Australian Sporting Highlights

Been a big weekend for sporting highlights.

I am fortunate to be able to get the coverage of the Tour de France on the TV Channel Dubai Sports coming through into my living room.  The timing is much better than in Australia - getting home after 6 pm to watch the last hour and half or so of each day’s race.  It’s been great to watch Cadel wearing the yellow jersey and although it was sad to seehim just lose it today, to see his fellow Australian Simon Gerrans win the stage race on the mountain climb was fantastic - the elation that he felt crossing the line was tremendous, especially so when he was nearly left behind in the early stages of the climb.

And yesterday, went off to Nezesaussi to watch Australia have an upset win over the South Africans.  Even better since the Australians were outnumbered in the bar!  Always thought that the springboks were going to come back but they just could not score that try - especially in the first half when they had the better of the opportunities.  Had one too many sherbets to celebrate afterwards at the Barasti.  And going to do it again next week (perhaps without the one too many) as we play the All Blacks. 

I was going to head out tonight to see how Greg Norman went but I checked on the Web and noticed that he had blown up in the final round after an excellent effort for an old bloke in the previous 3 rounds.

Be Careful When Driving

This was my first weekend for a month without the family so I decided to get out and about with some birdwatching in the mornings before it became too hot.

It was very pleasant on the Friday morning as driving down on the Abu Dhabi road, there was a very thick fog. Temperature around 28 degrees but the fog meant that I could walk around in pleasant comfort without the sun making me sweat. The problem was that it meant that I could not see the beautiful Bee-eaters that I could hear flying overhead (but I saw them the next day anyway). Driving along the highway was hazardous - had to slow down to about 60 km/h because of the thickness of the fog. Last time I was on the road, it was the dust-storms that made me slow down.

Heavy fog on the road to Ghantoot

And driving is also really difficult when you come across a sand drift that has been blown on to the road. This one was about 2 feet high and would have caused a big problem if you had have hit it doing 100 km/h. This is the worst one that I have seen (and means you have to be double careful if driving on any of these country roads at night).

Sand drift over the Bab Al Shams - Al Mahar road

Comparing Egypt and Dubai

I mentioned in a previous post how the geography of Egypt was so different to that of Dubai and United Arab Emirates. Green areas along the Nile, alluvial soil, agriculture, etc. But that was not all that was different.

Egypt has a real river, real alluvial soil, and naturally green areas while in Dubai, anything green is created and the appearance of lushness is manufactured.

Egypt has history while Dubai has modernity. With Egypt, you see the pyramids, temples and tombs and you know that there are thousands of years of history etched in the walls of the structures. With Dubai, what you see has been created over the past decade and there is very little older history.
In Egypt, 99.99% of the cars that we saw were old, especially the taxis. In Dubai, 99.99% of the cars are new.

In Egypt, driving is very hazardous, especially in Cairo. There are something like 6000 deaths per year. Driving in Dubai is relatively more sedate, although there are still way too many road deaths here too.

Egypt has lots of locals while Dubai is full of expatriates. Both have significant numbers of tourists of course but it is the locals that are way more numerous and obvious in Egypt whereas it is the expats that are more numerous in Dubai.

In Egypt, people come up to you and try and sell you stuff. If they do anything for you, then they ask for baksheesh (payment or tip). Even if you agree on a price beforehand, they still ask for baksheesh. And if you buy something, then they will offer just one more thing. In Dubai, what you see if what you get. People do not ask for extra, they leave you alone if you are walking down the street, and if you buy something, then that will be it!

These are just a few of the differences and there are many more!

Luxor: More Photos

The second tranche of photos from my trusty mobile phone from the trip to Egypt.  These ones are from the second part of the trip to the southern and upper Nile around Luxor.  The history was fantastic and learning about it was fascinating.  Unlike the Giza pyramids, the temples and tombs around Luxor (or Thebes as it was then known) are from the New Kingdom. 

Luke in the Valley of the Kings (love that hat from Bunnings)

View from Queen Hatshepsut’s temple looking down to the green Nile Valley

Hannah walking back from Queen Hatshepsut’s temple

With our guide at Karnak Temple

Karnak Temple

Feluccas on the Nile

Pyramids of Giza: Some Photos

I mentioned that I would put some photos up when I get a chance. Well now that the family have departed back to Australia tonight, I have some of that time. This first tranche shows some of the photos from the pyramids and the Sphinx at Giza, near Cairo. Personally, I was impressed with the size of the two larger pyramids - particularly as they were built by some of the early dynasties. I was also very impressed by how quickly the green and lush Nile River valley changed into the dry desert where the pyramids are located.