Dubai Outlet Mall

This past weekend, I finally made a trip to the Dubai Outlet Mall. I'd been wanting to go for ages, but as you can imagine, Brian was less inclined, so I took advantage of the fact that he was out of town and made the trip one Friday afternoon.

What a bust!

It's funny because Dubai is considered one of the best shopping destinations in the world, but for me, it stinks. Here's the problem. My idea of 'great' shopping is choice, available sizes and bargains. The shopping here is all about name brands, size 0 and designer price tags. Dubai earns it's status because of the huge variety of designers you can find here, but unfortunately, designer doesn't really mean much to me - paying $75 for a white T-shirt seems silly no matter who's name is on the label.

So, I was really excited to try the outlet mall thinking that even if I couldn't get away from the designers, maybe at least they would be in my price range. And, to be fair, some of them were, but then I'd run into the size problem. I'll not share my size on this public forum, but suffice to say sizes 0-4 aren't going to work for me and for the most part, that's about all I found.

I did, however, have a nice day out, just didn't come home with a single thing! (and those of you who know me, realize that's a pretty bad afternoon of shopping!) Oh well, guess that just leaves more money for vacation travel! ;)

Vroom Vroom - Dubai Auto Show

This adventure happened last fall, but I'm just now getting around to blogging about it. We decided to attend the Dubai International Auto Show and as all things Dubai, it was big, sparkly and completely over the top.

If you've never been to an auto show, let me explain. It's basically an opportunity for car manufacturers to show off their latest and greatest. Some bring their best selling cars, some bring concept models that aren't in production yet, but all aim to put their best stuff out there and impress the public. What's really fun are the custom car outfitters - these guys take off the lot cars and turn them into something unique and spectacular ... and with the money in Dubai, some of these creations were jaw-dropping.

Here are a few photos to give you a taste of the event.

There were quite a few electric and other hybrid production cars and concept cars at the event. Unfortunately, they all also carried the phrase, "not yet available in UAE". Figures, what would a country with this much oil want with an electric car? Although, we did run across a car rental agency that rents electric cars for the day, week, whatever. We thought that was pretty cool, but it's REALLY expensive (and rentals are fairly cheap here) so I can't imagine they're doing really well.

Sorry for the people in this photo, but I couldn't get close enough for a great picture. I'm not sure how well you can see it, but the exterior of this SUV is some kind of composite material rather than metal. Think of the composite decking material you may have seen in the states and this is close - very interesting.

 This is from one of the custom shops, Mistrale. It's a porch that's been bedazzled.

And what car show would be complete without a few scantily clad women to show off the cars. Actually, while there were lots of beautiful women in tight fitting clothing, aside from this cutie, they all had their shoulders and knees covered ... tightly, but covered.

I had never even heard of a Maybec, but Brian had and said it's a very high end car. I could understand why, it was gorgeous!

I think this was BMW or maybe Lexus, but the reason for the photo is the custom head rests. See the UAE Falcons? They also had a Steinway car that had the Steinway piano logo on the head rests and bragged that the dashboard was the same material as their grand pianos.

One of the concept cars from BMW. Really cool to look at, but completely impractical to actually use on the road. Still, very fun to see.

One of the Bentlys. See that glass wall in front? You needed special permission to get into the area and actually touch or like these guys, sit in the car. I wonder why we didn't get in ... Brian's zip off pants? my scruffy tennis shoes?

My favorite car of the event, a green Bugatti convertible - such a sweet car. And no, I don't know how much it costs because this is one of those places where "If you gotta ask, you can't afford it".

And finally, a custom Rolls Royce. The photo does not do this car justice. It was absolutely stunning and kitted out with everything you could imagine. Too bad they weren't offering a test drive! ;)

Volvo Ocean Race

About a month ago, the Volvo Ocean Race made a stop over in Abu Dhabi. We went down to the Corniche to check out the festivities even though we hadn't really been following the race. It was a gorgeous afternoon and a really fun event to learn a bit about the race and see the boats.

If you're interested in the race, here's their official website with a lot of info and the ability to track the 9-month journey. In a nutshell, it's one of those physical and mental endurance events where a team of 11 sail a state of the art sailing vessel over 39,000 nautical miles over a period of nine months. They call it the 'Everest of Sailing'. So, we really had to check it out. Here are a few pics of the event.

