Bruce Dubai & San Antonio...

Hey everyone,

Well – as you know I just got back from a week in Dubai and the Final Four in San Antonio.

Dubai – well – what can I say – HOT!!! It was about 95 every day there (about 35C I guess) with high humidity – but it gets up to 50C over Summer and higher humidity again – yuk! Hopefully I won’t be there over that time!

The feel of the place is a little like Vegas if you have been there – nothing seems real.

And amount of building is something to behold – it is just everywhere.

Some funny things that happened and observations…

NEVER put your arm around an Arabic lady for a photo – “my husband will kill me” was the reply – with a smile though – pretty funny.
DON’T order bacon when you order scrambled eggs!!! D’oh! Yes – I did this as well – apparently they serve you a turkey bacon – but I declined out of principal – again – pretty funny.
If you want to fill up your fuel tank over there – it will cost you about $0.30 a GALLON – that’s about 8 cents a liter folks!
The “Berg” hotel – the one in the pics here – is a lazy $3000 US a night – nice for some!
YES – you can Ski on real snow in Dubai – in the “Mall of The Emirates” – the largest mall outside of America – yes – it is HUGE – you can go skiing – it is -4C inside and it is weird to sit and have a coffee while sitting in shorts and a t-shirt – watching people on the other side of the glass having snow ball fights – a truly amazing piece of engineering
The people of Dubai are very gentle and welcoming – I learnt that “Marsharla” means God Bless You in Arabic
If you want to be a laborer in that heat – you can – you will receive the amazing salary of $100 US a MONTH – if you are good – then $200 US a month. Yikes!
Speeding – apart from a few speeding camera’s – the rest of the road is a free for all – there were several times we hit 180klms going down the freeway – yes – packing myself!!!
Emirates airlines are taking over the world – with the best fleet in the world and new routes and no lack of funds – these guys are going to change the way we fly – nothing short of brilliant. Especially the new direct flights from LA that are about to start – I can get there on a single flight in 17.5 hours – amazing – especially when you consider you fly over the top of the world near Greenland and down over London – weird.

Well – that’s about it – the launch of BillyBounce went amazingly well – some highlights of the coming months will be…

Backing by the Princess’ “Right to Play” initiative
Schools involvement across the entire country
Retail launch of BB products into a major sporting chain
Training programs for teachers across the nation
Expansion into Saudi, Jordan, Qatar and probably India in the next 12 months

Well that’s about it for Dubai – I have included some pics for you to check out.

As far as the Final Four in San Antonio went – this is basically the National Basketball Coaches Conference – met with a few key people and had some fun promoting the BUG around the Hoop City exhibit –