Blogs from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Middle East - page 115

Hey not much been happening since last time I spoke, went out for the first time here last night and had a pretty big night. Went to a club called 'Peppermint' last night, it was pretty good too, good music, good crowd but very expensive to drink (about $13 a drink) and almost $40 just to get in, but it was worth it. I was booked to leave tomorrow midday but staying an extra day now so that I'm not arriving into London stuffed from the big weekend I just had, plus I'm dredding going from a hot place to a clold one, everyday I look at the London temp and damn it's not to warm. I have already started applying for jobs in London already. I sent off a few applications for bar work and ... read more

One of the crosses I had to bear in my role of heading up the trading desk for Queensland Sugar was that I was expected to make regular presentations at International Sugar Conferences, which usually occurred every couple of years. Yes, I know, dirty job but someone had to do it! My final such stint, held some 6 months before I took early retirement from QSL, was held in Dubai. Now they tend not to go too down-market for these conferences, and this was no exception as it was held at the extremely comfortable Park Hyatt complex. This luxury hotel is situated very centrally in Dubai, on the banks of the renowned Dubai Creek (and trust me, a ‘creek’ in Dubai bears little similarity with your local suburban creek!), which even had its own golf course ... read more

Dubai is in the midst of the annual 45 day shopping festival . There are people here from all over the Arab world shopping for everything from private airplanes ,gold,diamonds,silks and satins ,cars and ALL things that are found in malls ,and entertainment. The city has been compared to both Hong Kong and New York visually and for the goods it has for sale. In addition to shopping there are cultural activities including the Heritage Village which we explored last night that has many demonstration sites , food creation ,arabian horses , pearl diving ,traditional clothing design and music and dance. I especially enjoyed the bagpipe/drumming group and regret that we didn't get to see the brass band preform. Earlier in the week we had gone to the Global Village which is llike a worlds fair. ... read more

Well I said my good byes to Lisa and am now in Dubai. So for those who are calling and messaging me remember there is a 7 hour time difference, which makes me 7 hours behind you guys which will probly workout ok for those who decide to send drunken messages, anyway keep them coming I'm loving them :-) Well I got in about 10.30 last night pretty tired from the flight and a big night out before, but managed to get here without to much trouble, had a young Saudi boy sitting next to me the whole flight giving me chewy every 5 minutes. Brought Dom the guy who I'm staying with a bottle of red wine duty free for a present for letting me stay and then i jumped into a taxi an headed ... read more

September 27 - 30, 2006 Wednesday Having decided to forego Turkey for the time being we had a few weeks in our itinerary to fill. The ten days in Thailand with its easy living and terrific food was a simple enough addition. One of Roger’s old friends who currently lives in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates offering to host a short visit to her exotic city made for an equally appealing layover as we made our way to Europe. We arrived in Dubai at 5:30 in the morning and to a pre-dawn temperature of over ninety degrees. After making our way through one of the more thorough customs screenings we have experienced we caught a cab and arrived at our friend’s around 6:30 and slept for a few hours. Our stay in Dubai coincided with ... read more