Long weekend in Dubai

KAUST is truly multicultural

I was invited to a student’s birthday. It happened at Discovery Square with all of us gathered around a few plastic outdoor tables. One of the students baked a chocolate cake and with about 15 other students standing around, we sang Happy Birthday three times, each time in a different language and would have done a forth but the student pleaded that he could not sing very well. I have heard that there are 81 different nationalities here and that is no doubt out of date by now.


Well, I made it back to Dubai

When we left Dubai at the beginning of summer 2008, I NEVER would have dreamed that I would return so soon. I took three days off and added a weekend to make the trip five days. I stayed at the McLaren’s place – good Canadian friends from my old college and traveled out from their home to meet as many people as possible. The five days went by in a blur and I am still feeling the warm fuzzies from the experience.


I arrived on Wednesday afternoon after catching the 9 am flight. There were three of us traveling to Dubai and we met up intending to share the cost of the taxi, which is over US $110 return! Crazy, when you think that I can get a flight to Sharjah (right next door to Dubai) if I timed it right, for $60 return (less taxes). One of the risks we take when we book privately with some of the people who work around here and have cars, is that something will go wrong, and you know all about Murphy’s Law… Well, the three of us gathered at 6 am, and the taxi guy did not turn up. We called and he ‘said’ he had got into an accident right then and could not come – we were not sure if we believed him, but one thing for sure, we would not use the same guy again! We called the official taxi number and were able to get to the airport on time – with just a little bit of sweating!
Zak McLaren picked me up from the airport and I spent the balance of the work day at my old place of work, Dubai Women’s College. It was nice to see everyone – so nice that I returned the next day and spent it there as well. That first afternoon was spent presenting the KAUST eLearning solution (Blackboard) to my old colleagues as they might be upgrading to what we have.

On the way home from college that first day, Zak dropped me off at the Dubai Financial Center where I attended a short introductory training session on currency trading (FX Trading). I caught the Dubai Metro for the first time, and traveled to the Mall of the Emirates where Zak came to meet me and take me back to his place. The Metro is the smoothest ‘LRT’ that I have ever traveled on – too bad it was at night as I would have liked to watch where I was traveling and the lights on inside made for poor viewing of what we were passing.  In the photo to the right, the shell shaped building is the Metro station, the walk way over the road is for pedestrians and the Metro line is seen on single posts on the far left of the image.  The image was taken at 'Defense Roundabout' looking towards Abu Dhabi.

This image is of one of the 'futuristic' buildings that were splashed all over the media in the heyday of Dubai's building boom.  I did not see ANY of the other fantastic buildings that were featured as they have all been put on hold it seems -- quietly shelved as it were.  This building is twisted 90 degrees.  Cool eh?


Meeting Friends

Friday morning Zak took me to the Dubai Mall area which is a huge multiuse complex with many apartments. This is where I met for our Friday morning meeting. Lloyd K. and Jason R. were with us and later, they took me along to a goodbye lunch for Daren and Alarna who were leaving Dubai, and while at lunch I learned that Lee and Donna are also leaving. Lloyd took me to see the aquarium at the mall. He showed me, if I stood just right and looked where one of the joints in the 25+ foot tall pane of glass, that you could see that it was just about a foot thick at the bottom. About a week before I arrived there was a major leak at one of the corners and it flooded the mall – the aquarium is on the second floor… When questioned later about this by some people, security denied that there ever was a leak! Many people have video of the event and it made it to the news (remember this point).

Lloyd then took me along with them to their batch in Sharjah and on the way we talked about the Burj Khalifa (used to be called Burj Dubai but with funding from Abu Dhabi it was renamed to indicate where the funds came from). Lloyd pointed out to me while we were still in the main part of the Mall, and were walking by the base of the tower where the elevators are to take people up to the observation deck on the 124th floor of the tower, that the attraction was shut down. ‘Officially’ on the web site it gives this reason “Please be advised that online tickets to At the Top are temporarily on hold due to maintenance at the attraction. We apologize for any inconvenience. Burj Khalifa Management” Lloyd had purchased some tickets a few weeks ago for some folks who were passing through town and that day or the next, there was reported a fire on one of the lifts while people were traveling. He went back to collect his money as is recorded that others did on this site, and when he asked about the fire, he was told emphatically that there was nothing of the sort and that it was shut down for regular maintenance… Dubai is not known for subtlety in their ‘spin’ managing which probably is the cause for it to be one of the most fertile places for rumor that I have ever experienced.
I got side tracked there… Still traveling with Lloyd and Jason, I went to their batch and had a short rest while they prepared for a G. meeting in Sharjah – where I met many more who still remain in the UAE from our time. We had a meal with Charles and Hanna at their place and those who stayed a bit late. Especially nice was the time I spent with Jugen who drove me back to Zak’s place.


The next day we did a bit of shopping as I needed to get some new shirts. I found it interesting that with all the building that was happening around Dubai at its height many foundation holes that were dug while we were living there are still just holes. Another thing I found different was that the parking lots attached to the malls were half empty while before, it was a real struggle to find a parking place, now they even have part of the place cordoned off for repairs/alterations and there are spots to spare.
My time with Zak and family was definitely one of the many highlights of my trip. It was really nice to see their children and know that they are SOOOO looking forward to seeing Garnet when he comes. Garnet has an open invitation to come and stay at their place at any time! I am sure that he will attempt to push his luck on that one for sure!
On my way to the airport for my departure, I again traveled via the Metro train as it rides right over any traffic that might be on the roads at that time. Thirty minutes got me to the airport and an additional 5 from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3 where my Saudi Airlines flight departed from. On the Metro, I listening to the names of the stations in both English and Arabic. Some of the locations I know but have not heard in Arabic before. I think it would not be too long before I could parrot “Please stand clear of the door” in Arabic.
I wanted to walk between Terminal 1 and Terminal 3 as Zak said it was not too far, so asked a number of people as well as the information desk but no one would tell me, they all pointed the white shuttle busses. So I gave up and went on a shuttle. Just another 'Car' culture!
Point of interest: Zak and family say that they often see our old Land Rover at the kids’ school. I guess the new owner has not yet reached the point where the cost of repair exceeds the value of the vehicle like we did…. 8-/


Always more firsts.

Today when I got home from work, while making pasta, washing a load of new clothes, listening to some nice soft guitar acoustic music, I got a special joy to be ironing, for the first time, a brand new shirt that ‘I’ purchased.
And the first meeting of the dragon boat club, where we gathered to choose officers and I became President. Now is the challenge to get as many names of those interested in the sport as possible. I have heard from those who did a preliminary survey for KAUST of potential sports, that Dragon Boating brought the most response. This week I set up a survey on a website where people can add their names, ID number, phone numbers and such to a database, indicating their interest in joining. The more people we get expressing an interest, the more possibility there is of getting KAUST to purchase a set of boats and equipment.  Paddles up everyone!