Going to the Doctor In The UAE

    I have to admit, there are a few things in the United Arab Emirates that are pretty sweet. For example, when you buy fresh shrimp at the grocery store they will clean them for you, for free! You can get your car washed while you shop at the mall for about 5$. But one of the best things in the UAE is visiting the doctor when you don't feel well. Remember I come from Canada, the land of free medical care, nevertheless, if you go to a walk in clinic in Montreal when you are sick will be there for a minimum of three hours and don't even talk about the emergency room! Ha! 

     I wasn't feeling well yesterday, I wasn't feeling well when I woke up this morning, so I called in sick. When you are sick and work for ADEC you have to produce a doctor's note if you want to get paid for the day off.  I took myself to a hospital located about 5 minutes away and registered my information since I have never been there before. I was in and out with a prescription and a lette for my school  in less than 45 minutes!!! Whaaaaaa! I love it! The appointment cost me about 15$ with our insurance and (this is the best part) my prescription was 0.35$! Yes, 35 cents! 

I am feeling much better and I am happy I took the day to rest.

Dropping Like Flies

   I am going to keep this short. People are leaving. Teaching in the UAE is not for everyone and it is not easy, my school is tough but I have goals (finacial and personal) that will keep me here no matter what until I meet them. The situation in Canada is not the greatest for teachers.  I am even toying with the idea of extending my two year contract for an extra year or two. Everyone has their own reasons for leaving and I cannot judge anyone's decision. But what you hear/read is real,the turnover here is crazy. 

One For The Books

   On December 14 my friend Kaitlin and I set off for our three week winter vacation. We were flying out of Dubai through Bahrain to Bangkok (reseeding this now I sound like a celebrity!). We would spend one night in Bangkok, then head down to Koh Samui for a few nights and hit up the Full Moon party on Koh Phangan.

     While in Bangkok we saw as many temples as we could fit in one day and ate some great food.  My favorite temple was Wat Arun ( Temple of the Dawn).

This temple had some crazy stairs to climb to reach the top. It was all worth it. 

Thailand is known for its fantastic food we sampled Pad Thai and mango with sticky rice once we got off the fairie.

I have to admit I have been to Bangkok before, twice, and it has really cleaned itself up. I am not sure if it is because of where I stayed, but the all around feeling I got was much better than I remember almost 10 years ago.

     We then headed to Koh Samui.  We got to hang out at the beach for a few days, but it wasn't enough for me. I love, love, love the beach and for my Spring Break I am planning a lot more beach time.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip. Because it was cloudy it gave this fluorescent effect. There are no filters on this pic! I love it! Simply stunning!

We took a 45 minute crazy,bumpy speed boat ride to the Full Moon party. Please add a Full Moon party to your bucket list if you have not been already.

The number of people was crazy, there were fire dancers and you could get fluorescent tattoos.

Fun times.

The Koh Samui airport is one of the most beautiful that I have ever seen. Most of the shops are located outdoors.

We headed from Koh Samui to Chaing Mai which is located in the north of Thailand.

    I have never been to Chaing Mai before and one of my goals was to spend the night with a hill tribe. We took a two day/one night trek.  The first part of our adventure involved an elephant ride. 

From their we did a 2.5 hour trek up a mountain to the hill tribe.  I felt as if I was climbing to heaven. The incline never let up.  This was the hardest part of the whole trip for me. I was so slow and at so many times during this trek I wanted to give up. Not to mention I slipped once or twice and almost plummeted to my death.  Nevertheless, I persevered and I did it. The view from the top was breathtaking.

We spent the night in a small cabin and since there was no electricity we went to bed by 8 pm with only the stars watching over us.

Even though we had blankets and two layers of clothes, this was one of the coldest nights I have ever spent. It reminded me of the Ice Storm of '98 when we lost power for 11 days in Quebec. I even had a hat and gloves on and I was still frozen to the core.  In terms of temperature it was probably 8-10 C but it felt much worse.

The next day we took the 2.5 hour trek down which was much easier for me than for others.  I must say that my legs were broken for about a week after. 

  

Since my friend and I cannot get enough adventure (and we were waiting to get paid) we took a 13 hour over night bus from Chaing Mai to Vientienne, Laos. We thought we were going to be on a big Voyageur type bus, but it turned out that we were in a packed 12 seater mini van. Since we are soooo lucky we were at the back next to the luggage. Yippee!  During the 13 hours of fun the luggage kept falling on Kaitlin and I was pressed up against the wet window behind a cigar smoking gentleman. 

