Geoff+Diary+Entries

Hello from Team1 in Dubai.We arrived in Dubai on Friday morning. Except for a small incident,where Geoff had got caught up in all the excitement of the trip,and had indulged in a little celebratory drink leaving him a little "tipsy",and full of good old loud aussie humour, telling a few jokes.In the process he managed to upset a group of muslim women. Geoff quickly learnt that not all cultures have the same sense of humour. Geoff apologised for his "loudness" and the ladies accepted his apology with grace. hence avoiding a International incident. PHEW !!!! On landing in Dubai, the first thing to be noticed was the humidity and heat. May is the start of the warmest months in the United Arab Emirate. Humidty for the month is aveage of 60%, and temperatures from 24 deg C to 47deg C. Once through customs and immigration we made our way to meet the Chauffer from the Burj Al Arab hotel where we will be staying.We were greeted with a very warm welcome and transported to the hotel by a Rolls Royce limousine.Driving to the hotel we notice that most street signs and shops display in Arabic and English. Here in Dubai the official language is Arabic but English is the accepted language spoken. 80% of the population is made up of expatriates from all over the world so english is widely used. Once at the hotel we were ensconsed in our suites,and left to enjoy our welcome gifts of chamagne,fresh fruit and some delightful chocolate imported from Belgium.taking in the views from our suite is breathtaking. The skyline of Dubai is dominated by constuction,with the long boom of cranes reaching out over the city. They say there are more cranes in Dubai then any other city in the world at the moment. Dubai is the fastest growing city in the world. Tomorrow we will start taking in all there is to do and see in Dubai and surrounding areas. We will be enjoying activities from 4wheel driving over the massive sand dunes ,snow skiing in the huge indoor ski mountain,surfing at the man made surf beach,sampling some of the tradional arabic culinary delights on offer,also here in the United Arab Emirates the traditon of Falconry is very much alive,and given an oppurtunity we would love to witness this centuries old tradition first hand. So from Team 1 here in Dubai, its goodnight from all of us and we look forward to exploring our surrounds and reporting to you all there is to offer from Dubai. P.S Geoff loved the champagne on arrival so much he decided to tell you all a joke. Did you hear KD Lang drowned on the weekend ? Yep, she was found face down in Ricki Lake !

Hello from Team1 in Dubai. well day 2 see's Team 1 arise early and experience a fabulous Breakfast on the balcony of our suite.It is quite warm here at this time of year. The expected temperature for the day is 42c, with humidity up around the 60%. We are planning to visit some archeological sites today. Al Ghusals, Al Soofah, & Jumeriah have grave sites 2000 years old. Some of the sites here hold artifacts dating back to 7th to 15th centuries. After visiting the archeological sites we plan on taking a 4 wheel drive tour into the desert, to visit a traditional bedouin village. This will showcase to us traditional ways of life for the bedouin nomad. We will also have the opportunity to have camel riding lessons.

Day 3 ; hello from team 1 in Dubai. Well a fabulous day was had by all yesterday.The archeolgy digs were fascinating. We are having no trouble communicating with the local population.80% of the population of Dubai is made up of expatriates from all over the world. the main language spoken is English. Most of the street signs and vendor signage is in English and Arabic. Last night we went for dinner at Ayam Zamam a very popular Arabic restaurant. We had for entree -abakadoo ma'taheena, (avocado appetizer), for main - jawaheh(grilled chicken wings wth lemon and garlic, for sweets we had bakiawa-maamoul-tameriate-ghorawbe baklawa diet hallab (sweetened nuts). Because it is a traditional Islamic establishment alcohol was not served in stead we had Horchata De Alamendra's to drink. This is a drink that has it's origins in Egypt. Around 700 BC to 1200 AD Arabs dragged the plant Chufa by force to spain at the times of the Moorish kings.Chufa is not widely avaiable in western society and so Almonds are substituted. Horchata is not a dairy drink so is very low in fat. It is often referred to as "the drink of the God's", for it's rich flavour and low fat content. So after a lovely dinner we made a our way back to the hotel stopping in at a bar to watch some traditional Belly Dancing. here we watched a traditional dancer of the veils perform a dance called Raks Sharki,(dance of the east). Belly dancing is banned from most UAE states but here in liberal Dubai, Islamic laws have been relaxed by the clerics somewhat here in Dubai. So untill tomorrow where i will tell you about our 4 wheel drive tour to a typical Arabian village.

