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.