Happy 4th of July!

Ella Grace and I hope you have a fun and safe 4th of July!

Traveling in Dubai UAE, part 5

As Westerners who traveled in Dubai in May of 2005, my husband and I found out a few details of travel there which I'll share here in part 5:

It's hot! True, it's dry heat, but it blows over you like air from a furnace. You will enjoy the cool malls, buses, and restaurants. Take your swimsuit for the hotel pool. Swimming in the gulf is allowed, but restricted. Tourists can use only small parts of the public beaches. If you really want to swim in the gulf, stay in a hotel on the gulf that will have a private beach access. Otherwise, use the pool. Most hotel pools have a bar. It's a good way to spend a hot afternoon. It's just as hot at midnight though.

How you dress is really up to you. I chose to wear pants and shirts, not shorts or sleeveless or halters or very fitted tops. I saw a few foreign women dressed in fitted tops, but none of the local women dress in that way. Take a cover-up to wear over your swimsuit when walking through the hotel to the pool. If you leave Dubai for another emirate, you may find much stricter clothing requirements.

A typical souvenir is the shisha. These water pipes or hookahs (or bongs) are used to smoke fragrant steam. There are shisha bars everywhere. People lie about on sofas with the shisha on a low table between them. Each person has his/her own mouthpiece, but they share the shisha-produced steam. It's a social occasion

Textiles in Dubai were marvelous. The street markets were arrayed with lovely textiles hanging overhead across the alleyways. These colorful markets are a bargain.

If you can afford it, the best souvenir is a rug or carpet. They are amazingly beautiful. If you think you may fall in love with the carpets while you're in Dubai, take the measurements for the area from home with you. The rug merchants will ship to you anywhere in the world. We found carpet stores in every mall. Perhaps there were carpets in the street markets, but we didn't notice them there.

Other souvenirs include coffee urns, dates, nuts, models of Bur el Arab.

This post is linked to this previous post on Dubai.

Aussie's Illness

I copied this from Aussie's blog into my blog:

Right after my trip to the CapeSoft World Tour event in Las Vegas, I developed a case of Shingles.

Oh boy, you do not want to experience this. Luckily my case was not as bad as it could have been. I did visit a doctor in time (must be within 48 hours of the appearance of the rash) to be prescribed the anti-viral tablets. The outbreak appeared just a week before we were to take a road trip to Nashville with friends. I managed to endure the trip by taking pain killers. Not much could be done about the rash. It just has to take its course.

My friends were great, and they managed to endure my suffering by imbibing in alcoholic beverages. Thanks go to Candace, Bill, Sandra, Skip and Sharon for your support.

If you are round-about the age of 60, and had chicken-pox as a child, then you would be well advised to see you doctor about having the newly available vaccine for us oldies. The USA FDA approved its use just last year.

Here I sit, three weeks on, and beginning to feel great again.

Traveling in Dubai UAE, part 4

As Westerners who traveled in Dubai in May of 2005, my husband and I found out a few details of travel there that I'll share here in part 4:

Take a tour on a bus. It's informative, air-conditioned, and reasonably-priced. It's the best way to see the city. The tours start at Wafi City early in the morning and run all day. We took two tours. One went out-of-town to the area which is in development because we wanted to see Bur al-Arab. We did stop in front of the hotel long enough to take a photo. The tours of the hotel were $65 per person to enter the lobby when we were there. We passed, but it probably would have been a very interesting experience. That tour also took us past the indoor ski area and the underwater hotel, both of which are finished now, I believe. We got off that tour bus at the Mercato shopping mall at Jumeirah Beach area where we ate lunch and took a taxi back to our hotel from there.

The other tour we took was in town. It stopped at the museum and also at the gold and spice souks, all of which are must-see experiences. Do not leave Dubai without visiting those three locations. The bus tour for this is hop-on, hop-off so you can spend as much time as you like. About the gold: it is all 18c or purer. It appears orangey because of the high gold content. Take your camera with you and take lots of photos. The gold is near market-value/ounce which means the craftsmanship is free. From the gold souk we walked through a series of alleys to the spice souk. In the gold souk there is no hard sell. You may browse as long as you want without anyone saying anything to do. However, in the spice souk, it's a different story. Everyone will try to sell you something and the spices, dates and nuts are all so beautiful! If you don't want to buy anything, tell them you are going back to Australia. They know the importation laws of every country and understand that it's very difficult to enter Australia with their goods. We bought pastacios and dates, also saffron.

In the alleys between those two souks are the vendors. Here are the real bargains in Dubai. The street market is the place to look for souvenirs and bargain to your heart's content. The vendors will practically give their wares away to you. The men in the market love to bargain with the women. A handy hint is to have a little cheat sheet with currency conversions on it. With this we could quickly convert the Dubai dirham to US currency. Once a vendor sees this little tool, he'll start converting for you. They are very wily with currency exchange. No one will try to cheat you. In fact, they'll help you figure it all out.

None of the people working anywhere are Emiratees. Some are from the Middle East, most are Asian.

This post links to this previous post.

Happy Springtime

Ella Grace and I would like to wish you a very happy spring from the Hill Country of Texas!

Quote of the Day

From Judd Apatow, writer of 40-Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up, his new film which is coming this summer:

College is the reward for surviving high school. Most people have great fun stories from college and nightmare stories from high school.

So true, so true...

