Mecca Property Ad: Room with a View?

This a very interesting property ad that recently appeared in one of our local papers. You may know that Mecca (or Makkah as spelled in the ad) is the most holy city for Islam. It is located in Saudi Arabia and it is the city to which Muslims take the Hajj, or pilgrimage, which is a Koranic requirement for all Muslims who can afford it.

Another fascinating fact about Mecca is that only Muslims are allowed to enter the city. Non-Muslims may never enter.

The large background picture in the ad is of the center of the Grand Mosque. In it stands the Kaaba which is the place of worship that Abraham is supposed to have built. When Muslims pray they orient themselves so that they are praying toward the Kaaba. You may have heard that they pray facing Mecca but more specifically it is toward the Kaaba.

To state the obvious, this ad is a fascinating example of "East meets West". Luxury property marketing with a deeply religious context.

Birthday Party at the Burj

Ah. Life in Dubai... it's different.

My 13 year old daughter attended a birthday party for a classmate at the ultra luxurious Burj Al Arab Hotel last night. Room rates run in the $4000 a night range I think. The friend was turning 14. (What did you do for your 14th birthday party?!)

The party was held on the one of the top floors in a special ballroom. The festivities included DJ and massive food layout. It was impressive.

My wife and I went to pick her up there (she needed us both there right?) and caught the amazing fountain and flames on tape on the way out. Enjoy.

By the way. The birthday girl left in a red Bentley sports car as the evening finished off. Wow.

Click on the link to watch the video... roughly 1 minute. Don't miss the big burst near the end!

Interesting Gulf News Articles... Labor and Corruption

Will anything change here?... the "jury is out" I'd say.

Discrimination common among UAE companies

By Saifur Rahman, Business News Editor


Dubai: About 65 per cent of the UAE's companies discriminate among employees on grounds of age, 41 per cent on gender and 41 per cent on disability, a latest survey said.

UAE least corrupt among Mideast states

By Duraid Al Baik, Foreign Editor


Dubai: The UAE has been named the least corrupt country in the Middle East by Transparency International (TI) in its latest report. The UAE ranked first among Middle East and Arab countries with a score of 6.2, and 31st among 163 countries in the world in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) issued yesterday by TI in Berlin, Germany. The CPI is measured on a scale from 0 to 10, with higher numbers indicating less corruption.

According to the index details obtained by Gulf News, Israel and Oman, which ranked first and second in 2005 declined to the third and fifth positions respectively, paving the way for the UAE to become the first in the region.

Mohammad: Protect rights of workers

Gulf News Report


Dubai: All necessary measures must be taken to ensure the rights of expatriate workers are protected and their living and working conditions are significantly improved, His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai ordered authorities yesterday.

He also instructed the Minister of Labour, Dr. Ali Bin Abdullah Al Ka'abi, during a meeting attended by other senior officials, to implement "an effective mechanism that empowers workers whose salaries have been withheld for more than two months to receive what is rightfully theirs, as well as enable them to switch jobs with no obstacles, as long as they meet the rules set by the UAE and the Ministry of Labour in this matter," WAM reported yesterday.

Made me Laugh...

Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, "Where have I gone wrong?"/ Then a voice says to me, "This is going to take more than one night."

Charles M. Schulz (author of Peanuts cartoon)

Worldwide Accents

Dubai is a truly multi-national city. It's reported that there are over 200 different nationalities represented in the Dubai/UAE labor market. And due to the nature of my work I interact with lots of different people each day.

My family and I have begun to acquire a taste for trying to recognize and imitate different accents from around the world. For example, would you know the difference between a South African accent and an Australian accent? Or an Australian accent and a New Zealand accent? (that's a tough one!)

For your fun, The Speech Accent Archive is a website that will play different English language accents from all around the world. Try a few from different places even from the same country!

Quote on Salvation

My wife read this quote to me recently from a book called Hard Sayings of the Bible (IVPress)... I thought it summed up Christian salvation quite succinctly. See what you think.

"Salvation is not something we possess. It is rather a relationship in which we stand."

Are you counting salvation as something to acquire or a relationship to enter and maintain? Food for thought.