Qatar 2014

I decided to spend a few days in Qatar on the front end of my train adventure on the Golden Eagle from Tehran to Budapest.

The first thing I noticed, is that the amount of air conditioning, highly-and-dramatically-lit skyscrapers, and road lighting is enormous.  So it’s a good thing that these folks in Qatar pump a lot of oil.

Door to door, 1221 Jones to The Torch Hotel:  32 hours.  And folks wonder why I take such longish trips -- I figure, after that investment in travel time, you might as well hang around a region a while.

As I walked from baggage claim to the ATM machine at Doha airport, I thought back to my "early" days of international travel, when you had to order foreign currency in advance before you got on a plane.  Now for this trip, with the exception of Iran where you cant use USA-based credit cards or debit cards because we still have "sanctions" on the country, you can get currency easily.

So far, no major surprises.  My gimpy left toes gave me some too-painful-to-sleep hours as that high altitude foot swelling thing kicked in on the Dallas-Qatar 14.5 hour flight, but the flight attendants were very gracious and brought me some ice in a baggy and that helped.

Now, I am off to the 47th floor of the hotel to have a bite to eat at the revolving restaurant on top.   It's a clear night in Doha -- not always the case, I understand, because the traffic is epic -- so I am taking advantage of the view tonight.  The Corniche part of the city is perhaps where I should have booked had I done some research, as it is very lively there, but you know me -- go first, learn later. 

Above: Doha at night - As seen from the 360 restaurant atop The Torch hotel

The breakfast restaurant in The Torch hotel in Doha, Qatar uses actual oriental carpets stiffened above with curved plywood I suspect, and suspends them from the girders above the restaurant.  They call the restaurant THE FLYING CARPET.  Its the usual breakfast buffet blah, but so fun!  Lots of women in full black hijab, with their romantically-mysterious looking men in long white robes and those headresses fixed in place with black ropey things...and the children as playful as anywhere and reeking havoc on the buffet.

Then, a visit to the famous Museum of Islamic art.  This is quite a landmark, designed by famous architect I.M. Pei, and it opened in 2008.   

Its displays trace 1400 years of Islamic art. To take a look at some of the collection, which includes ceramics, manuscripts, textile and much much more, go to http://www.mia.org.qa/en/collections It is built on an island off an artificial projecting peninsula near the traditional dhow harbor.  And like all good museums these days, it has a marvelous café for lunch!  There was so much to look at, that it was dark when I left.

Above: Doha west bay at night, from the steps of the Islamic art museum

I made a long day of it, ending at the Souq waqif in Doha, where I got my required-in-Iran coverupm a "manteau". 

Saturday I had a coffee meet-up with an HBS alum, Hatim Hussain.  I always enjoy those perspectives and learn so much! And I always wish I was a kid again when I am in a Middle Eastern coffe-bakery ... just look at those cakes behind me!  

Then an early flight to Tehran on Sunday... and on with the adventure!

Anasazi Land and River in the Southwest - Archaeological Travel with Martin 1993

An archeological field seminar!   What could be better for a young man who is interested in history, I thought, and here is ancient history indeed – in America’s Southwest, in the area inhabited by the Anasazi – a civilization which mysteriously disappeared around 1200 A.D.

Indiana Martin, the budding archaeologist!

This Anasazi riddle has intrigued archeologists for a long time, and there are many excavations in the area.  Crow Canyon Archaeological Center in 1993 offered a look at the area from two perspectives on the same trip: a four day land tour and a three day river tour of rafting on the San Juan River.   From the River, we saw 350 million years of geological time exposed in walls that often rose 2000 feet above the river.  And it is only from the river that one can see some of the most varied displays of ancient rock art in the Southwest. Off Martin (who was almost 14 at the time) and I went for 8 wonderful days of exploration and learning!

