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Will Fisher on his experiences riding in the Middle East
So, as some people may or may not know (depending on if I have you on facebook or not) I have been lucky enough to go on three separate trips to the middle east to ride my bike. Jeremy has asked me to do a little write up about the time I have spent over there, what I was doing and what life is like on the other side of the world.
 I have been doing BMX shows with the Craze-E-Crew stunt team for the past year or so. They have been in operation for about 17 years and have been performing over in Saudi Arabia for about 10 of those. I had heard all sorts of wild stories from friends who had gone prior to my affiliation with the team and it sounded like an incredible experience with a degree of sketchiness and I was really excited to live it myself.
To sum up my trips I'd call them amazing. My perception of Saudi Arabia before I went was totally altered when I arrived. When it's freezing cold at home and you step out of a plane in 40 degree weather with machine gun wielding soldiers approaching you telling you to put your camera away you know you've arrived. If you are in a larger city there are plenty of cool things to see an do. Our dollar goes along way over there so you can purchase some nice stuff, gas is about 20 cents a litre for 95 octane and a can of pop is about 30 cents to give you an idea.
In terms of what you can and can't do I like to use the example of a complete reverse of what its like in Canada. Over there you can't really go and talk to girls and stuff like that due to the arranged marriage system but, you can, without an issue drive 200km/h down the street, cut anyone off and do a multitude of other things that would have your license being cut to pieces in two seconds if you were in Canada. Also police officers and business owners think its really cool if you are riding and doing tricks on things. Religion is serious business over there and they are all Muslim. They pray throughout the day at which point all the businesses close up and prayer is broadcasted through the city by the many mosques. They have a totally different legal system over there as well. If you steal something and are convicted, say goodbye to your hands. if you rape or kill someone, your head is going to hit the floor separate from your body, did I mention this is done publicly?
 Saudi is somewhat extreme in terms of Muslim culture and rules compared to Oman, another country I spent time in. It is a lot more laid back, women aren't as covered up and they also allow alcohol. Saudi is a dry country which I forgot to mention. The two countries are similar in a sense that the first time you go it seems totally surreal, different architecture, different language, different restaurants, different landscape. It seems like you are in a star wars movie at times.
Either way I could go on for days about my time over there but I'll cut this long rant short. I could go on for days about the cultural differences but in reality people are all the same, they are friendly, kind, accepting and overall nice. I've had the time of my life over there, it's safe, fun, not what you'd expect at all and the experience of a lifetime, if you have the chance to go do not pass it up. I will just leave you with a few highlights and pieces of info from my trips in point form.
- People park their cars in the middle of the road and block traffic.
- Paul Berger and I got taken to jail in the middle of the night because the car we were in didn't obey a traffic light. Didn't expect it.
- Rented Atv's and took off into the desert for 2 hours launching sand dunes and rolling Atv's, What's a helmet?
- Swam in the Arabian gulf (part of the persian gulf) such a high salt content you float like crazy.
- Crushing a few man sodas with the guys on the beach at a high quality resort in Oman.
- Our driver from india talking about the prostitutes he fucks. "Dish ish backshide"
- Haggling for everything.
- Hungry Bunny and Kudu Restuarant.
- Eating nothing but shwarma's and drinking pop.
- Watching people surf on the roof of a car doing 100km/h
- Riding in the back of pickup trucks in the desert in sand dunes towing people sitting on scrap tires.
- Staying up all night with the rest of society.
Check out Will's Team Page
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Devin Szmata Bike Check
Check out Devin's freshly painted Fly Luna.
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Riding in the Middle East
Will recently had the opportunity to bike in some pretty wild places. He talks about his travels here.
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