Saudi Arabia

Megan McCormick ventures into the countries on the Arabian Gulf – Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Oman – an area of ancient of kingdoms that’s synonymous with oil but still one of the most misunderstood areas of the entire world. Megan’s journey begins in the oil fields of Kuwait where she witnesses the devastation caused by the Iraqi invasion of 1990. As the army retreated under the Allied bombardment, Desert Storm, it set alight to dozens of oil fields causing an environmental catastrophe. Visiting its capital, Kuwait City, she finds that the superficial scars of the war have healed; in the city’s souks traditional Arab life continues. However, a meeting with a Kuwaiti prisoner of war on the festive Liberation Day (26 February) reveals that there are still hundreds of Kuwaitis who have never been released by the Iraqi regime. Megan visits the Bergen oil field, half an hour south of the city, to view the production of the world’s most important, yet most vexed, commodity. Her gaze turns from the international to the local when she accepts an invite to stay with a Kuwaiti family in a Bedouin camp in the desert. This is a spring tradition that many Kuwaitis hold dear – although nowadays their tents come with all the mod-cons like electricity and bathrooms! With a half-hour flight across the deserts of Saudi Arabia, Megan finds herself moving rapidly into the future in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. She checks into the world’s only seven star hotel, the Burj Al Arab, which dominates the city’s skyline with its dhow sail-like shape. From here she explores the high-tech excitement Dubai has to offer: the Wild Waddy water park and the Palm Sails project – a palm-shaped man-made island offering premier residential and resort living. For a taste of the traditional among the jet-set ambience of this city she visits one of its 34 malls where she tries on the ‘abayya’ veil worn by Muslim women. Two hours along the coast Megan arrives in Abu Dhabi, the country’s capital and the business centre of the Gulf. She visits Women She Zone mall, the world’s first female-only shopping centre, where women can be themselves in this male-dominated society. With 95 per cent of UAE desert, the inhabitants have found novel ways of incorporating into their lives. Megan tries her hand at golf in the sand but finds that she’s far better-off driving across it in a 4-wheel drive with Offroad Emirates. The company offers tours around the magnificent dunes of the Liwa Oasis on the edge of the aptly named ‘Empty Quarter’ – just a million square miles of sand. To find out just how rich this country is, Megan goes to meet the nephew of its president, Sheikh Hamed. This flamboyant sheik’s car collection includes a giant custom-made Dodge pickup truck and probably the world’s biggest motor home; each tyre is three metres high, is made of 1.5 tonnes of rubber and costs $16,000! She travels across the border into Oman and discovers one of the hidden jewels of the Gulf, a country far more immersed in its heritage than its neighbours. She visits the port city Muscat, home to the most authentic souk in the whole of Arabia. Here she wanders through a living embodiment of traditional Islamic life where you can buy abbayas, silver, gold, spices, flowers and much more. A trip to the Sultan Kabuz Grand Mosque leaves Megan higher than a flying carpet; this monumental building is made of graceful white marble and houses the largest chandelier and carpet in the world. Leaving the city behind her, Megan tries her hand at cattle shopping in Nizwa before getting out into Oman’s beautiful natural surroundings. She treks down a mountain called Wadi Bani Khalid in the Hajar mountains, an area that sees water year-round – a precious commodity in this desert country – with a guide from Nomadic Explorer. For a further dose of tradition, Megan travels to Sur on the easternmost point of Arabia to watch the dhow ships being built. The builders don’t use plans, instead they do it all by eye and it works! People come here from all over the Gulf to buy a ship. Then it’s back for a stop at the luxurious Al-Bustan Palace in Muscat for a night of rest before Megan embarks on the final leg of her journey to the south of the country. She flies to the town of Salah, near the Yemeni border, home to the biblical perfume Frankincense. Megan strikes a great bargain in a perfume souk for the divine incense before going to the only place in the world where trees produce this scent. She meets Musalem, one of the lucky few allowed to harvest this precious commodity that has brought wealth to Oman for centuries. The next day Megan visits Job’s tomb, a local man whose story is revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, before setting off into the desert for a last night with a Bedouin guide.

• published: 27 Jun 2014
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