http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Middle East , United Arab Emirates en-us Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:52:23 UTC Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:52:23 UTC Day 6 saw us at the Supermarket buying all the ingredients for an apple pie. All went well until I had to work out how to cook the apple pie in the gas oven.The gas oven did not have a thermostat so that is where the fun began.After a lot of thought and discussion I realised that the oven was too hot and the pie looked as though the top would be burnt and the inside not cooked.Luckily all was res http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-350906.html Casablanca was nothing like the movie I was staying in the Medina Ancienne which was in reality down by the port. The Medina was quite small and nothing like Fes or Chefchaouen. The location was dodgy and the hotel had no heating which I expected but it did have and English movie channel which was the first time I had been able to watch English movies for months. I snuggled up in bed and watche http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-350834.html Today has dawned fine and warm as usual for Dubai. There is a haze over the city from all the construction work going on. The economic outlook for Dubai is not all that rosy as the credit crunch starts to bite. The company Chelle works for has started to lay off staff as their main client has stopped projected projects from going ahead.At this stage Chelle does not know how this will affect her o http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-350260.html Day 4 Dubai.Day four dawned another lovely morning in Dubai.Chelle and I were off to do a little more Mall shopping for Chellersquos wardrobe Graham decided he was all shopped out and so he stayed at home and compiled the last two blogs hence the spelling mistakes Engineers do not do spelling very well.We went to the new Dubai Mall this Mall is next door to the Burj Dubai. This is a bra http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-349943.html Another day of malls We started the morning at Emirates Mall where Graham went from seat to seat as mother and daughter shopped. Graham did go to the money changer and noted how much the Ausralian and NZ dollar has dropped since last year. Things do not seem to have slowed down in UAE yet compared with the rest of the world.Graham and Sandy were dropped off at the Madinet while Chelle went to http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-349860.html Having our colours done proved to be quite traumatic apparently I do not have any clothes that suit me nowVery sad I cannot afford a whole new wardrobe. Chelle has discarded all her clothes and is in the process of replacing them which is no easy task. One has to match the colour style and size and that is almost impossible. My feet are almost falling off with all the walking around sh http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-349846.html We have finally arrived in Dubai after a year of planning. It was just lovely seeing Chelle after such a long time it was as though it was only yesterday that we had been together.The trip up from New Zealand was very long but the flights were excellent and Singapore Airlines were excellent as usual.Singapore was very hot and humid a trip to Raffles was about all one could take of the humidity.O http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-349261.html Hello everyone I've written a few more blogs updating my european travels. I'm still about a month behind but Im trying my best I'm just having too much fun to sit and write on the computer Right now Im in Dubai and actually flying out in about 3 hours to New Zealand. I've spent just under two weeks here and it was a blast. You'll hear about it later though hopefully I'll be arr http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-348806.html Yawn and stretch well here we are its 0705 local time or still 0300 as far as my body is concerned the only thing is instead of being tucked up in bed fast asleep we have just landed in Dubai and its 25 degrees and bright sunshine.Dubai was quite a sight flying in across the sea. It looks very foreign and of course it is. Sun washed buildings shinning in the desert heat. The airport is spark http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-348709.html I bid my farewells to my new family in Komga. I have never felt so emotional and torn to leave so many people I love in my life. Open Arms is not just another volunteer opportunity to cross off the list. It has become my lifetime commitment to follow up on these children and do everything I can to see that they have some of the same opportunities I have had and will have. I hid my tears and said g http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/blog-347843.html Saturday November 15thWe explored Dubai mall and after some keening bargaining we had lunch at the Souk at the back the Mall is stillk like most of Dubai under construction as you will see in the photographs. Luckily we managed to finish lunch before a sandstorm whirlwind blew up and caused havoc. During Saturday night Sunday morning we had a tremendous thunderstorm it is drying up as I write http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-345470.html Sorry cut off in my primeOn Fridays we go shopping to Karama I was helping a colleague buy a Dolce and Gabbana handbag then we like to walk in one of the lovely parksThis morning after work we went to Dubai Mall more shopping http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-345346.html Off DutyOn Thursday nights we all tend to eat out on the terrace at Le Meridien where they have a rather grand bbq http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-345340.html So it's back to work once again. And back to travel blogging once more. Funny that I travel blog when I work but when I travel for fun I'm usually too busy having fun to have time to write about it.But now I've got more than enough time to kill being landed in the land of our Muslim brothers. Who strangely enough believe that a beer is so evil that it warrants being banned from an entire coun http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Abu-Dhabi/blog-345087.html