TRUST !!!!!!!!

We went on an over night desert safari with the boys. NEVER EVER trust anyone whose jeans are too tight and wearing an orange shirt........................(Don't worry about eyes too close together or the other "trust" beleifs!!!!!)
Here our driver (pakistani kaniverstani)poses with Hannes and the boys before we left for this safari (note his jeans fit and colour of shirt !!!) We had about an hour to drive outside Dubai to hit the desert. I made the big mistake of telling him that we are from Africa and not scared and also we beat the pakistani at cricket!!!!My mouth is always open before my brain..................

What you see over the windscreen is SAND from dune bashing......Now I know why windscreen wipers are fitted to cars in Dubai...It is not used for rain but for sand. At times he could not see where he was going. We were all strapped in and did well with colourful vocab which he did not understand. At times he was driving one hand on the wheel and the other on the cell phone....(Supose he was having a lekker fat laugh with his friends about these "tourists" hanging on for dear life....) The boys loved it and thought it was "awesome" Dian was infront next to the driver so he saw all the action first and Rossow was in the back seat. He got all the exra action he says. Hannes and I took the middle seats...Real sissy's but still scary...........

Rossouw and Dian admiring the desert plants and flowers. Not much of them around. These we saw early on but when you go deeper into the desert they are not around.

We stopped for some dune boarding. Hannes and the boys attemted it and did very well. I rather held the camera at the bottom of the dune. Nobody warned me that going down to take he foto's would be easy BUT going back up was a hellava climb. You take one step up and two sliding down again. The sand is very fine and gives way all the time. Going down it took five teps to the bottom....going back up took about fifty...

Rossouw holding onto the sunset in the desert.

Dian doing much the same

This picture says it all. Both these boys were in serious overdrive at this time. We had had dune bashing and sand boardsing done at this tme. It is very quiet in the desert as well and you become aware of all senses. It has a strange beauty to it with this "barren" landscape. Makes me think of the west coast in the cape. It had started to cool down a lot at this time. We were warned to take something warm wit us.

This was not "Saartjie" but the boys had a camel ride as well. Here they we still composed. Near the end of the ride they were in fits of laughter.......Maybe a camel farted again !!!!!!!!!!!! They were laughing so much that we could not get them off the camel.

On arrival at the bedoiun camp there were 4 wheelers to ride as well. Both boys had now seen what a 4x4 could do so they were ready to do the same on the 4 wheelers. This was just at the start and when they ended they were standing and doing "wheelies" and doughnuts on the dunes.....

Shisha is a national past time in the middle east. We all did out thing with the sisha. (Exept Hannes) The pillows are on persian carpets on the sand. The "shisha man" light and starts all the shisha's for you. He handles the hot coals by hand....................

Belly dancing was also done after dinner. I think she is Russian. She involved all of us on the dance floor. Hannes , myself and the boys and lots of chineese tourist were all dancing at the end. Lots of laughter and fun.

As I said before this was an overnight safari. These were our tents for the night. It was freezing....The desert sand is like ice and the tents were welcome, as thet shield you from the wind. So I had my firts camping excercise...............and as they say LEARN from experiences!!!

The inside had a budget mattress on the floor and even sheets. Each was issued with a sleeping bag. The pillow however was very hard ....like a stone.......We were in fits of laughter by every ones comment in trying to accomodate this pillow.....

Good night was had but next time I take my own pillow. Also I think to do this over night action in summer is better.

We all came ome early the next morning and had a hot bath (half the desert was in our hair...... here is always a breeze/wind and the sand is so fine it creeps in every where.) A very good time was had by all.

On a good note, the new washing machine arrived at long last.............I did so much laundry for 3 solid days..........but all is now clean and packed away. A very good thing too is a brand new machine was delivered. This is fantasic as a manual on how to use the machine was in the box....and has english instructions. It is a washer and dryer in one machine and I take back my previous version of not good................NOW I can use it correctly and it is fantastic. Less space used as only one appliance to do 2 jobs........ I must admit I miss Rita from home. I respect house keepers much more.....................

