Beijing, China, 2008 Summer Olympics

As most of you know, Alex and I were lucky enough to go to Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games. I must say, there was more to it than luck, though. Just getting our visas took more perseverance and determination than you can imagine. Between Alex and myself, we went to the Chinese consulate here in Dubai a grand total of NINE times in order to finally be approved! We had to submit applications, letters of permission from everyone you can think of, bank statements (yes, the government of China now has our bank account numbers!), hotel and flight reservations, proof of olympic event tickets, letter from hotel confirming our stay, I could go on and on, but you get the point. You would have thought we were seeking permission to take over the country! Alex's application was approved before mine. Mine was turned down as they asked for further paperwork more than 4 times. I actually had to have Alex write a letter for me (since I am in the UAE under his visa) stating that I had his permission to go to China and "guaranteeing" that I would abide by all Chinese laws while there! Yep, I had to get a permission slip from my husband! He will not likely let me forget this one for a while!
I flew to Beijing from Portland, Oregon (via Vancouver) with my friend Kelly (college roomie) and her boyfriend EJ. We came from the wedding of another one of our college roommates. Since the wedding was the night before we left for our long trip to Beijing, we ended up staying out ALL night and heading straight to the airport with no sleep. Alex flew from Dubai and met us in Beijing. We planned it well enough that our planes landed within 10 minutes of each other! Upon arriving in Beijing, we headed to the hotel to drop our bags and then went straight to a women's semi-final football game (aka: soccer). Although we did get some sleep on the flight over (thanks to EJ's prescription assistance!), I had been on the go for more than 48 hours. The only thing that kept me awake during the football game was the amusement of watching Kelly and EJ's heads bounce as they kept nodding off! We were just exhausted. I can assure you I am too old for these kind of marathon all-nighter antics! However, our very first olympic event was more fun than I could have imagined and very memorable. The next day we headed to the Olympic Green for a day of watching athletics (track and field events) at the newly built Bird's Nest.

Kelly's mom, Eileen, had been in Beijing since the opening ceremonies and was a fantastic tour guide! She had already scoped everything out and took us around the Olympic Green to see the many exhibits and displays. At one of the exhibit tents, they invited Kelly and me to sit down for a traditional tea ceremony. They were always so excited to see blonde haired people! We ended up all having tea as a group and then they asked us to autograph their sign and take photos with us. Everyone was so gracious and happy to have us as visitors to their country.

Also on the Olympic Green are the new buildings for the events including "The Bubble" in which all aquatic events were held and a building that we called "the torch building" due to it's shape. The TV screen on the side showed views of current events taking place and re-runs of past events.

That evening we headed out to meet some of Kelly's friends from Singapore who were also in town. We went to a bar that was absolutely packed with soccer fans who had just been to the Brazil vs. Argentina match. Much to Alex's chagrin, we ended up staying out late. He was tired and wanted to go back to the hotel. However, once he saw that it was nearing 2:00AM, he decided that we should all just stay up and go with Priscilla to see the flag raising ceremony at Tianamen Square at sunrise. Sooooo, at about 4:15 in the morning we left the bar (which was still wall to wall people), caught a taxi, and headed to Tianamen Square. It was humbling to be at the site of what all of us know to be a horrible moment in history where many student protesters lost their lives to violence. Needless to say, there are many guards here. Some are in uniform, but we were aware of many who were dressed in plain clothes as well. We decided this would not be the place to wear your Free Tibet t-shirt.

We look just a wee bit tired in the photo below...

One of the highlights of the trip was of course, The Great Wall of China. The pictures speak for themselves. Although I don't think they show you just how many and how steep the stairs are!

We toured the Forbidden City, also known as the Former Imperial Palace. This is where the emperor lived along with the princesses, concubines, etc. This is the walled city where the entire ruling family lived. It is called the Forbidden City since no "commoners" were allowed inside. The size of this place is gargantuan. There are still areas where the public is not allowed to go. The middle photo below gives you an idea of the size of this city and the opulence in which the ruling family lived.

We went to the Temple of Heaven during the evening, so not many of my pictures turned out. This temple is in a HUGE, beautiful park. It's an amazing getaway from the noise and bustle of the city and is located right in the middle of Beijing!

We had lots of great traditional Chinese food, spent quality time with good friends, and enjoyed the amazing sites Beijing had to offer. A HUGE thank you again to the Sonnack family, we would not have been able to do half the things we did without their assistance and generosity! Xie Xie!

To see the entire album of our China photos, please go to http://vivianalex.shutterfly.com/

Santorini, Greece

Santorini, Greece has been a place that we have wanted to visit since moving out to Dubai. We finally had the chance in July so we decided to do a bit of a last minute get away in between business meetings I had in the US and Lebanon.

We stayed in a small hotel, La Meduse, on Perivolos Beach. We expected there to be hordes of tourists from all across Europe on their summer holiday, however, from what we saw almost everyone around us was a Greek national.

Perivolos Beach is unique in that the sand is actually black volcanic ash. It would be an understatement to say that the sand gets a little warm in the afternoon to be walking bare foot across. Surprisingly the water was very chilly so we spent most of the first day soaking in the sun and enjoying some of the great Greek cuisine at the beach side cafes.

The second day, we decided to be a bit more adventurous. After talking over our options with the young lady behind the front desk (who happend to be from Ohio!) we decided on braving the narrow, winding roads of the island on the back of a quad bike! Having never been on a quad bike myself and with Vivian only having had only minor experience it seemed a reasonable thing to try.

