SkiDubai

When I first got to Dubai I swore I'd never waste my money on anything as fake as SkiDubai. But...after nearly four months (whoa) of living in flat desert environments, it has its appeal. I ended up going this weekend with three colleagues and had a great time.

 

Click here to see a video of one of the runs. I think we lasted nearly 24 seconds from top to bottom.

Killers In Abu Dbahi

I got bored of trying to write posts re: Kenya, so if you're interested call me. I'll be in the States on Thursday.

Last Tuesday I went to see The Killers at Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi. A pretty sweet venue on the edge of the corniche, the Palace was filled with roughly half drunk Brits and half middle and high school students. And me, my roommate and our co-worker, somewhere in the middle.

Spaceman light show:

 

Not a soldier:

 

Kenya Photos

Enjoy my Safari photos here.

Sorry for the delay; I've actually had work these past few days.

Stories and explanations to come.

Kenya: A Country In Generalizations

I'm back in Dubai after an adventuresome albeit not-very-strenuously-earned week's vacation in Kenya. I'm getting around to posting the pictures from the trip and will furnish some of the better stories of the week over the next couple days so check back soon.

Kenya and (from the stories of the other expats and backpackers I met along they) the rest of East Africa is an awesome place to visit and just bum around. Although airfare from the States is probably $400-500 more expensive than Western Europe, you'll probably break even if you stay in Africa for at least two weeks. When not on Safari, I was spending maybe $10 a day (mostly on Tusker...more later on that).


I spent a day and a half on safari to Lake Nakuru, home to the largest rhino population in Kenya. We were lucky enough to see both black and white rhinos and even a leopard on the ground, which is supposedly pretty rare. I tried catching them with my poke-balls (I even pressed down-B!) but only came away with a stupid Metapod.


We spent the next two and a half days roaming around Masai Mara, the most popular park. We saw everthing: hunting lions, towering giraffes, herds of elephant, cheetas, leopards, hippos and crocs. Our safari driver, Barry, would just charge up in our van to within 10 feet of most of these animals. Close enough to smell the bad elephant breath and almost within petting range of the cheetah (petting cheetas is not recommended).

Almost as intriguing as the animals were the other travellers and backpackers I met. My favorites including three members of "Save the Children" who were on our safari, a PhD candidate doing her field research on the effects of climate change on territorial conflicts among pastoral tribes in north Kenya, and a trio of Irish volunteers who spend their weeks in Tanzania playing soccer with slum children. All were doing much more valuable projects than my consulting.

Travelling there is as safe as in the US or Western Europe. Sure, there were the usual scams (more later) and it's probably unwise to walk around the slums after dark, but I think these days Nairobi's slums are even safer than Burleith/Glover Park. Most of the people I met had travelled around for months without incident, and I never felt unsafe.

As soon as I got back to Dubai I tried to figure out when next I could head back there. Uganda is supposed to be more friendly than Kenya, and I'd love to complete the Lake Victoria Circuit or head down to Malawi and Mozambique. Maybe this summer, if things quiet down during Ramadan...

Into Africa

Headed to Nairobi via Doha today. I'm going to spend tomorrow night in Nairobi proper, meeting friends for a very African Thankgiving dinner at Carnivore. Like it sounds, you can pretty much get any kind of meat, as long as the animal in question is not endangered. Ima eat me some zebra. Just like the pilgrims.

Then it's off on Safari! My trip will spend two days at Masai Mara park and two days at Lake Nakuru before heading back to Nairobi. Here's a video my trip organizers posted of potential wildlife we can see!

I'll be out of contact for the duration, so I'll catch up with ya'll in December with your spring break flight info.

Happy Thanksgiving! / Eid al-Adha! / UAE National Day! (I like getting time off for holidays I don't celebrate)

On The Beach

is consulting slang for between projects. I've really just been chillin in Dubai for the past couple weeks, doing some odd projects every now and then. Took some time to pretend I was a tourist and saw some Du-why things.

duwhy: adj. an ordinary object made superlative in dubai, for no obvious reason

A quintessential example of du-why is hearing that dubai just received the world record...for being the city with the most world records. yay...

My favorite example of du-why - the world's biggest aquarium glass viewing exhibit, at the Dubai Mall. (It was too big for my camera, these pics go side by side)

I was entranced for hours.

Also, you can pay to go scuba diving in it. I did not, because, in all seriousness, the store facing the aquarium glass viewing exhibit is the world's largest candy store!

*Disclaimer: I do not read huffpost. It was just in the search results.

If you want to read about other du-why objects, such as the world's largest pair of chopsticks, please click here. And rest assured that the GCC is wisely spending its energy revenues to spur diversified growth for when the oil runs out...

I Want To Go To There - Nairobi

Thanksgiving here coincides with both Eid al-Adha and UAE's National Day. Luckily in don't really celebrate the latter holidays, but I do get them off, resulting in nearly a week's vacation. And I'm headed to East Africa.

I expect this to be the view from every point in Kenya. I may wander into Uganda or Rwanda as well, whether on purpose or as a by-product of boarding the wrong bus.