Iran Archives - Passport Overused

With only a few hours left in this desert metropolis, I had one last thing to do. I didn’t visit the palm island yet. This is the place where all the six stars services were at. My final task on my to-do list was about to be crossed off.

The entrance to the Atlantis hotel photo courtesy of Hugo Morel

Found a taxi and told him to take me to the man-made island. It took about 30 mins of going through tunnels to finally arrive to the Atlantis hotel. My local friend works here. Didn’t want to bother her while working. Plus, fancy things aren’t really my thing.

The Persian gulf photo courtesy of Hugo Morel

Right in front of the hotel, there is a beautiful view of the Persian golf. It’s crazy to think that Iran is on the other side of that body of water. Iran is like another universe compared to Dubai. I always found it strange, how countries so close to each other could be so different in economics and political views. For example, USA and Mexico. Two countries that share a broader, however, are so different. It’s almost mind blowing to think how a few thousands miles can really change how people think, live and look.

The water park next to the six star hotel photo courtesy of Hugo Morel

Eventually, I asked to be driven to the 6 star hotel. I didn’t want to go in, I just wanted to see from the outside. The restaurants inside aren’t that expensive. It’s about 80 dollars a meal and side orders. That’s about 20 dollars more in New York city. The funny about the hotel is that there is a water park right next door. Kind of implying water parks are somewhat a luxury here. Which, if you knew more about water parks. That water should be yellow. Bleach is such a magical substance.

The Burj al Arab from the front photo courtesy of Hugo Morel

In order to get to the hotel, you need to pass a security check point. You can’t get in without a reservation. I was thinking about going here for a restaurant. However, that is something I would regret spending money on. I always prefer authenticity over luxury. With that, ends my adventures in the 🇦🇪 UAE. Next stop would be more Christmas themed.

Thank you so much for reading! Hope you all are enjoying your weekend! Happy late Thanksgiving to the Americans!

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After exploring around the neighborhood near where my airbnb apartment was, I saw this beautiful building from a far. I started walking towards it and I found out it was an Iranian hospital. Little did I knew, I stumbled around a Persian neighborhood.

outside of the Persian mosque photo courtesy of Hugo Morel

For those who don’t know, Persian and Iranian are similar. Iran was once a part of the Persian empire. That is something, I did not know at the time of me stumbling across this beautiful piece of art. Found out later while doing research. Walked towards this interestingly patterned building. From outside looking in, I figured out it was a mosque. I could tell by the shoe cubby and chants of the Qur’an.

Inside of the mosque’s entrance photo courtesy of Hugo Morel

Saw someone come out of the mosque. Asked if it was okay for me to enter. I got the clearance to explore. Once inside the gates to the entrance, I was in awe towards the attention to detail. The colors made the building look so majestic. The patterns and the designs are so beautiful. Couldn’t wait to see how the inside looks like. Put my shoes in the cubby and I was off.

Inside of the mosque seeing the men praying photo courtesy of Hugo Morel

The inside of the mosque was truly foreign and new to me. The colors matched the outside with a touch more of green. To make sure it was okay, I asked one of the mosque’s operators if I could take photos. He gave me permission of course.

I got to see some of the followers pray. Similar to how it was during my time in Cairo, the mosque was sectioned by gender. I was not allowed to go on the women’s side. Still, I enjoyed the part I was given access to.

Sometimes, it’s hard to picture how close United Arab Emirates is to Iran. It’s literally less than a two hour flight from Dubai. Makes sense why there’s a strong Persian community here. Glad I got to see in person.

Another look of the mosque photo courtesy of Hugo Morel

As I was looking at the Muslims praying, I started to think a little to myself. The differences between this mosque and the mosque in Cairo. They both practice different types of Islam. Egypt is Sunni majority and Iran is Shia majority. They are similar and very different at the same time. Similar to Catholics and Protestants, the houses of worship look very different. It’s almost the same here. Expect, Sunni is the majority branch of Islam at about 87% to 90% of the Muslim population. While, Shia Islam is about 13% to 10%. Here is the link for those who want to more read about this.

Also, I remember something funny at this time. I was wearing the cross my family gave to me for my travels. This whole time I was exploring this mosque, you can clearly tell I was a christian or came from a Christian family. Yet, not one person gave me a second look nor hostility. To think how, I was once so scared about going to a Muslim majority country. I can only laugh at myself now. I grew so much as a person throughout my travels. With every new country, I was becoming a person. Someone with more understanding to others who are different than me. Truly believe, we can stop more wars from happening, if we just understood each other better. We all have similarities despite our differences. Hopefully, we get to see that in our lifetime.

After about an hour of looking around, I saw pretty much all of the mosque. That was my sign to walk back into the heat. Thought about staying until the sun went down. However, I didn’t want to take advantage of the friendly welcome I was given.

Safe travels everyone and much love!

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