Blogs from United Arab Emirates, Middle East - page 156

Well, here we all are! Gabi, Jayson and Dani have spent the last 6 months planning this trek around Malaysia (well Dani has at any rate!). Yesterday saw us spending 6 hours trawling the malls of Dubai during SUMMER SURPRISES (lots of crowds, no surprises there) in search of illusive backpacks / trekin boots / and other last minute purchases. We are now almost ready to go, cameras need charging and malaria tablets need starting but just before d day, Gabi has a Tudor Day extravaganza at school. 48 degrees outside and she is dressing in full velvet splendor!!!...mad but there you go. I hope you all get to read this and other blogs we manage to write. Someone said to me today, are you nervous...I smiled and lied NO! Still, thanks to Rach and Ian ... read more

The time has come to say goodbye to this lovely palace and all that goes with it! The property truly is stunning as are the majority of the nearly one thousand staff. But with anything this big there comes politics and in fighting and this is what I cannot stand about this place. Can and will any hotel ever stack up to this one? But believe me it is only beautiful on the outside. I would rather work in a smaller property where I can actually do my job and enjoy my work! I am still in talks with The Rotana group in Dubai and if all goes well then I should start at The Al Bustan Rotana in about three weeks. A smaller property that deals in mainly corporate business. More managable at 275 ... read more

HHH in the UAE, Nothing beats Hazy Hot and Humid We let ourselves sleep in our first morning in Dubai - the temptation of a king sized bed, room with a/c and some residual jet lag was a serious sleep-in kind of cocktail. Mike had really enjoyed the pool time the afternoon before, so I was convinced that sunning by the pool (or shading by the pool for me) was a good idea for the day. When I booked the hotel room back in January, I had found a great deal that gave us an “executive” room for a good price. I knew that gave us a ride to/fro the airport but that’s all. We were really happy and surprised to find it also gave us access to a smaller pool than the main one ... read more

We got our new car on Thursday (5 door Jeep Wrangler!) so we decided to take it for a bit of a spin up to Abu Dhabi to wear it in a little bit. The drive to Abu Dhabi was not the world's most interesting. There was sand, more sand and then some more sand. They do seem to have a fettish for fencing over here and there was kilometre after kilometre as incredibly expensive fencing along the side of the road. The need for this was cleared up a little bit when I discovered that it was the fence for one of the Abu Dhbai Palaces. In Abu Dhabi we visited the Emirates Palace, which is supposed to be Abu Dhabi's answer to the Burj Al Arab. It didn't really wow me I have to ... read more

The Jimmy Dix Dave Dobbyn Concert Well we went to concert on Friday night for Dave Dobbyn ( a NZ artist who was doing a tour over here) and the music was so loud, and that base so heavy, that I can still hardly hear and every muscle and bone in my body still feels as though it has been through a giant washing machine - four days later. I have decided that it is sit down, peaceful concerts only from now on! Needless to say, the concert was not the best that I have ever been to. ... read more