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Links

An Occasional Blog

Bangkok 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.thaipulse.com/ - thai recipes

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

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

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.

News

The Guardian - UK

BBC World News

CNN Asia

Bangkok Post

China sites

LivinginChina.com

Bangkok info sites

thailand.com

learningthai.com

sawadee.com

bangkokmouth

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.

The end of another year brings with it a sense of sadness and excitement. More in 2008. I hope you all have a happy and peaceful new year and that there is someone close to you at the new year to say I love you. Take care of eachother.

30 December 2007

We drove to Al Ain for the afternoon yesterday. And found most of the city was closed ! It is green, with a number of oases. Lots of roundabouts!

It is an easy drive from Dubai, but why is it that every 4x4 has to drive at 170km plus an hour and with their lights constantly flashing as if they are the only vehicle on the road.

Dinner last night at Shogun, Korean BBQ.

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Tai came back from Zurich  early in the morning and for the most part we had a quiet day; Alex and I had a late afternoon walk around Dubai Marina; parking is not easy there at weekends now. It is getting very busy.

Thai food in the evening and an early night. Everyone was tired.

27 December 2007

Dinner on Christmas Day was a decent success after I cooked turkey with most of the trimmings. Maybe a pic to follow tomorrow when I feel less tired.

Tai left for snowy Zurich on the afternoon of 26th. Cold !! Alex and I were at Festival Walk for a while. The car park is cool. There are lights above each parking space; red if the space is occupied; green if it is vacant.

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Had two hours in Ski Dubai today with Alex. A combination of the cold and exercise and I am tired now.

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Strange. Tai and I have a New Year card from Dubai Properties. It is just a greeting card. But it was sent by Aramex courier and has not even been signed. What a waste. Do I have the energy to complain. Maniana !

25 December 2007

Happy Christmas.

The building sites conveniently ignore Christmas. They were banging away early this morning. Which was not good for a slight early morning hangover!

We had a good dinner at Spice Island last night. Other than the Xmas desserts it was not very festive. No Christmas music. Although we did bump into Santa in the lobby.

Lucky Santa !

And lucky Alex!

24 December 2007

Last week was so quiet at Falcon Tower. It was the three day holiday and then the Friday weekend and construction work was minimal.

Now for Christmas week the construction sites are all up and working by 7am. There is a new site, the fourth, at the back of Falcon. Although it is far from clear what will be constructed there. Peace on earth does not apply here sadly.  

23 December 2007

Tai and Alex both arrived early morning yesterday and it is great to have them at home.

Everyone is a bit tired - Tai slept all morning; Alex slept all evening.

And I reminisced over dinner about Watford FC's exploits over 20 years ago! Wembley 1984 for instance!

21 December 2007

Watching American Idol and they have Lulu as a singing coach - she can still sing but really is a bit too old to still be singing "To Sir with Love." that film must be 40 years old now!

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One more day to go. It is the weekend here. And it is soooooo quiet. No one to talk to or to see. I could go to the office but feel like I need a day away from there.

These are nicely edited pictures from a friend. Thank you !

20 December 2007

I made my first visit to the (in)famous liquor store at the Barracuda resort - the one place in the UAE where you can buy alcohol without a license.  This place is very popular.

The store sells hard liquor, beers and wine. Decent bottles of Australian wine are AED35 (US$10) and upwards.

There is a resort there as well; but there is also too much garbage surrounding the resort and some very dubious sewage smells. Mainly I guess the result of some very stagnant water.

19 December 2007

The latest on the Thomson acquisition of Reuters: "Ongoing discussions with regulators on both sides of the Atlantic have made both companies increasingly optimistic of completing regulatory reviews within the timeframe previously described," Reuters said in a statement.

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I am finding this week really hard. The time is dragging. This is day five of Tai's trip. It is not easy being on your own in this town. I feel like I want to get away. I have not flown anywhere since October and after the last few weeks some time away from Dubai would be welcome.

It is the second day of the Eid holiday and another day in the office. But am finding it hard to concentrate on work.

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A380 formation flying. Saw this on another web site!

