The Forgotten Jewel of Arabia

The front of the Sultan’s Palace, Muscat, Oman.
By Ian Sewell [GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0 or CC BY 2.5], via Wikimedia Commons

On a sweltering late June day in the nation’s capital, a troupe of men in white dishdashas, along with women—some in black and others in colorful robes—make their way up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. For the majority of these artisans, musicians and dancers from the Sultanate of Oman, it is their first journey outside their country .

They have come to Washington, D.C. to serve as Oman’s cultural ambassadors to the 39th annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival, held on the National Mall. Inside the Lincoln Memorial, the explanation of President Lincoln’s historical role in restoring the union of his country resonates with the Omanis, who remember their own country’s civil unrest in the 1960’s and 1970’s, which ended with unity under Sultan Qaboos bin Said

On the grassy expanse of the Mall, bracketed by the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument, more than 100 Omani incense-crafters, indigo-dyers, shipwrights, halwa-makers, silversmiths and sword-dancers—to mention a selection of trades represented—have set up shop for the two-week festival alongside other featured representatives of the US Forest Service, American food cultures and Latino music. About a third of the Omani delegation is made up of women. American visitors in a constant stream quiz the artisans about their work, climb onstage to join the dance troupes and exchange dollars for crafts in the marketplace. Amplifying the celebratory air is the Omanis’ pride in their country’s choice as the first Arab nation to be a full-fledged focus for the festival.

The visitors from Oman lodge at the Key Bridge Marriott Hotel across the Potomac River, where bagpipes—a colonial legacy now firmly entrenched in Oman’s musical panoply—and African-style drums resound late into the night, testifying that the festival is, as one participant puts it, a “round-the-clock experience.” The day after visiting the city’s monuments, Najoud Hamoud Al-Wahaibi, who comes from the desert margin of Oman’s interior, is seated cross-legged in the welcome shade of her goat-hair tent on the Mall. Today she is exhausted, she says, because she stayed up until after midnight painting intricate henna designs on the hands of some 40 hotel staffers, from kitchen workers to housekeepers.

She marvels at the inexhaustible friendliness and curiosity of the us crowds. Visitors are now clustering around the tent, staring at several masked women reclining inside. “They want to know everything, small to big,” says Al-Wahaibi in fluent English. “They ask, ‘What is henna? How long does it last on your hands and feet? Why does a man not wear a burqa [the traditional Bedouin woman’s mask]?’” Few visitors would probably guess that this diminutive woman clad in black holds a degree in business administration and computer science, and that she works for the Oman International Bank.

The show goes on: In a nearby corral, her father, Hamoud Abdullah Al-Wahaibi, owner of 37 camels back home, trades cross-cultural camel banter with burly Doug Baum, owner of the two camels on display. Baum, a former zookeeper, founded the Texas Camel Corps as a modern legacy of the historical us Army Camel Corps, which helped survey the American Southwest in the mid-19th century.

Hamoud Al-Wahaibi and Baum are saddling both camels in Omani style, which means minimal saddlery. Al-Wahaibi has adorned the camels with colorful necklaces for good luck. He has also told Baum—and the crowd around them—that the American camels drink too much water. Baum responds that his camels drink every day, unlike an Omani camel, which might drink only every three or four days. “In Oman,” retorts Al-Wahaibi, “we give them dates, honey, milk and fresh ghee. With such a diet, a camel will be strong and fast.”
Baum praises the Omani camel drivers as “daredevils.” In Oman, he says, “they ride behind the hump. They are literally riding bareback. Young kids will run alongside a speeding camel and just swing aboard.”

Oman’s exhibits and demonstrations at the Folklife Festival showcase not just desert traditions but also the people, music and crafts from oasis and sea, showing how Omani culture has taken different pathways in different environments.

“We’re breaking down the stereotype that Oman is just a desert culture,” says Richard Kennedy, deputy director of the Smithsonian’s Folklife and Cultural Heritage Center and curator of the Oman portion of the festival. The country, he explains, “has a long, cosmopolitan history of contact with countries of the Indian Ocean and Africa.”

Another key aim of the festival, says Kennedy, is “honoring artists in the face of galloping globalization. Artists are an expression of community values. When they go, the community goes.” In many countries, he adds, pride in local traditions has grown in recent years. At the same time, “it’s a fine line, because we have to make sure people understand that Oman is also a modern country.”

For this reason, all of the festival’s activities are audio- and video-recorded, and the files will be deposited in archives in both Oman and the us.

At the festival’s opening ceremony, under an expansive white tent, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Lawrence Small, acknowledged Oman’s honor as the first Arab nation chosen as a focus for the festival—and he added, to cheers and applause, “I assure you that it won’t be the last.” United States Ambassador to Oman Richard Baltimore reminded the crowd that the festival has brought the long diplomatic ties between the two countries full circle: When the Omani ship Sultana made a celebrated arrival in New York harbor in 1840, it bore gifts that became part of the early holdings of the Smithsonian Institution. Another speaker, Oman’s minister of social development, Sharifa bint Khalfan Al-Yahyai, underscored that the festival is as much about the future as the past. “We hope to change attitudes,” she said, “especially at this difficult time we are going through.”

Over the next two weeks, some 1,035,000 visitors wandered beneath the trees of the Mall and among the white tents sheltering calligraphers, coppersmiths, jewelry-makers and even the loom of a weaver said to fashion turbans for Sultan Qaboos. As the gates to the Omani compound open for the first time, an American father in T-shirt and shorts gestures at the artisans and musicians and tells three young girls, “Look, all these people came from very far away to tell us about their country.” Minutes later, the same man climbs up onstage, accepting an invitation to join an all-male dance troupe from the coastal town of Sohar. To the open-mouthed delight of his girls in the front row, he brandishes a ceremonial khanjar, or Omani dagger.

