rascott.com - news, views, travel and an occasional blog
 

Welcome to rascott.com.

This is a personal site that reflects my interests in news, current affairs, aviation and travel.

email me at robert@rascott.com

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Click for Dubai, UAE Forecast

Photo Albums
My photographs have been moved off this site and are now stored on Picasa. They were simply taking up too much space on my web host.

Please use this link to see my list of photo albums.

Some Useful links:
Information:
Met Office Volcano watch

World Time Clock
Exchange Rates

Journalism:

Nationsonline.org
Project Syndicate
Amnesty International
Reporters w/o borders

The Guardian - UK
BBC World News
CNN Asia
Bangkok Post

Daylife.com - news

Gulf News
Arabian Business
Good causes:

Sister Joan - Bangkok

Regional Info:

BKK Magazine
HK Magazine
In Singapore Magazine
TimeOut Dubai
Travel:
Circle of Asia

Tales of Asia
Smart Travel Asia
Finance:
FinanceAsia

Aviation:
Amadeus (airline schedules)
Airliners - aviation forum

Thailand Info
thailand.com
learningthai.com
sawadee.com

bangkok a-z
Back in the UK:

Newton Ferrers

Government:

The "new" White House

Photography
Denis Olivier - black and white

And for fun:
Lin Ping live panda tv

EarthCam

The opinions expressed on these pages are entirely personal unless they are credited; you may not agree with all, or anything, that I write. So please use the feedback page to respond, comment or berate me.                                 



Links

 

An Occasional Blog

 

 

Thailand Blogs

Bangkok Pundit - politics

Bangkok Metblogs - city life

Thai-blogs.com - rather serious

2bangkok.com - not really a blog but always up to date on Bangkok news
Bangkok City Photo Guide

BKKOK.com
Thailand Voice promoting blogs from Thailand
Thailand Golf

Thai-blogs -Thailand life and culture
trythaifood - thai recipes
CityLife Chiang Mai

Thailand Crisis
Absolutely Bangkok
Bangkok Bugle

Dubai Blogs
UAE Community Blog - uniting all UAE bloggers
Dubai informer - news and events.
The Grapeshisha Blog - commentary  on a changing Dubai
One Big Construction Site - a long term expat on life in Dubai
Secret Dubai Diary - rather disillusioned expat commentary
Momentary Musings - another expat commentary
Dubai As It Used To be - self explanatory
Kippreport - news and commentary

Hong Kong Blogs

A Big White Guy in Hong Kong - self explanatory
Ordinary Gweilo
Hemlock's Diary. And people think I am opinionated - try this!
SimonWorld - Hong Kong commentary and great links to other Asian blogs
EastSouthWestNorth - commentary
Glutter.org - Greater China democracy news and many great links
Hong Kong Hustle

In China

Danwei - media and advertising news from China

Shanghai Diaries - self explanatory
Imagethief
Public relations, communication and interesting times in China
Shanghaiist.com

 

In Macau

My Olive Tree - Macau blog

 

In Singapore:

Xiaxue - self-confessed mean, bitchy, sex goddess who says "wah" a lot!

Mr Brown - colourful commentary from Singapore

 

Asia Travel

Circle of Asia a useful commercial site

Tales of Asia perspective and commentary on Cambodia and Thailand and other Asian travels

Visit Laos a useful guide on getting to and traveling in Laos.

Smart Travel Asia useful tips and destination guides. Maybe too  up market.

 

Aviation

Amadeus (airline schedules)

Airline meals - see it b4 you eat it !

Airliners - aviation forum, trip reports and pix archive
A Captain's Blog - the routine of a California based 767 captain
FA Uniforms - interesting collection of the old and new

Planenation - commercial aviation news

Airchive - a web museum of commercial aviation.

CrankyFlier - mainly US commentary

 

News

The Guardian - UK

BBC World News

CNN Asia

Bangkok Post

 

China sites

LivinginChina.com

 

Bangkok info sites

 

thailand.com

learningthai.com

sawadee.com

thailandstories

bangkok a-z

 

Worthy Sites

Rconversation - from Rebecca MacKinnon, ex-TV reporter-turned-blogger.

