RSI flare-up

Sorry everyone but my RSI is kicking up again. Looks like I didn't rest it enough. Have to relax and cut-down on the typing and computer use. Damn, RSI is annoying.

So, about Abu Dhabi

So what was I doing in Abu Dhabi you ask? Well Monday September 3rd was a national holiday so everyone in the office was planning four-day getaway vacations by taking Sunday off. A coworker and I were thinking about going to Damascus to look around.

Then one day in August an announcement was made from the Palace. Sept 3rd is no longer a public holiday! It will instead be replaced by a public holiday on Dec 18th. (In an absolute monarchy things like that can happen, with a wave of an Emir's hand public holidays can disappear.) Suddenly those 4-day weekend plans ground to a halt.

I still wanted to do something that weekend so I went down to Qatar Holidays to see if they had any deals for a 2-night getaway. Sure enough they had a deal that was too good to pass up - a shocking reasonable getaway to nearby Abu Dhabi to stay at the Emirates Palace Hotel.

Definately check out the link, this place is supposed to be one of the grandest hotels in the world (there is also a wikipedia entry on it. So with such a good deal I figured what the heck!)

I emailed my friends Mike & Elushka in Dubai to let them know I'd be around and they decided to drive down and stay a night as well.

Well the place was truly awesome - and huge! Upon getting to check in someone came by to give me a cold towel, followed by someone else with stuffed dates, followed by another person with water & arabic coffee. A clerk showed me to my room (something like 300m away in the East Wing) and at the desk in my room is where I signed all the check-in paperwork. Meanwhile the bellhop brought my bags and a butler(!) came in with a glass of orange juice. Once the check-in clerk left the butler showed me the various room features, including the 52" plasma TV. So far I was impressed. All non-alcoholic drinks in the mini-bar were complementary as well.

So the next day was spent lounging around the West Wing pools with Mike, Elushka and their son Keelan. The West pools had a current pool that went inb a circle for around 200m, plus waterslides. We had a great, and relaxing, time.


The next day I stayed at the East Wing pool, and hung out at the pool bar or relaxed on a lounge chair. I didn't do anything fancy or see the sights in Abu Dhabi I'm afraid, maybe next time.

So was it worth it? At the heavily reduced price that I got it was worth a one-time splash in luxury. Would I do it more often at that price? No, still a little pricey (one beer is approx $13). Would I do it at regular prices of $500+ a night? Heck No!! But it was nice to really experience how the other 1% of uber-rich people live, if only just once.

Brief updates on currency

Abu Dhabi was cool, more on that later . . .

As for the unified Gulf currency planned for 2010, an economist says it is unlikely to happen. Oman has backed out, Kuwait removed their currency peg, and the UAE is starting to waffle on the idea. Looks like a common currency is out. Shame, I appeciated how much introducing the Euro simplified things, and a GCC currency could have done the same.

In other banking news looks like the Central Bank is getting "tough" with banks lending money to individuals. Now such loans are capped at something like QR2.5 million (a paltry US$686,000) and the maximum repayment term is 84-months. That's cracking down?? No wonder these banks have so many defaults if they are willing to lend large sums like that over 7-years.

Out for the weekend

Taking a quick weekend getaway to Abu Dhabi. My friends Mike & Elushka are going to drive down from Dubai and meet me there so it should be a fun weekend. None of us have been there before so we'll take a bit of time to see the sights. I'll post again when I return.

Another journey

Well everything has been finalized and it looks like I have another conference coming up in October.

So where am I heading this time? . . . .



I can’t quite believe it myself . . .



Beijing!!


Yes, I’m off to China in October! The conference is three days but I’ve taken some time off so will be there for a week to see the sights. Got my guide book, already spoken to a few people who have been there – I can’t wait to go now.

My one hesitation is the air pollution, some types of air pollution can sting my eyes fiercely, so I can only hope that I’ll be okay while I’m there. If the air quality really affects me then this trip could turn out to be a misery instead of interesting. I’ll try to arm myself with eyedrops before I go.

