Standing in the shadow of the world’s tallest building

What a hectic week. Hit the ground running at work – loads of things going on and plenty of stuff to get involved in. I don’t think I’m going to be short of things to do during my time here. The downside to that of course is that I could end up having no time to do anything else but work – really need to make sure that doesn’t happen…

Muscat was great – much more relaxed and laid back than Dubai – more subtle as someone described it to me. There are no large developments and no tall towers, it’s all pretty low rise and attractive white and cream buildings. Had an extended lunch down by the beach on Tuesday. Seems like a great place to come for a break for a few days, not that there are loads of typical tourist attractions there it seems. Beaching, fishing, snorkeling and diving are all possible though it seems so would be great to give some of that a try next time I’m there.

We had dinner at a great restaurant at the top of a one of the small mountainous outcrops that are dotted around the city. On pulling into the car park we spotted this strange stick insect-type creature sitting on the crash barrier. It was enormous too, and reacted to my iPhone’s camera flash in a way that suggested it was about to jump through the air and land on me, so I left it well alone before it had the chance.

Back in Dubai on Wednesday afternoon, which presented another duty free opportunity to get some supplies in – seems to be standard expat practice for anyone passing through the airport. Although forbidden by Islam, alcohol is tolerated in Dubai as the government recognises its importance to tourism and the general western way of life. This is also true of pork products – while you won’t find sausages and bacon sitting on the shelf next to chicken and beef products, most supermarkets have special ‘pork rooms’ that are off limits to Muslims. I was reflecting on this the other night when drinking a beer whilst my pepperoni pizza was cooking away in the oven, chatting to TJ over Skype – something else which is partially banned in the UAE…

I spent most of the weekend starting to look for more permanent accommodation in the city. I’m focusing on two main locations – Bur Dubai which is where the office is, and the Marina and Jumeirah Lakes Towers which is a 40 minute metro ride down the coast towards Jebel Ali. I’m not sure about either at the moment, and while I did see a couple of apartments, I need to have a look round and see a few more before deciding what’s best. It’s currently a toss up between proximity to the office or high-rise Dubai tower living, albeit with a bit of a commute.

I stopped off at Dubai Mall to visit Barclays who still won’t open a bank account for me without the residency visa. Whilst there I took a stroll around and admired the view of the now complete Burj Khalifa – last time I got close to it there was still a crane at the top and it was called the Burj Dubai. The surrounding area is still a bit of a building site with plenty of unfinished landscaping, but the tower itself is just incredible, glinting and gleaming in the sun. It’s so tall it actually hurts your neck to look up at the top of it. I’m hoping to visit the observation deck on the 124th floor at some point soon…