Dubai Desert Rhythm Festival

This was our first concert in Dubai and we cannot wait for another. Dubai Desert Rhythm Festival was a two day event, held at Dubai Media City - only a 5 minute taxi ride from our home. Brad joined us on the second day, as he landed in Dubai that morning. What a great introduction to living in Dubai.The line up was great and the venue was awesome!

Day 1 - Helena Paparizou, Ziggy Marley & the Melody Makers, Madness, Black Violin & Kanye West

Day 2 - Abri, Arash, Joss Stone & Mikka


Getting a good spot.

Ziggy Marley & the Melody Makers

What an awesome stage!

Getting more crowded, as the evening goes on.

Madness - Everyone knows this one!

Black Violin - Two guys with wicked violins, who did covers of many current artists.

Here is Kanye.

Squished in like sardines during Kanye's performance.

Looks like everyone was trying to get a photo.

Day 2 - Brad's first day in Dubai.

Joss Stone

Joss Stone (video)

Unaware of the video.

Phuket

Once in Asia, flights are relatively inexpenisve, so when Jeff had to go on to Phuket, I joined him. This was Jeff's fourth visit to Phuket, since joining KHI and my second.

I managed to take a few more photos than last time but not many.


Movenpick Karon Beach

We got to stay in a Penthouse Plunge Pool Villa - it is the top two floors of this suite.

This was our private plunge pool.

Kata Town - LeSportsac heaven. :)

Karon Beach

Seconds later.

Pulau Payar

We found a snorkeling day trip that took us to Pulau Payar marine park...unfortunately, it was more like a marine garbage dump.

It took close to an hour to get to where the Langkawi Coral had stationed its pontoon, where we, along with 500 others, had exclusive access to the marine park. On the pontoon it was chaos. People were yelling instructions, pointing in every directions but we managed to understand the main message - Don't miss your boat home! So we got on our snorkels, pushed our way to the swimming platform and dove in. While there were thousands of fish everywhere, there was almost the same amount of garbage as well. It was so sad. We were out within 30 minutes.

Unfortunately, our boat didn't leave until 3:30pm and it was only 11:00am. We made the best of our time by exploring the island beach and people watching.


Leaving the Langkawi Jetty - managed to find a Starbucks.

Arriving at the Langkawi Coral pontoon.

Lots of fish...lots of garbage.

Tree house.

Sign reads - Keep Clean.

You name it...we saw it washed up on this beach.

Waiting for our boat to leave.

Langkawi

Jeff's work happen to bring him to yet another tropical paradise, this time in Malaysia, and there was no way I was missing out on this trip, especially when he was staying at a Four Seasons resort. It just so happened that his meetings fell prior to the Eid (end of Ramadan) long weekend, so I joined him for a few days of relaxation.

While Jeff was on business, he enjoyed a private beachfront villa - which was amazing, however he was in meetings all day, so didn't get to enjoy many of its incredible facilities. For the weekend, we were still pampered in a spacious suite with a great wraparound veranda, where we escaped to when it poured. I took excessive amounts of photos of the bathrooms, as they were awesome.

Jeff received a recommendation for an off-site restaurant called Bon Ton, which was said to have a great view of the sunset and good local Malaysian food. All I could think about were butter cream pastries - yum. Bon Ton was a really down to earth retreat with 10 restored Malaysian heritage bungalows and a central restaurant. Everyone staying there seemed very comfortable and at home, especially with the fact that they were sharing the property with over 500 cats and dogs - they were everywhere in a cute kind of way. The twist was that Bon Ton was owned and operated by a Vancouver woman and her Australian husband - small world. Dinner was great.

We spent most of our time relaxing by the resort pools and enjoying the incredible service of the Four Seasons staff.


Beachfront Villa - Front yard.

Beachfront Villa - Interior.

Beachfront Villa - Vanities.

Beachfront Villa - Indoor shower that opens on to private garden.

Beachfront Villa - Private pool.

Beachfront Villa - Patio loungers.

My first night in Langkawi Jeff had to wrap up business with his team, so I enjoyed room service and a beautiful sunset.

Funny note.

Dinner show.

Weekend Suite - Interior.

Weekend Suite - Bathroom.

Retreating to our veranda, while it rained.

Jeff being a goof.

Relaxing by the family pool.

Enjoying the family pool.

Could have stayed there all day.

Jeff being Jeff. :)

Lunch on the beach.

Dinner at Bon Ton.

Old restored Malaysian bungalow at Bon Ton.

One of the 500 cats and dogs at Bon Ton.

Put that camera away...please.

Private cabana at the adult pool.

Adult pool - Tractor in back ground cleaning the beach.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!







We are very proud to say that we managed to have a pretty authentic Thanksgiving dinner, here in Dubai. Our original plans were to attend a turkey dinner offered by the local Club for Canadians, however I guess everyone was jonesing for turkey, as it sold out before we could secure tickets.

We offered to host Ahmer, a colleague from KHI, who recently became a Canadian himself, to Thanksgiving at our home. While this didn't sound like a bad idea at the time, we hadn't thought to look for a turkey first. With no whole turkeys fresh or frozen were to be found, we had to settle on a breast and leg, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. As Jeff called Ahmer to confirm that dinner was on for Saturday night, Ahmer thought he had said Sunday night, which is completely possible, as Jeff still refers to a Canadian work week. Anyways, with schedules conflicting, the only night possible ending up being tonight! So at 4:30pm, as we headed to one more grocery store to try and find the rest of the ingredients, Jeff confirmed that Ahmer should come over for dinner at 7pm.

While it was a little more stressful than usual, we managed to enjoy an appetizer, the turkey works less cranberry sauce (cranberries are also no where to be found in Dubai) and dessert. Yummmm.