I was in Thailand the last week and a half visiting our good friends from Japan, Clive and Angel and there son Asher. It had been over a year since we last saw them and thankfully, Nick granted me permission to take a little vacay while he stayed in Abu Dhabi and worked :)

It was super great to see them and catch up after way too long!

The first day we went to the Grand Palace with Angel and her friend and while we visited it last year, this time we got a guide which made for a more interesting look at the place. Filled with fun facts our Thai guide was quite good although she probably was annoyed that Angel and I weren't listening as intently and were busy with our little 'photo contest' we decided to hold against each other.

The 2nd day we headed to the crazy 'JJ' market, although usually just on the weekend, it has now opened on Fridays and wasn't nearly as crowded. At the same time many of the shops weren't open either. We had a stroll through the market as Angel convinced me that I really didn't need to buy 6 sets of new silverware with bamboo handles that I had wanted since I visited last year...okay maybe she's right, I can get them in the US and they would be really heavy toting them around to the UAE and eventually back to the US. So long silverware....


We celebrated our very few purchases at the market with a trip to the infamous 'Tapas Cafe' which is located within a 5 minute walk from Angel and Clive's place for some afternoon Sangria! Angel has been raving about this place since she first arrived in Bangkok and it definitely lived up to it's hype. This was by far the yummiest Sangria I have ever had along with some delicious tapas plates, a great find!


Unfortunately from here things could've gone a little more smoothly...

I was walking back from the station to their apartment at night, yes at night and I was alone (if only Nick was there), maybe stupid looking back at it, but at the time I felt totally comfortable and it was a quick walk down the street...as I was just feet away from the entrance to their building a motor taxi (he most likely was one) zoomed up behind me and grabbed my purse.

I really had no idea what was going on, but as I had been holding on to my purse while on my shoulder I continued as my head hit the ground, flipped me on my side and dragged me a bit down the street. I still didn't know what was going on, but knew that I had to let go or my arm would've probably fallen off. The minute I let go, I think it hit me... I was just robbed... I stood up and starting screaming down the street.

It sucks that I was so close to their place and it happened, but thankful that nothing else happened and besides a few scrapes, bumps and bruises, I was safe. All that was in my purse was my camera, money and license, all which can be replaced....but it looks like Angel won our little 'photo contest'. I had some good shots from the day before though which was a bummer they were stolen!

It did put a bit of a damper on my trip being robbed. The land of smiles for me turned into the land of thieves :0) A Police report was filed, but nothing would be done, just hoping that maybe insurance will cover the camera, unlikely, but one can hope.

I know these things happen and now that it has happened to me, it will keep me on my toes for some time now, making me more conscious of what's around.

I think after this there were a lack of pictures being taken although I did have our small camera with us, it definitely wasn't the same.

We spent a few more days in Bangkok with Clive hanging out, shopping, saw X-men and of course ate loads before Angel and I got on a bus and got away for a couple days to Pattaya...

The Shangrila in Abu Dhabi is a great place to sip a few cocktails while watching the sunset over the The Grand Mosque. While Gary was visiting we headed out to the hotel and had a great evening which included some fabulous steaks from Meat and Co. as well!

Since living here for almost 3 months and going to Goa , India , I’ve come to the following conclusion: Where are all the women?

In India , most of the shopkeepers, restaurant staff, airline staff, and ALL of the military, police, and taxi drivers were men. Let’s take the airline industry. In some countries a vast majority of flight attendants and ground staff are women. In Japan I saw roughly 10 male ground staff and no male flight attendants. Other Asian airlines would have a majority of females and Australia and the US , well that is about 50 / 50. Men made up about 80% of flight attendants and ground staff in India and about 90% of waiters in the hotels and restaurants.

Here in Abu Dhabi the picture is a little sad for men; mostly I am talking about men from the subcontinent. There are absolutely no women in the construction industry and I’ve seen only one female taxi driver. There are a ton of Filipino women working various jobs around town as well as a lot of Middle Eastern women and a handful of western women around town too. I rarely see any Pakistani, Bangladeshi, or Indian women around town and this leads to the ever-present staring problem.

Groups of men will just stop and all stare at women when they walk past. It is disrespectful and in some ways perverted. Sometimes they even take photos of women when they walk past or even on the sly. One man will pose for a photo in front of a woman and a friend will take it. Saw it last night at a WOMAD concert.
Take away the occasional occurrence of what appears to the Western eye as lewd photo taking and you just have staring. It seems pretty common in India where not a lot is happening and everyone is just people watching.