 

By pure luck, we arrived just minutes before the start of a pretty amazing air show. I took lots of pics, but this is about the only one that turned out really well. The planes here are shooting smoke the colors of the UAE flag.

 There are 6 teams competing in the race, one from Abu Dhabi. This is the Abu Dhabi boat and the  guy in front is the only UAE National on the team.

A shot of one of the crazy dudes repairing part of their boat. The work involved to keep the boat in perfect working order for 9 months must be incredible.

 Getting up close to see the boats.

And we can't have an Abu Dhabi event without a falcon or two! :) This was pretty amazing actually as this guy would let you take pictures with the falcons - some were even allowed to hold the perch and let the falcon sit on their arm. I tried to convince Brian to do it, but he wouldn't.

Stormy Weather

We had a doozy of a sandstorm yesterday and the forecast indicates it will continue like this for a few more days so I figured I'd let you in on the joy that is sandstorms in Abu Dhabi.

Now, if you're like I was when we arrived here EXACTLY 13 months and 3 days ago, you're having a hard time picturing what a sandstorm really looks and feels like. I had heard about them and certainly seen some really cool ones in a few movies, but really? what actually happens? Let me try to explain.

Let's start in the house, where I'm sitting now typing out this blog post. I'm facing the patio and am looking out on the garden and the 6 foot wall that surrounds it. Behind the wall is another compound with some very large and mature trees and lots of birds. From this relatively protected spot, a day of sandstorms just looks like a really windy day. The trees are swaying like mad and if I compare the color of the plant leaves in the morning to their color in late afternoon, they've gotten significantly dusty with sand. I can also see a uniformly thin layer of sand covering the patio and everything out there (including the laundry I hung out this morning).

Now, let's move to the pool since I decided yesterday to finally get my lazy butt off the couch and get some exercise. Again, it was really windy, and once I stepped outside, I could feel the sand whipping through the air. It just feels gritty. Not so much that it feels like it's getting in your eyes at first, but then slowly you realize it's getting everywhere - in your hair, eyes, ears, nose and mouth, You learn quickly not to wear lip gloss or lick your lips too often. :)

So anyway, I'm at the pool, set up my stuff on a sun chair and jump in for a few laps. All is well as I'm in the water and aside from it being a bit cool when I stand up because of the wind - everything's pretty much the same as it always is when I go for a swim (and by that I mean, uncontrolled splashing, snorting water and really bad form). When I get out and back to my chair is when the realization hits - everything is covered with a fine layer of sand - my towel, the chair cushion, the US magazine I was planning to read, my cell phone ... ugh. I can kind of shake it all off, but as I sit there for the next 30 minutes or so reading my magazine, I can feel it dusting back onto everything. And of course, because I'm wet it's sticking to me - especially in my hair. By the time I head back in, I feel really gritty and dirty and head off for a shower.

Brian and I then headed off to run a few errands in town and experienced the sandstorm on the roads. The sky is really hazy during a storm - almost like a brown fog, but dry and of course, there's that wind I've already mentioned. We were heading into town so the roads are a bit more protected by all the buildings, which really helped. Short distance visibility wasn't a problem, but you couldn't even see the skyline of Abu Dhabi as we were driving in because it was so hazy. The paper this morning said the wide open road to Dubai was down to 300 meters visibility in some places. YIKES! And, unfortunately, sandstorms don't stop most from continuing to drive like maniacs so that adds another element of danger as half the drivers slow down a bit and the other keep on barreling toward their destinations. It's just best to stay home during a sandstorm, really.

So, that's a little taste (pun intended) of our sandstorms here in Abu Dhabi. And now, I need to try again to wash all the sand out of my ears.

Dinner with George

Gourmet Abu Dhabi is back in town this month and we took advantage this year with a celebrity dinner hosted by George Colambaris, who is one of the chef judges on Masterchef Australia. I got hooked on MC Australia when I first moved here as it was one of the few shows on TV during the day that wasn't in Arabic and that I hadn't seen before. So, when I saw George was coming, I grabbed 2 tickets.

It was a fun night at the Yas Rotana ballroom with Champagne and canapes to start and some amazing courses. And, of course, we got to meet George. Here are a few pics of the event to make your mouth water!

George came to each table to serve the broth of this course.

Yum! Happy so far.

dessert - mango ice cream and a bunch of other fancy stuff