More chocolate in my tummy then on the strawberries

Tuxedo Strawberries

Since I have some have time on my hands at the moment to experiment with cooking, I have noticed Aidan belly getting plump. I have wondered if there’s any correlation between the two.

I was talking to our neighbours and they were experimenting and distributing faux jewel and pendant encrusted chocolates to local restaurateurs and department stores. The response they received was positive but they were taken aback when requests were made for the chocolates to be encrusted with genuine diamond pendants. I have said it before and will say it again, there’s now such thing as over the top here!


After being inspired by our neighbours story, I refuse to serve Aidan expensive confectionary but the least I can do is make the confectionary look smart. In the process of dipping the strawberries in chocolate I think more time was spent licking the chocolate off my fingers then worry about getting it onto the strawberries.

This dessert will increase Aidan’s intake of fruit if nothing else. Enjoy!

It's just a small party in the neighbourhood

Yesterday when we were going for a walk around the neighbourhood we noticed the villa down the street were setting up some serious looking stage lighting in front of the place. There were lots of outside lounges/seating being setup around the yard. Hmmm.....we figured they were going to pretty big measures for a party but then we remembered which part of the world we were in.

Last night when we heard music coming from outside and thought it could only be one thing, it must be the party they were setting up for yesterday and we were right, only we had underestimated the size of the party. As we got closer we estimated there were probably 50
cars parked out the front and they weren't just your ordinary sedans, there were some pretty pricey cars. And we saw what the stage lighting was for, a live band playing and a light show was being shone onto the front of the cream coloured villa (remember a villa in this part of the world equates to a small mansion back home).

To show you there’s no such thing as “over the top” around here, there were doormen/security guards at the front gate and to finish it off nicely were poles with red velvet ropes on either side of the drive way to guide you to the front gate.

This is quite similar to “Sweet 16” on MTV. It’s a TV show showing the extents wealthy families go to celebrate their daughters 16 birthdays - from buying expensive cars as gifts before their daughter have a driving license to hiring famous singers to perform at the party.

I’m sure the only reason why we didn’t get an invitation was because it got lost in the mail.

Welcome to the sandy part of the world.

How often do you do some dusting around your place? Once every couple of weeks at most? Well as we soon discovered after moving to this part of the world, approximately 3 months worth of dust accumulates easily within 1 week - we kid you not!

Because of the sand, windows are kept closed most of the time and use a lot of air conditioning to ensure you don’t roast in the desert heat. So you move the dust around but isn’t removed from the house unless vacuumed. The sand here is not like the beach we all knew growing up next to the beach. Beach sand grains are much coarser then desert sand. We aren’t geologists but this is our arm chair geologists’ theory:

Beach sand - Sand grains are bigger because the sand comes from sandstones/rocks in the area being eroded by waves. This erosion has happened more recent, so less wear and tear on the sand grains – hence more coarse and big.

Desert sand - These sand grains are noticeably much finer due to being constantly blown and moved around the desert over hundreds of years – lots of wear and tear from brushing against each other.

If you know a thing or two about geology and our theory is a complete work of fiction, well keep it quiet because it sounds very scientific anyway!

The roads around the area we live haven’t been sealed yet and a lot of houses are under construction so on a windy day, even the slightest breath of wind will whip up the sand. So once a week we do a major dusting and vacuum to get rid of all the tumble weeds of dusts gathering in every corner.

We experienced our first significant sandstorm of the season the other day. That morning we headed out, leaving a few windows slightly open to allow air flow – boy was that an understatement. While driving around we couldn’t see much further then a few hundred meters down the road because there was so much sand being blown around. If you usually navigate according to landmarks then that day you would have gotten so lost even using a GPS wouldn't help. Because the sand in the air was so thick, it total blocked out building in a familiar landscape and thick blankets of sand would dance across the roads as you drove.


In the afternoon when we returned home, to our amazement there was more sand inside the apartment then outside! The heart breaking point was Quyen did the cleaning and dusting the day before and now the lounge room looked like a sandbox. We needed professional help to relocate the sand out of our apartment and back into the desert, so we called in a cleaner to get the place looking spic and span - within 3 hours the job was complete.

Lesson – Do not have the windows open unless you’re at home to close them incase a sandstorm whips up unexpectedly.

Hello from Oman!

We took a border run on Friday to get Quyen's passport restamped for another 60 days. Her residency will be through by mid next week. However, that's the same time as the old visitor visa expired. So, we headed to Oman! A whole 150km away. It was a beautiful drive through sand dunes, amazing mountains and the most breathtaking scenary.

We got plenty of pics and at one point were driving up to the top of the mountain range when we came across about six camels on the roadway. It was a great experience. We stopped the car and watched them for a while. Mind you, we didn't have a choice as they were blocking the narrow road with a cliff on one side and a border fence on the other. this place was about 30km off the main road and is the border of Oman and the UAE. The Emirate of Dubai stretches up to the border from the coast.