Hannes came off duty this morning and it is so nice to go for an early walk in the marina and at the beach.....We stopped off for coffee and croissants at a side walk cafe....SOOOOOOOOOOOOO good to have the opporunity to spend quality time together. The boys normally sleep late as they go to the marina boardwalk at night to walk around and perve at the cars parked and driving in the marina. Dian has a collection going on facebook of what he has seen. A Lamborghini is now old hat as well as the Merc SLR, Corvette , Bentleys ect.

Technology is fantastic and vey fustrating..............Frustrating as I do not know enough to sort out problems and my iternet had some connection problems and took forever for me to sort out. Now all working............

On the fantastic side is Skype. I had a long chat with Marqaux (Pierre's daughter in the USA) tonight which was great.............We laughed and cried a little and exchangd what's happening in our respective lives..... So fantastic that we are so far from each other geogaphically BUT we can see each othe and chat..............

Tomorrow we are going to Abu Dhabi to a car show...........and on Sunday we have our first camping outing with our own tent and stuffs..........Hannes is going to do his last dive in Fujairah (about 2 hous from Dubai) and he has 2 days off after that. So we want to test drive our camping skills before our road trip of 4 days....

I will give a full report when we get back after this trial camp......

I miss all of you in SA. Family and friends. Just wish we could all do this together.

L

"INSHALLAH"

Patence is a virtue they say but to me it is venture to get used to...............The washing machine has been broken for 7 days.....Last week was "Eid al allah" which is when all moslems go to Makkah..It is a country wide 5 day public holiday so nobody to look at the machine toubles.... the washing is mounting by the minute. Miracle washing baskets I have as the clothes mutiple during the night as we sleep............OK good news I have not needed to do any ironing.......BUT we still need to have clothes to wear. Inshallah means God willing as I expland before but I still think it means tomorrow but not likely..........
Here I was today with a real Jumeira Jane tantrum AT THE APPARTMNT MANAGEMENT. I threatened to have my landry "done" and send them the bill.......It did not go down vey well with them BUT the technicians arrived at 18h30 to check the problem. It now seems I need a new washing machine. It will be 3 or 4 days at best before it is replaced. Lucily not at our cost but the paper work is endless and requests and answers and instuctions take days to do......
The manager of the apartmnts however is now very caring and phones all the time to tell me the progress on the machine problem....So I have to get with the program and lean to relax and realise tomorow is another day................

OK NEWS UPDATE
We went to dinner at this restaurant in Bur Dubai. It is the old original Dubai. We were amazed as the whole bill for 4 of us came to 44 Dirhams. We normally pay 100 dirhams per person. The food was original and very good. We had butter chicken and naan bread and lamb tika marsalla and more naan bread and sme other ndian bread. Something like roti. Very very nice. ere ae no frills at this restaurant and a box of tissues on the table is used as serviettes. We had been walking around the old souk for hours and very nice to be so safe and browse with all the locals in all the funny and interrestng shops. All the merchandise is cheaper thanin the malls. So I might just go and buythe normal daily toileties there...........

Rossouw bought a dish dash and regaling at the old souk and had to model it for us when we got home. He is not an arab by a long shot as his eyes are blue and hair is blonde............Lawrence of Arabia does come to mind.


Dian nearly had a heart attack when we got home as this " lambo" was parked in our garages...The both of them are amazed at the amunt of ferrari's ect in Dubai




This is at the Irish village where we will spend new years eve for a party. It is authentic as the pubs and food are true irish fare. They promise to have a huge party with lots of fireworks and stuff for new year.



Swarofski decorations on a christmas tree at Centry City mall. It is only the reflection of light that changes their colours. They are clear when looked at from upclose.

The size of the tree just covered n swarofski. Rossouw and Dian dwarf infront of the tree sitting on the ledge .

