Emirates Palace

I posted about the Emirates Palace a year ago when Bert originally came to Abu Dhabi to do a tender. It is one of two seven star hotels here, the other being the Burj al Arab in Dubai. As a surprise Bert booked tickets to see Il Divo at an outdoor part of the Palace and a room for the night to stay there. There was then an issue when the UAE govt, announced three days of mourning for Sheikh Ahmed. We decided to stick with our bookings the way they were and then stay at another hotel in Abu Dhabi the following night for the concert. More on that later.

The hotel was just fabulous. As we drove up to the door valets appeared from everywhere and opened doors and got the luggage out of the car. One asked me our names and he wrote them down. From that point on, every staff member we walked past called us by name. Instead of being ushered to a counter in reception we were seated and offered cold drinks and arabic coffee. I was given a bunch of pink roses. I guess this is where they get their extra stars from, this kind of service.

The Emirates in mourning again

Sheikh Ahmed bin Zayad body was found a few days after he crashed into a lake in Morocco whilst flying a glider. The high respect and affection for the ruling family here in UAE is very impressive. People genuinely love the Sheikhs. It's a bit different to politians at home! 3 days of mourning were announced in response to his death, this means all live music is cancelled, and the radio plays classical music 24 hours a day. Unfortunately this means a bit of chaos and rescheduling is required for our weekend. We have tickets to see Il Divo at the Emirates Palace and had booked to stay overnight. The concert is now on Saturday. Sheikh Ahmed was only 42 and leaves behind a two year old child.

Ooops its been a while

But life got in the way. I have been home to Australia and back. Hear that Mum? I called it home!

My mum asked me once when I was coming home, about two weeks after we had finally moved into our own apartment after living like gypsies for nearly a year, and she thought it was funny that I said what are you talking about I am home.

It was great to see everyone, to chat with friends that don't use computers (yes there are still a few of those people around) to see my daughter, my mum my sister and my dog but it also feels good to be back here in Dubai.

The question on everyones lips is how long are you staying. Bert and I really have never discussed how long we are staying. The plan is to stay as long as we are happy here. If one day we decide we are not happy here anymore, for any reason, we will make plans to return to Australia.

The good part of flying home? I got upgraded to first class from business class. It was lovely.

Summer has arrived.

Since we went returned to the UAE at the end of October the weather has been beautiful. Clear sunny days that were warm but not too hot to be outside enjoying all Dubai has to offer. The evenings were still warm enough to sit outside and be comfortable. Twice we put on a sweater.
The past week or so you can feel its starting to warm up, but yesterday was very hot. Our temperature gauge has an outside probe that is in deep shade on our balcony, it registered yesterdays highest temp at 46.1 It was also windy just to add to the discomfort. Sadly, we know its going to get worse.

The Emirates in mourning

The UAE Mininstry of Presidential affairs has announced the death of Sheikh Mubarak bin Mohammad al Nahyan who passed away on Wednesday. The Ministry announced a three day mourning period which will begin today.

The leaders of this country are highly respected by their people and although three days of mourning doesn't really affect us, apart from the radio stations are playing classical music instead of the usual stuff. For Bert it means extra work as his company cleans mosques so his staff needed to be out there making sure everything was spic and span. Local schools were closed too and as Berts company also cleans them, they use the opportunity to do deep cleaning.

And the sandstorms continues

The last two days have been very unpleasant due to sandstorms. Our home is very well sealed but outside the sand is drifting across highways and making the air thick. We often wonder what life was like here for Emiratis as recently as fifty years ago. Days like this must have been unbearable. I occasionally see elderly Emiratis and wonder what amazing changes they have seen in this country in their lifetime and what they make of it all.

Camels and dust storms

Today we woke up to a really horrible day, it was hotter than it has been in months and blowing a gale. We were meeting a friend at a cafe for brunch and afterwards decided to go for a drive into the desert a bit to get some photos of the sand blowing across the roads. The way the sand moves is really quite extraordinary. Bert is always keen for a trip to take photos with his new digital SLR camera. We came across this herd of camels with several babies by chance. Why do all baby animals, no matter how ugly their parents, look cute?