 

Fun Sites

Penguin baseball

 

Useful Sites

World Time Clock

 

Technology Ideas
Loose wire

 

 

 Author

 

Robert Scott lives and works in Dubai; born in England I have since lived in Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok.

I am very happily engaged to Tai.

 

If you want to know more you only need to ask! ask.

 

31 August 2008

There are certain benefits to being a gold medal winning cyclist as Britain's Chris Foy clearly discovered on Beijing!

Almost makes me want to get a bicycle!

***********************

Monday, September 1, 2008, is to be observed as the first day of the holy month of Ramadan, the committee in charge of sighting the crescent in the UAE has announced, the official WAM news agency reported on Saturday

*************************

Meanwhile in Thailand Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej has lambasted security officials of the Phuket International Airport for failing to prevent protesters from shutting down the airport. He does have a point. How on earth can a few hundred protesters gain access to an international airport and shut it down for days?

**************************

Time to end another month; this is a very strange day at work; and I am both upset and distracted.

30 August 2008

I feel sorry for the Democrats - they have to keep trying to convince Americans of their patriotism - meanwhile the general assumption is that the Republicans love America - its just that they hate half the people living there!

I am not sure about Barack Obama - there is something that feels insincere about him. He has lots of headlines; but there is little substance. No details on how he will deliver his promises.

Meanwhile McCain sounds measured and sensible and far less strident. Their debates will be interesting. At 72 he really should retire and enjoy life. Heaven knows he has seen and experienced things that would scar the rest of us for life.

If only McCain was a Democrat. Cant vote for him. Dont trust Obama. So I would probably end up like most Americans and not voting. Isn't that sad.

************************

Tai is on her way to Hong Kong and I am at work. Though I have not done much work while I have been doing a lot of reading on events in Thailand.

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I forgot to mention last week that the public taxi rank at BKK airport has moved again.

The whole issue of taxis at the airport is an embarrassing shambles.  It should be a simple matter to organise a taxi rank at an international airport but Suwanabhumi has turned it into an art form.

In the terminal there are taxi touts absolutely everywhere. They will tell you they are a taxi service. They are expensive limo services. Then there are the private touts with private cars. Go with them at your peril.

But try to find the proper metered taxi rank.  Near impossible. Here’s a clue, it’s on level two but you can only get to it if you have just got off a plane and don’t make any detours.

29 August 2008

Tai is back in BKK; not an easy flight. Flying with crew from her recent Sydney flight.

I was on the Al Hamra golf course at 7.50am. And it was so so hot. I have been suffering all afternoon. And need to sleep.

26 August 2008

Back in Dubai; working too hard - too much drama. And sleeping too little.

Was up at 5.30 to pick Tai up off her flight from BKK; and she has been to Karachi this evening. She will be back in BKK for the weekend so we have little time together this week.

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As I left Bangkok the Brits were performing at the Beijing Olympics closing ceremony. It looks like London with be the ultimate low cost Olympics - maybe Easy Olympics!

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Hilarious - all the abuse the Chinese got for having a girl mime a song at the opening ceremony. And now we discover the the whole of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra mimed the 2000 Olympic opening ceremony!

24 August 2008

Tai has learned something useful this trip - how to play pool! She has potential !

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We have been running around like crazy - seen the team from Worabura who are well organised. Been back to the wedding studio - which I always find frustrating! People there talk about me - but not too me. And I really have no idea what is going on there most of the time; until its time to pay them for something.

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It was good to get out on Friday night - pizza, pool and a band playing 70s music.

23 August 2008

It is like home from home staying at Siri Sathorn in Bangkok this weekend.

The plot of land next to the serviced apartment used to have a dodgy Japanese restaurant and a rather nice homely Italian place called Sala Rosa. Both have been flattened.

