June

I apologize. I've gotten a little slack on my blog. I've been here 8 months and I guess the new is wearing off Dubai and most days are getting pretty routine. Every now and then I still raise my eyebrows at something. I have also done a little travelling this month, so that gets in the way too. July will be no better.

The Dubai Mall has been screening a popular local kids cartoon called "Freej." It is being shown on a big screen with English subtitles, and there is a big pile of bean bag chairs for kids to sit on. I watched about 5 mins today and it was a little disturbing. The first line I saw said "Open the damn door!" The episode also dealt with characters possessed by different spirits, including ex-pats who wanted freehold property and executive positions. Of course, these demons were exorcised in due course. None of the kids seemed to be laughing, so I guess I'm wondering who the program is really aimed at. If you want to learn more go here.

Working at DXB, I do get to stroll the ramp just about everyday. It's getting pretty toasty these days and I'm just amazed that these guys can work on the ramp in this weather. I've been in the belly of a few planes and it heats up in a hurry when a plane is just sitting. Unlike ATL, the ramp workers in DXB don't wear shorts. Also, all the tugs have black seats and steering wheels and most have no cover over the seating area. Then again, when I worked summers on the ramp in Macon, GA it was one of the best jobs I ever had--hope that's what these guys at DXB are feeling.

So far, none of the big Middle Eastern airlines belong to any of the big code-share alliances. EgyptAir belongs to the Star Alliance; Royal Jordanian is OneWorld are the only 2 I have noticed. I wonder why no one has paired up with Emirates? (thought Emirates miles can be applied to United mileage plans). I wonder if it's Emirates resisting? Same for Etihad in Abu Dhabi. As for my SkyTeam, I do have a few choices. Delta, of course, but they are a one-trick pony. KLM can get me to the USA; so can Air France (absolutely the worst air line); Kenya Air gets me to Niarobi and other points in Africa; and China Southern can get me to China.

Rents have tumbled in Dubai. From the absolute peak when I signed my lease in November, rents have fallen almost 50%. I hope my landlord is in a dealing mood in the next couple months when I go to re-negotiate. I like my place here, but I'm not so much in love that I won't move--there are alot of nice places available around here. I will probably stay in the Downtown Burj Dubai area though.

I got Max an Omani flag for his collection. It was hand-tailored. It is also missing the official emblem from the red vertical panel. I guess I'm going to have to make a 3rd trip to Oman. That's ok, Muscat is on my short list of places to visit.

Being American, ice is a pretty important part of my diet. Usually, it's no problem to get ice in a drink when I am out and about--sometimes it's only one cube, but you can get ice. For home, forget icemakers, ice cube trays are too much hassle, so I purchase a bag of ice and keep it in the freezer. My freezer is pretty small, so it's pretty important to dedicate so much space to ice--it's that important! If you're curious, a large bag of ice cost 3.75aed (about a $1); pretty reasonable.

That's about all for June. It's gotten hot (105-110+) and the last couple days the humidity has kicked in--good time to get out of town for a few weeks.

I had a Theory for about 46 mins...

Ok, if you are one of the 8 people in the US who care about the USA men's soccer team, then you were pretty excited about what happened this week. For the other 250 million of you, the USA needed to beat Egypt by 3 goals, and have Brazil beat Italy by 3 goals (the equivalent of a 14-0 drubbing in baseball) to advance to the semi-finals in the Confederations Cup. The Cup is a big warm up event for next years World Cup in South Africa. It happened. Then the USA pulled off a huge upset Wednesday by beating #1 ranked Spain to advance to their first world class tournament Final against Brazil (who drubbed the USA in pool competition, 3-0)

The game was a pretty big deal here in Dubai, so I went to the local hangout to catch the game last night. Big crowd, lots of Brazilian fans and probably the most Americans I've seen in one place since I have been here (there were 8 of us). Shockingly, and very easily, the USA took a 2-0 lead against Brazil into the locker room. At this point, I'm thinking conspiracy...

South Africa is holding the World Cup 2010. The power houses of Europe and South America are all going to be there in force, but what about those 8 Americans and their 250 million friends? How do we get them to jump on a plane for 17 hours to follow their team? Voila! we get them excited by letting their team pull off a huge soccer miracle. Beat Brazil and tens of thousands will be filling up their credit cards with tickets, planes and hotels Monday morning. Is Delta Air Lines in on the fix?

Alas, Brazil scored in the first 40 seconds of the second half and pretty much ruled the rest of the game, winning 3-2.

It was a good theory, and I'm not sure it's totally baseless.

I Wish

For those of you outside aviation, general aviation aircraft usually use their registration ID when communicating with air traffic control. In the USA, those callsigns start with "N" followed by some numbers and a couple letters (N404BS, N501RW, N1AU). In Dubai, they start with A6 and then usually 3 letters (A6ALP, A6FDB). In other countries, it will be all letters--up to 7 (HGSTVEK...pronounced Hotel, Golf, Sierra, Tango, Victor, Echo, Kilo). It can be a mouthful, even when we shorten it to the first 2 letters and the last 2 letters.