Forbidden City here I come!

Here she is!

Happy Birthday Karis!

A Happy Birthday wish to my niece Karis. I'll try to dig up a photo for the blog - she's so cute! She is one of those rare children who rarely cried through the night, thus letting Mommy & Daddy get a decent night's sleep. She calls me "Unkee Glen", mostly with "No" around it, such as "No, Unkee Glen, no!" whenever I do something she doesn't want me to do (but she's cute when she says that too).

It is an unfortunate part of living so far away that you rarely see family. I only visit Canada once a year, so it has been a while since Karis has seen Unkee Glen. Hopefully she recognizes me when I visit in Janauary!

Have a wonderful Birthday Karis! *kiss*

Liquor Permits

So after being here about 15 months I finally broke down and got a liquor permit. You see in Qatar you need a license to have alcohol at home, otherwise the only place to buy it is a hotel bar. I wasn't too fussed about it so I didn't bother with the permit but I'm finding the prices at bars so outrageous (~$8-9 a drink) that I decided if only so save money I should get one. That Ramadan is coming up (when even the bars can't serve alcohol) is a factor as well.

So I had to fill out a form, get copies of my passport and work permit, and get a letter from my employer noting:

-- that I am allowed to have a liquor permit. Can't get one without employer permission.
-- my salary, as it affects how much I can purchase a month.
-- my marital status (??)
-- where I live (??)

oh, and pay a QR1000 ($US275) refundable deposit.

So I go to the only liquor store, wait an hour at the permit office with about 10 other guys (only men were there for permits for some reason), then got a permit card with my picture on it so I could buy some alcohol right away!

My monthly limit was mind-numbing. For a country that restricts alcohol I certainly wasn't expecting the limit that I got. Think 4-figures $US! A month! I'd have to open a small bar to go through that much booze.

So now I'm stocked up with some spirits to get me through the next couple of months. I shouldn't need to go to the bars now if I want to drink something, especially since and entire bottle of spirits from the store costs less than 3 drinks at a bar.

Premium vs. Regular gas

I had always wondered what the difference in octane between premium, super and regular gas was supposed to do. A little research came up with some surprising results. The difference is very little, except price of course. Apparantly lower octane can cause pinging, but only if your car engine is designed for high octane fuel (check your manual for recommeded octane) and it doesn't have some kind of engine stabilizer to prevent pinging, which almost all cars have. So in other words paying extra for premium or super gas is usually a waste of money.

While I could like to all sorts of technical websites, the guys who run Car Talk, a popular North American radio show about cars, do a better job of descibing the situation. Read about it here. My favourite quote:

We don't believe that any modern engine that claims to require premium will be damaged by using regular unleaded judiciously. Neither do any of the sources we've checked with — including the American Petroleum Institute, the American Engine Rebuilders Association — even a chemist (who would rather go unnamed) at a major gasoline company.

So save some money and use regular gas!

A trip to the movies

Wasn't doing much the other evening so decided to check out "The Simpsons Movie" as I had heard that it was pretty good. This will mark the second time I have been out to the movies in Doha since I arrived 16 months ago. No particular reason, I'm just not a big movie buff.

Like North America the movie theaters in Qatar now have that nice "Silver City" type seating with drink holders etc. Tickets were QR30 (~$8) but drinks were fairly standard, a small popcorn and soda was QR12 (~$3.50).

Now one thing that many around here mention about the movie theater is that in Qatar apparantly it is perfectly acceptable to keep your cell phone on, answer calls, or chat loudly with your friends during a movie. Everyone complains about that. Luckily for me the theater was only about 30% full and I don't recall anyone chatting away or doing other annoying things. I guess that's the sign of a good film right there.

