International Day/ Dubai Knowledge Village, UAE

Posted: December 5, 2013 | Author: Richard Lakin | Filed under: world travels | Tags: Africa, dabkeh, Dubai, Dubai Knowledge Village, India, international music, Middle East, music festivals, Pakistan, UAE | Leave a comment

Encountering an unexpected global dance party

FINJAN KIRFEE (SYRIAN SPICE DRINK) VENDOR

Today I was on a video shoot at the Dubai Knowledge Village campus. When I went to lunch, I walked into an international day celebration that one of the universities there was staging. There was food, traditional dress and, best of all, music from all over the region: Africa, Middle East, India, and Pakistan.

It occurred to me how unintimidating an iPhone camera is. If I had tried to use my pro video gear, I don’t think people would have played to the camera like some of them do in this video.

GoPro photo/ Palm Island, United Arab Emirates

Posted: July 19, 2013 | Author: Richard Lakin | Filed under: world travels | Tags: Dubai, GoPro Hero 3, iPhoto, Palm Island, UAE | Leave a comment

Photo taken from the outer ring of the palm, looking toward downtown Dubai. The haze is from the humidity in the air, which was nearly 80%.

Shot on GoPro Hero 3 camera/ edited in iPhoto

Arabesq: world’s most interesting coffee store/ Dubai Mall, United Arab Emirates

Posted: June 27, 2013 | Author: Richard Lakin | Filed under: coffee | Tags: Arabesq, Arabic coffee, coffee, Dubai, Dubai Mall, iPhone 4S, Turkish coffee, UAE, United Arab Emirates | Leave a comment

Technically more of a sweets shop than a coffee store, it nonetheless is kind of a fantasy place for coffee affectionados. They hand-infuse pistachios into their ice cream, sell sweets from all over the Arab region, and make coffee in the Arabic-style…similar to the Turkish brewing method. I bought some Syrian baklava and Moroccan cookies. Pretty much the entire first floor of this mall, which has access to the Burj Khalifa, is a series of gourmet shops.