Salam Maal Hijrah 1430H and New Year 2009AD

I pray that the new year 1430H and 2009AD will bring more happiness and prosperity to you.

I woke up late this morning and quickly jumped to the balcony to gauge the time (I should just check the clock, shouldn't I) and to my surprise there was fog everywhere in my sight. It was quite a thick fog with visibility around 5-10 metres. It was a fantastic view and suddenly it reminded me of a lyric in a black metal band called Dark Throne. I quickly checked my Ipod whether I have the song, but I didnt have it.

Normal view

this morning

At the time of writing this posting around 4pm, a cloud of fog have already blanketed my office window at level 18th. I couldnt see the sea anymore. I thought - "what a foggy day to end the year 2008 yeah.."

Anyway, amid the crisis ridden 2008, the past 12 months have been a productive year for me considering that I received a bonus from my KL company in February, raised a healthy baby, played some fantastic gigs with Dewangga Sakti locally and abroad and of course, made the big decision of moving to Dubai in October.

So tonight I will be at home on the eve of the new year 2009. Maybe I watch a few movies at home or smoke shisha at lebanese restaurant down the blocks or finish up reading Jeffrey Archer's False Imprisonment (I bought it in a newly opened first Kinokuniya bookstore in Dubai Mall, i love Kino..). A few of my colleagues will get drunk tonight, some will go to Shakira concert in Abu Dhabi, some will go clubbing...all these are really not my thang.

My new year resolutions - A LOT ! but let me keep it to myself at the moment.

My dream car? ..no lah

So close but yet...

Well.. I wish I had a Macbook and a bass guitar now.

Cheers to a new year and another chance to get it right

Oprah Winfrey

Lets Go Picnic

Dates trees

The weather in Dubai is getting chiller by the day. This week a wind called Shamal is bringing in more cool wind from the west and in effect it has lowered down the temperature to minimum 22 degrees Celsius, especially at night.

Grass on desert land

My wife, Adrin and I definitely enjoy this weather very much as we get to wear new warm clothes and do what the peoples of Dubai do in this season, that is - PICNIC !

One thing I noticed about the parks in Dubai is that they are very well maintained. It comes with a price though around AED3.00 to AED20.00 per entry per person. Initially I wondered how do they grow the grass and the trees on a desert. I found out it is not an easy task for them as every tree, grassy spot and bush in Dubai need to be watered automatically by dedicated system of underground pipe tubes. Back home in Malaysia we could just throw a seed or plant a flower stem and it will grow steadily without we realise it or sometime we don't have to do anything and some plants will grow especially lalang.

In Dubai we have been to a few parks like Zaabel Park (entrance fee 5 dirhams per person), Safa Park (entrance fee 3 dirhams per person) and Jumeirah Beach Park (entrance fee 5 dirhams per person and 20 dirhams per car).



The other day, we went to Al Ain city which is about 160km east of Dubai. Al Ain is located further in to the desert area but it is not all sand and dust here because Al Ain is surrounded by a number of oasis. In fact Al Ain is also called "The Garden City of the Gulf" because of its greenery, lush parks and dates/ palm trees. We went to one of its public parks called Hili Archeological Park which is so named because there are a few archeological excavation sites in the park where they have found artefacts of desert people dated as old as 7000 years ago. The entrance fee for Hili Archeological Park was very cheap at 1 dirhams and on that day we went in for free. Besides the grand sight of mountains bordering between UAE and Oman and the archeological sites, one good thing I remembered about the park was that it was really quite. There were not many people in Hili Archeological Park on that day. I lay down on a picnic mat, closed my eyes and tried to focus on my hearing, but there was no sound at all. I felt asleep in no time until Adrin slapped me on my face...huh...



This week is going to be the last week for my wife and Adrin before they go back to Kuala Lumpur. I will definitely miss them after this and more so there will be no more picnic for me.

Life goes on....

I don't bother about how bad the economy is. If I can find a place to go picnic that is a quality of life.

First Birthday in Dubai

Over excited !

On 21 NOVEMBER 2008 we celebrated the birthday of Muhammad Adrin. It was a very happy occasion for my wife and I and a new experience for both of us too. Because it was the FIRST birthday anniversary of our son ! and in addition to the happy note is that we celebrated it in Dubai !

