Obviously doesn’t stay in Vegas, otherwise nobody would know about it.
Went there for the NBAA Annual Convention & Exhibition, then spent the first two days locked up in my hotel room sick with the flu.
Vegas was all that it was hyped up to be, yet I was a slightly underwhelmed. The majority of the action is only concentrated around a strip of road a few blocks long. Much like Dubai it is a city built in the desert, with some really outlandish architecture. And that’s where the comparison screeches to a sudden stop. The gambling, flowing booze and nightlife set it miles apart. The big hotels slash casinos are fake reproductions of something else, with the exception of the Wynn and the Encore, which I took a particular liking to. Unfortunately most of the pictures I snapped were from the front passenger seat of a moving car, so I couldn’t position myself for a good shot of them.
Vegas is also a draw because of the concerts and staged events. There are household names like David Copperfield, as well as less known but surely entertaining acts:
The real killer was the flight (14 hours to Los Angeles), following which we had to drive for another 5 hours. And vice-versa. At least I console myself with the fact the we flew over the North Pole, always had the sun on one side of the plane, and I walked away with some nice shots.
Today I’ve been up since 5am. Doing chores, laundry, breakfast, battling the cat litter (I won). But first I took these:
It only involved 90 minutes driving around Dubai’s back roads towards Lahbab, trying to get rid of electricity poles, fences, occasional ugly buildings, the wrong side of the road, and so on.
On the way back home I looked up and saw the below frame. So I had to stop and snap it too.
Today I made my first licensed purchase of alcohol in the UAE. Nothing spectacular, just a couple of beers to remind myself what it tastes like. Of course there was someone to (sort of) share it with me.
Don’t get me wrong. Prior to this I wasn’t getting my fill from a shady guy selling bootleg liquor from his pickup. Or doing what all other expats here seem to be doing: drive across the Sharia state of Sharjah to Umm al Quwain’s Barracuda outlet, where alcohol can be bought without a license. I was just relying on the occasional transit through the airport duty free. And the last time I bought beer it was by the two-dozen – it ended up expiring and I had to throw half of it away. That’s how much of a home beer drinker I am.
Japan’s people, economy and reputation are still reeling from the effects of the massive earthquakes, tsunamis and nuclear reactor damage. One would think that there would be some sensitivity when it comes to choice of headlines for the occasion of Dubai ruler’s visit to Japan. Headlines which, before these events, would have been perfectly acceptable. Right?
Wrong.
It baffles the mind. The picture is of the front page of Gulf News May 30th edition. The only justification I can think of, apart from crass stupidity, is that some one was trying to be too smart in the choice of words. But come on, where’s the common sense?
I’m guessing that somebody did get a rap on the head, because the online version of the article had its headline changed. It’s funny how both phrases are attributed to Sheikh Mohammad.
An incomplete look at some interesting characters encountered during the MEBA (Middle East Business Aviation) exhibition. Pronounced like amoeba, just without the “ah” at the start. Rocket science.
The security man who ignored the beeps. Long lines amassed at the entrance, waiting for airport-style searches complete with metal detector gate and x-ray machine, but then the search itself was superficial. While this should have come as a relief, and on some level it did, I also felt that the wait to get in was not justified. Twice the metal detector beeped on my passage – once the security man looked at my name badge, read out my first name, I nodded sheepishly, and he let me in. In retrospect I could have told him that no, it wasn’t me, I just found the card lying around. Then again, maybe not. The other time he just waved me through impatiently.
The magazine distributors who wait like hungry predators, eying their victims as they shuffled to get searched at the aforementioned security entrance, to then pounce on them having not yet finished dressing up. Got to give out those copies before the competition, who would be less than 2 feet away. These would be the same people who arrive first at the show and leave multiple copies of their publications on the as yet unattended booths. I guess somebody has to keep the paper recycling companies in business. Have to remember this when I next receive a pitch for magazine advertising space and get numbers like “guaranteed distribution to all 6,350,002 attendees and exhibitors”.
The cleaner with the intense gaze. Before opening time and every 3 hours or so this cleaner would push his carpet-cleaning gadget around, not bothering to actually cover all the space, just making the rounds dutifully. Passing by our booth he would look up and fix his eyes unabashedly upon me. I could feel them like a subcutaneous itch. His wonder wasn’t subdued after doing the rounds several times. I shouldn’t pump up my self esteem though, I’m sure he was giving the same treatment to everybody else.