Day 4: Hello from Team 1 in Dubai. Yesterday we embarked on a 4 wheel drive tour.We visited a place called Sharjah. Sharjah is about 50kms to the NE of Dubai. Here we visited a typical Arab village. here we sat with an elder from the village and he was kind enough to give us an insight into life in Dubai for him. The first thing we learnt is 93% of arabs are Muslim, belonging to several different faiths. These include Seete,Shia,(IthmeAshari & Ismaili), Alawi, Zaida & Sunni. The other 7% are likely to be Christian or Druze. The important link between Arabs and the Islamic faith is they believe in the 7th Century the Prophet Mohammad preached the Tenets of Islam amongst the Arabic nations. The most common characteristic of Arabs is their adherence to Islamic faith. He also told us that half of the Muslim arabs live in the the cities. here they have ga greater variety of career opportunities. But they sacrifice the strong family ties that their rural cousins have. The cities also give thev women more freedom, with fewer arrainged marriages and fewer social pressures to conform to religious practices than non-urban. Life in the village is fairly simple. they live in a walled mud brick hut with mud floor. The walls are to hide "insecurities from strangers and helps to build strong intimate family ties. they grow only the produce they need. crops like cereals,grains, vegetables,livestock & cotton. Village farmers are usually of low socio-economic stature. they are usually always in debt. they live by traditions and lack incentive, knowledge or security to change.Change is seen as disruptive to a harmonious relationship with the enviroment. Children are a families greatest assest, providing the family with a work force and social security. The patrilinal system is reflected by Islamic rules of inheritance. this sees the boys get more than the girls.A girls value is linked to her role of tying one family to another by marriage, and her primary role as a mother.Births are often celebrated, especially boys.The birth is often accompanied by Non-Islamic rituals like burning the placenta to protect the baby from enemy spirits. a childs first possesion is often a an amulet to ward of malevolence. The first word a Muslim baby usually hears is "ALLAH". There was so much more we wanted to ask but ran out of time as the elder had to leave for "prayer". We bid him farewell and headed for Dubai over oceans of sand in our 4 wheel drive. Tomorrow we are visiting the Dubai Cultural Centre in the morning,then we are heading for a downhill snow ski experience, as well as going for a swim at Wollongong beach. So nitey nite to you all back in OZ !!!! sweet dreams.

Day 5: Hi all from Team 1 in Dubai. As i mentioned yesterday we visited the Cultural centre this morning. We learnt heaps. The most prominent factor being "change', change is occurring fast throughout the Arab world. The Bedouin have had to deal with many changes from the oil based economy.Oil fields, trucks & other forms of transport for example. road building has also reduced the degree of isolation of thousands of villagers. radio brings new ideas to Bedouin and villager alike.Land reform has brought new systems of land ownership, agricultural credit and advanced farming skills. Overcrowding and diminishing economic opportunities in the village have prompted many villagers to migrate to the towns and cities. migration from poorer Arab countries to oil-richstates has also become an economic opportunity and an imortant source of revenue for millions of Arabs.So it is very obvious the indigenous inhabitants of Dubai are experiencing dramatic change in cultural traditions, beliefs and restraints of religeous faith. Well that was a great place to visit.The staff at the centre were very helpful and answered any question we had for them. We had no trouble communicating with the staff there, one of the staff is an ex-patriate ozzie,oi,oi,oi. We have bumped into alot of ex-pats working over here in all types of industry. From the cultural centre we went to Ski Dubai in the Dubai Emirates Mall. What a surreal experience .Out side it is 60% humidity and expected to reach 42 c today, and here we are racing down a 400 metre snow slope on 6 tons of snow. WOW!!! The centre was completed in 2005 and is the third largest indoor ski slope in the world. There is another ski slope due to open in 2008. This one Sunny Mountain Dubai, is promising to be bigger and better than this one. it will feature a rvolving ski slope, an artificial mountain range, an ice bridge, a cable lift, a snow maze, an ice slide and a polar bear cold water aquaria with special lighting and sound effects planned. Sounds unreal. With our luck holding out with no broken bones or injuries we head for Wollongong beach. Yep, thats right Wollongong beach. The University of Wollongong has a sister campus in Dubai, it is from this that the nearby beach is named Wollongong beach.It is widely known amongst the locals ,any one of them will give you directions to Wollongong. we had a lovely afternoon on the beach, sipping fresh juice and eating fruits of the desert.

Well that's it from Team 1 in Dubai, a great time was had by all. very educational trip as well as enjoyable.So it's back to the "gong' on the red-eye flight out of Dubai @ 0500 hours in the morning. Stay posted for some pics of our trip . i will endeavour to post them on this space when we return.