Posts from — November 2009

The Burg Al Arab hotel. The round disk on the left is a helicopter pad and the the overlook on the right is the night club - which is very tacky looking. This hotel is also famously called The Sail Hotel

Glassware at the fish restaurant at the Burj Al Arab the worlds 7 Star hotel that looks like a sail

Reception counter of the exhibit

1st lounge area

View of exhibit from above

Exhibit

The airplane is slated to go 1.6 Mach and this tag line says it all

Is that a remote control airplane in your truck or you just happy to see me?

Sometype of launcher - anyone? anyone?

Big plane; little plane - this is how they were lined up on the static display

Picture of an exhibit that I really liked - the company was Middle Eastern

A scheiks entourage at Martin Marietta - it was the Scheik of Abi Dhabi that was paying a royal visit

The Scheik's security talking into his little mic

An Arab trying out the pilot seat of this fighter jet

Here is an article on Saudi womens dress. I thought it might be helfpul.

The abaya, the name for the traditional Arabic dress, hides a woman’s figure from the eyes of a man, and therefore, she cannot lead him to sin if she is properly covered. The Abaya is made from cotton, polyester, nylon, wool or silk. There are varying cuts—from a sack-like tent robe, to a flowing a-line, glamorous gown-like covering. Some of the Abayas have embroidery, tassels, beading, sequins, ribbons, lace and other decorative accessories. They can be buttoned, zipped or snapped together, and as long as the neck, wrists and ankles are covered, the abaya is doing its job. The styles and cuts of Arabic dress are as individual as the woman who wears them, and prices range from approximately $20.00 US dollars, to several hundred dollars.The Saudi woman wears the abaya in adherence to her religious practices. The rules for Arabic dress are derived from the Koran, and hadith, or traditions of the Prophet Mohammad. In the Koran, it is written: “…say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and adornments except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, sons and uncles…” (the Koran goes on to list exceptions)  Arabic women from different parts of the world wear various colors of cloth to cover their body, but Saudi women usually wear blackSaudi women wearing their abaya. As you can see these ones are decorated with various stones.

Arab women dress with their stones on their gowns

Sunday night we all went to The Fish Market for dinner. It is a very fresh seafood place but unfortunately wasn’t as good as I remember it when I was there 10 years ago.  We all still managed to have a good time.

Monday was busy at the show BEB my boss was busy in press interviews all day long. We even got on BBC you tube. If you you tube Aerion at Dubai Air Show you will see the BBC interview pop up.

Here are some pictures that I took of my hotel room that night – we were inbetween the airport and downtown Dubai.

I am not a great sunset picture taker but the building to your left is the tallest building in the world. It is called the Berg

I am going to move ahead to Wed. night. Our exec’s had a customer dinner in downtown Dubai at an area that has the world’s largest mall and a manmade pond area that has dining, housing, hotels the Berg etc.  They ate dinner at a place called “The Address” it is supposed to be one of the nicer restaurants in Dubai with excellent food. Brian said oddly enough it wasn’t very expensive. Speaking of money UAE is on the Dirham as it’s currency 1 Dirham is worth approx. .27 cents.  Pricing though things are much the same cost wise in the touristy area as in the US. Alcohol is more expensive.  Because it is an Arab country local non Arabs have to have a liquor liscense to buy alcohol that is taxed at 30% more.  That is why a lot of people will buy their booze at duty free if they are flying into Dubai.  There are NO liquor stores and to buy drinks in hotels can be very expensive per drink because of the taxes.  If you have a liquor liscence as an idividual then the amount of alochol you can buy in a month is a percentage of your annual income.

This is the night time shot of The Address this hotel chain is supposed to be "the place to stay" and be seen.Part of the waterfountain showAnother picture of the watershow - behind it is the Berg

Picture of the Berg at night I could only get part of the buildingWater show in the same complex. It was spectacular.

Great presentation of tomato soup with the spoon hooked onto the bowl

Here is a picture of a Prawn that Drew had for dinner that night

The last day of the show Kim Johnsen with Honeywell invited us to her chalet to have a lunch and watch the airshow from her balcony.  The next series of pictures are of Frances Acrobatic Team.

Going my way

                                                   After we watched the airshow the 4 of us went back to the exhibit to say good bye. The exhibit is a disposable meaning it was getting thrown out after the show. I was the corny one of the group and made everyone sign under the logo and we did a group shot.

