SAND SUN SURPRISES BY ES AKPATA

Description

Part travelogue, part insightful memoir, Sand, Sun and Surprises memorialises the decades that Prof ES Akpata spent living and working as a Nigerian expatriate in oil-rich Middle East. A top scholar in the field of dental surgery, he leaves Nigeria during the recession of the 1980s to take up, initially, a temporary job in the region, but ends up spending twenty-three years of academic activities in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.Sand, Sun and Surprises demystifies the culture of the Arab world; it is a fascinating take, filled with moments of humour–like the one time when he thinks his car is stolen in Kuwait, and after searching for hours, finds it in the same spot he left it. The author describes a region transformed from harsh desert conditions to gleaming cities made of glass and steel, elegant buildings, and five-star hotels and restaurants; changes that seemed to have occurred in an instant.This is a practical book for those who wish to understand the Middle East or visit the region for work or leisure.