But every now and then, you get a pretty cool callsign.

Oman, here we go again!

I finally decided to give Oman another try. If you keep up with the blog, you know that I made a farcical attempt to drive to the Oman coast in January. Well, this time I was going to the coast again, but there is only one road to get there--so I liked my chances. I was headed north to the Musandam Peninusla, a part of Oman that is cut off from the rest of the country by the UAE, and also forms the southern coast of the Straits of Hormuz. It's also known as the Norway of the middle east with it's fjords and islands. I also took a navigator with me this time, Greg, ex-FAA from DFW, who is training on my crew--thus we have common days off.

Anyway, we took off early in the morning for Kahsab, Oman. It was about a 3 hour drive with an uneventful border crossing.

The road in Oman hugs the coast with some sections of the road carved out of the mountains and cliffs that fall into the sea. We saw several areas that had suffered rock slides, which seem to be pretty common. But the scenery was pretty awesome. The day was hazy, so I imagine a nice clear winter day will make an even better trip.

We stopped at a little fort along the way and took a few pics. We arrived in Kahsab around 10am. We signed up for a dhow cruise up the inlet and since it wasn't til 1pm that gave us a little time for lunch and finding souveniers. I'm collecting flags for my son, Max, and we actually stumbled on a tailor who sews flags. Other than that, souveniers were pretty few and far between. Kahsab, is the biggest city in this part of Oman and it is pretty small...like about the size of Hamilton, GA.

Lunch proved interesting. The diner we picked also doubled as the school lunch room for the local boys school--mostly middle school age. So we had lunch with about a dozen youngs kids. A couple of them tried to talk to us in English, but most of them just talked about us.

Our cruise was pretty nice; we had the dhow to oursleves along with 2 guides. Spectacular (if barren and devoid of life) scenery, lots of geese and some playful dolphins. We also stopped to do a little snorkelling...saw a few fish.

On the trip up, Greg was reading from the guide book and it mentioned that alot of smuggling went on, with boats running cigarettes across the straits to Iran (about 45 miles). We had about forgotten about it until we were coming into the harbor and saw about 7-8 boats headed out laden with large boxes wrapped in grey, and trucks loading more boats at the quay. The boats were about 20-25ft, open, with a couple outboards on the back. Obviously, if it's in the guide book, the authorities on either side of the straits care little about this enterprise or are recieving their cut of the profits.

On the way home, we stopped at the famous Barracuda, a tax-free liquor store in Umm Al Qaiwain (alcohol is taxed at 35% in Dubai). Many folks make what are called "Barracuda runs." The danger lies in bringing the product back to Dubai since you have to travel thru the dry emirate of Sharjah. The odds are small, but if you are stopped or get in an accident, you can be in serious trouble. There are also stories of people being followed from the Barracuda until the get to Sharjah where they will get 'bumped.' For a price, the bumpee promises not to call the authorities.

We made some calls, bought some for ourselves and friends in Dubai and hit the road--we weren't followed and the trip was uneventful.

Overall, it was a good day trip--but wait til a nice crystal clear day in the fall or winter. Until then, enjoy our trip.

The Big Game

On the non-American football landscape (aka, soccer) tonight's UEFA Champions League Championship is second only to the World Cup. It's the Super Bowl of European soccer. (So I ask you, why are they playing on Wednesday night?)

Anyway, after an early threat by Manchester United, Barcelona played stifling defense...ah hell, I know you don't care. Barcelona 2 Man U. Nil

Oh, and if you've never seen it, rent Eurotrip (rated R). The scene with the Man U fans driving the double decker bus thru Paris will split a gut.

Why Can't We Be Friends?

I have met alot of folks from all over the planet since I have been here. Almost without exception, everyone has been very friendly...even the folks at HSBC. The group that intrigues me though are the Iranians. These are supposed to be the crazy, nuke building, flag burning jihadist who are terrorizing the middle east and a thorn in America's side for the past generation.

Well, I have met quite a few and they have all been very engaging, generous, intelligent, and just the nicest people you would ever want to meet. My buddy Rod and I were chatting out by the pool one evening last week and 2 Iranian couples who were grilling out insisted that we join them (even though they only had food for 4). We ate small portions and wound up talking to them for a couple hours. By the way, Iranian food is very delicious too.

We talked about normal Dubai things, but we also talked some politics. They are very proud of their country and insist that we must visit some time--and we told them that as US citizens, we may not be welcomed (as in, we may not be issued a visa). Like many US citizens, they are frustrated with their government--elections are next month in Iran and these Iranians believe the outcomes are fixed. Unfortunately, they also get alot of their news and history from YouTube--which worries me a little. But they all seem to love Americans, Westerners, actually they seem to like everyone--even the Isrealis (though not big fans of the recent shellings, and neither am I)--It's just the people in power who can't seem to get along.