18 December 2007

A very happy birthday to Nina. Forever 21.

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Tai is is Auckland as I write this and about to start the long haul home with a flight back to Sydney.

I like this Emirates ad - from desert to the Canadian frozen north!

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10.30pm and I am falling asleep on the sofa. I am tired.

17 December 2007

Tai and I may be 7,000 miles apart but we are both exhausted this week. She arrived in Sydney this morning. It is a nine hour flight from Bangkok through the night. Meanwhile I have worked all weekend and had a dinner to attend last night.

There is simply too much to do at work right now.

The three day Eid holiday starts tomorrow but I know I will be spending it at work trying to make sure that I get caught up. And i need to do he remaining Christmas shopping. I have not sent any cards yet. Sorry everyone!

Forgot to mention that we spent Friday lunch at Da Shi Dai Chinese restaurant in Upper Mirdiff. And then to Festival Walk. Tai spent the evening cooking me a week's supply of chicken and egg soup. So sweet! I will have feathers by the time that she gets back.

Mirdiff is a nice location to explore except that it is directly under the runway approach to Dubai airport and the planes are low overhead.

A few pictures from Saturday:

15 December 2007

Tai left this morning for Bangkok, Sydney and Auckland. She will be away for a week; the longest that we have been apart in over a year. I feel a bit sad. But I know how happy she will be to see her family and that she will have fun exploring Sydney when they stop there for 48 hours later in the week.

And I am at work today ! I think it is Saturday!

One small item in ArabianBusiness.com gives some idea of the scale of the opportunity in the Middle East is this note from Abraaj Capital who indicate that private equity firms in the Middle East could raise and invest about $50 billion during the next few years as regional governments open their industries to more private investment.

"We have got very strong deal flow in this region, and it continues to get better and better," Arif Naqvi, chief executive of Abraaj, said in Dubai at a private equity conference called Super Return Middle East.

"Governments are beginning to realise that they need to be in the business of governance, rather than in the business of management," Naqvi said on Monday. Firms could raise about $50 billion, he said.

14 December 2007

Elton John will be performing in the open air theatre at the Western Wing of the Emirates Palace on January 22, 2008.

This is the very first time Elton John will be performing in the UAE.

Tickets for the 9pm show go on sale from today (at 2pm) and will be available in three categories priced at AED 295, AED 595 and AED 950. Not cheap ! But it will still sell out today!

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The Gypsy Kings are performing a new year concert at Bab Al Shams resort in the desert. The concert and a five course dinner are priced at US$1,000 a head, presumably ++.

12 December 2007

Emirates may want to take over the aviation world; here is one new destination for them. Wilkins in the Antarctic.

A regular air service shuttling Australian scientists to and from Antarctica is expected to land its first team of expeditioners on a remote blue ice runway within the next week.

A trial touchdown of the Australian Antarctic Division's new Airbus A319 on the Wilkins runway just after midnight on Monday went without a hitch, according to the Antarctic Airlink Project.

 Australia and Antarctica are the last two continents on the planet to be linked by air travel.

On Monday's trial landing, the plane pulled up within one kilometre on the four-kilometre-long runway despite the lack of friction to grab the wheels on the slippery ice.

Crews have lived in shipping containers and worked in harsh conditions over the past three frigid summers to carve the runway into 500-metre-thick glacial ice, 25 kilometres in from the continent's coast, and 70 kilometres from Casey research station.

Using laser-levelling technology, they have had to grade and shave the ice to a bowling-green flatness, then keep grooming it to keep it snow-free.

Wilkins runway — named after adventurer and aviator Sir Hubert Wilkins, who made the first flight in Antarctica 79 years ago — is expected to open for business within the next week when the first scientific team touches down.

The blue ice runway has minimal environmental effect, being located 20 kilometres from the nearest wildlife. The Airbus A319 also does not require fuel to be stored at the runway.

11 December 2007

It is a really busy and rather strange week at work.

Tai is about to fly back from New York. It was a hard trip over there on Sunday with a four hour flog delay at Dubai before a 14 and 1/2 hour flight. Long day. But New York before Christmas is always nice.

