City Tour

For this morning I had booked a private driver to take me around town and show me what this emirate has to offer. It started out well, but after a while you could tell he wasn’t very interested in talking – to something else then his cell phone. But he took me to all the places I should see around here; The biggest Mosque in Dubai, The Worlds highest building, The worlds one and only 7 star hotel, The Palms – an island build as a palm tree with a 6-star hotel at the end.

What hit me was that the magnificent skyline with all the sky scrapes and amazing buildings are far from finished buildings. Lots of it is standing still since the big world financial crash a few years ago. I wonder if they will ever finish them. Big parts of town are construction sites, so they need to get it going to make it look good.

After the three-hour tour I was dropped off at The Mall of Emirates. The big mall the most people have heard about, due to the indoor ski slope they have there. I didn’t go skiing; I’ve had enough of snow for this year thank you very much. But I had a look at it through the windows. I must admit it’s amazing, but at the same time rather stupid… People seamed to like it though, there were lots of people running around in overalls and boots… I wonder how cold it is in there.

I sat down to have lunch while I was studying the map of the mall. It’s an enormous place, with not only the Ski Dubai, but an indoor amusement park as well, and loads and loads of shops of all sorts. My favourite shop was the department store. I enjoy walking down the aisles checking it out.

A little bit further down I saw a sign saying “Taxi”, without thinking about it I walked out that door and into a taxi and I was on my way back to the hotel. I’m not really a good shopper, am I??

Back at the hotel I spent a few hours on the roof, by the pool. That was really nice.

Tonight I will have dinner at the hotel, for the first time since I arrived I will have the dinner included in my half board that I have actually paid for already. After dinner I’ll have a quiet evening at my room and just relax. Just as I planned when I bought the trip!

New PHOTOS

Days of water

It was rather hard to wake up this morning. When the alarm went off I wanted to stay in bed, but since I had an appointment with a group of very clever creatures I had to get going. Fueled up with pancakes and juice and off I went. I must say I’m happy for my experience of “Africa Time” … cos I have need for it here.

So I went to Dubai Dolphinaruim. Maybe not what I would have chosen my self, but when the guy from yesterday suggested it I thought: Why not? Lets do something different. And it was a good show, seals and dolphins jumping, singing and playing around. It was me and a lot of kids and their families.

After the show I went for a stroll around Creek River Park in the heat. Trying to find as much shade as possible under the palm trees. Every here and there I passed this signs saying “Refreshments”… but whenever I came to the kiosk it was closed… like walking through the desert and seeing water, but when you get there it was just a vision.

After a walk in the heat I had lemonade at the Dolphinarium while planning for the rest of the day. Plan was to go to a mall where it was cool. I got a taxi, and just as I walked in to the car I changed my mind and asked him to take me back to the hotel. Why should I go to a shopping mall when I’m not even a shopper – and has another mall booked for tomorrow?

Back at the nice and cool room I had a rest before I put on the training clothes and went to the gym. After a good workout I relaxed on the roof by the pool. Not in the pool though since the doctor said I wasn’t allowed in the pool due to my eye… For the first time since I arrived I felt cooler winds blowing up there. Nice!!

For the evening I was booked into a Dhow Cruise on the Creek. Got picked up – a little late as usual, and after picking another couple up we headed for Al Khor and our boat. It was a pretty dull arrangement. We sat on the boat and got entertained by a very bad magician, the spoke Arabic or Hindi or something all the time. Later, dinner was served. Nothing fancy, but not too bad. I would have thought that there would be some kind of guiding of where we were and what we passed, but nothing – just a dinner on the boat. At least I had good company. Shared table with a great couple from Durban.

We can call this the day with water theme… let’s see what tomorrow brings!

I'll try get the pics to work now. If the link doesn't work try and copy paste the adress from yesterday.

PHOTOS

First day

The first day in Dubai is about to end. Since I got to my room at 4.00 am I over slept breakfast. Took a stoll around the hotel to check it out. Roof top pool and a nice gym and downstairs a number of restaurants. Inbetween 693 rooms.
Visited the tour company in the lobby, which resulted in a desert tour later in the afternoon and evening. After a small brunch from the coffeeshop I met another man that really new how to sell things to do. And all I wanted to do is ask if there was something in the area to have a look at. Now most of my days are "fully booked"...
He suggeested I got to a local market for a few hours beofre it was time to go to the desert. He put me in a taxi and off I went. A short ride later the driver dropped me off at an area that looked rather closed and empty. Hey, it is midday Friday... Everyone is at the Mosque.
Well - I took a small stroll back to the hotel. It wasn't too far, but when it's 45° and mid day - even a short walk is hard...

