Happy New Year

Burj Khalifa 2014 New Year

December was a good month, but super busy.  While my head exploded with observations, I was not able to post at all.  After the weekend of Thanksgiving and National Day we worked a lot to wrap up the year, but had a lot of fun and good times with friends in Dubai.

I think I could also contribute my lack of posting for the fair amount of time required to do the holiday things that need to be done to make it special for my son… and that is never a bad thing.  It was a lot of fun and many great memories were created.

Once again, it was very difficult to leave the comfort of home and company of great neighbors to take in the fireworks anywhere else.  If there was a time to do it, this would have been the year to conquer the crowds as Dubai is now the world record holder for the largest firework display.

After a busy day of shopping, cooking and doing some much needed organization, I insisted to get in one last run before the new year.  Sometime after 6:00pm I ventured out into the streets around Burj Khalifa.

Much of my route was closed for obvious reasons, but I took on a new obstacle course instead. Hundreds of people were multiplying exponentially in the streets to find the best place to enjoy the show.  There I found myself dodging people from all walks of life, different religions, countries and languages - a multi-cultural obstacle course.  One of the beauties of Dubai.

If you haven't seen the firework shows on Youtube yet, grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the Burj Khalifa and Dubai Palm shows.  The videos are pretty amazing and one local photographer I follow noted that it was really difficult to do it justice.

I wish everyone a happy and healthy new year.

UAE National Day - Not just for Emirates

Fireworks in Celebration of the Expo2020 Win in Dubai

Last weekend was very eventful for Dubai.  On Wednesday, November 27th, Expo 2020 was awarded to the Emirate.  The city celebrated, and fireworks entertained us from the Burj Khalifa. This was a great kick off to the long holiday weekend for UAE National Day.  Only 42 years ago, the UAE became a nation, and now it has been selected to host an Expo - quite an achievement.

All this happened to fall on American Thanksgiving weekend, so we were full on at home.  From me briskly walking for a good 20 or so minutes with two 6+kg (9-pound) turkeys to catch the Expo fireworks to my two day cooking extravaganza, there was a lot to celebrate and be thankful for.

While the actual National Day was on December 2nd, a lot of us in the private sector were off on Sunday and worked on Monday.  That evening, I finally took my son for much needed shoe shopping.

We went to one of the smaller shopping malls here, and were pleasantly surprised to find a central area with locals showing off local crafts - net making, basket weaving, henna painting and singing. In another area was a large table with National Day accessories like scarves, bracelets, flags, and pins.

My son very much wanted a pin with a picture of HH Sheikh Mohamed, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and the Ruler of Dubai; HH Sheikh Hamdan, the Crown Prince of Dubai, and HH Sheikh Khalifa the President of the UAE and Ruler of Abu Dhabi.  It was small so I gave him some money to buy it - and after all it was National Day.

My son was so excited to put the pin on right away.  He walked around proudly with his chest out for all to see.  He had a sweater on that he zipped up, but immediately had to open because it covered his UAE badge.  On the way out we watched some local dancing and drumming, and he danced the entire way back to the car.

As we went to dinner, I kept thinking about how proud he was of his new purchase.  I thought about the thousands of children living here like my son, who are not local, but were born here.  This is the only home they know.  They all know they descend from parents who are not local, but this is the place they call home.

Like those other children growing up here, he loves the UAE and Dubai.  When we travel and he sees an Emirates flag on the airplane he is incredibly excited.  And when people ask where he is from, Dubai is included in that explanation.

He doesn't quite know what an Expo is, but he was excited it was awarded to Dubai.  I am sure this will be a holiday he does not forget - a celebration of Expo and the UAE, Thanksgiving and we even put up our Christmas tree early.  How can a child not love a country that can offer him the ability to do all of this in one weekend.

Congratulations and Happy Birthday to the UAE - our home away from wherever "home" is…

Fireworks in Celebration of the Expo2020 Win in Dubai

Happy New Year

Burj Khalifa did it again.  We were witness to another great New Year show in Dubai.  Like last year, we opted to stay in and enjoy the scenes from our balcony.

In theory, it seems like a good idea to venture out to the desert or somewhere to the heart of the action to get some different shots.  But in reality, we enjoy watching it from the comfort of our home with good friends.

I think my son (who much to my surprise was still awake with his friends to witness it) pretty much summed it up when he shouted "I love you Burj Khalifa!" during the show.  So do we.

I hope everyone has a happy and healthy 2013!  Happy New Year!

Burj Khalifa, Dubai, UAE, NY 2013

Burj Khalifa, Dubai, UAE, NY 2013

Burj Khalifa, Dubai, UAE, NY 2013 - After the fireworks

As far as the shots above, I did not do too much to them outside of correcting the lens distortion.  I used what is often referred to as "light painting", which is basically just a slower shutter speed.  The first two were at 10 seconds, f/13, while the last one was an experiment at 20 seconds, f/4.

Happy New Year

I felt like this year many people were fed up with the outrageousness in the over-priced, over-ratedness of New Years Eve.  I have been there for a while now.  Paying three or more times per person for something standard or sub-standard is just not fun or necessary.  Most people I talked to this year had a party at home or stayed home.  Many, like us, went to dinner the night before. (I hope the restaurants do not figure that out!).  For the big event we stayed at home balcony bound to watch the Burj Khalifa fireworks with another couple who live in our building.

We are fortunate we do not need to venture out into the traffic and craziness to watch this.  That morning I went for a walk-pseduo run with my son through the area as he rode his bike and saw this year they were much more organized than last year.  Among the many kiosks there were two stages set up for live music, so I imagine the park opposite Dubai Mall was a great place to be last night.  However, I enjoyed the blaring music from the nearby hotel and just relaxing in my jeans and sweater, plus blanket (it is cold in the desert at night in winter).  Despite a mild tri-pod challenge, I was able to get a few good shots like the one below using slow shutter speed and similar settings you would use for light painting.

In Dubai you can choose the beach side near the Burj Al Arab hotel or the Burj Khalifa for fireworks.  In my opinion if you are ever in Dubai for New Year's Eve, hand's down Burj Khalifa is the best.  They were more colorful and spectacular than last year and they combined more traditional fireworks with the special technology that shoots them off the building.  It was awesome and I cannot wait to do the same thing next year.

Happy New Year everyone!