Before there were skyscrapers...there was only desert

There's a whole different side to Dubai that is not really easy to see amidst the emerging forward momentum of business and commerce in the country. It's easy to forget that not long ago (I think maybe just a little over 30 years) most of Dubai was pretty much sand. I got a chance to get a little of the desert experience recently, in the form of a desert safari.

Getting ready to head out, my buddy, Yessine describes the adventure to come.

It's actually a very cool experience. The company we hired took us out about an hour and a half into the middle of the desert for quite a ride.

In between sand dune 4 wheel driving, they take breaks for photos. It was a group of about 4 SUVs.

Before we headed out they checked under the hoods to make sure all was well. Also, this came as a surprise to me, they let a lot of air out of the tires. Apparently, less air means better traction in the sand.

Not sure if you can tell from this vid, but the ride is crazy. We were climbing up and descending dunes with pracitcally 90 degree inclines and declines. There were points where I thought the truck was going to tip over because we were tipping so much, but just when you thought we'd turn over the driver corrected the angle and leveled us out.

We stopped every once in a while to take some photos and take breather from the vomit ride of climbing sand dunes (Yes, I got a little nauseous). It was a little weird being surrounded by nothing but desert. Very peaceful.

The sunset was quite amazing...

After dark they took us to a camp in the middle of the desert. We ate dinner under the stars, with nothing more than torches and dim lights to illuminate the pitch black of the desert.

The food was delicious too!

And to cap off the night, we had a pretty awesome belly dancing show...

Here the belly dancer balances a sword on her head. Harder than it looks...trust me.

And when the ladies joined in it got even better :)

The ladies do it much better than the guys. Trust me you don't want to see that video.

Over all the whole day was a great one. It was nice to get out of the chaos of Dubai and just surrounded by nature. The desert is such a barren, dry, and intimidating place, but at the same time it's really quite a beautiful as well.

Especially at night.

The Atlantis Hotel on the Palm Jumeriah

Before I came to Dubai a did a lot of research just to try and get familiar with the place I was about to call my new home. One of the many things I really wanted to see was the Palm Jumeriah island. If you've seen any documentaries about it, it's a pretty amazing place. It's the one of the many artificially built islands off the coast of Dubai and it's built in the shape of a Palm Tree. Right now it's the only one that's actually open. When you drive onto the Palm it's got quite a view. Just imagine the way a palm tree is shaped. The trunk connects to the mainland and that's what you drive up to get onto the island.

Driving up the trunk your flanked by immense apartment buildings on both sides.

When complete, the Palm Jumeriah is supposed to have something like 50 or 60 hotels on it. Right now the Atlantis Hotel is the biggest one on there, and it's very beautiful. I decided to take a look from the front.

The Atlantis faces the Persian Gulf so the view is spectacular from both sides.

What can I say? I'm still a tourist and I had to get a touristy shot in the front.

As soon as you walk in, the lobby it's quite a site...nuff said.


They had the biggest aquarium I have ever seen that wasn't...a CITY AQUARIUM. This was inside the hotel.

It was very soothing watching the fish swim by. I've always wondered what they think of us standing on the other side of the glass. "Dude...look how weird they look. They don't have fins...just weird gangly things hanging off the sides of their bodies. Gross!"

Quite a view

WOW, it's been over a month since I've updated this blog. I really suck...seriously. I wonder if anyone even checks it? If you do, leave a comment and tell me how much I suck for taking this long between updates. I know I've said this before, but, I promise I'm going to start updating this with at least one post per week. In any case I'll just be talking to myself which is pretty normal for me.

Anyway, It's been almost 4 months here in Dubai. I've met a lot of people, made a lot of friends, and seen a lot of different places. One of the coolest places I've see so far is a place called 360. It's a lounge/restaurant/bar that sits out in the middle of the gulf. And just like the name says it's a 360 degree circular structure. The roof on the top is where the bar is and it's very cool because from that spot you can walk around in a cirlce and basically see all of Dubai.

The day started off with a brunch at the Jumeriah Beach Hotel. Very beautiful place with amazing food. From there we took a 10 min walk from the hotel to the 360 Lounge. On the way you can see the Burj Al Arab, Madinate Jumeriah, and the Wild Wadi Water Park.

