Tombs and Forts

This weekend was nice and relaxing but I did join a new excursion group and went out for one trip.  We met in the morning and, in a convoy of 4x4s, we went off-road into the desert between my apartment and the Oman border which is about 20kms away.

The mountain in the background of this picture is Jebel Hafit and it’s really the only mountain nearby.  It was part of an ancient trade route in the area so in the 1960s, Dutch and Danish archaeologists spent quite a bit of time digging around the base of the mountain.  What they found was over 500 hundred tombs.  Each tomb contained approximately 25 bodies and a ton of artefacts.  The artefacts can be seen in town at the museum but the the Abu Dhabi Archeological and Cultural Ministry reconstructed some of the tombs.

These tombs were built from around 3000BC so they’re pretty ancient.  There is also evidence of copper mining and smelting in the area and we found rocks that had been melted and then reformed.  We also found fossilized coral as this whole area was under a sea a million and half years ago.  Very cool place to walk around just looking at rocks. 

Amro, our guide, tells us not to be out here after 5:00pm because the military moves in and patrols for illegals crossing the Omani border.  He says that one trip he had a red laser on his chest from a sniper rifle and they were questioned as to what they were doing. 

On our way out, we spotted some camels.  The camel racing season starts soon and Amro has promised to take us.

We went out to the Mezyad Fort next and it was interesting from an architectural point of view.  The forts were built out of mud bricks and covered with adobe.  They used palm trees and leaves for the roof and the whole thing could take 30 years to finish.  The forts are square with watch towers on each corner.  The center is open and they used to sleep, eat and live outside.  The walls were only necessary to keep enemies from stealing the women and water.  There was a well inside and a large room called a magis near the front entrance for men to entertain without exposing the women to outsiders. This particular fort is under renovation but Amro says it’s going badly because the restorers don’t understand the basic principles of the tribal lifestyle so they keep doing stupid things like planting trees in the living areas.

Finished my weekend off with a bbq in the courtyard with Tanya and Patreshia.  I bought a shiny new bbq for $50 this week so i just had to take it out for a test drive.

The Man Who Walked on the Moon

I was going to write this blog entry in 'matter-of-fact' and sophisticated way but I just can't.....I feel like a teenager who just met a rock star and, in a way, I did.  Yesterday there was a Festival of Thinkers panel at our men's college down the road and all teachers were invited.  The panel consisted of;



Charlie Duke (the 10th man to walk on the moon for Apollo 16)



Steve Oswald ( Discover and Endeavor Shuttle Pilot)

Sami Solanki (Astrophysist who is studying solar phenomenon
and is Director of the Max Planck Institute)

Garik Israelan ( Astrophysist who discovered that supernovas create blackholes)

There were other members of the panel, which was chaired by Svante Lindqvist of the Royal Swekish Academy of Sciences Sweden, but these four really impressed me.  They spoke on leadership, risk and exploration.  Charlie Duke was the most elequent speaker and had some really good points to make about teamwork, calculating risk factors and the importance of 'seeing what's over the next hill'. 

The audience was allowed to ask questions so they got the typical "was the landing on the moon real?" to which Charlie answered; "If it was fake, why did they fake it nine times?" and "I don't know about the other guys but they sent me to the moon."  I had a million questions but mine were either science related or more suited for a dinner table conversation rather than a quick panel answer so I went up afterwards and spoke to some of the panel members. 

Steve Oswald told me that a big group of 'old timer shuttle astronauts' were present for the final shuttle launch earlier this year and it was a touching send-off.  He also mentioned a bit about the loss of Challenger and Columbia as he was involved in recovery for both accidents.

Dr. Solanki and I had a quick discussion about funding for his institute as I was curious about the economic woes in Europe and how that was effecting science research...he is involved in four big projects right now.   The President of Germany is a physist so she has kept funding in place for research and education...lucky them.  His research in Solar changes has also been used for pro-global warming and anti-global warming so I wanted ask about that.  He said that he tried to be purely scientific in his research and got a lot of political flack for it but in the end, his research shows that solar differencials do not play a part in our current warming trend....Dr. Solanki also had some great things to say about inspiring young minds to encourage future exploration.