Getting up-close and personal with artisans and musicians from other nations is a hallmark of the Folklife Festival every year. In a session devoted to women’s regional dress, an African–American woman steps forth from the audience and volunteers to don flowing garments from the boatbuilding town of Sur. In the blink of an eye she is transformed into a traditional Omani woman, betrayed only by denim beneath the robes.

“Sparkle, silver, jewelry—they’re not just for once-in-a-while; they’re for every day in Oman,” narrates presenter Marcia Dorr, a native of Michigan who has co-authored a seminal book on Oman’s craft traditions and whose association with the country dates back nearly two decades. Bold, primary colors mark both dress and domestic decor in Oman, she says. “The light is different; the landscape is sparse. Colors are not supposed to match. They contrast.”

On the day the cultural delegation left Oman for Washington, the temperature in that nation’s capital of Muscat was 46 degrees Centigrade (114°F). No wonder, Dorr explains, “clothes are gauzy, lightweight and airy. They need to move.” And as the audience volunteer swirls on the stage, Dorr observes: “This dress is meant to trail in the sand behind the woman, to erase her steps so no one can see where she has gone.”

One of the most popular tents in the Omani oasis is devoted to fragrance, and men and women alike crowd forward at the invitation to scent their clothes—men can also scent their beards—with handcrafted incenses and perfumes made of frankincense and other natural ingredients. In traditional Omani dressing and hospitality, fragrance is at least as important as garments.

Meanwhile, other aromas—cardamom, ginger and turmeric —drift over from another tent that showcases Oman’s cosmopolitan cuisine. The French-born executive chef of Muscat’s seaside Al Bustan Hotel, Jean Luc Amann, accompanied to the US by his Omani sous-chefs, prepares a dish of swordfish in coconut milk—a substitute for the kingfish he would choose in Oman—that reflects the diverse cultural influences of Oman’s seaside towns.

Fare at the nearby Oman Café, however, is not just for demonstration. It can be both sniffed and eaten. Business is brisk. The kabobs, Omani salad and refreshing jellab, the date-syrup drink of the Arabian Gulf, are proving to be the most popular fare among all the festival’s concessions. This is the first time that the cafe’s proprietor, Washington restaurateur Andy Shallal, has set up at the festival, but he has a fond memory of an early Folklife Festival in the 1960’s. Then, he says, he was an 11-year-old boy, newly arrived from Iraq, and he spoke no English. His American summer teacher’s assignment was to head down to the National Mall and write an essay about the festival under way. “I remember coming here and being overwhelmed by all the people,” he recalls. “But the teacher was generous. I got a good grade.”

The immediate sensory pleasures of exotic food, music and crafts draw the crowds, but the ancient roots of Oman’s commerce and culture also advance the Folklife Festival’s aim to bring recognition and new relevance to traditional pursuits. Festival archivists had a leg up this year, acknowledges deputy director Kennedy, in being able to draw upon the extensive documentation provided by Marcia Dorr and Neil Richardson in their two-volume coffee-table book, The Craft Heritage of Oman, published in 2003. “Crafts are the visual representation of a nation, its people and its past,” they wrote, “and the products made by traditional craftsmen are the tangible manifestations of mankind’s most basic concerns.”

As detailed in both the book and the festival, Oman’s craft traditions are inseparable from its trading history on land and sea. Early on, copper, frankincense and other local goods served to spur the growth of far-flung trade. Located astride the route between Mesopotamia and the Indus River Valley, considered the first long-distance seagoing trade route, Oman boasts craft traditions that have been carried on, in method and design, for millennia. Today, jewelry, clothing and household goods still express the tribal identity so fundamental to traditional Oman.”

As a result of its late entry into the modern era, Oman’s craft heritage has been shielded from the direct impact of progress, and has remained remarkably intact,” note Dorr and Richardson.

The past few decades, however, have brought phenomenal change to urban and rural Oman, and Oman’s craft traditions have not been able to evolve fast enough to keep pace economically. The private, non-profit Omani Heritage Gallery, established in 1995, has begun to connect international markets to local artisans, and more recently, government support has also become available for such purposes. Many of the artisans showing their skills on the Mall market their wares at home through the gallery.

“It’s easy to sell Omani things. They’re beautiful,” says Adam Dorr, an Omani Heritage Gallery staff member, to a festival audience. (Adam is the son of Marcia Dorr.) “The design; the simplicity; the colors; the bold, heavy pieces of jewelry—they really match American sensibilities. The items are alive, not just museum pieces behind glass. What’s hard is developing the whole chain, connecting all the dots between the producer in the remotest desert and the customer in Beverly Hills or London. We’re trying to build a system to make this possible.”

One tactic is to take a traditional product and alter it slightly for Western tastes, perhaps creating exotic frankincense-infused candles or soap, or converting strikingly patterned camel saddlebags woven by Bedouin women into oversize pillows for a couch.

Artisans are learning, says Dorr, that “the West wants consistency. Bloomingdale’s wants all the pots the same. The younger generation teaches the older generation how to use a ruler to measure the size of pots.”

That commerce is also a means of cultural exchange is dramatically apparent at the festival. Day after day in the crowded marketplace tent, Oman’s offerings sail off the shelves, from incense burners to frankincense perfume to the exquisite rugs in red, black and white woven on portable ground looms by the women of the Wahiba Sands.

Mona Ritchie, proprietor of the Omani Heritage Gallery, notes that at the festival, some 70 percent of the jewelry adapted from traditional designs has sold out in three or four days. “We thought we’d have enough for two weeks,” she says. “Our copper has also sold out. I’m very happy with the reaction and I wish we had more things to sell.” Ritchie, of Omani-Scottish heritage, is also pleased at the lively interactions between the artisans and the crowd. “People are so interested in everything, and I think we’ve dispelled some myths.”

