I Think It May Be Time for This Texas Boy to Think About Heading Home.....

.....it's been great, but the towering glass and chrome are starting to get to me.  I'm staying in a five-star Chinese hotel in the Financial Center of one of the richest cities in the world, and the highlight of my past week was a day-trip to the mountains.

Yes, this place is the playground of the rich and famous but frankly, it's starting to wear me down.  You can't get away from the money and excesses.  Here was the valet parking behind my hotel as I waited for my tour guide yesterday:

For the record, from left to right:  Lamborghini, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Aston-Martin and Rolls Royce.

For the lack of anything better to do, I emailed this photo to my Farmer's Insurance agent and requested a quote for annual coverage on this little beauty:

This is my last day off and I didn't book any trips.  I got up this morning and took the train to the Emirates Mall--the so-called "world famous mall with the ski slope."  It was kind of a half-hearted thing just to kill time and the ski-area was really the only thing that interested me.

They actually do rent out ski clothing and equipment and the experience comes complete with a chair-lift to the top.

If you have the money, and many do here, there are all kinds of ways for you to spend it.  The mall also has an indoor zip line and even an indoor skydiving area--they attach straps to you and turn on 200-mph fans to give you the sensation of parachuting.  You might take note of the MasterCard ad in the upper right corner of the photo.

I spent a couple of hours walking around the mall and thought how much happier I was yesterday hiking in the mountains.  This is nice, but it isn't me.  This is how the 1% live only the rich comprise far more than 1% here in Dubai. Everything from the "recreation" to the exclusive Gucci, Rolex, and Cartier shops is geared for money and excess and they've got the concept figured out really well here.

However, I've got a $143/day meal allowance and can't find a decent BBQ brisket sandwich and a Shiner Bock.  I don't think they've figured out the "quality of life" concept yet--maybe they just think they have.

From the hotel, I usually walk a few blocks down the street to find a restaurant and there is one open area where they're pouring the foundation of what will probably be another skyscraper.  Usually, as it's getting dark, you'll see the construction workers waiting for a bus.  They're typically Pakistani, Indian, Filipino and/or Indonesian.  They're filthy dirty, obviously exhausted and wearing open-toe sandals while pouring concrete for who knows how many hours a day.  Dubai has a terrible human rights record with regards to immigrant labor over here.  They've been warned by various agencies about the conditions--many workers are charged room and board for about what they earn.  In other words indentured servants.

Ironically, CNN did a story today on one of the guys who washes windows on the world's tallest building over here.  He was from Nepal and gets paid $600/month to hang 125 stories up washing windows and wouldn't give up the money for anything.  I have no idea where he could find a place to live over here on that salary.

The Middle East was the only part of the world where I really hadn't had a chance to visit or work.  I wanted to go out with a good job and this has been so far.  But I'm pretty convinced I've made the right decision to retire after this.

I'm heading home to Texas Tuesday.

Went Back to the East Coast Through the Mountains, Entered Oman Again Briefly, and Visited an Old, Old Fort.....

.....and I think that may be it as far as Dubai tourism goes.  There's really not much else to see in this sandy corner of the world.

The tour today took a different route to the east coast and went through several small villages.  They all look pretty much the same......

One thing I have noticed, though, is that no matter now small the village, they have a modern hospital and schools--with schools, it's one for boys and one for girls.

The UAE is pretty progressive in so many ways, but Islam is still the rule.  Alcohol is almost completely forbidden and you see women from the most conservative of burkas to girls dressed contemporary but not provocatively.  The train I rode yesterday had two cars reserved for women and children but there were also women on all the other cars.  Women are allowed to drive here but it's pretty rare.  And too, I don't know if they are from the UAE.  Up to 80% of the population of Dubai are expatriates.  I thought it strange on the boat trip last week that the ads for the trip required a NOC for unaccompanied women.  A sign on the boat repeated the requirement.  I got to looking around on the Internet and it means "No Objection Certificate."  In other words, a single woman has to have a letter of permission from a husband, brother, father or some responsible male.

Today's trip drove through the mountains, not along side them like last week.  They are not particularly tall, but very uninhabitable.

Once into the mountains, the only village we saw surrounded an old 16th century Portuguese fort at a place called Hatta.

All that remains of the original fort are two of these watchtowers, but the government has recreated a heritage village  where the original structure was.  Rather than a true military fort, Hatta was more of a walled compound protecting the sultan's extended families--probably more of a castle than a true fort.

The reconstructed heritage village was interesting:

From Hatta, we continued into Oman--passing through passport control--and drove up the mountains to a dam designed to collect spring and rain water.

It wasn't a hydroelectric dam or anything, just designed to collect water.  This area does have springs and also has considerably more rain than Dubai.