I had my friend Ryan give a little commentary on the walk there.

That's the Jumeirah Beach Hotel in the background. I'm not sure but someone told me that the shape of the hotel is supposed to be a wave behind the Burj Al Arab which is in the shape of a sailboat. So the two go with each other.



A little further down and there's the Burj Al Arab, the sail shaped famous 7 star hotel of Dubai. It's quite impressive when you're right next to it. Before the Palm Jumeriah this was the first man made island built in Dubai.

After reaching 360, I took a quick shot from the rooftop bar. Awesome view.

When we left it was pretty late and we were tired, so we decided to ride a golf cart back. That's when I found out my new British friends call them buggies...crazy Brits :-)

"You know how I know you're gay? Cuz you like Coldplay."

Yes, yes, I like Coldplay...all my headbanger metal head friends always make fun of me when I say I like Coldplay. Whatever...a couple weeks ago I got the chance to go see Coldplay live in Abu Dhabi. The U.A.E. is made up of seven Emirates...Dubai, Ajman, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaima, Sharjah, Umm Al Quwain, and Abu Dhabi, which is the capital. The drive from Dubai to Abu Dhabi is a little over an hour and this was the first time since I've landed in Dubai that I left it at all. It was nice to get a change of scenery. Compared to the fast paced city atmosphere of Dubai, Abu Dhabi is a little more relaxed. A lot more family friendly...more trees, grass, and places to walk. I was told the late president of Abu Dhabi, His Highness Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, was a lover of the enviornment. He made sure there were plenty of parks filled with trees and grass and actually fined anyone who cut down a tree. People were incouraged to plant gardens of their own and spread the enviornmental awareness. You can definitely feel that in Abu Dhabi.

The streets also are a little easier to navigate in Abu Dhabi, at least in the parts that we drove through. It seems to be a grid system...like Manhattan. In Dubai the roads are a little more sporadic, and by sporadic I mean retarded.

The concert was an outdoor one. With the Emirates Palace hotel in the background. All weekend long the weather being predicted was rain, rain, rain. All day it was fine...cloudy, but no rain. When we arrived at the ampitheater it started to pour. I did not have any kind of rain protecting device (a.k.a. an umbrella) a friend I was with had an extra hat. One of those Gilligan hats...I don't know what they're called, here's a pic...

Obviously, I got wet.

Fortunately it stopped raining and we went and got our spot in front of the stage. Mercury Rev was the opener, and they sounded great, even though I'm not a big fan. Then Coldplay took the stage and literally 2 mins later it POURED. Now...this was my first experience of serious rain in the U.A.E. and I have never experienced rain like this. The rain drops were the size of basket balls. One drop drenched my entire head. It was insane! And they were heavy...I felt like I was being pelted with gummy bears.

Here's the opening of the show, we had a really good view. We were on the lawn in front of the stage with an excellent view of the band, they were amazing...it was quite surreal actually. At one point in front of me Coldplay is playing behind me is an ampitheater filled with people, and off to our right is this giant emerates palace hotel. I thought to myself...there's going to be a day when the words "I saw Coldplay in the middle the pouring rain and flashing lightning in Abu Dhabi" will come out of my mouth. It's not too often that you get to say something like that.

Even Coldplay brings on the "Lasers"

You can really see the rain here. At this point it's really coming down. And you can see the lightning was flashing in the sky every few minutes. You can't see us but Chad and I are chiming in. Chris Martin is actually a really funny guy. He kept breaking off into rain themed songs like "Singing in the Rain," right in the middle of Coldplay tunes.

Here are some great snapshots...such an awesome show...

I got really hungry at one point, so I got an ice cream, and as you can see, the fact that I look like a complete tool has completely escaped me.

The stage setup was pretty cool, they had these two giant screens flanking the stage...her's a close up of Chris Martin.

It was definitely a memorable night that was a lot of fun. Here's a photo of all of us from work who went. You can see how wet we are, and this is actually before Coldplay went on. Afterwards we were completely drenched.