Tai will be away from Saturday for a whole week to Bangkok, Sydney and Auckland. And it will be the long Eid holiday here on 19th and 20th. I need to find something to keep me busy. Christmas shopping !! It will be her longest time away from Dubai. She will enjoy the week more than I will !!

8 December 2007

Only in Dubai - no cameras allowed on the beach! Signs everywhere.

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One of our friends in Dubai recently asked the question of what becomes of the people who were at one time a big part of your life but who, for whatever reason, you lose contact with over time....

I am sure it is something that may of us think about as we look back over lessons learned and decisions taken.

The answer has to be never to regret the choices that you make.

Moving away from home inevitably means moving away from current friends and meeting new ones.

There are ways to keep in contact now that did not exist 10, 20 or 30 years ago. It is easier to keep in distant contact. It is easier through blogs and websites to tell people about the changes in your life.

Fair to say that I am not in contact with any of my old school or university friends. We did not have email or internet to keep in contact.

Yet I do know that my old next door neighbour from Bourneville, when I was about 8 or 9 years old, will be getting married in June next year. So there are ways now of keeping in touch or aware of the changes on our lives.

The best we can do is learn for the people who touch our lives; learn from the changes that we make to our own life; treat the people that we care about as we want to be treated ourselves and if you love someone then tell them.

I am sure we all think about people that we have met and wonder where they are now and how they are. But they, like me, have moved on to new lives and new friends.  Our lives may have crossed, we may have been touched by someone in so many ways, love, kindness, or even bitterness. But that is in the past.  I have learned so much from the people I have met and who have been a part of my life. If we lost contact it is for a reason.

I am embracing the present and celebrating the future. The past is consigned to history. The present is a very special time.

There are many more pictures from a good day yesterday at this link.

7 December 2007

Emirates will end its DXB-HAM-JFK clights from 30 March 2008 and instead will fly a daily round trip from DXB to HAM (Hamburg).

It is likely that a third daily non stop will be added for DXB-JFK.

3 December 2007

It is only a four day work week in the UAE - makes a nice change! Yesterday was UAE national day.

Tai and I went with some of her crew friends to Madinat Jumeirah for lunch and to take some pictures in the December sunshine. It is still about 30C in the day.

A visit to the Mall in the late afternoon revealed where everyone goes to spend their public holiday.

2 December 2007

We spent yesterday exploring places that we had never been to before - the Dubai Outlet Mall on Al Ain Rd and the Dragon Mart.

The Outlet mall is very dull and really has nothing worth buying. Waiting for the winter sales makes much more sense.

And the Dragon Mart is endless small Chinese stores selling everything from machinery to clothing to wooden bathtubs.

Both are in the middle of nowhere and are really not worth the effort of getting there.

1 December 2007

Fantasy time - twins !!!

Quiet day at home yesterday and an evening out on Dubai Creek with colleagues from work.

29 November 2007

Tai has a trip to Istanbul today. A tiring turnaround. But it is the last flight of her first year of flying. It was 52 weeks ago today that she graduated at the EK training college.

I have had three evenings in a row at work related functions which is why this web site is not getting updated this week. But there is a three day weekend ahead so I will write some more in the next few days.

27 November 2007

Tai is back from BKK this morning. It is very good to have her home.

I have had a lot of support and encouragement from some very dear friends the last few days. Tai has been wonderful. And all is well.

Her December roster is out and she will be in Dubai for Christmas and on New Year's Eve. We should be able to have a nice family Christmas and the now annual Christmas day party!

24 November 2007

It is Loy Krathong today in Thailand. A day that will always have a lot of meaning for Tai and I.

She had to fly to BKK last night. We had a tough day yesterday but I have never felt so close to someone.

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The following list is doing the rounds of the EK crew and is quite entertaining: these are some of my favourites:

You know you are Flight Attendant when.....