From the dam, we drove off-road to an area known as a "wasi" which is a dried lake area and they are located all over this area, but the one we visited wasn't dry--it had considerable spring water and was unusual in that over the centuries the water had created a deep trench.  

Tours in the summertime stop and let people swim in the canyon waters but it was far too cold today.  In fact, it got down to 57 degrees last night--considered very cold for Dubai.

On the trip back, we had to stop for the obligatory camel photographs.  I shot several but this one of a mother nursing it's young was the best.

I'm off tomorrow but it's a holiday and I understand almost everything is closed so I may hang close to the hotel or maybe take in the mall with the ski slopes.  Today was a good day, though.  I'm not a "city person" and it was good to get away from all the chrome and glass and see some mountains and water.

After tomorrow's day off, I've got four work days and then I'm heading home but I'm watching the situation with the Atlanta airport and the winter weather closely.

Had a Little Extra Free Time This Afternoon So I Took the Train to the Dubai Marina......

.....but not before a lot of strange happenings on the job at work this past week.  But the longest stretch of work is over now and I have a couple of days to explore IF I can find a tour with an opening.

Yesterday, we went way out into the outskirts of Dubai to a heavy trucking company to see their facilities.  Overall the trip was a bust and a major waste of time but one strange highlight was a poster-sized photo of the owner of the business giving a scale model race car to Paris Hilton.

Just why Paris Hilton would be in the outskirts of Dubai at a trucking center is beyond me.  But then, I wasn't really sure why I was out there yesterday.

Like I said, the longest stretch of work is behind me now.  After two days off, I'll have two 2-day programs and then it's back home.  Despite a carnival of errors, the group itself was pretty good and here's a group photo at lunch today.

For a little different perspective of Dubai, here's a photo from the back of my hotel--taken from the 34th floor, of the Persian Gulf.

The sand you see in the water is actually a group of man-made islands being built into a shape of the globe.  Here's what the finished project will look like:

It will be a housing development, so theoretically you could live in Africa or South America.  Or Antarctica even.  They are really doing some amazing construction projects over here.

On my first day here, I visited this set of man-made islands:

These islands are a series of businesses, apartment complexes and hotels.  Problem was, when we were out on the islands, from ground level you can't see the overall design.

I would be skeptical of building tall buildings on man-made sand islands, but they seem to know what they're doing.  This hotel--the super expensive one--is also built on a man-made sand island.

I do know that after creating the island, they used actual oil rigs to drill down 135 feet to pour concrete pylons on which to build the hotel.

With my free time today, I decided to try the Dubai rail system and go to the Dubai Marina.  The rail is relatively cheap, very clean and fast.

The marina was located in the exclusive area of Dubai so it was basically an upscale outdoor mall with restaurants and shops.  It was kind of nice to get outside and do some serious walking, so I enjoyed myself.  The architecture here never ceases to amaze me--here was the first building I saw after getting off the train.

I basically just walked around and stopped for a break at a Persian tea house and had a pot of tea.  Here was my view of the marina from my table:

As you can imagine in Dubai, there are all kinds of yachts for the rich and famous, but there were also a few old-timers.

Off for a couple of days now and am having trouble finding a tour to go on tomorrow.  I'm trying to get either a Hatta mountain safari or a day trip to Abu Dhabi.  

Mostly Work the Past Few Days, But Got Out and Went to One of the Dubai SuperMalls This Evening.....

.....I'm not a "mall person" but didn't bring a long-sleeve shirt or jacket on this trip thinking it would be hot all the time but it's been getting down into the low 60s in the evenings and I'm wanting to take at least one day trip this weekend.

Dubai has a famous mall with ski slopes inside and this wasn't the one I went to but another "high-end" mall.  Got to say, I was impressed:

As I would expect from an oil-rich kingdom, the shops all had foreign names I can't pronounce and featured jewelry and clothing I'll never consider trying to buy.  I looked at a few shops I was familiar with like Reebok, Gap and Tommy Hilfiger and I think the prices were about 2.5 times higher than at Baybrook Mall at home.  I finally found a Billabong (Australian) sports store featuring 80% off and found a long-sleeve cotton shirt for under $20 so I'm pretty happy with myself over the trip.

This mall may not have had a ski slope, but it did have a three-story aquarium:

Many of the stores were familiar names also--Victoria's Secret for instance.  I didn't try to take a photo but I found it absolutely hilarious to see two women in full burkas shopping inside.  I guess if you've ever wondered what they wear under those things......

There was also a long and really interesting waterfall:

On a side note, I passed a branch of the Islamic Republic of Iran Bank and needed some cash so I went in to see if they would take Great Satan dollars and they actually gave me one of the best rates I've gotten over here.  Of course, I'm probably on some watch-list now for doing financial transactions with Iran.