Something New to Crowe About

While I know Rusty's not everybody's bottle of beer, he sure suits me. His name on the marquee assures I'll be there. I have seen his entire filmography and even though some of the films were weak, his performance never let me down.

So, here's the news: Russell Crowe is signed to play the "noble" Sheriff of Nottingham in a remake of Robin Hood.
He will take the lead role in Nottingham, a twist on the usual tale featuring the lawman as the hero working for a corrupt king. Crowe's "noble and brave" character will investigate a murder in which outlaw Robin Hood is the main suspect. The film will also feature a love triangle between the Sheriff, Robin Hood and Maid Marion. It's scheduled for release in 2009.

For now, Russell has finished 3 films. Two of the films, American Gangster and 3:10 to Yuma, have fall 2007 release dates. The third film Tenderness is finished but no release date has been announced.

Traveling in Dubai UAE, part 3

As Westerners who traveled in Dubai in May of 2005, my husband and I found out a few details of travel there that I'll share here in part 3:

Dining in Dubai:

Lunch away from the hotel will probably be at a mall or from a street vendor. There are a few other options: Walk inside a tall office building or apartment building and look around the lobby. Often there will be a little restaurant tucked away. These are very good value for money as they're where the locals eat. In an office building lobby, we found a small Asian restaurant where we ordered "hot rocks chicken" on a chance. We liked the service, the cleanliness, the food, and the pricing so much that we came back twice to eat there. The last time we were there, they treated us like regulars!

In the malls there is the standard food court like you see all over the world. The malls are not non-smoking and the food courts can be very smoky as the young Emiratee men love to sit, talk, smoke, and text message in the food halls. There is always a table of men hanging out in every coffee area or food area. By the way, the coffee is delicious.

If you want to have a meal at an exclusive or expensive restaurant, book ahead. Or try to be there for late lunch instead of dinner. We ate a late lunch at Asha's (pictured) with no booking because we wanted to have the experience and it was completely booked every night we were there. I have read both good and poor reviews of Asha's online, but our experience there was wonderful. The sampler platter at Asha's was recommended by the server and it was extraordinary. There is a full bar and a wine list. Asha's is at The Pyramids in Wafi City which is the same mall where you catch the tour buses.

This post links to this previous post.

A Little Time Away

I've been away from my computer, visiting my granddaughter. We went to the park everyday and took long walks too. Such a delightful little girl!

Traveling in Dubai UAE, part 2

As Westerners who traveled in Dubai in May of 2005, my husband and I found out a few details of travel there that I'll share here in part 2:

Lodging in Dubai:

If you are staying at the Burj al Arab in Dubai, then none of the following applies to you. However, if your pocketbook will stretch only to a more conventional stay, here's the best advice I have to offer:

Pick your hotel very carefully. Stay in the 5-star hotels only. To read the rating of a Dubai hotel, take off a star from the rating system you are accustomed to in the West. It doesn't really matter where the hotel is located in terms of whether it's in the city or near the airport or which side of the water. What does matter is the amenities at the hotel. You will spend a lot of time there. Choose your hotel for the room size, the restaurants available at the hotel, the club and bar facilities, and swimming pool and other outdoor facilities. Dubai has no "night-life" in the terms that Westerners are accustomed. There are clubs and bars where you can drink and dance and smooze; all of these are located in hotels. The hotels are spread out across the city so a bar crawl is not a real possibility. Therefore, if night-life is your bag, it's going to be happening most likely at the hotel where you are staying. Likewise, most of your breakfasts and dinner meals will be eaten at your hotel. Check-in at the hotel can be hectic with lots of waiting around for a room. Evidently, hotel service help is difficult to keep. The desk will apologize but it won't get any better during your stay than it was at the start.

There is a Western-style grocery store which is a godsend. After checking into your hotel, catch a cab for Carrefour supermarket. Get lots of bottled water and drinks, mixers and snacks, cheese, etc. for the little frig in the hotel room. Be sure to buy some plastic ware. There is a cab queue outside Carrefour so it's easy to get back to your hotel. There is another popular supermarket called Spinney's, but since we only went to Carrefour, I don't know what the Spinney's experience is like. There are more Spinneys around than Carrefours. We saw another Carrefour in a mall, but I don't remember which one. To get to any location in Dubai, jump in the car and give the name like "Carrefours" or "Spinney's" and the cabbie will drive you straight to the nearest one.

The hotels rock until after midnight so if your room is near the bars or clubs, expect to hear the racket or join in the fun!

This post links to this previous post.

It's a Girl!

Crown Princess Mary of Denmark has given birth to a baby girl. Both baby and mother are doing well. The Crown Prince was in attendance at the birth. When asked how Mary reacted when she understood it was a girl, he said, "Like a mother to a newborn, with motherly love." Here's the official announcement on the Crown Prince Couple's website.

The above photo is Frederick and Mary walking Christian the day before her delivery.

Danish Royal Watchers blog has a photo series of Mary from announcement of her pregnancy to birth.

Biggio Gets Career Third Grand Slam

Against the Milwaukee Brewers, Houston Astro old-timer Craig Biggio hit his first grand slam in 13 years with one out in the ninth and the score tied 2-2. The Astros 6-5 win over the Brew Crew last night extended their winning streak to five. It was Biggio's first grand slam since July 24, 1994, against Pittsburgh. His other came in 1989. The Astros are now 6-1 on the road to start the season.

I Love My iPod!

Me: This iPod has changed my life!

Aussie: This iPod has changed my wife!