A shopaholic's paradise

I've been here in Dubai now for 2 months and I've learned one very important fact...Dubai knows how to shop. There are a plethora of malls here...out door malls, in door malls, malls with aquariums, malls with indoor ski slopes, malls with ice rinks, malls with movie theaters, malls that are one floor and 2 miles long, malls that are 10 floors and take up numerous city blocks, malls with rivers surrounding them, malls with sand surrounding them, outlet malls, designer malls, foreign product malls, domestic product malls...I could go on forever. I haven't even scratched the surface of all the malls here. I've been to quite a few but I keep discovering more. This post is about the ones that I've seen and to see if I can give you an idea of HOW intense shopping is to Dubai. People come from all over the world for the Dubai shopping festivals that happen a few times a year, because the prices drop so dramatically. It's kind of strange. Some things are ridiculously expensive and others things you would think should be ridiculously expensive are super cheap. Take designer brand clothes for example. You can get Armani, Prada, Versace, Louis Vuitton and any other european hard to spell and even harder to pronounce brand for a very cheap price, but a flat screen LCD TV costs an arm and a leg. An iPhone costs 3500 Dirham here, that's roughly $800 bucks! In the states I can get an iPhone for $200 bucks. It's very strange. You can get high quality hand made furniture for pennies (I saw a 3 seater couch/2 seater couch/and single chair combo set made of cashmere for about $1000 dollars but a pair of Rayban sunglasses cost more. I don't get it. OK, let's go shopping...





This is outside the Mall of the Emirates...one of the biggest malls in Dubai. It's the one with indoor ski slope, called Ski Dubai. That's that big grey ramp looking thing in the background.

Charity and prostitution go hand in hand?

A couple weeks ago, I volunteered my time to help sort clothes that were going to be shipped to orphans in Afghanistan. It was organized by my friend Natalie at work. She collects as much clothes as she can and stores them in a friend's office that he doesn't use. The office is a really tiny room located in an old ratty building in old Dubai. The office is so tiny and Natalie has so much donated clothes that there was no room for us in it. We had to sort the clothes in the hallway outside the office. The office door also happened to be across the hall from this other apartment. And literally every 2 mins a different woman would walk out the door of this apartment and take the stairs or the elevator down and come back with a man. Or a different man would do the same on his own, either by stairs or elevator and knock on the apartment door, to be answered by a woman. The way we were located was exactly in the way...right in front of both the elevator door and the stairs.

We were wondering what was going on in there that so many different men kept coming and going, then Natalie tells us..."Don't mind those guys, they're just going to the brothel." Yes...I said brothel. There must have been 20-30 different men that came and went in the span of 1 hour. It was insane. And every time one of the women walked through she would curse in Arabic about how we were being rude and disruptive. WE WERE BEING RUDE AND DISRUPTIVE TO THE BROTHEL. Here's the video...watch as Simone, James and I sort through clothes and people keep walking between us and Simone can't stop laughing.

How dare we sort clothes for Afghani orphans and disrupt the business of the brothel!

Gotta love gramatical errors.

Man, am I sucking with these updates or what? Way too much time between updates...I am sorry...I truly am. Constant running around over here. Biggest update...I got my apartment! Yes, I officially have my fatty boom batty crib. I'll put pics and vids up soon. In the mean time I drove by it last night and snapped a quick pic. This should tide you over until there's more pics.

I know it's a little blurry. Sorry, I was driving. It's the one with the yellow lights.

In the mean time, I have to furnish it. Every single inch of it...over 800 square feet. I have to buy stuff I haven't had to buy in a while...stuff I never even think of. Like...spoons. I can't remember the last time I had to buy spoons. So far, every place I've lived already had spoons there. Most likely because I was living with someone who had already provided the spoons. Or curtains...I don't think I've ever bought curtains! A bathroom mat...where do I get a bathroom mat? Anyway, I'm looking at the classifieds online trying to find some deals and I came across this...



I'm not sure if that headline means the same thing in Dubai as it does in the states, but I think I'll pass on this one.

Dubai = SWEET RIDE DUDE!!

Sorry for the delay in updates...just been so busy with a lot of stuff that I haven't had a chance to put up any new blogs. I officially started hosting the morning show about 2 weeks ago and it's been a lot of work. Just getting used to the formatics and technical aspects of the equipment and programs used out here has been pretty challenging. Also just being on air here is different from what I've been doing for the past 11 years in radio, it's been a bit of an adjustment. Thankfully each day behind the board and mic gets easier and I'm getting more comfortable! And when I'm not working, I'm looking for an apartment...I've seen at least 50 by now...no seriously, I'm not exaggerating.

