Mike in Dubai 2

Mike has been working in Dubai for a week and here are some photos from around town.

This is the view outside my apartment of Sheikh Zayed Road in the heart of the new part of Dubai.


This is the World's tallest building, the Burj Dubai. It is about twice the size of the nearest tall building and is approximately 800 meters tall.


This cityscape photo didn't come out super great, but it gives you an idea of the size of the Burg Dubai verses some other more ordinary sized skyscrapers.


This is a photo of one of the new stations for the brand new Dubai metro. It opened on 09/09/09 at 9 pm and has nice driveless trains and is good for getting around town.


And here's a picture of a Dubai bus stop. They are air conditioned.


The old part of Dubai city is fun to check out. It is built on both sides of 'the creek' a harbour/river area. You can take an Abbra (boat) across the creek for 1 Dirham, about 30 cents US. This is a photo from the area where you catch an Abbra.



These are the Emirate Towers, there are actually two identical buildings. They are across the road from where I am staying. There is a bar at the top of one of them where you can look out on the city.

Mike in Dubai

Mike is off to Dubai for a month for work. He'll be working out of the ARRB Dubai office on a project for the Dubai Road & Transport Authority.

So, we will Skype while he's away and this is what I'll see for 4 weeks:


Mike flew to Dubai via Malaysia and got into Dubai at 3am on Saturday and it was more than 100 degrees! The work week in Dubai is Sunday - Thursday so Mike had one day to get organized before work. He went shopping and bought some linen trousers to be more breezy in the heat and met some colleagues and went to Ibn Battuta(mall)which had exibits on Arab explorers with a ship in one room and for dinner on the roof of his hotel where you could look out and see the famous Burg Al Arab hotel. It lights up at night with lots of multi-color combinations.

On Sunday, he work up at 5am (time change thing) and was picked up by his Dubai office director. The ARRB Dubai office looks out onto a bunch of high rises (many under construction) which Mike says sounds like a building site with jackhammers, cranes, etc.

Here are two pictures from the Ibn Battuta mall, the mall Peter & Mike went to and one of the view from the top of the hotel Mike was staying at for the first week (before he moved into the work apartment).

Richard Davies visit

My old UK colleague Richard Davies is in Australia on holiday for 3 weeks and we hung out for a bit in Sydney. Drinks at the Kirribilli Hotel:

Dust Storm

Today was the strangest day - I woke up to what people are calling 'Mars' or 'the Apocalypse'. It was dust storm in Sydney like no other with the red dust (rust) from the Outback blowing to the coast...

First picture is the view from our bedroom, then ones around Sydney - Harbour Bridge and the really yellow one is the Opera House.

Fiji - Waya Island

Waya Island - the southern most island in the Yasawa Group


Octopus Resort on Waya Island


The staff welcoming us to the Octopus Resort


Our traditional bure



Have drinks at sunset



The kava welcome ceremony welcomes us to the Octopus Resort


After dinner games - kicking it off with the limbo


A game where you had to put the road up your clothes and down the next person and pull the rope through - Mike's team won.


A game where every other person had to drink a Fiji Bitter and eat a Snickers. Ugh - the blonde girls from Dublin were impressive drinkers...


The foliage around our bure



Our dinner gang - Jarrod, Jodie, Naomi & Alistair


The staff plays volleyball on breaks and they are REALLY good!





Kokoda - its the local dish of walu fish marinated in lime juice and served in coconut milk in a coconut


The women from the local village set up a market around our pool - I bought a cool wooden bracelet and some bookmarks


Naomi & I learning the Bula Dance for tonight's meke




Its time for coconut sundowners!






The Elders doing the welcoming kava ceremony.




Jarrod's double cocktailing since his wife is preggers


Its Meke night - where the staff from the local village perform all of their traditional songs and dances.




Jodie & Jarrod from Melbourne


Melissa & Mark from Brisbane




Naomi


My favorite place to be!




An afternoon activity - the local village women teach us how to weave pandanus leaves into bookmarks.




I love the Coconut Bar!


There's a coral reef right on the beach - at low tide the reef is exposed and we had to swim down the boat lane to get around the back side.


Leaving Octopus Resort


We're back on the mainland.