Crater on the coast of Iran
Construction of waterways in UAE
Mountains over Iran
Coming into Istanbul
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Istanbul - Part II - The trip from the air
Dubai!
Crater on the coast of Iran
Construction of waterways in UAE
Mountains over Iran
Coming into Istanbul
Crater on the coast of Iran
Construction of waterways in UAE
Mountains over Iran
Coming into Istanbul
Istanbul - Part I
We headed off to Istanbul to take advantage of the Eid Al Fitr long weekend in October. It is the public holiday time to mark the end of Ramadan - the month of fasting for Muslims. Four nights in an amazing city! So many people, yet surprisingly clean - and all very friendly. The food was amazing. We expected things to be a little cheaper there - they were surprisingly inline with Aussie prices. There were a few local hideouts in long and skinny alley ways that we managed to find some decent priced meals though.
Our hotel was....interesting.... we changed rooms after the first night for a number of reasons - the most important being that the two single beds were bolted to the floor two metres apart. Not happy with that one. Eventually it sorted out, the new room was a suite and offered views of the Bosphorus. The rooftop also offered some good views.
The city of Istanbul is spread over two continents which we thoughts was pretty cool. Here we were walking along the Bosphorus Straight on the Europe side, looking straight over to the Asia side! Cool! We jump on the public ferry over to Asia and explored that area. It was much more quiet and seemingly less crowded in the streets.
The mosques were amazing, the artwork inside was one of the highlights of the trip. However, THE highlight was the Basilica Cistern built in 532AD. It was used to store water for the Great Palace and the surrounding buildings underneath the town square. It is 65m wide and 143m long, supported by 336 columns arranged in 12 rows. (thanks Lonely Planet!) There are two columns that have upside down Medusa heads at the bottom of them.
(lowlight - 3hr delay at airport getting there, 9hr delay coming back - don't fly Onur Air)
Our hotel was....interesting.... we changed rooms after the first night for a number of reasons - the most important being that the two single beds were bolted to the floor two metres apart. Not happy with that one. Eventually it sorted out, the new room was a suite and offered views of the Bosphorus. The rooftop also offered some good views.
The city of Istanbul is spread over two continents which we thoughts was pretty cool. Here we were walking along the Bosphorus Straight on the Europe side, looking straight over to the Asia side! Cool! We jump on the public ferry over to Asia and explored that area. It was much more quiet and seemingly less crowded in the streets.
The mosques were amazing, the artwork inside was one of the highlights of the trip. However, THE highlight was the Basilica Cistern built in 532AD. It was used to store water for the Great Palace and the surrounding buildings underneath the town square. It is 65m wide and 143m long, supported by 336 columns arranged in 12 rows. (thanks Lonely Planet!) There are two columns that have upside down Medusa heads at the bottom of them.
(lowlight - 3hr delay at airport getting there, 9hr delay coming back - don't fly Onur Air)
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
A trip to Fujeirah
We jumped in our car and decided to drive over to Fujeirah the other day. It is on the East coast of the UAE (Dubai is on the West side - sort of). We passed through the Hajar Mountains and after about 140km we reached the coast. Wow. The scenery was spectacular and one of the best we have seen in Dubai. Wow again. The mountains stretch all the way down to the sea. The Illawarra coast road still craps all over it, but this was still pretty cool! We grabbed some fruit from the roadside stalls on the way through and had a great old time. We then looped around along the coast and came back through the mountains on a different road, through tunnels galore! Anyhoo, the pics tell the story. Enjoy. Oh, and Fujeirah is into all things big in their roundabouts! (clearly)
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Exercising in the park!
This is from the April trip to London.... a blast from the past for us...we thought we should share it with you. This is one of the many wonderful sites of London. Filmed by Winny in Hyde Park - this guy is really showing off his figure and interesting positions.
Finally, a catchup with friends!
The most recent trip away to the big apple was in September. It was the best trip yet!! The plan was to arrive on the Saturday. However, i then learnt that the Monday was a public holiday so it was better to hang back in Dubai to spend the weekend with Winny and head off on the Monday morning.
Anyhoo. I arrived at JFK airport, went through customs. Oh, and customs is a dream - organised and fast. LA is a mess. I checked in at the hotel at about 3PM and then headed down to meet Paulie and Melissa!!! Awesome! They were on holiday break to check out the US Open for a few days. It was great to catch up. We had a fantastic meal and shared some stories It was so nice to see some familiar faces from home - and a great way to have it happen!
It was then work in the showrooms for the next 6 days. Mind you, one of the showrooms is in the Empire State Building which is a bit of a tripout.
Off to London, I had the Sunday all free. I caught up with Amanda and Anthony - they are from the Gong and living over there. Again, it was a real boost to catch up and see some close friends from home. We had yum cha for lunch and talked the afternoon away.
After ten nights away - with two of those in the air, it was nice to finally come home to bed. It was also nice that there are no more long work trips away for the rest of the year! Just overnight regional ones. woo hoo.
Enjoy the pics! :)
Anyhoo. I arrived at JFK airport, went through customs. Oh, and customs is a dream - organised and fast. LA is a mess. I checked in at the hotel at about 3PM and then headed down to meet Paulie and Melissa!!! Awesome! They were on holiday break to check out the US Open for a few days. It was great to catch up. We had a fantastic meal and shared some stories It was so nice to see some familiar faces from home - and a great way to have it happen!
It was then work in the showrooms for the next 6 days. Mind you, one of the showrooms is in the Empire State Building which is a bit of a tripout.
Off to London, I had the Sunday all free. I caught up with Amanda and Anthony - they are from the Gong and living over there. Again, it was a real boost to catch up and see some close friends from home. We had yum cha for lunch and talked the afternoon away.
After ten nights away - with two of those in the air, it was nice to finally come home to bed. It was also nice that there are no more long work trips away for the rest of the year! Just overnight regional ones. woo hoo.
Enjoy the pics! :)
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