The £8bn sheikh who married a £10-a-week waitress

He is a prince and one of the richest men in the world - a member of Middle Eastern royalty who enjoys a lavish international lifestyle and has met the Queen.
She was a 19-year-old trainee waitress earning just over £10 a week at a hotel in remote Belarus.
And when Natasha Aliyeva was told to take an orange juice to Sheik Saeed bin Maktoum al Maktoum in the £450-a-night presidential suite of the Hotel Minsk, just over a month ago, she could never have imagined how her life was about to change for ever. To see more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=480794&in_page_id=1879

Commercialism

It's not only Christmas.

Construction in the summer

The sun in Dubai is HOT. The UAE Ministry of Labour announced a summer midday work ban, warning companies that flout the law would face heavy fines. The ministry said the ban would be from 12:30 pm to 3:00 pm from July 1 until Aug. 31. The ban on labourers working during the day’s hottest hours was introduced in 2004, but its start date has varied. The ministry also said that an intensive inspection campaign would be start on the first day of the ban coming into force. The ministry said companies must also provide covered rest areas for the workers during the breaks.

Above is a picture of a newspaper ad showing inventive ways various outside workers protect themselves from the sun.

Rent cap!

Our one-year apartment lease was up for renewal and was subject to the new rent cap laws put in place by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed. Contrary to what we thought, our landlord did not sell his property or move into it which meant we got to renew for one more year. This is very good news because a one-bedroom similar to ours is now going for AED110,000/year!

Dubai Is Kid Friendly!

This post is for my family and all my friends who have children. Dubai is kid friendly! Pack 'em up and head East - or West its pretty much the same distance either way. Oh, and don't forget about the Toronto to Dubai direct flight :-)

Come visit!

Emirates has announced it will fly direct - Dubai to Toronto!

Dubai: Emirates will start thrice-weekly, non-stop service from Dubai to Toronto, a first gateway for the airline in Canada, starting October 29, the airline said.
"Responding to market demand, the new route will provide a first direct link between Canada's largest city and Dubai, providing also convenient, ongoing access to the Middle East, Africa and the South Asian Subcontinent.
The route will provide travellers with access to all major Canadian centres with connections available through Toronto's Pearson International Airport.
The non-stop service will take 14 hours and 20 minutes. The return journey will be completed in about 13 hours.
Making comfort a top concern on the long-haul journey, the aircraft will be fitted with eight private suites in First class, 42 of its latest lie-flat seats in Business class, and a comfortable Economy-class cabin for 304 passengers.
Pending government approval, Toronto will be one of five new Emirates destinations in 2007.

Jinn

My friends and I were driving back to Dubai after spending the day on the beach in the mountainous region of Fujairah - the conversation turned to that of Jinn. It was explained to me that Jinn are invisible creatures that possess superhuman powers and even the ability to possess human beings – similar to the western idea of ghosts/spirits. They are generally experienced around mountains and although one girl in particular was uncomfortable talking about it, I got to hear a few stories. This week I was surprised to find that the front page of 7Days displayed the picture above with an article named “Firestarter”. I would attach the link to the story but its currently unavailable - apparently random strange fires were starting up in someone's home (yes, in a mountainous region). It is beleived a Jinn caused the fires.

Going once, going twice - Sold!

Welcome to the UAE– the most materialistic place on earth! Its all about prestige in this country, for example, the number on your license plate indicates how rich you are. I thought it was crazy when I read an article late last year about a license plate selling for over 6 million dirhams (CAD2,000,000) and then TODAY an article came out stating that the number 5 was sold for 25.2 million (CAD 7,875,000). The article: http://www.emiratestodayonline.com/ArticleText.aspx?article=13_05_2007_001_008

Tip: If you get cut off by someone with any of the numbers 1 to 1500 on their license plate – don’t employ road rage.

You know you're in Dubai when. . .

You know you are in Dubai when you can get a credit card with the picture of Mecca on it!

