Deserts and more

This was a relatively low key weekend. Given that I was invited to a party at my new friend's house (the German and the Celebrity Stylist) on Wednesday and learned a lesson I've learned many many many times before - do not try to keep up with Germans. They drink far more than we do, are fed beer as children and thus their tolerance is much greater than ours and, oh yea.....they didn't have to work Thursday morning!!! It was a great time, however. Met a few more new people. Got a little more insight into my new Celebrity Stylist friend. He and I spoke at length, and there is a past there which he is close to recounting first hand. More on that as he tells me first hand. We're talking Page Six kinda stuff. He's supposed to invite me on a yacht next weekend...we'll see.

Something I have noticed in talking to people that were born and raised in Dubai is that they are shocked when I say that I'm enjoying my time here and looking forward to staying here for the year. This one Palenstinian girl I befriended made a very valid point. Dubai is a pretty transient city. People come here to work or play for a year maybe two. Very few stay for an extended period of time and she was pointing out that it was very difficult to develop deep personal relationships with people. You can imagine that having to make a new best friend every two years can become rather taxing - let alone try to find a romantic relationship.

So on Friday the entire team took a Desert Safari tour. We drove about an hour into the Sharjah desert in a Toyota Land Cruiser and congregated with about 50 other Land Cruisers. It honestly looked like a commercial for Toyota. It was insane. Here are some highlights.

We drove by Dubailand, which is still under construction -but by all esimates, it is forecasted that this themepark will generate about 2times the number of visitors that DisneyWorld does. The piece of land where is sits is HUGE - as you can imagine. The picture above is just a road side advertisement of the theme park, you might deduce, they will have a racing track, skiing and rollercoasters. Insane.

As we set on into the desert, it became a rollercoaster within itself. I will say that our driver was amazing. The shot above will give you an idea of where we were 'playing'. The dunes got much bigger and steeper. Serveral times we were literally driving sideways, skidding backwards and getting 'snowed' by sand. One unfortunate minute, I had lowered my window to get a picture - and about a foot of sand blew through my window. The driver laughed - I was less than pleased!! I will tell you that my legs are quite sore today. Even though I was buckled in and in a Land Cruiser - basic instinct instructs my body to clinch and hold on for dear life.

We stopped for a bit to bask in the sun & sand and take obligatory 'Look I'm in the desert' pictures. Though you can't tell, I am stading on somewhat of a 'cliff'. Immediately behind me is about a 50 foot drop. We were sad that we hadn't brought a body board to go sand skiing - it would've been perfect.On our way to the campsite, we ran across these two lovely camels (errr..can camels be lovely?). One of my goals for the trip was to ride a camel - I almost jumped out of the vehicle to mount the creature, but was instructed that I would get my chance.

And I did!!! That is Esra, one of my coworkers, with me. I will say, that although very exciting to finally ride a camel, the actual ride itself was quite anti-climatic. Having been practically born on a horse in South Texas - it didn't quite compare. Now - if you have ever seen a camel mounted, they kneel down on all fours to allow the rider to get on and off. Having been one of the first ones to ride the camel that day, I didn't really know what I was supposed to expect. It is NOT a smooth transition from kneeling to standing. That was probably the most fun part of the ride. The camel stands its rear quarters first, so we're at about a 30-40 degree declined angle, then stands its front quarters up. The reverse is true on the dismount. He kneels front first - at the point I almost flew off the dang thing. Being so exhausted from the rollercoaster ride in the Land Cruiser and running in the sand - my legs were quite worn out. So, I wasn't necessarily holding on very securely. An 'OH SHIT' may have escaped from my mouth! The ride lasted about 2.3 minutes. Again, all I really needed was the first and last couple of seconds and would've been fine with it!!

We arrived at our campsite and immediately claimed a table close to the center stage area. The place was kinda festival-ish. Flanked by speakers which upon arrival were playing traditional Arabian music, soon changed to some jacked up karaoke style, instrumental, wedding singer, God please shoot my ear drums out crap. I think there may have been someone in the back with their Casio keyboard circa 1983 playing Ace of Base, Michael Jackson, Donna Summer, Madonna, etc. Pleasing, not so much, entertaining - definitely. The campground offered plenty of BBQ, a sheesha lounge, grilled corn on the cob, Henna tattoos and just relaxed fun. It got rather chilly once the sun set. Definitely glad that I wore jeans and a sweater.

