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well I thought I would say a little about the World Cup in Dubai:
Hotel:
The hotel (Golden Tulip Al Barsha) was really nice, 4 stars, the best i've been in. We only ate breakfast there but the food was really good, and the service/layout etc was real nice. Rooms were a good size, with decent facilities and tv etc. Plug sockets were 3 pin as well, brilliant! The pool was great and much fun was had there, esp given thata it was warmer outside the pool than in.
My only complaint with the hotel is that i swear they tried to rob us with the mini bar, i had to pay 42 dirham for a bottle of JD that wasn't even open (the tiny part connecting the lid to that little band had come off), and even if i had have opened it and drunk it, i could have got arrested! Think they were swindling the japs as well.
transport
There was a bus from the hotel to ski dubai in the morning and back again in the evening, which run at set times. This was good as it gave us a time to be ready for. The drivers were nice and helped us with bags etc. Pick-up from the airport was welll late though, i think the driver was hiding or something, cos when we eventually found him he siad he'd been there ages.
Taxi's were a bit dodgy i suppose, simply because they tried to get as much money from you as possible and hated going from ski dubai to the hotel due to them only making about 30p for the journey. I got a taxi to the other side of town for an interview and back which cost loads, although less than it would have in england. The roads are a bit of a nightmare though, its just motorways motorways motorways, everyone drives everywhere.
ski dubai/the mall
the mall was amazing, you could buy virtually anything and it was huge. prices wernt bad either. the carrefour was really useful as well.
I would definately recommend going there to visit ski dubai, its like an outdoor area, but indoors, with full chairlift, a cafe inside the area etc. The staff were great to us and everything was set up and maintained for us. They also listened to our ideas and comments and acted upon them. Features were decent, although the flat rail at the bottom had some wierd kink in it. it was really cold in there as well, much colder than the UK snowdomes.
Only problem was it was hard for the riders to get enough speed up for the big air, due to the run flattening on the second half. However once the course was groomed for cross, i think it was alright.
Facilities for us at ski dubai were good, free lockers and use of a meeting room where we kept a lot of things.
We ate in a resturant each day, it was a buffet which was quite nice, although as im a vegitarian i basically ate carbs and vegitables all week. Some of us got a proper meal there (for free) on the last day though, which was really nice, i was impressed.
the competition
We had a meeting each day about what would happen the next day, and were told every minor detail. Things happened at specific times and although occasiaonlly delayed it was never for very long. We were live on tv so they had to keep the cameras happy, which meant skiiers and snowboarders going down in between comps. This received mixed opinions from us. It was obviously needed to stop the cameras filming nothing, however seeing formation skiing with those rather ridiculous looking hip shaking turn/carve/things for the 100th time was a bit annoying. Would have been cool if they had got us riders to do something, although we were allowed to skiboard back down and up again. These 'shows' also caused a bit of a problem due to the skiiers carving up the course with powder bumps, which slowed everyone down.
The commentator wasn't that good. He was alright at commentating but he didn't have a clue about the sport or tricks, so all day we were hearing 'reverse along the rail' (which translates as fakie boardslide) and using 'slam' a million times for every kind of bail/crash/wipeout etc. Would have been nice to have had one of the skiboarders commentating, such as when adam did it in romania.
Also the speakers were in the wrong places which meant it was hard to hear what was being said unless you were in a good spot.
Competitions went well i think, lots of good action are the people seemed interested in it. I was judging, which was pretty hard for some things, I think next year it would be good to try and get proper judges, or at least a qualified head judge, byt mad props to Daisuke for putting in a ton of work as well as Ciprian, Nino, Sergey and myself. Oh and Chiho for the translations, what a babe.
Prize giving was fun, and everyone wanted millions of pictures. Decent prizes as well.
people
met even more new people which was brilliant, absolutely loving the japanese, hopefully i'll go and visit later this year.
any questions ask, im at college and have a lesson now so cant write anymore!
all in all it was wicked.
joe
Exclaim!
