They came, they saw and they left!

We had a really great time with Darius, Kristi & Lucian last week. It was of course much too short a time but we packed quite a bit into what little we had.

We met them in Dubai after they'd had a pretty exhausting day on the Dubai Big Bus getting a feel for the city. We then had dinner in Festival City before heading up here to Ras Al Khaimah which is not quite as vibrant as Dubai. Lucian wasn't too sure about being stuck in the car seat all the time but was pretty good on the whole. We had plenty of time to chat and share meals over the next couple days. We even had a barbecue on the Thursday night where we invited some of the people we work with over to meet them.

Then on Friday morning, after an amazing electrical storm and heaps of very unseasonal rain, we headed down to Abu Dhabi for a night at the Hilton to celebrate Kristi's birthday. We stopped on the way to look at the old town of Al Jazeera which is reported to be haunted and is no longer inhabited. We saw lots of camels and experienced some amazing sandstorms, which not only made it difficult to see, but after the rain, made the car very dirty!

In Abu Dhabi we had a beautiful dinner at the Thai restaurant in the Hilton (we had planned to have dinner in the Jazz Bar but as Lucian was under 18, he wasn't allowed in). Darius, Kristi & I went down for a celebratory drink after dinner while Jan has some quality time with Lucian. Saturday morning we went to the Emirates Palace Hotel to show D & K what opulance really is and also to see the current art & photographic exhibitions that they had on. We also had a look at the continuing exhibition that showcases the proposed cultural developments that are planned for Abu Dhabi in the coming years. All very interesting. All this was very thirsty work and so we then had to finish our visit with tea and cakes.

Then it was back to RAK, a last dinner in our favourite Indian restaurant and an 'early' night before they headed off to the airport early the next morning bound for Sydney.




These last few days have been pretty quiet without them but as it was my birthday on Thursday, Jan took in a lovely strawberry flan for morning tea and tonight we're going to Cirque du Solei in Dubai with some of the people from worki followed by a Chinese meal. Next week we have to try and get back to normal as we head for the end of the semester and final exams.