So at the end of the day, is there malice behind those stares at men and women or is it just an innocent intercultural misunderstanding? I lean towards the latter because I’m accepting that staring is a cultural phenomenon in some places BUT when will it be realized that it is a cultural no-no to stare for so long in my culture?

Al Ain is the Oasis city here with greenery all around. The three of us went there for the day just about a 1 1/2 drive from Abu Dhabi. We checked out the Jahili fort and went to the Al Ain Palace Museum which is where Sheik Zayed had his large, but fairly modest abode. There we got to play dress up like an Emirati...

Next time we'll get up to Jebel Hafeet, the mountain overlooking the city, but we ran out of time and had to have the rental back by evening

We did a Dunebashing Desert Safari tour with Arabian Adventures while Gary was here last week and I don't think I've ever realized what true 4x4 can do especially in the sand. We set out from Abu Dhabi to the sand dunes about an hour outside of the city. Our driver said it was his second day...yikes! Thankfully, it was just his second day driving in Abu Dhabi, but has worked for may years through the Dubai branch..few :)



As the sunset we held on tight as he drove up, down and over the dunes, riding up ridges and sliding down the side! It truly was crazy and not for the faint hearted. Thankfully I was sitting in the front so it wasn't too rocky, but it still felt like we would trip over a couple times. Not something I could do every weekend, but could manage a couple times a year.


After our dunebashing experience we went to a camp in the desert where we got to take a camel ride and then had a wonderful bbq under the stars. After dinner we tried the flavoured tobacco, sheesha smoking the water pipe, which is quite popular here at many of the restaurants in the evenings. You can smell the different flavours wafting through the air apple, strawberry, cappuccino...sure beats cigarette smoke!

We rented a car for the weekend and headed for a day trip to check out more sights in Dubai with Gary. We saw the Burj al Arab from Madinat Jumeriah and didn't get much closer this time as we weren't properly dressed for a visit inside the world's only 7 start hotel!

We took a walk through the souk at Madinat Jumeriah, went to the Dubai Mall which gives a great view of the finishing touches to the world's tallest building. Supposedley construction has been put on hold to finish this one up.


In the evening we headed over to the older part of Dubai, checked out the Bastakiya quarter (which was empty since it was Friday, prayer day), went to the 'knock off' souk (I didn't buy anything as I'm waiting for Bangkok next week!) and ended up eating dinner at a great Mexican restaurant in Jumeriah. The only thing missing were the margaritas. It's a bit off the beaten tourist track and not attached to a hotel, so no liquor...very sad. But the food was great and guacamole made at your table is awesome!

Our friend Gary from Australia who Nick taught with at Taylor's College came for a visit last week, so we were busy showing him the sights and sounds (mostly honking) of the city. While Nick was busy working Gary and I visited the Emirates Palace and the Cultural Center. Nick joined us for a trip to the Heritage Village, which is set up to represent a traditional Bedouin village along with some older Arabic style buildings. While visiting the Heritage Village, the Red Bull Air Race was getting underway. They were practicing for the next day of races, so it was nice to see a little sneak peak.

Incredible India is their tagline these days and our trip, while short, was not necessarily 'incredible', but definitely colorful, eye opening and overall enjoyable. Thankfully and surprisingly it wasn't an overwhelming, that 'in your face' India experience in which we expected when visiting for the first time.

Did you get sick?? Obviously the first question we got asked upon our return...and the answer was initially, no :) But eventually I think a diet full of curries caught up to us and about 3 days after our return......we had spoken to soon on this subject :)

We had just a short trip to Goa in India during Nick's spring break and found it a relaxing beach destination only 4 hours from Abu Dhabi. Unfortunately, we went via Mumbai and had to spend 8 very long hours in the Mumbai airport. I don't think we'll be doing that ever again. We didn't leave the airport as people said that while it seems like a lot of time, getting into the city with the traffic could leave you missing your flight and we didn't want that to happen.



As we took off from Mumbai to Goa, you could see a birds eye view of the many patches of makeshift houses, dilapidated shacks, the slums where many live there daily lives. Spread amongst were a few apartment blocks, but for the most part this is what surrounded the airport. I couldn't imagine living like this...

We arrived in Goa and were surprised by the lack of begging and there weren't too many touts around trying to sell you anything they could get your hands on, hassling you to no end, similar to our experiences in some parts of China. It was the end of the tourist season so we have a feeling a lot of people who work there had already left to their home towns until next season. It could be a very different experience during the peak season, but this was a perfect time to head there.