After the festival’s final day on the Fourth of July, the Omani oasis of face-to-face communication and cultural understanding dissipates into memory. The camels are loaded for their ride back to Texas. The date palms are trucked away, and the drumming of the bands from Sohar, Qurayat and Salalah is stilled. As if a mirage has lifted, the National Mall reverts back to the wide-open space frequented by tourists and joggers.

“It has been a really important cultural conversation,” reflects Marcia Dorr, who will be returning to her cultural work in Oman. “Everyone getting up on the stages and dancing, trying the musical instruments, putting on the clothes—it’s about experiencing things. This reinforces what I believe about America—the spirit of going forward into unknown areas. This is what it’s all about.”

Lynn Teo Simarski free-lances from Alexandria, Virginia. Since the 1980’s, she has had an abiding interest in Oman, which she last visited in 2003 to identify areas for expanding US-Omani scientific and technical cooperation. She is currently working on a book about the Chesapeake Bay from the vantage point of a year aboard a 40-foot trawler.
Susana Raab is a free-lance photographer based in Washington, D.C. She recently completed her master’s degree in visual communication at Ohio University and is now working on a project about American identity and the commodification of leisure time. Her multimedia and still-based projects can be seen at www.susanaraab.com.

Credit: Saudi Aramco World Magazine:
www.aramcoworld.com

Give us 12 Days and we will give you
Istanbul, Anatolia, Dubai and Jordan.
This is a luxury private tour. Choose your own date.
For guests who can afford and want the best

Indiana Jones himself couldn’t squeeze more adventure into this journey

DAY 01 – DUBAI: Daily Arrival – Choose your own arrival date
Start in Dubai or Amman – Arrive at Dubai International Airport at the United Arab Emirate on the Arabian Gulf. Complimentary visa will be issued upon arrival for the following nationalities; UK, EU, Switzerland, Sweden, USA, Canada, Australia, NZ, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei. You are responsible fro having a valid passport. Upon arrival, our local rep will meet you and escort you to your hotel. Private transfers at all times A taste of Arabia with a cosmopolitan lifestyle. In Dubai you’ll find year round sunshine, un-crowded, clean sandy beaches. In this crime-free society you ‘ll find a very warm & welcoming team & society awaits you in Dubai. While shopping may not be high on your list, yet Dubai’s tax free markets means bargains galore. Attractive traditional Middle Eastern gifts – coffee pots, rugs, silverware, jewelry, brass, and one of the world’s greatest gold trading centers offering unbeatable value. Hong Kong is no longer able to compete with Dubai with the wide selection of low – priced international brand name products – audio equipment, VCRs, cameras, watches, fashions, perfumes and more , do not forget: the award-winning Dubai Duty Free at the airport.

Arriving at Dubai International Airport you’ll be delighted to discover Travel in Style’s VIP Red Carpet welcome procedures: you are met by our English-speaking representative who escorts you from your plane to a comfortable air-conditioned lounge where you can freshen up and recover from your flight. While you relax, our representative completes your Immigration procedures, collects your luggage, clears it through Customs, and transfers it to your private, air-conditioned vehicle. Escorted from the lounge to your vehicle, your private chauffeur transfers you to your hotel, assisting with your luggage when you arrive. Red Carpet Treatment: that’s the Travel in Style difference.

DAY 2 – DUBAI (BD)
Half Day Dubai City Group Tour: Sample the historic sites and vibrant cosmopolitan life of Dubai on this comprehensive tour. The Tour begins in Jumeira, the picturesque palace and residential area of Dubai, also home to the famous Jumeira Mosque. The next stop is Sheikh Saeed House (former residence of ruling family). The Tour then continues to Al Bastakiya, the old part of Dubai, to reach the museum located in Al Fahidi Fort. All guests board the Abra (water taxi) to cross the Creek to the spice souk. Before savoring the sights and sounds of the fish, fruit and vegetable market, there is time to shop in the most famous landmark of Dubai – the Gold souk.

Evening Dhow Cruise Dinner:
For a fabulous relaxing evening join our fully fitted Arabian dhow for an evening’s cruise on the Creek. Enjoy a sumptuous feast of Arabic and Western cuisine while gently gliding past illuminated souks, banks and palaces. Private transfers of course.

Dubai in 4K – City of Gold. Video by devinsupertramp.

DAY 3 – Desert Safari with dinner in the Arabian Desert – DUBAI (BD)
Half Day – Desert Safari (4 Wheel Drive):
Morning at leisure, enjoy beach activities. This tour departs in the afternoon across the desert of Dubai with several photo-stops during an exciting dune drive to the first destination a camel farm. The drive continues across the desert. The tour is several vehicles, you have your own private vehicle.

We stop to watch the beautiful sunset before reaching our campsite where you have the opportunity to do camel riding.

After working up an appetite enjoy a delicious barbecue dinner and a shisha (the most famous Arabic Water pipe). This is a group event We conclude the evening with a true 1001 Arabian Nights tradition and With a belly dancer performing her dance around the campfire before we head back to your hotel in Dubai or Sharja.

DAY 4 – DUBAI – East Coast Tour (BL)
After breakfast, we head for Dhaid and then on to the Hajar mountains that offer a beautiful natural backdrop for Dubai. A stop at a local market, where the local shop for locally made pottery, fruits and carpets. We stop as well in Dibba and a brief stop at the colorful local fish market, always with the fresh catch from the Arabian Gulf. We drive along the coast passing by enchanting small villages and fishermen wharfs, eventually arriving at the Al Badiyah mosque, one of the earliest mosques built in the UAE. We will then continue on to Khor Fakkan, a regional popular spot for diving and snorkeling, where there will be an opportunity to relax at the beach and have a refreshing swim and also stopping at the Khor Fakkah souk. Continue to Fujairah where we stop at the renovated Fort. Before returning to Dubai we will stop at the oasis of Bitnah in time to wander on the “Friday Market” in Masaf. Lunch is included enroute in a charming local restaurant.

DAY 5 – Dubai – Amman – Petra (B)
After breakfast, our locl rep escorts you to the airport for your flight to Amman (air fare is included and issued in Dubai ). From Amman airport you’ll drive south, and arrive at your hotel in Petra for the night.

Jordanian visa fee, please pay $30 upon arrival at Amman Airport. Visa issued upon arrival for a limited number of nationalities such as : for American, Australian, NZ, Canadian, EU Citizens, Singaporean & Japanese citizens. Passports must be valid for at least 6 month upon arrival.

In the evening we will call on you for a unique experience.
Dine as a local: The Petra Kitchen is a delightful way to round out your Jordan travel experiences. Like any home kitchen, The Petra Kitchen is a relaxed, informal atmosphere where you’ll gather to prepare an evening meal, working alongside local women under the supervision of our chef.

Each evening meal includes soup, cold and hot mezza (appetizers) and salads, and a main course—all typical Jordanian dishes. You will have get an inside glimpse of the secrets behind the famous regional cuisine of the Levant.

The Petra Kitchen offers an evening of learning, fun and a very special dining experience, with each dish gaining the special flavor of a reward well-earned. Great care has been taken to make The Petra Kitchen a truly Jordanian experience—right down to the furnishings, all crafted in Jordan, the tableware, all produced by the Iraq al Amir Women’s Co-operative, and the aprons and table linens, all hand-embroidered by the Jordan River Foundation.

Tour experience tonight includes the cuisine course, meal and all non-alcoholic beverages as well as take-home recipes for all dishes prepared that evening.

DAY 6 – PETRA – Private Guide at all times (B)
We’ll spend the entire day at Petra, the stunning desert city hewn by the Nabateans from solid cliffs of pink and violet sandstone. Petra was known in the bible as Sela, and rediscovered only in 1812. You’ll feel like Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark as you penetrate into the city through a narrow sandstone gorge, the Siq, and wander among the Temple of the Winged Lion, tombs, Roman theater, and the imposing Treasury.

DAY 7 – DEPARTURE FOR ISTANBUL (B)
Our staff escorts you to the airport of Amman for your flight to Istanbul. Air fare is included in our rate in economy class, tax included, ticket issued and delivered in Amman. Get ready to for a quick yet grand tour of the highlights of Istanbul and Western Turkey. You will see the wonders of “Imperial Constantinople in the Belle Epoque” (late 19th century), the exotic romance of the “Paris of the East” as well as Ephesus, Izmir, Pergamon, Troy and Çanakkale. Upon arrival in Istanbul, our local rep. meets your plane and escorts you to your hotel.

DAY 8 – ISTANBUL: Private Air-Conditioned Vehicle- Private Tour at all times (Breakfast & Lunch)
Today you see the best of Istanbul. We tour the great Ottoman capital, visiting the Blue Mosque, Süleymaniye Mosque, Hagia Sophia and Topkapi, the palace of the sultans, with its fabulous Treasury and collections of priceless Chinese porcelains. In the afternoon we venture out to the great city walls to see the Kariye Museum (Chora Church), the church of St. Savior, resplendent with Byzantine mosaics. Lunch is included at a local restaurant. Enjoy a leisurely afternoon walk of the Grand Bazaar and maybe some shopping. While this is a “Daily” tour, we may have to amend the tour slightly when some of the sites in Istanbul are closed depending on the day of the week.

Day 9 – ISTANBUL – CANAKKALE (Breakfast & Dinner)
In the morning proceed through the commercial area passing Ottoman monuments to the famous Egyptian Spice Bazaar for a short visit. Then take the local ferry to start an unforgettable excursion between two continents, Europe & Asia. The cruise takes you along the latest palaces of Ottomans, The Dolmabahçe Palace and Beylerbeyi, as well as 19th and 20th century, beautiful wooden Kiosks. Mansions and modern villas which form the elegant section of the city. Enjoy the scenery. After lunch, a pleasant drive to the First World War battlefields of Gallipoli. After a brief visit cross the Dardanelles by ferry boat to Asia. Overnight and dinner in Çanakkale. Private Air-Conditioned Vehicle- Private Tour at all times

Day 10 – CANAKKALE – Troy – Pergamum – Kusadasi (Breakfast & Lunch)
In the morning depart hotel for the site of Troy, the homeric city. The short drive to Troy ends with the thrill of standing atop the ancient walls where beautiful Helen once stood, where the Trojan Horse brought victory for the invading Achaeans 3300 years ago.

Afterwards go on a lovely drive to Pergamum, lunch in town. Visit the Acropolis of Hellenistic Pergamum. Among its buildings are the Altar of Zeus and the temples of Trojan & Dionysus. Visit the Asclepion, the earliest health center of Asia Minor. Continue to Kusadasi or Selcuk (Seljuk). Lunch is included enroute. Private Air-Conditioned Vehicle- Private Tour at all times

Day 11 – Ephesus: (Breakfast & Lunch)
Depart hotel for an hour drive to the magnificent site of Ephesus. Ephesus was the seat of the Council of Ephesus (If you are interested in visiting the Council of Ephesus, please let’s know in advance.) Here at the great Amphitheater in Ephesus the rioters cried against St. Paul “Great is the Diana of Ephesians”.

Ephesus is the best preserved of the Greek/Roman cities in Anatolia and while you are visiting the ancient ruins of this magnificent site and your guide will bring them alive. You will see the Terrace Houses, the beautiful Celsus Library, restored and reconstructed according to its original form by the architect Friedmund Hueber in the 1970’s. The most spectacular building of Ephesus is the Grand Theater, built during the Hellenistic age to hold 24,000 spectators. It is there that St. Paul preached. Opposite the Temple of Hadrian are the Hill Houses, homes of Ephesus’ wealthy citizens. The city was also the hometown of great philosopher Heraclitus. After a visit to Ephesus Antique Site, you will arrive at Sirince Village. This old Orthodox Village, 30 km from Kusadasi, was once “Cirkince” (ugly). Indeed its inhabitants gave this name on the purpose as they did not want to be bothered by foreigners nor to share the beauty of their village. Still after years, visitors understood that the village was not ugly and called it “Sirince” (pretty).

Today the village is a perfect synthesis of Turkish-Greek culture as of the 1920’s; after the Turkish Independence War, people exchange between Greek and Turks has occurred and all those typical Greek houses, though they kept their original outside characteristics, have received the local layout inside. At Sirince Village you will have chance of seeing the local life at a village and purchasing some small local souvenirs and handicrafts.

The village is also famous for its local grape and other fruit wines. During the lunch, mingle with the local people of the village as you will be a guest in their house for a simple lunch of local specialties. Have a cup of traditional Turkish coffee at the main coffee house of the village.

Time permitting, you may wish to check your future!! A gypsy fortune teller will be glad to read your coffee cup. Your last stop will be the visit to the Archaeological Museum of Ephesus established in 1929. It displays very interesting and valuable finds from Ephesus.

Day 12 – Departure – Izmir Airport (Breakfast)
Depart hotel for Izmir international airport. End of our services. Bon Voyage. Private Air-Conditioned Vehicle- Private transfers at all times.

Prices include:

• All transfers in Dubai, Turkey and Jordan, always on a private basis, private air-conditioned vehicle, private chauffeur.
• One way International air fares between Dubai, Amman and Istanbul, in economy class with tax.
• Air-conditioned hotel accommodations with tax and service charges
• Sightseeing with professional guide and entrance fees as indicated
• Meals as indicated, with pre-set menu (B = Breakfast, L = Lunch, D = Dinner)
• UAE visa fee (valid only for American, Australian, NZ, Canadian, Mexican, Singaporean and Japanese citizens. Passports must be valid for at least 6 month upon arrival).
• Dubai VIP Meet & Greet Service at the Airport :
  Arriving at Dubai International Airport you’ll be delighted to discover Travel in Style’s VIP Red Carpet welcome procedures: you are met by our English-speaking representative who escorts you from your plane to a comfortable air-conditioned lounge where you can freshen up and recover from your flight. While you relax, our representative completes your Immigration procedures, collects your luggage, clears it through Customs, and transfers it to your private, air-conditioned vehicle. Escorted from the lounge to your vehicle, your private chauffeur transfers you to your hotel, assisting with your luggage when you arrive. Red Carpet Treatment: that’s the Travel in Style difference.
• Domestic air fare within Turkey in economy class, tax included
• Hotel accommodation as per itinerary, tax included .

Not included:

• Personal expenses and beverages
• International air fare from / to your home country
• Gratuities
• Additional meals and services
• Trip interruption and cancellation insurance
• International air fare from /to your home country .
• Visa Fee for Turkey: in cash upon arrival, for US citizens, Japanese or Canadians, or from any of the Turkish Consulates.
• Jordanian visa fee in $ USD or Euros payable upon arrival for American, Australian, NZ, Canadian & Japanese citizens. Passports must be valid for at least 6 months upon arrival.

Dubai and Jordan a la Indiana Jones
An Eight Day Near East Adventure
Including Wadi Rum and The Dead Sea

Indiana Jones himself couldn’t squeeze more adventure into this journey

Jordan: Famous the world over for the ethic of hospitality of the Bedouin, Jordan, a gem of the middle east, delights and surprises. Jordan offers the traveler a piece of living history, to walk through and experience. While the evidence of Jordan’s colorful history tantalizes the traveler, Jordan is closer to you than you’d think, if only from the images of it you’ve seen in films. Come with us to explore this country’s treasures. We’ll visit the Siq, the narrow, winding fissure between sandstone cliffs to the Treasury (that amazing building made so famous in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) and the lost city of Petra, carved into the rose red Shara mountains by the Nabateans.

Dubai: a true taste of Arabia with a cosmopolitan lifestyle. In Dubai you’ll find year round sunshine and un-crowded, clean sandy beaches. In this crime-free society you ‘ll find a very warm & welcoming team & society awaits you in Dubai. While shopping may not be high on your list, you will find Dubai’s tax free markets means bargains galore. Attractive traditional Middle Eastern gifts – coffee pots, rugs, silverware, jewelry, brass, and one of the world’s greatest gold trading centers offering unbeatable value. Hong Kong is no longer able to compete with Dubai with the wide selection of low-priced international brand name products – audio equipment, VCRs, cameras, watches, fashions, perfumes and more, do not forget the award-winning Dubai Duty Free at the airport.

DAY 1 – Dubai
Private Touring: Daily Arrival- Choose Your Own Date. Weekly Group Tour – Year Round: Thursday
Rate details for both choices listed below.
Start in Dubai or Amman
Arrive at Dubai International Airport at the United Arab Emirate on the Arabian Gulf. Complimentary visa will be issued upon arrival for the following nationalities;UK, EU, Switzerland, Sweden, USA, Canada, Australia, NZ, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei. You are responsible for having a valid passport. Upon arrival, our local rep will meet you and escort you to your hotel.

