مطار أبو ظبي الدولي (Abu Dhabi International Airport)

Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH), also known as Matar Abu Dhabi Al-Duwali (مطار أبو ظبي الدولي) is one of the most ridiculously small airport for all the traffic it has to handle. The airport terminal is circular, with a big beehive-like structure in the middle. Around the circumference of this circle are the duty free shops, a Costa Coffee, a Piano Bar and a small economical restaurant.

I was at the airport around midnight and breezed through check-in with a nice Etihad ground staff and polite immigration staff. Inside the circular terminal, I was greeted by a huge crowd of people of all nationalities waiting for their flights. It was so crowded that there was no seats available for a rest. The internet kiosks were crowded with people queueing up to check emails. It doesn't help that some hog the terminals, chatting on MSN and updating their blogs! Amidst all these are the huge crowd of Pakistani and Indian laborers waiting for their flights home. The toilets are clean but almost equally as crowded and it doesn't help to have them next to the prayer room.

Some people even commented that there is a feeling of claustrophobia inside the 'beehive airport'. Won't disagree with them especially for those who had to wait for hours for their next connecting flight. And with so little seats, most have to stand or just sit on the floor.

And just as I was about to go to the gate, I heard a commotion in the duty free zone. Some Arab guy has gone beserk shouting and screaming along with his crying kids. Don't know what it was about, the only word I could understand was 'I demand some respect here!!!' Within the seconds, the police were there with some Emirati officials. After some negotiation, he and his family were escorted out. Hmmm.... interesting end to my Abu Dhabi visit. Soon after that I was already on board my Etihad flight for a peaceful 7 hour flight to KL. The first thing that greeted me when the plane landed was rainfall! Wooo.... have not seen any rain for a month. So nice to see that rain actually exists!

Seeking forgiveness

I came across this rather interesting news on the front page of Khaleej Times few days back while waiting for my flight out of Abu Dhabi. Christian leaders asking for forgiveness? Hmmm....

Good Bye Again to Abu Dhabi!

1 month has passed and finally I will be leaving Abu Dhabi for home! I can’t say it was a very tiring job this time – I pretty much had a lot of free time to do a 2-day job in 1 month! Obviously I shan’t divulge information on how I did that lest my boss finds out! But it was a much more easy-going and tensionless 1-month at work – so I can’t really complaint about this assignment. But it has to come to an end. Finally got the green light to demobilize from site today and by middle of this week I should be back in Kuala Lumpur. And of course if my leave is approved, I’ll only be back in Pasir Gudang next week.

This shall only mean that I will have a break before returning in February for another bout of life in the desert. Only hope is I get to spend CNY at home before that! By the looks of it, I have a fair chance that I will get to pocket all the angpows before leaving! Insha-allah (إنشاءالله)!

So… for the time being, I have to say again (in advance) –

Good bye Abu Dhabi!
(!مع السلامة أبو ظبي)

Pan the Network

Maybe everyone already knows this but I just tried it today. I used my mobile phone to connect to the Etisalat 3G internet network. Then I connected the laptop to the mobile via bluetooth using the ‘pan network’ option. And from there I used my laptop to surf the internet through my mobile! Quite useful considering I have no permanent internet connection nowadays in my site office. But if only the 3G network in Jebel Dhanna is a bit more stable. It keeps on dropping back to GPRS every now and then and it’s really very slow with GPRS. Anyway, I was just checking updates on my flight details and it was confirmed! Next Etihad flight out of Abu Dhabi to KL!

Global Warming, Region Cooling

I listened attentively to a friend giving his theory on the effects of global warming on the Middle East. Of course we’ve heard of rising sea levels inundating Bangladesh, crazily hot summers in Europe, more typhoons and storms, etc. as a result of global warming. I’ve even watched ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ which made as if the world is coming to an end soon unless we act now. Anyway, I’m not going into the long story of the global warming issue. But what I’m really interested in is how it affects the Middle East. Of course, I’ve no data or statistics for this region, so I’m just relying on a Pakistani IT guy who has some theory of his own.