The next morning we made it to Laos. I must admit I didn't know much about this country before the trip, but I love the French influence that it possesses and would definitely go back.

This is the Patuxai. The concrete for this structure was donated by the United States to build a runway for an airport, instead Laos build this wannabe Arc de Triomph. It is beautiful. Once you walk underneath this is what it looks like:

Reminds me of the Watch The Thrown cover. 

After Vientienne, we headed to Vieng Vien. We spent Christmas Eve at an Irish pub getting beat at pool and eating street banana pancakes.

The scenery here could not be matched :

Honestly, if God did not create this beauty who did?

Next post will discuss Vietnam and Cambodia.

Thanks for reading!

Love hearing your comments! 

I Have Not Forgotten You!!!

Hello Readers!

    I have not forgotten you! I will post this week about my three week winter vacation, the best brunch ever and what is next for Miss Haneefa. Please stay tuned! 

Xoxo

Haneefa

Color Run Dubai

Yesterday I did my first Color Run in Dubai, I had a fantastic time. The vibe was electric. There were over 8,500 participants from all over the world. 

My friend and I had booked a hotel for the night, so we got up nice and early to get to the race site around 8 am (the race was starting at 9).

As you can see I wrapped my head in a white tank top to prevent it from getting powder in it. I know I look like a chef.

 Before I continue let me tell you what the Color Run is.  The Color Run is a 5 km race that touts itself as 'the happiest 5k on earth'. Every kilometer there is colored power that is thrown at the participants. 

So many people at the start line. They were playing music to get us all hyped. 

The first color was yellow. I must admit they were being a little stingy at this station. But the next station made up for it. 

Red was great and dossed us in powder. 

The next color was blue.  We all looked like smurfs after that station.

Pink was the second to last station and at this point people were rolling around in the powder. I loved that this was a family event and people brought their kids and babies.

The best part of the whole race was the end. There was a huge party and they handed out extra powder packets and there was a dj and everyone was dancing and having an all around great time.

Our before and after! 

If the Color Run is coming to your city I would highly recommend you participate.

Definitely want to do it again next year! 

Fog Days

     This morning on the way to school there was so much fog that people had to pull over and wait for it to subside. I usually do 130 km/hr going to work (trust me that is normal) but today because of the fog I had to slow down to 80.  I made it to work safe and sound.

     In other news I got my first speeding ticket.  I guess I am lucky because I have some friends that have had 4 or 5 so far and I only have one.  It was for 330 dhs which is the equivalent of about 95$.  I was caught speeding on camera one day on my was home from Au Dhabi *shrugs*.

     Only 7 more teaching days until our trip to South East Asia!  Woot woot!

Happy Three Month Anniversary!

On November 30th I celebrated three months living in the UAE! Time is flying! I was lucky to head to Abu Dhabi for an American Thanksgiving dinner at my friends place. The dinner was delicious, my friend ordered a turkey with fixings from the Hilton hotel. We all brought a few dishes and I made an apple crisp that turned out really well. 

We then headed to Dubai for a few nights, we stayed at the Majestic hotel  in the Bur Dubai area, we had a stunning view of the city. I tried to post a picture, but it doesn't even do the view justice. 

We had dinner at Elia a Greek restaurant in the hotel, it was absolutely delicious. I had the moussaka which is like a lasagna with no pasta, just meat (lamb), cheese and eggplant.

We then headed out to Barasti (which is it's Arab backwards) a club on the beach by the Meridien hotel. 

Saturday morning we headed to Dubai mall, there is an iHop there and I had never been.

Breakfast was delicious. 

I have been to Dubai Mall two or three times already and every time I go I am in awe.  

The view from iHop. The large building in the middle is the Burj Khalifah the tallest man made building in the world. 

This is a waterfall located in the mall. The silver men are statues that look like the are diving down the waterfall.

As we approach December the weather here is still holding strong at AMAZING! The morning and evenings are cool, but the days are still super hot.  I do not miss Montreal weather at all. I do not miss snow, cleaning off the car, wearing boot. Some of my friends say they miss the snow and the cooler weather. I on the other hand do not. 

Saturday night we headed to 360, a club that is near the Burj Al Arab, the tallest hotel on the world.

The club is out on the marina and has a 360 view of it. Stunning. 

Burj Al Arab

More pics of the view.

Today we are heading to Global Village and then back to Abu Dhabi for a National Day festivities.