Courtesy of Smithsonian Magazine (July 2003), here is a bit of background about the Anasazi:

The Anasazi was …”a civilization that arose as early as 1500 B.C. Their descendants are today’s Pueblo Indians, such as the Hopi and the Zuni, who live in 20 communities along the Rio Grande, in New Mexico, and in northern Arizona. During the 10th and 11th centuries, Chaco Canyon, in western New Mexico, was the cultural center of the Anasazi homeland, an area roughly corresponding to the Four Corners region where Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico meet. This 30,000-square-mile landscape of sandstone canyons, buttes and mesas was populated by as many as 30,000 people. The Anasazi built magnificent villages such as Chaco Canyon’s Pueblo Bonito, a tenth-century complex that was as many as five stories tall and contained about 800 rooms. The people laid a 400-mile network of roads, some of them 30 feet wide, across deserts and canyons. And into their architecture they built sophisticated astronomical observatories.

For most of the long span of time, the Anasazi occupied the region now known as the Four Corners, they lived in the open or in easily accessible sites within canyons. But about 1250, many of the people began constructing settlements high in the cliffs—settlements that offered defense and protection. These villages, well preserved by the dry climate and by stone overhangs, led the Anglo explorers who found them in the 1880s to name the absent builders the Cliff Dwellers.

Toward the end of the 13th century, some cataclysmic event forced the Anasazi to flee those cliff houses and their homeland and to move south and east toward the Rio Grande and the Little Colorado River. Just what happened has been the greatest puzzle facing archaeologists who study the ancient culture.”

First stop:  Mesa Verde National Park, to visit the spectacular cliff dwellings.  Plenty of lookout points to view the “Four Corners” geography!

Our group explored the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde

There are over 600 cliff dwellings found at Mesa Verde.  The dwellings were tucked into the 500 to 600 foot high walls of the canyons.

Next, onto the San Juan River!  We enter the river near Bluff Utah.   The river can be smooth or have rapids, depending on where we are...

Our trip down the river included camping on the riverbanks each night.

Every day we explored the river banks, to see the rock art up close.

We are always on the lookout for pottery shards.

One way to beat the heat:

After three days on the river, we disembark at Mexican Hat, Utah.

We boarded 4-wheel drive vehicles for the trip to Monument Valley.  Martin was the favorite of the grizzled older archeologist (we had two “arkies” on this trip) and insisted that Martin ride shotgun in the front of the car which he was driving, so he could fill Martin’s brain with the wonders of archaeology.

We learned how rock formations in Monument Valley were created over millions of years.  

A special treat was a short hike around Yazzie Mesa, where we visited Susie Yazzie’ sheep camp.  Susie is a matriarch of a Navajo family that is quite well known in the area.  Our picnic lunch included the chance to sample Navajo fry bread.

We saw some Navajo weaving techniques in Susie Yazzie’s Hogan.

Then we drove to Sand Springs to examine a traditional Navajo forked stick Hogan.

The next day, we got in vans to go to Chinle, Arizona.  Chinle Wash was made famous as “Many Ruins Canyon” in the book by Tony Hillelrman, “A Thief of Time”.   It is part of the Canyon de Chelly park.

We toured the Canyon de Chelly.  Here there are several archaeological sites that are in pristine condition under great rock overhangs.  We visited Antelope House and White House ruins.  There are many panels here of historic and prehistoric rock art on the canyon walls.

At the Crow Canyon Center in Cortez, we visited the laboratories and education facilities.

On the final day of this archeological trip and “seminar”, we visited archaeologists who are excavating a 13^th Century Anasazi ruin in Sand Canyon.    This 400-room pueblo may have been one of the last Anasazi ceremonial centers and towns occupied before this civilization suddenly abandoned the Four Corners area.

At Castle Rock, we took this group photo.  Great adventure!

Sweden 2017 post-Central-Asia

After 27 days on the road in Central Asia, what a nice greeting I see that SAS has painted on the outside of their planes’ entry doors!

My dear friend Jon Carlsson welcomed me to Sweden after my long trip on the Silk Road.  It took a day of lounging around to catch my breath, but then he gave me the run of his wonderful home in Taby, a suburb about 10 miles away from Stockholm.

We met met Jon’s sister Hanna Dahlin and her family for dinner, and guess what we ate?  Swedish meatballs.

I’m always interested to explore the local area, and in particular to see what the food stores offer.  That’s just part of my background as a packaging guru (thank you Continental Can!) because so much is revealed by food choices.  And the Europeans have given the USA great innovations in packaging – tetrapak (aka juice boxes) and many other progressive packaging ideas.