When I got back I went to the gym and believe it or not - amongst other things I did - I ran!!! I can't run!! but I did!!

A shower and an hours wait in the lobby later the car was here to pick up for the desert safari tour. Four of us from our hotel and three already in the car made it packed. It was a rather disorganized tour with a driver that didn't spoke to us, not even answered questions. Well well, after some stops and wonderings what was going on we found our selfs rollercoasting on the dunes in a 4x4... That was pretty cool.
The tour ended at a camp where you could go camel riding, quad biking and sand boarding. I didn't do any. I went to the bar and had oads of water!!!
A bit later we got food and entertainment sitting in the dark desert. It was nice and cool. Strange how you can say it's cool when the temperature is still over 30. =)

I think I will find sand in all my things for days to come...


Have a look at some pix here: https://picasaweb.google.com/carwahl/Dubai2011

Suddenly it happens,

After months of head over heels of work, long hours, many days, a lot of travelling and a lot of meetings (will not tell you how much because then I'll just have a law-abiding section riders after me), the body and mind said stop. I believe it’s gone well so far, been a bit tired and drained and unfortunately completely cut off from my surroundings, but I guess that unfortunately is what happens in this kind of situation. When this week began, however, my energy was gone. Spent a lovely weekend with good friends and felt really relaxed after that. But that feeling changed - it got bigger and different. I did not work very well and when I woke up on Tuesday morning with a bright red, watery and irritated eyes felt like it was time to slow down.

Since the work situation is like it is the plan was to work much of the weekend - the weekend being a long weekend off for most people due to two public holidays, Thursday and Monday and a “squeezed in Friday” that’s just tells you to take a holiday. One day of holiday gives you five days off. When I got home Tuesday evening, totally drained, with my irritated eye and a juicy my brain, I made a decision. I would not be working this weekend - not even on Friday. Why would I do that? Why should I wear me out like that?

That evening I had two words in my head - run away! I wanted to run away for the weekend. Started to think about where to go. Where could I find some peace of mind and stop thinking about work, get myself going and energize? The idea of ​​total solitude at a neutral site was attractive!

After some aimless surfing on the web, I suddenly sat there with a planned weekend ahead of me. Should I press the button!? Of course I should - and I did. The result: a long weekend in Dubai, a city that has attracted and is now reality a few days.

Right now I’m on the train going to the airport. I’m looking forward to a weekend of sun and warmth, relaxation and just taking care of my own time! So many times my colleague and I have been at the airport recently and each time we’ve said the same thing: "Imagine the day we may come here to go on holiday instead of work!" Sorry O, that day is here for me today!

The only fly in the beaker is my red eye. Turned out to be a corneal ulcer that may, very possibly may have a tendency to inflammation to it. So with me is a crème that I will smear on 4 times a day and drops to be taken every two hours... The doctor dismissed me from all swimming in the ocean and pool, and sauna. Sauna won’t be problem, but to not be able to have a swim when it’s 40 degrees can be a bit tougher. May well try to keep my feet cool ...

Now waiting is the check-in and after that a lunch in peace and quiet at the airport before Qatar Airways takes me to Dubai via Doha. Estimated arrival time is 3:10 Friday morning local time.

Fingers crossed that the hotel will welcome me at the time! At its worst, I guess I'll hang in the lobby a few hours ... It'll be all right when we get that far. Right now I sit back and breathe easy and enjoy a few hours in the air. Hoping for good food and good drink, and perhaps even a good movie.
See you ...

Same shit different day...

Most of us the same routines every day - and so have I. I get out of bed at more or less the same time every weekday morning. The alarm is set so that I can snooze once before the weather report. If I'm very tired I stay in bed until after the local news, other wise I get up just before them. I get ready for work and get on my bicycle and ride the same route to work - and a differnet going home.
Since I go the same way every morning at about the same time I normally pass McDonalds at the town square just before 7h00 am. I'm not sure, but I can imagine they open at 7h00, cos every morning the same three older men are standing outside waiting for them to open.
These men are probably homeless or close to anyway.
On Sunday when I had to go to work I passed the place half an hupr later and now it was open - and inside around a corner table sat the gorup of men.
I can help wondering what other daily routines these men have. I can't see that they are allowed to sit at McD all day. It makes me a bit sad.