Enjoy the pics!

Britney Spears' undies

I scan through the Aussie news each day and when I see an article on the NSW election update reading:

"Treasurer Michael Costa spent 20 minutes this morning explaining why the national accounts figures aren't relevant to whether or not NSW is in recession, but managed to spice things up with a mention of Britney Spears' undies."

it reminds me of why I made my decision to take me off the electoral roll when I left Australia.

Onya Michael Costa!

Shaks meets U2

Picture this scene... oh you don't have to coz you have a video to play!

This was taken while I was driving home along Sheikh Zayed Road (aka Shaks) this afternoon. I had the sunroof open, 6 lane freeway with all cars doing 120kmh and aiming for home. The song - U2,Vertigo! So apt, I had to capture the moment and share it with you. This strip of buildings is about one third of the tall buildings in this strip. I will get another video further down the track when the sun is up.

Post comments to request the background song and I will see what I can do.

UAE Male & Female Dress

Fashion in Dubai

Fashion in Dubai Though the locals (Emiratis) are expected to dress a certain way by their community, it is accepted by the Emiratis that expats have their way of dress too. But long term expats do respect the conservative dress code and don’t wear singlets or shorts in public unless at the beach or at popular shopping centres where it’s accepted from tourists and expats.

In Islam, men are obliged to cover from their navels to their knees. Whereas Islamic women are to cover all their body except what is essential - hands and face. These rules are still adhered to in large parts of the Muslim world. In more secular Muslim countries like Turkey, Iraq, and Egypt, many women are choosing to wear the hijab, burqa, niqab etc. as an act of defiance against the secularisation of society, but also because of the widespread growth of the Islamic revival in those areas.

The main religion here is Islam and Emiratis are easily distinguished:

- Men wear white head wraps and full length white gowns.
- Most women wear a full length black gown, and a black head scarf revealing the face.
- A portion of women wear head wraps only showing the eyes.
- A small portion of women wear head wraps fully covering their face with black gauze across the eyes.
- There is the rare occasion when you will see women from a certain sect wear head wraps showing the face but there is are gold metal strips cross the mouth and around the eyes.

For local men the fashion accessories to go with the white head wraps and gowns are sandels accompanied by a hands-free ear piece for your mobile as you strut your stuff down the mall.




Women do wear regular clothes beneath the full length black gowns. Since only their face and hands are allowed to be seen at most, the local women do their best with what they are able to express themselves with in public. They tend to wear a lot of eye make up to accentuate their features, wear hand jewellery - bracelets and rings, buy exclusive brand and highly ornate hand bags and wear platform and high heel shoes. So it’s still funny to see women fully covered only revealing their eyes yet wearing platform shoes and a Louis Vuiton handbag.



Though there is the odd expat who think just because they’re in a different country no one knows their age, hence they can dress way younger then they really are and it’s not very easy on the eyes my friends!

Shopping Centres

Girls, is there such a thing as too much shopping?

The United Arab Emirates is famous for its crazy love of shopping. Most if not all shops are opened from 10am til 10pm 7 days a week….keen for a taste of that gals? Just be cautious that girls have gotten sick from too much shopping, Quyen can vouch for that after our ten hour stint at IKEA setting up the apartment!

Two shopping malls stand out, Mall of the Emirates and Ibn Battuta Mall. Mall of the Emirates shopping centre is well known due to Ski Dubai inside, the first indoor ski resort in the Middle East. You can either keep an eye on the kids through the glass walls but don’t worry if you want to go in but were only dressed for a little shopping because:

- Rental of equipment and clothing included in the ticket price.
- Ski Dubai is the equivalent to 3 football fields of snow.
- The ski field is 85 meters high (approximately 25 stories) and 80 meters wide.
- 5 different runs of varying difficulty and length, longest run is 400 meters.
- Full capacity of 1500 people.
- Quad chairlift, tow lift and flying carpets.
- Snow School instructors.
- Rental of equipment and clothing included in the ticket price.

Ibn Battuta shopping centre would have to be one of Mall of the Emirates major rivals. The architecture of this mall is based on the travels of 14th century explorer Ibn Battuta. Shops in the mall are located throughout six courts, each reflecting the culture and architecture of the six regions he visited: China, India, Persia, Egypt, Tunisia and Andalusia. Only one tip when you go shopping here, take note of where you parked the car and which entrance you walked into – otherwise you will never be able to find our way out again, I kid you not!

Flying over Canada

This is video from the window of the plane of the snow on what looks to be the farms over North-Eastern Canada. Courtesy of my Nokia phone. Yes, I know... mobiles should be switched off...

It might be boring for you... but, hey, i was excited!

Empire State Building

I have decided to devote a special post to the ESB alone. Here are a few pics from the top. Well, level 86 of about 104- almost the top.