The caterer who ate our sweets. We had brought in some give away sweets and left them on our front desk to entice passers-by (event marketing at its finest). One of the catering reps who stocked us with drinks and coffee made it a point to stock up his pockets with our sweets. I guess the sweet is sweeter on the other table. You get the point.
The busy execs with the shade-marked sun-burnt face. I guess they were standing outside at the aircraft static display in the unforgiving sun. They will take home a souvenir, and most likely be pointed at with amusement, but I’m sure they prefer the 27 degree sunshine over the biting cold of Geneva for EBACE (sister show to MEBA held in May, somewhat busier).
The man sleeping behind the exhibit walls. Some background – MEBA is held at the airport expo, like GITEX shopper. They used the entire central hall, but partitioned off half of the east hall. So on one side of the partition high profile companies are peddling their products or services, which could cost millions of whatever currency (if you would be interested in buying a private jet), while on the other side there was this labourer dozing away on a mattress of stand building material waste, who couldn’t care less about the contracts being signed back over his shoulder. I wish I had access to some overhead gantry, from which I could include both imageries in one frame. But I hadn’t, so I didn’t.
The freebie hunters. Commercially worthless, yet no trade show would be complete without them. They roam the aisles looking for the juicier prizes. Even if it’s a petty item like a pen or a keychain, they will pick it up anyway on principle alone. If something is particularly fancy, like a mini-gadget, they will return time and again, hoping not to be recognised while snatching the booty. I’m pretty sure they meet hourly to discuss the action plan and exchange experiences, like which stashes are highly guarded and which should only be given the once-over.
11 o’clock, I arrive at Wild Peeta, the current venue for our book club gatherings. The place is quiet on a Saturday morning, so it is the ideal location to host our sometimes loud and often bizarre discussions. Nominally the meeting kicks off on the hour, but I only see @TDAllonsy, set up behind her mac. “UAE time,” she says with a sigh. I empty my pockets at my seat, a habit I display when my better half is not around to supply carrying capacity in the form of a handbag, and get a coffee.
We catch up, and the others start trickling in – @WajihaSaid, who charged herself with snapping some pictures of the meet. Which of course didn’t stop half of everybody else from later on snatching the camera to try their hand at it. @Theregos, who as always provides the extra incentive in the form of cupcakes. Today it was coffee and walnut. Enough said. @Zooberry, @Shaahima, @Hamna_ (dubbed our resident Niqabi), @Aabo0 and @RupertBu, the man behind the twitter handle of the Sharjah International Book Fair (@ShjIntlBookFair / #shjibf).
Order is brought to the table and we settle down to the business of the day. First on the agenda is discussing the choices made two months back. Previously titles used to be discussed one month after being selected, but people found it hard to find availability in the local stores, so the gap was widened to two months for this purpose.
Next up we discuss each person’s submission for next month’s selection, after which a vote is taken to choose three. Other book clubs might choose just one per meeting, but in our case the idea is to have a wider selection to read from to further encourage reading. Previously four books used to be chosen, but now, to keep true to the “Twit” element of the TwitBookClub, the last book is chosen via online submissions and voting. Current selections can be seen here.
To see the full tweet-by-tweet update on the goings on, you can either lookup @TwitBookClub (the official twitter handle for the club), or search twitter using the hashtag #TwitBookClub to catch other people’s contributions to the conversation. I would have liked to include a snippet here on the post, but I have on this occasion found myself to be technologically impaired. Note to non-Twitter users: the “at” sign @ indicates the twitter handle, or nickname, a person uses on Twitter. The “number” sign, properly known as a hashtag, is used to index certain terms so that one can search tweets containing said terms and keep track of such mentions.
Before closing Rupert briefed us on the upcoming Sharjah International Book Fair (26th Oct – 6th Nov), now in its 29th edition. Previously this used to showcase literature in Arabic only, whereas this year they opened up the scope to include English literature. A number of authors and industry names will be making an appearance in talks or workshops, among them:
Zohra Saed & Sahar Muradi (American Afghan lecturers and authors of “One Story, Thirty Stories”)
Samar Jarrah (author of “Arab voices speak to American Hearts”)
Yasmina Jraisatti (First European based Arabic Literary Agent)
Shelina Janmohammed (Number 1 best selling author of “Love in a Headscarf”)
Other info, date and location details on the site.