According to him, the global warming phenomenon has a reverse effect on the Middle East – does it mean we are having a global cooling here? Well… from his experience, the summers are no longer so hot in this part of the world compared to say 10 years ago. Well, at least it did not top 50 degC in Abu Dhabi this year or last year. Ok… perhaps it did make it to 49.5 degC but the point is it’s still not 50degC yet! And he further mentioned that the winters are getting colder and colder nowadays. I’ve made a check on the UAE metereological records and the MIN temperature recorded in Fujairah was 4.5 degC during the last winter. Apparently, the winters now are cold enough that you will freeze to death unless you have some proper warm clothing. His experience told him that this was not the case 10 years ago.

He also expounded on the necessity to have proper drainage system now because it’s raining more in recent years. Only recently has the government been building some kind of drainage system. In the past it was not necessary since there was hardly any rain. Nowadays, heavy rainfall and flash floods are becoming common during the winter. That’s true – I’ve seen pictures of flooded Sharjah and Al Ain. And it’s true that the drainage is grossly insufficient here. But then again, the drains (if any exists) are always clogged with sand especially after a sandstorm – so I don’t see how they’ll help to drain the rainwater. For the record, it tends to rain after a sandstorm!

So while the rest of the world is worried about global warming – maybe there’s a respite of sorts for the Middle East. That is if the words of my Pakistani friend are to be trusted! A cooler winter, a not-so-damning-hot summer and a bit more rainfall may just be what this region needs to be a bit more habitable.

70% Pay Rise?

That’s how much a pay rise you’ll get if you are an employee of the UAE federal government. The 70% pay rise was just announced and will take effect in January. Apparently, the government employees are facing a hard time with rising cost of living of late. Furthermore the Dirham has dropped 20% against other major currencies (dragged by its peg to the USD). Therefore, the pay rise was ‘timely’! Gosh… can you imagine it? 70% pay rise! If I earn Dh10000, I would end up with a rise of Dh7000! That’s life for you in UAE and some Emiratis are still complaining that their government ain’t listening to them. I was told each Emirati is given a free villa and that electricity (or was it water) is free! Too bad, in Malaysia we don’t get a free villa (not even a discount for me). There is no free water or electricity here although we almost give water for free to Singapore. And since we do not have a 150-year oil reserve, I guess we have to wait ‘long-long’ for such benefits. On top of that, the locals have a passion for big cars. Some have so many maids in their free villas that the family members are outnumbered. How I wish I can become a local too? Besides the hot and humid summer, life is not bad with so many benefits.

Other news in UAE – it has been foggy in the mornings for the past week across Abu Dhabi, Dubai and the northern emirates. The worst affected was the Abu Dhabi airport which had to be closed for hours every day (usually from midnight till morning). I calculated that my Etihad flight from KL lands in Abu Dhabi at midnight and that the flight to KL departs at 3 am. Therefore, I guess the KL flights were definitely paralysed by the fog. And it seems that the weather forecaster found ‘no reasons’ why the fogs would not persist for some time! Great news indeed! But at least fogs are better than sand storms.

Korean Taboos

I gathered the following top taboos in Korea on a program which I watched yesterday on Arirang. Aren’t most of them quite similar to Chinese customs?

No. 5 – Unlucky numbers
The number 4 because it sounds like death (very Chinese huh?). The Koreans also dislike the number 9 as it symbolises the ending. For example the age 29 is the end of 20’s before you enter the 30’s.

No. 4 – Things not to eat before an exam
Everyone knows Korea has one of the toughest university entrance exams in the world. And they also have some taboos on what not to eat before exams. Seaweed is a no-no because it’s slippery. In Korean, stick = pass and slip = fail. Students will also not eat banana, as the banana skin is slippery! They would also avoid eggs or doughnuts since these look like the number zero! In fact they will not eat anything round during a run-up to an exam.

No. 3 – Things not to do at night
Don’t these sound so Malaysian?
Do not whistle to avoid an encounter with snakes.
Do not sweep after dark as this will sweep the Gods away. (Koreans believe than the nights belong to Gods).
Do not trim your fingernails, as this practise is part of a funeral ritual.

No. 2 – Mind your spoons & chopsticks
In Korea, it is considered rude to stick your spoon or chopsticks into rice. This is part of some ancestral ritual, pretty much like the Chinese! Also you are not supposed to place your spoon upside down as this means that you refuse to eat what is served to you.

