Middle East Trip

Well I suppose it's time I updated you all with some photos of my whirlwind trip to Qatar for the World Indoor Athletics Championships. I got an email then a call from my dear friend Ian Hamilton who wanted to know if I was interested in getting over there quickly for a couple of weeks work as the Construction Manager for the Opening Ceremony. 24hrs later I was on a plane to Dubai then on to Doha, Qatar. We had 2 weeks to build a number of pieces for the Ceremony including the ramp pictured, it's 24m long and 4m high and the flag bearers for all the countries walked down in onto the arena floor. It was a bit of a nightmare to get it built but in the end it was all good.From Doha I caught a plane to Amman, Jordan via Bahrain where I hooked up with my driver and drove 3-4 hours south to end up in Petra, which is one of the places to see on my list. Unfortunately it was a very quick trip, stayed overnight when we arrived then went into it the next morning at 7am. It was bloody freezing, I had a T-shirt and 2 long sleeved shirts on and was still cold. Amazing place carved into the rock faces from 400BC. Only had 4 & 1/2 hours there and back to Amman overnight then 5 flights home. Bahrain, Qatar, Dubai, Bangkok and Sydney. Didn't do my sickness any good and it took 3 weeks after I got back to get rid of it.
Today we fly out to Bangkok where we will overnight at the airport hotel then on to Samui tomorrow. Back on the 29th, will try to post some updates while we are away.
Take care!!