The Tree of Life, Bahrain

Took a taxi out to the Bahraini desert this afternoon to see the "Tree of Life." A totally incongruous idea from a certain point of view. About a 30 minute drive in the cabbie's new 2005 Ford Crown Vic. (He was very proud, justifiably.) We cleared the outskirts of Manama and passed into the very tony area where the royals take up residence. This palace for the Emir, that one for his father, another for the grandmother, one for the cousin, etc., etc. All places mere mortals like me will never see the inside of. (I think of a line from the recent movie "Syriana," paraphrased: "A hundred years ago you guys lived in tents and rode camels over the dunes. A hundred years from now you'll be back doing the same thing.") But, I digress. (I never met a tangent I could resist going off on. How do you go "off" ON a tangent?

Nonetheless...after a time we were in the desert. Stark, rocky, forbidding. Oil and natural gas facilities dotted the landscape and pipelines crawled across the sands like packs of snakes.

On a little escarpment off in the distance the tree came into view. As trees go it wasn't much to look at. I don't even know it's species, maybe Juniper. I've certainly seen much finer, more magnificent trees in my travels. But it touched me in a deep, personal way.

It's about 450 years old and has no apparent means of support. Presumably it's fed by an underground spring. People come from all over the world and from all religions and ethnicities come to commune with it. There were Hindus there when we arrived offering incense and prayers. The driver said you can talk to God by channeling, more or less, through the tree. Like so many things in the natural world, the poor thing is in danger of being loved too much. Although there's a little fence around it, there is no protection. At one time a guard was posted 24/7. But, in spite of donations from around the world now the guard is gone. So people have scrawled and carved their names all over the branches. Twigs and limbs have been cut. Bark has been peeled. Kids climb all over it. That I don't worry about so much. A tree just begs for kids to climb it (See the Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein).

I spent a moment alone touching it's limbs and feeling it's life. Insh'Allah it will be standing long after I'm gone from this life. Maybe one day I'll have great grandchildren who will find themselves in Bahrain some afternoon and feel a pull toward a lonely life in the desert.

People fight and die and slaughter one another over things of little to no significance. The tree stands alone every day, every week, every year, decade, century and maybe some day, a millenium. Just striving to see another sunrise.

The driver agreed to take me to the Qala'at Al-Bahrain or Bahrain Fort on the way back. It's the only UNESCO World Heritage site in Bahrain. But, we got caught up in a mammoth traffic jam of people coming to protest the recent bombing of the Shi'ite Mosque in Iraq in conjunction with the celebration of Imam Hussein, who was the brother-in-law of the Propher Mohammed. Or something.

As a consequence of that and the festive Formula One (F-1) parade being held along the Corniche near our hotel, we were forced to skip the stop. Sigh! There isn't much to the fort, but it would've made the fifth UNESCO site on the Piles of Rocks Tour. Next time. We did get a tour of the backstreets of Manama as we tried to get back to the hotel.

But we passed these mounds of sand on the way back. Turns out there are about 100,000 of them. They are burial sites. I don't know when they are dated to. Many contain the bodies of ancient royals. It's not marked off or posted. You can just wander around in them. I'm more than sure they are ripe for looting and grave robbing.
So tomorrow off to Muscat, Oman. It'll be warmer and the hotel is on a great beach, the one place where I can run barefoot.

The "Piles of Rocks" Tour continues...

Couple days ago we took an early morning jaunt from Beirut to the ancient city of Byblos. Byblos. Think bibliography, books, bible, that sort of thing. It was here back in the days of the Phoenicians and even pre-Phoenicians (Whomever the heck they were) papyrus was made for the printing of the written word. From which came books. Get it?

The earliest documented settlers here set up shop around 6000 BCE, give or take. There is a nice spring which seemed to make it a good place to live.

Just about any ancient civilization and culture you can think of called Byblos home at one time or other. The Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Crusaders. Lahdy dahdy and everybody.

This is the final resting sarcophagus of a king who was related to the Egyptians of Pyramid fame. I found the tunnel leading down to it. Naturally it had long ago been stripped of valuables.

These Corinthian columns were what the Romans left. Those guys were EVERYWHERE!

Then of course your Crusaders built this fort sometime around 1047 AD, I think it was. There are a couple interesting things about this castle.

The Crusaders, ever the historical preservationists, used Roman columns from the area to strengthen the walls of the fort. You can see the ends sticking out in this wall.

