... and, Some things I WILL Miss

I thought I'd put a bit of balance into this discussion because I don't want you to think that it's all negative here. Far from it.

I've told you about some of the things I won't miss and now I'll talk about some of the things I will miss.

I'll miss Al Ain city. It's a lovely city sprawled out across a wide, flat area at the bottom of Jebel Hafeet which divides Oman and the UAE. Most of the main streets are wide, with divided roads whose median strips are populated with palm trees, grasses and small shrubs. They are clean and at any time of the year you can see gardeners tending plants and cleaners picking up any rubbish that's been left on the street.

There are no drunks stumbling about, graffiti is almost unheard of, and nobody here returns to their car to find someone has kicked in the side panels of your car. Vandalism here is very, very scarce as are street offences common in Australia.

We have some lovely friends. We'll certainly miss them although we intend to keep in touch and hope some will visit us from time to time. (There are too many to place their photos here)

Rosie, a lovely lady who cleans our house and irons our clothes will be missed. Not only for the valuable work she does, but because she is a friend.



















Our mansion. Although our house at Alice Springs is lovely, we'll miss our Arabic mansion tht has more room than we need, airconditioning that is very effective and cheap to run, and which is rent free. (Can't do much better than that eh?

Food prices and Middle East foods. The price of food, as is the case with most things here, is very much cheaper than in Australia. There's no shortage of anything and there are some lovely foods like date honey that are peculiar to the Middle East that are nice to taste.

Beer, a category of essential food, is not only a little cheaper than in Australia, it also comes in a 500mL can. (Eat your heart out.) Look at this shot of a can in an Aussie stubby holder designed for an Australian 375 mL cans. Now I'm being a bit dishonest here. I will miss the price, but it will be good to get back to light beer and smaller sizes. It's very easy to overdo it here.

No tax on salary. I'll write that again ... NO TAX on salary. Everything you earn you keep. I'll certainly miss that.


Petrol prices. Petrol is so cheap here, you don't even have to bother about how much you put in your tank. 100 AED is roughly $30 AUD and you can fill your tank for 75 AED (60 L tank). Imagine that.


Well, that's just a glimpse. There are many other things I will miss and the misses outweight the won't misses, just to set the record straight.


Robin

Some Things I Won't Miss

There are some things I won't miss when I leave the UAE.


For example, I won't miss having to deal with people over the telephone. Here's what happened when I telephoned the only available number I could find for Al Noor Hospital last Thursday:

• I dial the number 7667666 ...


• "Yes" says the person at the end


• "Is that Al Noor Hospital?


• "Yes"


• "I'd like to make an appointment to see a doctor"


• "Wait" Click and then I hear another line calling ...


• "Yes"


• "I'd like to make an appoint ..."


• Click and another line is calling ...


• "Al Noor Hospital"


• "I'd like to make an appointment"


• "What for?"


• "To see a doctor (I think: what other $&*^%$# types of appointments do you have)?"


• "You don't need an appointment. Where are you ... just come in?"


• "Okay, thank you."

This is fairly normal in the UAE, but the Al Noor Hospital is a huge concern with a large complement of well qualified medical people covering almost every discipline; they can do earhole surgery to extract your brain, remove a tumour and push it all back in; they can fix broken hearts etc, and the ENT specialist who fixed my hearing problem was excellent.

My question is: If they can afford to outfit the hospital with the best medical equipment and specialists available on the planet, why can't they hire someone who can design, implement and monitor an appointment system and staff to run it?

Then there's the idiot drivers ... I've mentioned them previously. I won't miss them driving left to right across my path to turn right and all the other ills they perform that are life threatening.

Water wastage is horrifying here and it bothers me every time I see it. When you come from an arid zone like Central Australia, water discipline is second nature. Although we aren't short of water, if we overused the aquifer, we could be, so we look after our water supply. It's also expensive, so it's not good economics to waste it.

Here, I see water wastage every day. Just the automatic taps in washrooms (toilets) must lose hundreds of thousands of kiloLitres every day. Indian expats, who come from a country where water is abundant, leave hoses running and water gardens in the middle of the heat. I see overflowing tanks and water trucks washing footpaths with water.

Given that most of the water at Al Ain is produced in desalination plants up the coast, the consumption here also has a negative affect on such things as salt levels in the landmass and in the sea.

There is a long way to go in sustainable development.

The dusty skies here are quite a contrast to the blue, stark skies of home ... I won't miss them and have often wondered how much sand I have sucked in in three years. It doesn't seem to effect anyone, but I still wonder, given that sand is silica and silica grows crystals. Huuuum.

Robin

Remembering Bobby

It occurred to me only an hour or two ago that today, 16 May 08, was the 13th anniversary of my mother Bobby's departure from her worldly shackles.

Death being a normal activity we humans experience, there's no point treating it as though it was a tragedy. Sure, it's sad seeing one of your dearest friends end their life knowing you will never see them again. But by 16 May 1995, Bobby's quality of life was untenable and it was time for her to end what had been a good life.

She ended her journey at our home and managed to just drift off during the evening. We all hope that when our time comes, we will be so fortunate.

Tonight I'll charge a glass with some good Australian red and say, "Goodonyamate" as I remember all the wonderful years we had together.

Robin

PS: Unfortunately, I don't have a photo to share, they are all in a cupboard in Alice Springs.

What to do on return to Australia?

Not that we are counting or anything, but I've noticed that there are only six weeks to pass before we leave the UAE via the Abu Dhabi Airport. We fly out just after midday on 20 June 08 and head for Johannesburg and a three week holiday in South Africa.

We arrive at Alice Springs via Perth and Ayres Rock arriving late afternoon on 12 July 08. It will possibly be somewhat of a shock to be surrounded by people who are mostly white and speak a language we understand. We'll have to familiarize ourselves with the currency again and I can imagine that every time we buy something for the first few days we'll convert it into Dirhams to see how much it really is.

