Ski Dubai

Since Geoff mentions it below, here are some pics of the ski area in the Mall of the Emirates that I took yesterday from the outside viewing area:

Madinat Jumeira

On Saturday we went to go attend the Singaporean Chili Crab and Beer Festival at the Madinat Jumeira (Madinat just means town in arabic and the complex is basically a mall). Unfortunately when we got there we found out it was actually just a couple of beer stalls, a buffett and some dancers. No worries though since Mercato has a lot going for it.


The entire mall is built in the style of an anceint arabic city or castle with stone coloured turrets, a winding river and high surrounding walls. The mall itself houses various restaurants and shops selling the typical cheesy dubai tourist stuff. If you're looking for a mini statue of the Burj or a stuffed toy camel with sunglasses then this is the place.

We had dinner at a lovely persian restaurant by the waterside with a gorgeous view of the Burj Al Arab. (PS have looked into the Burj Al Arab but since non hotel guests can only attend high tea there and high tea is 450zar per person i don't expect to be sending you photos of the inside anytime soon). Shown below are some typical arabis dessert sweets:

OK I have no idea what this camel was for but it looked funny!

I am a huge nerd

A casual comment to Helen this weekend got me thinking. We were driving past the fabled Mall of the Emirates, home of the little ski slope that got lost in the desert. I said, 'Sweety, don't you think the Mall of the Emirates looks like the Starship Enterprise?' Now, we could spend an hour less commercials with Dr Phil examining what this says about me, but let's not and say we did.

Instead, let us ponder the striking truth of this statement and its wider application as a metaphor. Bear with me here. The thing is, in several important ways, not all of them amusing, the whole of Dubai is like a season of Startrek, viz:

• We seem to be on a five year mission to go where no man has gone before, to build buildings no-one ever thought would be worth the money, or to get to work through Sheikh Zayed Road traffic.
• All the culture I know and understand is foreign to this place, because I am the alien.
• I nonetheless think I own the place.
• Everything seems to run poorly until the Captain fixes it.
• Communications with my home planet are difficult and expensive, with lots of special effects static on the line.
• The communications officer doesn't really do anything, but still gets to sit on the bridge.
• All the little anonymous guys running around doing all the work are expendable extras.

On the other hand, I get danger pay and I get to see the universe unfold before my eyes. So who's complaining?

Marina Walk

Marina Walk is - coincidently- the walkway that skirts the Dubai Marina.

Basically a small, upscale yacht club, it houses a mish-mash of restaurants from the rather suave Blues to the more low key Johnny Rockets (one of our favourites I might add.) Restaurants spill out to al fresco outside seating where patrons enjoy their shisha and the usual market stalls selling jewellery, dodgy clothes, art and UAE memorabilia hug the railings.

The weather was a bit bleh when we went and started to rain as we were leaving but it is conceivably a lovely place to sit and sip virgin (not a hotel means no alcohol) cocktails as you watch the wealthy navigate their yachts. Most surprising was the clientel which was almost entirely WASP. No idea what the boat below is used for - probably evening cruise with dinner etc but it looked nice so I took a photo!

Spicy Food

On Thursday night we went to one of Dubai's "Hidden Gems", Coconut Grove (this is according to the restaurant guide I gave Geoff for Christmas). CG is an Indian restaurant with the usual Bukhara type foods, an extensive cocktail list and a very reasonable wine list.

NB. In Dubai, they do not f&*k around with hot food. We ordered the Devilled Beef but the waiter very kindly pointed out to us that this dish was quite "spicy". OK. So what does he suggest? The Erachi something or other apparently which is quite "mild". Great we'll give it a whirl.

Possibly the fact that they have a box of tissues on the table should have been a warning. Holy Cow. Mild? MILD?? are you out of your skull? This dish had been sauteed in chilli's. Nevertheless, at wine under 100dhs per bottle we will be biting the bullet and heading off there again soon!

Bob the Builder

AHHA!! Proof ladies! Years of subversive hypnosis mind control and interrogation techniques have finally proved successful!

(we're still dealing with the bird-flu type mask don't worry)

Home Time!

Yay back home in sunny Dubai - er no sorry, pouring with rain and only 22 degrees. I tell you, move to a desert and I STILL can't sunbathe! I foresee I will end up getting a job before I can crack a tan at this rate.

C'est la vie the show must go on. We hit Carrefour (think huge Pick 'n Pay hypermarket) this evening in Mall of the Emirates to supply ourselves with the necessary drill, sander and other male type machiney. Imagine our surprise during dinner when the following show came on in the centre court!!!

Back to the Mothership

Decidedly the best way to relocate overseas is to plan a trip back to your home country less than a month after you leave it. This allows you to essentially get a trailer of the next few years of your life.

Anyway on Jan 3rd we travelled to PE for Geoff to be best man and MC for Marc and Julie's, wedding. After 4 days of harried admin the wedding was held on the Saturday afternoon under a rather stormy looking sky at a place called Apron Strings.

Anyway, Julie looked gorgeous, it didn't rain and all in all went off without hitch - despite Geoff sneaking two pieces of the (chocolate) wedding cake...

And then it was off to sunny CT. Or for me it was anyway - Geoff headed back to Kimberley to see his folks and we would meet up in JHB the following Sat.

CT was great. I got to see the gang for drinks at the Radisson...

Eat chocolate brownies at Rhodes Mem with Fi...

Have a take-out girl's night with the Barra girls...

And visit Kalk Bay Harbour with my dad (just down from Kilimanjaro I might add - go dad) for much needed cocktails...

New Years in Dubai

On New Years Eve we went to the Irish Village for dinner buffet, a few drinks and some live music.

The Irish Village is essentially and big Irish Pub. Think OHagans but more classy. There's also a large cobbled outside area (the cobbles apparently are imported from Ireland) and there a big grassy bank that rolls down into a small lake (precarious for drunken revellers as you can imagine.)

Anyway the band was fun - they did covers of the standand sing-along stuff that you'd expect and then let off big fancy fireworks afterwards.

Aside from the prices (250ZAR) for the cheapest bottle of red wine!!!

Searching - an exposé

I'm sitting in the airport lounge in Johannesburg using the public computer to check mail and generally waste time while I wait for my flight to Kimberley. I just stumbled upon the Internet Explorer cache of google search requests. Here are a couple I found interesting:

air conditioners cape town
jugs
big jugs
cape town gay scene
bBENTLEY
BENTLE
MERSEDES
CELSE
CESEA
CESEA FOOFBALL
conferences in venezuela
famous uncut men
Spanking tools

I especially like the physically disabled person with the type a personality and an interest in cars and "foofball", but I have questions about some of the others too. Why is someone desperately researching airconditioning in Cape Town from the airport? Heard it's exceptionally hot there? Same goes for conferences in Venezuela - buddy, you're booked on the plane already! If you don't know where or when the conference is, you're in trouble. And hey, porn dog, the results on jugs not gibbous enough for you? A second search? And when you found the epic boobs you were looking for, did you bring them up in technicolour in the middle of the business lounge? People! Get it together!