2009 - July 15 (Singapore)

Wednesday and departure day. Up at 4am. Packed, checked out, picked up in a plush Mercedes limo by Emirates. Part of their standard guest services. Met at curbside at airport by a porter and an Indian lady who greet me and escort me to passenger check-in. Get tickets and head for lounge. Took pictures of lounge and had light breakfast. I met the most handsome young Emirate gentleman I have seen. We started our conversation when a young man and someone who appeared to be his father sat down at the table adjacent to mine while I was having breakfast. Since they were in this lounge and wearing traditional robes I greeted them with "Marhaba", or "Hello" in Arabic. Dad was impressed and responded in Arabic to me. Oops! Out of my league now. So I responded in English that I did not really speak Arabic, but just new a few words. There was a short exchange between dad and son and then son responded that dad did not speak English well enough to engage in conversation. But son spoke perfect English without an accent at all.

The son's personal name is Abduhl-Mohammed and he goes by "Duly". We chatted for some time as we watched a rainstorm move across the airport landing field. He was not used to seeing rain like this and was going on about thunderstorms, hurricanes, and flooding. I told him I came from Houston and that we experienced a lot of weather like this. He seemed fascinated by actually experiencing those events first-hand. And about Texas in general. It seems he had visited Houston with his father once before in the past but there was no rain or storms during his visit. He was asking the staff if there was a way to step outside onto a balcony or rooftop to feel the rain, but of course we could not since we had already passed through passport control and were in the international section of the airport. He was disappointed with this situation. We talked a bit further, and I showed him pictures of Hurricane Ike and its results. He examined them carefully and commented on each of them.

Terry and Ed, I was asked by Duly to tell you he was sorry for your loss, thought you were very lucky to be living on the beach, and thought your new house was very nice. So there you have it. International awareness of your home. Don't be surprised if someday a brown-eyed, brown-haired, young man in a dish-dashi from Dubai comes knocking at your door asking if he could stay and visit for a while. I got the impression his dad would be able to cover ANY operating costs incurred, plus a whole lot more. Would it bother you if Ed was given a matched set of harem girls as a Thank-You gift (G)! I have a feeling that dad might have a few extras to spare.

I got this impression when we got ready to leave and he and his father were greeted by about six guys in traditional clothes and four other guys in business suits and sunshades. They greeted dad, then him, with formal kisses and escorted them away. So they were apparently very high rollers. I got to thinking about the Aramco offices in Houston and wondered if this was one of the current Saudi princes and his son. Guess I'll never know.

Off to the plane. Very nice seating. It is the pods that Roy and I had on our way over to Newcastle and back. Goodbye to Singapore and the end of a loooooonnnnnnnng blog.