Hopefully, Meredith or Dale will meet us at the airport and we can drive home, shower and sit back with a coldie while we contemplate what to have for dinner and what we'll do in the immediate future.

It will be winter in Australia while our Northern Hemisphere friends head off for their "summer" holidays but we will have time to acclimatise in South Africa. By the time we reach Alice Springs, we should be weather hardened and be able to take the relatively colder climate.

Christina hopes to return to work at the Alice Springs Hospital but admitted under my cross examination that her passion for midwifery has faded somewhat after 30 odd years. It's just a job now and she'll do it because she's good at it and doesn't have to worry too much about what to do, when and how. On top of which, it's the one job at which she can earn the most money.

There will be some "settling-in" things to do like some gardening, house maintenance and unpacking and storing our container load of goods that will arrive a few weeks after we do. Meredith has bought a nice house for her and Tory, so we will also have to help them move just a couple of kilometres west of our place.

I'm going to continue work on my online business and hopefully fine tune some things that aren't working as well as they should be. I'm also hoping to do some short term consulting/contracting in a range of areas for which I have the ability. Yesterday I began sending out messages to business acquaintances advising them that I'm going to be available from August 2008.

Before then, we still have a few things to do here before we fly out.

Stay well and some of you we'll see soon.

Robin

PS: Our lovely young friend and ex-officio grandson Onat Ustun turned 2 yesterday and I took this photo of him with Christina. Ain't he a cutie?

ANZAC Day 2008 at Al Ain

At the going down of the sun and in the morning we remembered them.
All those young men and women who fought and died in the service of our countries; those thousands of people whose lives were cut short too early at one of the wars in which Australians and New Zealanders have been involved during our short histories.

While ANZAC Day ceremonies and events are held at Abu Dhabi and Dubai, nothing official had been planned for Al Ain. I decided to do something about it, so with the help of Australian expat Suzanne Bluff, we arranged with the old Al Ain Golf Club to hold a barbecue and to cater for an unknown number of visitors. (It was a ridgy-didge, bring your own everything do).

I prepared and circulated a short flier and the expat network did the rest. Not every Australian or New Zealander in Al Ain was here, but there were enough of us to have a really enjoyable time. Best of all, people met others whom they had not met before.

We had a very short memorial during which we read the Ode and observed a minute's silence while the Last Post was sounded from a 10 Dirham set of speakers. I'm loathe to call them Mickey Mouse speakers because they did the job admirably well.

The old Golf Club, nowhere near as salubrious as the NEW Golf Club, is never the less an excellent venue to socialise. Drinks are cheap, the surroundings used, but comfortable and of course, the company is what makes these types of events. The company was fantastic. Even the weather was terrific with a gentle breeze.

If you read this and you played a part in disseminating my flier ... many thanks. If you will be here next year after I have returned to our wide brown land, please continue the tradition.

Best wishes

Robin

PS: Click on photo strip to enlarge.

Getting Ready to Leave ... The Highs and Lows

The first sign that we are leaving Al Ain soon is the advertisements we have placed on the Higher Colleges of Technology and University of UAE public email boards. They've been fairly successful, we've sold most of the big stuff we wanted to sell. We do have a refrigerator to go, but feel confident that will move as the weather hots up. Selling the cars shouldn't be a problem either.

When we arrived here, with only a half dozen boxes of memorabilia from home so we wouldn't forget our roots, we got 30,000 Dirhams to set ourselves up. That's just under $9,000 AUD. We had no idea how far it would go or how much anything cost here so we bought some cheap stuff we later replaced. We never really used all of the allocation, but some day we'd be sitting back and I'd say to Christina something like, "Have we got a can opener?" "No", she'd say, "we need to get one". Sometimes when it was urgent we'd walk off to Al Ain Mall immediately and buy what it was we needed.

We had to buy a stack of curtains for the unit which has very high ceilings and consequently, long curtains, a stove, washing machine and everything, nothing is provided here other than the house.

For the first few months we didn't have a car, so we walked to the Al Ain Mall to do our grocery shopping and wheel it back in a shopping trolley. The roadways in our housing complex are paved with concrete pavers, so the trolley would bump, bump, bump all the way to A25 which just happens to be the farthest away from the mall.

Sometimes we'd use a taxi of which there are millions here and they are so cheap I don't know how they manage to pay for fuel, even though it's also cheap. I fill the 60L tank on our Nissan for about 75 Dirhams or $21 AUD. I'll get a shock when I fill up at home since our diesel Toyota has a 110L tank ... probably have to take out a loan on the house.

We are looking forward to ending our tour and getting back to Australia, our kids and friends, but the downside is that we will leave behind some of the loveliest people we have met who come from Canada, England, Scotland, Turkey, the US and even Australia.

We will also miss some aspects of the way of life. Al Ain is a lovely city with a mainly pleasant climate. We have lived very comfortably here where there is no tax on salary and everything is very cheap, especially food, although in the time we have been here, prices have risen quite a bit.

We have a lovely Indian lady, Rosie, comes once a week to vacuum and mop the floors and iron our clothes and a Sri Lankan fellow, Bubblo, who washes both cars every Friday morning and waters our garden every day. For these services we pay a pittance by our standards although when the Dirhams are converted to Rupees, the value for them is much greater than it would be for us in AUD.

Guess who will do the housework, water the garden and wash the car when we get home?

Our experience here has been one of the highlights of our lives and one that I recommend to anyone fortunate enough to have the opportunity.

Robin

More Lives Lost on UAE Roads ...

A couple of posts ago I mentioned how very dangerous it is here on the roads. Last Thursday another 12 were wiped out near Al Ain. The Gulf News item with photo is linked to the title above.

