Sundowners part two

As the sun went down and the kitesurfers packed up, we loaded aboard Eddie and headed for home, calling in to pick up one of the Lancers left from last night's revelries. We had some picture framing to collect from Mall of the Emirates so decided to have our tea there, at the Art Cafe, which does a mean burger, salad or fish and chips (though it's not cod, it's hammour, but still tasty with a bit of tartar sauce)

Sundowners beach

First day of a long weekend has been a nice one. Last night we went to Bruce and Lisa's for a barbeque, its Dubai Sevens this weekend which is one of the social calendar events of the year, and Bruce had ex-colleagues travelling in from UK and Moscow to all go and watch. (Liz and I had an offer of two tickets but no babysitter). In the afternoon we went to Jumeirah beach, where everyone seems to head and park their cars on the sand and either paddle around or kitesurf. Madeleine met her friend Najeeba from school with her brother and sister and mum, so we spent some time talking and letting the kids play in the sand .

Trading in for a new model

The Lancer that is, after I picked up the Hello John got a new motah? Ford Expedition Eddie Bauer- this is is it parked next to a diminutive Mazda 323 at Lulu, (possibly the best supermarket in the world and soon to be a blog subject). Driving this is like flying a plane, 8 seats mean the kids can be separated and there's a chance they can't squabble in the 5 minute drive to school. Exciting to drive a 5.4 litre monster, it really takes off- good job the fuel's cheap. Could be in for a beach visit this weekend, its a UAE National Holiday on Sunday so I've got a three day break.

Sunday night snowboard

Sunday night is a snowboard night for Jack in Ski Dubai, an 8 week after school course- he seems to be getting the hang of it dudes. If I can get there in time, I meet up with Liz and the girls picking up Jack and we can get a bite to eat in the Mall of the Emirates. This is wor lass at Japengo, an oriental food bar at the end of the food hall. Looks like an angel with two halos

Exotic Bird

Well, its not very often you get a green parakeet on the patio set in your back garden, even here I guess. The blackbirds here all look like Mynah birds too so probably are. Makes a change from the odd sparrow and a few lizards.

Magnificent Seven

The day finally came around! We had an early start, opening prezzies and cards on our bed. I managed to get an early dart from work and was home an hour before the 2pm kick off, swept the patio and cleaned the garden furniture up. We had a few parents with a bit of difficulty finding the villa, so I hung some balloons on a traffic cone near the entrance off the main road, which seemed to do the trick.

After plenty of games of musical statues and pin the tail on the camel, everyone scoffed jellies and nibbles with lashings of cake and one too many flumps (as Maddy felt a bit sick later). Bruce and Lisa stayed late for a barbeque and a few beers, sat outside with a few beers and one or two midges, they seem to be on the increase as the weather cools down a bit, though its still 31 degrees. Altogether a smooth operation by Liz, helped by Amelia running the games like a great big Sis.

Thanks to everyone who sent cards and pressies- some arrived the next day, Chris and Julia's and Big Nan's arrived today so she has had a prolonged birthday to enjoy!

Are you Bodie or Bond?

Jack getting his pose right for a picure on his MSN I think.

New car and lamborghini

Well it was time to get a new car and off-hire the Lancers, so we went to the dealers on Sheikh Zayed Road and picked up this lillte number. Shahhh! This is Jack next to his dream car at the Motor Show last night, trying to look cool. We did find a car over the weekend, but its a black Ford Expedition gas guzzle monster just right for school runs and shopping trips. We sorted Jack out with his diabetes clinics at the American Hospital, the doctor is a French guy I think, and was very good, we're hpoing to get Jacks HbA1c test down as its a bit high again at 9.5. He gave us some good advice about insulin dosage so heres hoping.

Arrivaderci Stowellionis

Well, it all flew by but they fitted a lot in, a trip to the Mosque, lunch with Barbara from Pensby, buffet lunch at the Burj al Arab hotel, bartering in the Soukhs in the old town, dinner at the One and Only Royal Mirage Hotel, picnic in Safa Park, and helping the kids with their homework of course.

Wednesday was the last day of Helen and Mary's visit, and after work I headed down to their hotel where the clan were already assembled for a few last hours together by the pool before packing up. Its only 4 weeks 'til we see them again though as we have booked flights to stay in the UK for Christmas. It'll fly by as it's Madeleine's birthday next weekend, Liz will be busy organising the party at the Aston- where are those barbeque tools packed away....?

Jumeirah Beach

One advantage of having your Auntie and Gran staying at the Sheraton Jumeirah Beach Hotel is having your own private beach (as long as you pay the non-members fee) so Liz and the kids made the most of it. The girls and Jack all had a swim in the sea which was a first, they would only go in the pool at Rhodes this summer. I think part of the problem is Jack continually mentioning sharks so the key is shutting him up early! The water is really warm so I think it was a surprise to them after freezing their feet just paddling in the past.

