Welcome to Thailand

We are currently in Bangkok, Thailand. The story of getting here requires a brief mention of Thanksgiving.

Had a stellar Thanksgiving in Dubai - went to Palm Grill at the Radisson for real bona-fide turkey dinner which was definitely a step up from hot turkey plate at Harry's Bar last year (although Harry's definitely did us right for 65 dirhams.) Our dinner Thursday was a cut above for sure, although we were fairly lonely in there; I don't think there's a huge population of Americans in Dubai eating out for Thanksgiving.

Anyway, after staying up late and drinking a lot of fantastic grenache at the palm grill, we went to bed quite late under the assumption that our flight to Bangkok the next morning was leaving at 8:30. Turns out, that was an incorrect assumption. Long story short, alarm goes off at five, we take our sweet time getting up since we're a bit winded from the previous evening. We still have to pack our bags, and as I'm sleepily throwing things in my bag, I decide at 5:35 to check the exact time of our flight (was it 8:25? 8:35?) and notice that the flight actually departs at 6:55. 6:55? Hmm ok do the math.... that's 80 minutes from now. Shite.

So, we throw as much stuff into the bag as we can in the 90 seconds it takes to call a cab and get the taxi there, and manage to forget: a) a camera b) all of Dan's toiletries c) shampoo d) the credit card required to check in to our Sunday flight to Ko Tao.

We got to the airport as checkin was closing and managed to at least check in to our flight, only to be swiftly corralled into a long slow line for passport control. After waiting but a moment, a nice Emirati man came over and asked if I was Alicia and would I please follow him? He led us to the front of the line and directed me to a particular passport control officer who turned out to be none other than: ding ding ding, a student of mine. She apparently spotted me in the crowd and decided to spontaneously grant me a little favorable treatment, which I was more than happy to accept at that point. I am now an important person; I have wasta; I know someone in passport control.

After arriving in Bangkok though, we got it all sorted. I learned a long time back that you don't actually need luggage to travel and the airline helped us with a workaround so we will indeed be travelling to Ko Tao tomorrow. All is well. More later.

What's New in Lishaland?

My mother draws my attention to the fact that nothing's been posted since halloween. I'd like to say that this is because I'm leading a fast-paced, action-packed life, and that I have no time to do such things as update blogs, but this would just be false and misleading.

The truth is, I've been up to not much. The main news is about work: I managed to secure a large grant for a work project, which is going to keep me very busy but also keep me on a good professional career path for the time being.

Cousin Michael also came to visit, which was a lot of fun - the boys went for a spin at Aquaventure while I was at work:

We also decided to celebrate my birthday early, since this year it falls during Eid al-Adha and National Day (a week or more of national holidays which will send everybody skittering off out of town), so went out on the 5th to Chi at the Lodge, where we sat in VIP and drank a lot and danced our tooshies off until 3am. It's interesting in this town, that at 3am, they actually turn the music off and turn the lights on, even though the whole floor is still packed with people who seem like they could easily go until 6. I think in the States they usually just stop serving drinks at closing time, and let people dance themselves into a more coherent state for a little while. Am I wrong?

Lastly but not leastly, we are planning a little week-long getaway to Thailand for the above mentioned holidays, which fall from Nov 27-Dec 4. Not sure of all the details yet, but I'm sure it will be fun! More to come.

Halloween in Dubai

...an interesting experience. We went to a halloween party at someone's house in Arabian Ranches, which is like a suburb/development full of nice villas in a planned cul-de-sac style community.

Dan dressed up as zombie Michael Jackson, and he did a really good job with it. I was MJ's "spiritual advisor".

All in all, it was a good story, with a beginning, middle and an end.

Beginning: Candy, drinks, and some dancing. Alicia doesn't drink, as she is driving.

Middle: Everyone jumps in the swimming pool

End: Alicia barely manages to drag Dan back into the flat conscious, after explaining her life story to the police in the parking lot outside.