I think the most dead I dealt with while a Traffic Accident Investigation Squad officer all those years ago was five. I can only imagine what emotional impact 12 must have had on the emergency services and police officers here, despite Lou Safian's suggestion that, "Death and taxes are with us always, but death doesn't get any worse."

Over the weekend another pedestrian got wiped out on Sheik Zayed Road, the most notoriously dangerous road on the planet, especially for pedestrians.

At Abu Dhabi a foolish fellow drove himself and his young daughter to death when he lost control while using his mobile phone and drove into a pedestrian underpass ... thankfully it was 2 am and there were no pedestrians. You can bet that his two year old daughter was unrestrained or she may have stood a chance.

A large price to pay to answer a telephone message, which was probably unimportant anyway. Certainly not that important that you'd lose your life for it.

Despite millenia of evidence to the contrary, many people here think that Allah will protect them. There's no such thing as "have faith in Allah but keep the gunpowder dry" here, it's all, have faith in Allah. Period. Don't bother to do anything to help yourself.

Wherever he is, with six billion people to look after, it's obviously too huge a task to make any real headway.

There's also the equally crazy notion that whatever happens to you is "Allah's will" which absolves followers of the notion from any responsibility for anything, including their own lives; even wearing seat belts, because to do so, as one believer told me, "is to show that you have no faith in Allah."

For those of us who have faith in ourselves, belt up and drive sensibly while keeping a sharp eye out for the believers, all we can hope is that when Allah get's it wrong, we won't be in the firing line.

As Ned Kelly said before he dropped on the gallows, "Such is life."

Robin

Experiencing the Dubai Cup 2008

As many of you will know, I don't know one end of a horse from the other. So, you'd be surprised that I went to the Dubai Cup right? Of course, but Christina asked me to take her and although I tried hard to avoid it, eventually I accepted the inevitable and succumbed.


Although I have absolutely no interest in horses, horse races or anything associated, crowds, traffic jams, and Dubai, there are some fringe benefits of going to the Cup as you'll see soon.


Our friend Alison, who had been there last year, suggested we get there right on opening time. We took her advice and got there 20 minutes before the doors opened at 1400h. Here's what it looked like waiting at the front gate.


Entrance into the race grounds was slowed down by the necessity to go through a metal detector (glad I left my nipple rings at home!) and this later led to queues hundreds of metres long for the late-comers. (Thanks again Ali).


Inside we quickly did a reconnaisance and chose a table and chairs in a covered area as it was hot and the jacket I had worn to meet dress guidelines, soon got jettisoned, as did the tie.


Although alcoholic drinks were not scheduled to become available until 1600h, it wasn't long before dozens of waitpersons appeared with galvanised buckets full of ice and beer ... or perhaps beer and ice. All the Yuppy drinks were available; Corona, Corona, or Corona ... a few 330ml Fosters and some cider from somewhere. (I can't understand why anyone would produce a beer bottle with 330ml in it ... no economy of scale).


Within minutes of arrival I noticed that there were many things other than horses to be interested in. This hat this cutie from the Phillipines was wearing took my fancy immediately and when I asked the owner if I could photograph it, she gladly said "yes".



There's something I like about hats from the Phillipines and the people who wear them are often quite appealing too.


Anyway, as the day rambled on and I'd managed to release 660ml of Corona from imprisonment in the bottle, I thought I had better photograph some of the other scenes lest anyone get the wrong idea and think I'm only interested in hats.


Nearby there were numerous food stalls and a shisha shop. Shisha, for the unknowing, is stuff people shove in a water-filled pipe gadget and smoke. Some sort of burning stuff that is flavoured and smells better than the other lung destroying stuff, tobacco. Just have a look at the photo below and you'll probably get the gist of what I am ineptly trying to communicate.


The photo shows the implements of smoking. Arabs smoke it at numerous coffee shops and restaurants around the country.


On the way back from the shisha shop photo opportunity, another opportunity presented itself.


Two Russian ladies were handing out lolly pops and discount vouchers. When I told them they were the cutest chicks I had seen in the whole of the UAE and requested a photograph, they were only too pleased to say "nyet", which I think was "yes" because they didn't run away.



By the time I managed to extricate myself from my two new pink-lady friends, I realised that more people were rolling up by the busload.


The line outside went for hundreds of metres but the flow of people, and especially many lovely, well-dressed, over-dressed, and ridiculously-dressed ladies was mind blowing.


Some of the hats looked like they had been dragged out of ocean bottoms after resting there for millenia, gaggling arms flowing in the breeze like an octopus.


There were enough feathers in hats at the Cup to comfortably clothe a huge fleet of giant sea birds. Then I saw it. The feathered hat that drew me immediately to it. It happened to be owned by an attractive lady who was serving hooters (or was it shooters? As soon as I saw her hat my mind scrambled and I became word confused)



I imagined that in some future life we may become friends, but then I noticed she had her attention on her money and I realised she was obviously a gold digger ... not my type of hat.


Just my luck.


But luck moves through peaks and troughs and I thought I'd try my luck at the Style Arena. Inside the fence I could see all these lovely hats with some incredibly well shaped and well manicured stunners underneath them.


Thinking that I could rush in among those hats and really have a great time I tried walking through the entrance and was told in no uncertain terms that there was absolutely no place for the unimpressive and under dressed.


How embarassing.


So, I quickly moved out of there and away from any further embarassment, although it seemed like a cornucopia ... one that I would only ever be able to dream about. The story of my life, I thought.


Finally I understood why they checked people for arms, ammunition and explosives on entry. I can just imagine how many other people just a few weeks or months past their prime would be offended enough to blow the Style Arena away.


To hell with the Style Arena.


Anyway, we had a good time. There's no gambling, so we didn't lose any money. Later some friends, Don and Heather from Al Ain arrived and we spent the rest of the day chatting, eating and watching the sights.


