Posted by Kanga. Please do not reblog.
After a few errands and a pleasant banking experience (so refreshing), we headed east, over the Cascade Mountain range to Prineville.
See the travel photos – click here.
A few more Portlandia pictures were added – click here.
Posted by Kanga, please do not reblog.
After only three days in California, it was time to get back on a plane and fly again. This time the flight was less than two hours and as pleasant as a plane flight can be. Southwest Airlines knows how to load people onto a plane. They don’t have assigned seating, but as you check in, you are assigned a “pole position.” At the gate they have clear signage to show everyone just where to line up and when boarding begins, everyone goes in an orderly fashion. Once in the plane, you can choose where you want to sit. It is fast and efficient.
Everything else went efficiently, too. We were a bit concerned, because despite repeated tries (both in the UAE and the US) to contact our bank to notify them that we are traveling, we have not succeeded. Our bank is paranoid and will probably block our cards once they begin to receive charges from outside the country. Don’t get me started on UAE banking, because I could rant for days, a real fillibuster.
The evening was spent at one of our favorite, locally owned, Portland pubs – McMenamins 205. Great beer, great food, great (and entertaining) service, and great friends. Much of the conversation was spent talking about the TV show Portlandia and how true it is with specific examples from real life.
We will continue to document Proof of Portlandia throughout our trip – click here.
Next, we have a three hour drive to Prineville, Oregon where my family lives. Stay tuned.
Posted by Kanga.
After a 15 hour non-stop flight, we are safely in California. After much sleeping to recuperate and adjust to the new time zone, We headed out to do a few errands.
Unfortunately, we didn’t think to exchange our currency before leaving the airport. In the UAE, changing currency is not a problem as there are currency exchanges on nearly every street and rates are reasonable. In the States, there are few currency exchanges outside the airport and if you go to a bank to exchange currency, they will expect you to have a bank account with them. We ended up going to the nearest airport and trying there. As non-passengers, we had access to only one exchange kiosk. The rate they offered was outrageous. For the equivalent of $700, they were offering us $500. We weren’t willing to lose $200 that way. So, off we went to find another option, a currency exchange kiosk in a shopping mall. This time we got $600, so had to take it even though that’s not a good rate either, but we were over a barrel, so to speak. Lesson learned, always exchange currency before leaving the UAE airport.
Next errand was to get USA phone sim cards which are necessary because there is no roaming service for Etisalat or Du here. This was easier than our currency experience.
By then we were very hungry and went in search of a neighborhood taqueria. We landed at El Papucho and had enormous burritos. It was a quaint family business, half restaurant and half grocery store.
By then our afternoon was shot and we headed home to pick up DaddyBird’s parents and head to the Los Gatos Shakespeare Festival performance of Hamlet, starring family members as Laertes and Ophelia. The performance was wonderful. Audience members were laughing and crying at all the right places.
For pictures, click here.
Posted by Kanga.
Fujairah has an industrial area. It used to be on the outer reaches of town, however, town has grown. Now the land under the industrial area is prime real estate.
Since before we moved to Fujairah, the city has been working toward moving the industrial area to a new location. It is finally coming to fruition.
We thought we would give you a tour of the emptying out, old industrial area. For all the pictures, click here.
[I was going to insert a picture here, but I’ve run out of image storage space. When I get that upgraded, I’ll come back and put the picture in.]
And, it is only fair, to show you the new industrial area. For those pictures, click here.
Posted by Kanga.
It is that time of year again – Ramadan. So, we ventured into Dubai for an iftar meal with some wonderful people.
BBQ Delights put on a lovely buffet selection.
I started with salads – beet salad, cucumber, salads, and tomatoes.
Then meats – two kinds of chicken grills, shrimps, and naan (flat bread). I’m cheating a little on the diet. The shrimps are lightly breaded and the bread is bread.
The finalé – tea.
Posted by Kanga.
If you haven’t already, watch this:
Did you see us?
And at Special Ostadi?
The Peeta Planet television show is one of the best things produced in the UAE. To watch all the episodes plus extras, go to their YouTube channel – click here. Considering all the sensationalized stuff that passes for television, it is really nice to watch something smart and informative. The episodes always include art, music, food, and culture. THIS is television worth watching.
Posted by Kanga.
Friday morning, we got into a taxi and hurtled toward the airport. Neither of the taxis we rode in had functioning seat belts, which always makes me uncomfortable.
Back into an Air Arabia plane. Thankfully, this flight was also only about half full, so we had an extra seat between us.
They showed the same Bugs Bunny cartoon.
Many miles of white fluffy clouds.
One does not really realize how much of the desert is airborne until you see it from the top.
Hello Sand Pit. Back to miles and miles of brown.
Posted by Kanga.
Day Seven happened to be the Fourth of July and we are Americans. Where did we spend our country’s Independence Day? Why at the National Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), of course. Nothing like celebrating Soviet heroes on an American holiday.
But, first, we went to the hydropark to see the miniature Kiev park. (You might remember our visit to Miniaturk in Instanbul – miniatures of key buildings of Turkey.) This is similar, although not quite as well developed or kept.
The hydropark is on an island in the middle of the Dnieper River. People come there to fish, swim, and bask on the beaches.
After this, we went by metro train and bus to the World War II memorial complex.
Mother of the Motherland stands on top of the museum. The museum is well worth a visit. All the displays are in Ukrainian or Russian, but there is an audio tour (which we used) and there are also printed explanations in multiple languages provided in each room. The displays were very well done and very personalized. Every display case had portraits of people involved – ordinary citizens, soldiers, and officers. The most powerful display, for me, was the bone grinder which was used to turn human bones into fertilizer. Mankind’s inhumanity is sometimes overwhelming.
To see all the pictures, click here.
Posted by Kanga.
The walking we did on Day Five very nearly did me in, therefore, Day Six became rest up day. We did nearly nothing other than eat and sleep.
The advantage of renting a studio apartment, having a vague itinerary, and travelling with my chef is the freshly made hot breakfasts.
We did venture out in the evening to meet our friend for dinner. Walking from the metro train station to the restaurant, we passed this apartment building that has a blacksmith shop in the ground floor. I suspect that they never lack for heat in this building.
Back to the neighborhood restaurant from Day Three, we had a lovely dinner with our friend Rupert.
Having ordered “white bread” this is what came. Rather healthy looking white bread.
This is my Greek salad.
DaddyBird’s pork entree.
My steak with wine sauce. (There were a couple of other pictures I was going to add, but I cannot seem to get them to load successfully.)
We had a pleasant, relaxing evening followed by a train ride and walk back to our apartment. However, upon arriving we discovered that the electricity was out in our building. It was just our building. DaddyBird had planned for such emergencies, so he had flashlights. The real problem was sleeping, since DaddyBird has sleep apnea and needs a CPAP device which requires electricity. It was a hot and restless night. We can say that we’ve had the complete Ukrainian experience.
Posted by Kanga.
The day began with a walk down to the neighborhood market.
The market area is quite large including many rows of metal sheds where people are selling EVERYTHING – shoes, clothes, purses, hair brushes, laundry detergent, etc.
At the center, is a building full of meat, fruit and vegetables.
We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.
For all the pictures and comments, click here.
Living the Travel Channel 