stairway to heaven

after a few trips into the desert in the uae, an austrian friend suggested we climb the “stairway to heaven”. little did i know then that this famed destination is one of the most difficult mountain climbs in the uae. to be sure, it is not high, only 1,250 meters (4,100 ft). for the most part it is a path of loose rocks which requires one to be on all four for a good part of the path. the climb gets interesting when one reaches the wall – a route straight up about 500 meters. NEVER NEVER attempt this climb without someone who had done it before a few times, and is very knowledgeable of the area – it is easy to get lost. typically the climb and back is all done in daylight in one day, but only the wise recognize when they haven taken too long on the way up to turn back even if they did not reach the top. in fact, the climb is so dangerous, that many climbers have gotten lost and had to call the local authorities for emergency help. it was reported that the authorities plan to close the path to prevent further climbs. the path is unmarked until one gets to the wall, where the stairway begins. it is said that the stairway is a former path set up by mountain smugglers to get over the top of the mountain and into oman. the path is made of rocks loosely arranged into steps in several stages. but this is not a stairway for those with any fear of heights. the climb up is manageable though – just don’t look down. the view straight down can be, well,… distracting, and with no ropes or harnesses, one needs to maintain good focus on the immediate task at hand: the next ledge to place your foot, and rock to grasp. two hours later up the wall you reach the top, which on googleearth shows it to be in oman. only a few steps away, i noticed a communication station built on top. when i asked how the material was transported up this treacherous path, my friend pointed to the road that came up on the other side of the hill. that took away from the sense of conquest of the mountain. as we sat to rest and contemplate the way up and the surrounding awe inspiring rock formations, i was distracted by the thought of having to climb down the shear wall. the experience down the wall was just as distracting at the thought of it.

my personal story here is though having gone up and down, it was not so easy. i was not fit when we went. i did not carry enough water, or food. late may can be hot in the uae, and needless to say i dehydrated. so what we intended to be a return in dubai by about 6pm ended up being around midnight. from personal experience, i do confirm the oft unheeded warning to climb with someone who has done the “stairway” before. had it not been for my austrian friend, i would have probably had to spend the night on the mountain until my body cooled off and i could climb down in the morning before the sun beat down on the route back.

going there:

best time to go is in late march through early may when the daylight is relatively long and the weather is not too hot

drive on the coast after ras al khaimah, pass the cement factory and make a right in the direction of  wadi ghalilah. drive past the dam and follow the dirt road until a 4wd can’t go any further. start walking.

google earth coordinates
25° 59′ 11″ N, 56° 11′ 12″ E

happy valentine’s day – don’t even think about it if you are in saudi arabia

truck door decoration, north pakistan

hope every one of you has a wonderful day….

silly, and perhaps sophomorically so, even as commercial as this celebration may be, the motawea, the saudi virtue police, have banned the celebration of valentine’s day in the kingdom. they have been doing spot checks at flower shops to make sure they are not stocking roses.

model planes, trains and automobiles

 

a little known quirky little museum is tucked on the ground floor, of all places, of the forbes magazine head office building in manhattan – you won’t find this listing in your travel guides. the forbes galleries, as the museum is called, house a toy collection of the forbes family including toy soldiers, historical model ships, board games including the precursor to the now all too familiar monopoly, and many other eclectic, seemingly unconnected, permanent and rotating collections from the forbes family. for all the toys on display, many of the vistors are in fact adults – it is well worth a visit. and best of all it is free. yes, free in new york city. and there is hardly anyone there.

the forbes galleries
62 Fifth Avenue – at 12th Street, 
new york city
+1 212 206 5549

hours
sun, mon   closed
tue, wed    10.00 – 16.00
thu             group tours only
fri, sat        10.00 – 16.00

alien landing site?

i was quite excited by the thought of discovering an extra terrestrial community, or perhaps a highly classified government project, when i came upon this geometric formation in the middle of the desert, of circles aligned in a perfectly north-south orientation. the arrangement measures approximately 50km [31 miles] across [yellow line in image above] - just to get a sense of scale. there are roads and a landing strip. the location is very remote in the deep south of the western desert in egypt. it all seemed highly suspicious. it was not for another week, after i consulted a friend of mine with travel and research experience in this remote part of egypt, that my excitement was utterly deflated. the image above, represents an area known as east oweinat, which is part of a large and ambitious government  desert reclamation project, known as the south valley development project. the aim is to greatly expand the area of cultivated and habitable land in egypt.  each circle [approximately 800m wide, 0.5 mile] in the google earth image above represents cultivated land which relies primarily on underground water.