1. You can eat a 4 course meal standing at the kitchen counter
2. You search for a button to flush the toilet
3. All of your pens have different hotel names on them
4. You NEVER unpack
5. You can recognize pilots by the backs of their heads-but not by their faces
6. You can tell from 70 yards away if a piece of luggage will fit in the overhead bin
7. You know at least 25 uses for air sickness bags-none of which pertain to vomit
8. You understand and actually use the 24-hour clock
9. You stand at the front door and politely say 'Buh-bye, thanks, have a nice day' when someone leaves your home
10. You can make a sentence using all of the following phrases: 'At this time,' 'For your safety,' 'Feel free,' and 'As a reminder'
11. You wake up and have to look at the hotel stationery to figure out where you are
12. You refer to cities by their airport codes
13. You are a fire fighter, a nurse, a security officer and a server all in one!
14. Everytime the door bell rings you look up at the ceiling to make sure it's not a call bell.
15. you change into you 'galley shoes' to cook dinner at home
16. You answer the phone ,you start
by saying ur name and position.

Worse still I actually understand every item on this list!!! 

23 November 2007

Life can change in a minute and jeopardise all that you want; the life that you live and the love that you share.

Lessons are sometimes learned the hard way. Sorry to be obscure but the details are not appropriate here.

22 November 2007

I feel like I am neglecting this diary. Nightmares last night - very strange. Was really tired but still awake at 4am.

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The UAE government yesterday announced a 70% pay increase for all federal employees. Wow! That should set an interesting precedent for the private sector!

With oil prices near US$100 a barrel (and a budget set at US$40) their is plenty of surplus cash. But dutifully the news media has reported the increase without even a blink; let alone questioning what this might do for cost inflation or private sector costs.

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Just when will the dirham devalue. There were suggestions this week of a devalutaion of as much as 20%. That would repeg the dirham at under US$3.00. Ouch. It maybe time to convert surplus dollars to dirhams now.

20 November 2007

Tai is back from a very happy trip to Venice. There are lots of pictures in "Tai's travels." The sun was shining although it was cold.

I listened to Kofi Annan speal last night. Interesting but history being written from hindsight.

Am tired this morning. It was a late night.

18 November 2007

Nice day out yesterday in the UAE's most northern Emirate, Ras Al Khaimah. It is so quiet up there.

The Al Hamra Fort hotel was about as welcoming as a fart in an elevator. You cant go into our grounds or eat at our restaurant by teh beach unless you are a guest. You may only eat in our grotty and rather sad looking coffee shop.

So we did not stay and we went and ate at the old Hilton hotel.

There is a quiet mall and promenade by the creek. We took quite a lot of pics as the sun set there. See the pictures section of this web site. 

Came back on the Emirates Road -Highway 311. Fast road - crazy drivers.

A day that started less than well turned into a really nice day.

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Today has been hard work. The leaders in Dubai conference is on. Did not see as much of that as I would like. Steve Forbes was dire. Richard Branson was interesting and sincere.

16 November 2007

Basta Arts Cafe by the Creek for lunch today. Always pleasant - except when caterpillars fall out of the tree and land on you!

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Tai had a Karachi turnaround tonight and came back tired. But at least late at night there is little traffic and we were home quickly.

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Here is Falcon Tower taken from the access road to the back of Millennium Tower. Falcon is the one in the middle with the building sites either side.

Today's strangest email - and from someone with an australian email address:

I have no idea what that is about - harmless spam!

Foggy again this morning. Colder at night nad high levels of humidity equal fog and drivers behaving even worse than normal.

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Tai finished her annual SEP revision. Clever girl that she is got 100% in her exam !

13 November 2007

I spent most of the day out of the office and it made a really nice change. The morning was at one of our schools and the afternoon at the Dubai Airshow - although that was a fairly short visit.

For all its ambition the air show is not a big event - not on the Farnborough scale. It is a trade show for trade visitors only. There is no public admission. The good news is that means it is not crowded; there is a lot of space and you can watch the flying display from the static display ground in the airport.

The Red Arrows as always was a very good show. 

The airshow page on rascott.com is here.

10 November 2007

Tai is on her way home. That always cheers me up

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My sister is in Dubai today - on her way through to Kuala Lumpur. I can confirm that sleeping on my sofa is quite comfortable. But I still woke early.