Enjoy the pics :)

New York, New York

I had my first trip to New York last week and what a great trip it was...!! First to NY and first to the US!

The journey started with an Emirates driver collecting me from my place. Checking in was a breeze, since I had the luxury of flying business class. woo hoo. Arriving 14 hours later in NY, I stepped off the plane, PROMPTLY put my jumper, jacket and scarf on (i felt like that dude out of Cool Runnings) and heading to the customs processing area. The procedure was relatively quick here and involved finger print scanning, passport stamping and a portrait photo of me - for reasons that are obvious... hmmm...

Once through customs, I looked for the board with my name and there it was, along with my checked in luggage that had already been fetched off the belt for me. Man, I didn't have to do squat.

I arrived in New York on the Monday - which was actually President's Day (public holiday) allowing me about 6hrs of site seeing.

The first thing that struck me, besides the C-O-L-D, was the ice everywhere! It was awesome!! It snowed about 5 days beforehand so the ice was rock hard and very slippery. It was a really cool site - particularly walking through Cental Park, and along streets suck as 42nd Avenue, 5th Avenue, Times Square and other iconic streets. I went up the Empire State Building in search of King Kong. I couldn't find him but did find the most fantastic 360deg view of NY! It rocked. I could see all of the building you hear that NY is famous for - including Trump Tower, Chrysler Building, Times Square, Rockerfeller Centre, Madison Square Gardens, among others. Don't ask me why I listed Trump Tower first. Crap it was cold. like, rediculously bone biting cold.

I was keen to walk down the stairs to street level just coz I felt like it. I got as far as a sign that said 'Level 84, no re-entry'. Another 15 levels and the photo would have been better. I had come all the way from level 86 and had to turn back.

Grabbing the lift... sorry.... elevator... down to 350 5th Avenue onto street level, I continued back on to the hotel and had a little nanna nap before heading out for a bite to eat.

Most of the next four days were business and very little pleasure. Although I did eat at New York's version of the Buddha Bar on the Wednesday night which was fantastic!

Arriving at the airport at 11:45pm on Friday night I was peeved to say the least that my Business class seat from New York to Dubai was overbooked. However I was soon calmed and happier after being offered a complimentary upgrade to First class. I eventually accepted. BLOODY OATH I ACCEPTED!!! WOO HOO!! It was nuts. The menu was crazy nuts - including Iranian caviar, Dom Perignon, 1980's wine, free pyjamas, slippers, dressing gown, blanket and the most rediculously over the top toiletry kit I have ever seen - it was leather, and had a gold plated toothbrush and shaver, calvin klein after shave and the usual other stuff. It's a 14 hour flight for pete's sake.

All in all, New York rocked. The trip was tiring but I was fortunate to be able to walk to all of the places i needed to, taking me along Fifth Avenue, past Times Square every day. The final meeting was in the Empire State Building which was pretty cool.

So, that's NY! Enjoy the pics. These are the best I had and are a mixture of Nokia and Pentax pics.

I would place more on Flickr but I can't as Flickr is still blocked in this part of the world.

Waste collection

A UAE twist to the good old

Otto garbage bins back home!

Dubai might the shopping mecca of the Middle East but it ain’t so flash for waste collection.

If you live in a multistory apartment building then you have it quite easy when it comes to garbage disposal. There are garbage disposal shoots on each level that lead to waste skips at the base. Complications can arise when it comes to Ramadan.

The word Ramadan is derived from the word ramd - "to burn". For Muslims, the entire month is spent fasting from dawn to dusk. Fasting during this month is often thought to figuratively burn away all sins.

So what connections do waste collection and Ramadan have I hear you say. Well in some apartment buildings the waste was not collected as often during 2006 Ramadan and garbage in the waste shoots can back up several floors….not good for the nose I dare say! But everything returned to normal once Ramadan was over thank goodness.

Back in Australia individual villas and houses have their own garbage bins not in Dubai. There is no house to house garbage collection, in place of this system are waste skips placed approximately every 50 meters along a residential street. So when your kitchen garbage bins fills up, you take a little trip outside to throw your little plastic garbage bag into the big waste skip. Back home you could duck outside out your jim-jams (PJ’s) if you were a little lazy at times but there’s no chance of that here, unless you’re fine to parade your sleepwear in plane view of the neighbours!

Luckily down our end of the villa complex there are only houses on one side of the street, so there’s plenty of room for garbage in the skip. But up the other end there are houses and villas on both sides of the street and that skip gets full pretty early in the week. So it’s a buggery when the skips get pretty full and you’re trying to figure out how you’re going to get big bag of rubbish into the skip without having to physically touch anything.

You will notice in the background there are a lot of construction cranes. 15% of the cranes in the world can be found in Dubai, there’s just an enormous amount of growth going on here at the moment.