Eat with your hands!

A white guy and a rabbi walk into a South Indian restaurant in the middle of the day... what's the rest of joke?... don't know, but that was me on Sunday (minus the rabbi, just me). I decided to go to the south Indian join down the street from my hotel in Dubai. You know the culture shock is wearing off when as I walk in... EVERYone else is eating with their hands and it doesn't phase me. I calmly find an open seat at one of the tables and ask the man sitting there if he would mind if I sat with him (in hand gestures of course) . He gave me a look like "why are you asking"... and I sat down. Thank God they gave me a fork with my burani. It was probably the lightish tone of my skin that gave away the fact I've never eaten with my hands before.

Later that day I went on a desert safari tour. My SUV ended up being our Jordanian driver/tour guide, 3 Italians, 2 Pakistanis, and 1 David. 6+ hours of sand duning (driving), bbq, belly dancing, and sheesha later... we were back at the hotel. I ended up walking around the waterfront with 2 of the Italians for a couple of hours to finish off the night, and as a result, I'm pretty sure I have a mad hookup in Sicily. Bellissimo!

I arrived in Sydney yesterday morning after my (full) 14 hour flight. There's nothing more comfortable than spending that much time with barely enough room to rotate your foot. (although I much say, international carriers are MUCH better than American ones. High five to Emirates.) Sydney's a beautiful place. Reminds me a lot of Seattle. Green, rolling hills, cool, crisp, and along the harbor/bay/whatever they call it here. I've only been here 36 hours or so... but I think I'm in love.

Cheers mate!