We have been to the Creek, to the souks, to Dubai Marina and to the beach; and to Basta arts cafe for a pleasant lunch in the courtyard.

Nice weather for walking around - blue skies and about 30C.

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The official Dubai AIrshow web site is here

The far less official

9 November 2007

Emirates has announced record first half profits - up a boggling 99% over last year - what they did not say is how much of that is from currency - one key reason why the company is making money hand over fist is because over half of the revenue is derived from the UK and Europe. This revenue is in Sterling and Euros. But expenditure is mainly in US dollars or dollar pegged currencies. A significant part of the profit growth has to be currency related

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Tai left for BKK yesterday and is heading for HKG and back to BKK today.

It is a lovely, sunny Friday - a little cooler. And I am at work.

Not much else to report. I was so tired last night that I fell asleep in front of the TV.

The Dubai Air show starts on Sunday and the Middle East International Motor Show is in Dubai a week later. I wonder if they have pretties at a motor show in Dubai. It wont be like the Bangkok auto show!

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Air Show watch. The gala dinner for the Dubai airshow is a dinner for 4,000 people on November 13th at the Dubai International Marine Club - and the guest artist - Diana Ross. I guess spring chicken wont be on the menu.

6 November 2007

I am back - sorry I have been so quiet. Unusual I know

We have had a lot to get through at work the last two days. Interesting - but quite stressful.

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Dubai's new mega airport got a new name - previously the Jebel Ali - Dubai World Central Airport has been renamed Al Maktoum International Airport (AMIA).

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Huge traffic jams on SZ Road every evening starting about 4.30pm and ending after 8pm. The tailback is at least as far as the 4th interchange at the mall of the emirates. It should take 10 minutes to drive home, It will take over 30.

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There are signs of growing labour unrest and activism in Dubai: thousands of construction workers in Dubai entered their sixth day of strike action on Tuesday, demanding better salaries and conditions. They are currently building (or not) the Burj Dubai.

3 November 2007

Sometimes it amazes me what sites are blocked by the UAE censors. I was searching in Buddhist wedding traditions and this site is banned in the UAE - it has a section on thai wedding customs.

http://www.bostonbridalshows.com

Am i missing something!?

And Dean Barrett - the author - has had his site blocked as well.

http://www.deanbarrettthailand.com/

Bizarre !

2 November 2007

New movie release in the UK today - which I doubt will make it to Dubai - sadly. "In the Shadow of the Moon."

The Guardian reviewer liked the documentary:

"There is something thrilling and moving in this documentary about the great era of the Nasa moon landings. Using a wealth of footage (some of it unseen until now) of the moon's stark and eerily beautiful landscape, shot by the astronauts themselves, and interviewing the craggy and grey-haired participants themselves - with one conspicuous and enigmatic exception - David Sington's documentary is gripping.

The great moon-shot period was 1968 to 1972, featuring guys with haircuts and attitudes from the early 50s; it was a simple, glorious and idealistic project, which through a quirk of fate co-existed with the worst of America's Indo-Chinese military adventure, and from which Nasa seemed insulated...the interviews with Buzz Aldrin, Gene Cerman, Michael Collins and Jim Lovell of the ill-starred Apollo 13 give a thrillingly real glimpse of what it must have been like to be picked to be on the world-historic crews. It is fascinating to see the prerecorded sorrowing announcement by Richard Nixon, for use in case the Apollo 11 crew never made it back."

I was gripped by the space race; by the sheer impossibility of flying to the moon and back; by the dramas of Apollo 8, 11 and 13. I kept scrapbooks of pictures and new articles. This is one film that I would love to see.

1 November 2007

My mother rather astutely asked me last night - how is the new job? - because you never talk about it.

Interesting insight.

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The multi storey car park being build on the left of my building as I look out has now decide that working 24/7 is a good thing - and that banging metal pipes between 2am and 4am is acceptable. I got very little sleep last night. And as I type this at 1am on Friday morning they are still banging away.

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Had a nice dinner at Millennium with Tai and her friends - but we both fell asleep on the sofa and I had to leave her sleeping in bed at Millennium and come back to Falcon. I hate being apart on the days that we have together in Dubai.