DSF

That stands for Dubai Shopping Festival. It runs from January 15th to February 15th. To put in perspective, Calvin Klein has stuff for 70% off. That is no joke, but unfortunately the 2008 collection is. I don’t need the words Tommy Hilfiger, FCUK, Calvin Klein, or Banana Republic written across my chest in bright orange neon. (Ironically I love to see the word BEBE across and nice pare of female breast but I digress.)

I went to the Mall of the Emirates looking to buy Vans for Vivi because we were going racing. (will explain later in the post) and I wanted her to just have a pair of “trainers” as the Brits call them, just a pair of Vans. Ya know, run in the rain and get dirty shoes. I need to explain how happy she is with her white Nikes. ‘Very’ is an understatement. I respect that and the whole world is on sale so let’s do this…

Well, I drove into Hell that night. Holy Shit. The entire country of UAE was at the Mall. It took me 45 minutes to park and I got sooooo lucky. It was crazy. Worse than Black Friday. Worse than Joe’s birthday. It was F-ing Nuts! It was raining, that keeps away tens of thousands in this town, the roof was gridlock in the Mall of the Emirates Parking lot. I was going to kill someone.

Mistake number one was it was Friday night. Mistake number two is that had not eaten. Mistake number three was that I get ‘parking lot rage.’ I suddenly become totally sexist. Watching a women do a 7 point turn while backing in an American made SUV with no kids in the car with a rear view mirror full of Arabs in German sports cars is one of those moments that teaches us all hidden lessons of one or more of the 7 deadly sins.

Well the rest of the story of no Vans in the Mall of the Emirates is just a bitch fest that you don’t need to read… so let’s get to the racing.

Dubai Autodrome. It is part of Dubailand which is a GIGANTIC construction site. Right next to it is the Manchester United Academy, Els Golf Club, a Big Cricket Stadium, etc. Anyway, it is Go-carting indoor and outdoor in some pretty cool carts. But here it is called Karting.



Well, needless to say a few ‘Pros’ showed up and were out of control. There is having fun and then there is just kicking ass with a bunch of people trying to have fun on the weekend. I guess if the shoe was on the other foot I would enjoy being the better driver, but DAMN, there were about 10 guys at the track who are there weekly. I mean they just dominated. I was passed often, Vivi was overwhelmed. It was all computerized and the results were emailed. All of our laps, each time, stats on slowest and fastest, etc. I tried hard, I got my ass kicked. Humbling. It was 100 AED per 15 minutes. And we did 2 runs. The second run for both of us was a HUGE improvement. I learned a ton in that first 15 minutes once I got on the track with other who were out there for a first time in the second 15 minutes. This is serious Karting. I have a license to prove it.



The shown photos are added to show just how serious it was. Helmets, gloves, jumpers, etc. (I don’t know about you but Viviane strikes me as a Brazilian Danica Patrick... Oh baby.)



BrotherBill