From Paris with Love

So here I am in Paris for a couple of days on my way back home from a long stay in Interlaken, Switzerland. I stayed at a hotel next to the Arc de Triomphe. My room, however, has a view of the alley on the back. but thats fine by me. The first day went well. I walked down the Avenue des Champs-Élysées From the west, where my hotel was, to the east all the way to the Louvre. I had fun fun actually but it wasn't the experience that I've expected. The street is famous for its cinemas and cafés, but all I've seen is American movies in the cinemas and many American and Italian coffee shops. Other than that, global chain stores are all over the place in addition to the largest McDonald's branch I've ever seen! On my second day, I went all the way up to the Eiffel Tower after standing in line for the whole day. Nothing to see up there really. Just the feeling of being there is enough for me. I didn't have a camera at the time as I didn't plan for all of this but however, on my way back I asked, with my modest French mixed with English, a Pakistani Gentleman who was standing near the metro's underground entrance, where I was supposed to use to move freely in Paris, to take a photo of me with a mobile phone camera.

On my last free day before my flight, I visited the Louvre Museum,which is worth visiting not only for its exhibited articles, but also for it's beauty as remarkable building and its exquisite interiors. As many European museum, it is full of stolen exhibitions from all around the world.

On my way to the Grand Gallery, where the Mona Lisa is shown, I've gone through a whole bunch of naked people's portraits. People whom have been considered important and sacred for both muslims and christian Arabs. In the back of my head, I've always imagined certain personalities in certain kind of a way. Such as St. John the Baptist whom he rests in his shrine In the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus

"Is that John the Baptist? Oh my God why is he naked?!!"

All I think is the concept of nudity might differ from one place to another. Finally, I reached the grand gallery and I see a big crowd surrounding the place where the Mona Lisa is should be. So I fought to get through and get a glimpse of the real Mona lisa, the real deal. Is that it ? It's smaller than I thought and the worst thing is that the media didn't leave us anything to explore ourselves. It ruined my experience, whether is it the Mona lisa, the Eiffel Tower or every other famous site in the world. Is that what I've been fighting to see? It's small and identical to what I've been seeing all these years in magazines, TV, news papers, the internet and every other form of the media. Instead of fighting the crowds to get a closer look at the Mona Lisa, I turned to the the opposite direction to see the largest painting in the Louvre. I don't know what it's called or who painted it, but what I know is that it shows the last supper better than Da Vinci's Last Supper. Finally, I returned to the Hotel where I slept it all off and woke up early in the morning prepared to go to the airport where I'll take the evening flight to Dubai where I'll stay for another couple of days before going back home as my usual habit every time I travel, but that's another story.

Photos I've taken from up the Arc de Triomphe with my phone camera:

The eiffel Tower

The Avenue des Champs-Élysées

Napoleon's Statue inside the Arc de Triomphe

A Fresh Start

I was 19 when I landed in Istanbul. It wasn't my first time there. I know the place very well. Maybe not VERY well but still. No reason for me to feel this awkwardness, frustration and anxiety. Was it because I lost all of my friends that summer? Or was it because of the new community that I'm in? Full of lies, hypocrisy and deception. Whatever the reason was, it ruined my mentality and I find its effect present in my life up until this moment. In my hotel room on my first night I felt something super heavy on my chest preventing me from breathing. I couldn't sleep. “What's happening to me?” Why I feel so lonely all of a sudden? so I turned on the TV. Nothing to see here, late night talk shows in Turkish, Turkish music, some trash TV, even Hollywood movies were in Turkish! I turned it off. I scratched my head, stood up in front of the big window. Nice view!

I know the story was at night but

that's all I've got so use your imagination please

YAWNING I went out of my room without worrying about changing my cloths. Although it was in the middle of the city, it was't a regular downtown hotel. Rooms are in two buildings facing a beautiful garden by the sea while the lobby was in the middle of that garden, the whole hotel was on a lake. Not enjoying my surrounding, I walked into the lobby, took a seat on one of them comfy sofas. Even though it was a little late, people are flowing in and out of the hotel. I just sat there watching them. Nothing beats that eh? Time went so slow and I was awake and attentive with my eyes opened like an owl.

The more time I spent in the lobby the more sad I became. I hate being alone like this so I went out walking around the hotel and then I found Tekin the tour guide from last time sitting on the hood of his car smoking so I went towards him.

• “Hey Raed is that You?”

• “You remember me?”

• “of course I remember, you owe me two million Leira (about two pounds in that time)”

• “Man! You've got to be kidding me. Is that why you still remember me?

• Laughing “I'm joking man, what are doing here in Istanbul?”

• “What are YOU doing here? This place is supposed to be for tourists like me”.

• “I finished college this year and I'm a full time employee in this hotel”

• “What do you do here exactly?”

• “I'm a concierge”

• “really!”

• “Yeah really. And guess what, I'm going to get married soon”

• “well congrats!”

• “Thank you. You still single?”

