Wischnewski in Saudi-Arabia (December 2022)

Hello all!

What do you know about Saudi-Arabia? …Riyadh? Oil? OPEC? Osama? Prince XYZ? Muslim country?

We understood quickly that we did not know anything of relevance when it comes to Saudi-Arabia for us ‘on the ground’. As we already learned from Iran, Iraq and Kuwait the hospitality, openness and friendliness of the Arabs is extraordinary. For us it is hard to imagine that a stranger who meets you somewhere on the street could (honestly) invite you to a family celebration or to a dinner ‘right away’. And again: the best way to meet people is to put your truck to a water spring and begin filling your tank. No five minutes later a local shows up, very interested end enthusiastic, and get’s in touch. But important to mention is, that the Arabic hospitality is more than a duty from the times of the nomads, it is a positive belief. And a great way to get in touch.

Like you see it on television or on YouTube: we sat in a Saudi beduin tent, somewhere in the desert, surrounded by camels, having dinner and dates plus tea, ..and great conversations with people from a very different cultural context. So exciting! We never had a clue that travelling through the Arab world could be so enriching!

Best wishes from
Heike and Carsten

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Wischnewski in Kuwait (November 2022)

Hello all!

After our visit of Iraq, Kuwait almost seems to be artificial: new city, new buildings, proper streets, everything modern, traffic organized, many shopping centers and other shopping location wherever you want. But still we are in the Arabic world. Very surprising how different it can be some kilometers away from Iraq/Basra: In Kuwait it feels like a totally different world, but built on the same foundation, and that is oil and Muslim religion (but obviously countries in a totally different state). We asked ourselves ‘how can it happen that two countries with that same setup are so different’? Obviously it depends on the focus of the government: one took care of aggression and war for decades (Iraq), the other (Kuwait) focused on using what was given (oil) while developing welfare and economy without loosing it’s Muslim roots and values.

Another thing that was obvious in Kuwait was: the Kuwaitis themself are not seen often at work. They are the owner of properties and companies. Very many foreign guest workers e.g. from India and Pakistan do the work on the ground, in the shops, in the streets, everywhere. Kuwaitis own, all others work. From a western perspective that feels a bit strange when there is no local been seen at work… 

Again: very enlightening to travel in the Arabic world…

Best wishes from
Heike and Carsten

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Wischnewski in Irak (in November 2022)

Hello all!

if one year before somebody would have tried to convince me to drive to Iraq I would have surely said ‘never – only over my dead body’!

But as we travelled through Iran we met several other travellers who convinced us that it is safe enough to tried it, surely you better do not go to the north where the IS still is active. So we crossed the border and visited Basra first. We had no expectation about what will happen in Iraq but it sounded exotic to go there. We were a group of 3 vehicles, our travel family got bigger 🙂

The circa 2 weeks in Iraq were very exiting and – again – very enlightening. But it also was stressful because we had to pass so many security checkpoint (where nobody speaks English, …so it always took a while to explain what we – the hack – do in Iraq). ‘You are tourists and want to go to Bagdad?’ They usually could not belief that this really was our plan. But with the help of a new Facebook friend from Iraq (F. from Bagdad) we could make it. It was just impressive to meet so many beautiful people and families. It needed a time to get used to the way they organize the get togethers with us (female and male often strictly separated) but it worked out very well. Even more than the Iranians the Iraqis liked to present themselves to us letting the world know ‘that we are not all terrorists’ (that’s what we heart several times). And again: a brought majority of people are just ordinary people. Too sad that the (jew) bad people make such a loud noise that you easily oversee that the people are just nice. And also it took a while to get used to our ‘security team’ that we got in each city (military that got the order to protect and help us). We felt a bit like superstars when our 3 vehicles were escorted by military cars, even if we were only going out for sightseeing.

It was so good to visit Basra, Bagdad and Karbala!

Best wishes from
Heike and Carsten

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Wischnewski in Iran’s South (in October 2022)

Hello all!

in the South of Iran it was a very special event to drive into the desert ‘Lut’ (the hottest desert on planet earth). We had (brand new) good friends with us, forming a beautiful ‘travel family’ for many weeks, starting with the trip through Lut.

Best wishes from
Heike and Carsten

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Wischnewski in Iran’s Center (October 2022)

Hello all!

today we have a good bunch of pictures from the central region of Iran for you: Quom, Kashan and Isfahan (‘Medicus’) are the most known cities we visited.

Best wishes from
Heike & Carsten

To see full-size pictures and comments please
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on the thumbnails!