I Saw The Crescent

I snapped this photo out of the window from home tonight. Thought I'd share it with you. The moon doesn't get much smaller than that!

Click the photo to expand.

Leaving Dubai

Still sleep deprived. I rise at 5am to get a taxi to the airport. The sun is already rising. The air is so thick with dust, the sun was like a dull orange disk hanging in the sky. No glare whatsoever. I head back along the well traveled freeway, back to the airport.

The airport departure area is just huge but very quiet.

I use the self check-in counter, here you can even weigh and label your own baggage. I get a boarding pass without having to talk to anybody.

There's not much else to go except pass security. Up the escalators, terminal 3 is a gigantic shopping mall, one long building. Standing here, I cannot see either end of the terminal. It's a sea of duty free shops and eateries. All long it the departure gates hang off to one side. There are over 100 gates, hence over 100 planes, all in one line. That's how big this place is. It's busy too. Packed with people. I head for the quiet of the departure gate. An hour before departure, the gate is open to let people through to a secure lounge downstairs where the plane is boarded. With free wireless available, I email Helen before boarding the plane.

The flight is fine, I have a spare seat next to me. We touch down in Glasgow 1pm local time. Immigration isn't so friendly. I am asked "what is the purpose of your visit to the UK?" to which I reply "I live here". After finding my visa in my password, the office gives me the third degree and questions what must be every piece of information on his computer screen, plus more for good measure. Welcome home? Yeah right! I'll always be treated like an alien here I guess.

The shuttle bus to Glasgow Queen St train station is busy. I'm in what is arguably the swine flu capital of the world and people sneeze and cough all around me. Joy!

Once at the train station, I spend £10.40 on a ticket to Edinburgh, then find the train is so full I cannot fit on. What a rip-off, around NZ$27 for a train journey same length as Wellington to Kapiti, mid afternoon, and the train is full. Somebody's making money. I get the next train which is just as packed. It turns out Oasis are playing in Edinburgh so the trains are full of concert goers.

I arrive back home in Edinburgh at 4:45pm. A long day.

Dubai Day Two

Today we start out with a more modest start time of 8am. We head again close to the airport, by which time I am wondering why we're not just staying there. Our first meeting is in the foyer of a very swanky hotel. We hop straight from taxi to inside so avoid the heat.

Our next meeting is in Abu Dhabi. The drive there takes over an hour. We travel at speeds of 120-150km/h along a three lane highway, either side of which are high fences the entire distance and beyond them desert. The fences are apparently to keep camels off the road. Outside of Dubai it's rather grotty, many miles of construction sites, industry, and power plants, substations and the like with pylons heading every which way.

We have a little time to spare, so pop in for a visit to Emirates Palace, the most expensive hotel in the world. This is just so massive, and expensive, and fancy, see about it here and see the official promotional video here. I thought I'd seen it all in places like Las Vegas. This far exceeded anything I've seen. High ceilings, bigger hotel, real marble and gold, unbelievable even standing inside there. No tourists in here, just rich folk well dressed. I feel out of place even wearing a suit and tie. The money required to build such a showpiece is unimaginable.

After that we head to our meeting. That wasn't so bad, but we then foolishly walked about 10 minutes up the road to another building for a brief visit, then back again. The heat was approaching 45 degrees by this time. By the time our taxi driver returned, we were medium rare :-)

The drive back to our hotel was a tad boring. Once you've driven the road between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, it gets old pretty fast.

The remainder of the day was chewed up with more chatting in the hotel, and a little work on the laptop, followed by dinner in the hotel. Safest to stay within the confines of the air conditioning.

I got to sleep about 11pm knowing I have an early start to return home the next day alone, leaving Stuart behind for another day.

Dubai Day One

With only a few hours sleep, it's time to awake and prepare for work. Our first meeting is way back in the direction of the airport. So it is a taxi ride back along the freeway where we came from the night before.

In daylight Dubai looks much less pretty. Everything is brown/grey. The air is thick with dust & sand. The sky is brown, not blue, even though the sun is shining. The freeway is lined with skyscrapers. Many are finished and impressive. Just as many others are half built. The skyline is filled with cranes. The roads are big. A four lane freeway, lined with big American model cars. Plenty of expensive machinery surrounds us.

We stop at a random hotel of Stuart's choice near our meeting, to prepare. I don't remember where, just in "old Dubai". The hotel is beautiful inside. Apparently that's common here. We then walk a short distance, perhaps 5 minutes, to our meeting. It's not 10am yet and already the temperature is over 35 degrees. We're wearing dark suits, suitable for Wellington / Edinburgh weather. Natives are wearing traditional white Arabian clothes, cool and comfortable, designed for the heat. Can I have some too please?