• “What do you mean You still single. It's only a single who wander around a hotel wearing PJs”

• “Don't you worry about it. You got time tomorrow?”

• “Yes, but For what?”

• “A tour downtown. It's going to be fun. You'll never find any guided tour like it because it's not for tourists but only for locals. Just meet me at the lobby at 8 in the morning”

• “That's too early”

• “Go get some sleep then”

• “alright, see you tomorrow”

• “see ya”

  I went up to my room, laid down on the bed thinking about tomorrow, forgetting all the troubles I left at home. I enjoyed every moment of that tour and went back home a fresh new person ready to start a new life in a new city and a new environment.

  Some downtown pictures

  
  

  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  

The Origins

To be clear from the beginning I'm not the kind of guy who writes journals and diaries. The last time I tried, I ended up with something like this: "Sunday the 7th of july 2008, I woke up in the morning at 6:30 am, went to the shower, came out of the shower, went outside, started the car, drove to school... etc.". Therefore, as it appears from the title of this blog, I'm only going to post some thoughts and comments about some experiences and situations that I, or someone else, have come across and found interesting and worth mentioning.

First of all, Before I talk about where I have been, I think it is better to start with where I come from which is my beloved hometown Makkah (Mecca) which I love the most not because of its religious status but because I enjoy being surrounded by its amazing and lovely people with their distinct accent and their big hearts. Although I was born in Jeddah, I grew up and lived in Makkah for my whole life and I plan for living there for the rest of my life. Today, I'll give some background so when I post about the places I've been, you will know where I came from. Let's see where it's located. It is on the west coast of Saudi Arabia.

Current Saudi Arabia

It is an ancient city and holds the holiest shrine for muslims who believe that it was built By Abraham and his son Ishmael millenniums ago.

The city's population is estimated by 2,110,293 (2010) from many different origins but the majority are Arabs. Therefore the society of Makkah is a very rich society not only because of the of this but also because of millions of visitors who come to visit every year to perform their Islamic pilgrimage (Hajj), It is interesting to note that prior to the age of the European world explorations, the pilgrimage to Makkah was the single largest expression of human mobility, visitors who come for business interests as it is one of the economically active cities in the Middle East.

Today, the city is governed by Prince Khalid Alfaisal (I wanted to put my picture shaking hands with him but unfortunately I don't have it with me but I promise I'll put it in a later post) who started a grand project, as soon as he became the prince of the Makkah (Including Jeddah and the

surrounding cities and areas) on 16 May 2007, which makes Makkah the leading city in the Middle East by 2020. It is clear for the visitor to the old city today that a magnificent change is taking place where the old central Makkah is becoming day by day a place that can serve, overwhelm and please millions of visitors each year efficiently even though it is at the expense of demolishing the ancient city and its castle. This might appear violating for many people but without it, it will be impossible to handle the massive increasing number of people coming in every year.

Most people when they talk about Makkah they start by talking about the Grand Mosque (AKA. The Haram) and the fact that it is the the birthplace and home town of Mohammed the messenger of Islam because it is the most important thing in Makkah. I totally agree with that but this kind of information is very common and can be found almost everywhere. But that doesn't mean that I will skip it. In fact I'll try my best to present it in a new and pleasant way.

The Grand Mosque

Called The Haram by the people in Makkah, as a short for Almasjid Alharam, located at the heart of Makkah on a 4,008,020 square metres peace of land, with a capacity of more than 750,000 person, it is considered the first and the largest mosque in world. In the middle of it stands The Kaaba which was built by Abraham and his son covered by Black silk curtains with verses of Koran written on it with gold strings, and muslims all around the world face its direction every time they pray. Next to it there is the shrine of Abraham and under it there is the well than never runs dry the well of Zamzam the blessed water which God bestowed to Ishmael and his mother in the lifeless valley of Becca (which became Makkah), because of its high nutritious value. Now here is some photos I took myself on my last visit during christmas holiday 2009:

One of the gates

From Inside

A thousand year old pillar with

carving that indicates that

some Caliph renovated the structure

The tallest concrete building in

the world unfinished with

Mövenpick Hotel and

the shopping mall under it

Makkah and Western Saudi Arabia in General has its own unique culture, features, and language which make it special and different than the rest of Saudi Arabia Here is some photos of its past and present:

People of Makkah have

a special relationship with pigeons

old pigeon tower

Old Makkah

Old Market

Old Makkah 2

Old Makkah 3

The Solti School

An Important school

Started 1792

An old park outside the city

Traditional Hejazi House

modern house with

traditional design

Mövenpick Hotel

from inside the Haram

The door to the Kaaba

The shrine of Abraham

The gate to Makkah

The Intercontinental Hotel (lift)

That's not all what I've got about Makkah but I hope it's enough to give a clear picture about my background. Next time, I promise to make it more fun. It is probably going to be about my first journey to Turkey or maybe something else, hopefully something more fun, so please stay around for more...later.