Groove Armada vs The Sawdoctors

On the 9th of November an aural feast came to Dubai. Two outdoor gigs clashed on this night of audial euphoria. The creek was the dividing line between the two genres of fans.

On one side was the hip, cool, fashion conscience expats whose musical tastes had evolved from the after hour sessions at their locals back home. Yes, this is where I was! The crowd were treated to 6 hours of Groove Armada, Soulwax, 2 many DJs and more. The grounds featured a VIP and a VVIP area which seemed to be the most sought after position of the night. Well oiled, I managed to talk myself into the VIP area.....What a disappointment! There were about 6 people in there, looking depressed and wondering why they had splashed out on a ''VIP'' ticket when you could barely see the stage. I'd say I was in there less than 5 minutes before security realised that my friends weren't in there with my wristband that I was going to get off them, so I was thrown out. It was odd because usually you're kicked out of a crowded place and onto the street but this time it was like being thrown out of an empty street and into a big party. Things really are strange over here. Anyway, on the other side of the creek were those who....well, i'm not going to describe their personalities. All I have to say is that these were the Sawdoctors fans... Dubai is strange on many levels. I think because you have so many cultures and nationalities here that it's hard to judge what kind of crowd to expect at any event. This fact rang through the next day when I heard that there had only been a measly thousand people at the Groove Armada gig while down in the Irish Village, the Sawdoctors had packed the place out with over 3000 people screaming the N17. Shouldn't he be dead by now or something.

Roadtrip no. 2

Since the weather is getting progressively cooler over the last few weeks we headed off on our first camping trip. Again armed with two Jeeps we headed east. For the first 2 hours all we saw was sand, stretching as far as the eye could see. Suddenly out of nowhere this is what met us.....

These rugged mountains stretched for another two hours to the east coast. It was very odd driving through this area. We did not pass a single car, donkey or person for the first hour. Then, coming over one of the mountains a strange sight met us. A small valley streched for little over a mile. Coming into this valley was like being transported back 300 years.

For this country mile the road was lined with small houses. You couldn't even call them houses. More like huts. They are simply built with tree branches and a piece of fabric covering the fragile frame. No doors, no windows, just a place to shelter from the sun. Since this place is so remote everyone is trying to sell anything that the odd passer-by would consider.

The only method of transport is by donkey. Looking around, there must have been over 150 of them, more than the population of this small area. Stopping off we decided to buy some firewood for the campfire. A handful of sticks would cost us 10 euro, we were told. Seeing our disgust he tryed to lower the price but not before every other salesman had surrounded us and tryed to drag us to their establishments. Eventually we escaped the mayhem with two arms full of sticks at a reasonable price.

On the road again we reached our destination in another hour, the Indian Ocean. We camped on the beach looking out at Snoopy Island....

The island is aptly named becauze of it's shape resembling that of Snoopy the dog, but i'm sure you've figured that out.

The campfire got going as the sun set and the fish was thrown onto the barbeque. The fish out here is called Hammour. It's almost identical to whiting, maybe a small bit stronger in taste. About midnight we found that our beer supply was on it's last legs so.... well to be honest I can't say what happened but if you want the real story in private, then email me. I'll just say, it was the most surreal experience of my life.

Halloween

Since we needed an excuse to throw another weekend party we organised a huge Halloween party in our building. People came from far and wide to experience the best Halloween party ever......allegedly.

Eva the icequeen, Myself the pirate, Niamh the horny angel, and Gareth the Milk tray man.

Jonny as ?, Milktray man, The black baby, Ali G and John the pirate.

Paula as ?, Niamh as ? and Peader as Dougal

The black baby, the horny angel and a greek goddess

Dougal with one of the 5 little ducks that turned upTwo dishdashes, a chav and some scary girl

Ali G, Liz and Jaz the fairy.

All credit for this work of art goes to Pirate number 2.

I'm back for good

So, for the start of the Eid holiday break we decided to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life and head out on a safari for the day. The day started with a bit of dune bashing, which is basically driving the shite out of 4x4s over the monsterous sand dunes in the middle of the desert.

After an hour of blasting up and down the dunes everyone had developed cronic whiplash so we parked at the top of one of the biggest sand dunes I had ever seen. It must have been the height of Croagh Patrick.....at least.


The sandboards were produced and we all flew down the slope tumbling and breaking limbs in the process. Well it was just a sprained ankle actually. Took our minds of the whiplash anyway.

With camel herds thundering our way we decided to move on. On another high peak we parked to watch the sun go down. It was the oddest sunset I have ever seen. Nothing like Ireland. The sun turns blood red while the rest of the sky remains blue. For the last 20 minutes of sunset you can actually see the sun moving. All of a sudden it starts speeding up and as the last rays of sunlight go down the it's like someone turns off a switch. In the space of 30 seconds it's pitch black.

With the light gone we headed for the camp where over 200 people meet for a big party al fresco. Here we got to ride camels, smoke sheesha and feast on amazing traditional food with a few cold beers thrown in for good measure. While riding around on a camel another camel came over to me to say hello and sniff my leg. With my camera in hand I decided that this would be a great opportunity to get a good close up picture. I pressed the button and the camera flashed in his face.....not good! Mayhem ensued as both camels took chunks out of each other in shock at this bright light. The story ends with me half a mile away on a camel that was not prepared to stop. These animals can move! At this half a mile mark I decided to disembark and try walk back to the camp in the dark. Luckily a jeep came to collect me. The camel was never seen again....

The rest of the night was a more relaxing affair. Sitting on bean bags we were treated to a display of belly dancing while our every need was attended to. We even got to try on the dishdash.

These things are so comfortable. The next day I bought one and I now wear it all time. Except for work, the beach and sailing of course.