Our first stop was the famous village of Fira situated on the high ridge overlooking the caldera. The submerged caldera is what is left after what most experts believe was the biggest volcanic eruption in recorded history. The eruption was so severe it literally ripped the island apart. Smaller eruptions have come along through out history, with most being only minor.

The views from the rim of the caldera are absolutely beautiful. The striking contrast between the brown landscape, the blue and white buildings and the deep blue of the Mediterranean are stunning! The village of Fira clings to the cliffs with numerous shops and cafes situated along its narrow walkways.

After a short break at a cafe looking out over the cruise ships and ferrys coming into dock in the harbor below, it was back on our quad bike to Red Beach.

Red Beach got its name from the red volcanic sand that makes up not only the beach itself but the large cliff that the beach backs up to. As you can see, its a popular place!

We couldn't resist taking a picture of this massive yacht that was anchored just off of Red Beach. What a great looking ship!

So after a day exploring the island, it was time for a great dinner to conclude our Santorini experience and what better food to have than......Mexican! Yes, believe it or not, Mexican. Who would have guessed you would find decent Mexican in the Greek Isles! The location on the southern cliffs of the caldera was great! We couldn't have imagined a better place to watch the sun slowly set below the horizon and the weekend come to a close. What a beautiful woman below!

Long Trip

I've had some long trips since moving overseas three years ago, however, this one seemed to justify posting a blog on. In twelve days I needed to cover 17,938 miles across nine time zones in six countries.

So it begins early on a bright Sunday morning weaving my way through Dubai traffic on Sheikh Zyed road passing the rapidly forming metro system and the nearly complete Burj Tower, the worlds tallest building.

The airport is packed as expected with all of the expats trying to make their way home for their summer holidays before the worst of the heat and humidity sets in. Dubai International Airport is beyond its carrying capacity and everyone is anxious for the new airport to be built which will be larger than Chicago O'Hare and London Heathrow combined.

I try to take advantage of the opportuntiy to stretch my legs before the 17 hour flight to Houston gets underway. With a last check of the flight monitors, its time to head to the gate and get settled in. Emirates flies the new Boeing 777-200 Long Range aircraft on this route as its the only commercial jet liner capable covering the 8,176 mile flight without stopping. These aircraft are able to connect virtually any two points on the globe on a single non-stop run.

As luck would have it, the flight is packed and I've been up-graded to first class. The Emirates first class is ridiculous. A total of eight suites comprise first class. Each suite includes a fully flat bed, a mini bar, a 21 inch television screen, and best of all can be sealed off giving the occupant complete privacy. The pictures only do it partial justice.

I know....I look like a gluttonous pig...but I knew all to well that I had Egypt Air awaiting me for one of the final legs of my journey so I knew I had better enjoy this while I could.

So with wheels up at 9 AM in Dubai we were off across two continents and one ocean landing in Houston at 4:30 PM local time (1:30 AM in Dubai).

After a quick overnight stop in Houston / Galveston and a lunch with a customer its back to the airport to make my way up to Kansas City for meetings there. I had never been to Kansas City before, and wasn't quite sure what to expect but it turned out to be a great visit. I would say it has to be one of the cleanest major cities I've been to. Definately a good place to live and the great thing is you are a maximum of four hours from anywhere in the US. I even got to experience a classic heartland summer thunderstorm. After two days of meetings and a dinner at one of the oldest restaurants in the city where apparently you used to be able to pick the chicken you wanted to eat for dinner from those wandering around the backyard, it was time to make a move to the airport. Things went down hill from here....

It turns out that there isn't alot to do at the Kansas City International Airport. After seven hours there I felt I had a good handle on what the airport had to offer. One of the more unpleasant side effects of the classic heartland thunderstorm is the havoc it causes with airplanes. I had intended to fly to New York and make a relatively tight connection for the night flight to Oslo, Norway to meet with my project team there the following morning, however, arriving five hours late into New York there was no plane there and none leaving anytime soon.

So with that, I had to cancel my project team meeting for the following day, find a place to sleep and figure out how to get across the Atlantic in time to meet Vivian in Santorini for the weekend. After working the phones I had both a place to sleep for a few hours and a flight out the next day to Greece with British Airways via London.

Luck was on our side and Vivian and I landed in Athens within five mintues of one another to catch our connecting flight out to the island of Santorini for the weekend (seperate blog).

After parting ways with Vivian at the Athens airport, it was onto Beirut, Lebanon via Cairo, Egypt. I should have known that any contact with Egypt inevtiably meant problems. While the flights managed to adhere to schedule, my sole bag failed to make the connection leaving me alone staring blankly at an empty baggage carousel in Beirut. After struggling through my limited Arabic to convey that I had lost my bag it was off to the hotel to clean up as best I could for a dinner with the local agent.

Beirut is a city that looks like it has had its fair share of rough times. After being bombed heavily by the Israelis in the summer of 2006, the city is just now starting to come back together. Driving around the area the signs of war are clearly evident with numerous buildings half destroyed and vehicles on the road with bullet holes in them. While I was visiting, the country was full of excitement in anticipation of the release of hundreds of prisoners by the Israelis. We concluded our numerous meetings with customers and various authorties and ventured out across the city to our agent's residence listening to the sounds of automatic gunfire from Hamas as they celebrated the homecoming of the prisoners.

So, after twelve days on the road it was time to finally come home, luckily with my bag which apparently made it into Beirut the evening before my departure to Dubai.