the show's at 10

wednesday brought the arrival of my friend stan. i first met stan in france when i was on an exchange program the summer in between sophomore and junior years of high school. over the years we've seen each other either in holland or the states, and now...dubai. one of his sisters is living in dubai, so he was able to get up to RAK to visit us.

we met his lovely girlfriend, raquel. she is the tiniest little thing and so full of life. julian was in love with her i think. 

we ended up going to the beach/pool on wednesday. the weather was fabulous, although a bit hot. a lovely day that would have only been lovelier had the three men sitting near us not been shouting instead of talking. it was mildly entertaining, as they were speaking italian, and one guy was trying to tell a story about his brother in america. it was a really boring story because he just couldn't get to the point, but wanted to go into excruciating detail about nonsense. it was funny because the others kept making calls on their mobile phones and yelling over to their wives. i don't think the third guy ever finished his story. either that or we missed it as julian and i went to get some food.

speaking of which, i think julian is going to turn into a french fry. he kept walking over to the high chair at the beach bar and pointing at it. finally, i was like, "oh - are you hungry?" and i got a vigorous nod of yes. so we ordered fries and chicken nuggets. the go-to meal.

in the evening, we were supposed to dine at the new italian restaurant at the hilton, as per the request of the executive chef, only when serge called to confirm, we found out they aren't open yet. so never mind.

instead, we decided to try "le phoenicien" because it has "live oriental entertainment". i took this to mean a lebanese band and belly dancers. i was correct, only we were too early. we showed up for dinner at 8pm (julian's wagon was draggin'), the only people in the place. the food was okay - the appetizers were much better than the main courses - and they have alcohol. the service was really good. decor = bizarre. i don't know how anyone could ever think that ancient egyptian decor (heavy marble tables inlaid with different colored marble saying "le phoenicien") goes with lebanese food. maybe i'm the weirdo.

anyway, the whole time we were there, we were the only people in the place. they assured us that it gets packed when the band comes "at 10". so serge took julian home and then we stayed for the entertainment. only it never happened. when we were leaving at like 10:30, the oud player was walking into the restaurant. turns out the band starts at 11:15, which means more like midnight. no entertainment for us! serge did say that when he first arrived and stayed at the hotel nearby, he was annoyed because the place was always packed and loud until all hours of the night. i guess we'll never know...