Thermoshock

While I'm waiting here at the airport of Dubai to fly back to Belgium, I think I can better prepare myself for a nice thermoshock. While it is almost winter as well here in Dubai, temperatures are still around 22 degrees Celcius.

Burj Al Arab

With the (still) excellent weather here in Dubai, a day off is an excellent opportunity to bring a visit to the beach. Close to my appartment, there is a beach with view on the sea and the well known Burj Al Arab.

Back to Belgium

My first weeks of leave are coming closer. At the end of november, after almost 11 weeks in Dubai, I'm flying back to belgium for three weeks holiday. Although the time goes really fast here, those three weeks will be welcome very usefull to gather some sleep and visit family and friends.

Stockpile

On the first island of Dubai Waterfront, there is big stockpile of stones. The stones are delivered by trucks, get stockpiled, and then moved onto the pontoons are into the splithopper barges.



The stones come from quarries all over the UAE (except Dubai, where all the stones has been used already on previous projects). The smaller stones (0-500 kg and 0.5-1 ton) are transported in bulk and offloaded by dumping. The bigger stones are offloaded one by one by an excavator with a grab. In Belgium, trucks might be limited to about 20 tons, here in Dubai, they load up to 80 ton of stones into a truck. Multiply this by a few hundred tucks every day and you can get an idea how much stones get delivered.

Life continuing in Dubai

There is not much to report about the last couple of days. Life and work simply continues here in Dubai. The stones are being dumped (massivelty though) and the tempearture is still around 27 degrees (too hot for the time of the year they tell me).

Ski Dubai

When you have the largest indoor ski piste 10 km away from your appartment, it would be a shame not to visit it. So a few days ago, we went to Ski Dubai to try out the snowboards in Dubai.

I never skied or snowboarded before. So I had to start from zero, with a lot of falling. Luckily, there is a smaller slope to train before going on the actual piste. I have quite some bruises right now, but afterall, it was worth it. Something to try again the next time I'm in Dubai.

Snoopy Island

Yesterday (friday, normally our free day), we went to Fujairah. Fujairah is one of the seven emirates of the UAE. It is a two hour drive from Dubai and is situated on the eastern side of the point of the UAE.

Somewhere alongside the coast of Fujairah, there is small island with some coral. Around the small island, named 'Snoopy Island', you can find a lot of colourfull fish and even tortoises. And ideal place to snorkel and an excellent activity for on a free day.

The island is named 'Snoopy Island' because, with some imagination, you can recognize Snoopy laying in front of his kennel.