Author Archives: Laurel

About Laurel

Pittsburgh, PA native now residing in Dubai, UAE as an American expat.
May 1, 2012

Shit I love at home

By Laurel

I recently moved house and, after almost 4 years without it, I finally got my Shag (AKA Josh Agle) print back. UGH I forgot how much I love it. It’s called “She Dreams of the Alps” and I love the fancy abominable snowman pouring his booze oh-so daintily. He’s daintier than me by quite a stretch and I should take notes. I bet he doesn’t miss his mouth on a regular basis. Such class.

When I got this print I not only loved it because of the dainty, furry boozer, but because of the title. At the time I was indeed dreaming of the Alps (since I started skiing as a kid, really), and never even much considered that I’d ever actually make it there for winter sporting. But guess what, bitches? I don’t have to dream anymore, I’ve been there twice now. Hah!

"She Dreams of the Alps", ed. 104/250

Next I want to get one of Ralph Steadman’s silkscreens, specifically “Lono’s Marlin Mask” from my favorite Hunter S Thompson book, “The Curse of Lono”. I’ve wanted this so much for so long, but have bought so much stupid shit instead of it. I need to stop doing that and just buy it already.

I used to have a wall O’ maps at my previous flat as well, but despite the fact I have like 2 extra rooms in my new place, I couldn’t really find anywhere suitable for them. So, I took a few of my fave places/maps (Nepalese Himalayas, Bali, Java, Greece, Manhattan) and and slapped them under some glass on my coffee table. Voila and shit.

actually used maps from my actual adventures

And Bin. This cat must be perpetually up your ass lest you do something without him.

I’ve finally regained possession of my passport with all necessary visas included inside as well. It only took 3 fucking months. Whatever. But at long last India next week is finally a sure thing. Then I get to start a whole other passport ordeal this autumn to renew my passport. Which, like, fucking finally, seriously. My passport photo (from 2003) has me looking like I escaped from a mental institution and it’s so terrible and looks so unlike the current me, people in customs are constantly commenting (and laughing!) at it. It gets tiresome. Also, the signature in it in no way resembles my current signature which is yet another problem-causer. Fun times with passports.

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April 8, 2012

The Farm | Al Barari, Dubai

By Laurel

It’s nice of Dubai to finally jump on the “fresh, locally-farmed ingredient” genre of restaurant bandwagon. Back home, I feel like every city block had one of these restaurants – not necessarily a bad thing, mind you. In Dubai however, land of the non-existent hybrid car and barely-there recycling, certainly the same claim cannot be made. I just love how this new restaurant concept is being touted as so unique, like the rest of the world hasn’t been beating this genre to death for years. It is unique in Dubai, so fair enough I suppose – this is a desert after all, not exactly prime farming land. But then again, with the amount of money dumped into this place to (try to) keep up with the rest of the world’s big cities, I am still a bit surprised it took this long. But really what do I know; I just love to bitch.

All this to say, I tried a new restaurant called The Farm this weekend for breakfast. And it was tasty. And peaceful. And green. And very different from the vast majority of restaurants in Dubai.

The Farm is located in a new(?) “eco-friendly” community called Al Barari, which is pretty much just another super-expensive community for over-paid assholes to live in. (…but I’d probably be one of those assholes if I had the cash) It’s super green – like incredibly so – and is filled will botanical, herb and produce gardens and ponds and streams and it’s all this really that makes it different from many of Dubai’s restaurants. It had a very natural feel, and Dubai,to me, seems to usually throw a multitude of tacky, obvious, overwrought productions at you at every opportunity. And there are many. The food was excellent as well. It all simply tasted very fresh, and very flavorful despite the fact the dishes (omelette, waffle, sausages) were relatively basic.

The only thing that bothered me there was the service. The restaurant was almost completely empty, there was no need to rush anything. Yet from the moment after being seated about every 30 seconds, the waiter would come to the table and ask if you were ready to make your order yet. Like cool your fucking jets, dude. There’s no-one here that needs this table so no need to push us along, and between your incessant interruptions I barely have time to even properly look at the menu (which was more difficult to browse than most menus due to its layout on an iPad with different types of foods in different categories that you needed to individually select and enter). Stand off. I really, really hate hovering staff.

But whatever, it wouldn’t stop me from going back, which I hope to do in the not terribly distant future to try dinner or lunch.

On a side note, I really, desperately, want one of these for my yard:

3 comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in food, UAE

April 4, 2012

Fashion Diary 011 – Dubai World Cup 2012

By Laurel

Back from another quiet spell. I just haven’t had anything to say lately. But then, I couldn’t pass up the chance to post up a worthy outfit from the Dubai World Cup horse races this year.

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dress { Balenciaga }

hat { Bundle MacLaren }

shoes { Kurt Geiger }

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Added bonus! My sister & I made it into OK! mag!

click to embiggen

Really, though, I am forever intending to start writing in this asinine thing more often again, but I…just can’t, although things have been busy with work, visitors and moving house over the past couple months.

However I can quickly rant about my impending travels to India (in 4 weeks!) being possibly utterly fucked.

AGAIN, my passport is out getting a new visa and AGAIN there are huge delays. I turned in my passport 2 months ago to get my new residency/work visa yet there has been almost no progress to speak of (for reasons out of my control). Understandably this does not make me confident that I’ll have my passport and new visa back by mid-April (although I have been assured otherwise). Why do I need it by then if I don’t travel until early May? Because I need to sort out my Indian visit visa before I travel (it can not be issued upon arrival - at least not to the place where I am going) and my understanding is that you should give the Indian embassy 10 working days to sort this out. This means I should really have my passport/new work visa back by April 15 to feel properly comfortable.  This is like the goddamned Kenya trip all over again (2 months before going to Kenya I turned in my passport to get my new work visa, which should have only taken about 10 working days, however I did not get my passport & visa back until about 2 days prior to travel – nerve-wracking)! I’m so fucking unhappy right now and ready to go ballistic. I turned my passport in at the very end of January, right after we returned from Switzerland, so I wouldn’t have to worry about having my passport back in time for India and yet HERE WE FUCKING GO AGAIN. It absolutely infuriates me literally to the point of tears.