The site is being developed into a new condminium block. Foundations are being laid as I type this. It is a very different process from Dubai. In Dubai you clear the sand and you are building on rock.

Dubai is built on clay so the foundations have to be drilled much deeper. They start early in the morning as well. It is noisy. The only good news about building on clay is that you dont create the same amount of dust in the air.

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19 August 2008

Had the worst of dreams last night. Some might think it was entirely appropriate.

I was to be hung in the morning. It was my last night and I was up and could not sleep and was trying to be brave, but knew that I would not see another sunrise and was worrying about the people that I love.....

And I woke and it was still dark outside - and I tried to go back to sleep thinking about something else but then the same dream repeated itself. Quite disturbing.  

17 August 2008

Tai is in Munich. Scene of the 1972 Olympic Games - not that she will remember that !

Golf yesterday at the Wadi course. I really should use the summer membership while I still have it! But it was so hot !! I was dead when I got home and hardly moved in the afternoon. Which was a good excuse to sit in front of the tv.

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Watford won their first home league game of the season yesterday with a 1-0 win over Charlton. The club has also sold the unfortunately named Danny Shittu to Bolton for an undisclosed fee. Not the most accomplished of defenders but huge! It could be a long season.

**********************

The four yearly debate on what sports should not be in the Olympics is underway.

Eliminate Tennis - they have their grand slams - and I am sorry but the likes of Roger Federer (who did not stay in the athletes' village) make for poor Olympians.

Eliminate the horsey events. How do you judge dressage?

Change football to be an Under 21 World Cup played as part of the Olympics.

Eliminate most of the diving events - especially anything with the word synchronised in it.

15 August 2008

"Today is not my day" said Thaksin. The message is clear - he will be back. Will there be a pardon on the succession? Possible.

********************

Your average Hong Kong resident on the joys of the Olympic equestrian events: 'I expected to see horse racing. I have to say this is the most boring thing I've ever seen in my life.'

14 August 2008

The Chinese do have a sense of humour - and a lot of that is directed at the state if the Chinese football team who have not progressed beyond the group stage: one joke runs like this:

Brazil are playing China in the football. Just before kick-off, Alex Pato, the Brazilian superstar, is so confident that he says to his team: "I can handle this match by myself." So the rest of the team go to the pub for a drink. Sure enough, five minutes into the game, Pato scores. The team, watching from the bar are delighted and expected a flood of other goals. But after 90 minutes, the game ends 1-0. Pato joins up with his team-mates, looking dejected. "Cheer up," they say, "You were all alone against 11 Chinese players, yet you still won. You did a great job."

Pato refuses to be comforted. "You haven't heard the whole story. After I scored that first goal, I fouled a Chinese player and got sent off."

13 August 2008

Nice to see the Aussies in a bit of a lather as their famed swim team fails to make much of an impression in the Beijing aquadome.

After Rebecca Adlington's 400m freestyle gold set the tone for Britain in the pool here, John Coates, the head of the Australian Olympic Committee and an International Olympic Committee member since 2001, was asked for his thoughts. "It's not bad for a country that has no swimming pools and very little soap," he said.

11 August 2008

A very sleepy Tai is back from Sydney. Not a great trip back; but at least she is learning the difference between effective and poor managers and how to give useful and supportive feedback ! Even if it is by seeing first hand how not to do it !

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If you had any doubt about who one of the Olympic sponsors is this Beijing picture sums up the horrible commercialism of the event:

advertising

10 August 2008

I am sitting in a Doha hotel waiting for a car to the airport; listening to the Peer Gynt suite on the hotel musack system and writing emails to Huddersfield about an event in Thailand while Argentina and Australia play football in Beijing on the TV screen in the hotel lobby. Meanwhile Tai is leaving Aussie to get home to Dubai - I am going to be very pleased to see her.

The big excitement from my golf on Saturday with one of our school principals - he took at 8 iron on the full on his head - not from me !!! Thought I was going to have to give him the kiss of life - he was poleaxed - cfo gives principal kiss of life on 17th hole - the sort of headline that would get me thrown out of the UAE!! 2 hours of checks at the hospital and they let him out with a bad headache. Dangerous sport !