google earth coordinates
22° 35′ 00″ N, 28° 31′ 00″ E

dubai, new york, tokyo – alphabetically

these three cities have something in common - i often find it hard to describe or convey the essence of any one of them to someone who has not been there, even the well heeled. and each for a different reason. having lived in all three, i have developed my own set of ways to describe them and it still does not work. these are, in my mind, the only cities that you have to go there to get a sense of the place. london, cairo, manila, or whatever, you can almost convey an idea of what to expect. dubai, the 21st century city of superlatives, is not exactly a livable city, actually, many might argue it is not even a city because its devoid of public space, walkable destinations, or a proper public transportation system. but this is not what dubai is about now. dubai is arguably the largest construction site in the world, and a unique model of its own right, never before attempted in the modern era. it is a city with all its infrastructure, housing, and public institutions, all under construction at the same time. the enormity of this undertaking does not have a parallel anywhere else in the world. none of the purpose planned and realized capitals like abuja, nigeria; islamabad, pakistan; or brasilia, brazil, are of the enormous scale that dubai is. it is said about 25-30% of the world construction cranes are in dubai, and with a population that is almost 90% ex-pat, the demographics are yet another unique attribute. new york city? well, it is the capital of the world.  i have a reason to be biased. how can a gridded city be exciting? but the buzz in new york is unmatched anywhere else in the world. look beyond the grid, and the seeming rigidity or straightforwardedness of it, and you will find a city that is anything but. it is not difficult to understand why new yorkers are jaded – they have everything in the city within just a few subway stops, be it food, garments, art, you name it. once you’ve been to new york, you will have a different appreciation of movies like woody allen’s manhattan, or the tv series seinfeld, mad about you – it is the true ‘gotham’ or ‘metropolis’.  and finally tokyo, it is probably the hardest of the three to describe. i always refer to the scene in the 1982 cult movie bladerunner where deckard [harrison ford] is eating udon at a street vendor on a narrow alley, and the camera pans to the tall buildings in the background with video displays on them and a voice making a public announcement bellows from some public pa system. tokyo, the hi-tech city of the future without equal, is very much like this scene on steroids. 

but would you want to hear second hand about any of these cities? they should be priority destinations on your list.

fuji-san, mt fuji in japan

if you are in japan for a while, as i was, you have to climb mt fuji [3,776 m, 12,388 ft] – the window is from july through end august for optimal weather conditions. the mountain is easily accessible from tokyo by several public transportation systems, and tour operators. we took a bus from shinjuku.  my colleagues and i postponed the climb until the last weekend of the season when the forecast was for beautiful clear skies. but as we started the climb, we encountered one of the worst storms of the season, that required the park rangers to close the mountain, and urge all climbers to seek refuge in the lodges along the ascent path. the climb, as with almost any activity in japan, was packed with japanese hikers of all age groups, along the route from the popular starting point at the fifth station to the top.  due to the storm, we crashed in one of the lodges in our wet clothes until the morning, a very cold and cloudy one. we marched on to the peak, we were not going to leave without making it to the top. it was unfortunately disappointing: no sunrise due to the cloudy weather, it was raining, and all we saw at the top were a couple of shops and vending machines – they have vending machines everywhere in japan!  i am told that the view is spectacular from the top of this majestic looking mountain, which has been an inspiration for many ukiyo-e artists over the years – my only consolation is the view of mt fuji from the shinkansen on my many trips between tokyo and kyoto.  if you spent any time in japan, you also know that ”you have to climb mt fuji once, but to climb it twice you have to be stupid”. so, would i go back for a clear sunrise?

