It's getting hot in here!

Yes I know I am APPALLING with updating this blog. I have been stalling and stalling waiting for my camera but it looks like now we’re actually going to have to go out and buy another one (don’t get me started).

So since April we have had:

Visit from Marc and Julie on their way back from Singapore. Hurray! Geoff took leave for the few days they were here and had great fun showing them around. Below are some pictures which I shamelessly stole from Jules facebook site (is anyone else addicted!!)

The three musketeers did the usual – Wild Wadi Water Park, the souks (the fish is still in our fridge) and Snowboarding. And we even got a Dune safari and dinner evening in plus Spiderman 3. Neither of which were particularly successful as we had a severely hungover Kiwi in the car with us and well if you haven’t seen S3 don’t hold your breath.

































































Geoff then jetted off to Bahrain for a few days while I waved out guests farewell at the airport on their trip back to CT. M&J we are GREEN with jealousy!

A few days later and we were jetting of ourselves to CT via Doha.
13 hours later and we were fetched by my Dad and Liz and after a quick primp whisked off to Barristers for dinner. Mmm South African wine!

The rest of the weekend was a whirl of events and catch up. Breakfast at Sublime, A drive past our house, lunch at Rhodes Mem, Coffee at Woolworths in Cavendish, Drinks with Sue & D, Dinner in Obs (again picture theft from Fiona), Kirstenbosch, The Engagement Party and we were back on the plane 72 hours later. WHEW! To everyone that I saw it was great to be able to catch up and sorry it was so short and to everyone I didn’t see my apologies I will see you next time!


















The weekend before last we hit the Jumeirah Beach Park with our neighbours and revved up the old braai. It’s starting to get seriously hot here! We got there at about 17h00 and playing Frisbee at 19h00 was almost painful in the heat. Still it was fun to see some greenery and do some outside activities. Also (shamefully) the first time we have gone in the Gulf Sea. (Fujairah was the Indian Ocean if you remember).

Last weekend we watched ABC, Go West and Tony Hadley from Spandau Ballet at the IV (same place we went for New Years and the Pretenders). The place was packed and we had a blast despite only knowing about two of their songs.

This weekend (Thursday technically) is Aerosmith at the Dubai Exiles Rugby Club. Hurray. Can’t wait. I definitely don’t want to miss a thing… ;)

News and Views

No photos today as I'm afraid we've been terribly boring and not done anything remotely exciting. We caught up on the latest movies (Music & Lyrics; Wild Hogs; Blades of Glory and Shooter), wandered around the malls, investigated local restaurants and generally watched more series than you could possibly imagine.

On Thursday night the SA embassy organised a Freedom Day party for all the SA expats here. It was actually quite impressive. Tables of braaied lamb kebabs, beef chops, potjie competitions and koeksusters. The best part really though was the poor valets trying to convince 200 odd saffers to had the keys of their cars over to them. As a nation we are taught to instinctively trust no-one and some strange indian guy asking us to leave our keys in the car with the engine running is likely to get a few odd looks!

Aside from that, it's the usual day to day grind combined with getting ready for M&J's visit on Wednesday followed by Geoff off to Bahrain next week and then our trip out to CT next weekend. Atleast that's 3 duty-free trips!

Fujairah Trip

Last weekend we decided to brave the great outdoors of the UAE and headed off in the car for Fujairah. The more recent emirate in the UAE (it was originally an area in Sharja) it is the only emirate with a coast line on the Indian Ocean and is also supposed to boast some of the UAE's largest mountains.




















"Mountains." pshaw. Big rocks more like. Think the karroo with hills. Beach was pretty - no waves for surfing only long flat stretches of blue on which you can waterski or banana boat. Sand here is HOT though. Note to self - take flops down to the waters edge.





















The hotel was nice (bit expensive) and lunch allowed us use of their facilities for the day which we spent lounging on recliners by the pool.

The trip down was the best part though. The directions I had received from the hotel included the line "drive through the desert" and they we're kidding! Proper red sand dunes covered in camels. Much more the Dubai I had imagined!! It's a bit nerve racking though hurtling along at 100km/h with no fence on either side of you and camels wandering across the road. SCARY!










































The road back from Fujairah was interesting. we got to see some smaller towns without skyscrapers (although even in the blink towns there's still construction going on of course) and found some great spots for cheap carpets and niknaks. (Not sadly the cheesy kind which I am mourning here in Dubai!)

The Car...

Picnic at Za'abeel Park

Having spent most of the weekend gorging ourselves on episodes of Heroes we decided on some outside entertainment last Saturday. With this in mind we hit Spinneys for some ready made sandwiches and salads, grabbed a frisbee and a blanket and headed off to Za'abeel Park.






































The park straddles Sheikh Zayed Rd (the main highway in Dubai) with a bridge connecting either side (No Geoff you may NOT have the camera):



















The park has a Space theme with a Space maze and there is a themepark busy being built (of course - it IS Dubai) in the middle of it continuing on with this theme. This funny looking thing was actually a (pretty accurate) clock:



















Throughout the park there were beautiful flower beds around various monuments commemorating ties between the Dubai Emirate and other countries. This one was for Switzerland (I think!)