Brian Barents Vice Chairman

John Holding formerly of Bombardier where he oversaw 3000 engineers

Brian, John, Claire Drew

Our final good bye to the exhibit

 Brian ends up having a board call so John, Drew and I head out to do a little sightseeing. John hasn’t been to Dubai in over 10 years and we also want to go to the gold market that night to do a little shopping. We take John to see the Burg the sail hotel and then he has the wonderful suggestion to go to the new Atlantis for a sunset drink.  Wonderful idea now I know why John makes the big bucks.  To get to Atlantis we have to drive through Palm Jamera which is the man made island that has housing that looks like a Palm. Oddly enough my friend Kelly who I am spending the weekend with lives in this area so I will write more on that later.  Atlantis hasn’t been opened very long and it is at the end of this island.  As you walk into the hotel there is a big Tullie glass centerpiece.  The lighting isn’t that good in the lobby at sunset and it was so cute to see this mom have her twins in front of it posing for a picture. I wasn’t able to get a good picture of it but here is an idea.

Atlantis hotel

Tuillee glass sculpture - love the twins posing in front.

Floral Centerpiece behind front desk one of the most unusual centers I ever have seen.

Picture from the infinity pool that overlooks the Persian Gulf - there is a monorail that goes the length of Palm Jamera which oddly enough goes right past Kelly's front apartment porch.

Taken from Atlantis across the way is Jamera - look at how many buildings have cranes on top

Still from Atlantis looking to the right is a hotel complex being built. The Fairmon hotel has several management contracts in Dubai on Palm Jamera

 After drinks and of course a snack we off we went to the gold souk.  We all looked at doing a little shopping.  Timing wasn’t on our side because the price of gold has never been higher. Interestingly enough when I was here 10 years ago the gold souk was run by Arabs – today a lot of Pakastanian’s and India was minding the store. The gold here is all 22 and 24 carrot – and that is a lot of carrots from Bugs Bunny’s perspective.  Here is some pictures from the store windows. You will see a lot of the gold is very bright in color and many of these pieces appear “gaudy” to us but very much in alignment in other cultures.

Big Jewelry from the gold souk

Add for a jewlery company - the gold souk is several blocks long and on Fridays it closes from 11 - 4 pm because of Muslim prayer

Sign at the mall

Sky Dubai sledding area

On Saturday we went to the spice market it was in Old Dubai

Sign over a spice shop

Spices

Drew and I spent the day together going to the mall and seeing Ski Dubai – a client of mine Chris did try the skiing and said it was excellent for artifical snow.  They also had several areas that kids could ride the inner tube which I thought was creative that everyone of all ages could enjoy the snow experience. Let’s face it if you never leave the Middle East how would you ever experience snow?  I we did try going back to the gold souk but it was closed for Prayer.  Dubai does business Sunday through Thursday – their Friday, Saturday is our Saturday, Sunday confused?  After I drop Drew off at the airport I go to spend 2 nights with my friend Kelly who used to work for me and her husband and 2 kids.  Kelly’s husband was a pilot in the US and lost his job. He immediately got on the phone and applied with Ethiad Airlines which is the official airline of Abi Dhabi.  Within a couple of months he was accepted and now they live in Dubai. He drives every day to work.  They have a 2 bedroom on Palm Jamera and the beach is right across the street.  Their apartment and life in Dubai is very nice although they do miss their family very much in the states.  Outside Kelly’s balcony the  monorail cuts right through and they are building right across the street.

View ouside Kellys apartment window - you see the monorail tracks. I wll say it is very quiet.

Looking down from her balcony is where the construction workers eat their lunch. As you can imagine because it is so dry it is dusty as can be. The average construction worker earns between $250 an $500 a month USD. I do believe a lot of companies provide housing and food.

Kelly and her 2.5 year old Andrew

Across the 4 lane (2 lanes each way) street is the beaches and the pools that Kelly has access too. Here is the beach; the Persian Gulf which is clear and beautiful. Off to the right is Jamera the shape of the buildings is all so modern. In November it was 85 degrees this day.

Kelly's oldest so Nicholas came out of the wate an had a crab on his butt

This picture looks like an advertsement. The building behind the couple is one of the schiek's palaces.

Another picture of the Schiek's palace one of many

On my last day in Dubai -Kelly, her hubby and Andrew went to the Fairmont on the beach for lunch. Andrew loves the water so much he saw the little pool ripped off his diaper and away he went!

I am closing out this blog with a picture of the sail hotel and it's sister property the wave hotel.

I don’t have much to report here as we spent the majority of the day at the exhibit..well all day.  The show opens on Sunday and today was Friday so time to really get down to work.  For some reason I am totally facinated with all the cranes on top of buildings.  I took this picture while I was waiting for my car and driver this morning.