But then, why do I react that way? What is it that makes me think they have a miserable life only cos they are stanidng outside McD early in the morning?!

If they have done the same observations as I have, they must have seen me on my bike with my helmet on my head and head phones in my ears with a big bag on my bag pedaling passed them every morning - and I don't think I look like I'm having the best of times there and then. In their world I might be the miserable one... They probably see me going to some kind of work and maybe they even feel sorry for me doing just that.

Then we have the man in the black suit, white shirt and tie with his black leather brief case walking towards the train station, and the girl with the very red hair walking in to town from the other way that I always meet in the tunnel under the railway...
All these people on the move - same thing every day!! We are very gridded characters!

For many the daily routines are a safety to function and for others it is just a routine...
same shit differnet day!!

Be a little brave and crazy.... change something in your routines every week!!
Refreshing..... or scary.....

What if??

I can find myself thinking and wondering "What if?" Not so much about what if I do this or that. More about what would have happend if I hadn't done as I did, taken the decision I did or met the poeple I met.
I find it rather interesting to think about what decisions, options, and some luck that has taken me to where I am today.
It is impossible to try and find out what had happend if I didn't... but I find it interesting to see the critical situations that set out the path to where I stand rihht now.

I was born in a town where my parents stayed just for a few years. When I was three we moved to the little town where I grew up and my parents still lives. What if they hadn't moved? What if I had grown up in the town where I was born. Who would I be today? What would my interests be? I think I would be a different person. Probably with al lot of the values I have today, but still very different. I believe we are shaped by the invironment and the people we have around us. Even if my parents would have been the same, everyone else around would be different.

After I graduated from school and was going to varsity I only applied for one course - Occupationl Therapist, but at eight different varsities. I was accepted at one, and while I prepared to go, I was accepted to another one too. I decided to go for the second one.
What if I had taken the first one? What people would I have met that I now don't know. How strange to think that I shouldn't know the poeple I met by going for the second choice.

So, what has taken my to where I am today and what what if's has taken me here?
If it wasn't for that application for that job I sent in that I was sure I would never get, and if it wasn't for the girl saying no and me actually getting the offer I would have never moved to the small little village where I then stayed for eight years. If it wasn't for me starting my new job the week I did I would have never came across Wheelchair rugby, that has been a big part of my life for the last 15 years. And if it wasn't for me getting that involved in the WCR I wolud have never got the chance to go places, like South Africa. And if it hasn't been for my trip to South Africa 2005 I would have never met the most amazing people in the world!!

Another "what if" is when I asked my self "What if you quit work and go back to school and do what you are really interested in?" What if I hadn't spoken to a friend of mine that knew that a new education was about to start? What if I hadn't told anyone and a colleague had told me about the ad in the paper saying it was still possible to apply for the course even if it was five months since the deadline. What if I hadn't made that phone call when I did, and found out that the aplication commitee was to meet the next day. What if I hadn't got my aplication in and what if I never started graphic school...

I will never know what my life would look like with other "What if's"... but I'm quite happy with the ones I have, that has taken me here. Now I'm looking forward to sit here in a few years time to see what more "What if's" I carry with me...
I do have some "What if's" for the future... let's see if they will be the one I look back on in the future...

W H A T A D A Y

03.50 AM

alarm goes off. Time to get read for a trip to Copenhagen.

04.25 AM

leaving home. Walking through an empty quiet town center. It’s the paperboy and me.

04.48 AM

the train leaves – on time… Heading for the airport.

05.57 AM

arriving at the airport.

Since I checked in online I walk straight to security. Today I’m flying “upper class” and can take the “Fast Track”. Not so fast this morning though… A line of first time flyers… or just people making easy things like taking your laptop out of the bag, very complicated.

07.10 AM

Take Off… The airline that likes to tell that they are “The most punctual airline in Europe” leaves on time.

Since it is an early morning flight and I’m “upper class” I’m beeing served breakfast – with warm rolls and everything… Yum!

I take the opportunity to work a little on the way while sipping another cup of tea.

08.20 AM

Touch Down! 5 minutes ahead of schedule – as “The most punctual airline in Europe” really like to point out…

BUT – this is now when it all starts…

Someone took our gate… We have nowhere to park! The flight that was 5 minutes ahead of time is now suddenly late!

