It is the first of Ramadhan 1432Hijri and I am in my room at Al Bustan Rotana Hotel in Dubai. I arrived yesterday, Sunday, 31 July 2011 for a meeting which was scheduled to take place today. The meeting was however rescheduled for tomorrow as my colleague from Beirut will only arrive later today. Travelling from Lebanon, he needs a visa but being Malaysian, we can just hop onto a plane from KLIA and get into Dubai with no questions asked.
The temperature outside is more than 40C, so I have no intention of walking around in the heat. This trip reminded me of my first trip to Dubai in 2004. I arrived at around 2:00am and the flight captain announced upon our arrival that the outside temperature was 42 degrees C. It really caught me by surprise as I was in a jacket.
Initially I thought I would go to the office for a while today but later decided to do some work in the room instead. The office hours in our Principal's office in Dubai during Ramadhan is between 10:00 am and 3:00pm. Maybe they need the short hours as the temperatures can be uncomfortable.
My hosts have promised to take me to a good Lebanese restaurant for iftar today and I am looking forward to that. Since the restaurant is part of their group, we always have good food and service.
Have a good Ramadhan and May we be Blessed.