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You can lose everything, but nobody will take away what you saw and what you experienced...
............ 
Dec 20, 2012 08:00 PM Sana airport: you will not fly out of Yemen!!
It is time to fly home.... For 2.30 am flight we arrived to the Sana airport early: at 11 pm. The check-in was already open and we went soon to the passport control.
Something wrong? They took our passports to the magager. It it not easy to speak with the officials if they do not know even basic English!... Sudani passenger helped to translate questions: how did you arrive to Yemen? Socotra? Here should be an immigration stamp! Where is the stamp? Without this stamp you will not go out of Yemen!
My God! Are we guilty that Yemeni official did not put the stamp in our passports? He put there only visa sticker and wrote something in Arabic - who knows what and why? I tried to convince other immigration officers - no result. -You have to go to the Immigration Office in Sana and explain everything. Then they maybe will put the stamp and then you can fly off! But now is the night, tomorrow if Friday - the holiday day so the office will be open the day after tomorrow!
I was desperate: we have non-refundable tickets, it is Christmas period - flights are fully-booked and they want me to wait here 2 days till the office will be open...
I was looking in the departure hall for somebody speaking English to ask for help... Royal Jordanian station manager was helpfull and patient and went with me back to the immigrations - but the answer was the same: they will not fly!
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Dec 19, 2012 08:00 PM Sana - Yemen. Peaceful already!
Yemenia cancelled Thursday flight so we were forced to leave lively Socotra a day earlier. Yemenia charged for the ticket but did not inform me about cancellation - be prepared for such a cases!
Fortunately we got a place on Felix Airways flight flight Socotra -Sana.
Sana - one of the most interesting orient cities is already peaceful. I stay in the athmospheric "Arabia Felix" hotel in the old town. Only 4 tourists stay in the hotel! People are afraid to come here...
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Dec 18, 2012 08:00 PM Socotra. Back from the wilderness...
We are back from the wilderness in Hadibou - the little capital of Socotra.
We have again the shower, electric power to charge batteries.
Socotra is beautiful. But with limited facilities and hard to travel. I am happy... More soon...
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Dec 12, 2012 08:00 PM Socotra, the beautiful... and primitive...
The flight was delayed and we landed yesterday on Socotra just before sunset.
Great chain of mountains overlooks the north coast.
Internet (very slow) only in the capital of the island.
Power - only fom private genetators.
We slept in the tents 20 m from the beach under mosquito nets... No power or internet in the province where we go now...
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Dec 11, 2012 08:00 PM I fly to Socotra today...
This is not true what they write in the guidebooks - there is public bus 88 going from Sharjah City to SHJ airport and it costs only 5 dirhams. The stop is on Rolla Sq opposite "Shark" hotel.
I fly from here to Socotra with Felix Airlines - new Yemen's operator. I hope that everything will be well.
But I do not know about the internet on Socotra - so do not be surprised if there will not be messages from me. Who knows? :)
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Dec 10, 2012 08:00 PM Emirates: four, five, six...
Allaaaaaah akbar! - it is still dark, 5.15 am when the strong voice from the nearby mosque give us a wake up call...
Today we drove along the coast - first to the nearby Emirate of Ajman to visit the old fort and then to the next Umm al - Quwain Emirate - the smallest and the poorest of 7 emirates. It is poor (you can see it), but have excellent museum in the fort where the local ruler was living till 1960-ties. Umm is located on the little peninsula
and you can still see part of the wall with towers protecting the old Umm.
Then we went to Ras-al-Khaima Emirate - the sixthe one. After 16 years I saw there more skycrapers then before, but they closed the old dhow shipyard... Domage! I remember it was picturesque!
We returned via the desert road - it was only 1,5 hours drive - the roads are excellent here. With 120 kms per hour speed limit. But local drivers are sometimes crazy! Take care!
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Dec 09, 2012 08:00 PM Emirates: one, two, three. (A piece of Oman too!)
We have two days till our departure to Yemen. I rented a car (the smallest one) costs like 50 USD per day including full insurance.
We went from Sharjah Emirate through the desert and Hajar Mountains (what a views!) to the Emirate of Fujaira.
Then from the sea coast we climbed the mountains again to reach beautiful Hatta - the little enclave of the Dubai Emirate located near Omani border,
Hatta has Heritage Village to visit (entry is free!) and is sourrounded by the dramatic mountains of different colors.
To go back from Hatta to Sharjah you have to cross a little piece (10 kms) of Omani terittory. It was a sunset time and the mountains had red-orange colors when we passed through this strip. You do not need Omani visa to make this shortcut. There is only UAE control on both ends. Nice day! But the car is now on the street in front of our hotel and I have to pay 2 dirhams per hour parking fee. Uuuu! Only during the daytime, thanks God!
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Dec 08, 2012 08:00 PM I have Yemeni visa!
In Europe you probably hear very little about what is going on in Yemen. But here, in the Emirates they know that the situation is still hot and changeable...
But I believe that it does not appy to the Yemeni Island of Socotra, where I want to go now. It is located more then 500 kms of the mainland Yemen shores.
I got Yemeni visa!
Second good news is that I met my companion.
We went to Sharjah - another emirate - next to Dubai.
Bus 306 goes there from Gubaiba Bus Station in Dubai (costs 7 dirhams). Sharjah is cheaper to stay: A clean twin room in El Sharq Hotel - on Rolla Square in the center cost 55 USD for two! They offer free wi-fi.
For the big loaf of bread I paid 4,50 dirhams...
We have 2 days left to the next flight to Socotra...
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Dec 07, 2012 08:00 PM Bye-bye my white ship!
You are not allowed to carry your main luggage off the ship. So you put your luggage out of your cabin and they will take it to the shore. :)
In the middle of the day I collected my big backpack in the tererminal building. This was the only backpack I saw in the terminal... It seems that I was the only backpacker on the ship. Just let you know: there is no customs control so you can take ashore a good supply of food if you want and something stronger too! Remember - emirates are "dry" region.
Most of the passengers aboard were from Italy. They like to speak a lot and loudly. So there were a lot of noise in the public areas...
I found many new friends and I hope this was not our first and the las meeting!
Bye, my white ship! This was an interesting voyage!
I used a free minibus to get from the port to the central Dubai (they do not allow to wander through the port).
So now it will be again an overland trip!
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Dec 06, 2012 08:00 PM Dubai - a new Manhattan?
Dubai is not on the island, but I think it can be called the new Manhattan. It is hard to believe how many lovely skycrapers they built here in the last 15 years. Wow!
I hate the big cities, but this one is imposing!
Once off the port are (shopping malls offer free transport to their properties) I took a local bus no. 8 (6,50 dirhams) to te famour "palm of Jumeira" and Burj al Arab hotel on the coast - it is far from the center!
Nice views...
Then they open the subway (it is holy Friday today and the subway was closed till 1 pm) and I went for another 6.50 dirhams to the Burj al Khalifa - the tallest building in the world - I believe - 828 m high. Wow!
You can go to the observation deck on the 124 floor if you book well in advance via internet - and pay!
The view from the bottom was enough for me (the weather is hot but hazy here).
Do you know that they offer free internet in the cruise ship terminal? But limited to 20 minutes... So all the best my Friends and bye!
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