The tree is decorated with 40 ooo swarofki criatals. It shines in the sunlight and seems to glitter as the sun catches the cristals.

A shop entrance decorated for christmas as Emiates mall. Father christmas is having a bubble bath with his reindeer.!!!!!!!!!!!! Infront are advent calenders made of wood and each day opens with a little drawer to add your own choclates.

Another shop window with a polar bear and snow. A huge fairy godmother n the back ground. She is easily my size.

This shop wndow was only cristals for christmas.

We went buying "camping gear" yesterday......... Yes we are going on a roadtrip for 4 days at the end of December when Hannes has 4 days off. We pan to do he 7 emirates. Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ashman, Umm Al Quiwain, Fujairah, Ras als Khaimah.

Now I am not a happy camper but will give it my best shot. We all have sleping bags and blow up matresses. We have a huge tent and torch lights, braai, fthrmos flasks ect.

Hannes has done this bfore with a friend and says all is very well equiped and clean in camping areas and he says we will all enjoy it...Will keep you posted. I insitd on camping eas with ablution facilities and NO desert driving by ourselves...............

We took the boys to "Fudruckers" This is authentic american burgrs which you order by size of beef patty. All home made on premises. You then when issued with your chunk of minced steak (bought by the pound or portion of) go and add all the trimings you can wish for onto yur burger.

Rossuw challenged the full pound. He finished it but was very very full.

The patty is made by hand by choping steak only...................Very nice burgers indeed.

We crossed the creek by abra last night in full moon. The creek is not big and the abra's were the only mode of transport back in the day......to cross the creek. You just hop on and pay 1 dirham to the driver and off you go. If anybody is likely to get sea sick this is not for you as the smell of diesel is very heavy. Great fun to sit amongst the workers going home and feeling the true Dubai of old. It is such a city of contrasts. The glaring luxury malls with all the trimngs and then the old city with a beat of its own.

The boys have ben introduced to taxi in Dubai too. It is a wow for them to stand on a corner, put ut your hand and taxi stops. They have gone shopping for me with a list of needs. They have done vey wel and come back with all needed BUT it takes some time. I am not sure if it is due to the size and layout of the stores or them seaching for products as most is is arabic..................

I am really being tested in my old age with my cooking skills. A few challenges exist here. Fistly it is the space of the kitchen. You need to be super organised to cook in that space. The kitchen on the blue train better be aware. I can cook in a smaller space than them... Then the biggest of all is the stove...................It is gas.................and it has attitude. NEVER a good attitude mind you. The oven is either super slow or so very fast.........................The only fast setting is the grill. The oven is super slow......I will however muster on and conquer the bleddie thing. I try my best to make really good meals but somehow it does not always work.....

Hannes has so much time off it feels very change to see him so often. He also has to adjust to a life not very busy.....As I said before this is a paradigm shift is all directions.

I miss my family and friends. Clydene's daughter Gia was married yesterday and I missed that...NOT NICE.

Today was a litlle emotional as it was Pierre's birthay. I really miss him so much......but that is for me to carry...........................I had a good coffee and krispy kreme doughnut for him by myself.

I feel a little lonely and tearful and do not seem to know why. Is all this happening too fast?????????Is one really made to change so drastictly??????????????? I need something but cannot find it tonight...............................Had a very nice call from Jinny today. We had a lekker chat about all nice things.

I want to plan what to more to do with the boys in Dubai as the tine is running out. Rossouw leaves on he 7th of January and there is so much more to do and see.

Ok all for now.

L

ARRIVE DUBAI .....GREETED BY RAIN

OUR BACK YARD..............THE DUBAI MARINA............