Well, it wasn’t too bad. It took a few extra minutes but then we found parking and everyone was happily in Copenhagen!

I found the guy I was going to spend the day with. He left the same airport as me just a few minutes before. Different airline – different price! We belong to different companies! =)

We went to fetch our rental car, a small Japanese, and hit the roads of Denmark. Since we got into a bit of trouble already yesterday late afternoon when we realized the material we were about to make a trial with today hadn’t arrived we stopped for coffee on the way to see if we could get info from the people back home spending the morning trying to trace the parcel!

While having a snack we got the phone call – the material was now found and delivered. Yay!

10.30 AM

We arrived at the place where the trials should take place and started… This is now a big part of this day that I’d rather erase from my life… but since I can’t I have to live with the fact that it just didn’t work!! I can’t get into details and I don’t think you would enjoy that either. Let us just stop with saying it didn’t work very well… what I have spend hours and hours on without having a very important fact that now showed and kind of made the whole thing unusable!

We got it packed up with a little help from a lot of tape and sent them of to me to adjust! Not really the way I hoped for when I woke up very early this morning.

But ok, project number 2 was a little bit better then the first one and I think we can live with that one.

13.10 PM

we were done. Not much more we could do. Time to hit the road and get back to the airport.

Got the little Japanese filled up and returned before we got to our different terminals just to meet up again on the inside.

Had lunch and were suppose to talk business but got into talking travelling and holidays instead. Which was much more interesting at the time.

16.30 PM

It’s time to split up and take our different flights at the same time to the same airport. My flight is at 17.10.

16.39 PM

On my way to the gate (B9) when I receive a text message telling me the flight is delayed until 17.20. Only 10 minutes… but if it’s something I’ve learnt from flying frequently is that if they say 10 minutes it never stops there.

We were told to change gate to B7, because they were changing out aircraft.

17.09 PM

A new text message saying we will now take off at 17.50. AND we have to change gate to B5. They are bringing another aircraft. This is now number three in less then half an hour. The aircraft is on the way from the hangar.

18.00 PM

We are finally in the air. Once again the privilege of flying “Upper Class” is shown. We are being served a small cold meal. I get my box and open it. It’s a small potato salad and some roast beef, together with some bread. But hey, where’s my butter?? And I’ve flown enough to know that in that box is also a small little chocolate. Since I’m having a lot to do with chocolate at work I find it interesting to see what kind of chocolate is in the box this time. And guess what – there is NO chocolate in my box! I’m looking around and the people around me have a piece of chocolate in theirs.

So, how come that out of all the people on that plane receiving a “small cold meal corrugated box” I have to be the one getting one without the chocolate?? (and butter)

No question about it, when that drink trolley passes I ask for a bottle of red wine!! I actually should have taken two!

19.00 PM

I’m back on the ground. I have now missed my train by 12 minutes.

Going to the train station to see what options I have. I have to by a new ticket of course and the next train leaves at 19.37. Not too bad. I will be home at a quarter to nine. That’s ok.

19.37 PM

Onboard the train and it starts to move.

I’m sitting there watching the landscape passing by, at first very slow and I do get a bit frustrated and is wondering why they are going so slowly. But after the first stop they pick up the speed a bit.

While sitting there I go through my day (and the day of yesterday that was really a “kak” day too) and wonder why this is happening… I remember checking the time at 20.34 and thinking it’s great that our days now are so much longer. Outside the window is a beautiful sunset. I make myself smile a little while watching it thinking that it was “one of these days” but in ten minutes we’re home and it’s all over.

20.42 PM

They announce that in a few minutes we’ve reached our destination and it’s time to prepare for getting of the train.

20.43 PM

The train suddenly stops.

After a few minutes they announce that it is something wrong with the signals going in to the station so we have to wait for further information from the traffic planners office.

The minutes passes by and round about 21.15 they say that the preliminary time they’ve got is 22.00…. not before anyway!

At this time I’m preparing myself to stay the night on the train.

Just after 22.00 they say that the new time is “maybe” 22.30… but then suddenly we start to move…

22.15 PM

We arrive! 1 hour 30 minutes late!

22.30 PM

I’m finally back home! 18 hours after I left!

Twas a loooong day! A day that I don’t want too many off. But I have to see it from the bright side – I have filled my life’s memory bag with a few more experiences.