So this update is all about the rides in Dubai...with a country of people with a lot of money, there's no shortage in fancy cars...here's a few of the rides I've come across.

Coming out of one of the malls and what do I find just sitting there in the parking lot...a beautiful white lambo...Lamborghini in layman's terms. In NYC I see one of these every couple months...MAYBE. In Dubai, I see one at least every other day...in a multitude of colors...like skittles! I've seen white (pictured above), lime green (very ugly), black (sweet!) and red (of course).

I was driving in my car and this mazarati passed by me, thought I'd snap a pic. This is another car I see a lot of...beautiful.



This was outside the RTA (road transportation authority, their version of the DMV) Cherry red Porsche 911.

I'm not sure what model this Mercedes is, but I couldn't help but think, as I was walking by it, this must be that new 2009 Mercedes "BADASSmobile" I keep hearing about.



And it wouldn't be Dubai if I didn't post a pic of a cherry red Ferrari on here. See a lot of these too. I was leaving work and this was parked in the executive lot...ooohhhh, excuse me Mr. Executive. Please pardon me as I walk around your gadjillion dollar car so I can get into my 2007 Toyota Carolla! Did I mention it's silver...and it's got power windows. That's right! I said POWER windows.


Obviously this isn't a fancy car...this is a Dubai Taxi (or what I've come to call "unintelligible, learn a new language, figure your own way of getting there, might die on the way and pay for it transport pods") Just thought you'd like to see what the cabs here look like.

I see a lot more cars like lotus' and Audi's. Also Hummers and Land Rovers are a dime a dozen. But those aren't exactly exotic.

OK, back to work...I promise I'll be more on top of updating this bad boy. Next blog??? "apartment shopping"

Exploring Dubai Part 1

Got a chance to explore a little bit as I was looking for an apartment. Like any city Dubai has a lot of neighborhoods...each with its pros and cons. Each person I've talked to has their favorite area according to their personal preferences...noise, amenities, distance to shops/restaurants, traffic, etc... So far the area that I like the most is called Jumeriah Beach, which is in the Dubai Marina. It also just so happens to be the most expensive part of Dubai! There are many reason for this... it's right by the beach, it's one of the few places in Dubai that isn't under construction, shops/restaurants/supermarkets and other convenient places are all within walking distance. That last part is a big deal because you need a car to get anywhere in Dubai. You can't simply walk to the store, you have to get in your car and drive there. That's one of the biggest things I miss about NYC, just getting out and walking anywhere. That and the subway...oh how I miss you NYC MTA. I can't believe I just sad that, because there were plenty of times back at home where I cursed the MTA, but today...I miss you MTA. Here's a couple videos of Dubai Marina and Jumeriah Beach.

This is literally in the middle of the Dubai Marina, I just saw an apartment overlooking this marina. It was very nice a.k.a. way too expensive.

This is down at Jumeriah Beach. The beach is on the outside of the residence facing north...it's actually the persian gulf. And straight across the gulf is Iran and Iraq. Right before the beach is shops, restaurants, hotels, a really beautiful walk that goes up and down the coast. The tan buildings you see are Jumeriah Beach Residence...they make up 36 buildings right on the beach...very beautiful. Can I just point out that it's February and I'm in shorts and a t-shirt at the beach!

This is my friend Simone's apartment which is in those tan buildings you saw in the last video, called Jumeriah Beach Residences. This is a quick tour of her and her roomate's place.

The hunt continues for the apartment...more to come.

Out and about in Dubai

Rounding about 15 days here in Dubai and I just got my first taste of outdoor activity. The government of Dubai flew about 7 or 8 Palestinian children from Gaza. All these children are victims of the fighting over there. They've all been seriously injured...whether it be sever burns, loss of a limb, or being orphaned. The Dubai government paid for these children to come spend some time in here and receive medical attention...all of the children who's injuries included amputation were fitted with prosthetic limbs at no charge to them. It was a really great event. Being that I spoke Arabic, they asked me and another host (handling the English duties) from Virgin Radio to MC the event. Here are some photos and a video of Safa Park.

Safa Park is a large park in the middle of Dubai. Kind of like Central Park, but I don't think it's nearly as big.



