Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Burj Dubai

On September 1st 2008, the Burj Dubai reached a record 688 meters. It stands at 160 stories and is still marching skyward.
Last April it became the tallest man made structure on earth.
With the final opening of the Shanghai pretender it's officially without rival.
Every time I come to Dubai I make a point of taking its picture and wonder how much taller it can possibly get. It's going to be something when it finally opens its doors. It boggles the mind to think of the fearless demeanor the guy who sits in the crane at the top of the structure has.
How do you that every morning?Dubai has been built by Pakistanis and Bangladeshis who are mostly invisible to the shopping and merry-making majority. They die in accidents, are exploited, stiffed on their wages and roast daily in the 40+ heat.
Its a tough life. They sweat to send home whatever they can scrimp together. There's no union nor protests at the appalling conditions cause they're aware that thousands would queue up to take their place.
They always smile when you point the camera at them...after they warm up a bit anyway.
That's if for today.
The sun has come down on this last day of the trip and that means I can eat something as the Ramadan fast is done for the day.Home tomorrow!!!
Jess on Saturday!
Life is sweet!
Love to all
T

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Life is sweet for Jess when she has a loving dad like you :) have a cool time hanging out together ,they grow up so quickly :) mwha penny x

Anonymous said...

Good:
You are to see Jess & have a break from your swift-like existence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Swift

"Swifts spend most of their lives in the air, living on the insects [read: pastrami/club sandwiches] they catch in their beaks. They drink, feed, and often mate [OK, maybe not that last activity] and sleep on the wing."

"They often form 'screaming parties' during summer evenings where about 10-15 gather and fly [sit] around in circles, all calling out to each other [and quaffing]."

Bad:
Cambridge weather: absolutely, utterly, completely vile.
The Rottie is still there and vocal.
The size of my loan Blackberry: steam abacus. Humongous.

Safe trip back.

TR-HW

Anonymous said...

Bad: 3 hour delay at LHR. Hope you've had a good first day back.TR-HW

Anonymous said...

Make that a 5 hour delay complete BA pantomime. The abridged version is: we played musical lounge, gate, lounge, gate, for three hours; then put on a plane (not the original one), but primary and secondary fire detection systems out on one engine, eventually fixed; but then one passenger freaked out (too much information from the captain)and demanded to be let off the plane, so his luggage had to be located and removed: then another plane had a dodgy landing and the runway had to be checked for debris before we could take off.

BOS immigration was "interesting".

Camb to Boston in 19 hours. Not my worst transatlantic, but up there.

I feel like I've joined Terry's World Of Transit Hell and Wonder.

Spleen vented, feel better now. :-)

Take care

TR-HW

Anonymous said...

In the absence of any Terry travelling, I feel I ought to take up the slack, so, 1 brunch, 2 dinners, 7 meetings and 9 cocktail receptions later (5 of which were last night), Amtrak delivers me to NYC, dragging my liver behind me. No Katz for me, I'm a Zabar's girl, but too Terry-level tired to schlepp up there and it shuts early.

Opened putative hotel room to find dashing young man lying on bed with trousers off, this IS service I thought, only to find it was a key programming error.

Best,

TR-HW

Anonymous said...

It was all going so well... Three meetings and lunch (Sea Grill) in NY. It was 9/11 but you would hardly have known it in mid-town, where fashion week was in full throng. Crossed with the Baron at Penn station for 20 minutes, him inbound to NY, me outbound to DC. Tools now down for the weekend, but the Baron missed his train to DC and won't be here for 3h, then have to pick up car at Dulles & drive 2h south for 1.5 days with Miss mini-Baron, who was 8 this week. Going to be a long run for a short slide.
Take care.

TR-HW

Anonymous said...

May have to go to see Space Chimps at the movie theatre tomorrow: pray for me.
TR-HW

Anonymous said...

Reprieve (relatively): Mamma Mia. Some "adult issues" covered, but Miss Mini-B loved it.

Good weekend, too short (they always are), red-eye back last night (on time - about time BA redeemed themselves quite frankly), straight to the saltmines, shovelled email until too tired to click and drag.

Have Canadian turtles for you to share with Jess, if you want them. Probably won't fit through the letter box unless I post them individually. Actually I can probably squash the box so don't be surprised if the candy fairy makes a deposit. Spare box - had to cut supply off to Miss Mini-B and B: ingestion was excessive.

As jetlagged, all this seems coherent.

It will all be fine, it will all be fine, it will all be fine. Probably. Hope so.

Take care

TR-HW

Anonymous said...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7663883.stm

"Raw sewage threat to booming Dubai."

Bet you don't see that in the tourist literature.

Anonymous said...

When worlds collide....

One of Dubai’s most popular beach hotels has issued guests with an “etiquette guide” after two Britons were convicted for having sex on the beach near the hotel.

They received three-month jail sentences, were fined £200 for drunkenness and ordered to be deported from Dubai on their release. More than 230 other Britons were arrested in the UAE last year.

On the subject of drunkenness, the hotel’s etiquette guide warns: “Drinking is not a part of Muslim culture and alcohol is not served openly. Drunken behaviour, especially outside licensed premises in the hotel, is severely punished.”

On the subject of public displays off affection it says: “It is strongly recommended that you employ discretion when expressing affection in public. Anything more than a peck on the cheek could offend those around you and even possibly lead to police involvement.”

TR-HW