched across his lap and almost kissing him was a woman. She was either Indian or Filipina I couldn’t tell. But I thought it was odd that they were being so “close” in public. You see, public displays of affection are only barely tolerated here and sometimes people even get thrown in jail or spit upon (the latter also sometimes happens to women who bare too much skin). So I wondered to myself if they would still be doing that when i came back on the return. Surely they wouldn’t risk doing it for a long period of time as someone (maybe a local) might draw attention to them or rebuke them. But in fact, on the way back she was still on his lap and I realised what had struck me as strange the first time around was that he looked like he was crying. And it was in that moment, I felt myself step outside of a box and look at the human situation in front of me. I saw sadness, grief in his face as if he was totally inconsolable and I wondered to myself, i wondered if maybe she was sick or something terrible had happened to her like maybe she was dying of some terminal illness. It occurred to me that maybe he was taking care of her in her last days or that maybe they just couldnt be together due to religious or cultural reasons. Or maybe he or she would be leaving for an arranged marriage for example and they were being prevented from being together. I wondered if they were beyond caring what people thought of them being so close in public like that, and and beyond caring that someone might report them yet. I thought of different views in different societies and wondered had they both been born in a different country, would their problem even exist for them? It just made me realise that there are so many different perspectives to a situation and so many different world views. How to understand them all? How to reconcile them all, if even possible? These reflections and ponderings seem to be happening more and more frequently to me and especially since I moved to the UAE two and a half years ago. Something about this place has caused so much change in me, I don’t know how to explain it, but I feel more aware of what is happening in people, processes and places around me, more reflective, more pensive.
You may wish to read a post on a related topic - sounds of abu dhabi, posted on 10 June, 2008.
January 11th, 2009 at 17:13
posted by Ryan Rowe
1. Eat more fruits & vegetables and less red meat
2. Drink more water and drink alcohol more moderately
3. Read more and learn more about the world we live in and the problems we face
4. Strengthen my foreign language skills
5. Exercise more
6. Give more back to the community and take better care of the environment
7. Travel less to exotic places and more to spend quality time with family and close friends
8. Save more and be willing to take on more risk with my investments
9. Love more deeply and without fear of pain
10. Take myself less seriously
Happy New Year!! Comments welcome or if you’d like to share your resolutions, feel free
December 30th, 2008 at 22:15
posted by Ryan Rowe
Just a quick post to let everybody know that I am at the moment in Montreal, Canada, spending the holidays with my family.
I received a number of emails / text messages asking if I had left Palestine and was out of harm’s way from the current hostile confrontations occuring in the Gaza Strip. Thanks so much for your concern..
Just to clarify, during my time in Palestine, I was located in the West Bank, which is currently the less volatile of the two Palestinian territories. I stayed mainly in Bethlehem and the surrounding communities of Beit Sahour and Ad Duhesha Refugee Camp (see map below). I was not at any time located in the Gaza Strip. To my knowledge, you need special permission from the Israel Defence Forces before you can enter the territory (at least through the Israeli border side).
Source: Wikipedia
I was also asked why didn’t I post here my views on the current situation in Gaza. The reason I have refrained from making any comment is simple because I am still learning about the situation and I don’t want to appear to be taking sides, as I mentioned in my article from December 21, 2008, written while I was at the King Hussein border crossing between Jordan and Israel-controlled West Bank.
ryanrowe.com - have you seized a day lately? is proudly powered by WordPress
ryanrowe.com - carpe diem - have you seized a day lately?
all content & photographs property of ryanrowe.com
(unless specified otherwise)
© copyright ryanrowe productions 2002-
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
# of dreamers
Who Links Here?
Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS).