New Travel Mates

P.S. We picked up some new people yesterday.

There is a couple from Houston. They were both born in Asia (I want to say Malaysia and Indonesia), but they met while studying in the U.S.

There is a couple of young ladies probably a little younger than me. I think they are from DC and OH.

There is another American couple who lives in Qatar. The husband is helping build an airport there. They have also lived in Afghanistan.

And there is now a single bachelor who is 35 who was born in Syria but lives in Qatar. He's an architect.

So last night the guy from Syria, the ladies from Miami, and me shared a table for dinner. We were talking about the middle east.

Somehow we got to talking about following the rules in the country you visit. And how some countries we probably won't visit (i.e. countries where women are oppressed). The case of the young boy who got caned in Singapore came up. He brought up a case where his ex-girlfriend (who is from Australia) was arrested and deported from a country (and I am drawing a blank to which one) because she gave a police officer the middle finger. She spent a few days in jail, and she is banned for life. Oh and we talked about the Sex and the City movie that supposed to take place in was it Dubai and the need to respect the places you visit.

I guess the bottom line is that we have to be good global citizens. For example, I am not Hindu, but when visiting a Hindu temple, I will remove my shoes out of respect. I am not Muslim, but out of respect, I will cover my head when entering a mosque. The other choice is to just not go in. Okay. I feel a soap box rant coming on so I will stop!