We did watch two of the horse races just to say we had done it and Don owns horses, so he knows what he's watching and what to watch.


Later in the evening the UAE National Anthem was played followed by an impressive fireworks display and routine of marching Arabian horses for about 30 minutes.


Not wanted to be trampled in the rush, we left at about 2130h and headed back to Al Ain, getting home at 2330h in time to hit the sack and relax after an interesting and enjoyable day.

Now we can say, "been there, done that." We've been to the Dubai Cup, but never the Melbourne Cup ... or even the Alice Springs Cup for that matter.

Robin

PS: If you got this far, you've done well.

Robyn and Vicki from Australia Visit

Al Ain Skyline from Jebel Hafeet

G'day

Recently we had Robyn Bonser and her sister Vicki visit us from Adelaide in Australia. They didn't stay more than four days, but in that time managed to see a little of Al Ain, the mansion in which we live, and the must-see, Hafeet Mountain.

As I was working we had to tackle JH in the evening. The weather was lovely, with a gentle, pleasant breeze and for once the sky was relatively clear. Not perfect, but a little less sand dust filled than usual.

I managed to take a photo of part of the Al Ain skyline. Al Ain is very spread out ... room's not a problem yet ... so there is actually another view larger than this to the right not shown in this photo.

It's always been nice showing off our temporary city to our visitors and they are always surprised to find such a lovely place tucked away out of the glitz, glamour and construction of Dubai.

Stay well.

Robin

It's a dangerous place ...

G'day

Although the UAE is a place largely free from physical assaults, it's nevertheless a dangerous place. Unlike the US, danger doesn't come from the end of a barrel; unlike Australia, it doesn't come from a home invasion assault or bashing from an obnoxious football goer, it comes from other drivers.

The statistics for road accident-related deaths here are alarming. In Dubai, the most populated part of the UAE, one person dies every 30h or so and there are dozens of traffic accidents every day. Dubai's Sheik Zayed Road apparently has the distinction of being the most dangerous road on earth.

Yesterday there was a fog induced multi-vehicle pile-up in Abu Dhabi, details of which appear in this Gulf News report: http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Traffic_and_Transport/10196597.html

Admittedly, many other countries have featured in highway pile-ups, but what makes it different here is that people continue speeding when there is fog. They don't slow down and most don't wear seatbelts, so the resultant death and injury levels tend to be higher.

Have a lovely day ... drive sensibly and always wear your seat belt!

Robin

PS: See the YouTube video footage here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGWZnNTBFbM

Celebrating Success

G'day

Today I decided to celebrate my success by letting you know that the 70 odd articles I have submitted to Ezine Articles have attracted 200,161 readers and have been downloaded 2,242 times by ezine publishers.

The 200 K mark has been creeping up for a while and today was the day.

If you've ever read any of my articles you'll find they cover a range of topics, some humorous and others a little more serious and professional. Taken as a collection, they reveal quite a lot about their author ... whether good or bad. You be the judge.

I have always enjoyed writing and first began writing as a way to spread the links to my Internet sites. It's worked. People read my articles and visit my sites. When ezine publishers download them and display them in newsletters or on their sites, even more people view them and visit my sites.

Simply put, writing articles is good for business.

Nowadays I use a software program to distribute my new articles to hundreds of article publishers. Within minutes my articles are all over the web. I never know how many people read them at other locations, but it's probably well over the 200 K at Ezine Articles.

If you have spare time and like to write, I highly recommend Ezinearticles.com as a good place to start. If you don't write, but like to read about a very wide range of topics, you'll find something at Ezinearticles.com. Guaranteed!

Best wishes


Robin

PS: I've also finally got my new "All About Blogs" site up and going after quite a few hassles. If you wish to visit, you can find it here: http://www.employment-one.com/blog

Arabian Bling

G'day

Well, the title may be a little bit of hyperbole ... what I mean is that we are collecting a lot of "stuff" while we are here. Maybe it's not bling, but that's a nice word and I like onomatopia, so even though it isn't strictly bling, I'm gunna call it bling. Ok?

So what's this bling we're collecting? Well, during our latest trip to Jordan I acquired an Arabian art piece, which is shown here at the left. It's mounted on a wooden frame in the same way that Central Australian dot paintings are displayed. There were dozens to choose from and I chose this as a memento of my trip to Jordan.

Last time in Jordan we acquired a small pottery vessel with an interesting hatched glaze and a painted oryx ... at least I think it's an oryx as it has straight horns. Then there's the three Arabian style coffee pots, and the wall hung carpets, and the dancing dervishes that our friends Sharon and Serge gave us ... and the Canadian thermometer that goes to 50 degrees Celsius unlike the one made in Germany that bombs out at 40 degrees Celsius (fat lot of good in Central Australia!).

Bling is a bit like jewellery. You can rotate it. You don't have to wear the $4,000 TAG Heuer wrist watch every day, you can rotate it with the shitty Rolex Oyster from Thailand that you got for $15. Nobody knows the difference. You can still tell the time as well as ever and pretend you are a filthy rich bastard to boot.

We can rotate some of this stuff through our house to impress you when you visit. Hopefully you'll forget last year's bling and think we are blinged to the hilt.

At the end of the day, if we are down on the bones of our bums and our kids won't help us, we can have a Bling Fest ... not as much fun as some other fests that come to mind (get your mind out of the bedroom), like an October Fest, but helpful if you need that kilo of rice to keep you going until pension day.

Aaaah, it's truly a great life. We should all endeavour to gather as much bling as possible in our younger years so that when we are in need of a bite to eat or a carton of Fourex, we can flog off a bit of bling. And remember, if you bling up early in life, by the time you need your Fourex, the bling could qualify as an antique. Much greater value.

Now that we are close to packing our stuff to move back home, every bit of bling seems larger than life.

Here's to all that bling.

