.....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:
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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.
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.
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