We really missed our libraries

Yesterday, visited the Bishan community library after lunch with the extended family at my brother's place. I was hoping to check out "Factory Girls" but it was unavailable at this branch but got "The China Price" instead. The NLB libraries are one of those things we really miss when in Dubai. Every trip we took to Dubai Mall, we never missed Kinokuniya. I hope they succeed as the traffic there is so much thinner than their Singapore Ngee Ann City outlet.

Gone up from $1.35 to $1.70

This was S$1.35 before I left for Dubai. Seven months later it has gone up to S$1.70, meanwhile I just saw a one-for-one deal at Friends@Jelita just earlier this evening. Chicken rice at Ghim Moh hawker centre is still starting at $2.50 per plate. Prices at high end outlets are falling while the lower end in some ways is trying to reach for the sky but of course like chickens they can take off only briefly or there will be social instability.

Unlike in the past, this is one recession where the rich get hit big time. We can expect this one to be long and recovery to be slow.

Terrorism Risk: Why Singapore and not Dubai

For sometime I have been trying to find out why was Singapore targeted but not Dubai. Even Saudi Arabia wasn't spared. Today I found a possible reason why; Al Qaeda needs Dubai. It is a lifeline of sorts for them. See "Al Qaeda in the UAE"

Note there is a major error of fact in the article which I felt the author shouldn't have made. He had confused the Al Nahyan family which runs Abu Dhabi with the Al Maktoum which governs Dubai. Well, for what it is worth, it is quite interesting.

15% discount at Soup Kitchen

Arrived in Singapore Changi Airport around noon yesterday. It was truly wonderful for Peter, my old pal to come meet us at the airport. We can order more food with one additional person.

Soup Kitchen won over the Food Court, but not for long. We were given 15% discount something which is still very rare in Dubai. I know hotel rates there have been falling but the prices at the restaurants and food courts, at least the ones we go to remain stuck a high prices. Why are they not adjusting. We know some of the leading and biggest companies in Dubai have already laid off half their employees.

Gotta to run, got to run downstairs to buy the family local breakfast, e.g., "black sauce carrot cake with chili"

Budget Airport

We left Dubai for Singapore late last night. I took this picture as I disembark the bus, before I ran up the stairs to the SQ Airbus. You wouldn't get a chance if you were in Changi because you would be well cocooned inside an aero-bridge. Dubai International Airport has been like a budget terminal to us. We arrived with Emirates months ago, we had to take a shuttle bus to the terminal. Leaving for Singapore, we have the double fortune of doing the same. I thought air traffic has fallen considerably, why can't we have the convenience of an aero-bridge? As the bus trundled its wahy to our parked plane, I could see many unused aero-bridges. I am not surprised. This is the way Dubai does things so often. The people who make the big decisions there ride in private planes. If they know what the rest of us live with (not that bad actually, you musn't compare with Changi) riding commercial planes, perhaps the airport would be better. What the decision makers don't see they can't manage.

3,000 abandoned cars?

I have lost count the number of times the newspapers here and overseas reported that there are about 3,000 abandoned cars in Dubai.

Yesterday Daisy was delayed, so I got out of the car and snap the above photos of the cars parked downstairs of the office tower. All the five cars were very dusty and obviously not been used for sometime. There are some more cars like these at my housing estate. Perhaps someone could tow one of them to this place to make six and the photo above more complete.

So are there 3,000 abandoned cars around Dubai? You bet there could well be more now.

Mom would have been 69 today

Had she lived, she would have been 69 today, but she went home to the Lord on Valentine's Day six years ago. A few months later from the slideshow I created for her since she cannot be out there enjoying flowers and nature, the Inspirational Flash Movies websites came into being: InspiringThots and InspiringWord.

This is pure speculation, but I wonder if John thought often of his brother James who was beheaded in the early days the young church - "This one is for him!". InspiringThots and InspiringWord are for my mom because Amazing Grace was given to her at the end of her time here. They are the proof of that Grace.

