- Right from the beginning of my days in the Emirates, I encountered very vocal sales people at the soukes - if you even look at a fruit or vegetable the vendor will start filling a bag for you.
- Thank goodness for the computer and the Internet - I have been able to stay in touch with our family and friends (thank you for that, ALL of you!!) - I msn with Sarah, Leah and Mom everyday and with my brother and sister almost everyday- I don't think I could have stayed here this long without that contact.
We have seen Muslim men stop their vehicle where ever they are, take out their prayer rug, pray, get back in the vehicle, then the wife gets out with her prayer rug, she prays, gets back in the vehicle and off they go.
I have loved getting to know the people that Les has worked with - he has spoken very highly of them and now I know why - Gilbert, Francois, Manon, Richard, Jules are great!!
The Mosques everywhere continue to fascinate me - in Ruwais (which has a population of 6 to 7 thousand) has 3 Mosques, every small town has at least one Mosque; all service stations, shopping malls or areas, stores, have at the very least a prayer room but often a small Mosque.
I walk/run almost everyday to my cliff by the Gulf - I read, daydream, watch the ferries, coast guard boats, pleasure boats, fishing boats all come and go, collect sea shells - I've made a little shrine of them at MY area on my cliff (Les says I can't bring them all home!), watch the tide and the birds -- I soak it all in!
Some days the wind and blowing sand keep me in the apartment - and days when I'm out and the wind starts, it sends me home with that "sandblasted" feeling.
The sun sets VERY quickly here - it's there...and then...it's not.
When I first got here I would leave for my walk around 10:30 or so and stay out for a couple of hours - now, in April, I have to leave the apartment by 9:00 and even then it's very hot (ohhhh how I will miss the heat and the sun......).
I do my laundry by hand and hang it outside - it all dries within an hour or two.
This area is very industrial - lots of refineries, power plants, desalination plant, and the army is always parked on the road near by - just watching...
We are close to a military base and often I hear a lot of "booming" - just practicing... I hope
Once in a while a fighter jet will pass overhead - just practicing...
No military ships in the Gulf...I'VE been watching...
When it rains here - and it has a couple of times - it just starts, rains heavily for a few minutes, and then just stops - never starts or stops slowly.
Emirate Palace Hotel is fabulous - we didn't go inside the building but the grounds and the outside of the building are unbelievable and the view of the Gulf is lovely - it was a sparkly, sunny day when saw it.
Marina Mall in Abu Dhabi - ooohhhh la la!!! What a mall - lots of glitz and glamour - everything from Ikea (yes, Ikea) to the most high class shops you would find in New York -- it's built on a little spit of land that is surrounded on all sides by the Gulf - like it's own little island - can you imagine the view from the mall windows?!?!?!
On the top floor of the mall there are a number of shops that sell the women's black robes and the men's robes. I am constantly amazed at the beauty of the women's robes - think of any embroidery, bead, ribbon, embellishment and you will find a robe done with it and with a matching head scarf. I only looked at the prices of a few - anywhere from 1000 dirhams (about $300.00) - I saw one for 4000 dirhams ($1200.00) - and the scarves were extra - starting at 450 dirhams ($140.00). But oh my, the beauty of the garment and the workmanship was exquisite -- I wanted to inspect each and every one of them! I want one!!!!
The men's robes are of course not quite as fancy but we saw cotton in many colours, cashmere and even some that were fur lined for winter!!! The men can choose many different head cloths in different colours and different black bands to hold the cloth on - all of these were gorgeous. (And in case you are interested - the men wear a 1/2 slip underneath the robe!)
The gold souke in Abu Dhabi is like a big shopping mall of gold stores - any design, any jewellery item, beautiful, dainty, tacky, large, ugly...they are all there! Personally, I enjoyed the gold souke in Dubai more - it's outside and there are alleys and streets off it with other vendors - much more "souke" like
I love being IN the Persian Gulf - the Meridien Hotel where we stay in Abu Dhabi has a beautiful, clean, sandy beach area and the Gulf is deep enough to swim in and still be very close to shore - we were there on the 30th of March and at 9 a.m. the air temperature was 30 degrees C. and the gulf water temperature was 25 - I was in heaven!