Cranes outside my hotel

It was such a pretty day I took a picture of the outside of the hotel. Things you do when you are waiting for someone to come pick you up.

Nothing much of interest happened as we worked all day. The exhibit company ordered in pizza from Pizza Hut for the crew. I have to say it is much better in Dubai than in the US…because in the US they cut back on the quality of the cheese whereas they haven’t over here.  The pizza was very late getting to us because in the middle of delivery it was time for the 12 noon prayers – the Muslim’s pray 5 times a day facing Mecca which is actually located in Saudia Arabia. In the middle of delivery was 12n prayers so our driver went to his local mosque to pray and we didn’t get our pizza till 1:00 pm after prayers.  I asked a security guard where is the mosque? And he said they are dotted all over the place.  And when it is time for prayers they in Arabic make announcements on loudspeakers throughout the city.  Scott and I had to go

Today was another fabulous day in Dubai – there are some parts of it that is a total La-La Land.  I went out to the exhibit and worked a chunk of the day.  Scott and I then snuck out early and went with my Honeywell friends on a desert safari.  Basically you get picked up in a Chevy Tahoe and they drive  1 hour to get into the desert where you then go 4 wheeling in the sand dunes…then you go to their camp where they have a bbq dinner/henna painting/bellydancing/hubbly bubbly pipe smoking/camel riding and star gazing.  Overall a really good time. Regitze who is a contractor on Honeywell’s staff just like myself used to live in Dubai and her husband worked for the main DMC.  She called and got us hooked up with the best tour guide.  I forgot his name so I will call him “Sam”. Sam has lived in Dubai his entire adult life and was very interesting with  telling us stories on the drive out to the desert.  Dubai is seriously an incredibly big wonderland. I  would like to come back here and do a 10 day vacation and still barely scratch the service. 

After Sam picks us up we go downtown to pick up one last passenger. Her name is Jenny and she is from Sydney.  Jenny is taking a 4 month sebatical from her job and taking 2 of those months to travel the world visiting friends.  It is here that Sam  showed us a section of downtown Dubai that the Sultan of Brunai and I probably mispelled that has bought.  Just another day at the office buying out a 200 block chunk of a major downtown city. All the shop owners have 2 years to relocate and then he is ripping the place to pieces to build his own town and exclusive shopping.  There are also many school buses on the road. I find these very kool. These busses just were switched to the color of yellow.  It used to be that each “school” had they own color of school buses.  This got to be  too confusing so they switched the busses to one color. The concept is still new in Dubai and very much a novelty amoung the locals.

School bus in Dubai

The main drive that takes you out to the desert preservation  is a 6 line highway because it connects several of the other Emiriates to Dubai.  Sam said that it is much cheaper to live elsewhere and drive into Dubai for work. Just like people who work in New York do.  We drove past the Camel Race Track on the way and Sam told us that years ago people would sell their children ( primarliy people from India) to be camel jockies. The children were ranging from 6 – 12 years old.  Then if the children won their races  people who owned the camels would pay the families more money.  To add to the horror of this these children were too young and were getting killed being camel jockies.  Now this is of course against the law and they use robots and remote controls to ride the camels. It is teenagers from 15 – 18 years old who can and dol jockey the camels during practice only.

We then drove past their big outdoor stadium and there was a cricket match going on – Pakastan against New Zealand…further up the street was Universal Studios under contruction. Sam said when it is done it will cost 2.3 billion dollars.  Because of the economy Universal has put the project on hold although it is probably 30% of the way built…further down the road a big discount outlet shopping that has 40% off which is probably a great deal and the bonus of Dubai is they don’t have any taxes on anything. 

Sam also confirmed what Umesh told us the night before – that when you are issued your papers as a citizen of Dubai you are entitled to free healthcare and when you marry another citizen then you get free housing etc.  It did say it is very difficult to get your residency papers. He is in his early 40’s and still doesn’t have them and he has lived in Dubai the majority of his life.

Also on the drive Sam has  Kim read us the rules and regulations of being on the tour.  The last one is no talking to the women and I forget the formal name  in the black robes.  Another woman even a western woman can approach but under no circumstances can a man.  These Muslim women are not allowed to talk to men at all.  If you are at a mall and you see a woman who is dress in full Muslin robes and you think you might be interested in her then you make eye contact with her.  Then you walk past her again and if she makes eye contact with YOU then you know she might be interested. Next you walk by her again and hand her a piece of paper with your name and phone OR you walk by her and throw the piece of paper on the floor hoping she will pick it up.  A long way to how it is done in the states don’t you think?