Robin

Our Visit to Jordan

G'day [Double click photo strip to enlarge]

We've just returned after a delightful and busy trip to Jordan with Canadian friends Michael and Linda Fairhart (neighbours at Al Ain).

When we arrived at Amman, Jordan had just experienced substantial snow falls and the temperature was -6 C which made us really pleased we had listened to advice and taken winter clothes. Chris and I saw the most snow we have ever seen ... for Michael and Linda it was just another walk in the park but they were pleased they didn't have to shovel it from their driveway.

We spent some time at Amman and then travelled to Petra where we walked kilometres in and around the place which is chock full of pathways, stairways and hand carved graves and ornate buildings. It's truly amazing, detracted only by the dozens of bedouins trying to sell this or that "bling", either necklaces, ancient coins (from Taiwan), head dress and other stuff. Also, there are donkey, horse and camel rides and one is hounded from start to finish to take one. We needed the exercise more than the animals, so we walked about 15 km.

We visited the Dead Sea (the water tastes lousy) and purchased some of the all preventing body salts, facial creams and so on that will help us remain youthful-looking and healthy forever. Next we went to the Jordan River and, among other things, saw the site where Jesus was baptised. The location is very close to Israel where the two countries are divided by the Jordan River, only a few metres wide. We stood on the Jordan side at the water's edge talking to people (also tourists) on the Israel side watched by the ever present Israeli and Jordanian soldiers. Both of us dipped our hands into the Jordan, perhaps with the hope that it might have some special affect on our lives ... one never knows.

Next, we visited a location called Jerash which has some spectacular Roman ruins. I'm very impressed with the engineering skills the Romans exhibited and would love to know how they created such magnificent structures without all the equipment and benefits of modern technology that we have; most of our buildings won't be hanging around a couple of thousand years after they are built and much of the Roman work will still be decaying.

All told, we had a wonderful visit. Jordan is a poor country. Most buildings look either in a state of near collapse, or partially completed, although occasionally there are nice, modern, well constructed buildings. The people were friendly and the standard of English spoken by children and some adults was far superior to that spoken by our Emirati students.

Now we have to wind down and focus on readying ourselves for our next big trip ... back to OZ via South Africa in June.

Stay well.

Robin
for Robin and Christina

PS: Double click to enlarge photo strip

The Exit Year

G'day

Well, another year has been and gone and this is our exit year. We return to Australia in June having had a wonderful Middle Eastern experience. While we are looking forward to getting home, we are not looking forward to leaving our many friends who have made our stay here special.

The good news is that many of them have promised to visit us at some future date and we also plan to return in two years for a week or so. So, it's not the end, but a change in where we are ... hopefully our relationships will continue indefinitely.

During my time here I've realised that democracy isn't necessarily the best form of government; benevolent dictatorships (or perhaps a better word is "directorships") work too. Not every country has an excellent industrial relations system with avenues of appeal, equal opportunity and rights, occupational health and safety. I've learnt that exploitation of our fellow humans, often akin to slavery, is still alive and well, even in a country whose citizens claim to be religious and pious people.

I've gained a great deal of respect and affection for the many Asian and Indian people who work here, mostly with very low salaries, poor conditions of service, away from their loved ones, but who remain pleasant, civil and genuine people.

They set an example of work ethic and humility that most of us in Australia could benefit from. Not surprisingly, if you treat them with dignity and respect, they will do almost anything for you.

Above all, I've learnt how very lucky I am to have been born in and lived most of my life, in Australia.

Cheers.

Robin

Happy New Year

G'day

http://www.dwave.com.au/ppp.html
We hope you had a wonderful christmas break.


I had to work, but Christina and I managed to get out for dinner with some friends and enjoyed a wonderful evening of good food, good wine and good company.


Dale, Meredith and Tory back in Central Australia visited their friends' place for the day. They have three boys around Tory's age, so apparenty they had a good time.

The photo of Meredith and Tory was taken in our house on 25 Dec 07 and is one of the best we have.

New Years Eve we are off to the Al Ain Golf Club for a bash with around 18 other people in our group. We'll no doubt run into others we know too as the circle of places to go here is small, despite the city being sprawling and having around 400,000 people.

We hope you have a Happy New Year event and a 2008 with all that you wish for.

Best wishes

Robin and Christina

Four Days in Damascus, Syria

G'day, Having been to Damascus during the National Day holidays in the UAE, I thought I'd best give a report. It was a busy weekend with a flight out of Dubai early Friday morning and arrival at Damascus early morning. We settled into our hotel and after a short break hit the pavement. Needless to say, we went to the souks (markets) which are huge and extend for miles. You can buy almost anything from needle and thread to food and canvas goods. You want it, they've got it.

Much of the stuff they have is available in the UAE, but Syria is much cheaper as their currency is worth almost nothing. Damascus is in a bad state of repair reflecting the difference between the oil abundant UAE and their dirt poor Arabian cousins. I never saw an Indian or Asian person while there (unlike the UAE whose population is mainly Indian and Asian) until we got to the departure line at the airport. White Caucasians like us and our travelling companions were also scarce which meant that everyone had a good look, even small kids, who had probably never seen whites before. Interestingly, jews, Christians and muslims all live together in Syria and do so apparently harmoniously sharing religious icons, churches, mosques and so on. It's an example that could perhaps be helpful in other less tolerant places.

We did a day trip to a place 60 kms away called Maalola and visited the Marsarkis Monestry built in the fourth century AD and naimed after Saint Sergius (Sarkis) whoever he was. We also toured The Monastery of Saint Takla which is set amid sandstone cliffs and while we were there, churchgoers were singing and the sound was broadcast around the neighbourhood.

During our stay we contributed to the gross domestic product of Syria while attending several lovely restaurants, most notable of which was yet another Golden Dragon (I've been to dozens of these!). The food was lovely and of course, our six companions were lovely to be with too.

