The races and other oddities

Howdy campers

The world cup was a spectacle. I have never been to the Melbourne Cup festivities, but I imagine it would be similar to the Dubai World Cup. Frocks, hats, fascinators (fascinating), suits, money etc etc. There was a $6million prize for the big race, care of the ruler of Dubai, which was won by one of his horses. Luckily for him there is no tax on winnings.

A couple of days before the race I met a local in the lift after picking up my ticket for the World Cup. He turned out to be one of the Sheikh's brothers. We had a great conversation, but foolishly I did not ingratiate myself and ask him for a gig in the Sheikh's private box on race day. So on the day I had to schlep it with the others.

I found some more soap the other day which I thought was brilliant. By the way, it doesn't work. For some reason I felt dirtier after using it.



And I found this announcement in the local paper that I thought you might find amusing. I prefer to use 'dude' in my announcements, but each to their own.



Be good.

Abdelilah's house and family

On Thursday night (end of the work week) I visited Abdelilah (the righteous Sudanese dude I share my office with) and his family. His brother's name is Lu'ai and his mother is Noor (transliteration!!).


Me, Noor and Lu'ai

We had strong sweet tea infused with fresh mint - probably the best I have ever had - and biscuits that reminded me of Arnott's Nices.


Abdelilah, his mum Noor and his brother Lu'ai

We talked about Sudan, Australia and Islam, and swapped English and Arabic words. It was a refreshing and eye-opening. Abdelilah and his family are extremely welcoming and gentle and I felt right at home.

Madinat Resort

Hi campers.

Last weekend I hooked up with Mike McCready, a family-friend of a lawyer I worked with at Optus on secondment (Terence Bonner) and Mike's mate, Simon. Mike is a lawyer at EITC, Dubai's second carrier.


Burj Al Lucas


Mike

As you can see, we went for a beer (actually a long island tea) at the Madinat resort, which is next to the Burj Al Arab - the fancy schmancy hotel everyone hears about. It is fancy schmancy.

After, we met up with Simon, had a bite to eat and went to a Shisha cafe. Shisha is the stuff Arabs smoke in those amazing water pipes. I don't smoke, but thought I should try.


Simon

When we arrived at the cafe there were no seats, so Mike secured a table with 3 Moroccan ladies - Ebtissam, Monia and Maryam. We shished with them for a few hours until their friend turned up and another table became vacant.


From the left: Mike, Simon, Maryam, me, Ebtissam and Monia

Holey Moley

SORRY - PREVIOUSLY HAD PROBLEMS UPLOADING PICTURES - NEW PICTURES BELOW

Hello campers. Boy have I been busy. Apologies for the lack of posts.

Let's take a step back.


My work bulding

I worked last Friday (my first day of the weekend) but on Saturday I went for a walk with Richard Pascoe (G+Ter in Dubai for work) and Simran Raina (aka Rimran, another G+Ter here on secondment with one of my clients, Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company - the second carrier in UAE).


On the creek

Our walk took in the old sections of Dubai. It is interesting to note that Dubai, as a city, is younger than Sydney - the oldest sections of the original wall are circa 1800.


One of the ferries (abbra?) we took acroos the creek to get to the souks

Anyway, we walked along the south-east side'creek' - they actually call it the creek, which makes me think of 'Mulga Bill's Bicycle' - then had lunch at a joint on the creek, jumped on one of the local ferries and chugged to the other side of the creek, and continued onto the 'souks' or markets.


Mannequin in the souk - it made me feal uneasy

The ferry - incredible - you will see one in the photos. They are deisel boats designed to pack 30-odd people onto a deck without rails and with only 2 life-buoys. Richard and I were fearful that we were the 3rd and 4th life-buoys.


A Mosque tower in old Dubai

Once onshore, of course, Rimran bee-lined for the gold souk, so Richard and I hit the variety of shops in the area. By the way, Rimran spent 2 hours haggling in one shop for her belated, self-purchased bday prezzy - happy 21st bday Rimran.


Something told me - don't buy glasses from this shop

Observations of souks:

awesome! lots of people (mostly men) hanging around smiling and gawking; clean; sweet smelling; being tagged by hawkers selling fake watches, handbags and boom-boom movies (Richard and I didn't know if they wanted sell the movies to us or if they wanted us to star in the movies); distant haze; echoing calls to worship in the mosques; coconut juice; spices, herbs, incense (or 'incest' as I heard); pashinas, of differing quality; Rimran haggling on behalf of Rimran for Pashinas; bargains.


