Hash House Harriers

I first hear about the Hash House Harriers about 15 years ago when a friend's father came to visit him in Japan and he was telling us about living in the Middle East. The way he was drunkenly describing this club of people who just run around in the desert following trails then getting drunk afterwards sounded insane. After my experience with the Abu Dhabi Hash House Harriers, it seems no less insane, but I feel that this "drinking club with a running problem" is the perfect combination of fitness and alcoholism that I have been looking for.

 I'd always meant to look into it when I originally got here, but I got caught up with running triathlons and my "serious" training. Fortunately, I'm past that for now. Finally, things have settled down at work and I'm done with my master's degree, so I have time for this sort of thing. Another stroke of luck was that a couple of friends of mine are members of the Hash.

My friends were kind enough to pick me up and give me a ride home so I could fully partake in the beer afterwards. We arrived at 6:30 for the 6:30 start time and were congratulated for being early. Fifteen minutes later, we began following arrows drawn on the side of the road in chalk. At some points we saw a circle and x pattern that indicated a turn so we had to find the trail. Sometimes I was near the person that found the trail and other times I was further away. I learned to just stay near the person who designed the trail because he wasn't going to run any further than he had to.

After the run, we drove the cars into a circle and had a mock award ceremony where I had to introduce myself. This seemed to be the real social aspect of it with a bunch of singing songs and hazing each other. While I have never been part of a fraternity, It reminded me of the positive aspects of what I imagine a fraternity to be like.

Also, I had been worried about the 6 km distance as I hadn't been running much over the past few months. However, with the running followed by all the searching for the trail and switchbacks, I needn't have worried. Since the heat and humidity kept everyone running a little slower, my legs were fine for the run. Anyone who is mildly in shape who likes socializing should come to this. It is free to run and 50dirhams for all you can eat and drink with beer and soft drinks included. I'll definitely be going back.

Porsche Club

My friend's 1996 Porsche 911. He wants a 2010 GT2.

Last Friday night I was fortunate enough to be invited to the Porsche Club event at the Yas Marina F1 Track. A friend of mine invited me to come along and it seemed like an opportunity that I couldn't pass up. I felt fortunate to be a part of such an event, but I felt completely out of my league.

I've been to the Yas Marina track a number of times for a variety of events and have been around the track a number of times, always on a bicycle. and sometimes even for triathlons. I felt out of place because not only was I one of the only people in the room who didn't own a Porsche, when people started talking about the specs on their cars, they might as well have been speaking another language. Plus, phrases such as, "That's the next Porsche I want to get," or even "My next Porsche," don't naturally come into conversations with my friends unless we're being ironic. Still, everyone was really friendly and more than happy to let me wander around taking pictures of their cars. There were even some Porsche SUV's out on the track.

For the actual driving, there are three levels, Novice 1, Novice 2, and Intermediate. The intermediates have been driving around with the club for a few years. (Previous to the fairly new Yas Marina Track, they used to rent out airport terminals.) The intermediate drivers got free reign to drive as fast as they wanted and were given three straightaways where they were allowed to pass. The Novice 1 and Novice 2 drivers followed an instructor in groups of four and were recommended to watch the driving lines and braking patterns. Unfortunately, while my friend is usually in the Intermediate group, he had to stick with the Novice 2's because of an issue with his car's clutch plate.

Even so, the ride was pretty cool. This video is of one of the laps we took around the track with a finish in the pit.

With the problems his car was experiencing, we were only able to do one of the 50 minute Novice sessions. The cost for this event with about 12 instructors and rental of an F1 Track for the evening? Even with the sponsors (Pirelli Tires and the Porsche dealership in Dubai) each member had to pay 1100 dirham or about $300. Considering the typical repair on a Porsche is way more than that, it's a pretty good deal. To quote my friend, "You have to have a monthly budget for repairs when you own a Porsche." I'll bet you do. I'm just glad that I got the chance to ride on the track in one and am hopeful I'll get another invitation.