At the end of the evening, we were treated to a belly dancing performance. She was quite entertaining. There was a group of 'wankers' that had been enjoying a bit too much Vodka and were rather annoying during her performance. She handled them well with a diva wave of her hands and look from hell as one guy tried to go dance with her without her invitation.
........yes, she asked people to dance with her - yes, I did. :)

Until next time!!

Just another week in Dubai...

This was a pretty eventful week for me. Work has been pretty busy as we're past the half way point of our first phase of work and there is lots of exciting things happening for the future of our engagement with our client. Truly incredible how much opportunity there is, not only with our client, but in Dubai in general.

I mentioned a few posts back that I had met this Celebrity Stylist while at Bahri Bar. He and I have stayed in touch and he invited me to a party this past Tuesday. He was having some friends come over to his new villa and invited me to come along. What I though was going to be a small gathering of 8-10 people, ended up being a party of about 40 people. Let me start with the villa. It is located in Emirates Hills, which is right by the Emirates Golf Course - where Tiger just won the Dubai Desert Classic. It's a pretty nice gated community. I walked in to the house and immediately was being introduced to guests...as I turn and see a fully stocked bar!! Not sure if you guys appreciate the challenge alcohol presents here in the Middle East. It is truly a concerted effort to try to get a drink around here. Needless to say - walking into a home that is stocked with everything you could think of - I was pleased. The backyard was even better - beautifully landscaped with a swimming pool, hot tub, outdoor kitchen, sunken living area and an interesting mural painted by the owner of the villa.

The people were a perfect representation of Dubai. People from all different cultures - German, Irish, English, Indian, French, Emiratee, Saudi Arabian, Polish, Caribbean (Trinidad) and then me from USA. Professions ranged from attorneys, architects, doctors, real estate agents, movie producers, business owners (from cosmetics lines to property development), wealth managers and just about everything in between. One girl I met is the niece of the Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, and as sweet and down to earth as the girl next door. Then there's me - a risk management consultant from Texas. However, while I normally find it quite boring to describe what I do - people were very interested in my line of work being that I'm consulting for Nakheel and the Palm Jebel Ali...so that made me feel good. It was so nice that everyone at the gathering was extraordinarily welcoming. The host's intent was to introduce everyone he'd met in Dubai that he felt possessed a 'good energy' to each other, which I thought was brilliant. By the end of the evening, I was graciously referred to as 'Texas'.

OH - I have to mention these two Saudi sisters. Now - people at the party were dressed fairly casual. Either in stylish jeans and shirts to a sensible suit having come straight from work. When all of a sudden, I turn to the french doors and out walk these two women dressed in fitted sequence evening gowns, one wearing a mink shawl. They were decked out in body glitter, makeup for days with their hair jacked to Jesus. Anyone would've thought that they were walking right off the red carpet....nope, just coming to hang out. These girls are apparently very wealthy - and coming from very strict Saudi Arabia where they have to remain covered up in the black abayas, they really let it all hang out (pun intended) when they get to Dubai. We were all quite amuzed by the showing.

It was a great evening, I was able to meet some very nice people and make contacts. More than anything, it was nice to be able to communicate with people that are not co-workers or clients. I think I made a few new friends already.

Thursday night, I met up with this guy I met at the party for a drink at Bar 44 at Grovesnor Hotel. Very cool bar with amazing views of Dubai Marina. Upon returning home, ran into a couple colleagues that were about to head out on the town. So, I joined them. We went to the Kasbar at 'The One and Only Royal Mirage' - yea....it's actually called 'The One and Only'. FINALLY, an actual dance club. After a short wait behind velvet ropes, we walked in to hear great dance music, and jumping dance floor with a pretty great light show including very intense green laser bouncing all around the club. There was a chandelier about 4ft tall hanging from the middle of the place which reflected all lights beautifully. We danced and took in the environment until about 3:30am. I think I'll definitely be heading back to Kasbar again.

So the weekend came and here is a highlight of my Friday....

