Blog time again – it’s been rather busy and lots of stuff has been happening, however we will stick to the rule of less than 750 words…..
After the Birthday Iftar at the Beach next to the Burj, we were both back busy at work but still enjoying the earlier finishes from work, due to Ramadan. The weekends came and went very quickly, however we did manage to get to a fancy dress party at one of the lads flats. I was bad taste Hawaiian Beach Surfer Dude and Erin was a Manchester United Player complete with Shinpads! The party had full DJ and sound system, UV lights and strobe lights, a bath literally full of beer cans, far too many people and an endless supply of Jelly Vodka! Great & successful party, rather tipsy & work the next day was quite painful for me! (See some pics at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2290586&id=6402232&l=5f964a6c32)
Towards the middle of September, The Holy Month of Ramadan was drawing to a close and we had planned a long weekend away to India. When the Muslims celebrate the end of the Holy Month, we get 3 days off work!
Erin worked very hard for about 3 weeks, looking into every bit of detail about India, specifically Delhi & Agra – The Lonely Planet was a very helpful guide which explained about all the various scams that happen on a regular basis where the tourists are targeted! She had also spoke to Ashley, who had visited a few months earlier on her travels and her biggest piece of advice was ‘always carry some toilet paper with you.’ Erin, using all her research and advice had done the packing into two very small suitcases (very impressive for Erin to travel so lightly) and after an early dart from work we were back in the airport lounge bar (yep, you guessed it, Bloody Mary and a Pint of Magners)!
We arrived in Delhi after a nice stress free flight and were taken to our hotel.
1st Impression of Delhi was the insane Driving!!!! No actual lanes whatsoever in the road, some places it was a bumpy track/dirt road with 5 or 6 cars and rickshaws (see pic: http://www.nriinformation.com/images/autorickshaw.jpg) trying to get from 6 “lanes” onto roundabouts. Every single driver used their horns:
To let someone know they were passing,
To let other road users they behind them,
Used their horn instead of an indicator,
To test their horn was still working (after they used it less than a minute ago)
Just because they wanted to.
It was crazy and we experienced this the entire time we were in India. It now explains why some of the driving in Dubai is so bad, i.e. all the Indians previous driving 'experience' in their homeland!
We got an early night once we arrived at the hotel. The next morning we had a personal driver come and pick us up to take us around the sights of Delhi. During this busy day we visited many temples, war memorial monuments, tombs, mosques and forts all with amazing history and some of the most detailed construction that we have ever seen (you can see all in the link to our pics below) We enjoyed a fantastic Indian Curry with all the trimmings (including large Kingfisher Beers) at a traditional restaurant for lunch.
For me the most memorable part of the day was when we swapped the car for a bicycle rickshaw (see: http://www.tropicalisland.de/india/uttar_pradesh/varanasi/images/VNS%20Varanasi%20or%20Benares%20-%20women%20in%20cycle-rickshaw%203008x2000.jpg) and were chauffeured through the crazy traffic (at rush hour) to the largest Mosque in India.
With India being a very religious country and the Muslim and Hindu religions were celebrating annual festivals, it was a fascinating time to visit the mosque. We arrived just before prayer time for the Muslims and were covered up by some rather sexy outfits (again see pic link at bottom)! We walked around the plaza of the mosque, and we were the centre of attention of over 500 people. The attention was different to the vast number of scammers and beggars that we had battled through for the majority of the day. We were actually been idolized with small Indian children just following us and wanting to be by our side and asking for photos of us. It was an amazing experience that will never be forgotten and as I mentioned in the photograph (on facebook) it felt like we were Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, famous.
First set of India Pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2290984&id=6402232&l=f0bd86a8c7
Ok, so I managed to ramble on more than I thought just about day 1 and already over 700. Day two Blog will be following soon (and be prepared to hear about Dehli Belly)!!
Lots of Love
Mr & Mrs Foden
xxx
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Sunday 11 October 2009
Our 1st Ramadan
Hello all,
So after reading some excellent advice from our favourite Blogger (Captain Andy Geoghegan), we are trying to reduce the length of our blogs (shorter, sharper and more often), to keep our followers interested. New rule: No more than 750 words!
_______________________
After the 3 week Amazing time in California - (AKA a 3 week food and drink binge holiday), it was quite ironic that the Muslim world (including Dubai) was about to start the Holy Month of Ramadan. Now before I even thought about moving to Dubai i didnt really know too much about this Religious Festivity, apart from the British Comedian Peter Kay's sketch, calling it Ramadan-a-ding-dong!!
So before it started we did a bit of research and heard some very interesting things, here are the basic things we found out:
· The Muslims fast during daylight hours. This starts after 1st prayer (about 4.30am) and ends at about 6.45pm.
· They break their fast at 6.45pm with what can only be classed as a feast. This is a celebration meal called Iftar.
· During fasting hours, they do not eat, smoke, or drink - not even water (which is quite harsh due to the fact its about 45C outside or 110F).
· The Non-muslim community are not expected to fast during Ramadan - However we are expected to respect the Holy Month. This means no eating, drinking, smoking or chewing gum in public places during daylight.
· Anyone found doing any of the above (even in the privacy of their own car) are frowned upon but could also actually end up paying a fine or ending up in prison!!
· Everyone finishes work earlier than normal (to allow the muslims to sleep whilst they fast). Woo Hoo - Erin finishes at 2pm for a whole month and i'm there till 4!