We headed to the local LIDL, where so many options are presented in bulk.  I enjoyed looking at the large selection of cheeses!

Jon took me on a tour of Old Town in Stockholm.  Incredible area, cobbled streets running up from the waters of the archipelago.  As the capital of Sweden,  its growth for many centuries coincided with the development of what is today known as “Gamla stan”, the Stockholm old town. Stockholm was first mentioned as a town in 1252 and was largely built by the Swedish ruler Birger Jarl. It grew rapidly as a result of a trade agreement made with the German city of Lübeck. 

The City of Stockholm is situated on fourteen islands and on the banks of an archipelago which then meets the Baltic Sea. The historical name for Stockholm Old Town was "The city between the bridges" 

Of course we must go to a traditional coffee shop, and there are many in these streets.  

So difficult to decide what to take a taste of first, at the coffee house in the old city of Stockholm. Will it be carrot cake, or princess cake? No visit to Sweden would be complete without a taste of princess cake, or prinsesstarta, which consists of alternating layers of sponge cake, whipped cream, and a few pieces of fruit, topped by green marzipan. The original recipe was published in 1948 by a teacher of the three daughters of Prince Carl of Sweden and Norway, who were said to be very fond of the cake: Princess Margaretha, Princess Martha, and Princess Astrid. So you get a bit of Swedish history with each bite!

Later that night, another of my favorite au pairs, Stefan Ragnell, joined us for dinner.

Yum! Hate to post more “food porn” but our Sunday afternoon drive to Vaxholm had the objective of tasting one of the cinnamon buns for which Swedish cuisine is justly known. Garnished with “pearl sugar”... perfect with latte. This is a perfect example of “fika” (coffee break featuring cinnamon buns).

Vaxholm is a municipality spanning several islands in Sweden’s Stockholm archipelago. The 16th-century Vaxholm Fortress, built on an islet to defend Stockholm, now houses a museum chronicling the building's history. Pastel-colored wooden houses dot Vaxholm's town center.  We looked at the turreted 17th-century Bogesund Castle, but did not explore it.  Weather was a bit nippy, so happy for a short walk and a snack!

Back in town, I took myself into Stockholm and explored the Nordic Museum, which is a museum located on Djurgården, an island in central Stockholm.  This museum is dedicated to the cultural history and ethnography of Sweden from the early modern period to the contemporary period. 

At the Nordic Museum: In old painted wall hangings from southern Sweden, the infant Jesus lies not in a manger but in a cradle, as did the children of the farmers who painted these wallhangings. This motif was intermixed with details from their domestic environment. For the greater part of the year, these hangings were rolled up in chests, and were pinned up on walls only at Christmas.

A bit more tourism in central Stockholm took me past Saint James's Church, dedicated to apostle Saint James the Greater, patron saint of travellers. (somehow that seemed appropriate).  It’s official name is St. Jacobs Kyrka, and It is often mistakenly called St Jacob's. (The confusion arises because Swedish, like many other languages, uses the same name for both James and Jacob).  The present building dates from 1588, but took a long time to complete. As a consequence it includes a wide range of architectural styles, such as Late Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque.

To celebrate Halloween, Swedish style, we went to an opera.  Dracula, as I recall.  But there was a fire and the building had to be evacuated!  But the opera house itself is astoundingly beautiful.

Next stop is England for a brief visit with my sister-in-law Kimbro Keck and her family.  But after getting a boarding pass, there was time for relaxation in the SAS/Star Alliance lounge.  Guess who is having a cookie and Coke with me there? Yes, Pippi Longstocking! Pippi books are on the top 10 books to give to girl babies so they start early with strong role models. Guess whose granddaughter has Pippi books coming her way. And Martin and Matt too read them as boys!

So, farewell to Sweden.   I’ll be back!  Must go visit the Sami (an indigenous Finno-Ugric people inhabiting Sápmi, an area which today encompasses large northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland), stay in an ice hotel, and have a reindeer sleigh ride.  Someday!   (you can learn about the Sami here:  http://www.samer.se/2137 )