Bali

London

Hi yall

Latest news is that I left Dubai 1 month ago after resigning from my job (early Oct), so I won’t be back there anytime soon. It is a long
story but the only thing that matters is that I’m happier now : )

I finally managed to be all touristy in Dubai and did the dune safari, waterpark and in the months before and after leaving Dubai. Also went to Paris, London, Rotterdam & Delft before leaving Dubai and Bali after leaving. Next month I’m doing a trip to Turkey and Greece because it’s been years since I spent time with my parents and because I also enjoy unique forms of torture!

So we go…

Paris: Uniquely french, beautiful bouelavards, quai-branly, cafes, parks and oh the food!
London: Fast, hurried and very very Brit-ish. Tate Modern, Blue Men Theatre, Notting Hill Festival and french food in Covent Garden. Do yourself a favour and don’t try english food unless it’s from a gastro pub.
Rotterdam: Grey nauticalism and streaks of creativity – Calatrava, Renzo Piano, Foster in one glance.
Delft: Canals, bicycles, old town squares and university life.
Dubai dune bashing: Sand, vertical 4wd, grumpy camels, camel dung, shisha and dune skiing.
Dubai Wild Wadi: Flowriders and water slides.
Bali: Surf trips are always fun. We ate extra well this trip thanks to Diah’s local knowledge of best restaurants in bali

That’s it for now, I’m going for dinner! Write me sometime…

Shi.

Dubai

Paris

Hmm it’s been a long time between emails – Been sick through an extended cold/flu and trying to keep myself afloat with deadlines etc and trying to get home by 7pm to get some rest….anyway am a better now but still kind of stressed.

Summer sales are on right now, it’s a month long event where everything is on sale, from clothes, electronics, hotel rooms to cars. The weather is so hot it’s unbelievable – I couldn’t breathe because of the humidity a few nights ago and when I went swimming at 6pm, it was so hot I couldn’t breathe and had to stop mid length. The weather eased slightly at 7pm, but only just. The pool water was as warm as bath water and pretty uncomfortable so I think I’ll be doing a lot more night time swims. And we’ve just rolled into July, the supposed summer month. Nothing like waiting for a taxi during prayer hour (or world cup match kick off time) with no taxis wanting to stop, while the hot wind (40 C) hot dry roasts you. But yes I am thankful for being able to afford a taxi. Incidentally one day we got a taxi driver who is a member of the Taliban in Pakistan and who had a video on his mobile phone with a guy angrily spouting (he said) revolutionist rhetoric including “let’s off Musharaff” And then the same guy casually commented that he watched child soldiers being trained in the mountains with weapons from China and Russia. And let’s not get into their loony driving skills (or lack thereof) and their apparent allergy to deodorants.

Otherwise the World Cup fever is fully going on here, ranging from skyscrapers plastered with posters to convention centres with grandstand seating and bars packed with expats and cabin crew. Incidentally, home cable tv subscription for the World Cup channel is AED1500 (US$400). Apparently football mad expats and oil-rich arabs must have money to fling around…

On the way out one day, there was this wedding motorcade – well not sure what to call it but it was a bunch of cars with guys hanging out of the windows out the sunroof, sitting on the roof and going through the interchange at 80kph (??). Red flags, stickers of Sheikh Mohamed on the windows – in a parallel universe I could have envisioned these guys riding wildly on camels with rifles instead of in Lexuses.

Mm and the cars – check out the design of that hot car ass!…And yes I did get caught out once when the guy walked back to his lamborghini in the midst of my drool…very embarassing, so please appreciate the photos

Anyway it’s an interesting life here…still feeling the homesickness pangs but am trying to deal with it by keeping busy and planning stuff to do Hello Friday brunch! Thursday and Friday being the weekend here, I think once in a while I will pig out at some fancy hotel and stuff myself silly with seafood and all the chocolate dipped strawberries I can take. Other highlights I hope to do are diving trips (mm overnight boat trips), trip to wild wadi (flowrider!) & ski dubai (“affordable” 2-in-1 summer tickets), desert safari and *drum roll* a trip to London and Paris! Still in planning but should be sometime in September when the ticket prices go down. I’ve got a list of architectural stuff to see and some tips on what to do in London from Londoner native – but am still open to suggestions.

