Newsletter for the Rotary Club of Western Endeavour - Issue No.: 405 Issue Date: 5 Sep, 2010

Laurie Glossop had to go to UAE for his Tea Tree Oil product business in late November 2009.

As part of the trip he had to visit some people in Abu Dhabi and gave Stephen Lee a call to see if we could catch-up. Stephen was very accommodating even though Laurie only gave him 1 days notice!!

Laurie was still suffering a bit jet lag and was recovering from what he saw on the freeway between Dubai and Abu Dhabi.......cars were passing us all the way and doing up to 250kph!!....very scary stuff. We were going at 135kph and we passed no-one on the road except for a Volvo Station Wagon carry six live sheep in the back seat!! Apparently the second Eid for the year was on the next day and everybody was preparing for a big celebration. Eid Al-Adha is a holiday at the end of the Hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca which is one of the greatest religious observance in Islam.

Stephen organised for us to meet at an up-market hotel on the foreshore where we had a great lunch and a good chat. Stephen is still going flat-out and has a very successful business (air conditioning equipment mainly for the oil and gas industry).

After lunch Laurie had to go to a meeting in a part of town that was currently almost impossible to get to because all the roads were being ripped up building an underground railway system. Stephen helped my driver from Dubai to get to the building. This entailed Stephen jumping over 6 lanes of very angry traffic in the space of 100 metres, but luckily my driver was up to the challenge. Stephen drives a black Lexus and was very "cool" under such pressure.

Many thanks Stephen for lunch and helping while Laurie was in Abu Dhabi. It is an incredible city that has as many buildings (all skyscrapers!!) under construction as is already there….a building bubble? It is certainly an oasis in the desert.

Stephen indicated he hopes to return to Australia in the next couple of years.