What this cinema had that I hadn't seen anywhere else was a "VIP theater". I guess serfs like me use the other 13 screens while the VIP theater is for important people or something. I found where it was and since nothing was showing there at the moment I snuck in to take a look. Pretty nice I must say. The seats reminded me of business class seats on an airplane. Looks like they swiveled side-to-side as well (which goes to show how much space there was between seats). The cup holder was to the left of the armrest and had wood panelling. They probably have waiters come by with your food & drink order so you don't have to stand in line. If I was more interested in watching movies I'd find out how to get VIP status, but since the show in that theater was an Arabic-language movie I can only assume it's for locals only.

The movie was good, popcorn was fine. What more can I say?

Ladies, does your husband work in Doha on his own?

If so, and he's 45+, I put it about a 1-in-6 chance he's roaming around Doha with a young pretty Asian lady.

Stopped by a couple of bars last night. As per usual the guy to girl ratio was around 12-1 or so, but inevitably there is always some older Westerner with some Asian 20-something sitting at a table. You see these guys in every bar, sometimes he looks older than 60. She never does. I don't think the girls are hookers though, I think most of them are girlfriends who like being with a sugardaddy. Like I've said in previous posts most workers here from Asia do not make a lot of money, maybe $350 a month, so it wouldn't take much for a Western man to be considered a rich man by some ladies.

I'm not passing judgement on it, as far as I'm concerned consenting adults can do whatever they want. Just want to give all those wives back home a head's up.


Ain't I a stinker. :p

Absinthe

While travelling in London I tried to find a place that served absinthe, a drink that I had always been meaning to try out. Absinthe always had mysterious connetations and was a popular Bohemian drink, rumours about its halucinogenic properties led it to being banned by most European nations in the 1910s, the "reefer Madness" of its day. Nowadays the hype has died down and it is legal in many countries.

I didn't have any luck in London but it Paris it was more common (makes sense I guess, Paris was where absinthe was all the late in the late 1800s-early 1900s). I tried it at two restaurants and both served it properly: glass of green absinthe, glass of ice-water, sugar cube, & slotted absinthe spoon for the sugar cube.

Absinthe is a strong spirit, usually around 50% alcohol, but I was fine after drinking it. I did have some strange dreams that night after the first one and I wondered in the absinthe played a role, but I had no problems sleeping after the second time so I doubt it.

What does it taste like? Would you like it if you ordered it? Whether one would like absinthe or not really depends on how much you like sambuca since they taste very similar (both being anise-flavoured). I like sambuca so absinthe was a pleasant enough experience.

A bit about travelling.

I can't believe that I forgot to mention one of the most useful links: Trip Advisor. I don't use it for booking vacations, what it is great for is the hotel reviews. Readers can sumbit reviews of the hotels that they stayed at and this gives you a great insight into what hotels to stay in, and what ones to avoid. Just search for "hotels in XYZ" and the list will come up. I try to use hotels that have at least 10+ reviews (better chance that the reviews have not been stacked by hotel management logging on and giving it a fabulous review). I've used the reviews when picking hotels for the past 3 years and it hasn't steered me wrong yet. Check it out next time you are planning a trip.

I have discovered that the airlines in this region: Qatar Airways, Gulf Air (Bahrain), and Emirates (Dubai) all have an interesting trick. I always wondered why flights back to Doha were full of people who were using Doha as a transit point to their next stop and assumed that the airlines were cutting their prices for transit passengers going to Asia and other destinations. Turns out, and a friend and I checked this out online, that flights to a destination are cheaper if transiting though the regional hub than if you were going there from the hub directly. Example:

Doha -> New York on Qatar Airways: ~$1,125
Dubai -> Doha -> New York on QA: $878

Doha -> London on QA: ~$1,200
Doha -> Dubai -> London on Emirates: $906
Dubai -> London on Emirates: ~$1,150

What the heck is up with that, pay more and take one less flight!? Gulf Air does this as well. You pay a couple of hundred more to fly from the regional hub than if you transited through the hub. Next time I book a ticket I might go down to the airline ticket agency and ask why this is, maybe they'll give me a discount to keep quiet. ;-)

Links to occupy your time

The internet is an interesting and bizarre place. Here's some links to neat sites that you might not have seen before. Something to while away the hours with:

A great site for getting backgrounds and wallpaper for your computer is Digital Blasphemy. It is by an artist who uses computer graphics programs to create beautiful images of landscapes, fictional planets etc. Many of the works can be downloaded free of charge, no registration required. Take a look through his galleries.