That’s it for now….
shi.

Couple of mad sandstorms last week and still not used to getting home dusty every day. Heck, I get dusty the moment I step out of the door in the morning. Anyway that’s heaps luckier than the hundreds of thousands of labourers who have to slave it out in the sun and dust, so yeah all I have to do is drag my pampered ass from one air conditioned environment to the taxi to the a/c apartment.

Gee after that revelation I feel more energized. I’m excited! Really! Now pass me my vodka on the rocks… Normal moving/settling-in blues coupled with work stress. This ain’t no vacation fer sure but at least it gives some interesting photos. So without further ado, here are the pics that will give you all the illusion that I am living a life of luxury! Hahahaha

1. View from my living room at dusk. There is construction taking place in front of the apartments, so we have to be very careful not to fall into the “tiger traps” in front of our lobby.

2. Apartment swimming pool (not my apartment block in the background, but mine looks a bit like that) I took a dip last night, it’s pretty cold and has got little nooks and crannies and bridges and fountains and waterfalls and pool bars…very nice, good for pool parties.

3. Model of Trump’s pineapple (for those who asked about it) If you think that’s something to hoo hah about, you should really see everything else being built in Dubai…

4. Ski Dubai and Burj Al Alam (4 storey?) ice sculpture that got into the record books

5. World Islands – each island is a villa

6. Photo evidence of the snazzy cars: Maserati, Porsche 911 Carrera, Benz E SLK, BMW Z4. Bunch of Bentleys and Jaguars parked around the apartments but couldn’t be stuffed taking those. (waaahhh getting jaded already! Hahaha)

7. Terrace & pool is “just” the developer’s show room – that looked more like a 5-star hotel

But the one funny memory I have this week is myself, the sculpture and the mille feuille I had while watching Middle Eastern tourists bounce off ice walls on rubber inner tubes in Ski Dubai

Cheerio!
Shi.

View from apartment bedroom – twinkling lights of Shangri-la hotel and all the fancy skyscrapers on Sheikh Zayed Road. Got into Dubai ok, 4am last Monday and the nice lady at Kuala Lumpur International Airport waved through my surfboard, excess baggage and the 15kg hand luggage. Luxe apartment, 5 minutes away from SZ road, security guard at each lobby, huge room, nice furniture. I hear the swimming pool is beautiful but haven’t had time to look at it yet. Yes, I am working hard. The luxe red leather sofa and cable tv is in the other apartment, but we’re gonna get cable and wi-fi soon (soon is a relative term :p)

Went to the dinner launch of the big project last week, it was good…huge 2 storey ice sculpture of the tower, although the big (and I mean BIG) ice sculpture is currently in Ski Dubai Dome for 1 week while it’s being measured for the Guiness Book of Records. Apparently carved in France, then the ice was flown in pieces and blowtorched together in the ski dome by the French carvers.

We had some dessert in the shape of the tower for the desert portion of the dinner ha ha…quite funny.Everything is so pretentious it’s quite amusing. But mmm Valhorra chocolate.

I’m still having fun drooling over the ferraris, porsches, hummers, chevys, benzes, BMWs, Bentleys…etc

Oh yeah, thanks to the lot of you in KL who met up with me upon the short 2 week notice that I got from the company that I was supposed to move?? Good that it has sorted itself out though but I had a stressful 2 weeks trying to get all income tax, banking etc sorted and got the flu and everything too. Still trying to get the phone line, internet etc sorted here but it will take a while so emails will be erratic…also @#$ dubai bans my flickr photo site?? So no new photos until I figure out a way around it.

