I'm here to deliver a keynote address at a conference. My first post won't have too many beautiful shots of the city of Dubai - I've spent most of the day indoors at my company's office and at the conference. More tourist shots later...I promise.
I'm staying at the Dubai Hyatt. It's a beautiful hotel, located just minutes from the Dubai International Airport:
Obviously not my picture...
The lobby of the hotel is amazing. The opulence of Dubai that you may have read about, is alive and well. Here's a quick panorama video of the lobby:
One interesting thing. As you should know, Dubai is a Muslim country. Prayers toward Mecca are conducted five times a day. Legally, you can't be too far from the call to prayer - either by an actual mosque, or speakers that broadcast the call to prayer. Inside the hotel, in every single room, you'll find something like this:
It's a directional indicator toward Mecca, so that you can pray in the right direction. Really amazing.
The conference that I'm here to attend is the Dubai World Game Expo. This is a show that is trying to promote game development in the Middle East, with a focus in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
The conference is being held under the patronage of Sheikh Majid Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum - son of the current emirate ruler. Try saying that five times fast ; ) The show has also combined some computer animation exhibits. We helped to sponsor one of the game developers in the region. Here is a picture of their booth at the show:
While the rest of the show seems to be just like any other conference/trade show. There are some differences:
Everybody needs heroes...even the Arab world
This next shot will probably be the only one that captures women in traditional burka/burqa dress. Culturally, photos of women in this type fo clothing is frowned upon. I made it look like I was taking a picture of the booth.
Several middle-eastern countries had booths to promote game development in their country. The largest and most-impressive was from Iran:
Some traditional wardrobe at the Malaysian booth
I spent the late afternoon at the AMD office in Dubai. I had a chance to meet all the employees there, and deliver some presentations on upcoming products. I found all of them to be very nice. They even had a "going away" party for one employee. The dessert that was served was unique:
It's called "Kanafa". The best way to describe it is, melted cheese under a cake, with pistachios on top. Got that? Regardless, it was delicious and in no way was it healthy. I asked Dana to be in the picture, to give you an idea of the size. She's an ex-pat from the U.S.
That's it for now. Tomorrow I deliver my speech. I hope to try and see some of the city after that....
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