Day 14 done

And there you go, two thirds done of the first tour, only 7 days to go now. Ramadan finishes tomorrow, and is followed by Eid. The locals get 6 days off work for Eid from Tuesday - Sunday. Apparently this time is for family and fun and partying, in major contrast to Ramadan. It is customary that the children go from door to door asking for gifts and they are given money or sweets. Doesn't it sound like Lent, Christmas and Halloween all rolled into a month and a bit? Well to me the concepts seem the same...

Anyway, I must say this trip has opened my eyes to the Arab and Islamic world. I think you know one of my objectives in life is to learn as much as humanly possible and this trip has been well worth it. I have "connected" with my driver who is Omani - his name is Nasser. Yesterday he said, "You (pointing at me), your heart (pointing at his heart), white."..."My heart is what?", I say? " you heart ... white, you nice!"..."ahh I say, I think you mean pure or good? You say you think I have a good heart?" ..."Yes, you heart is good!". "Shukaran (the second arabian word he taught me on the first day - means thank you) - you also - I think you also have a good heart." Says I. Even though we struggled at times to understand each other we have have had much laughter.

This country, he says, is a land of too much...too much Indians, too much heat! Belgium I say also a land of too much, too much people, too much rain, too much taxes!

He also introduced me to Akon.