Kim on the way out to the desert.

When we get to the desert  Sam has to deflate the tires in order to have traction in the soft desert sand.  While they do this the bring over 3 camels for guests to have their picture taken.  We aren’t allowed to pet the camels just have our picture taken. What struck me the most is how very still camel sit and on their bent knees it has to be uncomfortable.

One Camel, Two Camel, Three Camel

Camel Thoughts ~ It's a job ok?

What amazed is was how soft and fine the sand was in the desert – Scott with Freeman started writing in the sand and taking pictures. I thought it was a good idea an followed suit. My father hasn’t been feeling well so I thought he might enjoy the picture.

Rx for Events

Luv You Dad

Here are a bunch of jeeps driving - it was like being in a jeep rollercoaster. It is very common for people to get sick on the tour Each jeep has several barf bags. They tell you when booking the tour don't eat a heavy lunch before going on the tour.

A Jeep that got stuck - someone came and pulled him out in all of 5 minutes everyone was back on their way. Sam said when someone gets stuck the driver gets teased for the next couple of days.

Here is a picture of a guy in our group taking a picture of the sand dunes. We stopped here to see the sun set before going onto the "camp" site for dinner etc.

Me, Jenny our Australian friend and Regitza.

Jenny took this picture of everyone in our group

The desert preservation is on the border of Dubai and Aman -when we were driving we could see the mountains of Aman.

Desert sunset - it was really pretty I am just not a good enough photographer to capture it.

A bunch of people from our group standing on the hillside watching the sun set

After the sunset we went to the camp and had dinner yada yada. Before we went we sat around and everyone smoked a hubbly bubbly pipe.  It is very smooth and sweet. Our group (but I didn’t) do green apple.  Scott said it was like smoking an air freshner.

Hubbly Bubbly pipes

One the drive home which was an hour back into town no one talked much as we were all very tired for a very fun trip.

This is my story for now and I am sticking to it.

Woke up way to early after very little sleep and pondered the day.  Our room rate includes breakfast which was very nice. Just what you might expect – a nice variety of Turkish foods, Western Foods lots of breads, cereal and fruits.  No one walks away hungry. They have a nice juice bar which I had a couple glasses of fresh mango juice.  The driver picked me up and we went to show site.  Did the ho hum picked up badges, parking passes and then went to take a look at the exhibit for the first time. We built what you call a disposable exhibit meaning it will get tossed after the show.  Scott my Freeman rep and I designed this booth so it is always anxious see what is on paper getting built in real life.  They are doing the final coat of paint and so far so good. Of course there are those “if I had to do again” thoughts that run through my mind on a couple of tweeks I would do over but all and all so far so good.  This afternoon and tomorrow is when we are going to be hanging graphics putting furniture groupings together,plants etc so that is when we will really see it come together.  I will post pictures once it is finally done.  We stayed at the booth for a couple of hours and then there wasn’t a whole lot left to do there.  We did a little grocery shopping and then later afternoon when to Scott’s hotel which is on the beach to catch a couple of rays.  The weather was beautiful we had lunch outside and then went down on the beach.  Scott is staying in New Dubai which is all very new and what amazed us you could look up and down the beach at all the construction that had large cranes on top of the buildings that the construction was stopped. There was a small section of new buildings that had 7 roof cranes sitting still.  You will see some of this in the pictures.  The driver also took us by the famous “sail hotel” this is the only 7 star hotel in the world.  Their seafood restaurant sits underground and they have a restaurant that sits several stories high up over the ocean.  If you want to get into the lobby to “check” it out it costs 60 Euros which is clost to $75 USD.  You have to take a hotel car from a certain point to their lobby you can’t just drive up. I heard hotel rooms here START at $2500 USD.