Despite arriving back at Al Ain around 1:30 am the morning I had to front for work, it was a wonderful experience and made me yet again aware of how lucky we are that we can hop on a jet anytime and return to our beautiful country. We don't have to beg for a permanent visa or citizenship. Australians really do live in a Lucky Country and we should all visit overseas occasionally to remind us of that.

Double click on the photographic strip to make them larger.

Marselama.

Robin

PS: I love a sunburnt country, a land of sweeping plains ....

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From India With Loot

G'day

Today is an eventful day, even though we are in the Middle East. It's Federal Election Day in Australia, the outcome of which could change dramatically the future of our great country; it's our grandson Tory's sixth birthday, and Christina is back from India.

As would be expected (for anyone who knows Chris), she has brought a lot of "loot" back with her. (See photo)

The loot consists mainly of silk and cotton clothing, materials, a few metal bowls, incense, sandal wood scent, a silk tie for me, pashminas, and some small miscellaneous odds and ends. Some of the clothing is for Chris, some other items are for gifts and the rest is stock for us to sell after we return to Alice Springs.

We've decided that, because of the exchange rate between the UAE Dirham and the AUD, we are going to spend as much as we can here rather than bring money home where its relative value will be much less. The cost of living here is very much lower than in Australia. So anything we want, we'll buy before we leave eg, like a flat screen television.

Part of our plan is for us to stock up with some stuff to sell at the Todd Mall Market which runs every second Sunday in the cooler season. We'll have some Arabian and Iranian carpets, Indian clothes, some photo prints of places in the Middle East etc. If it works well, we may even import some of the products or visit annually and buy up ourselves.

Chris says she had a great experience in India and can understand how the many Indian expats living in the UAE, despite very low pay (in comparison with what I earn) and often poor accommodation, consider themselves well off. She saw some examples of extreme poverty in India and said that most of the toilets, showers, kitchens etc, were primitive.

Staying with an Indian family enriched the experience as she got a taste of life in an Indian family, how individuals relate to each other, and other insights that wouldn't have been available had she stayed in a tourist area hotel.

Next week we have National Day holidays and will by flying off to take a look at Damascus in Syria. We'll be there almost four days. It's a tough life, but someone has to live it.

Stay well.

Robin

Not Out of Africa, But Off to India

G'day

Yesterday Christina flew to Bangalore in India with our next door neighbour Kal.

Kal has family members there and, when she asked Chris if she'd like to come over for 10 days, Chris jumped at the opportunity. After all, what is living in the UAE for if it isn't travel?

So, Kal's husband Andrew and I drove to Sharjah up the UAE coast last night and dropped the ladies off at the Sharjah Airport. Sharjah is very traditional Islam; you can't do anything that looks like fun. And the male toilets don't have urinals just in case someone peeks at your you-know-what and gets turned on. It wasn't until after I had kissed my wife of 30 plus years goodbye in public that I realised I could have been arrested, whipped and deported for doing such a lascivious act in public. Filthy beast!

Anyway, once I found that the thought police hadn't seen me, or if they did, didn't take any notice, I saw a female couple holding hands and fondling each other and wondered what type of culture condemns acts of affection among those of us who are heterosexual and married and accepts public affection between same sex people. Have I missed something in my many years, or am I just confused? God knows.

My Domestic Manager and best friend is off on a junket and I'm home alone to fend for myself in the best way I possibly can for the next 10 days. Now, will it be the Horse and Jockey Bar or Pacos at which I dine tonight?

Minnie, meanie, miny, mo ....

Best wishes


Robin

Haloween at Al Andalus Housing Complex

G'day

The housing complex in which we live is surrounded by a huge concrete perimeter fence. Our duplex is in a corner of the complex and the roadway outside is a circuit shaped like a "U" thus there isn't much traffic down our end. But there are seemingly dozens of kids ... perhaps indicative of the fertility and age group of most of our neighbours!

Unlike Australia, where we don't celebrate Halloween, here there is a large number of Canadians and fewer Americans who, as well as the Scottish expats, celebrate annually on 31 October. It's been a novel experience for us to be involved in the Halloween tradition with our friends and families and kids we've never met before.

Numbers of people who live elsewhere actually propel themselves to our street to join the celebrations. There was a good number of people this year. Christina went all out and made a fishing pond (hook a fish and get a prize), some suspended sweets people had to eat from the end of string without using their hands to steady the string ... that was interesting. The kids loved Chris's collection of popcorn and sweets and played the fishing game and also some apple bobbing in a water-filled large rubbish bucket. Fortunately none of the kids fell in.

The photo shows our friends Mutlu and Dawn who had both dressed down for the occasion. Muti and I managed to drink some water with grape in it and eat a few snacks including some wonderful quiche Chris had made especially for the occasion. I took a number of photos of the occasion to add to our growing collection of stuff from our Adventures in Arabia.

Stay well.

Robin

PS: We have a holiday coming up in December (UAE National Day) ... yes, another one, and will be travelling to Syria with a group of friends. Before that, Christina is off to India with Kal whose photo appeared in a recent blog edition. She's going for about 10 days. It's a great life and someone has to live it.

Christina's Brother and Wife Visit Al Ain

G'day

We were delighted recently to have Gordon and Lyndie Minett from Brisbane visit us for six days. Although they were only here for a short time, we managed to cover quite a lot of territory. Chris and friend Michael took them on a tour of some Dubai souks and malls, they attended an iftar dinner at the Al Ain Women's College (the evening meal after the Ramadan fast), the Al Ain Museum, Jebal Hafitt (mountain dividing Al Ain and Oman) and the Mercure Inn Hotel, Pacos Bar at the Hilton, the Al Ain and Al Jimi Malls, and Abu Dhabi yesterday.