Like I said, I'm not a "mall person" but, for a side trip it was kind of interesting.  I mean, even the parking garage had fountains.

Got a couple of more days with this group then some time off.  I'm trying to arrange a 4-wheel safari across the desert to mountains or, maybe, a day trip to Abu Dhabi.  Or maybe both.......

Got Within 41 Miles of the Iranian Mainland Today.......

.....and it dawned on me that there were probably Iranian Navy ships patrolling within twenty miles of us.

We took a Land Rover from Dubai across the UAE to a point where the border of the Emirates and Oman meet on the Gulf of Oman.  The cross-country trip was about two hours and little to see but sand dunes.

Dune racing is a big recreational sport over here--both in 4-wheelers and ATV's.  Surprisingly, there is a lot more vegetation in the desert than I imagined.  Not in this photo, but almost everywhere else.  Even more surprising was the fact we didn't see a single oil well all day.

There were quite a few wild camels roaming around and they can become a driving hazard, especially at night.  Like I said, there is quite a bit of vegetation to sustain them.

After about a two-hour drive, we reached the border crossing into Oman.  There was a line of cars but no problems once we got to the military checkpoint.

This part of Oman is separated geographically from the mainland of the country.   It was really pretty here in a rugged sort of way--mountains all along the coast but pure rugged bluffs along the coast uninhabitable except for one place where we stopped.

Just inside the border we stopped and boarded a local style of fishing ship they call a Dhow.  Our ship was used solely for tourism but this area is predominantly a fishing area.  Dhows look kind of like miniature pirate ships and were very comfortable.

There were only about 12-15 people on our boat including the five from our group.  We had a French couple, an Austrian couple, and of course, the Texan.

They were an ok group and we got along well together but I'm aware of how Europeans like to look down their noses at "crude Texans."  Anyway, the French guy was overweight and unshaven with about a three-day growth of black beard.  On top of that, he's wearing one of those Arab headdresses like Yassar Arafat used to wear.  And on top of that, once the boat got underway, he takes his pants off and is wearing one of those skimpy swim suits.  Try to visualize Yassar Arafat in bikini briefs.  Wasn't pretty.  

The view from the boat was basically just that of rugged mountains along the coast.

After an hour or so, we docked in a bay with a remote village along the coast--the only habitation I saw all day once we left the port.  The village is called Haffa.

While Yassar and some of the others snorkeled and swam, three of us took a small boat to the beach and looked around.  

I got a nice picture of our Dhow as we headed to the beach.

It's a fishing village and there were only some children there while we visited.  It really did feel like stepping back in time--there were two main structures but several other "homes" were basically just rock walls protecting indentions in the side of the mountain.

There were electrical lines run in over the mountain and fresh drinking water is brought in every week, but in many ways it seemed like 14th Century subsistence in the 21st Century.

We had lunch on the Dhow, pretty much reminded me of Indian food of which I'm not real familiar so I was kind of careful what I ate.   Pretty good, though.

We traveled along the coast some more past some ancient tombs.

I didn't really understand how, but they were used for burials centuries ago.

After returning to port, we stopped by the fish market.....looks like they had a pretty good day.

Looks like there may be shark on the menu tomorrow night too:

All in all, a pretty good day.  Got to travel back in time and visit a country I hadn't anticipated being able to see.  back to work tomorrow......

Tomorrow is the Last Day of My First Week Over Here.....

.....and it has not been without issues, but Friday I get a day off (it's Wednesday evening over here as I type this.)  For the most part, this week has just been all-work and no-play.  It gets dark pretty early here but I get out and try to walk every evening.  I feel completely safe over here.  Just to get away from the hotel, I've eaten supper at an Applebees nearby.   When I think of Middle Eastern food, I don't usually think of Applebee's and it isn't.  But it has a pretty good American sports bar menu at about a quarter cost of the hotel.  But they don't sell beer--I think only the hotels sell beer and my hotel is about $12/bottle.

I signed up for a day trip Friday and am really looking forward to it.  I'll take a coach up the coast north from Dubai to mountains to another emirate.  There, we'll board a traditional Dhow--sailing vessel and sail further north and visit Oman--another country I can add to my list.

We'll supposedly visit a market in Oman and then sail back to the border.  I'm kind of excited about it.  Should be a nice day away from the hotel room.

Not much news in this post but I thought I'd include some of the architecture I've seen here.  Dubai is encouraging new construction with modernistic themes:

The Ship's Sail

Twin Dolphin Towers

Tower of Gold

Notice the Sand Parking Lot Across the Street:

Notice the New Construction in the Left Background

That's it for now.  I'll probably post again Friday evening when I get back from Oman.