Dubai Day 6

On our last day we drove into the desert. On our way we saw some gazelles running across our road:

What a pity, no camel crossed at the time :(

Then we wanted to drive on the dunes. Dune stalking:

Dune bashing:

There were other people here, too. And some guys were heavily engaged with showing-off:

He was driving back and forth and showed me his tricks on the motorbike:

A last glimpse on our desert resort:

Isn't it a bit like One Thousand and One Nights?

And this is the last pic from Dubai. I hope you enjoyed :)

Dubai day 5

We treated us to a lunch in the insanely expensive Burj al-Arab. Here is a view from one of the restaurants at the top of the burj:

The lobby was still decorated for Valentine's Day:

We also went to an amazing bird-of-prey show (http://birdsofprey-show-dubai.jimdo.com/). An Hungarian falconer and his German wife were presenting -not just- falcons! There were birds of prey from owls to eagles and griffon vultures. Beautiful animals, really caring master, and having such an animal sitting on your hand is an unforgettable experience:

That's me btw with Hetterich, the barn owl:

Dubai Day 3 and 4

The next day, while waiting for his excellency, we had the opportunity to see some Easter Island inspired art work from Chile:

In the meantime the rest of the family did stupid things:

On the next day we wanted to go up the highest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa. However, the elevators were not working properly and everybody got a refund for their tickets. Well, at least we had been on last year's highest building, the Taipei 101. And there is always a next time. To be honest, I wasn't too desperate. I got already seasick on that swaying tower in Taipei. Actually I felt a bit relieved, because the tower seemed to already swagger when I looked high up at it's needle-like summit.

Instead we strolled through the nearby Dubai Mall, enjoying the view of the ice rink and the water art:

Dubai Day 2

The next day I attended the ICAS Dubai 2010, the 'ancient studies' conference and had the honour to wait for his Excellency H.H. Sheikh Hashr Bin Maktoum Al Maktoum, the director of the Dubai Information Department to appear late in the morning. Well, who wants to start at 9 o'clock anyway...
In case you are interested in reading an Arabic map, here is a map of Dubai, with the hosting uni (the red square), and even roughly our hotel (the red dot):

Here a picture of the Zayed University in Silicon Oasis:

While I was waiting for his Excellency the rest of the family enjoyed a dessert tour with Arabian Adventures (http://www.arabian-adventures.com/):

They experienced a flat tyre in the middle of the dessert:

a lazy camel:

Fossil rock:

a non-fossil rock with dessert:

and last but not least, just dessert:

In short, a succesful day for all of us :)

First Impressions from Dubai

Ski Dubai, a ski resort in a shopping mall! There are over 22,500 square meters of indoor ski area, complete with slopes, lifts, après-ski bars, and 30 tons of fresh snow every day. The best thing is, you need only 11,000 l of oil each day to create this abomination:

Star Bucks in Arabic:

The old Souk in Dubai:

In the afternoon we set out for a dinner cruise along the creek. Superb views, divine food, a nice ship, and a friendly captain!

Dinner is ready:

Our captain:

We were lucky not to have been squeezed in into one of those tourist boats:

And thanks, but no thanks! Camels are such adorable animals. Why would I want to eat them?

A Winter Break

Although the snow quickly melts away now (thanks to the rain) I would like to show you some pics of the hightide of snow up here in W.feld. Here the view from our balcony down the valley:

View from our kitchen window, my poor Cruiser doesn't like the cold either :(

And a marvellous night view (thanks C.):

Last day in Xi'an

Since we didn't have enough archaeology up to now we (or was it me?) decided to visit theShaanxi Provincial History Museum.

This scene depicts the daily life of Dali Man, a kind of Chinese Homo neanderthalensis. As you can see, the gym and weight lifting was already important 200,000 years ago, while the woman was obviously not interested in male show-offs and concentrates on her child instead:

This Neolithic chained double-ring was found in Jiangzhai, Xi'an City:


This Western Zhou Dynasty Chariot with horses was found in Zhangjiapo village near Xi'an. The chariot togehter with its horses was buried in a pit near the big main grave of a Western Zhou noble man:

And look at these birds! Aren' they just beautiful? From the Late Shang Dynasty (13th to 11th cent. BC):

This gilded bronze dragon is from Caochangpo in Xi'an (Tang Dynasty, AD 618-907):

The City God Temple in Xi'an

Nearly every town in china has a city god or Ch'eng-huang. The belief in such a protector god preceeds Taoism but the idea was eagerly taken up by Taoist theology. The city gods are protecting the town or village and its inhabitants. During droughts they brought rain, they let the sun come out again after storms and heavy rains, they protected the crop, regulated birth, and, and, and..

The city god temple of Xi'an was built in 1387 (Ming dynasty) and was one of the largest city god temples of its time. It was also called the Capital City God temple, because the city god of Xi'an ruled over the city gods in northwestern China.


In 1966 the Red guards stormed the temple and turned the temple area into a flea market. Although the temple re-opened in 2004, there are still a lot of stalls and little shops in and around the temple. Since it was negelcted during these nearly 40 years it has an air of decay and eerie beauty about it, which actually is something very positive in this case. A bit like a haunted ghost town, you feel the burden of years and you can only imagine how splendid it must have been 600 years ago.



The intricate wooden carvings are still astonishing to look at.




I found it to be one of the most beautiful temples in Xi'an. Another day I utterly enjoyed.