For dinner I went with Scott, my Honeywell friends and Umesh who owns the company that is building our exhibit. Umesh is from Bombay India and used to be a documentary film maker there who has been nominated in the past for their version of an Academy Award for his filmaking.  The government paid him to make a documentary on Dubai and he loved it so much here he went to work for an advertising agency – he then bought the agency and some of his clients asked him to get involved with their exhibits and hence his exibit division.  Umesh is a super nice guy and we really enjoy the fish restaurant called Pices with him.  He explains a lot of the local culture here in Dubai. Dubai is the most forgiving of all the 7 Emerites.  It used to be Sha Sha (I hope I am writing that correctly) it is the closest to Saudia Arabia but they turned to oil and Dubai recognized the value in tourism and they decided to become more lienent to attract the tourist dollars.  There are no liquor stores here – you have to a resident to buy liquor and you have to have a liscense. If you are muslin you will never get a liscense and the amount of alcohol that you can purchase is based on a % of your income.  So I can’t go to a store and buy a bottle of booze here. That is why they recommend that you buy at the airport in duty free before you leave your home base country.  Also homes are done on a 99 year lease. You will never own a home here especially if you are a foreigner. They don’t want xpats to own land in their country. UK uses this same system.  But they do have laws here that if a UAE citizen marries anothe UAE citizen to keep the culture pure you will be given a nice house from the government along with free taxes, electrical and water as a thank you.  Interesting eh?

Enjoy some pictures from the day.

Day light picture of the pool from my balcony

Picture of new Dubai from my balcony window

Picture of my balcony

Worlds 7 star hotel off to the left is the restaurant that looks out over the water and to the right is a helicopter pad. Rates start at $2500 per night. Their seafood restaurant is under the water.

Dubai - Atlantis hotel like they have in the Bahamas

This was a construction beach community look at all the cranes that aren't moving. This is stopped construction

New Dubai from the beach as you can see it is right there on the beach

Looking another direction here are some cranes at sunset.

Outside Scott's hotel at Sunset

Another sunset picture - I wanted to get some of the Palm Trees in it

Tuck your strap in please!

The above is my story for now and I am sticking to it.

Claire

Arrived in Dubia tonight. It is weird because you loose all of Tuesday flying over. I left Monday night at 8:20 for a 13.43 hour flight and with a 9 hour time change arrive in Dubai 7:30 pm.  The nice thing about landing in Dubai is that you dont have to fill out any pesky customs papers like you do when you land in the US.  I slept about 7 hours on the trip over. We were on a brand new Boeing Triple 7 so each passenger had their own selection of Movies and TV’s that made the trip go a lot faster. There were a lot of movies to choose from. I watched a lot of media.  Once I arrived at our hotel Raffles which is beautiful – I was stunned to see how nice my room was. It has a big bathroom, walkin closet, bed and separate sitting area plus a balcony to sit outside at night. My room overlooks the pool. I went upstairs to the 17 floor for an Asian dinner. It was good not exceptional.  Below are some pictures I took of the day.

The airplane map showing the plane flying over Bagdad

The airplane screen at that time we were close to Bagdad

The airplane showing which direction is Mecca

My hotel room at the Raffles

Bathtub

Phad Thai - at the hotel with homemade rice noodles - it was good

Mecca Pointer in my hotel room located on the desk pointing East towards Mecca. The direction Muslims need to face when praying.

The above is my story for now and I am sticking to it.

Claire

Just finshed up working in one of my favorite places.  This resort just got a new chef who actally did a pretty good job.  The past year they opened up a new lobby area which is actually quite lovely and a relaxing place to go hang out over a glass of wine.  They have a upper scale coffee shop which opens to outside dining with a view of the golf course.  What I found ackward about dinner and the food was good/presentations thoughtful was no bread.  When I sat down and ordered bread should have been dropped immediately but it wasn’t. Evenutally 15 minutes into my sitting there falling into myself they dropped wonton chips and a mayo/soy based dip.  STOP!!! this Asian style snack has no business in the atmosphere and culinary menu of this restaurant.  Lesson I learned is don’t try to do funky and creative when it isn’t in alignment with the atmosphere of the restaurant – design what is appropriate for the restaurant.  What makes a hell of a lot more sense is a great warm bread with a cactus infused olive oil or butter. 

Next I did my monthly morsel about fine dining restaurants and how chef’s tell you in the front side they are flexible but in reality they aren’t.  I had someone write to tell me that clients choose fine dining restaurants because of the quality of the chef’s food and that we as buyers shouldn’t be asking for changes. I said WRONG.  I choose fine dining becuase of food; atmosphere; service and location.  Actually if the service is bad it will get noticed if the atmoshphere is crappy it will get noticed – if I have a good combination of these 2 it is the food that could actually be down a notch or two and no one is really going to notice because the first 2 will cover up for the 3rd. for a buyout people are drinking, talking they will not necessarily notice if the food is down a click or two.

Here are some pictures that I took today.

The above is my story and I am going to stick to it.

Claire

Freeloader in the pool? Who is paying "Ducks" resort fee?

Beautiful Palm Trees

Looking up at palm trees

ME - Nov 2009