Dubai & back
I finally got around to putting up pictures from my
trip to Dubai last month. I gave four original talks
in four days with the invitation of my friends and
colleagues, Humeira & Cathy, in Dubai. What a
trip!
I arrived at 7pm on Monday night and had dinner on the beach just outside Burj Al Arab (the “7-star” hotel that’s the 2nd tallest in the world, on it’s own island, and looks like sails). Gorgeous colors light it up at night. You can still make out the helicopter landing pods near the top, too.
Day 2 Humeira took Claire & I to see the inside of the Burj Al Arab (you need special pass to go there). Truly gorgeous! Then we went to the Atlantis resort, had lunch, talks for the Emirates Arthritis Foundation and I gave talk#1 about the cost-effectiveness of RA drugs to patients, insurance providers, and a few doctors. That evening a small group of us went to a restaurant/resort out in the desert where we ate well and I did some dancing with the belly dancer and went up on stage with Claire for more public embarrassment/entertainment.
I also rode a camel... in my
jacket and tie!
Day 3 the conference, Arab Health: Rheumatology, got into full swing. I was taken to the local market - so much amazing fresh produce and seafood! Did some shopping at the souks. Still have a bit to learn about haggling. Saw a local art exhibit, attended several talks and went back to Atlantis where I gave talk #2 on safety of biological drugs and had a late dinner/bbq outside overlooking the palm and part of the southwestern city skyline.
I’ve skipped over a few important details. First, Atlantis. This $1.5 billion resort just opened in Sept at the top of The Palm Jumeirah, these large chain of islands in the shape of a palm. See Google Maps/Earth for more details - it’s amazing! I took pictures inside the vehicle with GPS to prove where I was on the palm. Second, there are cranes and construction all throughout Dubai! Over 50% of the world’s cranes are there and I can believe it! Skyscraper after skyscraper filled my views. My hotel, the Dusit Thani, a Thai hotel in the shape of bowing palms (hands), is along a line of skyscrapers that are next to the Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest building at 170 stories! It truly dwarfs everything within sight. Below it is the world’s largest mall. And you can see the construction of a metro rail line along the 16 lane highway outside my hotel window. All of the city is within a few miles of the coast - the desert is all too present. The temperature was in the 80s most days until the final weekend when it was near 100 and we had a wind/dust storm. Bus stops are air conditioned. This is the nicer season - the summer is much more unbearable. But since it was dry, seemed more tolerable.
Day 4. By now I’ve had serious jet lag, unable to sleep well and every day was tough to function, but the thrill of so much new kept me going. Another full day at the conference where I gave talk#3 on quality of life, work disability and non-clinical outcomes in RA. That night I went to a special art exhibit (Kids from around the world) and “hobnobbed” with the locals (which were almost all ex-pats). Then I had dinner with many of the rheumatologists from the region at Raffles, a well-known British hotel/casino brand with a pyramid hotel.
Day 5. Friday is the beginning of the weekend, but many docs still showed up for my 9am talk#4 on how to create a rheumatic disease database. It went well over an hour, but that was good as the next speaker didn’t show. That afternoon I went on a desert safari with Humeira, the guest statistician, Kok, & wife from Singapore, . I thought this would entail a simple drive through the desert to see the few animals and sights... I was so wrong. This was a 2.5 hour rollercoaster of a drive through the tremendous dunes! Our driver/caravan was crazy! Yet, so much fun! If I didn’t get car sick, I would want to go again (as it is, I’d like to make such a drive myself). Sliding down giant dunes, going sideways, getting stuck, near collisions with other trucks (all with roll bars) - great fun! The ride ended with dinner and more belly dancing out in the desert (yay!). I held back on dancing this time, though I befriended a newly-wed couple from Pakistan.
Day 6. This was a full day trip to Oman - the tip of the Arabia peninsula at the Straight of Hormuz. It’s a near-uninhabitable collection of giant rocks with a bit of a bay inside that we toured on a dhow. I swam in the water - I was the first one in and the last one out both times we stopped. There was red tide that we avoided, the fish that I avoided, the dolphins we couldn’t get enough of, and the reef sharks we smiled at (and avoided). Considering I have a fear of heights and sharks/water, I was definitely enjoying the thrills! The drive was long - 4 hours there, but the driver was different on the way back and drove our bus like a madman, making it in 3 hours! In time for a home-made meal among friends/family.
Day 7. Cathy & I went shopping at one of the big three malls - the one with the indoor ski slopes. Very impressive place, though it could have just as easily been a fancy mail in another big city. I did pick up a new large luggage bag to replace the current one with broken handle. Picked up some postcards, got a Chinese massage, and then one last dinner in an amazing looking skyscraper (I forget the name, but part of twin towers) with a new local friend. The flight back to DC was 15 hours long (12 hours to get there).
In summary, was wonderful to spend time with great friends, make new ones and future work colleagues, to see such futuristic architecture/engineering marvels, and to learn so much of the native and local cultures (not just the capitalistic side). I’ve said I could live in Singapore, and now I feel that Dubai is livable as well - much yet to be done there, but was great to see a piece of it during the boom (and bust).