Once our meeting was over, we try to hail a taxi on the gridlocked 3 lane road. The temperature is now over 40 degrees. We found the the bus stops are fully enclosed and air conditioned so hide in one for a while. Eventually we brave the heat some more, find a taxi, and head back to the hotel.

I have some free time for the afternoon. I head out for a walk around, to get a few photos near the hotel.

Cars keep honking at me. They are taxis looking for their next fare. After a while one of them gets lucky. I have him drive me to a nearby area, the far end of The Palm Jumeirah. It isn't the paradise I expected. A multi-lane road, with a monorail up the middle, flanked by apartments and skyscrapers in all directions. It's all private so just keep on driving up the middle!


Atlantis The Palm looms in the distance. It's slowly getting bigger but be patient, it's huge and it takes a while to get there. We drive under a big multi-lane tunnel to finally arrive there.

We drive half way around the outside of The Palm Jumeirah before turning back to my hotel. I have the taxi driver stop here and there so I can get a few photos. It's really windy and the visibility isn't good with the dusty air. The cost works out to about £10 for the round trip. Not bad I thought.

Next I catch a shuttle bus to The Dubai Mall. The journey is about 35 minutes, back along the freeway again. It's getting familiar now. The bus goes via some rather unsightly building sites where where are dozens of skyscrapers being built.

The mall is massive. 444,000 square feet. 1,0200 retail shops. 38 restaurants. 49 fast food restaurants over many food courts. Big is best here. America can't answer to this.

There is a 2 story high aquarium with a "Kelly Tarlton's" tunnel within.

There is an ice skating rink. Float around on ice while being reminded of who His Highness is.

There are large water features.

I could go on forever talking about this. I could spend forever here too, as deciding to visit a special shop will take 10-15 minutes to find it. Do that a few times and you're getting exercise and losing time fast! Every part of the mall looks different, yet is architecturally impressive in its own right. Here's a few samples.

Right outside there's more impressive structures, including the world's tallest building almost next door, still unfinished. It doesn't look as tall as it is, due to its tapered appearance you lose perspective. A square building like the late World Trade Centre keeps that perspective and looks taller (in my opinion).

I head to Chilis for dinner, an American restaurant. Then I catch the shuttle back to the hotel. On the way, the sun is setting. It's only about 7pm, much sooner than sunset in Edinburgh. I snap this shot from the shuttle bus as we drive along the freeway. The great thing about dusty, smoggy air is the sunsets that result.

By the time I catch up with Helen on Skype, and catch up with Stuart for a nightcap, it's knocking on 11pm. Time for bed.

Off to Dubai

I've been fortunate enough to be sent to Dubai on a short business trip. I've headed over with my boss Stuart.

The journey started with me catching the 11am train from Edinburgh, to Falkirk, where Stuart picked me up on the way to Glasgow airport. We arrived with plenty of time only to find our plane was to arrive 40 minutes late. Not a good start!

We eventually departed an hour late. We had both booked online independantly, but by pure chance we ended up sitting across the aisle from each other.

I wasn't unhappy with Emirates, the service was good, the meal (Halal lamb) was delicious, and the movie selection was great. The flight was seven hours and felt every minute of it. It doesn't help being as tall and wide as me in economy class no matter what the airline!

We ended up arriving an hour behind schedule. We were bused from the tarmac to the terminal. We drove past rows and rows of Emirates 777s, an amazing site. The terminal is fantastic, just huge, and looks brand new. I know it's not really old, but they keep it especially clean.
Arriving at Dubai is a dream. With no arrival card to fill in, they just swipe your passport and welcome you through. Then they scan your hand baggage quickly, then you pick up your bag at one of about 20 carousels, then bingo you're in Dubai. I wish every country was that efficient and friendly.

By the time we rode the taxi to our hotel, Radisson Blu Media City, and wound down, it was about 3:30am. Nice room though.

I had to wake up at 6:30am to get my suit on, have a bite, and head off with Stuart for a meeting.

Every Picture Tells A Story

Newhaven Sunset

It's been a long, hot weekend! The heatwave has continued all weekend, with temperatures in the mid 20's and no wind. Meanwhile, our friends and family in New Zealand have been shivering with snow and sleet in Wellington, during a cold snap.

Tonight we could see the sun setting from home, so grabbed a bus down to Newhaven, not far from where we live, to watch the sunset. It was a beautiful evening for a walk around.

I grabbed these photos to share with you.