After a light breakfast of yogurt and fruit, we headed over to Jumeirah Beach at the Le Royal Meridien resort. It was close to 30 degrees celsius and wonderful! The beach has great sand, awesome water and waiters to bring you just about anything you'd like.

Later that day...

We headed over to Ski Dubai, the world's largest indoor ski 'mountain' located at the Mall of Emirates. It was such a great time. There were of total of six of us, two of us that are pretty good skiers, two which were decent snow boarders, and two that had never done either, and took lessons. We skied for about 2 hours. I was pretty impressed with the slope. Granted, it is nothing compared to a real mountain and the exprience that provides (there is no snow actually falling on you, and no breath taking views of mountains and the wide open sky - but hey, I got my snow ski fix. Guarantee, we'll be going back. It's also pretty inexpensive. For a two hour pass, including the stylist suite you see me wearing and all the gear, it was only 170AED, which is about $45.

What a Friday. Laying out on the Arabian Gulf by mid-day and snow skiing by mid-afternoon. I could get used to this.

Weekend in Dubai

This is a boat on the Dubai Creek which lies between Bur Dubai and Deira. Fancy, no? They use these 'ships' to transport products from blankets and apparel to Refridgerators. You can kinda see behind me the boxes just stacked. There is no formal system for unloading, processing and distributing product. I honestly don't know how they do it.

Bur Dubai, which is Old Dubai, has these different 'souks' - outdoor markets. They have spice souk (pictured), gold souk and a textile souk. Looking at the spices, it is really difficult to figure out what was what. I guess I'm just not used to seeing so many choices....Crazy Jane's Mixed Up Salt anyone? :)

This is another one of the outdoor markets. Walking through you saw shirts for 5dhs, which is about $1.50. Shoes for 10dhs and so much other crap. The fashion here is - well - less than desirable, but still. The interesting thing in going through Bur Dubai, and really most of Dubai, is that you very rarely see women. If you look at the picture above, you see maybe two females. All the rest are men. And there are 1000s of them. And not uncommon for these men to stroll down the streets holding hands or hugging. Certainly a culture shock. I did notice, however, that those holding hands only hold on to one finger. The sense of personal space and human interaction and affection is so different than that of the states. It's kinda refreshing.

The architecture in Bur Dubai and Deira is pretty simple with clean lines. Most structures or houses have 'wind towers' like the one above. They are designed to catch the breeze and funnel it into the house. I thought that was pretty brilliant!!

Of course being a Muslim/Islamic country, it is very rare to find Christian churches. Dubai is a little more fastforward than most Islamic countries in that they allow people to practice Christianity. This is one of two (I believe) Catholic schools/churches in Dubai.

Now - what city/country/world is complete without a Pancho Villa's Restaurant! I almost lost it when we ran into this sign walking around Bur Dubai.

AHHH - at the end of a full day of sightseeing, a Stella awaited me at an English Pub in the Arabian Courtyard hotel. Here, I'm enjoying my beer while Muzamil, a practicing Muslim and can't drink alcohol, is drinking a Faux-Tini.

The weekend was pretty great. The weather was amazing. After sightseeing all day Friday, I really wanted to just hang out Saturday. So, I got my book and headed to Chandelier at the Marina Walk - sat back with a Sheesha (hookah) and had some Hummus and flat bread taking in the weather, enjoying my book and people watching.

I will say it is kinda strange not having any commitments over the weekends. The weekend is really open to enjoy whatever I want to do. There is nothing that keeps me in a state of 'urgency'. I'm having a little trouble adjusting to that, only because I feel like I have to be doing something productive. Trust me, I think I'll adjust rather quickly. There will be a few more weekends of enjoying the outdoors before the heat sets in.

Have a great week!!

First Weekend in Dubai

So one week has come and gone here in Dubai. It's incredible to believe. Work is off to a good start, there is so much going on -we are trying to keep it all in check. However, much like everyone in the free world, it is all we can do to make it to the weekend.

We went out to the Madinat Jumeirah to a place called Bahri Bar. Madinat Jumeirah is this huge resort/mall/entertainment venue. Think the Forum at Ceasar's Palace and River Walk in San Antonio - excpet infinitely nicer. Safe to say that anywhere they can possible create a canal or river or something water related, consider it done.

