Very Tired

All I do is work, work out, and sit in bed spacing out to BBC World News on TV.

I have stuff to post, but just haven't had the energy to.

I'm so ready to come home.

Soon, but not soon enough.

Dubai - First Full Day

Woke up and went to the gym.

Then met my co-worker at 11 and we went to the Mall of the Emirates. The biggest mall outside of the US. I guess the US loves shopping that much.

While waiting for the cab in the blistering, humid heat, we got a look at the Burj Dubai. The tallest building in the world.


The mall is large, but honestly looks like South Coast plaza just with a major cosmopolitan customer base. Honestly a common question everyone asks here is: "Where are you from?"


The place has a big electronics wing and we saw this baby:


It's ginormous! 103" Plasma. It's like the TV in Barney Stensen's apartment.

Then after a while we actually took it upon ourselves to experience indoor skiing/snowboarding.


I was REALLY bad, man I'm horrible at snowboarding. Forgot how to do everything. I crashed pretty hard a few times, but it's okay. A good crash is good for the soul.


Truly Dubai is a crazy and extravegant place. So many people, and amazing things to see. We had dinner with our Dubai office co-worker who took us out and gave us history and background on Dubai. It's super interesting how the royalty just says, "I want a chinatown, build me a china town in 6 months" and literally 6 months later, a whole section of dubai is dedicated to a chinatown completely with a mall built in the shape of a dragon with all chinese vendors inside. Who has that kind of power?

Anyways, tomorrow hoping to see the Burj Al-Arab before I head home. The world's only 7-star hotel and it costs $50 just to walk thru the front door.

More later.

In Dubai

Didn't have much time to post the past few days, and honestly I didn't have any interesting to report.

But a few days stuck in a hotel can drive you crazy. Cabin Fever!

So what's the remedy? Going to Dubai and staying in a different hotel!


Don't know what to think about this:


Last chance for Duty Free!


Hoping to see a few sites today:

Burj al-arab Hotel
Burj Dubai Tower
Indoor Ski Resort
and whatever else.

The Al Manzil Hotel

The Al Manzil Hotel, originally uploaded by joekwon.

Yes. There is a tub in middle of my room. I love the design.

Me hotel elevator is awesome

Me hotel elevator is awesome, originally uploaded by joekwon.

Because you press the floor buttons a second time to cancel them. Finally!

Day Four

Literally I did nothing today, not even work out. So tired...

BTW, Quality is worse because I was feeling lazy and used my built-in webcam on my Mac instead of my new camera.

Me! Using lesser technology. That's how tired I am. I know. Shh! I know...

Day Three - BeedeeOh

Again with the crazy face, I need to figure out how to make a normal face for the stillshot.

Day Two - Video-ified

w00t! My face is kind of right this time.

Crazy Cleaning Staff

So far, the service in Doha has been nothing short of fantastic. Everyone is polite, calls you sir, and always does so with a seemingly genuine smile. Awesome.

But the craziest ones so far are the cleaning staff. I'm a pretty tidy hotel guest, cognizant of cleaning staff duties, so I put towels where it's easy for them, move my clothes out of the way, and lock stuff up in the locker.

But since I'm going to be here for a while, I packed clothes with the intent of laundrifying them, so I had a corner of the room where I put my dirty clothes figuring "Hey, they'll see these are dirty and it's not in their way"



Uh... When I got back to my room, they neatly organized my DIRTY clothes. Even my underwear and socks (not pictured for my privacy and your sanity).

I'm not sure whether to be amazed at the service, disgusted that someone would not just touch, but ORGANIZE someone else's dirty clothes, or violated that someone organized MY dirty clothes.



Oh yeah, and my toiletries, they organized them too. Look how they organized the bottles in a neat row ordered by width.

Doha - Day One Video-ified

I know what you're thinking! So's YOUR face!

Click on the image to play. It's a video. So's YOUR face!

Koreans are everywhere

Koreans are everywhere, originally uploaded by joekwon.

Our client setup some desks for us to work while were here in Qatar and on the wall my co-workers cubicle is this little calendar from a local Korean bakery.

Korean business and their calendars.

Good Morning Doha

Good Morning Doha! Had a productive morning, actually dragged my lazy butt out of bed and hit the gym on the top floor. Great View except for the super dirty windows. Apparently Sandstorms are big problem.


The view from my Bedroom

More to come later, I tried to record a video podcast, but uh... yeah, it was over flickr's 150MB video file limit so I'm trying to work some magic to get that up.

Day Two: http://flickr.com/photos/joekwon/sets/72157605496299207/

What time is it?

What time is it?, originally uploaded by joekwon.

Just got to frankfurt and its 11am here but its 2am back home. I'm all confused.

One of the many food area in the lounge

One of the many food area in the lounge, originally uploaded by joekwon.

Pot stickers, babybel cheese, 20 different types of cheese. I don't ever want to leave.

I know. I'm easy.

Star alliance lounge

Star alliance lounge, originally uploaded by joekwon.

I don't think I can ever go back to coach after experiencing the perks of business class. The lounge is super posh and has free food and drinks.

Yes even alcohol.

Advertures in Doha

I'm leaving today to go to Qatar for a big work project. It's going to be hot averaging 108 degrees everyday.

I'm writing this because if I publicly state I'm going to keep updating my trip, I'll feel obligated to, so, stay tuned for more going on.