No. 1 – The colour ‘red’
Do not writer your name with red ink. This is because when someone dies, a person’s name in the register is crossed out with red ink! Although the modern register in Korea is computerised, they still use red letters to indicate removal of the name of a deceased! Do you also know that until recently, the colour red is considered taboo? This changed after the 2002 World Cup when red was used to symbolise the Korean spirit. Nowadays, red has become auspicious in Korea!


Besides watching the program on taboos, I also watched a Korean film called ‘Perfect Roommate’. It was a story about a lady writer who just got a new roommate (actually a housemate) who is a nice and attentive guy. The guy was the perfect housemate as he cooks, takes care of the house and took good care of her as well. Now, the lady has a boyfriend (who’s married), i.e. they are in a complicated relationship. In one rendezvous the boyfriend met the new roommate and since then avoided her! It turned out that the boyfriend had a homosexual relationship with the ‘perfect roommate’ at one time. And the perfect roommate was not really that perfect as he is staying with the lady with an ulterior motive! The ending was quite sad but in case any of you are interested to watch, I’ll avoid spilling out the beans.

Foggy Saturday

It was a really foggy Saturday morning when I headed to Abu Dhabi for a day trip. The fog was really thick and the radio DJ actually commented that the fog was ridiculous. As I was driving, I could not even see beyond the next street light and mind you, I was on the highway! It feels a bit like driving blindly, not sure what is ahead of me and what to expect! According to the newspapers, the wind from the north has brought the humidity inland from the sea but the wind from the desert did not blow out this moisture. As a result, fog was formed when the temperature drops over night. Some parts of the UAE have already recorded temperature below 20degC now. All I knew was it makes driving tiring since at times, I cannot even drive above 80kph as I could not see anything ahead of me. Many cars and trailers actually pulled to the side of the road to wait for the fog to clear. It also makes Abu Dhabi rather hazy throughout the day.

Anyway, I still made it to Abu Dhabi. I visited the Heritage Village at the Breakwater. It was more like a handicraft village with live demonstration of handicraft making of pottery, bronze ware, Arabian daggers and carpentry. I strolled around and felt quite bored. It was a far cry from the Heritage Village of Dubai. It does have an ‘old souq’ in it selling typical Emirati souvenirs. I also find a cow used to lift water from the well to irrigate farmland, which I thought was quite interesting. And as usual I enjoyed looking at black and white photos of what Abu Dhabi was like in the days before they found oil. I always had a liking for B&W photos – dunno why.

After a short stroll there I went to Marina Mall to chill out. Hey, I need some civilization after spending days in the desert. And some crazy part of me actually submitted to the idea of catching a movie at the cinema despite it costing Dh30 (approx. RM27)! No wonder I saw people paying for their movie tickets with credit cards. This was actually outrageous, as the last time I was here the ticket only costs Dh20. A 50% inflation? And another funny thing was the cinema is actually free-seating, i.e. no seat numbers assigned. Funny… And the advertisement part before the movie – I actually saw the ‘Malaysia Truly Asia’ advertisement. Kind of a reminder of Malaysia for me even in Abu Dhabi. And what did I watch? Well… I watched Ben Stiller’s latest movie ‘Heart Break Kid’. It was not bad, typical Ben Stiller movie about a guy who got married with a girl whom he later regrets. Lots of suggestive humor and the use of the f*** word which is surprisingly not muted or censored here! But it was not really the best comedy from him in recent years… and he does look a bit old now with grey streaks on his hair.

That was basically my Saturday. On Sunday, it’s back to work. Yes, we work on Sundays here.

Jebel Hafeet

Some pictures from Jebel Hafeet (جبل حفيت), in the outskirts of Al Ain.

Site blocked

Ladies and gentleman, may I present to you the famous page that pops up every now and then when you access the internet in the UAE. I use to call it the Etisalat red page (Etisalat is the ISP that creates this page on behalf of the government) Found out that some applications on facebook like moods, likeness and even virtual bookshelf are banned in UAE. Skype is banned as I've learnt long time ago. And I was trying to check the Big Sweep results to see if I've turned into a millionaire over night, but lo behold the page is banned. Maybe my millionaire dream will have to wait.

