December 2005 Pictures..well I may not look as efficient, but I do try...

 

I went with Birgitte to Ibn Battuta for some pre-christmas shopping and found this model of the first Palm island - the Palm Jumeira. Pictured here is the trunk of the palm, you will then have to imagine the fronds of the palm also covered in buildings.

   

 

We also found Christmas in Ibn Battuta, where just a month ago there were Ramadan decorations. We read in the newspapers that european countries play down christmas decorations so as not to offend muslims, whereas this muslim country finds no difficulty in embracing our celebrations.

   
 The Rugby 7's is a tournament played every year in Dubai over a three day period. The games being played with 7-a-side teams are fast and entertaining and consist of many different "leagues" - from under 19's to old boys and charity. But of course the "real" teams are the most entertaining and playing the roughest games. This year England won the trophy. We were invited by Dubai Port and were supporting the Samoan team (hence the blue shirts). The finals were played on the 2nd december and drew crowds of   60 000 people - we were told. A good time was had by all as the pictures show!!    
     

The Supreme Council has now ratified reforms meaning a beginning to democracy in the UAE. half the members of the Federal National Council (FNC)are to be elected through local councils and the rest will be appointed by the Rulers. Also the FNC will be given more legislative powers.

 

I guess the headline speaks for itself!

 

The region tries to encourage private sompanies to employ nationals - emiratisation, omanisation, saudisation etc. However there are obstacles to this process - prejudice on both sides being blamed for the slow progress in this area. In this article the private sector is being blamed for not providing the work environment that will suit the nationals nor do they help them receive good financial returns on their work. Welcome to the real world!! Small companies complain that they will have to employ unqualified Saudis or pay large amounts of money to attract more professional workers . 67% of Saudis leave employment according to statistics.

 

                          

Now we have had the first proper christmas activities - namely baking biscuits and eating warm "risengroed" at Birgittes house. The girls enjoyed decorating the biscuits with pink icing and the boys made sure everything was tasting just right!

Enjoying the nice warm lunch...

 Risengroed with cinnamon and butter

The consulate had arranged a get-together for dansih families with christmas tree and a buffet. This is Heidi, Susanne and Birgitte - the children were trying to make christmas decorations for the tree or just running around playing catch.

These photos I have copied from the Birgitte and Klaus' homepage - we had a severe fog two days ago with visibility down to 25metres. In the morning rushhour there were numerous accidents - one every two minutes the policereport said.

But do you expect? When the radio has to advise motorists to switch off their hazardlights and use headlights or even foglights. And then your read this letter in the paper advising people to use headlights on high beam if the visibility is really bad.

The company christmas Lunch was held at the Nad al Sheba Racecourse, where Kor and Masha are trying to work out the gambling system.

The area also has a golf course in the middle of it all

 

Both horse- and camel racing (i e gambling) is very popular

-The race is displayed og big screens for everyone to be able to see the finer details

The finishing line

The track is raked between races

 

Christmas has come as a surprise to me this year - so I thought I'd better decorate the tree early to get into the festive spirit. Usually we decorate the tree on the 24th in the morning, but not so this year. Also, as we don't have any experience with real trees in this climate, we wanted to make sure we'd actually be able to enjoy it before all the needles fall off.

All our christmas stuff has survived the trip from Denmark to Dubai and is admired by everyone who comes to visit.

 

 

Marc is enjoying his cooked breakfast on his first day in Dubai

 The diving course is held at the Jumeira Beach Hotel with a view to Burj al Arab

Remember Cow Parade? Here we have Camel Parade and Horse Parade, only you cannot buy the figurines as you can the cows.

The beach is cleaned up before the guests arrive

 

This yacht is aptly named "Escape"

The diving school is located at the back of this building to the left

NO COMMENT - and then again: the subject of the article is that apparently pakistanis loose their sense of smell and taste due to direct exposure to the environment (don't know what that means).

 A young Saudi girl has written a novel about the love and lives of fellow saudi girls. the novel is only available in arabic and tells the tales of four women, whose stories are based on true-life ones. The author has received heavy criticism for writing this book but surprisingly has also received a lot of support for telling both about the positive and negative sides of society. Most unusual in Saudi Arabia!

 

Two young workers crossing the highway near Jebel Ali in the morning rushhour. They got as far as the centre barrier where they were stuck for a while before making the final perilous dash to the other side.

Four Woodalls at The Harvesters Pub in Dubai on Dec 23rd


      

           We went to Hatta  on the 24th Dec. Hatta is a village and a fort built in the late 1600's and now restored as a museum     

 

One of the two watchtowers

the al-tanoor oven as described on the previous picture

They made models showing details of life back then

 

 

 

 

Hatta Rock Pools is an impressive display of natures wonders. sometimes these pools are full of water and you can actually swim in them. The only thing destroying the beauty is the amount of rubbish people drop here. It is dirty!

Boxing Day took us to Dibba on the East Coast, a 2hr drive from Dubai. Here you can swim with the fish, sharks and seaturtles.

Sandy Beach Hotel sells day-tickets giving access to the beach.  

The boys are getting ready to get in the water

Two very tired young men

Christmas lunch where Marc enjoyed the trampoline with Mikkel 

 

Martin getting ready for his forst day at diving school

Seeds from Svendborg in Denmark also thrive in Dubai - a small memory from Charlottes mothers garden

 

29th Dec we went on a desert safari. To drive in the dunes you need to reduce the pressure in the tyres to 14-15psi

We were not the only ones with the same bright idea

We don't have snow, but...

Where the drivers put air back in the tyres


Unfortunately not everyone knows how to find the bins

After the desert drive - known as dune-bashing - we went to a camp for dinner with dressing in traditional abaya (Charlotte) and dishdash (Poul)

 

This is scary stuff, you loose every sense of being a person - even if it's just "dressing up"

Not quite so scary, but it still feels uncomfortable. Poul looks quite happy, though. 


Martin and Marc enjoyng the shisha / waterpipe / hubbly-bubbly

  Bread  from the open oven ->  Notice the bred stuck to the side of the oven

 
The (russian) bellydancer

 NEW YEARS EVE - the staff at The Lakes Club in panic as the rain started to fall.....luckily it was just the one shower.

 Lobster from Oman

 

   - delicious on the bbq!
 
The "kransekage" for midnight - some say it spoils the Champagne, but we don't care...it's tradition.		  
Well, maybe you cannot see her on the screen, but we actually did listen to the Queens speech via the internet.		  
Poul, Martin and Klaus saying HAPPY NEW YEAR from all of us to all of you