Went to Dubai for valentines and the weekend, it was great! Some random snippets from my trip there -

  • Going to Dubai is like visiting a brand new city everytime you go! I was there not long ago, and still there were enough new places open in new venues to make you think you’ve been away for so long!
  • The ski slope in Mall of the Emriates is a beautiful scary thing!
  • I was happy to see many more local Emirati couples going out together. I always complain about not seeing enough couples, its always a group of guys and a group of girls, even at an older age, but this trip Im happy to announce an increase in the number of couples!
  • Buddha Bar is ultra cool! The food is great and the atmosphere is even better! One funny thing there was that they sold the famous Buddha Bar CDs but had a big black sticker covering the Buddha on the cover because of local religious beliefs according to the women selling them, but then when you enter the restaurant, there is a HUGE statue of a Buddha, and by HUGE I mean about 2 or 3 storeys tall! Funny, no?
  • (If you’re not into football, skip this one) I saw Junichi Inamoto at Buddha Bar, and thought that it was someone who looked just like him, but then read in the newspaper that the Fulham team is on break in Dubai!
  • On Wednesday, we went to a ballet! “Romeo and Juliet” performed by The Russian Festival Ballet, it was my first ballet, and it was really great! Its alot more beautiful than I expected, and it really goes to the basics of human emotions if that makes any sense! Sitting there and hearing that an opera is coming next month, and Swan Lake in May, from the same people who brought the Nutcracker last year, I couldnt stop comparing this to what we have on offer in terms of theater and culture here in Kuwait ….. supers6ar o ab6al il digital o ghaira min il cultural miracles that we have here….
  • I know I mentioned the positive about Emirati couples and how great it is to see that, I have to mention now something I else I noticed that was very negative. There was a large number of Emirati young men walking with foriegn women, most of whom seem to be east European and dress like they charge per hour! Ive seen that before but to a much lesser extent, this time it was alot more, and its a worrying sight!
  • The amount of construction happening all over Dubai is incredible! Its like a sci-fi movie! They have to have one of the highest number of cranes per meter squared in the world!

Hmm….thats all I can remember for now, its late, but better late than never!