Recap on UAE

Many people still can’t get it – where on earth am I now? So to recap, I have here the map of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). To the south of UAE is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to the east is Oman and to the west Qatar. I have marked the place where I’m working now (Jebel Dhanna – جابل الظنة ) as well as the nearest town (Al Ruwais - الرويش). The locations of these places are approximately 250km south west of the capital Abu Dhabi (أبو ظبي ). But both Jebel Dhanna and Ruwais are located in the emirate of Abu Dhabi. You can consider an emirate as a state with its own ruler like the 9 states of Malaysia with Sultans.

The United Arab Emirates is known as Al-Amarat Al-Arabiyah Al-Mutahidah (الامارات العربية المتحدة ). Translated it means ‘the Emirate the Arabic the United). Don’t ask me why there is a ‘the’ or ‘al’ before each word! The UAE comprises 7 emirates (which I’ve underlined in white in the map) of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, Um Al Quwain, Ajman and Fujairah. Each emirate has its own Ruler (pretty much like each state in Malaysia has its own Sultan). By tradition, the President of UAE is the Ruler of Abu Dhabi which is now Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan. The Vice-President and Prime Minister is the Ruler of Dubai, which is now Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al-Maktoum.

Of course most people have heard of Dubai which is somewhat the ‘New York’ of the Middle East with its mega projects like the 7-star Burj al-Arab hotel as well as the tallest building in the world Burj Dubai. Abu Dhabi is lesser-known but is the capital city of UAE. Abu Dhabi is also the main source of UAE’s wealth with about 90% of the oil wealth coming from it. The place where I’m staying (Ruwais) is actually the biggest oil refinery town in Abu Dhabi – something like Kerteh in Terengganu. The other emirates are probably unheard of outside of the UAE. Sharjah is known for its cultural legacy. Sharjah is to Dubai as JB is to Singapore! Fujairah is the only emirate facing the Indian Ocean and is known to have beautiful beaches. I don’t know much of anything of significance in the other northern emirates. If you remember I’ve just visited the oasis town of Al Ain which is a part of the Abu Dhabi emirate. Al Ain borders Oman and is the birth place of the ruling Al Nahyan family.
If you wish to visit the UAE, the best times to come are between the months of November till March. After that it gets a bit too hot. From April, the weather would be more or less above 40degC. Avoid July and August at all cost (even though this is the cheapest time to come) as the weather will be more than 45degC with humidity touching 100%. Basically you’ll perspire amazingly and the air is so stuffy it’s hard to breathe. Don’t be conned by the ‘Dubai Summer Surprises’ campaign… you’ll not be surprised, you’ll be shocked! For Malaysians, no visa required to enter UAE – at the airport you’ll be given a 30-day visit pass. Etihad flies daily from KL (except Monday) to Abu Dhabi while the Emirates and MAS flies to Dubai.

If you need some guides for things to do in UAE, my virtual tourist pages of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Al Ain may be of some assistance.

Mystery of the missing laptop

A terrible thing happened yesterday. Someone’s laptop was stolen from the power station much to the shock of everyone. This has never happened before here and as anyone in UAE will tell you, crime rate is generally very low. It created quite a lot of fuss as somehow someone got their hands on a laptop and escaped amidst tight security. And of course the laptop owner was very upset over the whole incident.
Power station security is very tight. Every car entering and leaving the station is checked by the guards. The guards will actually scan the underneath of the car with a mirror to check if anything is hidden underneath. The boot has to be opened for inspection each time. Laptops and cameras to be brought into the plant need permits. There is even an army stationed at the gate and the main road leading to the station has an army checkpoint. The army makes regular patrols around the perimeter of the station as well as the surrounding areas. Therefore the security is extremely tight here compared to a regular power station in Malaysia.

So, when a laptop goes missing from the plant it created a hell lot of commotion. A police report was actually lodged and the CID came investigating. Hmmm… I wonder if a CID will actually investigate the case of a missing laptop in Malaysia? And now I take an extra few minutes to clear the security checkpoint each time, as the already tight security has just become tighter.

