2009 - July 21 (Dubai)

We all got together for a team dinner at what I could best describe as Disney of the Desert. It was called Madinat Jumeira Mall. Think of it as an Arab village with air conditioning. This is actually a pretty remarkable mall in concept. The mall does make you think of a classical Arab village. Narrow hallways with what appear to be stone and mud plaster walls on each side, filled with stores. The hallways are not long, instead they are winding and numerous dead-ends exist. There are street signs showing directions to various regions to get you around. The ceiling looks like a nighttime sky with stars and wisps of clouds. The lighting is rather low in keeping with the night in the city concept. Outside, there are balconies that look over the other aspect of this village – a series of canals in the manner of Venice. There are small boats that ferry people from one point to another around the mall and many restaurants have outside dining that look over these canals. The overall effect is quite impressive, but I could not keep away from feeling as if Mickey Mouse (our Carl Camel) would walk out for me to have a picture taken with him. I expected to see a simulated raid on the village by the infidels of the desert. None of that happened while I was there for dinner.


Dinner was arranged at Trader Vic's. This is a world famous name that specializes in mediocre food, poor music, and a cheesy Polynesian atmosphere. (And we came here why?) I arrived early and had a drink at the bar while I waited. They feature lots of overly sweet drinks with fru-fru garnishes like umbrellas and carrots carved into serrated harpoon points. I chatted a bit with a bartender who wants to go to Hong Kong to Disney Land!!! Why bother? He was already there! I noticed something while waiting at the bar. I listened to the people around me. Everyone is on Facebook, even laborers at the yard, trendy Indian bartenders, people without computers and only cell phones, people without computers OR cell phones who share a connection with friends. Amazing. The rest of our team arrived and we ordered an array of dishes. The appetizers were all okay and we did enjoy those. The entrees came along and we were not so impressed. Three of the guests ordered a grilled lamb dish and all made comments about how the flavor did not seem quite right. I took a bite and literally spit the food out. The lamb was rancid. We told the server to take it all back and she requested the manager to come over to talk with us. I spoke to him and suggested he take a bite to verify our comments. He did not, but he did remove the dishes and offer to either remove them from the bill or provide an alternate dish. Two guests got replacements and one opted to simply go onto dessert since she had enjoyed the appetizers anyway. The remainder of the meal went off without a hitch and we broke up rather late. A long drive home to the hotel was easy since there was no traffic.