I'm sure you have all heard of the film critic Roger Ebert, but did you know he maintains a list of what he considers great movies. There are probably about a hundred of them, each with a detailed review. Some of his choices are obvious (Casablanca, Citizen Kane, Wizard of Oz, Apocalypse Now, Taxi Driver, 2001: A Space Odyssey), some are older films or foreign films you've likely never heard of (Battle of Algiers, Bob le Flambeur, L'Avventua), some are films that you'll love to be reminded of (A Christmas Story, Snow White, Moonstruck) and some that you may recall were in theaters but you never bothered to see (Dark City, Crumb). Go through the list and maybe you'll find something new to rent. I have a copy of A Hard Day's Night in my DVD collection now thanks to this list.

All the news that is not fit to print, Fark.com, a great site for finding out the latest news of the weird. I've mentioned this site before in my blog and it really is worth checking out. The articles that readers submit can range from tragic to comically bizarre. The photoshop contests are usually a treat as well.

And if you're the mellow type, or just feeling a little blue, try Cute Overload, a website dedicated to cute pictures of fuzzy widdle animals. Kittens? check. Fuzzy bunnies? check. Puppies? you got it in spades.

That outta keep you busy. If you know some really cool links, let me know.

Random bits

I was reading a book on Salvador Dali (with lots of pictures of his work) before going to bed last night. Big mistake - I had the weirdest dreams about melting figures and stuff. So make a mental note to yourself: don't read about Dali before sleeping.

French people really do appreciate it when you try to speak to them in French, even if you mess it up somewhat. While in Paris at least three times people complemented me on my French or me trying to use it. How many times have you seen anyone compliment somebody for trying to speak English? So I will make an extra effort to try to learn a bit of the local language when I go travelling (which means I need to brush up more on my Arabic).

Tonight I'm going out with a few people to a local restaurant for a Dosa Festival. Essentially, you sit down and eat lots of Dosas. Sounds good to me! I love crepes. (Not sure about having it with pickles though).

The humidity here has finally started to ramp up, now every time you go outside it feels like stepping into a sauna. It'll probably stay this way until late October. I can't say I enjoy it much as it gets so humid you just don't want to be outside for long. Gotta plan my next getaway, maybe the first week in September.

London vs. Paris

Okay so how was the trip? Which city did I like better? Well, I figured I'd do a itemized list of things to compare the two cities on, almost like a competition:


Overall look: London has an interesting mix of buildings both old and new but Paris retains much of its architectural charm. Neighbourhood after neighbourhood looks like it is from the late 19th-early 20th century, with four or five storey apartment buildings side by side with the shuttered windows etc. By keeping the architecture consistent the streets of Paris retain a lot of charm.

Winner: Paris

Cleanliness: Both cities were not immaculate of course but the parks were well-maintained even though busy streets were a little grungy. Overall things were relatively good considering they are both major cities. I had heard that in Paris there are dog droppings everywhere but I didn’t find that to be the case at all.

Winner: I’ll give this one a tie, both cities were fine.

Air quality: Both cities had some air quality problems due to all of the cars but there was something else with the air in London – blowing my nose would result in a tinge of grey, something that didn’t occur in Paris. I also saw a number of bicycle riders in London wearing masks/filters, something I never saw in Paris.

Winner: Paris

Least expensive: Don’t get me wrong – both cities are prrrriiicey. Hotel costs are brutal, and food is not cheap either. Overall though I found beer, coffee and most food items cheaper in London, and wine and bread/pastries cheaper in Paris. (in this case “cheaper” still means at least 2X what you’d pay back home). However London doesn’t charge for most museums and attractions, while in Paris most museums charge 7-10 euro for entry. Considering all of the museums these cities have that adds up for someone doing the tourist thing.

