Been getting some complaints that my RSS feed hasn't been working right and today was the day that I actually took a look at the thing. As it turns out the problem was that most RSS readers didn't like the way I was formatting the item publish date elements - the nerve. Anyway, tested it with Net Vibes and it seems to be working now. Mahlo.
A friend of a friend was in town late last week for a 24 stopover on his way from Vancouver to Uganda, so he asked if we could show him around the desert a little bit. Being the gracious hosts we are we obliged, and on Thursday I took him out to Big Red, which is a series of giant Ontario-ski-slope-sized dunes about half an hour east of Dubai. There, in 44 degree desert heat we donned black motorcycle helmets and took out some quad-bikes (his idea, not mine). Big red is massive, and steep, and a helluvalot of fun to charge down in top gear. We only lasted an hour in that heat, but come cooler weather methinks I'll be spending a lot of time there.
Second time in the ocean in as many weeks. The weather may be getting nice, but the water in the gulf is still somewhere between a nice cup o' tea and a hot tub ... not exactly condusive for swimming. Hopefully next weekend we can head over to Fujairah, I'm sure the Indian Ocean will be noticibly cooler.
To commemorate their 5th year anniversary, the good people at TimeOut Dubai decided to throw a little soiree, and in typical Dubai style this meant hosting a free-admission party at Apartment Lounge with none other than DJ Darren Emerson (formerly of Underworld fame) as the main event. Yep, he was there, and yep, I got to meet him. One of the perks about living here is that whenever there's a big name in town they don't tend to hide away as they do in the real world, so it's easy to just go up and chat. I'm normally not a star-struck kind of person, but I make a big exception when it comes to Underworld band members. Darren was with the group through all of their glory years, from Dubnobasswithmyheadman through Born Slippy and Second Toughest to Beaucoup Fish, so really during the entire time that they were good. Well, that's not entirely fair, A Hundred Days Off which Rick Smith and Karl Hyde wrote after Darren Emerson left was okay, but to be honest I always thought the remixes other artists did for the singles off that disc were much stronger than the originals. Wow, now I'm off on a major tangent ... did I mention that I met DARREN EMERSON???
Today while reading Secret Dubai, one of my favorite sources for real news and commentary about life in Dubai unfiltered by the usual censorship and general fear-of-offending-anyone nonsense, I noticed something a little disturbing - the number of hostile comments presumably submitted to the author which are on display in the 'Reader Recommendations' section on his front page.
This is a blog that typically covers issues like the randomness of various labour and traffic laws, Etisalat's "fair and balanced" censorship policies, and other similar-calibre issues. Though these may not always paint the UAE in the glossiest PR shine presented by the local media, they're for the most part simply reporting the facts and a far cry from an attempt to mock or undermine the UAE, as some of the reader comments would seem to suggest. No wonder it's Secret Dubai.
It's not exactly as any of this comes as revelation to me, it's just another little reminder that with my name plastered all over this blog this is about as controversial as it's gonna get around here.
This is a blog that typically covers issues like the randomness of various labour and traffic laws, Etisalat's "fair and balanced" censorship policies, and other similar-calibre issues. Though these may not always paint the UAE in the glossiest PR shine presented by the local media, they're for the most part simply reporting the facts and a far cry from an attempt to mock or undermine the UAE, as some of the reader comments would seem to suggest. No wonder it's Secret Dubai.
It's not exactly as any of this comes as revelation to me, it's just another little reminder that with my name plastered all over this blog this is about as controversial as it's gonna get around here.
"State of Emergency", shot by Steven Meisel, teaches us the important lesson that you can still get detained at the airport, even if you're really really fabulously good-looking. Whew ... that's a weight off me mind.
A flash slideshow with all the pics is available on their website.
A flash slideshow with all the pics is available on their website.
a 2 Ton (4500 Lbs US), 3.5 M by 3.1 M by 4 M mobile 2000 watt steel and aluminuim horn sound system, all powered from a commercial 12" speaker driver. It functions as a mobile audio input station whereby people can plug-in in order to project content a distance of 1 km, designed to be the ultimate monophonic sound projector intended to catalyze social activities in multiple settings.
Sure, if by 'catalyze social activities' you mean disturb your neighbors and throw down kick ass parties. Massive.
Call me crazy, but I thought it'd be nice to have a bit of a break from the searing summer heat and go someplace, erm, temperate. As it turned out, that place was Scandinavia. After a grueling flight on a budget Turkish Airlines 737 and an even more grueling 5 hour stopover in Istanbul (Attaturk International Airport is a bit of an armpit) Christine an I arrived in Stockholm on Sunday Aug 20th. Sweden was great even before we landed. First impressions - lots of green, tons of trees (the airport is in the middle of a lush forest), big white clouds, and even this crazy thing they have called rain. I can't tell you how alien the landscape looked - guess that's what happens when you live in sandland.
