As previously mentioned I have been experiencing the joys of having my underwear cleaned and pressed by those little men at Bombay Laundry. One day, I asked a friend from school to pick it up for me as she lives in town and we are now living in khalifa B. The next day, I was informed that my clothes were being held due to the fact that the school had not paid the complete bill yet…We are now in week three of the hostage taking…I have no idea what is going on over there but I want my clothes back!! I [View Full Entry]

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Hello!!! I have had a few emails chastising me for my poor blog keeping, so I thought I would check in and let you all know I am alive and well, and what I've been doing. Dubai was a mess, lol. Everyone had told me it was going to be hot, but I had no idea it would be as hot as it was. I really have no idea why people insist on living in the desert, its a stupid thing to do (like, who originally rocked up in the Arabian desert and thought, yeah I'll just stay here?? Stupid arabs.). [View Full Entry]

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At breakfast in our hotel yesterday I was mentioning to our friend Barb that I'd shared a Kodak Gallery with a number of people, so they could follow along with our trip. I also commiserated about how unfriendly that software is to uploading photos (at least with the PC version of the upload software I'm using). She looked at me in disbelief. "You're creating an album? Why don't you blog." I'm pretty technically saavy, so when I said I'd never blogged before, the disbelief increased. So after a quick google to find the right blogging engine, here I am. Catching up [View Full Entry]

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Day 1 started early - with 6am photos of the Burj from our balcony. The temperature is 100+ and a wall of humid heat. Camera lens gets fogged up after being inside air conditioning. A delicious buffet breakfast (the choices covered several rooms, western, Chinese, Japanese, East Indian cuisines -- I can see the diet is gonna go away real fast). Then we're off for a 5-hour tour of the city, with our guide Mary-Rose and our EXCELLENT driver Sama. One comes away with several impressions. The hotel-suburb that is the Jumierah district feels like a vast cavernous Disney-world or Las [View Full Entry]

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Day 2 started beautifully. Less humidity in the air. Barb and Howie had a great early morning walk. I was suffering a little traveller's diarrhea-- probably a bit of heat stroke from the previous day. Nothing that a little immodium couldn't handle. At breakfast we discussed how to spend the morning and early afternoon -- should we head over to the Mall of the Emirates -- and see the indoor ski-slope, or just hang out by the pool. The pool won out. This was probaby going to be our only down-time once the safari got underway. First -- get the photos [View Full Entry]

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Ah......warmth, heat..no wait a minute, extreme 45 degree hot & humid! Well ,after a break from living in Abu Dhabi, back in Melbourne for a while, I was glad to be leaving the long dreary winter, shedding the hat, coat, scalf, gloves & constant carrying of umbrella that had been adding weight to my winter hibernation!.. Flying across the globe, my first views of reconnecting with AD, were from the plane window, after a turbulant & noisy flight.. of the desert below stretching for as far as the eye can see..and a haze of heat & sand. Off the plane, into [View Full Entry]

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I realise that the Middle East does not have a great reputation for Health & Safety in the workplace - or to and from the workplace for that matter - but I'd like to redress the balance a bit and show an example of a company that is not only keeping up with European standards, but knocking them into a cocked hat. Mushrif National Construction L.L.C. are building a 20-odd storey tower right next to our building, and as the HSE stats board proudly proclaims, in the Month of August they held 5,404 Toolbox Talks or HSE meetings! Since they are [View Full Entry]

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And so it begins, (or, The things ive learnt about international travel in the last 24 hours) I find myself at a thankfully free internet terminal in abu dhabi airport at midnight. Thankful in part for the freeness and in in another part because it is midnight outside and dipping to a very chilly 33 degrees celcius. I am on a time limit so i will just list a few points i have been thinking about interntional travel. 1. Lingua Franca internationalle baby! Every single native english speaking person has an almost intollerably wonderful advantage in the world of international [View Full Entry]

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Hello Gang, so I've finished my first week of classes and to celebrate we went out into the dessert to go bashing with 4x4s. Let me tell you this is the one of the best things I've ever done in my life. So much that I hope to buy a 4x4 next month so I can drive next time we go out. I'm not going to write too much about this I'll let the pictures do all the talking. What I will say is that I love it hear and continue to grow more attached as I find great things like [View Full Entry]

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Arrived in Dubai a couple of days ago but straight to bed. Yesterday we used the open-top bus to have a look around Dubai city center, getting off here and there to see some sights. Luckily enough the bus operator supplied free bottles of water which was a God-send. It must have easily been around 50C out there, Unfortunate for us is that Dubai is in the start of Ramadan which means that we're not allowed to eat or drink anything publicly as the locals are fasting from sunrise to sunset. Can be quite challenging finding places to eat lunch when [View Full Entry]

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