Incompetence. Laziness. General and overall lack of giving a shit.

That all said, I am pretty confident I’ll have my visa and passport back before my holiday begins, in early May. Worst-case scenario, we’ll just go somewhere else where we can simply get a visit visa upon arrival (toying with the idea of doing another trek in Nepal, or maybe even Thailand although the latter doesn’t really thrill due to the massive amount of twatty tourists that Thailand seems to attract). But…I mean I was really looking forward to a relaxed, tropical, hut-residing, curry-nomming, un-sober holiday in the subcontinent. Annoying.

/rant

2 comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in fashion

February 12, 2012

Fujairah – Al Hayl castle…& a small serving of other things

By Laurel

A new road opened up recently that cuts through the Hajar mountains and provides a more direct route to/from Dubai and Fujairah (yay!). This is excellent news, considering Fujairah is pretty much my favorite place in all of the UAE and it now only takes an hour to get there; previously it was about  1 hr 45 minutes I think?

This weekend, we tested the new road out and took a little detour to peek at Al Hayl castle. Located just a short drive away from Fujairah city, the (pretty quaint) castle is about 250 years old in a gorgeous location surrounded by mountains and date palm farms.

The structure is by no means huge, but nice to look at all the same and you can climb through it to explore the whole thing. There is a wind tower on the hill above the caste that you can climb to the top of for some lovely views as well.

Also stopped by Fujairah’s mangrove swamps, which I would love to kayak through at some point!

& I know, this blog has been pretty quiet lately. Fuck off, I simply haven’t had anything to say, I guess.

Wengen, Switzerland last month was wonderful; many times better than last year as I didn’t suffer from any migraine attacks this year and I also got new bindings and boots, which did me a world of good on the snowboard. The bindings (K2 Cinch bindings) particularly, I think were much better than my previous pair and gave me much better control. We did a lot of long runs from the top of Männlichen and Kleine Scheidegg that took you all the way down to the village of Grindlewald. These long runs are the best: they wind through the woods (smells like Christmas tree!), have less people on them, and take almost an hour to complete! I love rambling runs!

What’s coming up? While February looks to remain pretty quiet, March and April are going to be rather manic. By the time May rolls around I’m probably going to be on the verge of going utterly fucking mental, so thankfully I have 2 weeks in India to look forward to in early-mid May. Focusing on Kerala, I’m currently working on some vague plans for what to do in the spice & tea plantations in the mountains, Alleppey’s backwaters and Varkala’s lazy beaches.

I hope I find a little something to help beak up the summer here in the UAE (UK? Lebanon?), then plan for a trip into the states (Pittsburgh & NYC) this October – Halloween YESSSS!!

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in photos, travel, UAE

December 20, 2011

Places I Wouldn’t Mind Behaving Badly in 2012

By Laurel

With 2012 swiftly approaching and my penchant for pre-planning the year ahead starting to kick into gear, I’ve begun to to think about my top travel goals for the next 12 months.

Kerala, India: After putting India on the backburner so many times over the years I’ve lived pretty much next-door to it, India is definitely scheduled in for a visit this year. I have to get it out of the way. I’d like to focus on Kerala in pre-monsoon season (ie. May) for a couple weeks. It will be the total opposite of Dubai with its abundant greenery, lack of glittering, soulless housing developments & skyscrapers and bling, and hopefully regular bouts of rain. Exactly what I am looking for in a holiday – the opposite of my normal life. If I’m really lucky there will be poor t0 no internet/phone service so no-one can get in touch with me! That’s a real vacation. And curry, the curry. I just hope I don’t get tired of having to eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner and everything in-between.

Lebanon: Party, shop and EAT in Beirut. Historic sites and ancient ruins throughout the rest of the country. Maybe summer?

Hong Kong: Whether I continue to consider a move out here or not, I desperately want to visit Hong Kong with the quickness. The urban/natural combo landscape of the area looks incredible and anyway I absolutely love visiting Asia. The city looks far more stimulating than Dubai and I bet there are some good eats, too. I’m particularly curious about Kowloon. And delighted to visit whenever I can fit it in to the schedule.

Wengen, Switzerland: Yeah, so I’ve been here before and am returning to the exact same place pretty much exactly one year later so it doesn’t sound that interesting. BUT! I never got around to trying out that rather dangerous-looking and injury-inducing sledging sledding down the mountain last time. It’s definitely on my list to try this year. After more than a few glasses of Glühwein. Because getting hurt hurts so much less when you’re drunk.

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Outside of this, I hope to pop in some random long weekends/short week trips to other locales around the Middle East (& possibly India, as I think the visa for that country should last a full 6 months, so may as well make good use of it). And I really want to go back to Oman to see an opera in Muscat’s new opera house, Royal Opera House Muscat. And hopefully a Halloween/wedding-related trip back to the states in the second-half of the year?

And I’m certainly not one of those new year resolution assholes, but if I do have one for 2012, it is this: I will not waste/lose my vacation days next year like I did in 2011. Out of the 30 vacation days I am given, I think I only used maybe 20? I’m in no way pleased about this, as what I don’t use I simply lose at the end of the year, and will be making sure it doesn’t happen again in 2012.

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