As you walk through the compound, there are a multitude of prayer rooms. You may know, Muslims pray five times a day, and they make it very easy for people to find a place to do so. (i.e. right next to a restaurant). I am very intrigued by this culture and am learning more and more every day.

Bahri Bar is a tapas restaurant overlooking one of the canals. The moment I walked out onto the patio, the view is just truly incredible. Yes, it is the Burj Al Arab at night. And while you get the essence of the view - this picture in no way does it justice. I realized that the picture I have at the banner of this blog, was in fact taken from Madinat Jumeirah. We had a really nice evening, actually celebrating a colleagues birthday, drinking wine and eating yummy tapas. I have become a fan of Hot Mezzeh, which is really a whole bunch of appetizers like minced lamb stuffed in filo, falafel, chicken tendoori and other stuff that I really had NO idea what I was eating. Thank God that I am an adventurous eater, because I honestly don't know what I'm eating half the time. While we were there, I met this guy whom I had seen on TV the night before on the local version of 'The View' called HerSay. Note: one of the hosts is the sister of someone I went to college with! Anyway, this guy is in Dubai shooting a pilot for a new TV show - apprently a mix of America's Next Top Model and Extreme Makeover...for Arab women. We exchaged numbers, so I'm hoping I'll get to meet up with him again - would be a great contact to have!!

Thursday night, my team and I went out to dinner at the Dubai Marina Walk here by the hotel. Went to a restaurant called Chandelier. We sat outside on the patio and all shared a hookah. My coworker Dustin had never smoked a hookah, so it was fun to be there for his first experience. He took to it like a pro. I don't know if it was the hookah or the fact that I was finally able to just kinda sit back and relax or that I was looking onto a plaza that was a true melting pot of cultures and languages - but I had the realization. HOLY COW, I'M LIVING IN DUBAI!!!! It just seems so surreal. It's a feeling I have quite often while travelling (i.e. holy cow, I'm at the Luevre...holy cow, I'm crossing the Berlin Wall). I was glad to hear, upon voicing my amazment, that my team mates felt the same way.

After dinner, we went back to Madinat Jumeirah to go clubbing at a placed called Trilogy. Much to our surprise, we were met with velvet ropes and people that were WAY too important for themselves to give a damn. I saw the registration table and figured that it was a 'private club' like what some areas of Dallas have. You apply for a 'membership' and walk right in. NOT HERE! At Trilogy, you have to fill out an application, hand over a copy of your passport or Visa and then, after about four weeks time, you will receive an email or text message informing that your membership is ready. Only then could you go back and actually enter the club. Seriously????? Mark my words, we'll go back once we get our membership and will probably be let down by the hype. I hope for the best though. Defeated, we walked on to another bar called JamBase. After waiting in line for 30minutes, we finally got to order a drink. The place was actually quite nice. It had a live band that played a mix of popular songs from Ace of Base to Cool and the Gang. The female lead singer was amazing.

Friday I awoke to some horrible screaming. Dubai had a wicked wind storm all day Friday. It was truly insane. I walked out the hotel for a quick trip to the grocery and I was almost knocked down by the gail force winds, not to mention assaulted by sand. Esra and I took a cab to the Mall of Emirates. This mall is huge. It has quite a few of the stores we have in the States as well as some local flavor. If you've heard of Ski Dubai - the world's largest indoor ski 'resort' - it is here at Mall of Emirates. More to come on that later, because it is truly amazing and I can't wait to actually go ski. The trip to the mall was worth it for the people watching alone. It is hard not to get desensitized to all the different cultures because it is the norm, but truly facinating to see/hear/smell all cultures in one place. It ranged from Americans, Aussies, Germans, Indians (dot, not feather) moderate muslims and very strict muslims. You will see women with the basic Abaya over regular clothes (surely, these young girls are wearing Prada underneath the frock - I can only imagine judging from their shoes) to the traditional women in abayas and face veils. Many of these women truly only have slits along the eyes. It can be a little intimidating, however, after you see about 30, you kind get used to it.

Random learning point - Using too much laundry detergent (i.e. what we would consider normal in the states) causes too much foam and you trip the electricity in your suite..........twice.

