Video screens played a big part of the weekend at the race and at the concerts. Aerosmith and Kings of Leon were great to watch on the big screen, as was the race and speeches at the end. It was a very well run event and catered for everyone.

The actual final race was held at night time and the stands were full. This is the view from one of 5 stands around the track. I enjoyed the porche races as well - pictured.

In the distance there were 2 amazing buildings. The one on the left is the hotel built near the Marina that the Formula 1 track runs through! We could see people standing in the passageway overlooking the track. It had only opened this week. On the right is a building constructed near the entry to Yas Island. It is round, covered in glass and about 10 storeys high - with rooms inside - I presume a hotel or office building - not sure. Some of the architecture is just incredible. Natalie would have a field day here!!

I couldn't get over the food we were offered! Here is a little selection - dates in chocolate sauce with gold leaf!! yes, real gold leaf!! The table piece is orchids and this time I had sparkling water. The choices were fabulous. I wonder what the poor people were doing!!!!

We are now at Beyonce's concert. We are standing at the back and the pictures are from two huge video screens. Beyonce is the tiny white figure on the stage. We didn't go too close to the stage as a mush pit does not appeal in hot humid weather and the crowd was very close. It was an amazing concert.

Each night we went to an outdoor concert. This is the venue. I think there would have been up to 20,000 people there. The stge is in the far back corner.

These are the views we had from our seats. We were on the second level and there were only 50 seats - mostly empty on the first 3 days. The hairpin corner gave us some exciting watching. Directly behind us was the lounge where we could go to cool down and have something to eat and drink. It was also alot quieter!!

Kay, Jan and I went to the Formula 1 Champs in Abu Dhabi. We were lucky to have VIP tickets which gave us access to an air conditioned lounge, free food and drink and access to all 4 concerts. we had a wonderful weekend. The venue was amazing.

This is one of the water colours I have done recently at artclass. I quite like this one.

Howdy again. The other day we visited one of the local secondary school's for a meeting. We were welcomed by students who offered us Arabic coffee, dates and a chance to pat a falcon. They were very courteous and falcons are really beautiful birds.

The city is dotted with churches and mosques, catering for a variety of religions - Moslem, Greek orthodox, catholic etc. Some are modern, newly constructed buildings and others date back centuries. One church has Roman arches at the base of the brick where it has been built directly over Roman ruins. Layer upon layer of hisory.

New buildings can be seen dotted around Beirut and there is a definite military presence in the streets.

While walking around the city this is what you see. New buildings, reconstructed buildings and the remains for older, damaged buildings. Life must have been horrific for the citizens living in the city between 1989 and 2005. Our travel guide told us she had lost 4 apartments during the civil war and now lived well outside the city in the mountains.

Cinema

These two photos are of the bullet ridden remains of a cinema in downtown Beirut. Much of downtown has been rebuilt and the plan is for this cinema shell to be incorporated into the newly constructed mall and cinema complex.

Civil war

Lebanon has recently been involved in a civil war and there is evidence of bombing and destruction of buildings throughout the country. Downtown Beirut has seen huge reconstruction recently, but there are still many bullet ridden and dilapilated buildings. Here, a church stands in the middle of an empty plot in downtown Beirut.

Gypsy villages

On the outskirts of some towns we saw "Gypsy Towns" - rows of old tent structures where Syrian workers live to do the seasonal work in Lebanon. They lived in apalling conditions - but far better than their life in Syria we gather! The tents have large families - women and children - living in them - and the garbage around them is terrible.

Ksara Winery, Bekaa Valley

The Ksara winery was originally the site of a medieval fortress (ksar in Arabic) and the grapevines that were planed in the early 18th century still flourish. in 1857 Jesuit Priests ran the winery and it was taken over by its present owners in 1972. There are 2km of tunnels used to mature the wine. I bought Ksark (Arak is the Lebonese national drink - very like Pernod).

The 2 guys Julia is standing with at the wine tasting are Australian. They were a lot of fun!

Ksara, Bekaa Valley

We visited the Ksara winery in the Bekaa valley. The Bekaa valley is a beautiful, fertile valley with many vineyards. Bekaa is also infamous as Hezbollah's strategic headquarters, and took a battering in the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War, destroying up to 20% of its buildings. The Ksara winery is Lebanon's oldest and most famous winery.

Baalbek.

Baalbek Roman ruins and surrounding area.

Baalbek, Bekaa Valley

The Lonely Planet says, "Baalbek, the 'sun city' of the ancient world, is home to the most impressive ancient site in Lebanon and arguably the most important Roman site in the Middle East. Its temples were built on an extravagant scale that outshone anything in Rome, and the town became a centre of worship well into the Christian era." It was amazing to see Roman ruins, with Christian ruins and Moslem ruins all built over one another.

Baalbek, Lebanon

Julia and I have just spent 5 days in Lebanon looking at the sights. It is the Eid holiday and many people have 'come home' for the break.

This photo is taken on the entry steps to the Roman ruins in Baalbek, in the Bekaa valley. It is one of the best preseved roman ruins in the Middle East and an amazing sight.

Our local mosque

It is early morning and this is a photo of the Friday Mosque on our block. It is one of my favourites! We have at least 7 mosques on our block - one every 500m??? When the call to prayer goes, if I stand outsidel, I can hear it in quad - a bit like a home theatre!

Shoveunder party

Jan and Wayne hosted a "Shoveunder" party (a gift is given to you from your great aunt that you would immediately 'shoveunder' your bed!!). It was hilarious fun. We put a limit of 20 dirhams ($10) on the gift and it is amazing what comes up. Each person opens a present in order and if it is your turn you can either choose someone elses present or get a new one from the pile. The ship did the rounds!!! It is a lamp!!! This is a hilarious way to spend an evening!!

Iftar

We all (96 of our company) went to the Rotana Iftar dinner the other night. The Iftar dinner is a special dinner at many restaurants and hotels put on each night after sunset for the Moslem people to "break their fast" after the Ramadan day. There was a sumptuous spread of many Arabic as well as western dishes and the deserts were lovely. We had a fun night and I met a lot of new people as our company is growing by the day.

Sunrise!

Lyndel and I go for a walk every morning at about 6am. These are a couple of photos in our block of the sun rise. The one on the right was a foggy morning - I have heard that fog indicates a change in the weather. Between the sun rises and the sun sets this is a beautiful country.

Burj Dubai

This is probably one of the better photos I have taken of the Dubai Burj. I believe that there are offices on the lowest few levels but most of the top levels are apartments. I wonder how long it would take the lift to get to the top storey! Sometimes the top is in the clouds. The building is almost one kilometre high!! It's hard to imagine but if you can see the other high rise buildings to the lower left you might get an idea just how big and high this building is.

"caravan"

Kay and I went for a drive to Dibba one weekend. On the way we passed a 'caravan'!! Not your usual one, this is a camel caravan... actually it wasn't really - it was 11 camels running loose on the road. Kay and I got out of the car to take photos. They were quite friendly and cars just slowed down to ensure they didn't hit them on their way past. Out in the desert it is quite a common sight to see camels loose on the roads.

We had some Team Building activities during our company PD sessions which were interesting to say the least!! here we have Adels and Julia at the end of the day. Adele is an Advisor at kay's school.