Dubai - 5 weeks in!

Our one month anniversary in Dubai has come and gone. To say it has flown by would be an understatement.

We have finally moved out of our temporary hotel and into our new apartment. Although it may just be the initial buzz of moving to a new city, it really feels like we are on vacation here - with a little bit of work for a few hours each day. That has a lot to do with the place we are living in. Our building is on the road across from the beach (but shamefully we haven't actually set foot on the beach yet - the pool that sits between us and the beach has distracted us enough that we haven't ventured the extra 10 metres to the sand). We are really happy with the apartment we found. It's big and roomy with plenty of space for future visitors. It has a huge kitchen so hopefully we will be having a few dinner parties over here! It is also really close to my work, with a daily commute of only 15 minutes each way by car - not bad at all. For pictures of the apartment check out the Dubai Photo Album. We will try and get a video up here soon.

We have had some great times catching up with friends that have moved over here who we have kept in touch with over the years. It has been fantastic having friends who are experienced in the "Dubai way of things" that can give us a heads up and point us in the right direction. For example, the belief that Dubai is a "dry emirate" is anything but true. Beer and wine is readily available and while you are meant to have an alcohol license to buy and consume it, it seems that it is one of those laws that is very loosely enforced if at all. We have already done our first "booze run" out to the infamous Barracuda (a duty free alcohol shop that sits in the middle of the desert....technically not illegal....but still a little dodgy). It was funny passing camels on our way to buy our beer and wine!

Last week was Brendan's birthday, the big 'ole 29! We celebrated it by going up to the Observatory Bar (level 52!!!) at the Marriott hotel in Dubai. Despite the initial attack of vertigo experienced after the 2 minute lift ride up, it was a pretty special place to share a bottle of wine as we watched the sun set over the Palm Island of Dubai. Dinner was at a restaurant that looked out at the Burj Al Arab - an iconic structure of Dubai that is shaped liked a sail of a ship. At night the Burj is lit up and changes colours regularly. Sounds kinda cheesy, but it was actually quite beautiful. We also experienced our first Dubai buffet that night. They are almost an institution here and there is much office talk after the weekend discussing who went where and comparing notes on the food and cocktail standards. The buffet was an Asian themed one and turned out to be nothing short of incredible - possibly the best Laksa I have ever had was consumed by us both with big, laksa smothered grins! The restaurant also organised a birthday cake for Brendan and I managed to embarrass him sufficiently for the next 12 months when the 8 piece band picked up their instruments and surrounded our table while singing him happy birthday. He he he....gotta love the embarrassment factor!


Other initial thoughts of Dubai....well....it's kind of like an adult disney land. By that I mean everything is a little surreal. Every second car is a sports car, stretch Hummers casually motor along the main highway and the shopping centres look like royal palaces. Although this sounds all well and good, what it has led to is an incredible divide between 'the haves and the have nots'. The financial and status divide between locals and wealthy expats and the Indian/Phillipino working population is quite unsettling. Although Dubai is not unique in this way, it doesn't make it any easier to stomache.

Well, that's enough for now. We will keep the mystery alive and report our findings on life over here as things progress. The heat has really turned up in the last week with regular daily temps over 40 degrees and humidity levels rising. Who would have thought it would be humid in a huge desert?? Nothing else to do than head back to the pool and cool off.


//Kate