Dubai

2 days in Dubai for work, with most of it in the airport, hotel and mall, left me utterly overwhelmed by wealth. The contrast between Dubai and Kathmandu is so vast that it's safe to say they are quite opposite.  Tall shiny buildings, shopping complexes bigger and more extravagant than I've seen in a long time, huge multilane freeways and nice things everywhere put me in culture shock.  

The one similarity I found was that the people in both cities don't use sidewalks (Kathmandu because they aren't there or if they are people aren't used to using them, Dubai I assume because everyone prefers driving in air conditioning to walking?).

So while I appreciated the nice hotel, Starbucks and H&M, I was also ready to head out. 

(Terrible quality, but that is snow inside of the mall when it's 100 F outside!)

Toto we're not in Taiwan anymore

Before heading back to Taiwan in a couple days we are savoring all things "home".

Frost on the windshield after a night in the cold central oregon air

We're dreaming of a white christmas

But maybe not quite as white as last year...



Here is a picture of our weather today:


We are looking forward to weather that actually makes it feel like it is winter!