Argh… Delay Management

We learned today that due to a delay caused by the requirement that we convince the French Government we are not trying to cheat them out of VAT on the boat we purchased, Tao 1 has taken another week delay.  It took us almost 10 days to work this all out.  They wanted proof we did not live in France or any of its protectorates.  A Resident ID card for the UAE would not suffice because they claim that many people avoid their taxes with such IDs.  US passports did not work because many US expats are living in the Mediterranean trying to avoid taxes.  Bank accounts in our names in both the UAE and the USA did not suffice.  They wanted bills with a physical address on them.  There are no physical addresses used here.  We have a PO box, we said.  No, they said, anybody with a resident ID can get a PO box.   Receipt for rent payment at a hotel apartment (where we are living now) also did not work.  I suggested the importer tell them that they could not pay us enough to be French.  He suggested that would not help. Finally we found that we could go to the gas company we had used at our previous apartment and get a copy of the final payment (made within the last 3 months) showing the building name.  That was our final offer and the best we could do since bills come via email or mobile here.  There is no actual paper mail.  Probably because as mentioned, there are no actual addresses for it to go to.  They finally released the boat 4 days ago.  Our hired captain made a race across the Med for the transport ship in Italy and missed.  Next ship arrives in 5-6 days.  So here we sit.  Once again in limbo as to arrival date.

Then we took a look at the calendar and realized all of this waiting is eating into any time we would have to escape this heat, even momentarily.  So we took a look at easy and cheap vacations from here.  From the US you can go to Mexico or the Bahamas for those quick escapes.  From here there are tons of choices.  We wanted a place where there is a beach but the water is cool, and we can go diving.  It has to be non-Muslim since it is still Ramadan time for a few more days, and we would really like to have a cocktail or two on said vacation.  This eliminated The Maldives and Sri Lanka and several other nice beach choices.  Then we wanted to keep the range at no more than 6 total hours of travel time…. thus eliminating any place that we had to change planes to get to.  So… we are headed to Phuket, Thailand.  Nonstop flight and super cheap stays, eats, and diving.  Yay!  We will get some cool, much less salty water to play in.

I am still trying to work out some India time amongst all this, but it is looking less and less likely that I will get there for any length of time.  I nevertheless keep my fingers crossed that at least a month from Mid-August can be fit in…  I’ll keep you posted.

In the meantime, the heat goes on.  The humidity levels are up here too as we head into the absolute worst weather from hell this country can produce.  For roughly the next 10 weeks the temps will run from high 90s to 120s (F) with average humidity between 80 and 95 percent.  Unlike in the Arizona desert, there is very little temperature swing between night and day.  It averages somewhere around 5-7 degrees total difference.

The water in the Arabian Gulf, which is always super salty, now becomes the temperature of a warm bath.  It does nothing to cool you down, and in fact you just feel sort of slimy and sweaty when you get out of it.  The gulf is very shallow, with a max depth of around 70 meters (in one specific small spot) and an average depth of around 45 meters.  It heats up very quickly.  Conversely, once the completely nasty heat starts to wane it cools down relatively quickly too, which is nice.  This is because there are supposedly fresh water springs in abundance at the sea floor, but I have not yet been down anywhere near deep enough to feel much temperature variation.  The bottom line is that this is not a fun place to be right now.  So maybe now you can understand why we feel the need to take a break while we can.

Those who have lived here in Abu Dhabi for a while make it a habit to take very long holidays over the summer months. Many of them leave for an entire month or even 2 and return home, visit family and friends, or whatever it takes to get out and away.   This is easy to do because most companies offer quite a bit of vacation time, which is nice.  We are considering that strategy in addition to ditching this place during Ramadan for next year.  It just makes good sense.  This year at least a portion of the vacation time needs to be spent with the boat once it arrives.  It will need a good thorough cleaning before we can set it up to our tastes.

With the heat here, comes the nasty air.  It seems to me that the humidity in the air holds and suspends the sand, silt, and dessicated camel dung that rolls in from the desert.  It becomes difficult to see across town, and breathing for many is difficult as well.  The air is heavy, the particulates hang near the ground, and wind does very little to alleviate it.  You can feel yourself inhaling it.  Which brings me to another point.  When I first arrived and saw it, I was concerned about breathing this air.  Years ago I was diagnosed with something my doctor called particulate induced Asthma, which is just what it says it is.  Asthma induced by breathing a bunch of crap into my lungs.  I was concerned because my inhaler had expired and I had tossed it before coming, without getting another prescription.  At the time I had no doctor here, and no insurance with which to go see one until my residence papers came through.  To be honest, I have used said inhaler exactly 3 times in the 12 or so years since this diagnosis (twice in LA and once in Phoenix.)  But here’s the point, I do not need a prescription to get an inhaler here.  Originally I thought it because the air here is so bad right now that they made them easily available.  Turns out that inhalers, and quite a few other things that require a prescription in the US, are available over the counter in many other countries.  In most countries even more so than here – the UAE is pretty restrictive about drugs in general.  That said, I am surprised at how many this is true for.  They are also significantly less expensive outside the US, here included, and that part I knew.  Gotta love big Pharma.  Or not.

That’s all I have this time.  Stay tuned for travel blog from Thailand!   Aaahhhh….