9 August 2008

There are some pictures from the Beijing opening ceremony here.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the ceremony was that it was directed by Zhang Yimou.

8 August 2008

Tai is in Christchurch - in room number 808; on the 8th day of August 2008; she must be a very lucky girl indeed.

This long trip is hurting us a bit. We are both tired and it is hard to be able to find anytime when we are able to talk.

And talking sometimes is not because you need to talk - but you need to forget everything else that is going on and focus on what matters most.....and that is sharing your life with the person you love.

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It is also (the date is critical) the opening day of the Beijing 2008 Olympics. And the opening ceremony was breathtaking. Spectacular. Wonderfully colourful. Imaginative. And Li Ning running around the inside of the stadium roof to light the flame looked like the tree running scene in the House of Flying Daggers !

China got it all right - am amazing combination of light, technology and human grace.

And Yao Ming (all 224cm of him) leading the Chinese athletes with a 9 year old boy who rescued two friends in the Sichuan earthquake. Memorable.

London in four years time can never match this.

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But we are on the edge of war between Russia and Georgia and that cannot be good for Europe or for East/West relations.

Do the Russians have a long term plan to undermine Georgia and overthrow its your western leaning President?

Because if that is the case then how will the west react to an attack on Georgia. There are Russian planes flying over the Georgian capital.

Remember the name South Ossetia.

South Ossetia is a breakaway region from Georgia that the Russians have backed for years.

Europe may see its next conflict over this small 70,000 population autonomous region.

We should all be worried.

*************************

Golf today at the Dubai Creek course. Course is flat - very like a Bangkok city course. It was also an exercise in survival. 45C and hot, hot, hot.

Then as we stood by the 17th green my playing partner is hit on the head by an errant golf ball. It hit with a thud and hurt. Very scary. He is OK now.

6 August 2008

I wish I could see this - a modern Hamlet with a Time Lord as Hamlet and an Enterprise Captain (Patrick Stewart) as Claudius.

The review are summarised in the Guarian "....the hype, it seems, was justified. Months of speculation about David Tennant's Hamlet ended last night, when the Royal Shakespeare Company's production opened to the public in Stratford-upon-Avon, and this morning, the critics are largely united in their praise. The Doctor Who star makes a very good Shakespearean protagonist – but not yet great."

The RSC production continues at the Courtyard Theatre until November 15, and in London till January 10,

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Tai is on her way to Sydney and Christchurch - five nights away. Too long.

4 August 2008

Cruel game cricket. South African Graeme Smith was plumb lbw on Saturday; but the excessive appealing of Panesar had worn down an umpire who said not out. Smith goes on to win the match and series.

Meanwhile Michael Vaughan, who at tea on Saturday looked likely to have led England to a win, yesterday resigned after five years as England captain.

***********************

Beware Air Canada. Their transatlantic bag policy is that no bag can weigh more than 23 kilos. But you can take two bags. Alex's bag was 30kg (he has been away a long time) and he had no second bag.

So I had to pay gbp35 for the extra weight in his only bag. With two bags he could have taken 46kg for no extra charge. Instead his 30kg bag cost an extra fee - and their UM fee is now C$100.

And all that comes with the most miserable, scowly faced, unfriendly check in dragons that you could possible meet.

2 August 2008

Back to the office to catch up on events at work. But I would rather be in Rome.....it is an unpleasant 45C outside today.

*****************************

More Olympics doping: today the IOC stripped gold medals form the US 4x400m men's relay team won at the Sydney Games in 2000, after sprinter Antonio Pettigrew admitted in June that he used banned substances between 1997 and 2003.

They should just lend the medals rather than give them out.

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One football note from last week - Robbie Keane moved from Spurs to Liverpool for gbp 20 million. Crazy price.