Hotel:
The hotel (Golden Tulip Al Barsha) was really nice, 4 stars, the best i've been in. We only ate breakfast there but the food was really good, and the service/layout etc was real nice. Rooms were a good size, with decent facilities and tv etc. Plug sockets were 3 pin as well, brilliant! The pool was great and much fun was had there, esp given thata it was warmer outside the pool than in.
My only complaint with the hotel is that i swear they tried to rob us with the mini bar, i had to pay 42 dirham for a bottle of JD that wasn't even open (the tiny part connecting the lid to that little band had come off), and even if i had have opened it and drunk it, i could have got arrested! Think they were swindling the japs as well.
transport
There was a bus from the hotel to ski dubai in the morning and back again in the evening, which run at set times. This was good as it gave us a time to be ready for. The drivers were nice and helped us with bags etc. Pick-up from the airport was welll late though, i think the driver was hiding or something, cos when we eventually found him he siad he'd been there ages.
Taxi's were a bit dodgy i suppose, simply because they tried to get as much money from you as possible and hated going from ski dubai to the hotel due to them only making about 30p for the journey. I got a taxi to the other side of town for an interview and back which cost loads, although less than it would have in england. The roads are a bit of a nightmare though, its just motorways motorways motorways, everyone drives everywhere.
ski dubai/the mall
the mall was amazing, you could buy virtually anything and it was huge. prices wernt bad either. the carrefour was really useful as well.
I would definately recommend going there to visit ski dubai, its like an outdoor area, but indoors, with full chairlift, a cafe inside the area etc. The staff were great to us and everything was set up and maintained for us. They also listened to our ideas and comments and acted upon them. Features were decent, although the flat rail at the bottom had some wierd kink in it. it was really cold in there as well, much colder than the UK snowdomes.
Only problem was it was hard for the riders to get enough speed up for the big air, due to the run flattening on the second half. However once the course was groomed for cross, i think it was alright.
Facilities for us at ski dubai were good, free lockers and use of a meeting room where we kept a lot of things.
We ate in a resturant each day, it was a buffet which was quite nice, although as im a vegitarian i basically ate carbs and vegitables all week. Some of us got a proper meal there (for free) on the last day though, which was really nice, i was impressed.
the competition
We had a meeting each day about what would happen the next day, and were told every minor detail. Things happened at specific times and although occasiaonlly delayed it was never for very long. We were live on tv so they had to keep the cameras happy, which meant skiiers and snowboarders going down in between comps. This received mixed opinions from us. It was obviously needed to stop the cameras filming nothing, however seeing formation skiing with those rather ridiculous looking hip shaking turn/carve/things for the 100th time was a bit annoying. Would have been cool if they had got us riders to do something, although we were allowed to skiboard back down and up again. These 'shows' also caused a bit of a problem due to the skiiers carving up the course with powder bumps, which slowed everyone down.
The commentator wasn't that good. He was alright at commentating but he didn't have a clue about the sport or tricks, so all day we were hearing 'reverse along the rail' (which translates as fakie boardslide) and using 'slam' a million times for every kind of bail/crash/wipeout etc. Would have been nice to have had one of the skiboarders commentating, such as when adam did it in romania.
Also the speakers were in the wrong places which meant it was hard to hear what was being said unless you were in a good spot.
Competitions went well i think, lots of good action are the people seemed interested in it. I was judging, which was pretty hard for some things, I think next year it would be good to try and get proper judges, or at least a qualified head judge, byt mad props to Daisuke for putting in a ton of work as well as Ciprian, Nino, Sergey and myself. Oh and Chiho for the translations, what a babe.
Prize giving was fun, and everyone wanted millions of pictures. Decent prizes as well.
people
met even more new people which was brilliant, absolutely loving the japanese, hopefully i'll go and visit later this year.
any questions ask, im at college and have a lesson now so cant write anymore!
all in all it was wicked.
joe
Exclaim!
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