From 10 Dhs to 12 Dhs

Marble Slab will be part of my girls' memory of this place as Swensens' ice-cream had back home in Singapore. Their ice-cream is good and they have some of the best prices too. They are so competitive, they could rise the price of a regular cup from 10 dhs (S$ 4) to 12 dhs. I discovered this yesterday.

Here is my earlier blog entry of our experience with them.

I met George Mueller today

Today I had lunch with a new friend and had the wonderful opportunity to hear his Dubai story. I told him that his story is like a script borrowed from parts of the life of George Mueller, the guy who by faith ran several orphanages in Bristol in the 1800s.

I look forward to meeting more George Mueller types in person. There are quite a few of them, but I didn't expect to find them here in Dubai. The amazing invisble that we are occasionally privileged to glimpse at only. Some day such hidden beauty would be completely revealed. You want to have a part in these scripts.

A flash movie for Asian Expats

I received a beautiful poem from my States side friend and decided to turn it into a flash movie for the asian expats working here. If you want the version with music, use this link: http://inspiringthots.net/movie/note-miles.php

No need to worry about the jet set upper class of expats here, but I often imagine what it must be like for the others who cannot make home visits as much as they would like to. Their mobile phones and for some the internet connected PC must be terribly important to them to stay in touch with their families and friends back home.

Don't tell me, I know there is an even larger group of construction workers who have had to rely on the old fashioned pen and paper. I can only wish that we keep improving until they also get elevated to a higher standard of living. I hope that they are less forgotten. What I try to do for them is to stop the car for them whenever they try to make it across the street. I bear in mind that I almost never need to cross the street here. Wheels take me every where, for them it is their legs.

International Day (Singapore and Malaysia)

Yesterday the girls' school celebrated International Day. It was an important annual event on the school calendar and truly reflect the multi-national nature of the place. There were so many booths representing so many countries. Many of their national costumes were just awesomely beautiful, and it really hit you that we have no national costumes like many other countries.

The Singapore booth was most unique. It was a joint effort between the Malaysians and us. Indeed outside Singapore and Malaysia, we see each other as one. Unlike the reception for President Nathan the night before, I was told the food here is more generous and much better quality too. Lin and I enjoyed many sticks of satay. It was truly yummy. Thanks!

Look at the state flags hanging side by side above. Should I forgive the MFA for refusing a Singaporean friend from bringing her Malaysian fiancee to the reception? They solved the problem when the guy decided not to attend. So often politics divides, but culture unites, yeah?

Mother's Day

Now I know one place to find the important and commercially valuable dates is Carrefour here at MOE. How quickly Norooz has been succeeded by Mother's Day (yesterday I think). Like Teacher's Day, Mother's Day apparently is celebrated on different days across the world.

The young lady in the photo, I was waiting for her to go away before I snap this picture. I gave up waiting for her. She is truly an unintented inclusion.

Happy Norooz

Happy Nooroz to Taleb and Ansari. Taleb is our landlord and Ansari is the lady from Hamptons that was very helpful with arranging for us to be in our present apartment.

The above shot was taken surreptiously at Carrefour MOE. I stood there for a very long time admiring the beautiful narcissus and other roses. There was an exceptionally beautiful bunch of yellow roses which I didn't manage to get a shot of.

The humidity keeps getting lower

Looks like the humidity keeps getting lower. I set the humidifier at 50% for the children. Usually it will pause sometime during the night but this morning despite working through the night the display reports: 46%. The one in my room is worse: 42%

Day trip to Abu Dhabi

We took a half day trip to Abu Dhabi last saturday. Left Dubai at about 10am and came back around 3pm. Overall, we find the capital a prettier place than Dubai, which is still like one giant construction yard.

Our second visit to the Doc

Back at the expensive and relatively empty American Hospital once again. This time it is Zhen that needed to see the doc. No choice, but to come here as the symptoms refuse to subside after several days. Diagnosis: Bronchitis.

We had a light snack at the cafe after seeing the doc (picture of the cafe above). Only two tables were occupied. Prices were similar or lower than Costa - read OK prices. The choc croissants were quite nice. Zhen opted for hot chocolate.