Adrin woke up very early on his special day at 5.00 a.m. My wife and I tried to get him to sleep but he suddenly laughed and clapped his hands. Then we realised that it was his birthday and he was ready to celebrate. So after breakfast we went to the Mall of Emirates and bought him gifts and cake.

His idea was to touch the fire, not to blow it.

Confused on where has the fire gone

Adrin was waiting for his birthday gifts from this store

Last weekend, we went to visit Dragon Mart in International City. Dubai claimed that this is the biggest shopping mall with all Chinese products under one roof outside China. Well I can confirm that this shopping mall is VERY big and you can get all sorts of Chinese products from toys to forklift inside this mall.

This boy was having a good time loitering in front of the Dragon Mart

My wife like Dragon Mart very much simply because she can get the right size t-shirt for herself and she can bargain the price. My 2-cents advice when dealing with Chinese products... never ever buy their electronic goods. Or if you still want to buy, do not expect it to last long and covered with warranty (yeah I wrote like this but I bought a remote controlled fan from Dragon Mart..very cheap Dhs75 only). As long as it has no mechanical parts inside it, buying Chinese products may worth your money (make sure you got it cheap). As an example, we are still amazed with the fact that we could buy a 10 dirhams t-shirt in Dragon Mart. That was the cheapest bargain we ever got here in Dubai.

Couldn't resist the temptation

The store at the back was selling all kinds of neon lamps


This store provides a lot of towels to choose from

Adrin and his new winter jumper (part of his birthday gifts)

And for me, I like the only Chinese restaurant inside Dragon Mart by the name of Sun Tour Restaurant, obviously because they serve delicious foods that suits my taste budds.

Cheers...

Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional

Life Has Never Been Happier

What a wonderful time I have now that my wife and son are here in Dubai. Although they will be here for mere 47 days but I have never felt happier ! I feel fantastic !

I was really amazed when I first saw my son Adrin at the airport. He has grown up pretty fast and for a moment I felt awkward, as if I left him for about a year whereas as a matter of fact it has only been just a month. When I left Adrin for Dubai, he was still a baby, but now he is a toddler who can walk, dance, talk a little and play piano ! He even smell differently and I told my wife about the smell and that if I were a lion, I might attack and eat the cub, because of the unfamiliar smell. Hehe..

Another great news is that I have rented a car and started to drive in Dubai. What a great experience ! In Dubai the road system is right hand driving system, that is to drive at the right side of the road. For that matter, the steering wheel is located at the left side of the dashboard. I have been familiarising myself with the right hand driving method since the first day I took a taxi ride in Dubai. It was not really difficult at first, it just that I have to keep reminding myself to "drive on the right ..drive on the right !" and when I come to a roundabout, "go anti clockwise...anti clockwise !".

I am not sure who is wrong and who is right on the countries' decision either to drive on the left or on the right. But if you see the coloured map of the world below, perhaps you could make your own conclusion.

Red = Drive on the right side of the road
Blue = Drive on the left side of the road

Map from Wikipedia

So far I am getting familiar with the routes from International City to office and vice versa as well as to Dubai Festival City and vice versa. I plan to drive to the new side of Dubai this weekend, i.e areas along the Sheikh Zayed Road leading to Abu Dhabi. Hatta and Oman are another nice places to be visited and quite near from my house.

So I have my wife and kid, a car, cheap petrol, a nice weather, (it is getting colder now in Dubai) big road and vast dessert in front of me. It is time for a serious exploration and more great photos mates !


Until then....

I don't care how poor a man is; if he has family, he's rich

Dan Wilcox and Thad Mumford
American comedy writers

Picture Perfect

Salammm, kifakkk...

It has been a week since I moved to International City, Dubai. I am getting used to its location, surrounding and most importantly the life in my home. Although generally speaking it feels lonely to be away from my wife and son. In order to avoid feeling bored, I cook, do laundry, clean the house and read books a lot. I also managed to change 2 lamp bulbs by myself but screwed up the third one...dang !

Last Friday, after Juma'ah prayer, I went to Dubai Festival City again, which is around 10 km from my house. This time I decided to check out the hypermarket situated next to Ikea. The hypermarket is call HYPER PANDA. I find the name a bit funny, thinking about the Panda joke my friends and I had in Dewangga Sakti.