We enjoyed trying new Indian curries and had one or two each day, but we did manage to squeeze in a steak and an Italian dinner one night to change things up:) There definitely isn't a lack of eateries in Goa. From traditional Goan food to more modern Asian and Italian cuisine, they sure have a wide range at each one of the beach areas. The cheapest places we found to eat were on the beach at the shacks. These are restaurants that are set up each season and serve food and drinks. They all have names and provide service to you out at the beach during the day where you can lay on one of their chaise lounges. Funnily enough though our favorite meal in Goa was at a restaurant called Republic of Noodles and it was in our hotel and not Indian...go figure. Although, most of everything we ate was delicious!





Enough about food even if it's usually the highlight of any one of our vacations!

Over the 5 days we visited Anjuna market which is a weekly market held on Wednesdays and quite a colorful array of textiles, bags, spices an clothing. It wasn't too busy and since it was the last one of the year people were ready to haggle down to next to nothing! Again it's hard to bargain down a couple rupees when 50 rupees is only a $1.


To see the sights we hired a taxi driver we met on the street the first night for the next two days. His name was Shekar and was a really knowledgeable and more importantly a safe driver! For about $25/day he took us all around Goa. The first day we went to Old Goa where we walked through the beautiful old Portuguese churches. While under rule by the Portuguese for quite some time, remnants of it's past still remain in Goa which gives this place a special charm.




In the afternoon, we went to a cashew factory and you can't get cashews any cheaper or fresher than that! We also ate lunch at a spice plantation and took a tour learning about all the different spices used in Indian cooking. At the spice plantation we had a chance to take a ride on an elephant. We missed out chance while in Thailand so we thought we would make up for it here in India. It really didn't feel as authentic as it was in the parking lot of the spice plantation and to be honest I felt kind of sad for the elephant, but our taxi driver assured us the he was well taken care of!



The next day we headed up the coast to check out some of the other beaches and small villages with Shekar as he told us about more Goan history and lead on to the changes it has been facing throughout the years due to a tourism boom. He seems to think most are excited about the increase in travelers visiting Goa, but obviously it has it's ups and downs. One thing that surprised me was the number of Russian tourist travelling to Goa.




The last day and a half was spent at Candolim beach and a bit lounging by our hotel pool as Nick tried to get some color. The beaches are nice, but in comparison with the Caribbean or Oz, not amazing or truly beautiful. The water was quite warm and not incredibly clear. But at the end of the day it was still a beach a place where we just relaxed, had a few cocktails and enjoyed the sunset.




One of the highlights of the vacation was getting a ring made! I wanted a copy of the way too expensive Georg Jensen 'Fusion' ring and they said they would be able to do it for a whole lot less! In the end I really like it, although to be honest it's not an exact replica and could've been finished a little better around the edges which is too bad because I just don't think we gave them enough time to do their best. But for what we paid and what we got, an 18k white gold with .5 carat of diamonds, it was a pretty good deal!



We were surprised with the terrain of Goa, hills and valleys along the coast, very green, very pretty! There were rice fields and rivers leading out to the ocean, and cows in the country and on the village roads were all apart of this scenery. In the end though, one of the most visible sights was the amount of garbage scattered throughout this land. If only they could control the trash problem. Obviously there are people who don't care and there is a lack of proper disposal, but it does put a damper on views.



We definitely enjoyed our holiday and while lots of people go back to Goa each year as it's a nice, cheap holiday, not sure we will be back again. There's no doubt, we'll head back to India to see the Taj one day, but there are so many other 'beach destinations' we're looking forward to visiting in the future!

Nick and I took part in the Dragonboat Festival in April. We joined one of 5 Abu Dhabi teams who competed in the weekend. A couple we met invited us to join the team and give it a go. We only trained for about a month before the race and to be honest it's a bit of a un-natural paddling movement, that can cause some real kinks in your shoulders and arms :) We had 3 races during the weekend and was exciting getting out there on the water racing against the other teams. We even won one of our heats! This is a big thing considering most of the other teams train quite often together.

We've decided to take a break from the paddling as we've got plenty of other activities going on, but it was fun to give it a go!

Here are some pics from the races at Festival City

I put some of my favorites pics from the last couple weeks up on the photo blog check them out here....

http://picsfromabroad.blogspot.com/