Klacid for seven days, 500mg/pill to be taken after meals once daily. Thankful it wasn't the foul tasting liquid version.

It Rocks!

This happened late afternoon yessterday.

Yes, it rocks! but not like youngsters these days use the word. This big fellow perched on the big truck was unstable and rocking. I was driving right behind it and trying to keep a safe distance. The steel cables, no it was steel chains holding it down didn't inspire confidence at all. As you know, the chain is only as strong as its weakest link. I thought they would have used cables instead. I was thinking of the awe inspiring cables of the Golden Gate, at least a more modest cousin.

Well I lived to tell this story. No newspaper story today that it fell off. Might not be so lucky next time.

Phoenix: A Chinese Supermarket

This is our first visit to Phoenix supermarket. It is located in International city in China City among apartment blocks A3 to A5. International city is just next door to Dragon Mart.

You can get China imported vegetables here which we enjoy in Singapore but is hard put to find any where else in Dubai. The green tea we enjoyed at Lam Kwai Fong, which I could not find any where is available here.

Ready for moving in

It is so delicious to be kay poh. The photo above was shot more than a week ago. I took it from my bedroom window. It was exciting because the apartment block across is finally ready for moving in. Since then, I have not seen lights turned on in the evenings in this unit. It is impossible to see into the house in the day so night time is watching time. In the day, the glass windows of this apartment block is useful as a mirror of sorts to watch for congestion on the SZR freeway. Since the downturn, the roads are much less congested, and we have also stopped this traffic check.

Lunch at Jebel Ali Club

Located near Ibn Batutta Mall, this is a nice place safe the houseflies which are clearly the most dominant species of insects in Dubai. We came here after our very frustrating meeting with the HSBC folks at Jebel Ali. HSBC had botched up our big funds transfer to our US account. With the evidence laid clearly before them, they still refuse to admit liability.

Pork knuckles (so haram!) is available here. I opted for a safe seafood pizza and Daisy had carbonara. Our lunch was interrupted by a call from our HSBC relationship manager. I was really upset and told him to get the details from the officer at their Jebel Ali branch. At this point of writing the money has not yet been returned to our account. It is has been almost two weeks already! Like they say, this is Dubai!

As always Dubai looks like the prettiest pearl from far away. Come and live in the pearl and you will understand that beauty is indeed only skin deep. Even as I write, this porcelain beautiful skin is peeling from want of moisturiser (liquidity) under the scorching sun.

The air here has been too dry

This is our second humidifier, a cool temperature one. We had bought a high temperature one from Westinghouse earlier for Daisy to use. For the winter months, the humidity has consistently been in the 40s or lower. The one you are seeing above is for the girls' room.

We set the humidity at 50% and usually when I enter the room to wake them up for school, it is no longer blowing its gentle mist. This mist is finer than what the Cool House in the Botanic Gardens back home.

The girls' best lunch for school

Except rice, which is of course life's food, we are very small eaters and usually cannot finish the generous portions Jasmine gives us. It is not unusual for us to warm up the food the next morning for the girls to bring to school for lunch. All we need to do is steam some rice in the morning.




OK, now they are nicely packed into the thermos containers. The one of the left belongs to Lin. Zhen has the larger black one. These two were bought at Taka in Singapore. When Daisy got them, I thought this was going to be a wasted purchase.

You may not take pictures

I was waiting for Chua to bring the sumptuous dinner Jasmine has prepared for us, and I decided to take a photo of our community mosque. The security guard walked up to me and objected to it. I tried to explain to him that this is ridiculous. Shortly Chua appeared and we tried to explain how unreasonable he is. Since as tenants we "out ranked" him we just walked off and have our chat before entering the building to pick up groceries from Choittram.

Waiting for the Flyover

This photo was taken on the 26th February. This is a very useful viaduct for us. It spans across the SZR freeway to the other side where Media city, Internet city etc.,So much progress they have made in about three months (see photo below). When completed, it would cut down substantially time taken to drive to work and school.