google earth coordinates
35° 21′ 28.8″ N, 138° 43′ 51.6″ E

climbing mt sinai

as with almost any mountain climb, you will want to start before dawn, so you can reach the summit in time for sunrise.  the view from mt sinai   [2,285 m, 7,497 ft], located in the southern part of the sinai peninsula, egypt,  at sunrise is almost consistently spectacular, unlike other mountains like mt fuji or mt bromo, that may be covered in thick clouds, or worse, pouring rain.  ask again and again how long it takes to reach the top, and take lots of warm clothes so you won’t do what i did, and arrive more than an hour before sunrise. it is cold up there, several degrees colder than where you start - i climbed in late december, and an hour at the summit is cold. trust me, very cold. the climb turned out to take less time than what i was told. you will be appoached by the bedouins for a camel ride to get you closer, faster – i walked. though in the dark without a flash light, you may want to watch where you step, or you might step into some fresh camel dung. the climb is relatively easy, except towards the end when you have been already climbing for almost 2 hours and you come to the 3,750 steps you will need to cllimb to the summit - anyone in any state of fitness can make it.  it is well worth the climb for the panoramic view of the surrounding mountain ranges, and the reward on the way down is is a tour of the famous st catherine monastery.

google earth coordinates
28° 32′ 23″ N, 33° 58′ 24″

mt bromo – go ahead climb a volcano

there are several volcanos in indonesia, including the famous krakatao.  in eastern java, indonesia’s main island, its most popular, though perhaps not the tallest or the most impressive looking volcano, is mt bromo [2,329 m, 7,641 ft], recognizable by its missing top – it was blown off during one of its eruptions. to be sure, mt bromo is still active. you can climb (250 steps)to the top of the crater, a precarious narrow edge, look down into the volcano and see the active molten lava. you will also catch more than a whiff of sulphur!  on my way from jogjakarta to bali, i stopped at mt bromo - it was a good way to break the long bus journey, but you can also take a garuda flight from jakarta to surabaya, then drive for 3 hours to get to mt bromo.  make sure you arrive in the afternoon, find a cottage or hotel near the volcano, most likely in cemoro lawang (the closest point to the crater), and get some sleep.  most people get an early start, to catch the sunrise over the landscape which under a full moon looks like a lunar landscape. it’s quite spectacular actually. there are several ways to experience your visit. you can hire a jeep, take a donkey or just walk. i walked – the long way, first going to mt batok, an inactive volcano, and away from all the visitors, then descended into the caldera and on to mt bromo. there are many mountain trails in the area, and if you have the time, it is well worth staying an extra day to hike, and take in the views. you will also likely run into many villagers.

google earth locator
-7° 56′ 24.00″, +112° 56′ 60.00″

gray’s papaya – a classic ny experience

a sign, one of many, on the store exterior, says, “when you’re hungry, or broke, or just in a hurry”.  this faster than fast food hot dog joint has become a veritable manhattan dining experience. i am very familiar with the location on broadway and 72nd street – i keep an apartment on the upper west side.  over the years, i have in fact gone there when i was hungry, when i was broke and when i was just in a hurry, but often i still find myself going there just to grab 2 hot dogs and a papaya juice – and at $3.50, it is practically a steal. the hot dogs are grilled and not steamed like the many sold at the street carts. and you can be sure gray’s dogs are grilled to crispiness. walk up to the counter and ask for “2 well done with sauerkraut”, then go over to the counter and pour as much mustard or ketchup from the oversized industrial containers on your “dogs”. you will surely go back and not for why the sign says. no one knows why they go back for more, but they do, and many of them do for that matter.  and i don’t think it’s because they read zagat’s review.

ghost town dubai?

it is almost as if dubai is in a post apocalyptic era where everyone has abandoned the city overnight in a hurry in the middle of whatever they were doing. this is historic and unprecedented for dubai, the city where construction never stops. an entire city lockdown. from my living room window, which is a practical watchtower over the construction in dubai overlooking both business bay and burj dubai construction, everything has come to a standstill. not public holiday, not ‘eid’, not even friday has ever kept the throngs of workers from welding, drilling, or hammering. but today, not a soul is to be seen. shaikh zayed road, the main artery of dubai, is empty, except for the occasional speeding black suv with flashing blue lights. almost as in a sci-fi flick, city lockdown started yesterday with areas in bur dubai such as the historic bastakiyya district, and other road detours. today, closures include shaikh zayed road, shaikh rashid road, al-khail road, al wasl road, jumeirah beach road, maktoum and garhoud bridges. lockdown has supposedly included shut down of some landline and tv service – urban myth perhaps, but mine was shut down abruptly last night. i called du, but all payments are in order, and now due to closures, no technical staff are available for repair today.