Kaboom!

From my medical aid rules booklet:

Professional sports and dangerous activities or circumstances: You are not covered for costs arising from weapons of mass destruction, including chemical, biological or nuclear contamination. We do not pay for treatment of any condition directly or indirectly from or as a consequence of war ..., unless you are an innocent bystander.

Hi Joe? Yeah, I'm sorry, but don't sign me up for your anarchist's cooking class... I'm not covered.

Dubai World Cup 2007

Saturday was the annual Dubai World Cup. Known as the richest horse race in the world, the event called for crisp linen suits, long flowing evening dresses and of course hats hats and more hats!

We caught a taxi mid afternoon with our German neighbours (Jan and Katrin) and after (in my case incorrectly) filling in our bets we headed off to the Irish Village to quench our thirst.



The IV Tent:






















Katrin strikes a pose:





















The manne - Geoff & Jan





















Then off to the paddock lawns to admire the winners of the first race as well as viewing our bets for the next one. By now we were in ecstasy as Jan's 1st horse had won it's race and we were anticipating a month of free champagne dinners on them...





















Until his 2nd horse cam in unplaced in race 2....






















Not to worry though - plenty of time left to drink frozen margaritas and strike a pose for the paparazzi!

Thanks for the gorgeous necklace dad!

Touring Egypt

After much whinging from various people (yes you know who you are) I have put up some pics from my trip to Egypt with my darling dad last month.

We spent 3 nights at the Hilton in Cairo followed by 4 nights on a cruise up the Nile from Luxor to Aswan. Overall it was great and a definite must for anyone. The Nile cruise was magical and the highlight of the trip.

In Cairo we stayed in the downtown region which is rather noisy, dirty and incredibly congested. With 18 million living in the city it's not surprising. We did have a glorious view of the Nile from our balcony though and once you get used to the 24/7 hooting and music you can begin to enjoy Cairo nightlife.

View from Balcony in Cairo:

















With only 3 nights there (or 2 full days) we managed to visit the Egyptian Museum (a breathtaking collection that is unforgivably haphazzardly displayed. Hopefully the new museum they are building will be better), some mosques in Islamic Cairo, Memphis, Saqqara and the Pyramids and Sphinx in Giza (which is actually just a suburb in the centre of Cairo!)



A Mosque in Islamic Cairo:





















Dad in front of the Sphinx and the Pyramid of Khufre in Giza


















From there we flew (first class nogal) to Luxor to board our boat - the Nile Adventurer - for our lazy river cruise . On landing in Luxor we quickly dumped out things and headed off round the Valley of the Queens, the Valley of the Kings and the temple of Haptetshut. Then lunch and off to Karnak Temple followed by Luxor Temple on the East Bank. The sheer size of these buildings is absolutely incredible. It's an absolutely awesome experience to imagine that these buildings were first erected over 4000 years ago. Quite an accomplishment since I don't know how many of the skyscrapers being built in Dubai at the moment would last as long!


The Nile Adventurer - home for 4 nights:


















Outside Tutankamen's tomb in the Valley of the Kings:

















Dad and me in front of the entrance to Luxor Temple showing the statues of Horus guarding the entrance:






















Pillars of Karnak Temple:






















The next day was a free day where we lounged by the pool on the boat and generally caught up on sleep, ate ourselves silly, lounged by the pool and ordered long egyptian beers. The following day after another punishing breakfast, day we were off to Edfu and Esna temples. Possibly the thing that made the cruise mosty interesting was that we had a really clued up guide (Osama) all to ourselves. His knowledge of all things egypt both current and ancient was truly impressive.


Dad admiring Edfu Temple (who's an engineer then?):






















Day 4 and we hit Kom Ombo - a temple devoted to celebrating the crocodiles that used to bask on the sand at the river bend followed by the beautiful temple of Philae on an island out in Lake Nasr. This also gave us a chance to ohh and aah at Aswan Dam (one of the highest in Africa).

Osama, Dad and me in front of Kom Ombo:

















Philae Temple from the boat on Lake Nasr:

Initially promised a sunset felluca ride, the winds had picked up and the police in Aswan insisted we downgrade to a shuttle boat ride - I was more that happy when I saw some fellucas that had tipped over in the wind with their passengers soaked and unimpressed!

Felluca's in the sunset on the Nile:

Dad and Osama - dry and safe on the shuttle boat!

The above pictures are a very small sample - anyone visiting myself or my dad in the near future should be warned they will be required to look through all 419 pics I took!

Dubai in the pictures

Below are some aerial photos taken of Dubai that I got from the Gulf News website (www.gulfnews.com)


The buildings on the front left are the complex we stay in. The middle one being built is the Burj Dubai.

Sailing off the coast with the Emirates Towers in the background:

Crossing the creek from BurDubai to Deira:



















The Dubai Marina - great for lunches or coffees with a view




















The Grand Hyatt Hotel with the creek behind it





















Villas in Jebel Ali area



















The National Bank of Dubai in Deira (the building is nicknamed "the Preganant Lady")





















The Palm, Jumeirah





















Sheikh Zayed Road with the two Emirates Towers on the back right.