Some other things you can see stuck in the walls are cannon balls. I don't know who fired those, but they certainly did it long after the Crusaders blew town. I'll say this, the doggone fort was pretty well built. The inside pix were cool too.

You could just imagine the defenders pouring hot oil and shooting bows and arrows on the infidels below. Well, technically they only shot the arrows. But, I reckon once those ran out they probably shot the bows at 'em too.

This was our group. From there we had to hustle back to the hotel for one last Beirut Shishtawouk, grab our bags and get to the airport. Byblos certainly doesn't match up to the awe of Petra, Baalbek or the Pyramids. But, it's a pretty fascinating place and we could have spent a couple more hours there easily. AND it's on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list. Number four for the trip.

On to Bahrain.

Petra

You've probably seen a photo like this before. It's the Treasury of Petra. Built around the turn of the century. The century that happened over 2,000 years ago. It's even better being there. Actually I took this at the end of the visit as we were leaving. The crowds were basically gone by then.

Here it is with the crowds and the beret. Quite dashing I think.

What the Nabateans did here defies description. All these buildings, funeraries, temples, amphitheatres, homes and everything else was carved out of solid rock. The colors in the veins of these rocks is extraordinary. AND it's on the UNESCO List of Worl Heritage sites. Number three for this trip.

Kind of going for the artsy-fartsy shot here. The face was probably of an alien that turned up here by accident.

Captured this ceremonial guard through the crowd.

Gives you an idea of the colors in the rocks.


Petra was used as a backdrop in the last Indiana Jones movie. Naturally, the enterprising entrepreneurs capitalize on that fact. All in all they weren't too intrusive. Unlike the 50 million guys with the donkeys and camels wanting you to pay for a ride. Personally, I think it would be a bit humiliating to plop your fat American ass on some skinny Jordanian Ass because you were too lazy or too unfit to walk around.

Last photo of Petra. The Romans showed up in their time too. This was at the far end of the site. It took about 45 minutes of serious walking from here to get back to the bus. We spent four hours in Petra and could have spent four more easily. This one I will want to see again.

The Dead Sea & Mt. Nebo, Jordan (And the beret)

My friend, Rashid wanted to make a run out to the Dead Sea. So we put together three cabs and about a dozen of the group spent a few hours rolling through the Jordanian countryside.

One thing they have no shortage of here is rocks. Well, two things. There's a fair number of sheep too. But, if every visitor to Jordan took a couple stones for souvenirs why, in three or four billion years the place would be a desert. OK, so it's already a desert. You get my drift.

This is a spring where Charlton Heston, aka Moses, got his water in his last days. It sits below Mt. Nebo, from which he could see the Promised Land", but not touch.

From here Charl...I mean Moses could see the Land of Milk and Honey. Jericho is straight ahead about 27 kilometers. But, for him it was the end of the road. It's in the Bible (Deuterominominominy Chapter 34) and the Qu'ran (Like I would know where). He was 120 years old. A pretty good run, what with building the Ark and floating around in the bullrushes and all.

An order of catholic monks built a monastery here a few centuries ago. Pope JP II planted an olive tree a couple years ago. Muslims and Christians were praying here virtually side-by-side. There were even Korean Evangelicals running around singing and taking a slew of pictures. Yet we continue slaughtering each other over these crummy piles of rocks. Something ain't right.

So we went on down to the Dead Sea. Right across from Israel. They say the mud from the banks of this pond has some kind of nutrients that restore and refurbish your skin. I rubbed some on and it felt like my face was being eaten off. I'll say this: That water is REALLY salty! I got a sip when I was washing my face and it tasted like I had sucked down a three pound bag of Lay's Potato Chips in one bite.

All in all, a nice sort of unplanned side trip. Tomorrow- Petra!

Paris (not Hilton), but...

I'm well past Paris at the moment. Actually I'm in the Paris of the Middle East (Beirut), but have LOTS of stuff to blog leading up to the present. Internet at the hotel here is $30 a day, so I'll try to catch up tonight.

ANYWAY, stayed in a boutiquey little hotel in the Trocadero section of Gay Paree. Very toney. I don't know if you'll be able to read the price tag on these ugly-assed shoes, but it's 3,100 Euros. For the EU impaired that equates to about $3,700. So, I could either buy ten pairs of these or one BMW. Gee, that's a tough call.

An interesting thing about Paris is alot of the landmarks look really cool photographed in Black and White. A grainy sort of realism if you will. Very artistique. Tres chic. E.U. Mon dieu. Sacre Bleu. Bleu Cheese.