Arabian winter is coming soon

The Arabian winter is setting in. The nights are becoming chilly and fogs are the norm in the early mornings. This is the best time to visit the gulf region with the punishing summer now gone and the beautiful winter arriving. It could get pretty cold during this time – soon a jacket would be a necessity even in the afternoon! Last year, the temperature dropped to 5 degC in some emirates. And I heard that some years back it actually snowed in Dubai! Flowers will also bloom during the next few months and cities like Abu Dhabi and Dubai would be like the Netherlands with flowers at every imaginable corner of the street. An array of reds, blues, greens, yellows and oranges is a welcoming sight to all visitors. It is really a wonder how the things could change in just a few months time. Back in July and August, the mercury was testing the 50degC mark but now it is trying to reach out to 5 degC. The fogs are very thick in the morning with visibility plunging to less than 100m sometimes and it could be dangerous for drivers. But the weather is wonderful for nice evening strolls and BBQ. It would also be nice to enjoy a steamboat except that I don’t think they have such a thing here. If only the winter is here to stay for long. But come May or June, the summer will again set in and it will be pretty hot and humid again.

No more 1 sen coins

Just read from The Star that 1 sen coins would no longer be circulated in Malaysia soon. Everything would be rounded up or down to the next 5 sen. This means if the item is RM20.01, it will be rounded down to RM20 and if the item is say RM20.03 or RM20.04, it would be rounded up to RM20.05. But this is usually a better way as I’ve always ended up with a bunch of 1 sen and 5 sen coins when I shop/ eat in Malaysia. These coins are quite cumbersome and they simply end up in a plastic box in my room till eternity.

This is pretty much how it’s done here in the UAE as well. There are no 1 fils coins here (at least I have never seen any) and business has always been done by rounding the figure. Even 5 fils are a rarity here. But the ‘kiasu’ people of Malaysia may start to lament that they are losing 1 sen each time they buy a burger and that they end up losing RM3.65 if they have to buy a burger every day of the year. As the saying goes – every cent counts!

Want to know what's happening back home?

I’ve come to know of an opposition rally last weekend in Kuala Lumpur. While I’m not much of an opposition supporter, I always find such news hard to come by in the Malaysian mainstream media. It seems to have been relegated to side-news by The Star. In fact, I get more information whenever I watch or read the online version of Channel News Asia (http://www.channelnewsasia.com) or even when I pick up a copy of the Gulf News or Khaleej Times in UAE or when I watch Al Jazeera on TV. It’s a wonder how sometimes we depend on overseas channels to find out what’s happening in our own home country. I heard that recently Pakistanis in Pakistan had to call their relatives in Dubai to find out what has happened in Pakistan after an emergency order was declared!

But it’s true that my view and perspective of Malaysia have changed ever since I started watching Singaporean news in JB and even more when I started reading Middle Eastern news reports. For example, I’ve never been really aware of massive illegal logging and its huge environmental impact happening in Sarawak. Did you know that the indigenous people of Sarawak set up a blockade some time ago to block loggers from entering the forest? Have you heard of the mass protest by some Indians in front of the Prime Minister’s Office? Ever had a chance to watch Anwar giving an interview since he was released? Have you read Farish Noor’s articles on racial and religious issues in our country? If you think you’re missing out on a lot of info, maybe it’s worth tuning in to foreign media from time-to-time! Not that I’m anti-government but I just feel that we have the right to know more of what’s really happening in order to make informed choices. Whilst Malaysia is a beautiful country and I’m proud to be a Malaysian, there are still many areas that desperately need improvement and hopefully that will come progressively as we move ahead.

Visiting Al Ain

I visited the oasis town of Al Ain over the weekend. Two things come to mind in Al Ain – oasis and roundabout. Of course, this is the largest oasis in UAE with many natural greens which are so hard to come across in the Middle East. And this must also be the roundabout city of the world – there must be hundreds of roundabouts at every intersection of the town. With the mad drivers around, it is really quite interesting to try to tackle one roundabout!

The highlight of the town is of course the oasis itself which is a huge expanse of greens (mainly palm trees) located smacked in the middle of town. The oasis is irrigated with the ancient Falaj system of channels and cloth barriers. Around the oasis are many of the town’s interesting tourist attractions – Al Jahli Fort, Sultan Fort, Al Ain National Museum and Al Ain Palace Museum. Of particular interest would be the Al Ain Palace Museum. This was the home of the ruling Al-Nahyan family of Abu Dhabi. I caught a glimpse of how life was for the royalty before the discovery of oil! I got to see the royal courtyard, private residences, majlis, coffee room and even the royal kitchen (looks like our Mamak kitchen!) Oh…. I even found the royal bed! Not very majestic but very Arabian!

