New development in Abu Dhabi

There is an exhibition in the Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi. It shows the new direction in which the capital of the UAE is heading towards: Cultural Hub in the region.

Took some pictures of the architectural models of the new city plan.

Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Museum by Frank GehryPerforming Arts Center by Zaha HadidThe vein found in leaves is the inspiration for the Arts CenterLouvre Abu Dhabi by Jean NouvelThis is by far my favourite.Check out the sunlight, the sea breeze and the shading the building is going to have once it is built. Functional and pretty. I like.Maritime Museum by Tadao AndoAnd a bunch of projects for Biennale and Pavilions
This reminds me of the Alien eggs in the movie Alien

Standard Chartered Run in Dubai

Before you get all impressed, NO, I didn't do the run and the medal was not mine. My friend did it. 42km.

Crazy. My knees trembled at the thought of running that kind of distance. Cars were invented for a reason, you know.

Macbook back to Normal

Thanks to those who gave me kind advices. I sent my laptop to the service centre. They fixed it for me for free because it is still under warranty. They replaced the old keyboard with a new keyboard. Yay!

Potatoes

I wanted to make mash potato but forgot all about it for the past few weeks. The potatoes have started budding and they are now unsuitable for consumption.

Will let it grow slowly and hopefully it can bring some life to my place.

Flood

It has been raining non-stop for the past few days. The rain was not heavy. However the drainage system was not well developed in Dubai, resulting in serious road floods.



Getting around in Dubai was difficult because Traffic jam was everywhere. There was a Porsche floating away in the Eimrates Road yesterday. Lots of cars with stalled engines parked on the road side. Many road accidents happened due to skidding, speeding, and low visibility.

Now is the time that I really wish I had bought a 4 by 4. At least I could have done without the frequent car wash whenever a 4 by 4 drove past.

Bush in Dubai

US President George W. Bush was in Dubai yesterday.

First, it was announced at 14:35 on Sunday that Sheikh Zayed Road (Service Entrance/turn offs) would be closed from 6:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. No big deal. I could still take an alternate route or wake up early to get back into the office.

Then at 15:36, it was announced that

1. Al Khail Road closed
2. Sheikh Zayed Road closed from Salik to Salik
3. Jumeirah Beach Road closed from Al Thanya to Jumeirah Corporate office (far side of Madinat)
4. Al Wasl closed from Al Thanya to Dubai Police

EXCELLENT. This traffic arrangement would mean there was no way for me to get to the office. Almost all arterial roads were blocked as part of the security measures for Bush's visit to the city. I might as well take a day off.

Then at 17:05, Dubai declared it was a public holiday.

W.T.H.

How can a country possibly progress with all her public holidays shifting around based on the "sighting" of the moon? Or with a government that can randomly add in some days off when some important figures visit? More importantly, how the hell am I going to plan for MY holiday?

Don't be mistaken, I am very grateful for the 4-day week. And I certainly hope Bush develops great love towards Dubai after this trip and decides to come visit every month. But I just hope all these could be done systematically and logically.

Decide which roads need to be closed. Make special traffic arrangement to accommodate that. Think through it. Proof check it. Then release it to the public in an organised way and hence the public can follow.

Is that too much to ask, RTA?

Raining in Dubai

It is very rare to see Dubai in the rain.

And it seems that drivers in Dubai are not used to driving in wet condition.

There was major traffic jam on the major highways. Variable Message Signs (VMS) were all filled with messages like "Drive Slowly", "Reduce Speed" and "Watch out for sand and water puddles".

I am very well trained in Singapore and can drive in thunderstorm /torrential rain with ease. But it is a great excuse for being late for work. No need to wake up and crawl out of bed early in the morning. Can't complain.

Off Roading

My friend Eric has a 4 by 4 Jeep Wrangler. With the long weekend, we decided to do some off roading to Al Hayl Palace near Fujairah.
I like his car... May be I shall get the car from him after he leaves Dubai and sell my pathetic little car.
The Al Hayl Palace from afar. You can see the rocky/sandy/stoney road leading to the historical site.

Al Hayl Palace close up

An Oasis with farms
I took over the drive back home. It was a manual-geared car. I *love* manual gear but I had a hard time because I kept banging my left hand to the door instead of using my right hand to change the gear. I was very used to right hand wheel driving back home and the whole left hand wheel driving in Dubai with the "use the right hand to change gear" thing was difficult to adapt. Too much eye-hand-feet co-ordination for simple minded me.

OvaFest-Desert Safari

We had a long weekend last week because it was New Year on Thursday (10 Jan) on Islamic Calender.
Our colleagues from different offices in the Gulf region (Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha) all met up for Ovafest, a company event. This year we did the Desert Safari.

Colleagues and their families from our Doha office had to fly all the way from Doha to Dubai for this event. It was great to meet some of the family members of our colleagues finally.









The Desert Safari is composed of:
Sand Dune Bashing in 4 wheel drive. This was the vehicle I did sand dune bashing in
This shows how steep the slope was
Other sand dune bashing vehicles..
Motor bikes
Flashy Mobile
Camel Ride

Falcon performance

The hand mask was said to protect the falcon because its eyesight covers 800m radius and the presence of us would scare the falcon to death
Belly Dancing

Buffet Dinner

Costume wearing. I was in the male costume in this pic...
and female in this
Smoking Arabic Shisha (or bubbly hubbly). It was not nice at all. I coughed like hell after one sip.

Henna painting


I had a great time. We stayed until late night and were fetched back to Dubai in the very same 4 by 4 we used in the sand dune bashing.