Work and Cultural Learnings

Hey you guys! Ok, so yesterday was my first day at work, and all is going well. We work at the base construction site for the Palm Jebel Ali. I may have mentioned before that I am working on engagement for the Palm Jebel Ali and Dubai Waterfront developments. It is truly amazing the work that is going on over here. These palm islands, well Jebel Ali, is about 8km long and twice as wide. This third island is getting a little more creative in that they have added 'waterhouses', literally floating houses outside the crescent of the island. Additionally, on the interior of the crescent, they are building these floating barges that when viewed from the air create Arabic proverbs. Truly amazing. OH - and Nakheel (my client) has just announced the unveiling of a new set of islands 'The Universe' which will be built around The World islands. If you ask me, it looks like someone threw up around The World - but God bless.

So here is what I'm talking about.....

What you see in the picture above is a little dated (from google.com) But the development only began about four years ago. I've tried, in my novice attempt at exerpts, to illustrate where I am working. Pretty much what you see is still the case - LOTS of sand still. Not much landscaping, just sand....lots of sand and trucks!

This is right outside my office building. Not quite sure what the tents are for, but when I said I was on the beach - I was being literal. You can see cranes in the distance.

This is the base of the Palm Jebel Ali - eventually, I'm sure there'll be resorts or night clubs or something fantastic right where I focus on when I space out during the work day!!

It's been interesting working in this environment. People do things SO differently than we do in the States. There is really no sense of urgency, everything is very lineated and deliberate...and yet, this place has huge areas for improvement. Which is why we're here I guess! It should be a great working experience. Honestly, it's a 8:30-5pm day, sometimes 5:30pm with about a 30min lunch. My kind of work day!!! As far as I know now, we're here for at least the next 9 weeks. We will determine at that point if we will continue with the next phase of work. No word on apartments, we'll continue on at this fabulous hotel until mid-March.. YAY! However, that means that Armand won't get to be a jet setter just yet. I have it on good authority that he is fitting in just fine being a downtown loft dweller with Oscar. :)

Ok...so along with the cultural learnings for make America good (Borat anyone??) I was so perplexed upon using the restroom here. So, I arrived in my hotel room and saw this. Initially I thought the thing on the right was a biday...but not so much. I haven't figured it out yet, but I'm pretty sure it's used to wash your feet. Now, what I have figured out is the hose that sits next to every toilet in Dubai. Initially I thought it was a handheld for the tub. You can see how I would be confused as it's so close to the tub...but when I noticed it in the half bath as well as in the office - I started to wonder. Not wanting to be 'that guy' I decided to do my research to confirm what I already assumed. It is, in fact, used to wash yourself after you.....go. What on earth? I understand it's probably alot more sanitary...but HOW DO YOU MANAGE? Obviously I have not attempted it yet only because I don't want to make a real mess - but I'm SO curious. I mean...do you reach around with the hose? down the front and through the middle? in a full body squat? I DON'T KNOW!!!

OK - so....five days in Duabi and I have poop - literally. :)

Went to dinner with a colleague of mine from the UK office who is originally from Cyprus tonight. Had this delcious Moroccan pork dish cooked with prunes, yumm!! Determined that she likes to party, she likes, she like to party. (anyone?) AND she has a friend that is a DJ here in Dubai - so I'm hoping that I'll have some 'fun' news this weekend.

Until then. Be good. I miss you all.

The First Day

Given the fact that I arrived at the hotel close to 4am, there wasn't much to see. The driver that collected me from the airport was very nice and took me around parts of Dubai on the way to the hotel, but really after close to 3o hours travelling, the last thing I wanted to do was learn and appear interested in things that I could barely see anyway! It begs to mention that the very first song on the radio when I got into the van was Kelly Clarkson 'Because of You'. My Kelly welcomed me to Dubai with open arms!!!

However, once I awoke this morning, I could fully appreciate the hotel and the view I had from my balcony. Dubai has several different areas, you could call them subdivisions. Much like how in Dallas we have Downtown, Uptown, Lakewood, etc. I am staying in Dubai Marina - any guess why? Yup, because it is a marina! Let me state that there is construction everywhere you turn around here. There are so many developments going up, new ground being broken and even new buildings being improved upon. It is exactly as you see on TV - a city of cranes and dust. Suffice to say that there is plenty of money here and people are not afraid to spend it. As I pulled in to the hotel this morning, the driveway of the garage had two Mercedes S class, a Hummer, two Porsches and a Lamborgini.