We have had a couple of bar-b-ques with Gilbert, Francois, Manon, Richard and some other co-workers. Their trailers at the camp where they live are in a little box shape with a nice patio area in the middle. Les had a bar-b-que made (you all know how Les loves to bar-b-que!!) and often on Friday's, groceries are bought in Abu Dhabi and a feast is enjoyed in the evening at camp. While I've been here we've had a couple of these evenings. One night it was shrimp, fresh tuna and another it was steak and chicken. And of course bread and cheese, wine, beer, lovely music, laughter and friendship!!!
Our camp sits entirely on a sand base but they have made it so very pretty! The gardener man is constantly caring for, planting, and sometimes re-planting trees, shrubs and flowers. It's beautiful! They keep it very clean and tidy as well. It's like a little oasis in the desert - we are surrounded entirely by sand and the trash that's thrown into the desert and onto the beach.
When you are driving on the highways you cannot make a left hand turn. There are u-turn spots often so if you want to get to someplace on the other side of the highway, you must go past it to the next u-turn and go back.
Big trucks must always travel in the right hand lane. They cannot pass one another. When there gets to be a line up of trucks, the slower ones will pull into a "pull-out" lane and wait for the faster moving trucks to go by and then they start out again. Could we please have this law in Alberta?!?!?!
If you are driving in the left hand lane and a car comes up behind you, they will ride your bumper and honk madly at you to pull over, then they zoom by!
The speed limit on the highways is 120 km. per hour. All vehicles have a warning beep on the speedometer - when the vehicle reaches 120 km. per hour the beeping starts - in some vehicles it just keeps on beeping and in others it warns you a few times and then stops.
And no one sticks to the speed limit - if you are driving at 140 km. per hour, you will be passed as if you are standing still!
All planes that fly into Arab countries have a "direction and distance to Mecca" on their live maps.
There doesn't seem to be an "Arabic" culture in the U.A.E. - most of the work force (construction, stores, restaurants, etc) are East Indian, Pakistani or Filipino. It's hard to find a real, local Arabic meal.
taxes that are extra on services - for example in restaurants, bars, etc - 10% service charge and then an additional 6% tourism fee
bottled water is 30 cents for a 500 ml bottle
milk - $1.25 per litre
6 bananas, 6 plums and 10 oranges - $6.00
7 small pears, 13 plums, 3 apples (from Washington State!!), 6 naval oranges, & 9 bananas - $9.00
30 slices of processed cheese - $3.50
chocolate bar (kit kat or dairy milk fruit & nut) - 90 cents
smaller chocolate bars - 15 cents
170 g tube of Pringles potato chips - $1.40
a 368 g can of Hills Bros ground coffee - $6.00
a loaf of multi grain bread - $2.00
a loaf of whole wheat bread - $1.10
1.5 kg of flour - $2.20
1 litre of ice cream - $5.70
1 ice cream bar - 65 cents
6 eggs - $1.10
a bar of lux hand soap - 65 cents
400 ml bottle of Herbal Essence shampoo - $4.00
50 ml tube of toothpaste - $2.00
venti latte at Starbucks - $5.35
venti coffee at Starbucks - $4.40
gasoline is $2.00 per gallon - approximately 50 cents per litre
beer in the bar is $6.50 per pint
beer at the liquor store is $33.00 - $40.00 (depending on the brand) for 24 bottles - you can purchase Miller, Heineken, Castle, Stella, Budweiser, Grolsh, Corona - but not everything is available all the time. You just take what is there today.
wine at the liquor store is $8.00 for a 750 ml bottle of Gato Negro
cigarettes (Marlboro) are $18.00 for a carton (10 packs of 20 cigarettes)
gold is approximately $20.00 per gram
Harley Davidson's are the same price as home but no G.S.T.!!
This is going to be a mish mash of thoughts and tidbits of information!!!!
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