Festival of Thinkers 2011

Two years ago, I had the amazing chance to participate in wonderful event at my school called the Festival of Thinkers. Not only did I get to see some top minds speak, I was able to moderate discussions with some of them. This event is sponsored by the Higher Colleges of Technology and run every two years. The last one, in which I participated was well run as far as I was concerned and was planned by Abu Dhabi Men's College. The school sent out emails asking for volunteers and they got a number of people who willingly helped the VIPs around and made themselves available to ensure that everything went smoothly.

This year, the mails asking for volunteers never came. I had considered volunteering this year, but was kind of busy so never made any inquiries. Boy, did I luck out.

When Fidel Castro's son asks you to change his flight to Cuba, you do it.

About two weeks before the event, the mails were sent out telling people that they had to stand in a hotel lobby for 7 hours and direct guests to the right bus going to the right place. Little consideration was given to people's teaching schedule or their knowledge of Abu Dhabi. Those expected to direct the VIPs were not given the information they needed. They were put on the spot by people used to first class service and asked to change flights, and organize tours on short notice. To top it off, some teachers who were keen to be a part of the event and even requested to be a part of it weren't even asked. In the end, through no fault of the teachers, the dignitaries must have come away from the UAE with a fairly negative perception of the country.

What was the difference between this event and the last one two years ago? The last one was organized by the Abu Dhabi Men's College and this one by the Abu Dhabi Women's college. ADWC has a notoriously bad reputation for organization and taking into consideration outside obligations of those working for it. I feel that it is a shame that this event was so poorly run this year so as to give everyone involved a negative opinion of the Festival of Thinkers.

F1 Events

Some guy making a sand sculpture.

With the Formula 1 races being this weekend, there are a lot of events around town. Fortunately for me, I live pretty close to one of the focal points. As last year, they have a F1 Fan Zone in which kids can drive down little mini streets or drive around the Abu Dhabi Track in video game simulators. There are slot car races and other challenges. I thought it was pretty good last year and my kids got to do a lot of the things because we got there early. This year, I complained that it wasn't as good, but I think the problem was just that it was too crowded.

Tia and some car.

Signs said that it opened at 4:00 on weekends and 5:00 on weekdays, but when we got there at 4:30 it wasn't open. By the time it opened at 5:00, it was crowded enough that we couldn't easily visit the attractions. Also there were some technical difficulties with about half of the simulators and the remote controlled cars in the center of the plaza weren't up and running yet so my kids couldn't do either of those. Looking back, it is still pretty good and is worth visiting if they get everything running smoothly though remember that it really opens at 5:00.

Later at night, I went back to see Fatboy Slim perform on the beach at no charge. I thought it might be fun to check that out and was impressed with how cool the whole thing was. I didn't bring my camera so didn't get any photos or video. Once I got there and saw the signs saying no cameras allowed with people checking bags, I was glad. I think that security must not have cared, because it seemed like almost everyone was taking video and pictures. Regardless, I was glad to get the chance to dance around.

Fatboy Slim is happy to be here.

I found it interesting the number of people who brought little kids to the show that started at 11:30. Once I worked my way up closer to the front, there weren't any kids, but I did see a woman in an abaya with her husband (?) who looked really uncomfortable to be there. Fatboy Slim showed a lot of video to accompany his performance and one song had a lot of male and female nudity. It wasn't anything graphic, but you could clearly see their naughty bits When those videos first came up, there was a lot of cheering and it made me wonder how he got away with that.

I had a really good time. I wished that I had taken some photos to post up here, but oh well. I'll make sure that I bring my camera the next time Fatboy Slim comes around to Abu Dhabi and puts on a free show.

Carlton Traning Camp

Anyone who lives outside of Australia probably has not heard of Carlton Football Club but apparently it is the most successful team in the Australian Football League. Last Friday, the Carlton Football Club completed a successful training camp in Abu Dhabi. They stayed at the Emirates Palace and "utilized the world-class training facilities the Palace has on offer." Previous to their visit here, they spent two weeks training in Qatar. This trip was meant to promote tourism in Abu Dhabi for Australians. There were some suspicions that since Emirates Airlines have their name on the stadium that Carlton play in that they might be announcing that they will sponsor the the team.