  1 August 2008

Today's best Olympic headline - Moroccan delegation head praises Beijing Olympic Village as "best ... Xinhua

Good old Xinhua - always looking for the silver lining !

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Have just about recovered from the Thistle hotel. What an awful place.

Busy flight back to Dubai on the 30th. A little late into a baking warm Dubai. And home to Tai....that was nice!

And 31 July was a public holiday so we had the day to ourselves; a lie in (being on UK time meant I did not wake until 10.00am) and a visit to the mall in search of somewhere cool.

Although the car was in the Falcon car park it is covered in grime. A week out in Devon and the only danger would be pidgeon dung. It just shows how bad the air is in Dubai and how much dust and dirt is in the air. It cannot be good for anyone.

And then a 4.30am wake up for Tai to catch her 7.35am flight to Rome. Rome for a summer afternoon should be very pleasant.

Me - a quiet day at home. And a needed trip to the gym

29 July 2008

If I thought the Sheraton Heathrow was bad - then try the Thistle - what a shockingly awful hotel. If this was my first night in England I would turn around and go straight home. This is a zero star, third world place. A borstal not a hotel.

28 July 2008

I used to be a member of the National Trust; and they do a great job of maintaining old british homes, castles, historical buildings and some of the more scenic land.

And Saltram House near Plymouth is a nice example of a 250 year old Georgian home with attractive gardens and staffed by volunteers who were proud of their building and happy to offer information.

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It is nice not to be woken by construction noise!

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The British are excited - yesterday was for many the warmest day of the year; the beaches at Burgh Island were packed. I love weather forecasts that describe 25C as hot!

26 July 2008

It was nice to wake up with the window open and not to be listening to the building sites. It is very peaceful here.

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Tai is on her way to Casablanca today. Sounds exotic; but seems a long way from Newton Ferrers.

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I wandered around Heathrow's new terminal five yesterday while waiting for Alex's flight to come in from Geneva.

It is modern and efficient. It looks like HKG or BKK. Lots of light, metal and glass. The Costa coffee was good. There is a decent sized M&S food shop if you are hungry and the car parking is easy and access to the M25 and M4 is fast.

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The motorway was busy to Devon; not helped by too many people who seem to drive along happily in the middle lane....

25 July 2008

As Dubai gets ready to welcome the A380 one innovation on EK's new jet is that the EK A380 will have 2 new extra staff onboard, excluding the cabin crew. These 2 staff will be responsible for keeping the aircraft clean. They will clean the showers, the galleys, toilets and make sure the cabin is neat. They will not be cabin crew and will take up 2 seats that will be blocked off in economy for them at all time, so they can rest and take turns working.

How long before EK dumps this idea and gives the work to the crew?

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Heathrow is such a dump - in 1978 Dennis Potter the playwright wrote:  I did not fully understand the dread term "terminal illness" until I saw Heathrow for myself. How true!

24 July 2008

I feel like I am in a breathless rush....with too little time for Tai and I.

Tai was back from London late last night - but it was almost 2.30am before we slept and my alarm went off just four hours later.

Then it was work (and not a great day there) until lunch followed by a rush home and a rush to see Alex.

I am on my way to London (EK5) and will see Alex tomorrow and we will have a few days in England visiting my Mum. But it seems so strange to be on holiday without Tai - her schedule would not let her take a few days off with me. So we are going to have a strange few days; and for once she is in Dubai and I am traveling.

***************************

In my luggage I have power chargers for my laptop, blackberry, mobile, shaver and for two cameras. Too much? Why cant the manufacturers just agree one standard electrical connection that recharges any device?

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The kid behind me loves kicking my seat. I may have to turn around and strangle him. Spoiled, indulged, Indian kids.

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As for the lady who threw hot coffee over me in the lounge at DXB. What goes around comes around..... 

22 July 2008

Tai is heading to London today. Our timing is not quite right this month!

