Golf Championship

Managed to drag myself out of bed to go and watch the Golf. I'd already bought the ticket so thought I'd better not waste it, even if the thought of staying in bed was strong! Actually, the ticket price wasn't too bad, AED125 (just over 20 quid). I'm glad I went though it was good. There weren't too many people there so I was able to get up quite close to the players at the tees and greens. I bumped into a few guys from work so I walked round with them most of the day. Some of the top European guys were there such as Casey, Harrington, Garcia, Stenson etc. Even old grumpy Montgomery was there, but actually he seemed quite jovial - maybe he's got another new girlfriend! Treated myself to a new cap as you can see. Caz hates me wearing old tatty ones so hopefully she will approve.



Came away quite tired from all the walking and drove home. When I got in the car I realised I'd caught the sun and as I had been wearing sun glasses all day, had quite a red nose in a neat sunglasses shape! I not sure it shows too well on the photo but click it and see. Didn't shave today either......

Trip to Bahrain

I've had a two day trip to Bahrain this week. Bahrain is part of my territory for business and I've been there 4 times now. It's a slower pace than UAE and seems quite away behind in some ways, but more advanced in others. The place hasn't been developed to anywhere near the same degree, but then I think this has been deliberate. They don't aspire to be like the UAE or it's closer neighbour Qatar. There are now some larger scale developments coming, but on the whole the island has not been overly spoilt by development. Most of the hotels are business hotels, with only really one notable beach resort, although there are many being developed. The Bahraini people are very nice and welcoming and on the whole very down to earth (local people occupy jobs at all levels, including most of the taxi drivers). I usually use a driver to take me from visit to visit, as taxis can be a bit sparce in some areas out of Manama (main city) and I'm not familiar enough yet to drive myself.

I have used the same driver and his brother (Hassan and Ali) each time. This time I was greeted by Hassan with a kiss on each cheek (hmmm this is going to take some getting used to lol). He managed to take me to the wrong place for one of my meetings and we ended up on totally the wrong side of the island. I eventually got to where I should have been (one of the worlds largest aluminium smelting plants) an hour late. This was fine except it made me too late to go to my last appointment before I needed to go to the airport. So I phoned my contact to tell him. No answer. Left and tried again. No answer. So I tell Hassan to take me straight to the airport. Eventually get a text back to say he couldn't make the meeting anyway! Another Middle East no-show - but just as well this time.

One thing you see in Bahrain all the time, but not so much in UAE (although sometimes in Dubai) - Arabs in traditional dress drinking pints in the hotel bars! Bahrain is way more open than UAE and as there is a direct causeway linking Bahrain with the Saudi mainland, it becomes a playground for the Saudi's every weekend. Wine, Women and Song in a dish-dash!

Lightning in Dubai

Here are some great pictures of the lightning in Dubai last night. They were sent to me by a guy at work, so I'm not sure who to credit with the pics - but it wasn't me I'm sorry to say! Not sure I'd want to be in the tallest building (Burj Dubai) in the world during a storm! (click the pics for a bigger view)

JCBs and Candles

Our villa is not too far away from a labour camp. These are the god-awful pits in which thousands and workers (mainly from the Asian sub-continent) are housed by their bullying sponsor companies. Anyway, just next to said labour camp is a patch of desert that becomes a home to loads of diggers at the weekend. At home in the UK, these would probably get nicked! Here, however, they sometimes become a meeting point for some of the workers or even a place to have a quiet kip in one of the digger's buckets. I thought they looked interesting as they lined up like they were about to take part in some kind of military parade.






Last night we have a power cut for about an hour or so. Hasn't really happened much, once or twice while we have been out, but not while we have been at home. Most of the other villa occupants (not posted anything on the other occupants upstairs, behind in the maid's quarters and at the gate house yet - but I will one day!) went out, sensibly! We couldn't really be bothered, so I made for the candles. Gave me chance to take some nice piccies on my new camera though.

Abu Dhabi rents

Had some marketing bumf today from one of the bigger property companies in Abu Dhabi. You can basically get a mortgage on some of the newer developments for less money a month than the current rental prices. The trouble is that the properties aren't due for completion for 12-18 months, so you would need to be able to fund the mortgage and your rent for this period. Anyway, I looked at their website (http://www.lljproperty.com/index.php) and saw a table showing a current guide to rental prices. Scary stuff. Here it is below. Bear in mind the current exchange rates is around 5.6 AED to GBP. Normally landlords expect the whole year's rent up front too, so many people take loans out to pay the rent. Fortunately, my company will pay the upfront costs and take it back from me monthly, interest free. We have a 3 bedroom "apartment-in-a-villa" and that is costing 190,000 (+5% commission), so just over 200k per year. Legally they can put the rent up a maximum of 5% per annum, I think for the first 3 years, and then they can basically kick you out and find a new tenant at a much higher rental value.

Apartments on island

Studio from AED 100,000 per annum
1 bedroom from AED 180,000 per annum
2 bedroom from AED 240,000 per annum
3 bedroom from AED 320,000 per annum
4 bedroom from AED 400,000 per annum

Villa on island

4 bedroom from AED 450,000 per annum

Villa off island (compound)

3 bedroom from AED 340,000 per annum
5 bedroom deluxe from AED 630,000 per annum

Villa off island (private)

3 bedroom from AED 300,000 per annum
4 bedroom from AED 400,000 per annum
8 bedroom from AED 700,000 per annum