a busy couple of days

The last couple of days and the next couple of days were / are gonna be hectic.

I woke up around 4am on Wednesday morning to quickly pack my bags and get to Sharjah airport,
definitely not my favorite place. I was hoping to grab a bite to eat, but no chance. I had a selection of
Iranian food, kebabs, chicken Shahish ( something like that ) and Asian noodles. nothing that really appeals to me for my breakfast menu. All i wanted was a croissant or some fruit. i ended up drinking a lime mint smoothie.

The flight was pretty painless. 45 min of flying on Arabian Air. I did visit the book store before my flight and bought one of Richard Branson's new books " Screw It , Lets do It " . Its an awesome motivation book for people that wanna get out there and try new things and give there careers an extra push in the right direction.

We arrived in Muscat at 10 am with a chilly temperature of 38 degrees Celsius. We were scheduled to start shooting one of the governments member's daughters wedding at 8pm that night. A royal wedding.
So I threw on my bikini and hit the pool. it was to hot to tan so i ended up ordering a milkshake at the local beach restaurant and sat in the pool for 2 hours before heading back to my hotel room for lunch.
At around 3.30 pm we got a call from the bride demanding we come to her hotel immediately , not in 20 min , but right now. 20 minutes was definitely not possible for me to shower, do makeup and get dressed and get my equipment ready. So i was roughly 35 min. We all arrived at her private luxury hotel villa
only to receive instructions that we were not needed now , but we should come back in 2 hours.
So we all went back to our hotel to wait until 6pm.

I arrived at 6pm and started building a studio within the lounge.
 My job as wedding photographer is to shoot fashion and portrait shots before the wedding starts, and then another photographer takes over the social photography side as soon as the bride enters the hall.

i headed back to my apartment for a movie and room service. I was at the airport once again nice and early to fly back to Dubai. its a pity we didn't get more time in Muscat as i heard its a really beautiful place. Next time we'll make a road trip out of it, and spend the weekend there

This is where i stayed - a truly beautiful 5 star hotel with a kick-ass pool and awesome service! - http://www.shangri-la.com/en/property/muscat/barraljissahresort/rooms

My gorgeous Fiancee picked me up at the airport .  I jumped into my car only to be surprised with a little Tigger teddy bear . He went straight back to work after fetching me and i headed straight to my favorite bookstore Kinokuniya - the biggest book store in the world
http://ansam518.wordpress.com/2010/04/23/kinokuniya-dubai-mall/

Seeing i have just become obsessed with buying books , i thought i would satisfy my craving and buy a few books. i walked out with 4 books and plan to go back next week for a further shopping session.

Here's what i bought -
Notes on Directing by Frank Hauser and Russel Reich
Things I have Learn't - Stefan Sagmeister
Quentin Tarantino - The cinema of cool
Peter Biskind - Down and Dirty Pictures

Definitely an awesome collection for anyone interested in film and design.

Shortly after heading home i was once again surprised by Mark with a bunch of Sunflowers and a pack of good old South African pork ribs from honeydew. Now that's what i call a perfect night !

Right now i'm rushing off to another shoot which should be done around 11 pm tonight!!