Posts tagged ‘uae’
Ski Dubai
Ski Dubai is an indoor skiing slope in the Mall of the Emirates. Yeah, maybe your mall has an ice rink, but it just can’t hold a candle to this thing. The food court surrounds the bottom of the slope. Staff was friendly and helpful in getting me set up with good equipment. 120 dirhams (something like $30) for two hours on the slope.
Ran into a bunch of kids from the USS Stennis on shore leave there, snowboarding. Stay safe out there in the Gulf, guys.
See more progress on: Ski Dubai
Burj Dubai Constrction site
I stayed at the Al Manzil hotel in Dubai a few weekends ago. Real nice hotel, and right across the street from the Burj Dubai construction site.
See more progress on: Burj Dubai Tower
Made it through Day 1
One full day under my belt here in the desert. Yep, I’m a badass.
Of course I didn’t have to work. But it was difficult none the less. My big goal for the day was to stay awake the whole day so that I’ll sleep well tonight and be able to put in a full day tomorrow. And I’m gonna make it. My brain feels like it’s made out of tile grout, but I’m gonna make it.
For those of you who don’t know, I am currently on an 8 week assignment to Abu Dhabi. Not the city, though. Nope. I get to hang around in the middle of the desert most of the time. Working on a gas plant out here. This is my first overseas trip with my company. It’s a bit of a shock I guess. I knew these plants are big, but you’ve really gotta see it to believe it.
So I get my ass up early tomorrow and go in to work. Work on a Saturday. Good thing I’m getting paid well for this.
OK, my travel tip for the day: Pack your toothbrush in the carry-on. No matter how long you’ve been in the same clothes, you can pretend you are human if your breath is minty fresh.
[EDIT] I keep forgetting. I’m not changing the timestamp on my posts to reflect the time here. My sentimental sounding reason is that I want to keep a connection to my home time-zone. The real reason is that I can’t be bothered to go into the settings and fix it. The time here is now 9:15 PM.
Live from Abu Dhabi
Well, here I am. In the middle of the desert. Here to wander for 40 days and nights. Hell, it’s more like 56 days. Eight weeks. The guys in the Bible had it pretty easy.
Flying business class nowadays pretty much kicks ass. You get your own little pod sort of thing, and you barely know that anyone is sitting next to you. We were late out of Houston ’cause some screwjob installed one of the wheels upside-down or something. Got to take a brisk jog through Gatwick airport. First time in a decade that I’ve been back to England and I wind up running through it. At lease I expect to take more time to enjoy the place on the way back.
Today’s our day off. I’m spending it exploring the camp, looking for a place that I can get a wireless connection to work. This little computer room in the Rec hall is OK, but I prefer a keyboard that doesn’t have small creatures living in it.
Stay tuned to this space to learn how to survive two months with no women, no booze, and worst of all: no bacon.
God I miss bacon.