TOGETHER AT LAST

Hannes looks so good. He has lost weight and is so relaxed an happy with his life . I am so glad for him as he has worked so hard all his life with no regard to his own quality of life. He goes to gym very day and eats healthy and well. To gym here is so easy as every apartment building has it's own gym, steam room and pool onsite. He only goes to gym to feel good and not only to loose weight. For him it is a stress releiver. Me on the other hand will not easily go to gym (even in this easy access) as I do not really like excercise very much. I would rather sit and have coffee and a chat with someone............................even in he gym....... We plan to go for walks every day in the marina after Hannes returns form work. It is so safe here that yo can do that even in the evening.......

This was the sunrise that greeted us as we arrived home in Dubai. This foto was taken from our balcony. The day was rather overcast and the rain soon geeted us. it is said that it nly ains for 2 days per year in Dubai......Well we have had 2 days of rain. It is not the ame as rain as we know it. It is much less but all the taffic gos ballistic nd over the radio report of water n the road are all he time. Seems as if the water alosdoes not drain away and n areas it looks like a dam in the road althoug the "downpour" was very little.

The sky is clear and I can see stars tonight . All the buildings sems clean and the "dust" cload is nowhere to be seen. It is cool and very different than the hot Dubai I left in October. Most visitors like Dubai In December due to the climate. I find it too cold for Dubai. I love the heat...

We went to Dubai mall for the day. It is a brand new mall which opened a few weeks ago and is said to be the biggest mall in the world.....................No shit sherlock.............This baby is huge..... I think we did about a tenth of the mall. The boys were so confused in the food hall as to what to choose from..... The boys and I made our choices and were seated and eating when Hannes arrives with his lunch selection..................We had to laugh....

(picture this in your imagination) The 3 of us were in trays and paper (like at Mc Donalds) and here his lordship arrives with a designer paperbag number (Looks like a Gucci or Chanel shopping bag) Inside is his take away from the Thai outlet in the fast food hall.................His cutlery is silver plastic..............We eat with our hands and plenty of seviette's (We chose burger king you see..............) Any way we had ou laugh and teased hannes about his designer lunch bag............................. Was a moment thing

These 2 boys are blown away with Dubai.....They have been around town in the red bus. It gives an overall look of Dubai and what it offers. Here the 2 are at "WAFI" This is one of the lani malls in Dubai. We are like country bumpkins let loose on the big world. I feel like "Hessie vanaf die plaas" here. Every thing is at your fingertipe and in such great volume. It is mind boggling at times.

The red bus is a fantastic thing to do in Dubai on your first day. It is a "hop on hop off" bus. You can stay on the bus all day too and just look, listen and learn about Dubai. We took the boys to get the overall idea of Dubai. It has 26 stops all over town, but you can sit on top an have a birds eye veiuw. We got off at the creek for a cruise down the creek.

Some impressive buildings on he creek and actually to let you see the cloud formation in Dubai. It rained on and off the whle day. You do not need a rain coat as it is sporadic showers.

The creek still trades in goods and it has this fantastic mix of old and new. In this foto is the new buildings and yachts. Go back a few blogs and you will see the old. The boats that till trade in this "port". It is actually he whole creek edge that is one big dock.

Today has been a slow day. I am so tired and struggle to keep my eyes open. The boys met up with school friends that also live in dubai and Hannes is on duty tonight. I did my household chores tonight when all as quiet and I as alone. So tomorrow we can go go go again.

It is so easy to clean this tiny flat............ I could not do all the washing as the washing machine died on me today............Luckily it is the landlords problem to fix or replace. Until then it will either be hand washing or laundry service....Which one do you all vote for.

I did skype with Laurika tonight and this technology is fantasic..... Ermanno and Clydene tried to skype but we had a gremlin in the works..............Don't knw why but thy could only see and hear me,I could not hear or see them at all.......

Enough of me today......

L

PS. Spell check not woring a all..........................SORRY

LET THE GOOD BYE'S BEGIN

CLYDENE,MYSELF,GESIE AND MARIETJIE
We are the Bali Btches........................... Always were and always will be. ( SORRY i PUBLISHED THIS FOTO TWICE IN THIS BLOG ...... Do not know how to edit or delete the extra one so you will have to wait for the story on us later in this blog entry......... give me a break it is 02h52 in the morning......)