Up the Creek

Friday is our day off so we picked up Gran and Hely and headed for the centre of town with the aim of having aboat ride up and down the creek and a wander about a few markets or Soukhs. We had a walk along the side of the Creek and picked upo the water bus across to the Bur Dubai side, at the Old Soukh station. The problem with it being Friday was it was totally crowded with people off work and with most places closed, they all just seemed to be wandering around and aimlessly filling every square foot available. We hired an Abra to ourselves at what is an extortionate rate locally but not too dera in the scheme of things, and had an hours cruise up and down the creek. The Abra skippers stop all the Indian guys getting on the boat if they see a group of Western "Tourists" so they can do a deal- which is a bit more difficult if all the Indian guys are paying just 1 Dirham to cross, about 14p.

Bellys

The evening continued with Liz and Mary trying on a Burkha which is the black gown and face covering so you could just see their eyes, and getting their photo taken with an Arab guy in his white dish-dash, like they were his new wives. A big desert barbeque meal was followed by the belly dancer; I think Amelia was very impressed with the way she could throw her hips round and even ripple her belly whilst balancing a walking cane on one hip. Amelia was a bit apprehensive about the belly dancer coming right up close to her though!

Pass the Sheesha

Camel riding was followed by shopping for trinkets around the Bedouin Bazaar area, then on to various other tents- bread making, oils and scents and enough time to chill out with a few puffs on the old Sheesha. Its just fruit flavoured tobacco but i think Liz was expecting the Whacky Baccy

Liz gets the hump

After a razz around the dunes in a Land Cruiser, which had them all screaming (except Jack who asked to go faster) they went for a camel ride which looked good fun. The way the camel stood up, back legs first, took Liz by surprise much to Mary and Helen's amusement!

The Outlaws are in town

Chilling with a beer now after 10 days visit by Mary and Helen from UK. They stayed at the Sheraton Jumeirah Beach Hotel as they booked before we had the villa, so it was nice for Liz to go down there and lounge by their pool and use the facilities! I was at work in the week and the kids were at school, so we met up evenings and we had meals together. On the Thursday the kids finish school early so they all went out on a desert safari- first pic on hte sand here!

Just deserts

The run out to Hatta went very well. After the usual complaining from the kids about an early start we hit the road in our Lancer mean machine, loaded with the essentials of a 3 litre bottle of water, the passports, Jacks PSP and two Nintendo DS Lites. Its about 100km from Dubai across to the Oman border with the UAE, and the features of note from the guidebook are "The Big Red Dune", carpet and pot buying opportunities, mountains and the Hatta Fort Hotel, built at the site of a pass through the mountains to Oman where the British once set up a fort, presumably in the days of Lawrence of Arabia.

Once out in the sticks any signs of lifebecame "road towns", a linear row of scruffy looking shantys selling things at roadside, mostly wheels and oil. We reached the big dunes, where the main dual carriageway road has sleeping policemen across which I wasn't expecting, all the traffic went from 120 kmh to a crawl and a queue which took me by surprise. Tents and compounds next to the road are filled with quad bikes for hire to let you go "dune bashing" and chelsea tractors were to be seen ploughing up and over the sand. I think the aim with the biggest dune is to tank your way straight to the top and with enough momentum to get there, as we saw one vehicle stuck about 50 feet from the summit and the occupant walking the last stretch.

Close to Hatta we pulled over at a carpets and pots market roadside and haggled three indian guys down on a carpet for the lounge. We got a 2m x 3m persian style rug at about 1/3 of the starting price, but I still think we'll see it cheaper next time we go to Carrefour. The main guy had a massive black beard and a crookedy eye and did all his offering with a big old Casio desktop calculator, and absolute classic patter "How much you pay? How much you pay?" and chasing after us when I kept saying it was far too much and we'd have to leave and come back another time. I don't think there was any way he was going to let us leave without a carpet and a pot, we could have been his only sale that day, as the road to Hatta was lined with more markets all with what looked like exactly the same gear.

After a bureaucratic 60 minutes getting visas to enter Oman at the border checkpoint, we drove back through "no mans land" to the Dubai checkpoint, renewed our UAE visas including my residency Visa- hurrah! First step towards a full residency permit, next is a medical I think.

We turned into Hatta Fort Hotel, had a nice lunch overlooking the pool then went to the Rock Pool where the kids all swam for a couple of hours. The waterfall was off for maintenance which was a pity, especially as it came back on as we were leaving- Madeleine and Amelia were gutted.

We got back after dark and all the other children in the compound were playing out, wearing their Halloween costumes from the night before, so ours joined in. Met the neighbours from No 2 and No 4- Arturo is a Mexican guy working for a Mexican cement company here, Stephen is Chinese from Nanking and works for a big communications firm Hua Hui? Sounded like Wowee anyway. So the weekend ahead, we are going to sort out registering with a GP clinic and linking Jack with a Hozzy, probably the American Hospital as from its website it has a big specialist diabetes centre.