She is staying at a hotel where you call internationally and then get an answerphone with a whole menu to go through before you know you need to dial a certain number to get the operator. Very annoying. And then this really slow voice - I am connecting you to the operator - and then a minute ringing before the operator bothers to answer. So you have been charged two minutes of long distance call before you get a real person - and then you have to spell the guest's name a couple of times to get through to the room. Grrrrrrr....

20 July 20008

How to impress your girl - at 53 !!

"At 53, and looking increasingly like he should be skippering a marlin boat off the coast of Bermuda, Norman yesterday set up the least expected sporting victory ever as he ignored his lack of practice, the absence of any sort of real preparation, to continue to impress the hell out of his new bride Chrissie Evert. As showing off goes, this is now ridiculous."

Norman leads after 3 rounds of the Open. It would be the golf story of the decade if he wins!

19 July 2008

A day trip to Fujairah. Lunch at the Hilton with the tide in almost at our feet. Nice. And i like the drive up the coast to Dibba.

18 July 2008

It is a quiet day in Dubai - and to brighten it up here is a helpful flight attendant video from the Netherlands - no translation is necessary.

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Why when two airliners get too close do they call it a near miss and not a near hit?

*****************

More oil woes as Qantas announces 1,500 redundancies and grounds 22 of its older airplanes.

********************

Am trying to work out why I am having to listen to building site noise at 7.15am on a Friday morning - this is the official rest day - when no one is supposed to be working - not helped by getting up at 4.15am to go to the airport.

***********************

The British Open is underway in foul weather in NW England ad among the leaders is 53 year old Greg Norman - he credited his recent marriage to Chrissie Evert as a factor in an Open performance that rolled back the years.

'It has revitalised my life and that has had a rub-on on effect on the golf, no question,' said the two-time winner of the Claret Jug after a par 70 just behind the leaders.

Wonder if my golf game will improve from October!

*************************

More Brits behaving badly stories.....

A First Choice Boeing 767 plane, with 257 passengers and 11 crew on board, flying from Gatwick to Cuba on Wednesday had to land in Bermuda after a passenger tried to open a door in the plane at an altitude of 35,000 feet. Passengers claimed the man had been drinking and become abusive before making a lunge for one of the doors.

Why oh why do airlines and airports still insist on serving alcohol on planes and at airports?

Air-rage incidents on British planes have more than tripled in recent years. The Civil Aviation Authority received 2,219 reports of disruptive behaviour on flights in 2006-07, compared with 1,359 the previous year. Common causes included drunkenness and lighting up or getting angry when stopped from smoking. Disputes often involved couples' rows, anger over seat allocation and irritation at people reclining seats into personal space. In 42 cases passengers were restrained. Planes were diverted in 14 incidents, and on 19 occasions take-off stopped. Passengers were ordered off planes in 235 cases and police or security attended 345 times. Scary!

17 July 2008

The joys of the English language - this was the headline in the Sun earlier this week - “Boozed-up brunette banged up for bunk-up on beach in Dubai”.

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More crime news from Dubai: Forty cross-dressing tourists have been arrested in shopping malls and other public places and they will be deported soon, police revealed on Wednesday.

The visitors were held after police launched a campaign against transvestites in May. The 40 offenders were referred to the Public Prosecution, which issued an administrative deportation order against them.

Why would cross dressing tourists come to Dubai? A visit to Thailand would seem less risky!

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And sending all these visitors home may not be a great idea: Arabianbusiness.com confirms today what I wrote a few days ago; that many hoteliers in Dubai are reporting lower occupancy rates than normal this summer.

Although summer is traditionally a slow season, a number of the emirate’s hoteliers say business is quieter than normal, reported UAE daily The National on Thursday.

It must be bad to get reported. I wonder how bad.

16 July 2008

7Days newspaper in Dubai on page 2 reported under the headline - "Hotel knifer gets life" - "an Egyptian man was sentenced to life in prison followed by deportation for stabbing another man to death."

Not sure he will know much about the deportation!

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In another police statistic over 1.3million traffic fines were issued in Dubai in the first six months of the year - about 1.1million issued automatically by radar detectors; the other 200,000 issued by traffic police.