For me, the highlight was meeting Charlie Duke.  He was very sweet, asking where I was from and talking a bit about his trip here to the UAE.  We joked a bit about all the gadgets he needed as he had to remove a cell phone to attach a microphone.  To my delight, he sounds just like he does on all the NASA footage of Apollo 11 (he was CAPCOM) and of Apollo 16 on the moon...a steady, comforting southern twang. 

Here I am shaking Charlie Duke's hand

Nepal

When I’ve heard the name Kathmandu in the past, it always seemed like a mythical, magical  place like Shangri-la or Zanadu.  Now I’ve been there and I can definitely say that it’s not mythical but it does have a certain magical quality. Although, you might have to squint to see the magic through the smog and insane traffic jams. 

I went with my friends Sharon, Serge, Linda and Julie and here we are at our first Nepalese dinner which was fantastic. 

We had a rocky start with our flight being delayed overnight and the airline really messing up the situation.  Very unprofessional behaviour from almost every employee that we death with so I won’t be flying with Etihad again.  I would also warn anyone who is going to be prepared for a two hour wait at immigration in Kathmandu…the same on the way out.

We didn’t stay in Kathmandu that night but took a crazy van ride to Baktapur which is a UNESCO protected town .  The van was hilarious with no interior walls and broken windshield wipers so that driver had to keep pulling over to wipe down his window. 

Baktapur was interesting but crumbling and poor.  It’s got a neglected air in the evenings but the day is a bustling place with vendors and tourists…not to mention the packs of dogs.  The temples and palaces are still in use by the devoted so we could only see part of them but there were a dizzying assortment of red bricked buildings and stone carvings all around us.  This was the view from my room.

Most of the buildings and roads are made of red clay brick which give Baktapur a warm, rich feeling.  The temples are covered with either stone or wooden decoration and the detail is fascinating.  Sharon had photocopied a walking tour guide so I could make a bit of sense of what I was seeing.  One particular set of Goddesses was supposed to be so prized that they cut off the hands of the artists so he couldn’t replicate the work.

Walking the streets was interesting because you never knew what might be around the corner. 

The first night we didn’t get much sleep as they were ringing the temple bell every two hours to wake the Gods…I’m not kidding here…every two bloody hours.  Also, the street dogs would howl and bark on and off most of the night.  I self-medicated with beer the next night so the Gods may have been awake, but I wasn’t.

The next day, Sharon, Serge, our new Nepali friend Benote and I went for a hike at the base of the Himalayas.  We drove up to Nagarkot to get our first look that those lofty peaks.

You may have noticed a lack of mountains in that last picture…that would our view of the famous Himalayas for the trip….I’m pretty sure that Nepal doesn’t actually have any mountains and that they’ve just created an incredible tourism campaign.  It was a nice hike through the forests though.

We eventually started to see a lot of people wandering the trail and then the trail became a road.  They were all going to  Changu Narayan which is the oldest Hindu Temple in Nepal.  There was a big festival and we got to go inside and see what it was all about.

The women were all lined up with plates of marigolds, rice and other offerings to the Gods. 

Serge and Sharon got blessed by the yogi who put a glob of coloured rice on their foreheads.

They were also burning incense everywhere so the place smelt fantastic.  It seemed that if a Nepali was near a Buddhist temple, he or she was a Buddhist and if they were near a Hindu temple, they were Hindu…very nice inclusion of everyone.

The next few days were spent wandering around the city, shopping, eating and drinking.  Nepal Ice beer is on my recommend list for anyone who goes there.  We also had some pretty fantastic food.  Here we are getting our sizzling chicken with pineapple and apple slices.

 

We spent our last night and day in a beautiful temple converted into a hotel.  Here Linda and I are on the rooftop overlooking Kathmandu…you’ll notice the lack of mountains :)

On the way home I had to take a picture of these cotton candy balls in the UAE…they seem obsessed with the stuff and package it in the strangest ways.

I did a bit of shopping and got a few decorations for my apartment.

It was too short to get a real feel for the country but I’ve decided to stay in the Middle East for the next vacation so I get enjoy my surroundings a bit…I’ve come all this way so I’d better take advantage of it.

Halloween

It was a bit of a dismal week at work.  We had three people quit when our holidays were cut short for next week’s Eid.  I this the quittings were a result of many things being piled on at once but the mood around the office has been gloomy.  I decided to bring in a Halloween cake to cheer us all up.  It worked for a bit and then at the end of the week with only an hour left in the day, we got the extra days off for the holiday.  I’m off to Nepal with friends for next week so I’m pretty excited about that.

