Bye, bye Dubai

Well, after only three short days, I must leave Dubai. On the way to the airport, I marveled at all the construction cranes there are in Dubai. It's as if the crane is the national bird! Another item to note is the amazing diversity of arcitectural designs. Many of the buildings are quite unique in style. And of course there is the world's tallest building (pictured above) that is soon to be completed. Perched way at the TOP of this building is yet another crane! Wouldn't you like to be the crane operator sitting atop the world's tallest building!!!

>>> Dubai's national bird: the construction crane!!

Two unique designs amongst the many newly constructed buildings in Dubai.

Shop 'Till You Drop - A Pleasant Interlude in Dubai

The View from the central garden in "The Residence" section of the Royal Mirage Hotel in Jumeirah Beach section of Dubai.

> Central Garden area at the Royal Mirage Hotel.

Afternoon tea at the Royal Mirage Hotel - Dubai. (Free with my room in "The Residence" section of the hotel.)

What everyone does at least once when he/she is in Dubai .... SHOP!! Dubai is a great shopping town, in much the same fashion as in Singapore.

Have Ticket Will Travel

Well, it's finally here - another overseas trip!! The only drawback is that I lost my Fourth of July Holiday as I spent most of the day Thursday and all day Friday traveling from Houston to Dubai. My Emirates flight (EK212) departed Houston about 40 mins. late and it was 'wheels up' at 7:50 pm local Houston time. We landed in Dubai at precisely 7:15 pm Dubai time (10:15 am Houston time) on Friday, July 4. Since I've never perfected the fine art of sleeping on a plane, I arrived very, very tired after 14 hours and 25 minutes of flying non-stop. I checked in at the wonderful Royal Mirage Hotel here in the Jumeira Beach section of Dubai. So far I can honestly say this is a wonderful property. I will post some pictures later after I've recuperated from my jet lag and have had a chance to walk around the place. As anticipated, it is HOT!! About 35 - 40 deg C! Sadly, this is not my final destination but merely intended to be a short pleasurable and restful respite prior to traveling to my final work location.

Read Any Good Travel Books Lately??

Just a short post to share three of my favorite "travel books" that I believe you fellow travelers out there in the blogosphere will also appreciate:

(1) First choice: Around the World in 80 Days by Michale Palin (also in VHS tape);
(2) Second: A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle;
(3) Third: War Journal: My Five Years in Iraq by Richard Engel - this is a new book that I am still reading (I'm up to Chapter Eighteen). Even though I have not yet finished reading this book, it is Excellent. I suspect part of the reason I like it has to do with the fact that I frequently travel to Kuwait and work in a location which is a mere 100 miles from the Kuwait-Iraq border! It also presents an accurate, unbiased account of what the Iraq (aka this generation's Vietnam) mess is really like. I strongly recommned this book.















If anyone has some favorites they wish to share, feel free to post a note.

PS: I forgot to mention one other "book"; my diary!! Everyone who travels a lot or goes a long way from home should try to maintain a personal diary. It will make for some very interesting reading when you are retired, no longer travel and want to refresh your memory about the "good 'ol days" when you were visiting all those far flung places around the globe. Just a suggestion!!

Scotland (Edinburgh and Aberdeen) - May 2008

Scottish countryside as seen from the Edinburgh to Aberdeen train.

Yellow flowers - Gorse - seen everywhere in Scotland.

Excellent views abound at Edinburgh Castle

Memorial in the City Center of Edinburgh, Scotland

Arthur's Seat - overlooking Edinburgh, Scotland

Oh what a great joy it is to finally have a NICE company trip to a place other than to some old, dirty, stinky, hot oilfield!! I had the pleasure of attending two company-approved business meetings in Edinburgh and Aberdeen, Scotland in late May. The weather was excellent (50's - 60's) with mostly sunny skies prevailing. The only problem were the two flight delays (I blame Continental Airlines for the poor maintenance of their aircraft which contributed to both delays): the first delay was on the flight out of Houston and that in turn caused me to miss my flight connection to Edinburgh from Newark, NJ and then there was the two-hour delay from Newark. Other than arriving into Scotland four hours late, the rest of my trip was splendid!! The work was fine, I met many colleagues, had some excellent meals (fresh salmon), stocked up on Scottish shortbread and tea, took many pictures, learned about new technology, had a paper of mine presented by a co-worker at the SPE Scale Symposium (Aberdeen) and had an overall enjoyable experience (despite the usual debilitating effects of jet lag). And the 2.5 hour train ride from Edinburgh's Waverly train station to Aberdeen went off smoothly (Monday, May 26) and allowed me some excellent views of the Scottish countryside.

On the return trip, I had the pleasure of going through Heathrow's new Terminal 5. One bad note: the security folks in Terminal 4 fussed at my carry-on bag (they said it was too wide!) and they made me check my carry-on instead of, well, carrying it onto the plane. Boo, hiss!! At least the return Continental flight (CON 33) was on time!!

Hotel reviews: Peebles Hydro Hotel (south of Edinburgh) and the Edinburgh Thistle Hotel (Leith St.) were both fine to above average. The Holiday Inn at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Center was basically a "box": OK overall .... but nothing to write home about.

Houston's Art Car Parade

The winner and her "car"

My personal favorite - the toilet car: No matter where you go, you will always have a place to go!!

Houston's illustrious mayor, Bill White, in the lead car.

The crayon car!

The world's largest art car parade was held in Houston, Texas on Saturday, May 10. As always, lots of unusual cars ... and people!

Still Home in Houston

It's been awhile since I've taken a major (i.e., foreign) trip but that's fine. When I am away from home, I dream of being home BUT when I am at home, I dream of far-away places! Now why is that??!! Still, my next venture overseas will come soon enough. In the meantime, I am enjoying life at home.