Welcome to Dubai

There are probably a million and one blogs out there on the ExPat lifestyle in Dubai and hundreds of millions of blogs by ExPats alone So this blog is not designed to help anyone out there find there feet in a strange land. It is only designed to tell a few tales about picking up your life moving it 6,000miles and then carrying on. There are some great books out there on Dubai, and they may be mentioned in this blog so I will write the usual disclaimer about the opinions within this blog not reflecting the opinions of all and this is a solo effort. So I landed in Dubai, to be met at the airport by a driver, well a greeter then a driver and I had a little time with the Driver, he appeared to be from the South East of the former soviet union so I asked him where he was from. "Kyrgyzstan" he replied. I commented about the former soviet state to which he replied, "It became independent in 1991" so how old do you feel today? He then went on to tell me about the mountains and how his home was thought of as the new Switzerland, although I am not sure it would rate the same Banking and Tax status. There is probably some Oligarch loving the fiefdom he now owns. I asked him was he having fun? "No, just work". We bade our farewells as my Driver arrived and trundled off with my large luggage cart containing 40kgs of my life and a set of golf clubs. The cart dwarfed this Indian driver and he struggled with it all the way to the car. We arrived at a large Chevy Caprice, even I was surprised as it swallowed up my cases, although I saw none of the shoe horning through the air conditioned misting over the rear screen. The driver said little and I was quickly and comfortably driven to the serviced apartment I am going to call home for the next 4 weeks till Christmas. At the apartments again checking in went like clockwork even at 2am. I was installed in my small shoe box apartment quickly and without fuss. The works driver would pick me up at 8am so time for a snooze. I awoke to the alarm and the constant sound of construction in Dubai. Jackhammer.....a truck backs up......a drill starts up. Dubai is growing, constantly everything is laid, then dug up, then relaid before being dug up again. the multitude of apartments around the main Sheik Al Zayed road stand tall and new, and missing windows or towered over by cranes. 13 years and growing still. I wait in Reception for Hameed our PRO(still trying to find out that TLA) He arrives and short cuts his way through the traffic. In 40minutes we arrive at the office block. An now the work begins.