Glimpse at Ginza

Time for another random image from our travels - something I haven't done for a while.

This is the upmarket shopping district of Ginza in Tokyo. By night it's a neonlit frenzy of people on pavements and cars on the street. Underneath the streetlevel rumble the subway trains.

Click on the image to enlarge it.

When arriving at Narita, we always take the Narita Express train into Tokyo Station. From there to the hotel, we're on the red Marunouchi Line which takes us through Ginza Station.

Without looking at the signs, we know when we're at Ginza because there'll always be lots of women loaded with shopping bags running to get on the train!

T.H.E. Perfect Vehicle for Dubai

I want one!

Not the Moon...

...but the Sun, taken 60mins ago.

10mins after this, it disappeared behind the dust layer that has covered the city all day.

It's like the desert version of a rainy day: the best option is to stay indoors to keep dry and cool!

New Neoworx features

NeoWORX alerted me to some new updates that they've recently made to their NeoCounters - some of which I have in this blog's sidebar.

Among the new products is NeoEarth which you can see under the heading "Who's Online?". NeoWORX offers about 12 different maps in 3 sizes to choose from. Clicking on the map brings up a separate window which I've selected to show the last 100 visitors to the blog by city and country. I can also navigate to anywhere on the map and see the latitude and longitude co-ordinates. Something to keep me amused during the long, cold winter nights!

Although the NeoWORX tools can sometimes be slow to load I do like them, although I still prefer the style of GeoLoc map which is now further down. Sadly it's been relegated to the free version again, because despite my attempts to renew my subscription with GeoLoc, they have closed renewals and any emails to them bounce, so it appears that they don't want my money!

Edit: now removed the GeoLoc map after a comment from Pandabonium from Pacific Islander blog. You can visit the GeoLoc website to see what their graphic looks like.

Blogger for Word

I'm annoyed.

I really liked the Blogger for Word plug-in that I downloaded from the Blogger website and which installed a toolbar in MS Word. It allowed me to write posts in Word and then send them to our blog without having to go through the copy and paste exercise.

About a week ago, the toolbar disappeared! Removing the plug-in from my hard-drive and re-installing hasn't brought it back. I've trawled through the Blogger Help sites, and followed all the instructions, and no, I don't have Word as an editor/spellcheck for Outlook.

Anyone got suggestions on what could be the cause?

Sharjah Blue Souk

When J's kids come into town, the Gameboy-mad elder insists that we take him to the Blue Souk in Sharjah to spend interminable hours scouring every electronics shop for games. Then he has to price them in every shop to make sure that he's getting the best deal. I think that we're going to limit him to less than 40mins from now on - it's an agonising process!

The Blue Souk is fun with overseas visitors - but be warned, they observe the 1pm closing, so the best time to go is about 10am - except during Ramadan when it's anyone's guess as to when it will be open!

Two parallel buildings connected by overhead walkways. Upstairs the shops are mostly filled with carpets and the walkways are lined with souvenir stalls. On the ground floors, there are predominantly jewellers, boutiques and electronic shops.

We usually combine the Blue Souk visit with a trip to the Sharjah Arabian Wildlife Center, before returning home with tired and happy visitors who are always thrilled to see a little more of the UAE than the construction.

Moving Out

We just received word from our landlord that he's cashing out and moving back to his homeland which means that the apartment that we rent from him is now on the market.

We'll be homeless in September!

If anyone can help us by recommending:
- a reliable real estate agent with rental properties preferably in the Marina area
- a reliable moving company
- any apartments that are for rent

We'd love to hear from you!

Official Freehold Property release

Gulf News has published an article with a link to a document which shows where all the freehold properties are in Dubai that can be purchased by UAE and GCC nationals as well as non-GCC citizens.

Sheikh Mohammed released the 3 page, 5 article Order No. 3 of 2006 designating areas for expatriates to purchase on maximum 99 year terms.

The pdf which accompanies the GN article is only 1 page. If anyone knows where a copy of the 3 page Order No. 3 can be viewed, please provide me with the info.

Amazing Modhesh goes to Hollywood

Recently there’s been a lot of negative talk around our beloved Summer Surprises mascot, Modhesh.

Dubai Sunshine wishes him dead, Grapeshisha is scared silly of him, and even I have been tempted into evil by writing a haiku about the springy yellow thing.

I think that we’re just jealous of him, because he gets to have a fun city named after him, and we don’t.

Now, it appears that Modhesh is about to become bigger than Mickey Mouse! Emirates Today reports that Modhesh’s agents are being hounded by (unnamed) Hollywood animation studios waving cheque books – all clamouring to be the first to get Modhesh to sign his name to a contract which will allow the studio to begin filming his exploits.