Arriving at Dubai International Airport you’ll be delighted to discover Travel in Style’s VIP Red Carpet welcome procedures: you are met by our English-speaking representative who escorts you from your plane to a comfortable air-conditioned lounge where you can freshen up and recover from your flight. While you relax, our representative completes your Immigration procedures, collects your luggage, clears it through Customs, and transfers it to your private, air-conditioned vehicle. Escorted from the lounge to your vehicle, your private chauffeur transfers you to your hotel, assisting with your luggage when you arrive. Red Carpet Treatment: that’s the Travel in Style difference.

DAY 2 – Dubai – Friday (BD)
Half Day Dubai City Tour:
Sample the historic sites and vibrant cosmopolitan life of Dubai on this comprehensive tour. The Tour begins in Jumeira, the picturesque palace and residential area of Dubai, also home to the famous Jumeira Mosque. The next stop is Sheikh Saeed House (former residence of ruling family). The Tour then continues to Al Bastakiya, the old part of Dubai, to reach the museum located in Al Fahidi Fort. All guests board the Abra (water taxi) to cross the Creek to the spice souk. Before savoring the sights and sounds of the fish, fruit and vegetable market, there is time to shop in the most famous landmark of Dubai – the Gold souk.

Evening Dhow Cruise Dinner:
For a fabulous relaxing evening join our fully fitted Arabian dhow for an evening’s cruise on the Creek. Enjoy a sumptuous feast of Arabic and Western cuisine while gently gliding past illuminated souks, banks and palaces.

DAY 3 – Desert Safari with dinner in the Arabian Desert – DUBAI: Saturday (BD)
Half Day Desert Safari (4 Wheel Drive):
Morning at leisure, enjoy beach activities. This tour departs in the afternoon across the desert of Dubai with several photo-stops during an exciting dune drive. Before entering the desert your driver deflates the wheels of the 4X4 and then the fun starts. Dune bashing has become known as a fun experience – you will feel the thrill of desert driving as your professional driver takes you up and down on golden dunes. The drive continues across the desert. Please alert us in advance or your local guide if you prefer to skip the dune bashing aspect of the drive.

DAY 4 – DUBAI -East Coast Tour: Sunday (BL)
After breakfast, we head for Dhaid and then on to the Hajar mountains that offer a beautiful natural backdrop for Dubai. A stop at a local market, where the local shop for locally made pottery, fruits and carpets. We stop as well in Dibba and a brief stop at the colorful local fish market, always with the fresh catch from the Arabian Gulf. We drive along the coast passing by m enchanting small villages and fishermen wharfs, we arrive at Al Badiyah mosque, one of the earliest mosques built in the UAE, continue on to Khor Fakkan, a regional popular spot for diving and snorkeling, where there will be an opportunity to relax at the beach and have a refreshing swim. Stop as well as the Khor Fakkah souk. Continue to Fujairah where we stop at the renovated Fort. Before returning to Dubai, stop at the oasis of Bitnah and time to wander on the “Friday Market” in Masafi. Lunch is included enroute in a charming local restaurant.

DAY 5 – Dubai – Amman – Petra: Monday (B)
After breakfast, our local rep escorts you to the airport for your flight to Amman (air fare is included & issued in Dubai). From Amman airport you’ll drive to Petra, arrive at your hotel in Petra and overnight.

Jordanian visa fee, please pay $30 upon arrival at Amman Airport. Visa issued upon arrival for a limited number of nationalities such as: for American, Australian, NZ, Canadian, EU Citizens, Singaporean & Japanese citizens. Passports must be valid for at least 6 month upon arrival.

DAY 6 – PETRA: Tuesday (BD)
We’ll spend the entire day at Petra, the stunning desert city hewn by the Nabateans from solid cliffs of pink and violet sandstone. Petra was known in the bible as Sela, and rediscovered only in 1812. You’ll feel like Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark as you penetrate into the city through a narrow sandstone gorge, the Siq, and wander among the Temple of the Winged Lion, tombs, Roman theater, and the imposing Treasury.

Petra has a lot to tell. The visit starts at the visitor’s center, where each person is assigned a Bedouin guided horse for the journey to the entrance of the lost city. After passing some tombs which are located outside the city, the visitor passes through the SIQ, an immense crack in the Nubian sandstone. It is a winding, one-kilometer-long fissure between overhanging cliffs that seem to meet more than 300 feet overhead.

Near the end of the passage, the SIQ, with great style, makes one last turn and out of the gloom in towering brightness appears Petra’s most impressive monument, el Khazneh – The Treasury. This is one of the most elegant remains of antiquity, carved out of the solid rock from the side of the mountain, is nearly 140 feet high and 90 feet wide.

Beyond el Khazneh the visitor is surrounded on both sides by hundreds of Petra’s carved and built structures, soaring temples, elaborate royal tombs, a carved Roman theater, large and small houses, burial chambers and much more. The Victorian traveler and poet, Dean Burgon, gave Petra a description which holds to this day – “Match me such a marvel save in Eastern clime, a rose-red city half as old as time.” After that, we will return to the hotel to get prepared for a Moonlight dinner served at a Bedouin camp. This evening we have a fantastic traditional dinner under the stars in a Bedouin camp, at a site that dates back more than 2,000 years.

DAY 7 – Wadi Rum – The Dead Sea: Wednesday (BL)
We board four-wheel-drive vehicles for an expedition to Wadi Rum, the “Valley of the Moon” where T. E. Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”) organized Arab resistance to Ottoman rule during World War I. After our visit, we break for tea with the bedouins then head off north to the Dead Sea and your hotel resort. Deluxe: Movenpick Dead Sea or Kempinski Ishtar Dead Sea.

First class: Dead Sea Spa Hotel. Lunch is included enroute.