Winner: London, thanks to subsidized museums.

Metro: Both the Paris Metro and the London Underground provide great service to anywhere a tourist wants to go. Always make sure wherever it is that you are staying that it is close to a metro/underground station and then you can just use a multi-day pass to get around. Overall I found the Underground a bit easier to navigate, and trains ran a bit more frequently (usually every 2-4 minutes as opposed to 3-7 minutes in Paris). The Underground was a bit cleaner as well, though that isn’t saying much, but the scent of stale urine was definitely to be found in some Metro stations.

Winner: London

Restaurants: Well I certainly didn’t eat everywhere, and wasn’t eating in top-end jacket & tie types of places, but the food in restaurants was generally good in both cities. I recall some service issues in the occasional place in Paris that didn’t occur in London though. One memorable one was in a sidewalk café on the Champs de Elysses where the waiter placed down a paper tablecloth, napkins and cutlery on our table but when we just ordered coffees he grabbed the tablecloth, napkins & cutlery and moved them to another table where another couple was sitting! He then had us move to the table next to them – all because we weren’t ordering food. Weird. We and the other couple had a good laugh when we told them where their cutlery had come from (though we did point out that we hadn’t touched it).

Winner: London, edging out the win due to better service.

Museums: The British Museum is iconic, and it’s collection of Egyptian antiquities can’t be beat outside of Egypt, but as a museum the Louvre is in a class on its own. You would have to combine the British Museum, the Tate Gallery, and the Victoria & Albert Museum to even come close to the sheer size of the Louvre collection, and the walls and ceilings of many of the Louvre’s galleries are artworks in-and-of themselves, retaining their centuries-old décor. The park and gardens around the Louvre are also spectacular. And I didn’t even see most of the other museums in Paris.

Winner: Paris, unless you are a massive fan for all things Egyptian

Other attractions: Cruising the Seine beats the Thames. Eiffel Tower is better than the London Eye and Big Ben. Westminster Abbey beats Notre Dame. St. Paul’s edges out Sacre-Coeur (St. Paul’s is more historical and has more to see, though Sacre-Coeur has a must-see view of Paris). Arc de Triumph leaves Trafalgar Square in the dust. Finally there is the walk from the Arc de Triumph, down the Champs de Elysees, through numerous parks, past the Obelisk, past some large fountains, until you reach the parks in front of the Louvre. That walk cannot be matched by anything in London.

Winner: Paris

Nightlife: I don’t know much about the quality of nightlife in the two cities but London is a pub culture so it seemed that anywhere you looked there was a pub or club that you could pop into. In Paris that was a lot harder to find, cafes were much more plentiful.

Winner: London, just due to the ease of finding places.

Safety: Both cities have their dodgy neighbourhoods but overall I didn’t have any issues. There were a few beggars here and there in either city, and the odd homeless guy in the parks or metro stations – nothing to the level you see in cities like Vancouver or LA. There were signs warning people about pickpockets in Paris but I never saw anything or heard any commotion. Janel may have had a pair of earrings stolen from her hotel room in Paris though, probably by a maid but it is possible someone came through the window of her 1st floor room.

Winner: I’ll say London based on the earrings but if Janel does find them I’ll move this one to a “tie”.

Queues: Way longer in Paris than in London for all major tourist attractions. London’s only major queue problem was at Madame Tuseud’s, so we didn’t bother going in. Waited over an hour to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower, and skipped Notre Dame because of the long line. Crowding was pretty bad at the Louvre as well.

Winner: London


The Overall Winner: Though London beat Paris 6-4 in the categories Paris won the major ones: overall look, museums, & other attractions. If I had to choose for only one of them to go to for a vacation I’d choose Paris over London. Paris Wins!