Tia's unimpressed to be near some guys that only Australians know.

One of the team members taunts Lucas after Lucas told him that he'd rather be playing baseball.

What this meant for my family is that because my kids play Australian Rules Football, they got to participate in the training camp for kids that Carlton sponsored. It was really fun watching the team run training drills then make themselves available for pictures and autographs. After that the team ran drills with the kids for about a half an hour. To finish things off, they handed out caps and balls to each kid in attendance.

Tia showing her impressive kicking skill as some guy looks on.

The thing to remember with this whole thing is that this is the equivalent of your favorite American Football team or favorite Rugby team coming to town to run a training camp for the kids and only about 50 people showing up. It was a really fun time and well run.

Bollywood in RAK

It seems that Ras Al Khaima, otherwise known as RAK, is going to be the center of a big event next weekend. Some major stars from the Indian movie making capital known as Bollywood will be making an appearance and competing in a friendly cricket match at the water park called Iceland. (click here for details) The event will be Friday, May 27th and tickets are 250 Dh for standard entry and 500 Dh for VIP entry.

While this isn't big news for those that don't follow Bollywood movies, from what I understand, these actors are pretty big. The line-up includes: Sanjay Dutt, Mallika Sherawat, Irrfan Khan, Mohanlal, Bobby Deol and Neha Dhupia. There will also be a song and dance performance by some other names that I don't know about.

This event looks like it is an attempt by the owners of the improbable penguin-themed water park in the middle of the desert to gain some notoriety for something other than being a huge carbon footprint money pit of a disaster.

Sand Sculpting Festival

Yesterday on the plaza near my place, there was some sort of sand sculpting festival. The sculptures themselves were pretty good, but I don't know why there were only four of them plus a few other piles of sand.


There was a tribute to the bid to have Bu Tinah, an island off Abu Dhabi, included as one of the New 7 Wonders.


Naturally, any sand sculpture festival needs a demonstration of Brazilian martial arts / dance.




I went there on late Saturday afternoon when I would have thought the whole event was wrapping up. It looked like the vendors who were selling stuff were just getting set up. Because people wisely don't go out in the day in the heat, this might have just been the second of two days of competition. Who knows? All I can say is that it was worth the admission price (i.e. free) so I can't complain. It seems like events like this are always popping up around here.

Japan Fundraising

Today the Hilton in Abu Dhabi held a flea market charity event to help raise money for Japan. The bureaucracy that allows fund raising in the UAE has finally given the thumbs up for the Red Cross to hold events. As a result, there are numerous events being held over the next few weeks, and my wife will be going like crazy to help organize and participate in the fund raising process.

The Japanese international School will be holding a Garage Sale, Bake Sale, along with workshops for traditional Japanese arts like origami, Kanji art, and demonstrations of Japanese drama and kendo (kendo from 10:00 to 11:00). This is scheduled for Saturday, the 30th of April from 12:00 to 3:00 pm at the Japanese School near the corner of 2nd and 29th streets, near the French School and AISA.

Also, the Intercontinental is hosting a Ladies only coffee morning on Thursday, the 28th of April from 10:00am to 2:00pm. The cost is 50 dirhams and will include refreshments. There will be Japanese crafts for sale along with a silent auction for traditional Japanese items.

For those who don't have the time or inclination to attend these events, but would still like to help out, here is a great web page that lists all the organizations that are collecting money for Japan relief in Abu Dhabi.

For those that are disappointed in the recent lack of entries regarding fun family outings, ridiculous cars and excessive extravagance, please be patient. We've been busy trying to raise money for Japan. I'll do my best to get back to researching the best place to go ice skating in the desert as soon as I can.

WOMAD 2011

I think I have figured out what it takes to keep me entertained as far as world music goes: drums. I went to the opening night of the three-day WOMAD (World Of Music, Arts & Dance) in Abu Dhabi. As with last year, it is a 15 minute walk from my apartment and has two large stages set on either end of a beach. I took my daughter to see group called The Dhol Foundation from the UK and India. There was lots of drumming so I thought it was pretty good even though they brought local schoolkids on stage. I took my daughter home and by the time I came back, I caught the end of a pretty good group whose name I don't remember.