I arrived at 7pm on Monday night and had dinner on the beach just outside Burj Al Arab (the “7-star” hotel that’s the 2nd tallest in the world, on it’s own island, and looks like sails). Gorgeous colors light it up at night. You can still make out the helicopter landing pods near the top, too.
Day 2 Humeira took Claire & I to see the inside of the Burj Al Arab (you need special pass to go there). Truly gorgeous! Then we went to the Atlantis resort, had lunch, talks for the Emirates Arthritis Foundation and I gave talk#1 about the cost-effectiveness of RA drugs to patients, insurance providers, and a few doctors. That evening a small group of us went to a restaurant/resort out in the desert where we ate well and I did some dancing with the belly dancer and went up on stage with Claire for more public embarrassment/entertainment.
I also rode a camel... in my
jacket and tie!
Day 3 the conference, Arab Health: Rheumatology, got into full swing. I was taken to the local market - so much amazing fresh produce and seafood! Did some shopping at the souks. Still have a bit to learn about haggling. Saw a local art exhibit, attended several talks and went back to Atlantis where I gave talk #2 on safety of biological drugs and had a late dinner/bbq outside overlooking the palm and part of the southwestern city skyline.
I’ve skipped over a few important details. First, Atlantis. This $1.5 billion resort just opened in Sept at the top of The Palm Jumeirah, these large chain of islands in the shape of a palm. See Google Maps/Earth for more details - it’s amazing! I took pictures inside the vehicle with GPS to prove where I was on the palm. Second, there are cranes and construction all throughout Dubai! Over 50% of the world’s cranes are there and I can believe it! Skyscraper after skyscraper filled my views. My hotel, the Dusit Thani, a Thai hotel in the shape of bowing palms (hands), is along a line of skyscrapers that are next to the Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest building at 170 stories! It truly dwarfs everything within sight. Below it is the world’s largest mall. And you can see the construction of a metro rail line along the 16 lane highway outside my hotel window. All of the city is within a few miles of the coast - the desert is all too present. The temperature was in the 80s most days until the final weekend when it was near 100 and we had a wind/dust storm. Bus stops are air conditioned. This is the nicer season - the summer is much more unbearable. But since it was dry, seemed more tolerable.
Day 4. By now I’ve had serious jet lag, unable to sleep well and every day was tough to function, but the thrill of so much new kept me going. Another full day at the conference where I gave talk#3 on quality of life, work disability and non-clinical outcomes in RA. That night I went to a special art exhibit (Kids from around the world) and “hobnobbed” with the locals (which were almost all ex-pats). Then I had dinner with many of the rheumatologists from the region at Raffles, a well-known British hotel/casino brand with a pyramid hotel.
Day 5. Friday is the beginning of the weekend, but many docs still showed up for my 9am talk#4 on how to create a rheumatic disease database. It went well over an hour, but that was good as the next speaker didn’t show. That afternoon I went on a desert safari with Humeira, the guest statistician, Kok, & wife from Singapore, . I thought this would entail a simple drive through the desert to see the few animals and sights... I was so wrong. This was a 2.5 hour rollercoaster of a drive through the tremendous dunes! Our driver/caravan was crazy! Yet, so much fun! If I didn’t get car sick, I would want to go again (as it is, I’d like to make such a drive myself). Sliding down giant dunes, going sideways, getting stuck, near collisions with other trucks (all with roll bars) - great fun! The ride ended with dinner and more belly dancing out in the desert (yay!). I held back on dancing this time, though I befriended a newly-wed couple from Pakistan.
Day 6. This was a full day trip to Oman - the tip of the Arabia peninsula at the Straight of Hormuz. It’s a near-uninhabitable collection of giant rocks with a bit of a bay inside that we toured on a dhow. I swam in the water - I was the first one in and the last one out both times we stopped. There was red tide that we avoided, the fish that I avoided, the dolphins we couldn’t get enough of, and the reef sharks we smiled at (and avoided). Considering I have a fear of heights and sharks/water, I was definitely enjoying the thrills! The drive was long - 4 hours there, but the driver was different on the way back and drove our bus like a madman, making it in 3 hours! In time for a home-made meal among friends/family.
Day 7. Cathy & I went shopping at one of the big three malls - the one with the indoor ski slopes. Very impressive place, though it could have just as easily been a fancy mail in another big city. I did pick up a new large luggage bag to replace the current one with broken handle. Picked up some postcards, got a Chinese massage, and then one last dinner in an amazing looking skyscraper (I forget the name, but part of twin towers) with a new local friend. The flight back to DC was 15 hours long (12 hours to get there).
In summary, was wonderful to spend time with great friends, make new ones and future work colleagues, to see such futuristic architecture/engineering marvels, and to learn so much of the native and local cultures (not just the capitalistic side). I’ve said I could live in Singapore, and now I feel that Dubai is livable as well - much yet to be done there, but was great to see a piece of it during the boom (and bust).
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