· When Ramadan finishes they celebrate with a 3 day holiday called Eid. Not sure what it represents but 3 days off is 3 days off and we have actually booked fights to go to India for a short cultural holiday.
· It is seen as a time where all communities come together, celebrate, share family times and generally respect one another.
I was reading an article in the paper about Fasting and this gives a good summary of why they do it:
"Fasting properly during Ramadan is a bit like doing a proper gym workout - you need to feel the discomfort before you achieve any real growth. Most of us go to the gym but do everything possible to avoid becoming uncomfortable. We will talk on the phone, chit chat with a friend or just look at ourselves in th mirror to help pass the time. It is the same with Ramadan and the spiritual muscles that need to feel the discomfort before you truly grow, so don't runaway from the pain by being moody and grumpy towards others, just because you are hungry."
Our experience of Ramadan so far has been enjoyable - We get the early finish and we visited an Iftar Feast on my Birthday on the beach, next to the Burj Al Arab (The 7 star 'sail' hotel) in a Marquee style tent with a capacity for 2000 people, that would easily pass as a five star restaurant setting. The food was great (a brunch style banquet - without the booze), the atmosphere was a celebration and the surroundings were gorgeous.
We plan on doing 2 more Iftar's before the end of the 'Holy Month' - One of these will be next week with Pepsi, next to the Burj Tower and looking over the Burj Lake and Fountains!
So there is a brief insight to why you see 1.5 billion muslims throughout the world fasting during the 9th month of the Islam Calendar. One final thing that interested me, was the fact that they don't know the exact date it will start or end - It all depends on whether or not they can see the moon!
Lots of love Mark & Erin
xxx
P.s - I'm only up to 655 words so i will add the link to our favourite bloggers website, to keep updated about Andy & Karen's trip around the world
http://www.gonefurther.com/
To follow our blog, please visit
http://erinmarkdubai.blogspot.com/
and click on follow.
Miss you all
xxx
(700 words)
So after reading some excellent advice from our favourite Blogger (Captain Andy Geoghegan), we are trying to reduce the length of our blogs (shorter, sharper and more often), to keep our followers interested. New rule: No more than 750 words!
_______________________
After the 3 week Amazing time in California - (AKA a 3 week food and drink binge holiday), it was quite ironic that the Muslim world (including Dubai) was about to start the Holy Month of Ramadan. Now before I even thought about moving to Dubai i didnt really know too much about this Religious Festivity, apart from the British Comedian Peter Kay's sketch, calling it Ramadan-a-ding-dong!!
So before it started we did a bit of research and heard some very interesting things, here are the basic things we found out:
· The Muslims fast during daylight hours. This starts after 1st prayer (about 4.30am) and ends at about 6.45pm.
· They break their fast at 6.45pm with what can only be classed as a feast. This is a celebration meal called Iftar.
· During fasting hours, they do not eat, smoke, or drink - not even water (which is quite harsh due to the fact its about 45C outside or 110F).
· The Non-muslim community are not expected to fast during Ramadan - However we are expected to respect the Holy Month. This means no eating, drinking, smoking or chewing gum in public places during daylight.
· Anyone found doing any of the above (even in the privacy of their own car) are frowned upon but could also actually end up paying a fine or ending up in prison!!
· Everyone finishes work earlier than normal (to allow the muslims to sleep whilst they fast). Woo Hoo - Erin finishes at 2pm for a whole month and i'm there till 4!
· When Ramadan finishes they celebrate with a 3 day holiday called Eid. Not sure what it represents but 3 days off is 3 days off and we have actually booked fights to go to India for a short cultural holiday.
· It is seen as a time where all communities come together, celebrate, share family times and generally respect one another.
I was reading an article in the paper about Fasting and this gives a good summary of why they do it:
"Fasting properly during Ramadan is a bit like doing a proper gym workout - you need to feel the discomfort before you achieve any real growth. Most of us go to the gym but do everything possible to avoid becoming uncomfortable. We will talk on the phone, chit chat with a friend or just look at ourselves in th mirror to help pass the time. It is the same with Ramadan and the spiritual muscles that need to feel the discomfort before you truly grow, so don't runaway from the pain by being moody and grumpy towards others, just because you are hungry."
Our experience of Ramadan so far has been enjoyable - We get the early finish and we visited an Iftar Feast on my Birthday on the beach, next to the Burj Al Arab (The 7 star 'sail' hotel) in a Marquee style tent with a capacity for 2000 people, that would easily pass as a five star restaurant setting. The food was great (a brunch style banquet - without the booze), the atmosphere was a celebration and the surroundings were gorgeous.
We plan on doing 2 more Iftar's before the end of the 'Holy Month' - One of these will be next week with Pepsi, next to the Burj Tower and looking over the Burj Lake and Fountains!
So there is a brief insight to why you see 1.5 billion muslims throughout the world fasting during the 9th month of the Islam Calendar. One final thing that interested me, was the fact that they don't know the exact date it will start or end - It all depends on whether or not they can see the moon!
Lots of love Mark & Erin
xxx
P.s - I'm only up to 655 words so i will add the link to our favourite bloggers website, to keep updated about Andy & Karen's trip around the world
http://www.gonefurther.com/
To follow our blog, please visit
http://erinmarkdubai.blogspot.com/
and click on follow.
Miss you all
xxx
(700 words)
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