HYPER PANDA is just like Carrefour and Tesco hypermarkets. The only difference is, it doesn't have its own packaged products, like Tesco Cola etc.. But to me, this hypermarket is very convenient to look for and shop for groceries. I tried to look for a Panda mascot, but nowhere to be seen.

Outside HYPER PANDA, are the lines of branded clothes and jewellery boutiques typical of shopping malls in Dubai. There are a few brand outlets which attract me such as Fred Perry and Marlboro Classic. I think my brother Apogee will like the collection in Fred Perry. The price of a polo shirt is AED320.00. But the shirt cutting and fabric are what I like the most, fitted to body, casual but yet rugged and street. Anybody interested?

Around 5.00 pm i walked out from the mall area to the canal walk besides the mall. The canal walk is lined between alfresco style dining area and a man-made canal. I enjoyed the desert breeze and people atmosphere here, including the Arab chics hehe...

Lalalala...

Enjoying creek breeze from the marina

Man made canal

I like bean bags !

It was then I got struck by a very scenic view that looked exactly like in a post card. I managed to snap a few pictures which are to me simply Picture Perfect !...subhanallah

View of Burj Al Arab from canal walk

Sunset at 5.15p.m

Marina and boats in Dubai Festival City

Maghrib time

On Saturday, I went out to meet Aidid, a Malaysian who has been in Dubai for almost 3 years. He is a famous blogger amongst the bloggers community in Dubai. We had a good kopitiam time in Burjuman Shopping Centre. I really thanked him for taking half a day spending time to show me places in Al Karama (Kg. Keramat?) especially a restaurant called Singapore Deli, which is run by a Singaporean and they sell Nasi Lemak ! The price is AED23.oo. For an hour in that restaurant, I felt like hanging around in Taman Melati, Gombak.

If I have car, I will come here every Friday for Malaysian foods !

Besides Aidid, I have met a few Malaysians before who have been very friendly and hospitable to me. Some of them have related to me their stories of struggle and experience in Dubai and I salute them for their bravery and survival. And one of them gave me a bottle of black soy ketchup Cap Kipas Udang. A very treasured item in Dubai. Guard it with your soul !!

Later guys,...

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes
but in having new eyes"

Marcel Proust
French Novelist and Author
(1871 - 1922)

Baiti Jannati (My House is My Heaven)

Yess, I finally settled in my own rented house in Dubai. Now I can take a deep relief breath to think that I have a place to call home in this expensive hot desert country. It was not an easy and smooth process though, considering the initial plan was to move in on 23 October but it got delayed until yesterday.

The one thing I hate and come to learn now is that dealing with people in this country, I have got to have Plan A, B and C, otherwise I will feel very frustrated. A promise here, means agreement subject to if-I-dont-have-other-plan-on-that-time changes. I can tell you of all the promises that were given to me, none of them has been kept. And people here are generally hospitable and they do not like to give negative answer or bad news to guests or clients, so their response to my request or query is certainly in a positive tone. If I ask "how long more should I wait for you?"..the standard answer would be "in another 15 minutes, inshallah". But the real time is another 1 hour. If I ask "are you coming?"..the standard answer is "yes I am on the way, you wait" but he probably is already on the way to a different direction other than to me. And as I said they will not give me bad news, so they never call to explain that they got a problem or other matter and will be late for me or not coming at all. I just have to understand (when I call them again) that the delay or cancellation was, of course, unintended and inevitable. Everything is "insha'allah".

OK, enough about complaining.

The overall good feeling which I have about my studio flat is that it is actually bigger compared to the video images I checked in the Youtube. The interior design is neat and modern with central air-condition, hot and cold water supply, kitchen cabinet, built in wardrobe, bath tub and a balcony ! The flat is fully furnished with 2-seaters sofa, washing machine, cooking stove with oven, refrigerator, TV, dvd player, double bed, dressing table, dining table, side table, vacuum machine, iron, cutleries and to make up the delay, my landlord paid for cleaning and maintenance service until April 2009. And he did't say "inshallah I will pay" but he said "I have paid". So...you know...

The King's bed and couch

I ordered this Lebanese meal as dinner by home delivery at 12.30 in the morning !