After that I went to see a Samba band that a lot of people liked, but there weren't as many drums so I found boring. Next, I saw a woman from the UK named Paloma Faith who had a nice voice, a good enthusiasm onstage and a female bassist in fishnet stockings so that was all right.

Even though it was past my bedtime, I went to see a group from India called "The Manganiyar Seduction by Roysten Abel" that a lot of people had been talking about. They were all in a tiered structure with light bulbs around it. Have a look at the picture to get an idea. There was a lot of drumming, but they took a long time to get to it. The set was basically one long song. Each time a new musician joined in, they opened some new curtains and lit up some more lights. The singing was all right, but a little repetitive. A lot of people in the audience were cheering for one singer in particular, but that might have been for his fantastic handlebar mustache. The whole thing was a pretty good spectacle with the conductor going mental during the upbeat parts. I was tired so I left at a part with no drums without seeing what was waiting for me on the top row.

And that sums up my feelings about world music.

Earthquake Relief Bazaar

Today the students of the Abu Dhabi Men's College kicked off their charity bazaar for earthquake relief. The students worked hard to gather items for sale at the school to raise funds. In addition they had a bake sale and were selling traditional cooking to earn money. It was good to see that the students were working hard to earn money for a good cause. All the proceeds will go to earthquake victims...in Haiti.

Abu Dhabi Triathlon (2011)

This year's Abu Dhabi International Triathlon was a raging success. The event was held on the same course as last year and sponsored by the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority. While last years' event drew some top talent, this year there were even more top athletes including Craig Alexander and Faris Al-Sultan, winners of the Ironman World Championships. The attraction was no doubt due to the $50,000 top prize for both men and women.

Like last years' race, the distances were long (3 klilmeter swim, 200 kilometer cycle, 20 kilometer run) and short (1.5 km swim, 100 km cycle, 10 km run). Unlike last year, there was an added "sprint" (750 meter swim, 50 km cycle, 5 km run). To me a 50 km cycle doesn't constitute a sprint, but there you go.

This year there was a lot more interaction with the top athletes. They buzzed by me a few times throughout the day. I made jokes about seeing how many elite athletes would swear at me for getting in their way. While I never got in anyone's way, the race was pretty tight and could easily have been affected by a slower athlete. The difference between 1st place and 4th place was 32 seconds. The difference in prize money was $40,000 with 1st place getting $50,000 and the 4th place athlete taking home $10,000. You'd have to be annoyed at yourself after that.

Also, I was a little disappointed that there were less giveaways than last year. I got some nice towels and a backpack last year, but not much this year. Apart from that, I felt it was a good event that is growing in popularity. Now, I'm exhausted and am going to bed.

F1 Exchange

Those F1 fans who had big plans to attend the Grand Prix in Bahrain understandably must be disappointed that the race has to be canceled. Because the race is on March 13th in a little over two weeks, it will likely be canceled entirely and the season will start in Melbourne.

However, Abu Dhabi has stepped up and offered to switch places with Bahrain, making the Yas Marina Race track the season's opener and the Bahrain race the second to last race.

If that happens, not only will Abu Dhabi have to accomodate the fans on short notice, it also goes on the presumption that everything will be cleared up in Bahrain by November.

In addition, the Abu Dhabi International Triathlon is the day before when the race would be held. Ordinarily it wouldn't be an issue, but the cycling part of the race goes on one of the main highways to Yas Island and part of the race goes on the actual track that they would need to do practice runs. It will be interesting to see how things play out and if I get a phenomenal excuse to not do the triathlon.

Madinat Zayed Race

Today was the big day. After getting a good night's rest in a very comfortable bed, I woke to start my 9:00am "fun ride." From what my friends who did this last year said, this was not a race. Well, this year it was a race. I actually appreciated not knowing that fact until about 20 minutes before the race or otherwise I probably would have over prepared.