If you are familiar with the developments in Dubai, you know that they are creating man made islands in the shape of palm trees: Palm Deira, Palm Jumeirah and Palm Jebel Ali.


This is a view from my balcony. Immeidately is the Dubai Marina and in the distance, you can see the Palm Jumeirah. If you can see the alleys of water between the houses, that is what creates the fronds of Palm Jumeirah.




In the far distance, you can see Atlantis. Which is the hotel/residences at the 'crown' of the Palm Jumeirah.





And this, of course, is probably the most recognizable structures in Dubai - The Burj Al Arab. It is the world's only 7 star hotel and the world's tallest hotel. I was able to drive by it last night, but unfortunately it was very late and all the lights were off. This image was taken with my camera from my balcony - it is magnified a bit. I'm not THAT close to it. :) I am looking forward to spending at least one night there.












I met up with colleagues today and walked around a bit and took a road trip about an hour or so North of Dubai. Dubai (and the UAE) has very strict laws about purchasing alcohol. You have to possess a permit in order to purchase and you essentially have to be a resident to attain a permit. However, there is a place just north of here that doesn't so much abide by those rules for some reason. We all went and stocked up on some wine and other fun libations.

Until the next time - take care of yourself and each other!

The Trip

I've always known that I was a procrastinator, but it was truly demonstrated while preparing for this trip. It wasn't until the night before and even the morning of my departure that I started packing. One might think that I was just leaving for a short vacation the way things were left....at least that is the way I was treating my departure. Thinking that I would be back in a week or two, not really letting the realization that it might be closer to 6 months sink in. That's how it is living in Denial, and sometimes, it is a great place to live. Honestly, it made leaving much easier.

A few friends offered to take me to the airport, but I graciously declined their offer. Having a car service drop me removed emotion from the equation. All this in a effort to make my leaving as smooth as it possibly could be. I remember when I first started working for Protiviti and was immediately traveling to Seattle - it was SO hard leaving every Sunday night. It was those memories that taught me how to minimize the difficulty of leaving familiar territory.

Here is how my itinerary broke down.

• Wednesday 23rd, 12:30pm - DFW to Chicago



• Wednesday 23rd, 9:10pm - Chicago to Amman, Jordan



• Thursday 24th, 8:30pm - Amman to Dubai, UAE



• Friday 25th 1:00am- Arrival in Dubai

Thanks to my frequent flyer miles I was able to fly First Class to Chicago and thanks to clients paying for airfare, I was able to fly Business Class from Chicago to Dubai. Let me tell you, after flying to Europe a few times in Coach - what a difference!!! If it can be at all afforded, you need to fly Business overseas.

Worried that a 15 hour flight was going to be absolute torture, I made sure I was fully equipped. I had packed a couple DVDs, a book and ensured that my earphones were ready to go for In-Flight entertainment. Thankfully, the book I bought at DFW was very interesting that I didn't really have the need for all the other things I brought along. 'The Footprints of God' by Greg Iles is in the same style as Dan Brown's books. If you don't know, Dan Brown is the author of DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons. 'Footprints' combined science and techonology with religion and spirituality. It kept me up for a majority of the trip.

Arriving in Amman was an experience. I am a pretty well travelled guy, having been to Europe three times. What a difference it is, however, to see Arabic writing. There is no possible way to attempt to fake your way through reading those signs. And while everyone there was very helpful, I couldn't help but feel a little frustrated not being able to even try to discern the native tongue myself. Learning at least some of the basic phrases and writings will definitely be a goal.

Alas, after almost 30 hours traveling, I retrieved my bags and made my way out of the Dubai International Airport to find a driver from the hotel waiting for me with a placard reading my name. Awestruck with my hotel room and a quick shower and I was off to bed - for a couple hours anyway. It was 4am local time, and I wanted to wake up at 9am to start the process of acclimating to the new time zone.

If you are curious, Dubai is 10 hours ahead of Central time.