The wardrobe to the Land of Narnia

In order to pimp my crib, I went to Dubai Festival City, a shopping complex as big as the Curve shopping area in Mutiara Damansara. And being lazy and in a hurry, I went to shop for bed sheet, pillow, dining wares etc at the Ikea store, a one stop centre for me, of which setting and prices are not much different from our own Ikea store in Mutiara Damansara. The only difference is that their food court offer more food selection than that ping pong-sized meatball in Ikea Mutiara Damasara's food court.

The entrance

The Master Chef's kitchen
(but soon will be taken over by the Queen herself !)

Before dipping myself in a hot steamy bath tub..ahhh !

I guess one of the Malay's trait is that Malay is a natural hommie. By this what I mean is, a typical Malay always emphasize on a comfortable and nicely decorated house. You can observe it when you visit another Malay house during Hari Raya. Same goes to me, my immediate mission is to make my new flat as comfortable as heaven whenever I call for it from work or elsewhere. It is also to impress my wife and kid when they come visit me in the middle of November..hehehe. You will see honey.

Tonight I plan to go home on time (if my driver stick to his inshaallah promise) and do groceries so that I can cook at home.

I like to wish myself "Welcome Home..yeah !"

"Cleanliness and order are not matters of instinct; they are matters of education, and like most great things, you must cultivate a taste for them"

Benjamin Disraeli
(British politician, 1804-1881)

Underground Bands in Dubai

I have pretty much settled in with my office condition. I know how to describe its location, the staff, the bosses, cool lunch places (but still looking for cooler ones) and style of work. I have also obtained my Residence Visa which entitle me for UAE bank accounts, property rental & purchase and UAE driving licence.

I am officially a resident of UAE

The one thing which is pending, is my crib. But I hope I will move to my flat by this Thursday or Friday as I have been informed by the landlord last night. Otherwise there will be a big hole in my pocket !

I quite like the location of my new hotel. Everything is within a walking distance, so I can save money from the exorbitant taxi fares and get to exercise by walking a lot. There is a mosque just in front of the hotel, a Carrefour, the Creekfront, kebab stalls and last but not least Karachi Darbar Restaurant, which is a famous Pakistani restaurant, recommended by my friend Qamjat before I come to Dubai. I ate mutton briyani accompanied by chicken chilli and man.....I cried in happiness (because it was so delicious).

Mutton Briyani & Chicken Chilli

Ok enough about mutton and coming back to the main topic, yesterday I spent half the day browsing books in Magrudy which is a local bookshop chain in UAE. After purchased a new novel by John Grisham - The Appeal, I headed off to Starbuck (no choice, no kopitiam here). Whilst having my coffee, it strucked me on how long I have not been enjoying my music. Yes I do listen to and watch a lot of music videos in Dubai MTV but those are not my type of music. My music means the underground metal music and Malay traditional folk songs.

So I headed off to Virgin music store and approched one of the staff. I asked him whether there was any underground metal albums from the UAE. I wasn't expecting anything as I was just fishing information. But to my surprise, the dreadlock staff showed me a CD by a band called BILOCATE. I listened to its first track and WOW....they play dark death metal in the style range of Vital Remains and My Dying Bride. The vocal growl and the double bass kick really raised my hairs. The band is actually a Jordanian death metal band but their singer and frontman, works in Dubai. So I bought the CD. For further information you can check them out in their BILOCATE website and Dubai TimeOut magazine and metal underground.com website. You can listen some of their tracks in Bilocate Youtube.

I asked the dreadlock staff again whether there was any venue in Dubai which holds metal gig. The dreadlock staff called his long-haired mat salleh colleague and the mat salleh informed me about a place called Touch Club where every Wednesday night they hold event called Blacklist, which feature local underground bands. They gave me the club's address and I think it is not far from my hotel.

I also found out another local underground act in Dubai which is called NERVECELL, who was said to be the veteran of death metal scene in the UAE. Checkout their Nervecell website. I will visit their merchandiser next week in Mazaya Shopping Centre (I have been to this place for dinner last week but did not notice a music store). You can see their video footage in Nervecell Youtubes.

I have also read that every year there is a Dubai DesertRock Festival and amongst the bands that have played last years were Sepultura (2005), Megadeth (2006), In Flames (2007), Iron Maiden (2007), Prodigy (2007), Korn (2008) and many others. Coming soon is Opeth in March 2009.

Damn, I am digging more about this ! If you guys know anything about underground scene in this region, please drop me a line. I feel aliveeeee....

"Forever Underground"

Album by Vital Remains
(1997)