DAY 8 – Departure-Amman Airport: Thursday (B)
After breakfast at the hotel, our local rep. escorts you to Amman airport of Amman for your flight home. Bon Voyage. For the 7-day version, please click here

Prices include:

• All transfers in Dubai & Jordan.
• International air fare one way in economy class between Dubai & Amman with tax.
• Air-conditioned hotel accommodations with tax and service charges
• Sightseeing with professional guide and entrance fees as indicated
• Meals as indicated, with pre-set menu (B = Breakfast, L = Lunch, D = Dinner).
• Complimentary UAE visa will be issued upon arrival for a limited number of nationalities such as: UK, EU, Switzerland, Sweden, USA, Canada, Australia, NZ, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei. You are responsible for having a valid passport. Upon arrival.
• Dubai VIP Meet & Greet Service at the Airport:
  Arriving at Dubai International Airport you’ll be delighted to discover Travel in Style’s VIP Red Carpet welcome procedures: you are met by our English-speaking representative who escorts you from your plane to a comfortable air-conditioned lounge where you can freshen up and recover from your flight. While you relax, our representative completes your Immigration procedures, collects your luggage, clears it through Customs, and transfers it to your private, air-conditioned vehicle. Escorted from the lounge to your vehicle, your private chauffeur transfers you to your hotel, assisting with your luggage when you arrive. Red Carpet Treatment: that’s the Travel in Style difference.
• Hotel accommodation as per itinerary, tax included

• Meet and Greet upon arrival by guest services agent and porter.
• Access to the Ahlan lounge whilst immigration formalities are completed.
• Luggage collection by the porter and escort all the way out to the meeting point.
• Ahlan service is available only in Terminal 1 and Terminal 3 and for only the arrivals.

Not included:

• Personal expenses and beverages
• International air fare from / to your home country
• Gratuities
• Jordanian visa fee in $ USD or Euros payable upon arrival for American, Australian, NZ, Canadian & Japanese citizens. Passports must be valid for at least 6 month upon arrival).
• Trip interruption and cancellation insurance

Dubai and Jordan a la Indiana Jones
A Seven Day Near East Adventure

Indiana Jones himself couldn’t squeeze more adventure into this journey

Jordan: Famous the world over for the ethic of hospitality of the Bedouin, Jordan, a gem of the middle east, delights and surprises. Jordan offers the traveler a piece of living history, to walk through and experience. While the evidence of Jordan’s colorful history tantalizes the traveler, Jordan is closer to you than you’d think, if only from the images of it you’ve seen in films. Come with us to explore this country’s treasures. We’ll visit the Siq, the narrow, winding fissure between sandstone cliffs to the Treasury (that amazing building made so famous in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) and the lost city of Petra, carved into the rose red Shara mountains by the Nabateans.

Dubai: a true taste of Arabia with a cosmopolitan lifestyle. In Dubai you’ll find year round sunshine and un-crowded, clean sandy beaches. In this crime-free society you ‘ll find a very warm & welcoming team & society awaits you in Dubai. While shopping may not be high on your list, you will find Dubai’s tax free markets means bargains galore. Attractive traditional Middle Eastern gifts – coffee pots, rugs, silverware, jewelry, brass, and one of the world’s greatest gold trading centers offering unbeatable value. Hong Kong is no longer able to compete with Dubai with the wide selection of low-priced international brand name products – audio equipment, VCRs, cameras, watches, fashions, perfumes and more, do not forget the award-winning Dubai Duty Free at the airport.

DAY 1 – Dubai
Private Touring: Daily Arrival – Choose Your Own Date. Weekly Group Tour – Year Round: Thursday
Rate details for both choices listed below.
Start in Dubai or Amman
Arrive at Dubai International Airport at the United Arab Emirate on the Arabian Gulf. Complimentary visa will be issued upon arrival for the following nationalities;UK, EU, Switzerland, Sweden, USA, Canada, Australia, NZ, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei. You are responsible for having a valid passport. Upon arrival, our local rep will meet you and escort you to your hotel.

Arriving at Dubai International Airport you’ll be delighted to discover Travel in Style’s VIP Red Carpet welcome procedures: you are met by our English-speaking representative who escorts you from your plane to a comfortable air-conditioned lounge where you can freshen up and recover from your flight. While you relax, our representative completes your Immigration procedures, collects your luggage, clears it through Customs, and transfers it to your private, air-conditioned vehicle. Escorted from the lounge to your vehicle, your private chauffeur transfers you to your hotel, assisting with your luggage when you arrive. Red Carpet Treatment: that’s the Travel in Style difference.

An AMAZING Week In Dubai! Video by Sharon Farrell.

DAY 2 – Dubai – Friday (BD)
Half Day Dubai City Tour:
Sample the historic sites and vibrant cosmopolitan life of Dubai on this comprehensive tour. The Tour begins in Jumeira, the picturesque palace and residential area of Dubai, also home to the famous Jumeira Mosque. The next stop is Sheikh Saeed House (former residence of ruling family). The Tour then continues to Al Bastakiya, the old part of Dubai, to reach the museum located in Al Fahidi Fort. All guests board the Abra (water taxi) to cross the Creek to the spice souk. Before savoring the sights and sounds of the fish, fruit and vegetable market, there is time to shop in the most famous landmark of Dubai – the Gold souk.

Evening Dhow Cruise Dinner:
For a fabulous relaxing evening join our fully fitted Arabian dhow for an evening’s cruise on the Creek. Enjoy a sumptuous feast of Arabic and Western cuisine while gently gliding past illuminated souks, banks and palaces.

DAY 3 – Desert Safari with dinner in the Arabian Desert – DUBAI: Saturday (BD)
Half Day Desert Safari (4 Wheel Drive):
Morning at leisure, enjoy beach activities. This tour departs in the afternoon across the desert of Dubai with several photo-stops during an exciting dune drive . Before entering the desert your driver deflates the wheels of the 4X4 and then the fun starts. Dune bashing has become known as a fun experience – you will feel the thrill of desert driving as your professional driver takes you up and down on golden dunes. The drive continues across the desert. Please alert us in advance or your local guide if you prefer to skip the dune bashing aspect of the drive.