The photo was taken at the front entrance to the outlandishly stylish Emirates Palace Hotel and shows Lyndie, Christina and Gordon with water fountain at the rear. We had intended to have lunch at the Emirates Palace, but unfortunately, during Ramadan daylight hours they run only one restaurant which was charging Dirhams 300 per meal plus the 16% tax and service charge. That's over $100 AUD, so we decided lunch would be a peanut brittle bar in our car while sitting in the car park (eating in public during the fasting period is an arrestable offence!).

Gordon and Lyndie departed early this morning on their way to Italy.

Ramadan ends at the end of this week and we have Thursday through Monday off for a religious holiday called Eid Al Fitr (God knows what that means in Arabic).

We probably won't go far afield, but may take in some more of Oman and some places in the UAE where we haven't yet been.

Stay well.

Robin
for Christina and Robin

PS: I've launched a new ebook called, "The Breast Cancer E-Book" which has 230 pages and almost 100 articles about a range of breast cancer related issues. This month is Breast Cancer Awareness week, so every sale I make, 60% will be donated to a breast cancer research fund. Click on the title if you'd like to read about it.

Al Hamra Fort Hotel and Beach Resort

G'day

We've just returned from a delightful stay at Al Hamra Resort near Ras Al Khaimah at the north-eastern tip of the UAE. We took the three hour drive up after work on Thursday evening (our Friday) and stayed overnight Thursday and Friday nights with six other friends.

After settling in Thursday evening we had a lovely dinner at an Italian restaurant, one of several restaurants at the resort. After dinner we returned to one of our friend's rooms for a drink and chat. Most of us were tired (helped no doubt by the wine), so we retired around 11:30 pm.

In the morning Chris and I woke up early and sat outside our room, had a cup of coffee and listened to music from her iPod ... Roy Orbison's "California Blue" and a few others of Celine Dion and John Farnham, the names of which I can't recall. I tried to take some photos of the wildlife, but the high humidity fogged my lens and made it impossible at that time of the day. Later I was able to take some shots as evidenced by the photos at left.

During the day we hit the beach for a swim and later in the day friend Michael and I went for a tour of the establishment to look at the "architecture" ... beautiful shapes and colours. We found a nice spot on a balcony where we had a couple of German ales while we watched a parade of scantily clad, lovely ladies (and just one or two stunners) walking to and from the beach. It was a very pleasant way to fill in an hour or two given the scarcity of visible female skin at Al Ain.

Later the seven of us went to another restaurant where we wined and dined and sang with a Phillipino singer who had a very nice voice and sang a lot of old songs from the 60s and 70s. While I can't remember the 60s, (I had to say that!) most of us remembered the songs and were able to make a positive contribution. After dinner we went to the Malibu Nighclub Disco for a dance or two and returned to our rooms at a suitably late hour after getting our daily exercise jiving and generally romping about the dance floor. Chris and I would have stayed longer, but the cigarette smoke drove us out. Some of our friends danced on.

After a drawn out, social breakfast, several of our group went swimming, I took several photographs, we packed, paid our bill and departed shortly after midday. We arrived back at Al Ain around 3:00 pm and although we had a totally enjoyable weekend, were pleased to escape the high humidity of the coast.

Best wishes

Robin
for Robin and Christina

PS: Double click on the photos to get a better view.

Ramadan and Great Photos

G'day

In muslim countries such as the United Arab Emirates the Holy Season of Ramadan has commenced. During the four weeks of Ramadan, muslims who follow the traditions of Islam fast from sunup until sunset ... no water or food of any kind. After sundown, they then feast. The shops are absolutely chock full of foods and food cooking implements ... some very large pots and pans to accommodate the large Arabian families.

At the college our day is condensed into a six hour day and many of our students turn up tired from eating and drinking all night and not sleeping. But we still endeavour to ensure learning occurs, it's just a bit slower than usual.

On a different note, while at Salzburg I took a photo of our friend Kel who spent some time with us for the first part of our holiday in Europe. We were having lunch at a restaurant and I looked up to see this perfect image for a photo ... a nice smile, colour, shape and contrast. Snap! ... and here it is.

I've entered this photo into a couple of photographic competitions, so wish me luck.

Best wishes

Robin

PS: I've been hard at work upgrading my site ... take a look here.

Back to the Grind

G'day

All good things come to an end. And there's only so many ancient churches, Roman bridges, museums, cobble-stoned town squares etc that one can look at without everything becoming a blur.

I'm back to the grind and Chris is back to housekeeping and social activities. She will also be continuing her voluntary work assisting Emirati students with their English, working four hours per week.

We had a wonderful holiday visiting Germany, Bavaria, Austria, Holland, Belgium, Czech Republic, Switzerland, England and Scotland. The countryside in Germany in particular was spectacular ... green, green, green! The history of these countries, in comparison with our Australian history, is staggering; buildings, swords, armour suits and personal implements 900 years old or older. I kept wondering about the lives of the owners of the many artifacts I had seen. At one time in Scotland I stood in a cell block within a castle and wondered what poor souls had spent years of their lives shackled looking at the same walls at which I was now looking. Spectacular!

Without going into great detail, the photos from top to bottom herein are:

1. Christina in the London Eye
2. The London Eye (30 minutes to do a complete circuit)
3. A young lady and her father taking a traditional route for nuptials at beautiful English town, Reeth
4. Salzburg countryside from Salzburg Castle
5. A structure in a roundabout at Maastrich, Holland which symbolises the European Union

NB: Click on the photos to see larger versions.

Best wishes

Robin
for Robin and Christina

Sitting at Munich Airport

London? Been there done that. We visited Big Ben, the Westminster Chapel and Minstry, the Kew Gardens, Buckingham Palace (saw the changing of the guards)and took a ride on the London Eye. The most notable thing about London for us was the cost of everything. It´s so very expensive.