GOOD BYE LAURIKA
She has been my rock and roommate for the the last months since Hannes left. As I explained before she worked for us in the surgery and was my right and left hand "wing man". I adore this girl and am going to miss her so much. She is a very good friend and always so extremely loyal.
I have to start saying goodbye to her slowly as early next year we will only have contact via face book or e-mail. Strange how life brings people into your life who leave a huge crater when they have to move on. She had such a tough time early on in our relationship. She was shit scared of me and used to go into nervous fits just thinking of having contact with me. I must say I am a very difficult task master to work for. I strive for perfection and expect nothing less in return.
Laurika however has come to learn to even think like me so we are like little BIG ME and MINNIE ME. You can decide who is who..................................... I always used to say that I am wife NR 1 and she is wife NR 2 to Hannes. . . . Today however all her fear has gone and we are just such good friends and colleagues.
Laurika I have so much respect for you in how far you have come and still strive to go..... YOU GO GIRL .....................I love you very much and am always on your shoulder............


AHH......My "Pastrami friends".....
ERMANNO AND CLYDENE ON UMDLOTI BEACH
CLydene goes all the way and a little more. Just look carefully into this foto and you will see to what extend she goes for casual "sun downers on the beach" I mean check our dress code and her table setting. She did a full silver service for this bun fight..... Clydene is ALWAYS just there. She is not intrusive and very quiet (except in Bali with a cork screw in her pajama's !!!!!) I can drink coffee with her all night , literally have done so on a few occasions... She makes a killer "cuppa chino"..... I will easily swap a Starbucks "cuppa chino" for one of hers............... Now these two (Eramnno and Clydene) are like bread and butter, scones and cream, cheese and crackers,....they fit together. Ermanno is always there in the back ground too (normally with a cold one in a green bottle in his hand...) but always there. I have had some very bad situations and they just come to your rescue in what ever way they can.
What a "lekker" travel mate she is too. She scares the living daylights out of me on her spending abilities.... She loves to shop and saves me a lot of money in return as just looking at her satisfies my buying urges.....She is not good at bargaining for an item........That is where I fit in. You know good cop bad cop scenario....................But hey does she travel light. We went to Bangkok for a week once and she only had a little travel bag as hand luggage going to Bangkok. I mean did not even hand in her luggage........ But boy oh boy when she came home Ermanno had to nearly fetch her from the airport with a flat bed truck............................
Clydene I will soooooo miss you. I have to start with the goodbye action tomorrow when I see you..............Not looking forward to that as I am now so "over it" as the kids will say. Too many goodbyes in my life these last 4 months.
Look after Umdloti for me while I am away................. Remember we have not finished with Dubai shopping yet......

THE BALI BTCHES.........................
CLYDENE, MYSELF, GESI AND MARIETJIE

How do I begin to explain this friendship....It is so special to have such tight friends for so many years and we share just about everything with each other......WE travel together in such a fantastic manner although we are so different

GOOD BYE GESI

This is such a special woman.....She has so much compassion and love to hand out and does exactly that. I have said in previous blog entries of how beautiful she is. (She is a race horse!!!!!!!!!) and loves PRADA.................

"Rerig", my friend how will I survive without all your love and talks............ We have also done a few all nighters...........

Now she can "really" cook. Understand nicely, we all are good in the kitchen department BUT Gesi is of another class. Every thing she touches in life turns to "best" be that friendships or food.
Gesi you have taught me so much of "letting things slide" in the reaction department. Thanks so much for that. You taught me to take a breath first and then react.... You know Steve Covey (author) writes about the 7 habits....Well my 2nd habit (reactive and pro active) was so out of sync..........I just go for reactive instinctively......never a good outcome hey, just ask my kids for affirmation...... Her husband Bob will also be sadly missed as he is also such a good friend. All out men also get on very well together and this helps this friendship to blossom. Thanks guys....