I avoided this like the plague

After the souks we walked back to our cars, drove to a lebanese restaurant called 'Automatic' - yum - had a yummy meal, and went home.

Rimran and Richard haggling

Change

Hi All. Just to give you an idea of the rate of change in this part of the world, below are 2 photos of Sheikh (actually pronounced Shekgh) Zayed Rd. The first photo is circa 1985, the second photo is circa 2005. I am currently living in the building that is pretty much in the centre of the second photo. The photos were taken from the World Trade Centre.

Oops

Sorry, here are the rest of the photos. Again, note the spelling of 'Lucas'.

Lunch

Hi All.

I ordered lunch in today.

Actually, there are 3 ways to have lunch in a Dubai office:
1. bring your own - not practical for me as I don't have a kitchen as yet;
2. trek to a local eatery - it's going to be a bitch in Summer; and

3. order a delivery - there are squillions of restaurants that deliver, including not only the ubiquitous fast food joints, but also kebab shops, indian restaurants and an assortment of other eateries.

For about AUD$9 I ordered a skewered chicken plate (it came with chips!!??) and a massive salad. So I saved the salad for dinner. I reckon that's cheap. Especially because it's delivered.

A real estate agent emailed today to offer me a 2 bedroom apartment for AED7,500 per month, which equates to about AUD$2,800 per month. Another real estate agent said that was a bargain. Thank goodness my work is subsidising my rent.

I took some pictures today of my office, the view from my office, my room mate, and a colleague. They are below for you viewing pleasure. Note how they spelled my name on the delivery docket. He he he.

Dubai - the office

Hi All. Today was my second day at work. I arrived on the Saturday and started work yesterday, Sunday - our work week is Sunday to Thursday. It was the usual drill on Sunday - setting up systems, learning the ropes, introductions.

The office has a great spectrum of nationalities. I share an office with Abdelilah, a Sudanese lawyer. Next door is Warren (Aussie) and Yassir (another Sudanese lawyer). There are oodles of aussies, brits, indians, Canadians and locals. It is quite surreal. Everyone is friendly and welcoming.

I have been thrown into the work today - drafting a business acquisition agreement and related documents for the managing partner, Tom Deegan . I am beginning to come across local legal quirks asociated with the free trade zones.

My supervising partner, Phil Reynolds (ex G+T circa 1993), has me getting my head around Middle East telecommunications policy and drafting upcoming presentations.

The office is an 8 minute walk from my hotel (the Crowne Plaza). I don't have a car and I am quickly realising that I will need one to get around Dubai. The public transport system is non-existent but the road system is vast.

Tomorrow I start searching for an apartment to call home.

Dubai - Day 1

Hi all. I have arrived in Dubai!

The plane trip was 14 hours. My entertainment system didn't work but luckily I sat next to Geoff Hermon, a pagoda builder extraordinaire from Dural, who had had a very interesting life - so the conversation flowed free and fast and I forgot about the missing movies. Ultimately, Geoff fell asleep (I sometimes have thet effect on people) and I read until it was time for me to dose up on sleeping pills and try to align with the UAE time zone. The plane landed at 5.45ish.

View from my hotel room - the Persian Gulf is in the distance.











Customs was a breeze as I had a special assistant/chaperon to lead me through. The customs officer had a flick through my passport to confirm I hadn't travelled to Israel ( a no-no), Transport to the hotel (to be home for 2 weeks) was waiting outside in the coolish but warming Dubai winter morning.

I felt how I looked.













Whenever I arrive in another country I always perform the sniff test as, mostly, each country/place has a unique smell. To my surprise, Dubai did not have a distinct smell. Maybe it was the desert environment.

Another view from my window with a mosque in the centre.

After having a shower and unpacking, I called Warren Thomson - a friend who I used to work with at G+T. Warren picked me up just before lunch. The day had started to heat up but was absolutely beautiful with a light breeze. Warren took me back to his place where I met his wife and son. We then drove the Mall of the Emirates that houses the world's largest indoor ski field.

It is huge. The photo below is of the central hall. This is just a fraction. We all had lunch at TGI Friday, wandered around the acres of shops, and I grabbed a power plug adapter.

After visiting the mall Warren dropped me back to the hotel. I crashed - exhausted but exhilirated.