Long news at last!

It has only been a week but many things changed over here. All of a sudden I don´t live at the 21st Century Tower anymore. Sure I was dying to move out of that cage but in a way I felt at home there and there were many friends I used to visit easily. Now home is accross the road, Sheik Zayed Road, and it takes a good 15 minutes walk to get to the other side.

The moving out was very stressful. I had to pack all of my stuff (which is not much but still occupies a lot of suitcases) and bring over by taxi to the White Building. 3 trips in total. However it has been worth it. The flat is huge and has plenty of natural light. The flatmates are nice. Miquel from Barcelona, whom I met on a flight to Düsseldorf and we got along and became good friends. Most of my days off we do something together so it will be easier now that we live in the same place. The other is called Faz. He is Australian from Perth with Persian (Iran) origins. He is nice and easygoing so I believe it will be nice to live with them.

Straight after unpacking I left for 3 days in Shanghai, China. Came back amazed by the place. It is simply FANTASTIC, the city to be, where everything is happening! I had been there almost 12 years ago and the shock to see what happened there just made me speechless. There are super modern high rises, great shopping, amazing architecture (both modern and old), gorgeous restaurants, fashionable bars, Chinese feel everywhere. Great! The best thing of all was to meet Tony Chao, an old friend from my days in Switzerland. He quit his job with Acer in Taiwan and went to Shanghai for a few days to check out the place. His parents have also moved from LA to Shanghai and his friends were visiting so at the end there were lots of nice people around.

On the first day we went on a mini van to visit a few cities in the countryside. It was amazing to be in China again and it was funny that they all talked Chinese to me. Thank God Tony was patient enough to be translating all the time. And I cant tell you how nice it is to go eat Chinese food in China with Chinese friends!!!

On the second day I woke up early and toured Pudong and Old Shanghai. Met Tony later in front of the famous Peace Hotel (Empire of the Sun) and went to the market to buy fake DVDs (1 dollar each), fake Puma shoes, fake Pashmina and the lot. Sooooooo cheap!!! And because we saved money at the market bargaining like maniacs we splashed out on a nice dinner at 3 on the Bund, a very fashionable restaurant facing the Bund and Pudong were the beautiful people of Shanghai meet. No words to explain how nice it was!!! After dinner we went to the Jazz Bar at the Peace Hotel in honour of Lisa and Antonio, our jazz adict friends.

Last day in Shanghai I took it easy since had to fly in the evening back to Dubai. Went to the Shanghai Art Museum to see a photo exhibition and later to have lunch at the Grand Hyatt on the Jin Mao tower, the tallest building in China. Amazing again!!!

Got back to Dubai really tired and did not remember were all of my stuff was since I had to unpack in a rush and had no time to get used to the new room! But most surprising is that I had a 10 hour sleep and had to fly again, this time to Cochin in India. It just felt so incredibly unbelievable to be landing in one of the greenest areas on the world, with palm trees, rivers, little huts and stuff not even a day after coming back from Shanghai. Needless to say that once back in Dubai again I was DEAD!!! And have been ever since. Today though after going to the gym and the pool I came back home and took a nap and will sleep early as tomorrow is rest day again for my flight to Perth in Australia.

Will soon be going to Brazil. Still dont know the day for sure as I have a flight to Bombay on the 9th. I am trying to swop it for a day off so I can leave as early as the 6th or 7th of May but we shall see. Guaranteed to be in Brazil on the 11th of May, staying until the 23rd.

Well, time to post this on the web and go to sleep before the prayers start once again at the mosque just in front of my balcony. This is life in the Middle East.