HX Report
Irishman in the Middle East
A Friday Stroll
Posted on December 13, 2019
MB decided to kick off his weekend with an early-morning stroll along Doha Corniche this morning. The Corniche is MB’s favourite walk in Doha, being 5km long, give or take. So if one parks one’s car at the Islamic Museum car park at one end, as MB normally does, one gets the full 5km and the same back. 10km. Walk or run. As you wish. Or mix the two. As MB often does. Read More
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Abstract
Posted on December 6, 2019
Thanks to PA for the Abstract challenge.
Voila – MB’s offering:
On first impressions, the above small section of a vaulted church ceiling seems abstract in appearance. On closer inspection, one sees the remains of religious murals, mostly long disappeared by the vigors and passage of time. MB took the above shot in July 2019 during a visit to the Selexyz Dominican Bookstore in Maastricht, Holland, easily the most beautiful bookstore that MB has ever visited.
The church was built by the Dominican Order in 1294. All went swimmingly for exactly 500 years until French Emperor Napolian invaded in 1794 and expelled the Dominicans from the country. Since then, the church has served as a parish church, a warehouse, and an archive. In 2007 some bright spark had the great idea to turn the building into the stunning bookshop that we see today.
One can make out a coffee shop in the area of the former church altar area (if one has a magnifying glass!) in MB’s below pic. MB tasted its wares on his visit and can recommend it highly. What better way to enjoy a freshly-smelling new book than sitting in an old church altar, drinking tasty coffee and munching delicious fresh pastries?! Absolutely none, if MB can answer his own question!
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Creepy
Posted on November 10, 2019
It’s the weekend
Posted on November 8, 2019
Climb a tree!
In August 2014 MB found himself in Sudan, compliments of a wedding invitation he received from a young Sudani friend. MB took the opportunity to do a bit of exploring. Sudani friends organised for MB to visit an area called Soba with his camera, just outside the capital city, Khartoum.
It was the middle of the day when MB arrived with his Sudani friends. Most of the Soba male inhabitants were missing, having travelled to the city in early-morning to sell vegetables or bottled water in markets and street corners.
By Westerns (or many other) standards, Soba is extremely poor, with the inhabitants living a subsistence-level lifestyle. The houses people live in are not far removed from the houses their sheep and goats live in. But regardless of the relative poverty, most inhabitants that MB encountered had a smile on their faces, especially the children.
MB caught the kids in his below pic at their favourite tree.
So this weekend, MB suggests that you go climb a tree, if you can.
And be damn grateful for the hand of cards that life has dealt you.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Seeing Double
Posted on October 27, 2019
Thanks to Tina for this week’s Double challenge.
MB caught these two doing steward duty at the Redbull Soapbox Race he recently attended in Amman, Jordan. Wonder what they are seeing?!
Lens Artist’s Photo Challenge – Filling the frame
Posted on October 6, 2019
Thanks to Patti for this week’s Filling the Frame challenge.
You may have thought that there is no alcohol production in the Middle East. But if you did, you’re wrong!
MB was in Jordan a few weeks back, primarily to attend the wedding of a work colleague. Whilst the wedding was a ‘dry’ wedding, involving as it did two Muslim families, beer and alcohol generally are freely available in Jordan. On the day after the wedding, MB killed some time with a local friend visiting two great pubs. Both sold a Jordanian brewed craft beer called Carakale, after the local brewery that makes it.
And a damned fine tipple it is.
Sláinte!
To check out the Carkale brewery, click HERE.
Writing For Change
Posted on October 1, 2019
MB opines that being Cuban is about as close as it gets to being Irish! Read More
Amman – Red Bull Soapbox Race
Posted on September 27, 2019
On the day after the Amman wedding (the subject of MBs previous post), MB met up with a young Jordanian friend who also happened to live in Amman. As good fortune would have it, MB’s young friend and some pals were taking part in a Red Bull-sponsored Soapbox Cart Race on a sloping street in a supurb of the city not too far from MBs hotel. Read More
A Wedding in Jordan
Posted on September 24, 2019
Jordan’s more correct name, since 1946, is ‘The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan’. It is so-called because of the ruling Hashemite family, who have governed the country since 1921. The Hashemites trace their ancestry back to the founding of Islam and are called after Hashim, the great grandfather of the Prophet Mohammed. Read More
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