Dubai Creek

Dubai at night is much like any other city; full of people rushing from one part of their day to the next. Cabs are honking, bus brakes are screeching and restaurants are beginning to buzz with evening chatter. Aside from the sounds of call to prayer and its brief pause, I could have been rushing through New York on a busy Friday night. The buildings go up and out for as far as the eye can see, which is only amplified by every inch of their edges being covered in millions of lights. There is an indescribable energy to a place that, in less than a generation, has gone from a nomadic desert culture to what has been described as "Las Vegas on steroids". As we moved through the crowded side streets, around cars and through groups of boisterous people out for a good time, we meandered our way through the souks (or market places). We haggled for silly souvenirs until we came upon the edge of the water. The Dubai Creek is a salt water inlet and arguably one of the most historic places you can visit in the center of this emirate. Here, for just a moment, a visitor can actually get a glimpse of this trading port which has been referenced as far back as the ancient Greeks. Much like everything else in Dubai, it has now been super-sized in order to increase trade. For roughly a dollar, you can climb into one of the many abras (or water taxis) and criss-cross along the water. Here at night, somewhere in the middle of the creek, it becomes very quiet. The sound of the people and the cabs and the buses begin to fade as you finally get a slightly less obstructed view of this historic treasure.

The Arabian Gulf

Sharjah is a coastal area situated on the Arabian Gulf. Traveling throughout the United Arab Emirates as an American was a wonderful experience. The people were kind and accommodating, until we asked to see the beach - then they were perplexed. It is, after all, winter and the coldest time of the year. While the breeze was nearly a wind, the sun was shining and the air was in the 70s. Of course this is all about perspective, as the temperature in the summer will easily be double this, so 70 is down right chilly. Wandering back and forth along this quarter mile stretch, I could have been walking the beach at home. Aside from the very large Russian tourists in very tiny bathing suits, the waves crashing could have been from any of the walks in this blog. The vast waters before me served only to make the world a little bit smaller.

Sharjah Art Museum

I have just traveled from an area crippled by winter's snowy grip to a land of endless sun. An opportunity to show my work alongside other international artists at the 29th Annual Emirates Fine Art Society Juried Exhibit has brought me to the other side of the globe. The path between the Sharjah Art Museum and our hotel has now become mindless. The first time I walked it, the city streets seemed foreign and overwhelming, I wondered how many times I would get turned around. Now it is just the path we take to and from setting up at the museum. How can something so foreign quickly become so familiar? Sharjah is considered a cultural center in the United Arab Emirates. The buildings have an old world quality, but few are much older than I am, so there is a bit of a gray area between where the culture truly is and where the image of the culture begins. There are flashes of this quasi-Epcot Center-esque feeling when you find out many of these buildings are a facade. So what is true? The fact that the warmth of the sun is only out-shined by the warmth of the people is true. The images I carried with me here of the middle east are not true of this country. It is true that under this constitutional monarchy all people are considered equals, affording women the rights I simply assumed they were denied. Though above all else, the sacredness of hospitality seems to be the greatest truth here, within and between these buildings which I now travel through.