Muslim slaves and Muslim masters
Israelastine and the no state solution
As a firm believer in the no state solution I thought I would place Israel and Palestine in one piece. In my precisely constructed game of visa hopscotch I entered Israelestine from Jordan. The Jordanians didn't stamp me out because according to them whilst I was in the West Bank I was still in Jordan, they don't recognise Israel’s victory in the 1967 war. This left my Jordanian visa valid so long as I got back before it expired.
Saudi Arabia: An atheist in the land of the Two Mosques
Saudi Arabia was more about the prize of a visa and the thrill of an atheist in the land of pure monotheism than an exercise in tourism or culture. I can’t deny the draw of Saudi Aarbia’s biggest tourist attraction, chop chop square, through stories I had visions of a dozen guys lined up on their knees, a sharpened blade that dulled as it lobbed off a head at a time til the last few decapitees required a saw rather than a slash. Women in burqa's throwing up, men trying to pick them up in the only authorised dating scene in the country, blood flowing freely, it would be my greatest contribution to YouTube. I was in Jeddah for Friday, I was at the square outside the Mosque after the midday prayers but alas, there were no decapitations, not even a hand.
Chewing Qat in Yemen
On a rock the size of a football field, pushed, driven upwards out of the earth there lies an abandoned fort. It towers above a tiny village of bricks, cows butchers, men with daggers and women with veils. A village labyrinth of interconnected streets climbing towards the forts entrance gate. A climb, a cough, a spit with a nose that runs to reach the top of a fort with a commanding view of the valley. I can see the invading army approaching, the villages scampering through the labyrinth and up the fort as the men draw their daggers. I am getting carried away. I am on the fort alone but for an American with a camera and phone that refuses to be found.