I know these folks I'm meeting are living outside Iran, but their families are still there and they are very connected to home. I'm sure I would get the same warm welcome if I were walking the streets of Tehran (which is on my list). It's a shame that so many good folks are misunderstood because of politics, because I think we are missing out on making some great friends around the world.

Tidbits al a May

I spent an hour before I left on my Istanbul trip knowing I was forgotting something--something I had kept reminding myself to pack all week. I thunk and thunk and thunk, but all I could come up with was that it had to do with wires and electronics. I had all the right adapters packed for the cameras and computer. It sucks getting old. When I sat down in my seat on the A330 to Istanbul, I remembered what it was! I forgot the adapter for my earphones--the B777 I rode from London last month needed the 2-prong adapter. For whatever reason, the A330 uses the single prong, so I need not have worried. Unfortunately, the A330 also doesn't have the very nice in-flight entertainment system that Emirates is known for--so I just read my book and listened to music.

I thought Turkey censors the web like the UAE...maybe more so since Youtube is blocked there. However, they do have liquor stores everywhere and women's loungerie shops. Thank Allah that they are spared from watching my daughters spring musical on You tube! Just this week, I did find out that Youtube is blocked because of some material that makes fun of the country's hero Attaturk (his image is on everything and there are plenty of busts and statues of him in Istanbul).

Friggin HSBC update...first thing I see when I clear customs in Turkey is an HSBC ATM. I stick my card in and I'm asked if I want to withdraw US Dollars or Euros? Now I'm under the impression that Turkey uses Turkish Lirasi but that's not one of my options; I think they must take Euros too here...wrong! After being turned away at the train station ticket window, I'm back at the ATM right next to HSBC--withdrawing TL! My Lord HSBC, do you spend your time thinking up ways to seem idiotic??

Had to get full insurance coverage on the Tundra (something I wasn't able to do back in December). But after a couple letters from the bank asking about the coverage, I decided to renew my search for full coverage. I found coverage--but it's not as simple as just signing up since insurance is tied to your car registration. So I had to re-register the truck. I was told by the insurance agent that it would have to be re-ispected and it would cost 400AED ($110) to register the truck--but it actually was a very quick, simple process and only cost 55AED. Getting a copy of my insurance to send to the bank took a little longer--Bureacracy will keep this place in the 1900s.

What's the difference between Swine flu and other flu outbreaks? The Media! I'm sure if you check the records of flu outbreaks in 3rd world countries (aka, Mexico) the death rate would not be much different than the "swine"outbreak. At the Istanbul airport, all the workers were wearing masks and they were making everyone pass by a thermal scanner--checking for fevers. The UAE has their first case now--and thermal scanners are on the way.

Enjoyed walking around Istanbul. Only saw one Starbucks and 2 Mc Donalds--not much else as far as US-Western influence. Unfortunately, the only folks who seem be fluent in English are pushy carpet salesmen and rogue tour guides.

I paid $24 for a bourbon and coke at the hotel bar in Istanbul! My first thought was "call the police!" Good thing I was paying as I went and not running a tab. After that, I switched to the cheap local beer, Efes (not too shabby).

Did you know Kevin Costner does commercials for Turkish Airlines? They are in Turkish and he has no speaking parts...wonder if he got paid in Dollars or Euros?

Back in the UAE the summer heat has kicked in--over 100 everyday with several days reaching to 110-115 range. Humidity is low (they say it gets worse) so it's not been too bad--hasn't stopped me from doing anything.

They do alot of big raffles here...Harleys, Porsches, Bentleys; but they aren't for charity--they are for profit! I refuse to buy the tickets..usually $50-125. Dubai Duty Free (where nothing is free) is the worst offender, though the Dubai Mall has gotten into the act this month.

I asked an exterminator in our building what the micro bugs that I mentioned a few months ago were. He didn't know what I was talking about--so I'm thinking he is just a low paid sprayer of pesticides. He actually told me they were roaches when I persisted--but I'm not buying it. They have pretty much disappeared with the hot weather--maybe they went to the Ukraine for summer.

We had a small fire in our building this month...some cloth left in a trash disposal room caught fire--it happened on Rod's floor and he did leave the country, so I'm suspicious. Anyway, the water from the sprinlers ran into the elevator shaft and knocked out 2 of the 4 elevators in the building. Of the 2 remaining, 1 is the frieght elevator, so most of us in the building were sharing 1 ride. Waits got pretty long during the busier parts of the day. Now on the plus side, I did get to meet alot of my neighbors--I have a theory that when all the elevators are running, they are programmed to keep people from meeting each other. I have been passed by so many times waiting to catch the elevator. I know an elevator guy in Columbus--I will have to ask him about it. How about it, Henry?

I've read a bunch of books since I have been here. I need to sit down one day and put down some recommendations...now you have somethng to look forward to!!!