Wayne and Kathy Visit !! Nov 8-28 (aka Adam's parents)

2nuksabroad became 4 as Wayne and Kathy came across from Regina, Saskatchewan. They arrived Thu evening after a 30 hr trip (Regina-Toronto-Dubai-Muscat) for 3 weeks of adventure in the middle east. This was their first time in the Middle East, let alone Oman and neither of them had ever seen a camel. We had an ambitious schedule for them including bbqs on the beach, Dubai, Hashing, camping, swimming, Wadi trekking, a Muscat city tour, golfing, Arabic and Indian restaurants, boating and a trip to the ballet.

What better way to start the week off than by going for a walk and downing some beers. It happened to be Guy Fawkes day, and so there was a bonfire too!

Hashers through and through!

Nice down-down

Guy Fawkes bonfire, yes we burned some people (cardboard that is)

Sunday is our Bollywood night and Wayne and Kathy were up for trying some Indian food... brave soul's from SK! They did extremely well with the heat, Kathy even ate a pepper with the meal and did just fine. Adam not to be out done by his mom, also ate a chili with his meal, although his lip swelled up pretty good an hour later.

The green chili's are there somewhere

The Royal Opera house was showing the Stravinsky Ballet that week, and it happened to be a group from Montreal - Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. We were sure this time to check our attire before going. On our first visit, Adam had the shoes, jacket, shirt, but the jeans were sub-par. Luckily they let him in anyway. So this time we did all our checks before leaving the house, although when we arrived, Wayne's collared shirt was short sleeved! They were really nice about it and offered to lend him a jacket, but he just borrowed Adam's.  Pete and Zan joined us for the evening followed by dinner and drinks at Trader Vics.

Unfortunately Janelle and I had to work during the week so we arranged for a city tour one morning taking in all the main attractions, Grand Mosque, Mutrah & both souks there, the palace and old town.

Fish souk (in case the fish didn't give it away)

Dad using the gents foot wash at Grand Mosque

Outside Al Alam Palace

We ended the week with a trip to Dubai for 2 nights. Being that Canadians need tourist visas to enter the UAE, we had our hotel the Radisson Blu Downtown sponsor them. It turned out to be a better (cheaper and quicker) option than going through the Canadian Embassy. The hotel sends you a form to fill out and you provide them with scanned copies of the form, passport pic, passport copy, and credit card verification. All of this was done via email and took 7 business days to arrange. The visa 500 ($143 cdn)dirham each plus a 5000 dirham deposit which is refunded when you send a scanned copy of the passport exit stamp.

Fun with bendy lights

Finally a camel! (we did find a real one later in the trip)

 

 

Somehow I managed to look in the wrong direction

Brunch at The Social House in Dubai Mall, amazing!

Dubai Marina

 

The rest of their time was filled up with quality snorkeling, relaxing at PDO beach and some more touring around town. Our friends Tom and Donna also took us out on their new boat to end the week. We fit in a camping trip to Fins Beach and Wadi Shab in between but look for that in the next blog.

My dad was thrilled to have pressed coffee

Much better than snow

Heading through the hole by Shangri-la

Tom, Donna, Wayne and Kathy after boating

Overlooking Ruwi on the walkway to nowhere in the middle of nowhere

A good last day on the beach (PPE & Skittles in the background)

Canadian-UAE visas Update Nov 2012

This past month we've taken our parents to Dubai on 2 separate occasions. We have our GCC resident card which allows us to get visas apon arrival. But for our parents (and all Canadian tourists), they have to pre-arrange their visa.
As mentioned in the previous blog, this could be done via the Canadian Embassy or Emirates airline. We have now tried a 3rd option, which is by far the most convenient way. The hotels (most) will also sponsor visitors.
Interestingly enough, the visa price was different depending on the hotel. The Radisson Blu charged 500 ($143 cdn) dirham and the Al Manzil charged 450 ($129 cdn) dirham. Both required a 5000 dirham deposit which is refunded after sending a scanned copy of the passport exit stamp.
Each of the hotel's visa officer got in touch with us within 1-2 days after making the booking to send us the form, attachment checklist and visa authorization form. The application required the form, passport copy, passport pic, and credit card copy - all of which was done via email. The process was quick, taking only 7 business day before receiving a pdf of the visa. It was valid for 3 months after the date received by email.
At customs we presented the printed copy of the visa and were on our way! Coming back through they take the visa back, so make sure it is kept handy.

