An update...thirteen years later. I moved to India, got busy, and eventually stopped blogging on my website. Without a reason to continue paying for the domain renewal and hosting, I decided to pull the plug. What I expected to be an emotional affair was actually more like a casual stroll in the park. I... Continue Reading →
Let’s Shoot the Amateur Photographers
It's a beautiful day to explore a deserted town rumored to be abandoned years ago because it was haunted. A town that is also rumored to be off-limits because it is private property, but there is no sign anywhere to justify this, so people still trespass enter. And it is also a town that is... Continue Reading →
Jazirat al-Hamra: Ghost Town or a Crumbling Piece of History?
One look at the seclusion and crumbling walls across the main road tells us that we have arrived at the right place. It's a couple of hours before dusk; we have some time to explore the area before it eventually gets dark. We park our cars right in front of a fort that watches over... Continue Reading →
Abandoned
I'm here. And I'll tell you all about this place. And why I'm here. Soon.
An Early Morning at the Muttrah Corniche
After crossing the UAE-Oman border, the long (and seemingly never-ending) drive and spending some time admiring the white houses, we finally drove straight into the Muttrah—one of the largest seaports and commercial area of Oman. We arrived around 6pm, tired and hungry. So we woke up early the next morning—a difficult task—to explore the place... Continue Reading →
The White Houses Down the Road
One of the first few things that we immediately noticed upon entering Muscat, Oman's capital city, is the abundance of white houses. The following shot was taken by my sister, Sophia, the proud owner of the Nikon D3000 that we used throughout this trip. We—Sanaf, my other sister who is also my photography buddy, and... Continue Reading →
Highway to Muscat, and the Crazy Stuff that Happens There
After driving for what seemed like years, we finally saw signs of Muscat. It rained on and off since we crossed the UAE-Oman border at Hatta, and this slowed down our speed considerably; that, and the fact that we stopped for tea, prayers, money exchange, and photography. We couldn't help it. The mountains were spectacular!... Continue Reading →
Crossing the UAE-Oman Border
"How are you doing?" I asked my sister on the phone last Thursday. "Yeah, I'm good," came the reply, "How about we drive all the way to Oman this weekend?" And just like that, the very next day, we—my two younger sisters, a friend and her mom, Masood, and I—left Sharjah for Muscat on a... Continue Reading →
I Wouldn’t Shoot if I Knew How to Draw
... perhaps not as much as I do now, anyway. Had I been gifted with the talent to sketch with finesse, I would spend my free time re-creating the still life that surrounded me. Like this one, for example... However, the genetic material responsible for making a person sketch so effortlessly has been passed over... Continue Reading →
Dubai Creek – Where Past Meets Present
In the early 20th century, Dubai was a small coastal village inhabited by a tribe—who came from the neighboring emirate, Abu Dhabi—led by the Al Maktoum family. Unlike its neighboring emirate, Dubai lacked the fertile oasis, so its inhabitants settled along the banks of the creek and involved themselves with fishing, herding sheep and goats,... Continue Reading →
Flamingos in the Desert
Dubai is known for several things—both good and bad—and one of them is the tallest structure in the world, the Burj Khalifa ... ... and not so far away from this engineering marvel lies a 620-hectare area comprising of sabkha saline flats, intertidal mudflats and mangroves, small lagoons and pools, and a few tiny islands. ... Continue Reading →
The 99 Attributes of Allah in Traditional Kufi Calligraphy
One of the several things that prominently stood out in the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi was this wall that one comes face-to-face with directly the moment one steps into the main prayer hall ... We visited the mosque at night, so I'm not sure how this looks during the day, but... Continue Reading →
Visiting Abu Dhabi? Don’t Miss the World’s 8th Largest Mosque.
I do not have the words to describe how beautiful and grand the Sheikh Zayed Mosque is. It is, in my opinion, the most imposing religious and national landmark in Abu Dhabi since it was built in 2007. According to one of Abu Dhabi's websites that features the mosque, the initial architectural design for the... Continue Reading →
Everyday Stuff from Ancient Arabia
Four years in the United Arab Emirates and I haven't been in a museum. I always assume that museums prohibit photography, and when a certain place puts that restriction I lose interest. But that's my assumption; maybe photography is allowed in museums here after all. Surprisingly, my first encounter with the local ancient stuff happened... Continue Reading →
Tea from Syria, Friends from Canada
I love tea. I have been thoroughly complacent and happy in my own world with what I was having—regular black tea with milk or the green tea that comes in teabags—until I saw this exotic-looking tea from Turkey. I couldn't think of anything else since. I knew I had to fly off to a... Continue Reading →
Sinbad in Sharjah!
Sinbad—and his crew of colorful-circus-type-costume-wearing pirates—docked their red ship in Sharjah not so long ago. They sailed in search for the "Golden Pineapple". That's silly, of course. Why anyone should sail all the way to Arabia in pursuit of a tropical fruit is beyond me. Here's their basic set-up: Photography-wise, I wasn't happy. We spent... Continue Reading →
A Piece of Cake
... free for everyone who came at Al Majaz park in Sharjah. Masood and I took a piece each; it was more than enough. But there were some who took several plates full of the cake to feed their children, others brought empty cardboard boxes with them to be filled with the cake! It was... Continue Reading →
The Rub’ al Khali Experience
The sun is setting over the Arabian desert in a blaze of orange and gold. As I take my first step into the sand, my bare feet sink comfortably into the cool, soft, powdery sand. I inhale and try to breathe in the history surrounding this place; the time before Land Rovers and Pajeros, when... Continue Reading →
How to Decorate Your Car for National Day
Or maybe not. Next day the police were busy stopping them, asking them to remove the stickers. Pictures courtesy of my beautiful sister, Sanaf. Oh, and the first prize winner for the best car decoration competition ...
Don’t Touch that Food Unless it’s Shot
. . . and that's the law where I live, specially if someone puts great efforts in its presentation. More so if the lighting is good. And a little privacy helps a great deal too. Below is a picture of a wooden box with leather casing that contained complimentary coffee, tea, sugar, and creamer. There's... Continue Reading →
The Purple Journal 