As it turned out, the local Sheikh took control of the ride from HCT and invited local high schools to participate. Because the Sheikh is involved, the police were very good about clearing the road on which the race was. I heard that last year the police were given medals for their help. Because of that, the police officers were fighting over who got to help with the race this year.

The idea is to gradually expand this race into a biking festival. In fact, Madinat Zayed has five festivals including the internationally known Camel Festival culminating in the Camel Beauty Contest. This is now the sixth festival.

I think it's great that Madinat Zayed is working to promote physical fitness by getting high school kids involved in something like this. I also think it's great that HCT promoted something like this so I could have the day off to go cycling.

Yas Triathlon

Yesterday was the first Yas Marina Triathlon. The event was completely contained in the F1 circuit. The swim was in the marina area where the boats are moored, the cycle was on the Formula One track and the run was around the drag race strip. Transition was in the pits. There was a choice between the Olympic distance (1.5 km swim, 40 km cycle and 10 km run) or the Sprint distance (750 m swim, 20 km cycle, 5 km run). Assuming that I would train for it, I signed up for the Olympic distance months ago when it was announced. While I didn't do horribly, I did notice the effects of having not swum for the past few months.

I really liked the idea of running the triathlon on the track. Considering that they run a weekly Tuesday night training session on the track, it was a natural next step. I felt that the novelty of location was one of the biggest draws to the event. There were only one or two things that I felt could be improved on.

The actual distance of the cycle was only about 38 km. Because the track length is 5.55 km, it would either have to be around 38 km or around 43 km. For me having the cycle distance be a little off from the official Olympic distance was preferable to having two transition points. The other thing that I think they could work on is bike security. Sure, they only let in people with green wrist bands, but there was no system in place to make sure that people went out with the correct bike. Or that they only took one bike. My bicycle is a mid-range one so I'm not all that worried, but I'd hate to see a top-of-the-range bike get stolen. I suppose that it was a small enough race that there wasn't the worry, but I think that is an issue that need to be addressed eventually.

In addition, there was a disabled athlete who did the race. (You can read the article about him here.) I didn't even really see him around, but I did see his bike.

Overall, I thought that it was pretty well run. If it is held next year, I'd like to compete, though I think I might make sure that I do a bit more training for it.

Tekken Tournament

Over the past year and a half, I've suggested that the guys I teach, generally don't have many interests. Well, here is proof to the contrary, there will be a Tekken tournament held in the Abu Dhabi Men's College Auditorium, the same venue that only recently hosted former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair.

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with Tekken, it is an arcade fighting game from the early to mid 1990's similar to the game Mortal Combat. From what I can tell, it is a big deal because it has been on the notice board for the past week and according to the notice is the United Arab Emirates championship. For details about the event, you can go to the web page run by the Men's College Student Council.

In all seriousness, I am impressed by the interest level and organization of the students involved for organizing this event, even if it is a video game tournament. It starts inabout 10 days andI'll be interested to see how things go for them.

Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge

As I was finishing my Friday morning bike ride this morning, I saw a bunch of people running down the corniche. It was then that I remembered that it was about the time of year for the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge.

Without getting into too much detail, this competition involves 6 days of grueling competitions which include canoeing, running, several sections of mountain biking in various terrain (about 140 kms total), mountaineering (rope climbing, abseiling, flying fox), desert orienteering (between 70 and 120km depending on support) and sea kayaking (between 110 or 128km depending on support). For more information, click here to go to see the program on their website.

The competition is done in teams of four. The teams are co-ed and are roped together in pairs. All four people must cross each station before moving on to the next section. The whole thing is from December 5th to the 10th. Because all the teams have GPS trackers, you can even see how each team is doing in real time by going to this website.

I really can't stress how cool the website detailing this event is. If you click on the "multimedia" drag down menu on the site, you can find video, photos and an interactive map. Alternately, you can watch this youtube clip to get a feel for what's involved. I think that the fact that Abu Dhabi hosts such an event with teams around the world is pretty impressive and I urge people to check it out over the next few days.