We stop to watch the beautiful sunset before reaching our campsite where you have the opportunity to do camel riding. After working up an appetite enjoy a delicious barbecue dinner and a shisha (the most famous Arabic Water pipe). We conclude the evening with a true 1001 Arabian Nights tradition and With a belly dancer performing her dance around the campfire before we head back to your hotel .

DAY 4 – DUBAI -East Coast Tour: Sunday (BL)
After breakfast, we head for Dhaid and then on to the Hajar mountains that offer a beautiful natural backdrop for Dubai. A stop at a local market, where the local shop for locally made pottery, fruits and carpets. We stop as well in Dibba and a brief stop at the colorful local fish market, always with the fresh catch from the Arabian Gulf. We drive along the coast passing by m enchanting small villages and fishermen wharfs, we arrive at Al Badiyah mosque, one of the earliest mosques built in the UAE, continue on to Khor Fakkan, a regional popular spot for diving and snorkeling, where there will be an opportunity to relax at the beach and have a refreshing swim. Stop as well as the Khor Fakkah souk. Continue to Fujairah where we stop at the renovated Fort. Before returning to Dubai, stop at the oasis of Bitnah and time to wander on the “Friday Market” in Masafi. Lunch is included enroute in a charming local restaurant.

DAY 5 – Dubai – PETRA: Monday (B)
After breakfast , our local rep escorts you to the airport for your flight to Amman (air fare is included & issued in Dubai). From Amman airport you’ll drive to Petra, arrive at your hotel in Petra and overnight.

Jordanian visa fee, please pay $30 upon arrival at Amman Airport. Visa issued upon arrival for a limited number of nationalities such as : for American, Australian, NZ, Canadian, EU Citizens, Singaporean & Japanese citizens. Passports must be valid for at least 6 month upon arrival.

DAY 6 – PETRA: Tuesday (BD)
We’ll spend the entire day at Petra, the stunning desert city hewn by the Nabateans from solid cliffs of pink and violet sandstone. Petra was known in the bible as Sela, and rediscovered only in 1812. You’ll feel like Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark as you penetrate into the city through a narrow sandstone gorge, the Siq, and wander among the Temple of the Winged Lion, tombs, Roman theater, and the imposing Treasury.

Petra has a lot to tell. The visit starts at the visitor’s center, where each person is assigned a Bedouin guided horse for the journey to the entrance of the lost city. After passing some tombs which are located outside the city, the visitor passes through the SIQ, an immense crack in the Nubian sandstone. It is a winding, one-kilometer-long fissure between overhanging cliffs that seem to meet more than 300 feet overhead.

Near the end of the passage, the SIQ, with great style, makes one last turn and out of the gloom in towering brightness appears Petra’s most impressive monument, el Khazneh – The Treasury. This is one of the most elegant remains of antiquity, carved out of the solid rock from the side of the mountain, is nearly 140 feet high and 90 feet wide.

Beyond el Khazneh the visitor is surrounded on both sides by hundreds of Petra’s carved and built structures, soaring temples, elaborate royal tombs, a carved Roman theater, large and small houses, burial chambers and much more. The Victorian traveler and poet, Dean Burgon, gave Petra a description which holds to this day – “Match me such a marvel save in Eastern clime, a rose-red city half as old as time.” After that, we will return to the hotel to get prepared for a Moonlight dinner served at a Bedouin camp. This evening we have a fantastic traditional dinner under the stars in a Bedouin camp, at a site that dates back more than 2,000 years.

DAY 7 – Departure-Amman: Wednesday (B)
Our local rep. escorts you to Amman airport for your flight home. Bon Voyage.

Prices include:

• All transfers in Dubai & Jordan.
• International air fare one way in economy class between Dubai & Amman with tax.
• Air-conditioned hotel accommodations with tax and service charges
• Sightseeing with professional guide and entrance fees as indicated
• Meals as indicated, with pre-set menu (B = Breakfast, L = Lunch, D = Dinner)
• UAE visa fee (valid for a limited number of nationalities such as : American, Australian , NZ, Canadian & Japanese citizens. Passports must be valid for at least 6 month upon arrival).
• Dubai VIP Meet & Greet Service at the Airport:
  Arriving at Dubai International Airport you’ll be delighted to discover Travel in Style’s VIP Red Carpet welcome procedures: you are met by our English-speaking representative who escorts you from your plane to a comfortable air-conditioned lounge where you can freshen up and recover from your flight. While you relax, our representative completes your Immigration procedures, collects your luggage, clears it through Customs, and transfers it to your private, air-conditioned vehicle. Escorted from the lounge to your vehicle, your private chauffeur transfers you to your hotel, assisting with your luggage when you arrive. Red Carpet Treatment: that’s the Travel in Style difference.
• Hotel accommodation as per itinerary, tax included

Additional Airport Service Upon Arrival in Dubai.
Available only with the Ultra Deluxe Category.

Premium Ahlan service at Dubai international airport
Upon arrival

• Meet and Greet upon arrival by guest services agent and porter.
• Access to the Ahlan lounge whilst immigration formalities are completed.
• Luggage collection by the porter and escort all the way out to the meeting point.
• Ahlan service is available only in Terminal 1 and Terminal 3 and for only the arrivals.

Not included:

• Personal expenses and beverages
• International air fare from / to your home country
• Gratuities
• Additional meals and services
• Trip interruption and cancellation insurance
• Jordanian visa fee in $ USD or Euros payable upon arrival for American, Australian, NZ, Canadian & Japanese citizens. Passports must be valid for at least 6 months upon arrival.