Two guys in red are trainers from fitness O2, who organized an obstacle course for the kids (and will hopefully get my ass back into shape) Ali is another host from Virgin Radio on the left and I (in my pasty white splendor) am on the right. Outfits where provided by the charity so leave the snide comments to yourself!

This little kid was hysterical. Watch him dance to the music. Very odd, but I couldn't stop laughing.





They also had cookie painting for the kids. Here, Virgin Radio's Simone displays her crafty cookie artwork..."V" for virgin.




There's always construction in Dubai...these towers are currently in the process of being finished.

Welcome to Dubai...now learn Hindi, Maylay, Pakistani, Urdu, and Philipino.

So it's been almost one week since I've landed in Dubai and it's been a pretty interesting week...it is quite an amazing city. Dubai is one of the Emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates. Dubai has actually been a major financial port for a very long time. But it's the last 30 years that we've all heard about it, especially the last decade, because it's in the last decade that the investment and construction boom has really taken hold here. To think that about 30 years ago this was mostly desert and today it looks like this...





is pretty amazing. My hotel is pretty nice, not one of the big fancy gadjillion dollar ones, but a pretty good one none the less. Internet costs me about 30 bucks a day or 5 bucks an hour so that's why you haven't heard from me much. I'm trying to be sparing with my money until my first paycheck.

Getting around really isn't very easy if you don't have a car. My first night here I tried to take a cab back to my hotel, and quickly learned that most of the cab drivers don't really...how do I put this...know where they're going. You see, it's not like NY where you get in a cab and say "35th and 6th" or "1515 broadway please." Since this country is A: so new and B: constantly under construction and new roads are being added every other week, there really isn't a reliable address system. When you tell someone a location, you do it with landmarks. You say "please take me to the Grand Hyatt Hotel behind the Dubai Mall off the 2nd exit by the Burger King." That kind of thing. So when I explained to my taxi driver he nodded and drove off, 5 mins later he's asking me left of right at the intersection. So, what should have taken 10 mins actually took about 45. It didn't help that he really didn't speak English or Arabic, so I was out of luck. My second cab ride had an Indian guy yelling at me in what I assume was Hindi but all I could make out was that he had to make it back for shift change. So, we almost died about 10 times as he weaved in and out of traffic and I almost puked about 6 times because it was brake, gas, brake, gas, brake, gas. And he didn't even drop me off at my destination, he dropped me off across the street about 50 yards away because he didn't have time to pull in. Here's some more pics of the city for your pleasure...


This was a nice restaurant I was eating at and the view was of the Burj Al Arab on the left. Those buildings below are of a really nice hotel, but I can't remember the name.



I'm in my realtor's car here on our way to look at some apartments...those building are what we're going to look at.



The main 12 lane road (6 going north and 6 going south) that pushes right through Dubai is called Sheik Zayed Rd....Sheik Zayed is the ruler of Dubai. Someone told me this stretch of highway is the most expensive piece of property in the world because of all the high rise buildings.



Here's the Burj Dubai up close. It's the building on the left. It's supposed to be complete sometime this year. And when finished it's going to be the tallest building in the world...over 160 floors. The neighboring emirate and capital of the U.A.E. Abu Dhabi is planning on building a tower that will dwarf this one. So far I've learned that there's a kind of unspoken rivalry between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. When one completes something the other has to top it.


Being from NY, I'm no stranger to beautiful skylines of skyscrapers, but I have to admit Dubai has a pretty amazing one too.




This was pretty cool. I'm at work at the station and all of a sudden a helicopter lands behind the station in a small field. Not a helipad or any kind of landing area, just a little patch of grass. We're all thinking it was some sort of royal prince or something. My first taste of rich royal Dubai.




The beaches are very beautiful here. In this photo you can see one of the man made islands, Palm Jumierah. If you look closely you can see the "branches" jutting out. That tall building in the background is the new Atlantis Hotel that just opened.


So my current task at hand is finding an apartment. Over here the landlords want you to pay 1 year up front. You sign a one year lease for however much a month and you have to pay A FULL YEAR up front. Yes, that IS a lot of money and a sever pain in the ass. OK...enough for now. Sorry this is so short, time is slim and costly...more updates to come as soon as possible, I promise