Life in a box

My brain is mush... I had this whole theme of "life in a box" that I was gonna write about, but nothing made sense. The festival is over now, two nights ago was the last day and the party in the desert. Now comes the inevitable post-festival blahs... excitement of going home combined with the slight depression of the big event being all over. We're leaving behind friends, old and new.

Let me see if there are some photos that are interesting.

We all loved feeding these camels in the sand lot across from our hotel. They would eat old bananas and oranges and stuff. It was a bit surreal to see these two bedouin guys living in this old tent in the sand and tending these camels just meters away from ultra-modern apartment towers and construction sites.

The party in the desert was also an awards ceremony for the Arabic Film Competition. It was at this resort built into the dunes. The show was good, the food was nice, but there was no shisha!

More later, when my head is clearer and... stuff.

Oh wait, get this:

It finally happened...

We apologize the site you are attempting to visit has been blocked due to its content being inconsistent with the religious, cultural, political and moral values of the United Arab Emirates.

Dubai 2006 Second Post

I did my best to have a great day yesterday... there was just enough sun for about an hour on the beach. The water of the gulf was warmer than the air, so Isaac and I took the opportunity to get thrown around by waves. The salt burns the skin, and the sand gets everywhere, and the white surf tosses you like a cork and tries to throw you upon the sand and drag you back out to sea at the same time. It's awesome. Here is gratuitous proof:




Then later, we braved the sucking vortex of work, and went into the DMC office to say hi and meet the bosses and some other friends. We took them for lunch at the Lebanese buffet (the first break over 45 minutes they seemed to take in the last 3 weeks) and enjoyed a middle eastern variety of salads, dips, rice and soups.

By afternoon we managed to break free of the office and head with the newly arrived girls to a mall called Ibn Battuta. This place is twice the size of Chinook Centre, and each of a dozen sections is decorated like a different region in the Orient. Check out this snap of... a traditional mosque? nay, a food court.

Dubai 2006 First Post

It's always exciting to come to Dubai. There is always something new going on to be awed by... usually in the form of construction, or hotels, or politics. The flights here were pretty boring, which is not a bad thing. Emirates continues to prove to be head and shoulders above Air Canada in terms of, well, everything. Food, service, friendliness, organization etc. My head cold kept me in state of dazed bewilderment during my stopover in Heathrow, as if I had left my head up in the clouds when I landed. But a couple of hours later I was re-united with my brain in the clouds, and thankfully it landed with me in Dubai.

Much to my shock and dismay, it rained the whole first day here... but I got to sleep off the jet-lag and head cold, and meet up with Cheryl, Isaac, Michele and Sydney.


The hotel is called the Oasis Beach Tower, and we live on the 45th floor in a semi-palatial suite. The square footage is dazzling... and the furniture is contemporary. Ironically this is considered "no-frills living" here, since we have a kitchen, and *gasp* no personal butler. Honestly it's better this way, the butlers never iron your socks quite right.

From our dining room table we can see "The Palm Jumeirah". Go here for all the video and sound effects: http://www.thepalm.ae/



The sun seems to be out today, so I'm hoping to absorb some into my pasty whiteness, and then enjoy some real middle eastern lunch. Tonight is the first official function, the welcome dinner for us Canadian consultants. We've all vowed to keep our heads down and do our jobs without being pulled into the swirling vortex of Festival Politics, which are apparently worse than ever this year.

You'll all be relieved to know that there is an espresso machine in the kitchen, so Oliver can live in a civilized manner.

That's all for now... except for these pics of my birthday food back home the day before I left: fondue and cupcakes. How's that for civilized?