Been joking about how I’m going to do the “Dubai style”: huge sunnies, lots of bling bling, kohled eyes, loud flashy clothes… and everyone I know will go “What the..??” when they see me next. Hahahahaha Well you never know. Oh what a laugh. I should get one of those black burkhas and wear it ala michael jackson.

A lot of tanned Europeans here, very interesting that I just attended a meeting where an European young lady was wearing a belly bearing strappy cotton top and jeans (looked more set for a bbq) and on the way out another European lady was wearing a strapless white sundress….they both looked very sexy, only thing was that we were in the middle of a suits and ties business area? Moral of the story, European ladies dress rather uhhhhh freely… very interesting. I guess that I find it strange because we’re in the centre of the muslim world here, but granted…dubai is more open-minded than the surrounding cities.

Speaking of clothes, I need to upgrade my wardrobe though, a lot of bling bling around so my duds look quite worn out, and helllooooo business suit! drats (No white sundresses or belly baring tank tops for meetings!!) Boss was quite amused by the hot pink runners I pulled out of my drawer to change into post-meeting. Shopping carnival is rather good so if anyone wants to visit Dubai J

Handphone number in Dubai is +97XXXXXXXX but smses are blocked from dubai to france, spain and T&T in the US (what the???)
Address PO box 7XXXX Dubai UAE

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burj_al_Alam – the tower. Even I’m surprised that it’s in wikipedia.

Shi.

ps: photos: ice during the dinner (haven’t been to the big one in ski dubai yet), my living room with choccies in front and headlines of “crude oil prices break records” , crepe with burj al alam and folded in the tower’s shape (goodness gracious) and my bedroom post-Ikea (yes, its very red)

pps: oh yeah no home email yet (not even a phone line! still waiting for work visa approval)….so emails are going to be infrequent for the next month or so.

I got back from a 2 week work trip to Dubai almost 2 weeks ago and I’m supposed to fly back for about a week or so this week. I was really slow in getting together the photos because I did laser cornea surgery right after the trip to correct my short-sightedness. I’m glad I got the surgery although I was walking blind for about 2-3 days after. I couldn’t even read my smses until the very blurry 3rd day =p

Here are highlights from the 2week Dubai trip:

Dinner at the Al-Burj Dubai (the self proclaimed 7-star hotel – you need a reservation just to drive across the bridge now, you used to be able to just pay your way. Lobster dinner, drinks at the roof bar and realising that the place is full of A) European & Russian retirees B) Guys trying to impress their dates (which makes it similar to every other expensive restaurant in the world then =p) C) The gaudiest looking interiors (Star Wars meets Austin Powers). D) 5 – figure price tags for some drinks on the menu.

Rain in Dubai! Yes it rains. If it rains for more than 4 days then it’s a veritable flood. More like a fine mist-type rain than a tropical country downpour.

Ooh ahh seriously nice cars.

Going to Bur Dubai (Old Dubai) and sitting on the traditional boats to cross the river. The bazaar was a bit of a letdown because it was sort of like every other market I’d seen in Asia, I think I expected it to be different. I think that cheap cotton Pokemon shorts and sequin covered bra lingerie sets are universal =p

And the not-so-highlights: 80-90 hour weeks for 2 weeks straight. *shudder* Big Hairy Ugly Deadline and confusion about our weekends (is it Sat Sun or Thurs Fri..)

No beer for sale in retail, not even in the supermarkets. The receptionist says that she and her husband call a guy and he delivers to their home, she doesn’t even know his name…(what the?)

Anyway, I’ve accepted the company offer to work in Dubai for 1 year – it’s a pretty sweet deal financially, and the company’s got a nice apartment for us. I guess that Dubai will be interesting to work in, it’s a lot closer to Europe (hello London and Paris!) and a car drive away from Oman which is really beautiful and other Middle Eastern cities. So if you ever feel like visiting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) give me a call I’ve seen some pics of surf in Oman and it looks great, but I need some hefty big guys to protect me in the car (it’s still a bit of a cowboy town outside of Dubai) so if you’re a hefty big guy, email me! So hopefully after I get back from Dubai in 2 weeks, I’ll have 2-3 weekends to packup for the Big Move on 1 st May.