We had a delightful time at Reeth, a lovely country town outside Leeds, and stayed at Leeds for a couple of days with friends. During our stay we visited York and soaked up a heap of the history.

Anyway, we have arrived back at Munich, from where we set out from Dubai several weeks ago and travel by train to Oberstaufen in the morning where we spend a week at our timeshare. The week after we move to Mitterfels for another week in a timeshare and then back to the UAE ... and work.

We are having a good time and enjoying the sites, although it´s been hard on the feet.

We will attach some photos to our nex post, so watch this place.

Best wishes


Robin

Today We Leave Brussels

Today we are departing Brussels after a three day stay.

We have already been to Munchen, Salzburg, and Maastricht and have been enjoying ourselves getting immersed in the history and occasionally the large variety of beers and wines available here. It's potent stuff, but some of it is absolutely tasty.

We have found Brussels the least nice location, but an hour's train travel away is a lovely old town called Brugge (Pronounced Bruje)that has many photographic treasures of old streets, village squares, churches, towers and statues. In fact everywhere we have been in Europe we have found statues and religious artifacts, usually of the Roman Catholic variety ie, Virgin Mary and numerous saints this or that.

Today we are off to Amsterdam to see its delights.

Cheers

Robin and Christina

Our European Holiday

G'day

Today we fly from Dubai to Munchen, Germany to begin our six week "summer" holiday junket.

We'll be visiting Germany, Austria, Holland, Switzerland, England, and Scotland with most of our time being spent in Germany and Austria where we will be staying in two of our timeshare partners' resorts.

We return to Al Ain on 13 August 2007.

If you are out and about in any of the above countries and feel we may be able to get together, have a look at our itinerary here: http://www.dwave.com.au/itineraryJun2007.pdf and see if our paths might meet.

We'll no doubt have plenty to report on this blog as we move around Europe, so keep coming back to read all about it.

Best wishes

Robin

Our Stay at Grand Hotel, Jebel Hafeet

G'day

Thanks to our friends Michael and Gayle Dougall, Christina and I had an overnight stay at the Grand Mercure Hotel, Jebel Hafeet last week. Jebel Hafeet is part of the mountain range that divides Oman and the UAE and the hotel is two thirds of the way to the top.

Also on Jebel Hafeet are a couple of small tourist cafes and a huge palace owned by one of the numerous Sheiks who run the country.

Michael and Gayle had shouted us this stay for my birthday in April and it was the first opportunity we had to take the time out to spoil ourselves.

After work Wednesday we left around 6 pm for the 20 minute drive to the hotel. On arrival we unpacked and dressed for dinner. As it was still early, we visited Lawrence's Bar for a drink or two and then strolled down to the poolside where a South African barbecue was in progress.

There was a range of different meats including chicken and beef kebabs, some lovely mince called botootie (or something similar) and a great range of delicious

vegetables. I had a glass of Australian red wine and Christina had a soda water.

Although it's been very, very hot during the day here, it was pleasantly warm with a gentle breeze at the poolside. An attractive Fillipino lady sang songs in the background as we dined and we could look out at the lights of Al Ain. Sadly, as is usually the case, the sky was cloudy brown over the city making it pointless taking photographs.

We returned to our room around 11 pm and retired for the night. In the morning I had hoped to take some photos of Al Ain without the haze, but even before the sun rose I could see the mist in the sky. I eventually gave up on any ideas I had of some spectacular city shots.

In the morning we had breakfast at the restaurant and, as there was so much lovely food, ate more than we needed to and much more than we usually eat for breakfast. We returned to our room to read for an hour, then played 30 minutes of squash and had a swim and a slide down the slippery slides before showering, changing and heading home early afternoon.

It was a delightful break from the usual routine and we appreciated it and the generosity of Michael and Gayle for making it possible.

The photos above are self-explanatory. Double click on them to see the large view.

Best wishes

Robin

for Christina and Robin

Fujairah Trip via Massafi

G'day

Last weekend I had to work at Dibba on the east coast of the UAE. a couple of hours drive from Al Ain. I was supervising national English examinations. The firm paid for Chris and me to stay in the Sandy Beach Hotel overnight.

While I worked my butt off supervising exams in a Dibba Al Hasn gymnasium, Christina lazed about the hotel swimming, reading and generally living the life of Riley. (Who the hell was Riley anyway? He must have had a good life as everyone keeps talking about it.).

We finished our exam supervision rather late ... about 6:15 pm after which Chris collected me and we travelled home via Massafi which has two rows of shops, one called the Thursday market and the other a few kilometres away, the Friday Market. Needless to say, in this silly place, both are open every day.

At Massafi we visited a pottery run by a sole Indian man who pumps out earthenware pots like the Australian cricket team pumps out runs. The photo above is of Chris looking for pots to buy. We bought three, two small ones and a larger one like the one she has her hand on in the photo. We imagine they will look nice sitting near the back door of our Tmara Mara Circuit house.

Today we had lunch with work colleagues at one of their houses and tonight I'm attending the inaugural dinner of the Al Ain Mature Men's Club which I organised (quite accidentally) to coincide with "Women's Night" at the Casa Romano Restaurant at the Hilton Hotel. I've been having regular day dreams of wall to wall Oriental beauties all day, but I'll probably find just a sprinkling of Western women (probably of the 'we hate men' ilk.)

It's a tough life, but someone has to dream it.

While I'm wining, talking rubbish and ogling at the sights (hopefully), Christina will be attending a student's wedding with another work colleague. When Emiratis get married, the men and women have separate celebrations and there is no mixing of genders (since funny things happen when you let them get together). I do understand that after the ceremonies the bride and groom are allowed to mix and it's highly likely that they even copulate like rabbits after decades of suppressed sexual energy. But, I'm not sure about that.

Hope this finds you having a great time too.

Best wishes

Robin