Here’s a picture of the cake by spooky candlelight.  First layer was spice, second was carrot and the third was spice again.  I put a cream cheese filling with a butter cream outer frosting and then fondant for the outside.

The Chaine

Last night I was invited to a dinner for the Chaine des Rotisseurs club. It's a world-wide club that holds fine dining events for it's members. Only 50 members are allowed per city so that the events can remain the best quality. Here in Al Ain, the dinners are rotated between the big hotels as they have the best, most creative chefs. My friends Sharon and Serge are members so they invited myself and Linda, another co-worker.

This dinner was held at the Hilton, out in the gardens. It's about 23 degrees in the evening so it was perfect weather these days and there was a nice breeze.

 

The dinner had a Halloween theme  so all the servers were dressed in costume and some of the food was designed to look scary.  The smoked duck and pumpkin soup was served from a cauldron and one of the starters was oyster margaritas in test tubes.

Apparently the dinners are usually seated but this one was a buffet and we had a huge variety of dishes to try..  Quail, lamb, beef medallions wrapped in bacon, and the best rosemary roasted potatoes that I’ve ever had.  There was also a good selection of wine and cocktails before and during dinner.  Of course, my favourite part of the meal was the dessert.  Fruits, berries and chocolate all mixed together in amazingly good morsels. 

Linda and I were both told that we might be able to become members and I might do it.  The dinners are a bit expensive at $75 but I met some nice people there and the food was really good.  I also got to buy a new dress and get all fancied up for the evening which was fun. Next week there is a wine tasting event held by a different group so I’m probably going to that as well. 

Trivia with Britney Spears

Had a good weekend.  Went to a trivia game charity event on Thursday night and was embarrassed to be the only one on my team to answer the Britney Spears questions...no more top 40 for me.  I did know a couple of other questions but these people were fierce.  Jeopardy champs all the way. 

The event's dinner was catered by the organizer's wife who is Thai.  Of course, we had Thai food and it was delicous.  Got her number because she apparently delivers.  We also raised enough money to buy cameras for the local elementary school so the kids can use them for class projects. 

You can see the bamboo, character, dragon, flower, wind and circle sets in this picture

The next day I was invited to sit in on a regular Majjong game because one of the players couldn't make it.  The players were very sweet and let me practice on the first round of the game...apparently there are tons of different aspects to the real game when you get into it so I hope that I can go again soon before I forget when I learned. 

The Saga of Etisalat

The Internet Saga

Day 1: apply for high-speed connection with the state-run internet provider, Etisalat.
Day 20: visit internet provider to ask when the connection might be coming.  I am told two days.
Day 25: call provider to ask when the the connection might be coming.  I am told two days.
Day 33: receive a call saying that a team will come to connect my internet.
Day 38: wait four hours for the team.  They say they will come in two days.
Day 39: the team comes but tells me that the connection is not possible due to 'technical problems'
Day 41: provider says technical problem will be solved in two days.
Day 42: problem is not solved.
Day 52: Visit provider.  I'm getting really good at navigating customer service.  I am told to wait one week but they don't know what the problem is.
Day 60: They still don't know what the problem is.
Day 65: While the customer service rep at the counter is looking up things on his computer, I call the customer service number on my cell phone.  The man at the desk says it will be fixed in four days while the man on the phone says it could be three months.  I give up and order a slower service which they tell me is crap.
Day 75: A man calls and asks me to stand on the road so he can find my house.  He is coming to install 'something'.  He throws a cable off the roof of my building and drills a hole into my building wall.  The cable is put through the hole and connected to my computer.  Internet does not work.  Apparently, it will magically begin working the next day.
Day 76:  It works for two hours.  Stops and doesn't start again.
Day 77: I call and the man tells me that I have been disconnected because I didn't pay for my internet for the past two months.  I take a deep breath. 
Today:  The man is coming today to fix the connection problem and I'm worried that there won't be an ending to this saga as they deport people for murdering internet service providers.

Busy Week

This week has been pretty busy for me and I've been getting out a lot.  On Monday, I joined some friends for a Canadian Thanksgiving dinner at the Palm Sport Resort.  It was a nice setting with red being the theme and little Canadian flags here and there.  Unfortunately, the food was somewhat lacking.  Great turkey but bizzare stuffing and no pumpkin pie.  The Halloween party will be there later in the month so I have to look into getting a costume made up.

