Palm Island

I was on that island yesterday -wild, huh? To get to the very top bar, you take an underwater tunnel to the Atlantis Hotel, a tribute to the lost city... somehow, I found the name ironic since this Atlantis was built on a man-made island of sand... ;-)


I still can't load my pictures because I can only access the internet through my work VPN and the pictures are saved to my local computer. Even after emailing them to my work email and saving them to my work computer, they still aren't coming up, so you can expect a flood of photos when I return on Friday.


I took 160 pictures just yesterday.
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I started off the day at the hotels' roof top pool and hot tub. That was relaxing, and I read for about an hour after swimming. I wanted to stay longer, but I know you're not supposed to be in the hot desert sun too long out here.
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After the pool, I headed to Dubai Creek where I took a water taxi to part of the old town.

The water taxi is called an abra, and it only costs 1 dirham (or 30 cents US) to take. The taxi driver on the way back hit 3 other abras in his travels. It was very funny, and it's a good thing I don't scare easy.

On the way to Dubai Creek, I spotted a double decker tour bus, and I'm so lame - I always love those things. I took a taxi to the nearest pick up spot, and the taxi driver (who barely spoke a word of English) tried to convince me to take a private tour with him. I just can't imagine that would have been the same since we couldn't communicate. LOL

Nice try.

The entire tour lasts 3 hrs, but it has many stops you can get off and visit and just hop on a later arriving bus. I stayed on the tour, sitting on the top of the bus and out of the shade, for about an hour and a half. I wanted to get a little color! Plus, it was better for picture taking to not be in the AC with the windows.

I'll post the pictures from that trip when I get home.

I finally got off the bus at the Dubai Mall, since it was close to my hotel. I went in for something to eat, as I had been up for 5 or 6 hours at that point, in the hot sun, without eating anything. I'm just not hungry in this heat, but between the lack of food and the hot sun, I was feeling a bit weak.

This mall was better than the first mall I visited. It had a gold souk, an aquarium, a dancing fountain, and they were auctioning off a Bentley! Somehow, I just can't see that happening at the Mall of NH.

I went to the aquarium, and they had penguins! That was very exciting for me. :)

After the mall, I came back to the hotel and relaxed for a bit. I found out there are some restaurants within walking distance, so I went for a walk to find dinner. I found a restaurant that looked good, but it was closed as they were filming a television show there.

I ended up going to an Italian restaurant. It was surprisingly good. I planned on staying for a while, as I brought a good book, and it wasn't crowded, so I ordered 3 courses: bruschetta, salad and Saffron Risotto with prawns in a Saffron sauce.

The bruschetta kind of reminded me of a slice of the Pizza Hut works pizza. Odd, I know, but still very tasty. The salad was very good, although they put bacon in it, and the bacon tasted like beef jerky. The Saffron Risotto was delicious. Not as good as the risotto I had in NYC last week, but prettay, prettay good.

On my way back to the hotel, I stopped into Johnny Rockets for a chocolate shake. I was stuffed, but it just seemed like a fun place to visit. I took a few sips while I read my book, but I left most of it. (Wasteful American)

I bought a fan at the grocery store yesterday. I can't sleep without some kind of buzzing, and I hadn't had it the past two nights. I didn't sleep well at all the first two nights, but with the fan, I slept 12 hours!

I was exhausted, mind you, but I feel myself again, for the first time since I've been here, and just in time to give my presentation tomorrow. I hadn't even practiced it (before leaving because I was too busy and since being here because I was too tired to think about it), but I just did a run through, and it went very well.

I actually went over on my time, and I had to rush through the last few slides, so next time, I'm going to be more efficient with my words. Normally when I'm presenting, I'm trying to stretch out the time, so this was a welcomed change. I really like the content I developed, so that always makes for an easy presentation.

I received a list of attendees today, and the majority are from UAE, Yemen, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, India, Pakistan and Jordan. Until arriving here, I had no idea how many regional phrases I used as part of my vocabulary. I have been very conscious about not employing those phrases in my conversations here, but I have had to catch myself several times.

It will be a challenge speaking to a group of people who may only have a literal grasp of English. I will have to choose my words very carefully. I practiced speaking in that manner when I just did my dry run, and I caught myself slipping into US slang twice. Once when I almost referred to employees with a strong skill set as bench strength and another time when I almost mentioned hitting something out of the park.

What is it with me and baseball? In the US, we use sports talk constantly in business. I'm not even a sports fan, but I do it out of habit, or out of a desire to connect with my audience on a more personal level. I will have to find another way to do this with this crowd, so that will be interesting.

I've clearly droned on enough for one day, so I'm off to find something to eat. It's 1:30 PM in Dubai, and I haven't eaten anything yet today. I'm just not hungry, but I know I need to eat.

After that, I'll probably relax by the pool for a while, and maybe take in a movie tonight. I want to be fresh for presentation tomorrow, and then I fly out Thursday morning.

Have a wonderful day!