Actually I’m kind of sad about leaving Koala Lumpy (KL). I don’t have any friends in Dubai! And no, people that you already spend 14 hours in the office with DOES NOT COUNT *no offience* (more cellmates than acquaintances). I wonder if I can replace that with material objects hmmm…;) Direct me to the closest chocolate shop Mr. Taxi Driver!

=)
Shi.

ps:attached article is the press clipping of the company’s latest project (hooray! its alive..it’s alive!)

I thought that I wanted to take a photo of myself paddling out in a Santa hat and send it as a Christmas email – but then the photos of the surf in Malaysia turned out to be so grey and depressing (and tiny uninspiring looking waves) that don’t photograph well…so I canned that idea.

Turns out that I got to go to Dubai for a few days. Nothing too exciting, a lot of meetings and a presentation. Before you read on, here is the disclaimer: This is not an insightful and in-depth look into the social, political and state of economic affairs in Middle Eastern countries. What it is, is an email intended for the reading pleasure and procrastination activities of cubicle dwellers on Monday morning. Now read on…

Dubai is one of the most westernized of all Middle Eastern countries. It used to be a major hub for international flights between Asia and Europe before dodgy airlines like Malaysia Airlines decided to fly direct. However with a far-sightedness uncommon in most royal families owning oil-rich lands (Brunei royalty being well-known for their need for gold-plated toilets and chocolate rooms in their summer houses), Dubai is determined to become an international cosmopolis before the oil supply runs out – hence the super-rapid development – most of the skyscrapers have been built in the last 3 years.Which is probably where people like me in the construction industry come in.

Dubai is not just Sheikhs in long white robes and full length black burkhas – I was told this a few times during my trip that Dubai is the world’s biggest market for….G-strings. If you’ve ever wondered what the ladies wear under that black coverall, its sexy lingerie. And those loose robes and leather sandals that the men wear to the office? Infinitely more comfortable than that noose they call a Versace necktie. And the young ladies not in burkhas looked like Shakira with flowing blond tresses, exotic features and skin-tight tops and figure-hugging jeans.

Dubai is also apart from desert, super-modern skyscraper, sprawling acres of Sheikh’s personal villas, wonders like a full ski ramp & snowboarding park and the famous 7-star hotel the Al-Burj. And the food – oh the food. Food is brought in from the other countries surrounding Dubai. Prawns, mussels, seafood so big and luscious, juicy apples, oranges, the best pineapple flown in this morning from the Philipines…imagine what you could do if your country were the international hub for flights between Asia and Europe AND had all the financial resources of an oil-rich nation. Oh yeah baby.

The only downside was the horrendous traffic. Rapid development and everyone wanting to get their own Porsche 4WD means gridlock – roughly 1 hour to get from place to place. Heat is not too bad since it’s winter now, it’s a cool 24 C at the moment but it gets to 50 C in the summer.

Dubai blows the mind. Different from Tokyo, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore…anywhere. Kind of a jaw-dropping astonishment at how all of this could spring up from the desert. Most cities have a kind of organic growth that takes place over decades or a century but all of this is all so new and decadent. Inflation is increasing 30% every 3 months and the Dubai property columnists predict that the bubble will burst soon.

I guess that if fancy shopping malls and flash cars aren’t your thing then Dubai wouldn’t suit you at all. Maybe it wouldn’t be for me after a while. But as a stopover on your way to Asia or Europe – it is definitely worth booking yourself into a nice 5-star hotel and taking a look around. I didn’t get to check out the Wild Wadi Waterpark with it’s standing wave machine but that’s for the next trip…

Till the next email…Merry Christmas!

Soooo not in a burkha,

Shi.