People sometimes exclaim on twitter that they didn’t have the time to read any of the selections, usually on the eve of the meeting. It is a misconception that reading the books is compulsory, when in fact it is not. It is desirable of course, as that’s the point of the whole show, but anyone is welcome to come and join the discussion. In the end it is just a gathering of like minded people discussing a common interest.
Unlikely as it may seem the above words were the prelude to the best hotel experience I have ever had.
I booked us a couple of nights at the Atlantis on Palm Jumeirah to satisfy our desperate need for a short holiday, without the hassle of going abroad. Having heard of many people who used it I decided to try booking.com for the reservations, and indeed found very good discounts.
We set off Thursday afternoon, after work, and after the inevitable last-minute packing. In order not to lose time both my wife and I decided to skip the shower at home, so the first thing we did after settling in our room was enjoy a long hot shower each. Later we pondered our dinner options and chose the Kaleidoscope (international buffet), not really knowing what to expect.
It turned out to be a really well-stocked and laid out buffet, and the selection boasted a Maltese dish (which was rabbit stew – no, we didn’t try it). I will not bother to go into lengthy descriptions, I would not do it justice. As is required in such occasions, we decided to take our time and take the small-portion-from-each-course-route.
Half way through the third course I received the fateful phone call from Guest Services. Apparently the leak was originating from our room, but affecting the service areas. Our room was still dry. The lady went on to explain that the whole floor’s water supply had to be shut down until they could fix the leak, and could we please come asap to our room to move our stuff to another room. Before I had time to explain that I had methodically unpacked and used every storage space available in the room, I was politely interrupted and told that we were going to be upgraded to a suite.
The weight of that immediately sank in, but I still didn’t want to let it go without a fight. I thanked her and assured her we would have our things ready within the next 20 minutes. Next I called for the restaurant manager, making a fuss about how we couldn’t continue our meal due to something that was beyond our control. Without raising any protest or trying to sleaze out of it, the man made me pay only for the bottle of wine, and instructed me to call once in the new room to order items for room service delivery (together with our still-unfinished wine) at no extra cost whatsoever – I ended up not paying for any food at all.
We scrambled back to our room, half expecting to find an army of workers waiting by our door, with their arms crossed, tapping their tools impatiently. Relieved that it wasn’t so, we threw everything in our cases in record speed and waited. Ten minutes passed, nothing. I called, they would be there shortly. Another twenty minutes. By this point I’m already putting together another complaint, about how we could have easily finished the meal and what was the rush. Then the porter came, took our bags and grinning said, “you’ll like your new room.”
And was he right. Big living room, big bedroom, 2 TVs (one in each of the mentioned rooms), huge bath, shower, walk in closet, smaller closet, 2 toilets, big balcony, wonderful views. I had to play the video-camera-tourist this time, so you can see for yourself:
From our balcony we could see the big aquarium, and it’s a truly memorable sight, at night seeing those fish and rays swimming in the back-lit water.
Atlantis aquarium
The aquarium doesn’t look too big from above, but to have an idea here’s the aquarium from the Ambassador Lagoon viewing gallery (which now costs AED 25 to access):
Ambassador Lagoon
View down the Palm
It had finally happened, we could no longer pout that the we were always unlucky in these sorts of events. We spent the following day at the Aquaventure water park, and still flush with the excitement of “it happened to us” we decided to take it a step further and booked a slot to swim with the dolphins.
My god what an experience! It felt like the fulfillment of a dream I didn’t know I had. Together with a another group of 3 we spent 30 minutes swimming, hugging, kissing, stroking, dancing, and being pulled through the water (with the dolphin of course – her name was Alice). It is highly recommended. Forget the cost, where / when will such an opportunity present itself again?
Last Friday marked my first year in Dubai. It was (still is) a fantastic journey, along which I learned the importance of: understanding different cultures, deodorants, starting a blog from arrival not after twelve months. Oh well.
Welcome to the Mute Herald, the channel of choice for ramblings about varying topics: life as it hits me, pathetic attempts at fighting back, general Dubai miscellania (being my current abode), and other completely random musings. I sincerely wish your visits to be informative and / or of great entertainment, failing which feel free to deride me in your blog.