Le Metropolitain station at Notre Dame (The one NOT in Indiana). It was dark and pouring rain when I got to the site of the church. So no Hunchback, no Touchdown Jesus (Yeah, I know, I know.). BUT, the Banks of the Seine is a UNESCO World Heritage site. So that's one for this trip.

Hall of Mirrors, Palace of Versaille.
Took the Metro out to Versailles. This little hunting "lodge" was all the rage back in the days before Marie Antoinette lost her head over some fool idea about what our Founding Fathers referred to as Liberty. It is quite the layout. Number two of this trip's UNESCO World Heritage hit parade.

The Moulin Rouge. Yeah, THAT Moulin Rouge. Didn't see Halle Berry, Pink or any of the women from that video and movie. Plenty of triple X rated shops though.

Like this one.

You know, they don't actually wear berets in France anymore. But, I think they secretly want to. This guy had one and looked pretty good. He was some kind of street performer. Of course they sell them to tourists ala Chevy chase in European Vacation. AND of course I got one. Did you ever doubt I would? Personally, I think I look very good with it. But, you'll have to wait another day to see me wearing it. It's late, I'm bushed and I want to hit Le Sac.

Bon Sois!

Sunday Morning Commentary

Boy, they're REALLY getting clobbered with snow over on the East coast! Columbia, Maryland has 21 inches (or 53cm, whichever you prefer). Here in southeastern Ohio we've mostly dodged it. I fly tomorrow out of Cincy. Looks like it'll be no problem. Good thing. I'm too ready to go.

My counter shows 34 hits in three and a half days. Hani comments I might develop a cult following. That's what I've always wanted, my own cult. To follow me and obey my slightest command. I can never get the dog to do that. It'll be a refreshing change.

I see Michelle Kwan has dropped out of the Olympics. The life-span of any athlete is pretty short. That of an Olympic hopeful is comparatively minescule. One shot every four years. Anyone appearing in more than one games is an anomaly. Three or more times is freakish. Al Oerter made five in the shot put. The problem is this: after a certain age athletes only get older. They don't get better. At 29 (I think) Michelle Kwan is a dinosaur. Relatively speaking. On to the Ice Capades.

OK, I'm putting off going out for my run. I'm outta here.

Traffic Counter

Some may have noticed my new little Traffic Counter below the clock. (Always looking for something new to pimp-up my blog.) Since I get an automatic e-mail alert whenever someone comments I don't have to log directly onto the blog find out. Now I can even tell if someone besides me is reading it. Apparently there are a few entertainment-deprived souls out there. Not many, but thirteen different individuals checked me out yesterday.

Don't know if that's unlucky or not.

Off to the Middle East in a few days. Hope my last name doesn't turn out to mean "Danish cartoonist" or something in Arabic!

But first a stopover in Paris. Ooh La La!

My Vote For Best Super Bowl Ad...

Me and the dog spent most of our time during the Super Bowl arguing over which ad was best. The Budweiser Magic Refrigerator got my best laugh. She liked the Bud ads with the Clydesdales.

I argued they were too saccarine. She countered I am anti-non-people.


We both thought the Burger King ad was stupid.

Toilet Stall Issue Revisited....

Linked to this via Gizmodo.com. I think it apropos to my earlier post, the very popular "True Confessions." (http://mike247worldwide.blogspot.com/2006/01/true-confessions.html)

I might get one.

Steelers win "One for the Thumb!"

Jerome Bettis calls it a career after the Steelers take Super Bowl XL 21-10 over the Seattle Seahawks.

My late uncle Bill would have loved this.

I was in the 'Burgh yesterday afternoon. The 'Strip.' The atmosphere was festive. Wish I was there tonight.

The Clock

You may have noticed the clock up top. I saw one on a blog this guy in Paris has. Thought it was a cool idea and put it in a couple days ago. Only thing is I wasn't sure where the code for the clock went, so I didn't know where it would show up.

Not crazy about the location. I may try to move it.

It's time to travel. I'm REALLY having a hard time coming up with something to blog. I should be one of those political bloggers in D.C. They have something everyday. But, how many ways can I say George Bush is a moron?

Think Homeland Security is monitoring me?

Patriotism

"If one were loyal to one's nation only because it was good and true...one would not be loyal to any nation, but to truth and goodness. The idea of patriotism would have no place either in our dictionaries or our lives."
Max Easton, 1906

From the book "Going Nucular" by Geoffrey Nunberg