From left to right; Sharen, Serge, Louise and Julie...I'm in the window/mirror

I also locked myself out of the apartment on the way to the dinner.  I hadn't put an extra key anywhere because I hadn't found a safe spot yet so I was stranded out in the hallway when I came back from the hotel.  Interestingly, the procedure would normally require me to call the police who would verify my occupancy and then sign a document allowing a locksmith to break in for me.  This apparently takes hours so I was relieved when the handyman from the college came with his tools and banged away until we got in.  He replaced the lock for about $30.  I now have a spare key in my purse and another one hidden away so that shouldn't happen again. 


On a happier note, I went to Abu Dhabi for the Film Festival this weekend. 

Cotton Candy in a cup from our gas station stop on the way to Abu Dhabi

I went with Patreshia, Tania and Lisa and we stayed at the Hilton which was on the beach and within walking distance of the main theaters and a huge mall.  We spent our first morning at the Emerati Palace Hotel looking at the incredible fixtures and art.  There was even an ATM for buying ounces of gold. 

The Palace

The gold ATM...seriously!!!

The view from the palace

There was also a museum in the Palace and we could see old pictures of the city as well as future models of an incredible plan to make Abu Dhabi the Culture Capital of the world...it's pretty impressive with a whole island devoted to museums, aquariums, galleries and performance halls.

Abu Dhabi beach in the 1970s

Abu Dhabi beach now

A future cultural center

We hit the film festival later in the day.  It was fairly well run and I had bought my tickets online.  I saw two films which were worth mentioning.  The Cave of Forgotten Dreams was a 3D look at a cave in France that has the oldest known cave paintings.  What amazed me about this was that the artists had used the curvature of the rock to emphasize movement and musculature of the animals.  The 3D imaging really made this clear.  The other movie I saw was City Dark and it was fantastic.  It was about how we're loosing the night sky due to light pollution and it dealt with the emotional to the physical and everything in between.  It was fantastic and, I think, as important as Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth.

The others saw more artistic type movies so we had a lot to compare over our meals and drinks.  I also got some shopping in so I now have my boots and a backpack for my trip to Nepal...I can't wait.

From left to right; Patreshia, Lisa, me and Tanya at the Hilton lounge in Abu Dhabi

This has been a bad week at work.  We had a big meeting about holidays.  It was bad news on the holidays and then there was an email giving more bad news about housing allowances.  This, compounded with a freeze on wages this year has really soured a lot of my co-workers and everyone is grumbling and talking about leaving.  Not the greatest environment for me to be starting in and it seems like it might be an indication of future trouble for the colleges and the country.  To add insult to injury, my boss insists that I give up one of my weekend days next weekend to sit at a conference.  

To end this on a positive note, I'll show you a picture of a restaurant I went to last week.  Great butter Chicken.



We aat outside in the back, under the palm trees and ate our dinner on lounges...very cool!!!



Jazzing the Gulf

Went to a jazz performance by the North Rhine Westfalia Youth Jazz Orchestra the other night.  It was held at Toowoomb Hospital which seems like an odd place for a jazz concert but they have a good concert hall/auditorium there and the building is quite attractive all surrounded by palms and covered in scrolled and flowered iron works.

While there, I learned that this was the season's opening performance and that I should expect pretty good things to come.  The Sheikh and his mother, the Sheikha sponsor all kinds of great acts.  Last year they had Yo Yo Ma perform outdoors in the fort and before that was Winton Marsalis with his band and Bobby McFaren.  The tickets are always free or very cheap.  Last night was free.

The show was a interesting mix of styles with two German conductors and one Argentinian and each musican had a solo of one sort or another.  They had everyone dancing in their seats including me.

There is a pretty famous local DJ working a dance at the Equestrian, Shooting, Rugby, Golf Club (yes, that really is the name of the place) this weekend so I might hit that next. 

On another front, I've booked a flight for Nepal this November so I'll be celebrating my birthday at the foot of Everest.  I'm pretty excited about it.  It's too bad I left my trekking boots in Canada because now I'll have to break another pair in but I guess I can always use that as an excuse to walk slowly if I want.  :)