The Venice(s) of the Middle East

Why not go for a gondola ride through the mall? At the Villagio Mall in Doha, Qatar.

Between the day trip to Doha, a mid-week presentation of strategy and financials to the client, and a day of personnel/quality issues at the Trauma Centre, last week completely flew by. We were under the impression that the business case (now nearing 200 pages) was going to be wrapped up by the beginning of this week, but with additional stakeholders providing their input and recommendations, the final product is on hold again… fingers crossed that I can press “Print” before I board the plane to come home.

The Villagio Mall in Doha, Qatar... or in the streets of Italy, I'm not sure.

New Dubai, Old Dubai... view of the Burj Al Arab from a rooftop in the Madinat Jumeirah.

Kelly and I welcomed the weekend over dinner with friends at the Madinat Jumeirah on Thursday night. The Madinat Jumeirah is a hotel and entertainment complex designed to resemble an old Arabic village, and has been touted as “Dubai’s version of Venice”... complete with an expansive (and expensive) souk (market), man-made canals, and a bevy of hotels and restaurants. It’s an enchanting place! We enjoyed a canal-side meal and were pleasantly surprised to be introduced to the restaurant manager, who gifted us with invitations to a Monday-night reception with a celebrity chef. Admittedly, I had never heard of this chef before (a Brit named James Martin who apparently doesn’t get a lot of air time in Canada), but the idea of a quiet weeknight spent with good friends and good food sounded fine by me.

Glowing lights along the canal in the Madinat Jumeirah.

A very quiet weekend spent capitalizing on the weather – the oppressive desert heat has cooled down to a lovely/breezy warmth, so my weekend workload was completed poolside. My quiet retreat was interrupted by fighter jets pulling tricks in formation overhead in preparation for the Dubai Air Show, billed as the “most expensive show on earth”… surprise, surprise. The air show runs for four days and is centred around major aircraft sales. One Qatar Airways executive jet was profiled on the news last night… marketed as “the only way to travel for those who can’t afford their own jet”… outfitted luxuriously, all the way down to the 18K gold ashtrays. Maybe I should catch a ride on one of those en route back to Toronto…

Dinner with Kelly, Vicki, and Gavin at Shoo Fee Ma Fee in the Madinat Jumeirah.

Monday night arrived and I met the girls at the Mina A’Salam Hotel pool for our evening with the chef. After mistaking him for two or three other party attendants, we tracked him down and determined that he really looked nothing like his photo on the invitation. Never mind… we had the obligatory group photo taken, enjoyed a full-fledged fireworks display, and chit-chatted with Mr. James Martin for the better part of an hour. He regaled us with his adventurous trip to second place of the UK’s ‘Dancing with the Stars’ (who knew?), but couldn’t answer my question about the proper preparation of butternut squash… apparently he has people who take care of his veggies now that he’s graduated to celebrity status. Note to self: never get so far detached from the core of your work that you can’t answer questions about the basics.

Girls night out (Lara, Kelly, me, Vicki, Hillary, and Sharon)...

... with celebrity chef James Martin!

This time next week, I’ll be just about ready to depart for a long weekend in Jordan, visiting the Dead Sea, Petra, and having a proper ‘Bedouin experience’ at Wadi Rum… how exciting!

Fireworks display over the Gulf.