Turning 28, Barcelona and Dubai World Cup

Brunch at Yalumba with good friends!

We went to a Barcelona game at Camp Nou

All dressed up and read to go!

Driving...Dubai...Dangerous

This is a pictures from our local paper, Gulf News. At least six people were killed after a series of horrific accidents on the Abu Dhabi-Dubai highway on Tuesday morning. Police reported that around 200 cars were involved in the crash, which happened in heavy fog, with 25 cars catching fire. In the winter, heavy fog rolls through the emirates making the highways in the the UAE incredibly unsafe. Luckily I don't live far from work and can take side roads if needed. My heart goes out to the families that lost loved ones in the crash this morning. Something needs to be done about the driving problems in Dubai. Driving in the fog here is very dangerous because no one slows down. It is as if every driver believes they are more important than the car next to them and won't think twice about swerving, speeding, cutting someone off at high speeds in incredibly dangerous weather conditions. On Monday morning there were 135 accidents reported on Sheik Zaied Hwy alone due to the fact that it was foggy. There is no reason for that many accidents... if this international community would slow down and respect the lives of others driving around them the roads in Dubai would be much safer. So here is to my seatbelt, short drives, side mirrors, my overused horn and a lot of patience! My hope is someday the police will patrol the HWYs and roads instead of relying on speed cameras, and hold people accountable for their actions.

Our 2 minute trip to Oman

It is always nice to get out of Dubai

My trusty old Galloper

In the middle of no where Oman

Chas and I took a Saturday drive to a small town on the border of the UAE called Al Ain. We loved all of the trees and how much greener it is in Al Ain. We crossed over into the Omani border town of Buraimi and received an exit stamp in our passports from the UAE. We soon realized that we couldn't just turn around and get stamped back into the UAE (which was our sneaky plan). We soon learned that we were actually in "No Man's Land" in Oman. In order to re enter the UAE, we had to drive another 40K to an area called Hafeet. There wasn't much to see on our drive besides sand, big trucks, goats and jagged mountains. It looked like we were driving on the moon. We took a few pictures along the way of the emptiness between Buraimi and Hafeet. Once across the second border we had to pay the equivalent of $20 to have the Omani border police stamp our passports just to turn around and re-enter the UAE. The Omani's at the border laughed at us for our short stay. If we really wanted to see Oman, our day trip needed to probably be a camping trip so we could cover more ground. When we got back to Al Ain we stopped for a late lunch at a Filipino restaurant called the Golden Fork. It was my first time eating at a Filipino restaurant and it wasn't much to write home about but I'll certainly try another place at some point. This was my second trip to Oman and I really want to go back and spend more time. I still haven't been to Salalah or to Muscat. On our way home we were going to stop at the Zoo in Al Ain but we were way too tired. Eventually we drove by the new outlet mall so we made a quick stop just to see what shops it had. I'm looking for a dress for the horse races coming up at the end of this month and I found one possibility tonight. I'll shop a bit more this week and keep my options open. Hope you enjoy the pictures.