I have a word of advice for you, Modhesh. Forget about the animation films until you've established yourself as a box office star, and first make some real movies to get your name up in lights. Going straight to animation will only see you doing roles like Shrek and Buzz Lightyear, and you don't want that, do you?

No, my friend - you have to THINK BIG! Go for the top - think Eddie Murphy, Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise.....think about changing your name to Tom Modhesh!

In order to help Modhesh, I’ve perused some movies that he might like to look at re-making.

Aided by Secret Dubai’s post on movie titles with a UAE flavour, I’ve redesigned some movie posters so that Modhesh can see what he can aspire to, as he hurtles into the heady heights of hedonistic Hollywood.

Click on the images for a closer look.

Go for it Modhesh - we're behind you all the way!

Walking around Westminster

Arrived at our London hotel and got straight into working for the day. I feel totally guilty, because I haven’t even rung up my cousin to say hello. Sorry, Chris.

We did manage to get an hour walking down around the Thames.

Here’s what we saw - you can click on them to enlarge them.

Looking toward St. Paul's cathedral


The London Eye


Parliament Buildings


Big Ben


One of the pedestrian and train bridges over the Thames

Now, it’s going on for 5am, and M has finished her urgents but is still up supporting J who has a workload the size of Everest.

We have to be up at 7am for a 9am meeting - AAAAARGH! No sleep tonight, then.

GOOD MORNING, DUBAI!

Dulles Disney Ride

At Dulles Airport in Washington, you get an extra ride in these vehicles that look as if they should be on caterpillar tracks in the snow.

These strange-looking contraptions transport passengers to all the terminals that are spread over a great distance. They pull up to the terminal buildings, the doors open, and you walk out into the terminal!

It’s a weird sensation - it's like a room on wheels!

From the posters that are up around the airport, they look to be replacing the vehicles with a train system at some stage.

Washington whirl

We arrived by train into Washington DC at 7:00pm yesterday, and now at 9pm on Saturday night, we're sitting at Dulles Airport with 30mins to go before our plane leaves for London.

We felt right at home here, because next to the hotel was a construction site to remind us of Dubai!

The short stay duration made us determined that we were going to at least see the most famous Washingtonian building, so last night we leapt into a taxi and made it to the White House gates just on dusk.

The taxi driver told us that George was in Memphis – probably visiting Elvis - so sadly we didn’t get to meet him this time.

Dinner on the rooftop of the Washington Hotel gave us a grand view of the Washington Monument. The weather was perfect - warm and no wind - perfect for dining al fresco.

Then it was early(ish) to bed to prepare for rising at 6:00am to work on email backlogs before J gave a speech at a medical conference.

We came out to the airport early so that we could sit in the lounge, log-in and continue to work on emails. Sometimes, we hate email - especially those that take a long time to formulate a response to - and of course an immediate reply is always expected. I almost look forward to spam, just for the satisfaction of doing nothing but deleting it from my Inbox!

At home (Dubai) in New York

Blogger has had problems with image uploading, so this post has been delayed.

We’ve been in New York for a couple of days attending meetings – and loving our hotel room! As a Jumeirah Sirius Gold card member, J had a few points that were due to expire, so she’s used them on this trip to book our NY accommodation. We’re staying at Jumeirah’s NY acquisition, Essex House which is on the southern fringe of Central Park.

It’s been a wonderful stay. To start, we were upgraded to a suite – YAY!!! The rooms are tastefully decorated, and for us, the most important test of any hotel room is the quality of the beds and pillows. The Essex is on our yes list!

We had the best view! 30 storeys high and overlooking Central Park – a huge rectangle of green surrounded by tall buildings. Plus, it’s the quietest NY hotel that we’ve ever stayed in – hardly any traffic noise, and the wonderful sound of music coming from the park as the free summer concerts occur nearly every evening.

Last night, a knock on the door saw us opening it to a valet arriving, complete with complimentary goodies for us. Chocolates, fruit, champagne, canapés and Voss water – wow, we were in heaven! I can tell you that we gave thanks to the special shareholder of Jumeirah!

The evening brought spectacular rain and thunderstorms to the city. It was thrilling to watch the rain obliterate the buildings from view, the lightning streak across the sky and down towards the park, and listen to the thunder crash overhead – close enough to rattle the windows. The humidity dropped too.

We were sad to leave today. Luckily we had a late checkout so that we can watch the Germany – Argentina soccer game before we caught the train to Washington!

NYC in the rain

Thunderstorms hit NYC this afternoon.

It was fun to be watching - indoors and dry!

The blogger photo upload is now working again for me - the images can be clicked on and enlarged in your browser.

Tell me which one you like - the colour or B&W version!