Stockholm is easily the best city in the world, the downtown is situated on something like 14 different islands and most of the buildings have kept their original historical facades. You can walk everywhere - another thing sadly lacking in the car culture that is Dubai - and in the Swedish Ikea tradition the entire city is impeccably stylish and well designed. Case in point, the hotel where we stayed, called the Nordic Light, had a runway fashion show in it's lobby our first night there to kick off Stockholm Fashion Week. But what was most memorable though was the people ... yes, okay, the rumours are true about the blondes, but that's actually not what I'm talking about here ... everybody there just seemed so content and calm. You can tell that quality of life is a major focus there, and consequently everybody just seems happy, another far cry from the bustle of Dubai, or even Toronto for that matter.
After six days of wandering the city, taking in some of the sites (the modern art gallery is fantastic), and doing a bit of shopping we took a short flight to Oslo and from there drove up into the Norwegian Fjords. I've always thought the Rockies were impressive, but I think the western Fjords just might have the trump card on that one. Big, dramatic cliffs surrounded by water dotted by 500 year old farms impossibly perched wherever the land is flat enough. It's an amazingly tranquil place to be. Rather than heading all the way to Bergen we ended up using the village of Flam as a base and then venturing into the nearby towns of Aurland, Gjorvan, Myrdal, and Gudvangen. Sadly we only had three days to try to take in all of the scenery, the weather didn't permit us to go kayaking but we did at least manage to hike up to one of the peaks with a fantastic view of the Sognefjord 1200m below. Norway's definitely a place I will go back to, next time I think I'll fly directly to Bergen and give myself at least a week to drive up to the northern fjords - apparently the scenery just gets better.
So then here I find myself back in Dubai. Getting away has given me a bit of perspective on this place and life here seems just a little nicer. Plus in the two weeks we were away the sting seems to be out of the summer heat and it's actually tolerable to wander around outside in the middle of the day. Methinks it's it'll be time soon to hit the beaches and hopefully catch some surf. Mahalo.
Stockholm is easily the best city in the world, the downtown is situated on something like 14 different islands and most of the buildings have kept their original historical facades. You can walk everywhere - another thing sadly lacking in the car culture that is Dubai - and in the Swedish Ikea tradition the entire city is impeccably stylish and well designed. Case in point, the hotel where we stayed, called the Nordic Light, had a runway fashion show in it's lobby our first night there to kick off Stockholm Fashion Week. But what was most memorable though was the people ... yes, okay, the rumours are true about the blondes, but that's actually not what I'm talking about here ... everybody there just seemed so content and calm. You can tell that quality of life is a major focus there, and consequently everybody just seems happy, another far cry from the bustle of Dubai, or even Toronto for that matter.
After six days of wandering the city, taking in some of the sites (the modern art gallery is fantastic), and doing a bit of shopping we took a short flight to Oslo and from there drove up into the Norwegian Fjords. I've always thought the Rockies were impressive, but I think the western Fjords just might have the trump card on that one. Big, dramatic cliffs surrounded by water dotted by 500 year old farms impossibly perched wherever the land is flat enough. It's an amazingly tranquil place to be. Rather than heading all the way to Bergen we ended up using the village of Flam as a base and then venturing into the nearby towns of Aurland, Gjorvan, Myrdal, and Gudvangen. Sadly we only had three days to try to take in all of the scenery, the weather didn't permit us to go kayaking but we did at least manage to hike up to one of the peaks with a fantastic view of the Sognefjord 1200m below. Norway's definitely a place I will go back to, next time I think I'll fly directly to Bergen and give myself at least a week to drive up to the northern fjords - apparently the scenery just gets better.
So then here I find myself back in Dubai. Getting away has given me a bit of perspective on this place and life here seems just a little nicer. Plus in the two weeks we were away the sting seems to be out of the summer heat and it's actually tolerable to wander around outside in the middle of the day. Methinks it's it'll be time soon to hit the beaches and hopefully catch some surf. Mahalo.
- Stockholm is the most stylish, well-designed city on the planet.
- The food in Norway is even worse than you think. Would you like extra sour cream in your mutton and cabbage soup?
- All airplane seats are not created equal.
- I will buy a cabin on the Sjoene-Fjord to use for summer vacations and winter backcountry snowboarding trips.
- Stockholm. 6 foot blondes. Everywhere.
- In Sweden, bars do NOT play music of any sort. No matter what anyone tells you, you have to go to a club.
- J Lindeburg makes great suits that fit 6'4" mutants like me off the rack.
- Istanbul's Attaturk Interational Airport stinks.
- I don't miss Dubai's 35 degree plus heat.
- HSBC Bank is more useful that I once thought, there's an Advantage lounge in Istanbul airport that's free for HSBC 'status' account holders. Thank you , HSBC, for those free triple scotches I kept grabbing at your open bar, you made a five hour stopover just that little bit nicer.