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Tai is on her way to Hong Kong today; I wish I could go - I have cabin fever and need a couple of days away.

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Another week without the tagboard - I miss it - and the regular updates from my Bangkok correspondent!

14 July 2008

79 people were arrested last week on Dubai beaches as part of a crackdown on indecent acts on all the open beaches. Wow! People should stick to building sand castles.

13 July 2008

The News of the World newspaper web site is actually blocked in the UAE. I did not realise that until I tried to check the newspaper's latest views on the Mosley case !

11 July 2008

Useful advice from the Sun newspaper in the UK: "Men and women who bonk three times a week can halve their risk of suffering a major heart attack or stroke, according to a University of Bristol study."

I am now planning to be very old !

10 July 2008

End of the week. Strange week. Tai is out to Beirut for the evening.

Had a couple of rough days in the middle of the week. My neighbour's birthday coincided with Tai overnighting to Ahmedabad; a night that left us both tired and out of sorts.

But we made a storming recovery. Sometimes I guess a bad day helps remind us of what really matters.

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We bought our wedding rings on Tuesday night - and Tai has found her make-up artist....she may surprise one or tow of the wedding guests ! She was recommended by one of Tai's crew friends.

***********************

Both Time Magazine and The Economist carry articles on the battle for control of Thailand. The legal pressure on Thaksin is huge; and his puppet government led by the quite awful Samak is moving from one incompetent muddle to the next. And worst of all Thailand's faltering economy is getting no attention. 

7 July 20008

Early morning and still awake as my neighbours want to party tonight. The trouble is that the building is so badly finished that i can hear their music and talking and smell their cigarettes.

It is apparently my neighbour's birthday - wouldn't it be nice if she had her birthday somewhere that is not blaring into my ears. 

Last night I went to sleep listening to concrete being pumped  at the car park being constructed next door and this morning I woke as they were hammering away on metal pipes.

Noise pollution. Bad. I need to sleep.

5 July 2008

Advice from an aircrew friend: you may never be allowed to fly again but it might be fun ! :

HOW TO HANDLE IRRITATING SEATMATES IN AN AIRPLANE

If you are sitting next to someone who irritates you, follow these
instructions:

1.      Quietly and calmly open up your laptop case.

2.      Remove your laptop.

3.      Start up.

4.      Make sure the guy who is annoying you, can see the screen.

5.      Close your eyes and tilt your head up to the sky and move your lips like you are praying .

6.     Then hit the link below

http://boortz.com/mp3/archive/countdown.swf

4 July 2008

Tai is on her way back from a not so exciting trip to Addis Adabba and Entebbe/Kampala. She will be late into DXB tonight.

I worked most of the day until about 8pm; then made the mistake of trying to go to the Mall of the Emirates on a Friday night. The mall's car park was one large non moving traffic jam. Impossible to park so I gave up.

On TV tonight - Sean Connery in "You Only Live Twice" - I dont know this Bond film as well as others; but I like that it is set in Hong Kong and Tokyo; and the filming of Hong Kong harbour in the 1960s is fascinating. The film was made in 1967.

3 July 2008

The dream?

The reality:

(Sewage on the streets in International City)

1 July 2008

Tai came back from Bangkok on Friday night/Saturday morning; she immediately had airport standby on Sunday morning  and we have both been sleepy since - bed at 10pm the last two nights.

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I am feeling a bit run down and I am finding it hard to shake off.....energy and enthusiasm for everything I do has always been important for me. And it is not there at the moment. Instead there is a sense that I should be doing more....but I am not sure where to start.

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Lets hear it for Thailand's only female tennis star, Tamarine Tanasugarn who knocked a moaning 2nd seed Jelena Jankovic out of Wimbledon with a 6-3 6-2 fourth-round win. Tararine is now in the last eight where she meets last year's champion Venus Williams.

And while on Sport - Spain beat Germany to win the Euro2008 title. Good for them.