The secret life of Facebookless Hamdan.

Let me tell you a little bit about Hamdan, one of the most interesting guys I've met on my trip. I've met four really interesting guys, but I think Hamdan won the price.
We spent almost every day in Prague  together. We either went on tours or had dinner together, not just the two of us but with other friends.
I noticed how he was always nicely dressed, even on the very warm days that made you feel like taking all your clothes off and walking around naked. He always wore a fancy buttoned shirt and a nice jacket and a hat even on these very warm days.

We, my other friends from different parts of the world that I had just met and I, were all staying in a hostel, mine was the cheapest, but he was staying in a hotel. Believe it or not it wasn't a normal a hotel, it wasn't just a fancy hotel it was the one and only one-room hotel in Prague. Yes, a one-room hotel.
There's this one-room hotel in Prague and it's situated in the ugly television tower. It must be really expensive and I think he had to book it very early but that's where he was staying, in the ugly tower that is climbed by babies. We didn't go to the hotel to see it for ourselves but I looked some pictures up on the internet. One day I might be able to stay in that one-room hotel too and enjoy the view.

An image of the one-room hotel in Prague.

My other friends and I found out he was pretty rich, but he was trying to keep it a secret. It turned out that he was not only secretly very rich but he is also a famous author of two fantasy  books. He told us a bit about the books without spoiling it. The books are not science-fiction but novels a little similar to Harry Potter and he's planning on writing a whole serie of books.
One of my friends, the girl from Canada that I've met, and I became very curious about these books. Unfortunately for us they are written in Arabic thus, for us, they would be pretty hard to comprehend. The good thing is that people are working very hard on translating them at this moment but Hamdan told us that the books are pretty thick and that, for that reason, it will take a while before the translation process is finished.

I was very impressed because he's still very young and has already published two books. If I'm not mistaken he turned 23 on the 16th of May which makes him a Taurus just like me. We asked him if he's a popular author back in Abu Dhabi. He modestly replied that he's not really popular, just normal, but that some people buy his books and return with their family members because their family members liked the books so much that they wanted to purchase it too. One day during dinner he also showed us a picture of him with one of the celebrities in Abu Dhabi. We asked how come he had a picture with this celebrity. He replied that she's very normal, very friendly.
I can't wait to read the books when they are finally translated. I'll have to wait but I did ask for his autograph.

He told me a secret but he did not want any one to know because for once he just wanted to be normal and to blend in. He fit right in our very diverse group of people that ended up exploring Prague together. As I mentioned before I have spend the most time in Prague in his wonderful company which was quite a lot of time, considering the limit amount of time we had.
He trusted me and I trusted him and it felt like, in a way, that we were family. It was hard to say goodbye and I will miss him. We share the same skin color even though he claimed that he is darker than me but I think that I am darker than him, but what does it matter?
I did notice that he felt a bit weird about hugging ( I love hugging!) . He told us that in Abu Dhabi they only hug their family and very close friends. He felt more comfortable giving a formal and firm hand. Well, I didn't expect him to go around hugging everyone. He did make an exception for me: I got hugs.

I will soon pay a visit to Abu Dhabi. I am welcome to stay in his palace with his 20 other family members and he will let his cook prepare traditional Abu Dhabian (I don't know how to call it) food for me. He said that in Abu Dhabi they don't really sell the traditional food, but mostly international food on the streets. He had noticed how much I liked all the old buildings and every thing that was so very old in Prague and told me that every thing is very modern in Abu Dhabi but that it's really beautiful there.

Abu Dhabi

I can't wait! Did I mention that he will pay for my  plane ticket? I totally forgot that he doesn't have to pay for my plane ticket. He can simply pick me up in his private jet.

I hope you liked to hear about the secret life of facebookless Hamdan. Oops, now it's not a secret anymore.

I'm really glad I met him, by total coincidence. Hamdan is a very modest guy. He's very friendly, extremely sweet, humble and has a great sense of humor, was very mysterious and wanted to keep his secret life a secret. He does not use Facebook because he says that in his country Facebook is considered to be old fashioned. Too bad for me. He does have Instagram but I don't, simply because I don't like Instagram. We went apart without saying our goodbyes, because it's not goodbye but until we meet again.





He inspired me to write and I can only hope that he will read and like this story that completely revolves around him and that is not completely true, of course: He is not allowed to pick me up in his private jet.




If you're interested in more of my encounters on my way to and during my trip in Prague:

• This is how I feel
• Jan-hus.
• Grilled cheese sandwich
• Guilt-check