Dubai

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.