1st few weeks

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Hello friends, family and other people with spare time. As shown by those of you who track dates, it has been quite a while since I have made a blog entry. My sincere apologies. Unfortunately I left my camera charger right before setting out on my trip. While I am in process of getting the charger, I have been able to take some shots of some trips. So I hope these will start to give an idea of what life is like here.

As I begin to think of how to describe this area, I am baffled as to of where to start. Where should I start? The food, ahh yes, and the drinks. The food is quite good! What is great about Dubai is that it is a very international area. There are numerous cultures where ever you go. In fact, recently I went to the mall, and if there were just a few more Americans, I would have felt as if I were in America. The great thing is that where I live, the food is quite cheap. I can get a large order of chicken and noodles, with a smoothie (such as kiwi, mango and so on!) delivered free for all for just $5. Yes, I have eaten a lot from this place. The drinks, well that is a different story. In the middle east, many, of the countries have a government heavily tied to the religion. Thus, what ever is not allowed by the Muslim faith is also illegal. Therefore, alcohol is a big no no around here. In Dubai though, it is allowed in certain areas. For instance, there are only bars at hotels. Of course, liquor stores are not really around. In fact, if you want to purchase alcohol at these rare stores, you first have to have a liquor license, and you get this only after you get a residency visa. Although you can buy beer at the hotel bars, they cost about $7 a piece. As you can imagine, I have begun to miss having a beer here and there.

I'm a cheap traveler and love traveling using public transportation. Thanks God, Dubai can accommodate me with that. Public bus and Metro (Monorail; which in my country is only as far as concept) can drive you around. Just buy a card with only 20 Dhs, you can manage your self to go around the city.

Other things that stand out to me is the culture. Everyone here has been very nice. I thought by learning some Arabic I would be okay, but no. The place is so international that I would have to learn many other languages. Considering that many of the workers here are from South Asia, I would have to learn all of these languages as well. Most people speak either English or Arabic though.

Anyway, I imagine it would be difficult to go over all of the new things in just one blog, but this has been a few points.

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Photos

Metro Station
Looks like spaceship

Me in Dubai Museum
I hate museum, but I don't know why I come to this museum