National Day Decorations

Today is National Day in the UAE. Last year, I celebrated it by going to Oman and this year we will be celebrating by getting the hell out of Abu Dhabi and going to the Empty Quarter. Emiratis celebrate it by decorating their cars and partying in the streets. I took a few photos of some decorations with my phone and here are a few of my favorites. Enjoy!

Tony Blair

I said it was a shame that Queen Elizabeth of England didn't come to the Higher Colleges to speak. I said I was looking forward to the next mandatory lecture. Well this is what I get. Yesterday, Tony Blair came to Abu Dhabi Men's College and I was required to watch him speak. To be perfectly honest, this is one that I wanted to see. The day began with me not being allowed to park in my usual parking area. I was given the choice of parking in the student parking lot or in the far away CERT lot. I chose the latter.

We were told to be in the auditorium at 10:30 for the 11:00 arrival of the dignitaries. They arrived about 11:30. Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, the Chancellor of the Higher Colleges of Technology was also in attendance.

The Sheikh introduced Mr. Blair who kept his talk short. He mainly wanted to discuss the "Tony Blair Faith Foundation" and to present plaques to the donors. Here is one plaque that the recipient kindly allowed me to photograph.

Afterward, they had a formal cake-cutting ceremony, but I had to go to class by the time they were doling out the cake so I didn't get any.
After the ceremony I went to quickly eat lunch before my next class. I was sitting fairly close to the entrance with a mouth full of Subway sandwich when the procession including Tony Blair walked by me.
I found it interesting the number of British people who refused to attend the ceremony out of principle. I'm fairly unhappy with a number of past and present U.S. politicians, but wouldn't hesitate to see them speak. I'm just a sucker for the glamor surrounding career politicians.

Sports City

Yesterday, my wife and I took the kids to Zayed Sports City, a complex of stadiums, playing fields, and various other venues for sports. We went there for the kids to use one of the practice fields to play Australian Rules Football before a club match then to watch an actual game. I thought it would be a good opportunity for the kids to see a real match and to play on a big field.

The name doesn't lie; it's about the size of a small city. While I've been to Zayed Sports City before for bowling, I didn't give much thought to all of the stuff there. There are soccer stadiums, a tennis stadium, a full-sized running track, a baseball diamond, practice fields, a huge bowling alley and from what I've heard, a nice ice-skating rink. The facilities available for public use are reasonably priced, too.

As we arrived, the UAE Japanese community was playing baseball on the field next to us. My son saw a classmate of his whose father was playing baseball. From that point on, he spent the whole time playing baseball with his friend instead of playing and watching Aussie Rules Football.

After that we went to the bowling alley where there is a full Chinese restaurant inside. The restaurant is good enough that the people I know who recommended it, go to the bowling alley specifically to eat there.

Things looked fairly well maintained, though the running track looks like it's suffered under the Abu Dhabi heat. With a over a week off for Eid, we will probably take the kids back to Sports City for bowling and / or ice skating. It's nice to have a place to go. It looks like it's well-used, though I don't know how many Emiratis go there.

Fan Zone

With the Formula One coming to Abu Dhabi next weekend, there are a number of events the weeks leading up to it. They have a number of free concerts, a Brazilian parade on the corniche as well as a newly constructed temporary place at the plaza on 30th street called the Formula One Fan Zone.


There are a lot of things to do for kids like driving motorized cars around a city course.
Inside the building, my kids got to go into a wind tunnel.
After that there were slot car drag races powered by CO2 cartridges.
There were also remote controlled cars on a race track with cameras mounted on the front so it looked like you were driving on the track. For people 15 and over, they had a driving simulator that gave you a chance to drive an Formula One car on the Yas Marina Grand Prix track. Even though I know the track fairly well from the times that I went cycling there, I still had a hard time controlling the car.


The attractions are open from 5:00 pm Sunday to Thursday and from 2:00 pm Friday and Saturday. I would recommend getting there right when they open to avoid the crowds. While we were in the Fan Zone, there were hardly any people so we didn't have to wait for the attractions. It was pretty good value considering the whole thing was free.