Dubai Trip

Attacked by "The Falcon" in the Gold Souk

Entrance to the Gold Souk

Water taxi on the Dubai Creek

Thr tallest building in the world - I believe it's called The Dubai Tower

Hani and his family, ( right rear w/ wife Nada - means Dew in Hindi w/ daughter), brother parents and sister.

Hi All,

Tuesday 8p May 12,

This past week and a half has been hard on the ol' Scott. Focus at work has turned it's bright light on the issues in my departments and although not responsible for the fiasco I walked into, I am responsible for fixing the fiasco. I'm up to the challenge and have no doubt it can be done, it's just a LONG climb to the top. But enough about work - let's talk fun things.

Last Thursday I discovered that one of my pals - Marcel - pictured in one of the earlier blogs was sent packing back to the USA. His performance was superior and his staff was heartbroken to have lost him. - Seems he had an undiagnosed case of Hepatitis C - as a carrier - not even active - but here in the UAE -your gone - not permitted to stay in the country.

Friday evening - Hani invited Amr and myself to his daughter's 1 year birthday - I've included some pics of that too. About 70 family and friends were in attendance . He rented out the dining room for the evening and had a WONDERFUL array of Indian and Arabic dishes in abundance - well there went the diet for the evening and I ate my fill on some of the best delicacies the chiefs served up. I'm telling you - it was awesome -lamb dishes and chops ,chicken and enough sweets to send a diabetic into a coma. All the woman were in their finest Indian garb - sari's (sp) quite a unique and privileged experience. Next day Dubai.

Dubai is about 75 min up the coast and is filled with sights the entire way - even camels - I admit I jumped out of my seat when I saw them grazing by the fence used to keep them from wandering onto the freeway. - Like deer back home - only MUCH bigger.

So we get to Dubai - 4 of us and a driver - and we go to the "creek" where Dubai originated and took the water taxi over to the old downtown - but since it was too hot, about 105, we opted to head on back and go the Dubai Mall which makes Mall St Mathews look like a pimple. This mall has a aquarium. ice skating rink w/ a huge jumbotron and a gold souk (market) Store after store after store of jewelry sales . I did notice that the stores were empty except for the clerks - downturn hits the disposable income market. Plus a really neat water wall - pictures above.

We left there and drove over to Mall of the Emirates - Another huge mall about 6 times Mall St. M size but smaller than the Dubai mall. Well this is the place that has the indoor ski slope. Yes you may have seen pictures and mine don't go it justice. Weird seeing a guy in a tee shirt, shorts and flip flops walking thru the mall with his snow ski's over his shoulder . Just doesn't calculate ! Well it was getting on in the afternoon and we decided to head on back to Abu Dhabi. But before we leave I take several pictures of the tallest building in the world. What ever it is called, you can call it TALL.

Well Christine is due here in 11 days (Carole King's Anticipation comes to mind) and a car purchase is on my agenda - I'll fill you in on the car search in another blog. In the meantime , enjoy the pics.

Love to all

Scott