Abu Dhabi Formula 1

The first thing I decided that Janelle and I had to do when we found out we'd be in Oman for this year was go to Abu Dhabi for the F1 race. We talked it over with Pete and Zan and way back in May booked our race tickets and hotel. Hotels were already hard to find close to the track then and prices across the city were increased for the race weekend. We decided to stay at the Khalidiya Palace Rayhaan, close to Marina Mall but further from the track as the prices were reasonable and it was a 5 star hotel. Janelle and I had also been there during the Abu Dhabi Triathlon in March and really liked it.

Hotel Beach

Gorgeous room

Lobby of the hotel was open all the way to the roof - 21 floors up

View from glass elevator coming down

Things got underway for the race on Thursday with the pit walk but we didn't leave Muscat until Friday with the plan to watch the second practice Friday afternoon. Saturday saw the third practice in the morning with qualifying in the afternoon and the actual race starting Sunday. All of the afternoon sessions started at 5pm which put the track under the lights making for a spectacular setting. An extra bonus at this race was the post race concerts held each night, something that I think is unique to Abu Dhabi. These aren't just small name acts either, Friday night was Kylie Minogue, Saturday was Nickleback and Sunday was Eminem. Entry was exclusive to F1 ticket holders and at no extra charge so I'm sure there was some serious cash paid by the Emirate to get them to play.

First of many beers

View from our seats

Girls looking very glam

The Viceroy Hotel and yachts in the marina

 

Arriving at the hotel on Friday we were treated wonderfully with complimentary valet, someone to open your door of the car, someone to take your bags to your room, extremely pleasant and polite staff and even someone bringing you fresh apples after you got into your room - fantastic. After checking in we made our way to Yas Island where the track was, everything is brand new there being only finished in 2009. The track was amazing and our seats were in the perfect spot. We were in the south grandstands and had a great view of some exciting passing corners as well as the Yas Viceroy Hotel and the marina with all the yachts moored for the race. The yachts were huge and each one was packed with people over the weekend partying. During the weekend there was promotion going on whereby if you were in your seats by 4:30 for the race at 5 you had a chance to win "Golden Circle" passes for the concert that night. Lucky for us we got them and as a result got to see Kylie right up front with hardly any people and no lines for beer!

Precious golden circle bracelets

Can you guess which one we each are?

Kylie performing on the Friday night

 



Saturday at the track we were determined to get the Golden Circle upgrade again but didn't make it on time. Qualifying was great and we ran into two other colleagues from PDO at the race, Alan and Lee. We made our way to the beer gardens and then onto the concert where the girls were determined to get into the Golden Circle. Amazingly, through some improvisation (Janelle making a fake bracelet, myself buying a Golden Circle bracelet, Zan getting one given to her out of sympathy as she was sitting on the ground in her dress looking sad, and Pete getting my bracelet through some sneakiness) we all got into Golden Circle again for Nickleback which was another great show. For the afterparty we headed to the Viceroy hotel and were blown away by the luxury and luxury cars parked outside. That was a trend all weekend, stunning cars everywhere you looked, on the track, on the roads and at the hotels. We finished the night at the Y Bar on Yas Island and amazingly ran into Alan and Lee again. It turned into a late night but well worth it.

Day 2 beer garden - found an old friend

 

Nickleback

 

Just like a South African lion

Y Bar post Nickleback afterparty

Sunday was race day and we were more than determined to complete the trifecta of Golden Circle bracelets. Unbelievably we did it, legitimately getting the upgrade for that night. The race itself was fantastic, our seats were perfect and we saw all the overtaking, crashes and stalls right in front of us. The last concert was Eminem and apparently he hadn't performed in over 7 years so we were all pretty excited to see him. Our view was amazing being so close and was awesome. There was no censor for those who know his music and he gave a really good show. Janelle and I were keen to keep the party weekend going and made our way back to Y Bar where we had one last late night of partying before leaving for Muscat the next day. All 4 of us were sad to leave Abu Dhabi behind and would definitely return to it next year.

Golden Circle Day 3!

Etihad flyby before the race

Webber's car after crash

Hamilton's car after stalling, would have won othewise

Eminem!

 

8 Ferrari's in this picture