Oman

In the Arabic Peninsula, Oman has retained its charm and a certain traditional touch, while the people are very welcoming. In the capital city, there is no skyscraper but instead many low castle-like houses. The city is organised in many small quarters in-between rocky hills. There is a certain vibe in the downtown area, although it was Eid, which for Westerners mean "dry days" (no alcohol is served) and "holidays" (there were many expats from Dubai - including Indians - who took these off days to come and visit Oman).

The most remarkable building is certainly the new and flashy mosque erected by the sultan. It is actually an impressive mosque, surely with several records (size of the carpet, weight of the chandelier). But it is nice in the sense that it incorporates many motives from all the main arabic cultural areas.

Oman is dotted with numerous castles, which were used by sultans to protect the interior trade routes. Most of them are renovated (sometimes, too much...). However, it must be said that the country has invested its oil money not only in mosques and museums, but mostly in infrastructure, schools and clinics. On a few occasions, we had the feeling we were the first ones to drive on a brand new section of the freeway. We could have relinquished renting a 4by4, where it not for the few kilometers we drove in the desert. Always a pleasure to be in the desert. Great colours in the evening lights. And a real pleasure to have supper outside in the quiet middle of nowhere. However, it must still be said that the dunes of Oman do not compare to the ones in Namibia. The highlight of the trip was then the evening we spent on the beach observing the new-born turtles trying to make it to the sea. Such a nice sight and so good to see how strongly they try to make it, but also so sad to know that only 4 out of 1000 will make it to adult life. We observed a turtle lay its egg and covering its nest. Slow but meticulous moves. The National Park around the area opened a few months ago and the authorities seem determine to preserve their natural heritage.Oman is then a land of seas, sands and wadis. We went to discover several wadis and even jumped in the pools formed by the rivers. Some spots were quite touristical - although a lot of potential remains to improve it - while some others were pretty wild. There is very little agriculture throughout. In some places, attempts to cultivate on terrasses do not seem very successful. This probably explains why there are several ghost villages.

Doha

Once in a while, work and travel mix and when it happens, it generally turns out to be a great experience. This time our international commitments took us to Doha. I think this city tries to become the "conference capital" of the world as it attempts to grab every opportunity at hosting conferences. Good for them, as we wonder how they manage to fill up all these hotels. But they still need to improve on their performance: my swiss colleague was tagged on his conference pass as representing Swaziland!

Anyway this conference was a little "who is who" in international politics. It is probably better that i do not name the presidents that attended, but among them was a short and excited one who bulldozed the agenda so that he could speak first, a few hysteric ones shouting at Israel, England or imperialistic forces and a few anxious ones who came surrounded by bodyguards and yes-man. Still, the majority of them did try their best to reach a compromise acceptable to all parties. What surprised me the most in this conference is how its different sub-elements did not interact with each other. On the main stage, there were the presidents' and ministers' declarations. Further, negociations on the final document took place in the open or behind closed doors depending on the stage of the process. And finally, there were many side events. During a lunch break, we managed to escape the conference so that we could finally discover a little bit of Doha. We chose to head to the newly opened Museum of Islamic Art. It is a real gem. From outside already, it is one of the few building with a modernised version of the traditional Qatari architecture. It is certainly the only building that is less than 10 years old that is not a skyscraper... And inside, a great variety of quality objects from all over the islamic world is very well presented.

Mandela and democracy

Professor Ntsebeza, from the best university - the University of Cape Town, gave a presentation on Mandela's position towards democracy. He described the two roots of Mandela's thoughts: liberal democracy and tribal democracy. The first one is the one the struggle was for: elections and direct representation. The second one relates to the way he grew up in his village: participative democracy, somewhat idealised according to Prof Ntsebeza. This tension is present in Mandela himself. The current developments in South Africa are also trying to find a balance or a way between the two. In many places, tribal authorities have not been dismantled. On another level, most decisions are taken according to liberal democracy. Interesting to hear all that coming from an academic.

Prof Ntsebeza is very much encouraged by the recent political events. There is the chance to have a robust discussion on politics and for serious multi-party democracy. This is why he is quite critical about Archbishop Desmond Tutu's stance that he would not vote in the next elections.

Paris Bercy

Since the snow decided to make an even earlier visit to my country this year compared to last year (this blog is quite useful in that sense; the first snow this year came on October 29), why not attend an indoor tennis tournament? It is nice and warm inside, there is no wind. Good idea then to go to Paris for the Bercy tournament, the last regular one of the year.

The hero of the tournament was Tsonga, the french coloured player, who went on the win the final. Was that a premonition for Obama's victory in the USA? Whatever the serious historians will say about this correlation, he played a flamboyant tennis. The partisan crowd was on its feet.

And what about the two best tennis players. At least, we got to see a bit of Nadal. He played a set before he was forced to abandon. Federer did not even show up and withdrew because of a back problem... I can only agree with a spectator who was waving a sign reading "we miss you Roger".

London

Welcome to London, on a sunny day. Yes it is indeed possible. And it is very nice to walk around, through the many gardens. Although this city is quite stressful and hectic. And the financial turmoil is being felt by many people. Indeed, there was a very long queue trying to get into the Bank of England, on its open door day. But, of course, there are bedrocks of stability such as Buckingham Palace. The guards are still doing their round.

Strange that on this sunny week-end, we decided to spend a couple of hours in the British Museum. Fantastic pieces, such as the Rosette stone, the sculptures of the Parthenon and the Lions of Assyria, and most of all a very well done special exhibition on the Roman Emperor Hadrien.Back outdoors, we queued to get onto the London Eye. Beautiful views over London, including Westminster and Big Ben.On the final day, we went to the outskirts of the city, where the new neighbourhood of East London and Greenwich. We clearly get the sense that the country was proud that the sun never set on its Empire. One foot to the East of the world and the other to the West. But since then, the centre of the world has moved...

Burgdorf

The first question of the day was "how to get to Burgdorf?" A colleague proposed to go by bike. Crazy idea? Actually a nice one. So we went off for a 25 km ride through hilly, rural and tidy Berne province. It took us 2 and 1/2 hours... and was quite tiring. It was the first time for me to ride for such a long time - a good experience. And of course, I could not help asking myself how do professional riders do to climb those steep mountains day after day. There is an obvious answer... On the way, we stopped to buy blueberries and a friendly cat came to say hello. It would have liked to stay on my shoulder for much longer, but we still had some way to go.

The next question is "what to say about Burgdorf?" Well, that is a really tough one! I could probably go on for hours or I could be ironic. To keep it short, i will quote our guide, who said "Burgdorf is the city of schools". I think it is a good summary.The last question sounds: "is there a criminal in the house?" We visited the crime studio where we would play the investigators. It was both interesting and fun. There were around 14 cases to solve, thanks to several clues. Sounds easier than it was. The owner had all the experience to set up these cases, as he is a retired policeman.

A year on!

Time for this blog to celebrate its first anniversary! I guess i should continue with it. What do you say? Feel free to make proposals to improve it some more. I must say I thought some of my friends would also start with a blog. Apparently, they prefer facebook...

What best way to celebrate with the most famous Geneva fireworks.

Some said that there were not as nice as last year. Still a great evening! And so many tourists. It certainly did not feel like there were world economic problems. Indeed the main guest was Russia and their tourists came in numbers. Surely another bumper year for the exclusive swiss watchmakers.

One of the highlight of the evening was the superb and colourful sunset on Mont Blanc. Is not that beautiful.