Dubai has beeen an eye opener in more ways then one although the journey here like always has been an adventure. Given that I only had less than 26 hours in Dubai it was best that I made the most of it. Fortunately I had a contact on the ground in Dubai to organise things for me. But that meant a mad dash from Sharjah airport to my Dubai hotel then onto the venue of the Kiwi Ball all within thre http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-344096.html Last week was fun in Dubai...today was country side Dubai. This is one of my favorite sunset on earth and I trulywanted to share it to Ma'ri.So after a short 4 hours flight a very short night...a little nap in our hotel we got a pick up for our safariDubai. Not that many pictures but an afternoon and evening of fun Enjoy the pics...and jut wait for our nextentry....you may have to wait a li http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-343804.html This picture was taken the first morning of the ADIPEC 2008 conference. This is the largest oil and gas conference in the Middle East. With 30000 people attending it's probably the largest in the world. I didn't get into Abu Dhabi this morning until 300 am so understandably I didn't have the wherewithal to take any pictures on my arrival to the hotel. My flight into London was late which mea http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Abu-Dhabi/blog-343275.html 300 am European time and I just end up in a packed airport. The new terminal is just huge Shopping paradise and even tropical gardens with lakes waterfalls and water efects and smoke effects I tried to convice me that was around 8 in the morning... and started the round I started in Costa caffe having a real cappucino after 10 minutes cue... and then having a croissant on the french backer http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-343249.html So we graduated We had a special ceremony a cake and met the CEO of Qatar Airways Mr Al Baker. At 530 the next morning the bus picked us up and took us to the airport for our flight to Dubai. We were barely in the air when we started to descend. Wow I got that Hong Kong feeling...a fresh bustling impressive city hellip.Dubai I cannot wait to take a trip there...itrsquos so close http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-343181.html Well.... no photos yet but just a quick note to say hello. Will try to update this from Saudi if possible... but who knows. All has been uneventful so far.... as we have just had the first day here in Dubai. Flights were uneventful... with a short delay leaving Vancouver as someone was determined to be too drunk to fly at 3pm so they had to offload his luggage. Frankfurt... well... the ar http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-342978.html Strange things can happen when you try to save a few dollars on plane tickets. My itinerary includes three different airlines which means checking in three times checking luggage three times going through security three times and so on. In London the person who checked me in at Biman Bangalesh Airlines had a bit of a chuckle that I'm flying through Dubai to Bangalore. He said that never in h http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-342918.html Hello EveryoneI've been up all night too excited to sleep here in my last night in Abu Dhabi. The 2nd largest mosque in the world is across the water. I have my screen door open and I can hear the morning prayers on loud speaker. It's a hauntingly beautiful sound. http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Abu-Dhabi/blog-342424.html Wednesday November 5thWell we are still in the villa until the 23rd of this month so at last there seems to be some urgency in finding us somewhere to liveYesterday the largest shopping mall in the world opened here in the shadow of the tallest towe in the world so I ventured out to take a look.Travelling out here as you may have picked up on by now can be quite an adventure so I braced myself http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-341874.html We have a new addition to the household. And she is just lovely. Her name is Lucy and we adopted her from the Feline Friends charity on the weekend. Needless to say she has settled in very well and is now in charge of the entire household. http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-341064.html Dubai a transit stop on my way back from India. It's stating the obvious but it was hot here even in this time of the year. In some ways it felt like that I am still in India but in a different environment. Half of the time I got by speaking Hindi. There are plenty of electronic and gold shops here.I was staying in Deria near the creek and the thing which really stands out in the sky line is http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-340947.html The last few weeks have seen a lot of stress...and a lot more stress is going to come in the next few weeks. So this little break planed months ago is a true welcome.Four weeks ago Christophe Leslie's godfather and my best friend of more than 20 years wrote me a small email. I'mmoving to the United Arab Emirates for few months...when do we have a drink...the answer came straight on...on 31st Oc http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-340808.html We went to the Irish Village in Dubai this past weekend for a scary good Halloween party. It was great to be in an Irish pub drinking a Guinness and listening to live music. I decided that since I didn't pack a Halloween costume in my suitcase and my name is Erin that I would simply be Irish for the day. As it turns out it would have been way more fun to dress up. Some of the costumes wer http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-340806.html Well we went to an awards ceremony the other night for work. It was an award for Corporate Social Responsibility and our company had been shortlisted for an award in the Medium sized company section. We actually did reallly well and were placed the second runner up. We were very lucky to get placed at all. We were one of only two company's that were not arabic. The other two winners in our section http://www.travelblog.org//Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-339685.html