How does one say goodbye to friends like this...........My tears are so boring lately as the last few weeks that seems to be all I have been doing. Sometimes out of pure anger and frustration and sometimes out of anguish..........

Gesi I will always have you very close to my hart....I am planning on sitting with you at all our kids weddings with my "dusty pink" outfit........(Heaven forbid may it take a few years.......)
You have lifted my spirits in so many ways over the years. You are an easy shoulder to cry on and just as easy to have a great laugh with. YOu still have to come and do the Dubai number.

MARIETJIE (OUSUS)
Marietjie is the sober thinker amongst us all. A quote that she uses has crept into my daily speech as she says it so perfectly the quote is "you know what" and then she gives this absolutely "commonsense" advice................ Her sense of humor is to die for.....Sarcastic, clever, sharp and to the point. She is a big "live and let live" personality. How she became "ousus" is a long story and has nothing to do with age. Let's just say it was due to my "reactive" personality which came to bite me later.........................

OH she does NOT cook...............She has other fantastic talents.............Mario her husband is the chef in the house. Good to see and good to eat his food too. he like other interesting foods and we are always just to happy to comply with finishing our plates............

Ousus gaan jou baie mis..........

LETS GET ONTO A LIGHTER SIDE.................

This is JC as a clown. His work year end function was a day at the circus.......They did clown training and had to dress and do the part. He loved it very much. So refreshing to see a year end function which does not only consist of mega booze consumption. I also think it was a great way to "team build" Hr is not joining us in Dubai this holiday as he does not have leave due to him from work. I will miss him at Christmas and new year BUT he will come and see us in the new year..............

Just a foto to show how they did the opening of Atlantis in Dubai. 15 million pounds were spent on the fire works display. Only 3 more sleeps for me to be there.

Another foto of the Atlantis opening....................

AS you have gathered I am going to Umdloti tomorrow to say my good bye's to very very dear friends. I also have to say good bye to my little piece of heaven, OUR UMDLOTI FLAT. It is not the bricks and mortar I will miss but the whole looking at the ocean. I always felt so safe and secure at the flat. That was where I recharged my batteries.....Had time to just look at the ocean and get inner calm after stormy times... Lived with open doors and windows with no burglar bars. The smell of the sea........ I might not have the privilege to stay there soon again as the flat has been given to an agent to manage the rental while we are away....

I went to my dad's funeral last week and it was exactly what he would have wanted. No frills no fuss. The church was full. he would have been pleased to see that. I had said my goodbye to him on the weekend we visited him about 6 weeks ago. It was so good to have had that time to say all that was needed. he believed in "giving flowers when some one is alive and not after death."

HE kept himself to that goal. So I have no regrets with our relationship while he was alive. I just feels the death of 2 very special people to me is asking a little much.

Maybe that is why tomorrow is very hard for me to do. I have to say good bye once more. OK it is not permanently but the feeling of loss and longing for that person will be very similar..................... I just know the tears will be genuinely felt and deserved.................

I AM SO USELESS AT GOOD BYE............................

Dian is on "matric week" in Balito and having a ball. Rossouw has finished his maths "subs" and he seem to think all went well..... I will see him in Johannesburg at the airport on Thursday when we leave.

The last 2 weeks have been hectic with arrangement before I leave for Dubai and now I have decided that I have done my utmost and all the rest must just sort themselves out .......... The only things I still have to do is goodbye's, finalise the rental agent in Umdloti, get the house in Richards bay in order for the tenants for December, collect Dian, pack and leave for the airport.

I cannot wait to see Hannes again and to live some form of "normal" life. At least my sleeping pattern will return to normal............ I am sure he feels the same. He must be very lonely.

This time I am in Dubai for 6 weeks..................JIppeee.....

OK all I am bushed.

L