Police Armed Wtih Mobile Phones

02/24/2007 01:19 AM By Alia Al Theeb, Staff Reporter Dubai: Police will issue traffic fines electronically by using mobile phones for the first time in the region.... Traffic policemen and officers will be able to issue traffic fines by taking a still picture or a video of the offending vehicles. The system includes issuing on-the-spot fines and abscentia fines. ... traffic fines will henceforth be issued by mobile phones as well as manually. The ...Traffic Department, said the new system sends information that includes the time of the offence, the kind of offence and the fine amount to the traffic department's system. The system then adds the fine to the personal traffic file of the offender after checking the accuracy of the information. It also sends information to the offender on the offence they have committed via an SMS to their mobile phone or an e-mail.
"The new system provides easy usage for traffic police, as it saves the time and effort of police as well as the offender, as the chance of a traffic fine put on a car's windshield flying away or getting lost is avoided," Brigadier Aman said.
Dubai Police's Electronic Services Department developed the programme over the last five months to make it usable on mobile phones that have cameras.
The traffic policeman or the officer may send the fine in two ways, by sending the offending vehicle's picture directly or by taking the picture and also filling in the vehicle's information such as its plate number, its code, its category and source.
"Dubai Police is keen on keeping up with the developments in the technology field and mobile phones today are widely available. This system will make it easy for police to issue fines and record the offence. It also provides evidence in case a motorist objects to an offence," he said.
The move comes under the directions of Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, Chief of Dubai Police to use the latest technology in the security field.

Mobiles to record traffic offences http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/02/22/10106176.html

Man Marries 3 Women In One Go

Man Marries Three Women in One Go — Who says all women abhor polygamous marriages? According to a report yesterday in Al-Madinah newspaper, a woman placed a condition on the man who asked for her hand in marriage: That he also marries her two colleagues at the school where she teaches. The man actually had to think about this very carefully: Marrying three women in one go is much harder than it sounds, if one thinks about it. The man accepted the proposal, but said only after he was encouraged by his friends and colleagues, some of whom considered it a golden opportunity. The three women have rented apartments in the same building, and have said that the man must share his time and resources equally with all of them. Good luck. The Middle East's Leading English Language Daily.

I Just Wanted A Pork & Stilton Pie

Does this picture look staged? It SO was! Waxy O’Conner’s was voted 'Best Pub' and so it was featured in TimeOut magazine. A girl at work ushered us to Waxy’s to pose for a picture which I originally thought would be a huge group of people all standing together wearing Waxy’s shirts or something similar. No one in the picture smokes and in fact, one guy quit the week before but the photographer kept saying "Smoke! I need more smoke!” - She was trying to create atmosphere. Best pub or cigarette ad? Since the non-smokers were not creating enough ‘ambiance’ we called in our friend Anna (a smoker) to sit in the corner and help produce smoke to satisfy the photographer. Too many cigarettes were butted to create this image. For the record, Waxy’s makes a super pork and stilton pie. Visit the site: http://www.timeoutdubai.com/

Our House Featured in Vanity Fair

Our house was featured in Vanity Fair! Well actually it was Dubai that was featured but seeing our place in print was still very out of the ordinary (I've marked it with a red arrow so you can locate it). Vanity Fair did an article on Dubai in June 2006, 3 months after we moved in, and our humble abode is pictured on a page that read "There is no architectural rhyme. This is a skyline on crack.” Although there is not this much construction going on around our house now, it still seems to be all around. Click on the picture for a closer look.

Eid Mubarak!

A very uncommon way of figuring out a long weekend. . .do I work or don’t I work was the question before starting work this week. We searched the web, listened to the radio and tried to find some notification of what was decided about the moon.

The UAE moon-sighting committee announced that Monday 23rd will be the first day of the Shawwal crescent for the Hijri year 1427, signifying the end of Ramadan and the beginning of the Eid Al Fitr. Eid is a time to give in charity to those in need, and celebrate with family and friends the completion of a month of blessings and joy. On the day of Eid, Muslims gather early in the morning in outdoor locations or mosques to perform the Eid prayer. After the Eid prayer, Muslims usually scatter to visit various family and friends, give gifts (especially to children), and make phone calls to distant relatives to give well-wishes for the holiday.

"Kul 'am wa enta bi-khair!"
("May every year find you in good health!")

"Eid Mubarak!"
("Blessed Eid!")

"Eid Saeed!"
("Happy Eid!")

Front Page 7Days

This was the front page of the 7Days newspaper – just a gentle reminder to respect the Muslim tradition of being especially modest during Ramadan. For the whole story:

http://www.7days.ae/2006/10/03/show-some-respect.html#continueStory

etisalat Ramadan Ad

These are two versions of Ads from our “7DAYS” paper (similar to Toronto’s Metro). Etisalat is our telephone provider.

“Ramadan Kareem!

You are faith, peace and generosity.

Ramadan Kareem!

Share the spirit of Ramadan with family and friends across the world. Enjoy reduced international call rates for the first three days of Ramadan."

11.7 Million

Tracey, I thought you may be interested in this . . .
His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai buys horse for 11.7 million. Desiree Lee does he look familiar?

If you’re interested in the story: http://www.emiratestodayonline.com/Default.aspx?selpg=371

MOTOSLVR Guy

The MOTOSLVR Guy.

MOTOSLVR Woman

Have you seen the ad for the new MOTOSLVR?