[People on tight budgets, people who greatly prefer pubs over cafes, families with kids (sodas in Paris cafes cost at least 3.50 euro!), and Egyptologists might be better off in London though.]

I'm baaaaaaaaack.

Back from the Europe trip. I had a wonderful time in London and Paris and like most good trips it is a bit of a drag that it had to end and head back home. After being in Paris I now realize that my five-years of French class in high school has meant that my French sucked. It definately improved as time went on but was still sketchy at best. However I went from asking the hotel reception:

day one: Key to room six-ten s'il vous plait.

last day: La cle pour la chambre six-cent dix, s'il vous plait.

If I had stayed a few more weeks maybe I'd have really gotten the hang of it. The real problem came when French people would talk back in French because the odds of me understanding them was near-zero. Like one time I asked for a coffee and the waitress said something like dulait and I'm wondering what a dulait is, thinking it was one word, instead of du lait (lait being milk). Oh well, c'est la vie.

I'll blog more tomorrow, I'm pretty tired right now since I took a red-eye back to Doha from Paris so it is time to go to bed.

Off to London and Paris!

For the next couple of weeks blogging will be sporatic, I'm off to Europe tomorrow morning! I can't wait. I'm meeting up with some friends in London, and a former housemate of mine from Bermuda will be meeting me in London and journeying on to Paris with me.

While I've been to London a few times I never get tired of it, and I've never been to Paris before so I'm really looking forward to that. I'm taking the Eurostar between London and Paris, so I'll get to see the countryside a bit and go through the Chunnel. I think me travelling by Eurostar will be a one-off though -- a one-way trip is costing >$300! Yikes! Pretty bloody expensive for a 2 & 1/2 hour train trip. Some people have told me that flying between the two cities is actually cheaper, but then again you also have more hassle with all of the stuff you have to go through at the airport. The Eurostar also stops in the centre of Paris so it is more convenient to get to my hotel then from Charles de Gaulle airport.

Temperature currently a moderate 20 with chance of clouds and rain. Works for me! I need an escape from the heat so I'd prefer that then 28 degrees and sunny the whole time. Give me cool and cloudy.

If I get a chance I'll send some updates from Europe. No guarantees though, I'm not going to Paris is the summer to hunt down internet cafes to update blogs.

One thing to make you sad, one to make you laugh.

Here's a couple of links that you might find interesting. First the sad one, the website for the orphanage in Nepal that my friend Mary taught at this Spring:

www.orphanagenepal.org

If you click on "About Us" then "Children" you get a bio of each of the kids at the orphange. While many of the orphans have lost their parents some of them have one or both of their parents still alive. Mary was telling me that in Nepal it is not uncommon that when someone gets remarried that they have to abandon the children from their previous marriage, so many of the children in the orphanage have simply been abandoned. Unbelievable. Some of them were beggars and living on the streets before being brought to the orphanage.

Anyway take a look through the website, and if you're ever in the Pokhara area of Nepal maybe pay them a visit and see if you can help out. The orpahange's primary focus is on educating the kids so that when they grow up they can get jobs and a decent start in life. My friend Mary taught secretarial skills to girls in their late teens and most of them have gone on to decent-paying secretarial jobs somewhere in Nepal. Mary has done at least two stints there so I know that it is a legit organization that really helps improve the lives of children.



On to the funny link: First you have to know who Stephen Colbert is, if you don't, click on this wikipedia bio first. His show on Comedy Central is a riot.

Anyway, Fark.com is a website that has all sorts of weird news stories but also has daily Photoshop contests. A recent one was phtotshopping Stephen Colbert as a relgious figure. It turned out to be one of their best photoshop contests ever. Click on the link and hopefully you'll get as big a kick out of it as I did.

Medication warnings

I just noticed that:

1) all of my medications were made in either the UAE or Egypt; and

2) none of them say that you can't take them with alcohol


Maybe it's because they assume that the person taking them would never drink alcohol anyway, right?

Well, off to the BBQ to have a couple of beers. WhooHoo!