Blogs from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Middle East - page 113

Well it was always going to be a day of expensive designer labels, champayne flowing and of course all that comes with the worlds biggest horse race known to the World and "The Dubai World Cup". It starts with a champayne breakfast by 10am of course whilst the ladies dance around getting ready. Then onto the boys house to push them into their suits whilst cooking the bbq and swigging their beers.....then it was time for our limosine to arrive...in the shape of a very dusty mini van to drive us in airconditioned style to the Nad al sheba race course to see how the middle east races its top horses. Now the stories are true there is no betting but you buy tickets to bargain and play with and you win prizes for the ... read more

Off to England today, bags are packed and ready to go. We checked out of the Emirates Towers and caught a cab to the airport at 7.30 am. We decided to leave earlier just in case there was a traffic hold-up, but the traffic was constant and we arrived at the airport within 20 minutes. At the security check prior to reaching the check in area, Paul's bag was searched. They really weren’t looking, I’m sure it was just for show. It was a long walk to the gates and the Duty Free was huge and very busy. We made our way to the British Airways lounge passing lots of Indian contract workers asleep in front of the departure gates….not a good look. These workers are paid an average of $40 AUD per month, and ... read more

Young woman share your fire with me, My heart is cold, my soul is free, I am a stranger in your land, A wandering man, call me sand. Lee Hazlewood, 1966 Do you see what I did there? In the style of high brow writers such as Ian Rankin and Stephen King I have put an excerpt from a song pertinent to the context of the following passage. And I've used a line from a song as the title, further adding to the cultural referencing and pretentiousness. It could be a competition to see who knows from what song the title comes from, or from which album, but all you'd have to do is cut'n'paste it into Google and it would tell you straight away, like so much today, technology has cheapened so many aspects ... read more

Hong Kong - Dubai March 21st We checked out of Citygate Novotel at 2pm after a lazy morning spent watching TV and reading, (and writing this blog!) and we caught the hotel bus to the airport. After a quick check in we were on our way through migration and security and on the train to ‘the Pier’ Business Class lounge. Hong Kong Airport is huge, and so many exotic airlines to look at! The lounge was quite busy as it was afternoon peak time for departures to all over the world. There was a Noodle bar and we had Won-Ton soup and a few beers and some very nice tiny sandwiches. The Wi-Fi connection was so slow so any further updating the blog was put off. Boarding time came around, and we made our way ... read more

Dubai…. One of severn emirates, together making up the United Arab Emirates, formed in 1971. Prosperous, growing quickly, building everywhere. Including on land ‘manufactured’, by dredging from the sea bed to make islands off the coast. An international financial and trading centre, a meeting point between east and west, as indeed it has been over the centuries. Very ‘oil rich’ and it shows! We have travelled 21500 miles so far and are continuing our way westward, and should complete our circumnavigation next week. Here in Dubai we have three days to catch up and relax. Not being on business it is our intent to see and to shop, the latter being one reason for visiting this city. After a good nights sleep and some superb omlettes for breakfast (best ever anywhere) we head for the ... read more