Another must-see would be the Al Ain Zoo. It reminds me of a smaller-scale Singapore Zoo – really very well run and maintained. The zoo is basically desert-themed with many of the rare Arabian animals like the oryx and gazelle. Surprisingly I didn’t see any camels or dromedaries. But I found my ‘rakan sekampung’ – the Orang Utan! The Al Ain Zoo is one of the biggest in the Middle East and is quite a surprisingly nice tourist attraction.

Another interesting attraction was the Jebel Hafeet (Jebel means mountain). This rocky mountain is reached by a 15km winding road which brought me up to a 1500-m peak overlooking the town of Al Ain and its surrounding desert. There is a sense of calm and tranquillity up there – a unique geological site.

Diwali in UAE

Yesterday was Diwali (or Deepavali as it’s known in Malaysia). Although there is a huge Indian expatriate community in UAE, it is quite a quiet affair. Especially so here in Shuweihat where everyone is immersed with the ongoing outage works. The joy of Diwali seems to be drowned by the chaos of opening the turbine. Wished some of my Indian friends ‘Happy Diwali’ much to their surprise. They were surprised I even know that it is Diwali. Many of them had no idea that Diwali is a public holiday in Malaysia. Some are even surprised that we have a thriving Indian community back home (who are citizens of Malaysia!) But it was nice to see the sparkle in their eyes when I wished them, as if to tell that they are happy that someone remembers it’s Diwali!

Talking about the Indian community in Malaysia, I watched a documentary on Al Jazeera channel couple of days ago. It’s called People Power. There was a segment in the show which talks about racial polarization in Malaysia. Apparently there was a huge demonstration by the Indian community some weeks ago at the Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya. The show went on to depict how many Indians feel displaced in Malaysia in matters like education, religion conversion, economy etc. There was also a few minutes dedicated to discuss the May 13th incident and how despite the fact that 38 years have lapsed since then not much improvement can be seen in racial relations in Malaysia. In fact, people seem to have become more polarized. Well… it would be nice if you could catch a re-run of that on Al Jazeera channel. I will not discuss any further on such sensitive issue.

Oh… by the way…. HAPPY DIWALI or HAPPY DEEPAVALI to all my Indian friends! Wish you and your family a happy, joyous and dazzling festival of lights!

6 Countries in 1 Day

Was in China, India, Persia, Egypt, Tunisia and Andalusia all in one day, yesterday! Well... inside Ibn Battuta Mall, Dubai anyway. This shopping mall is made up of 6 courts depicting the above 6 civilizations. Quite a nice job done. The Chinese court really transports you to China with the red forts and bamboo shoots. Not bad... Had lunch with a colleague there - Chinese food (nothing like what we have in Malaysia, but then again I can't be too choosy in Middle East!)

Dubai is as it is - ever-changing, maddening traffic and construction everywhere. I visited to collect some parts from my manager who's now based there. It was only a day-trip but I think I'll come again one of these days to pay a visit to my friends there.

Can't wait for the weekend to come, I've planned a trip to Al Ain. Al Ain is an oasis town about 1 hour away from Abu Dhabi city. This is where natural greens can be found! I would also be going up Jabel Hafeet - the tallest peak in UAE. That will be my main pre-occupation for the next couple of days... Forget about work.

USD vs EURO

Saw this little comic in the Gulf News today. The falling USD has been in the minds of many people in UAE. The falling USD (to which the UAE dirham is pegged) and the rising Indian Rupee and Filipino Peso have affected many expatriates here. Many see their income depleting by 10 - 20% when converted to their home currency. To make things worse, people here now have to spend almost 50% more on food and groceries. While rental rates rise like 40% per annum. Terrible! That's why so many people are saying it's not worth it and are returning home. But for everyone who leaves, there is a long queue of people wanting to come in. All for the lucrative oil money. Only good news is, petrol is cheap. Imagine a full tank for RM60? Haven't seen that for years! Well... God knows what will happen in years to come with crude oil moving close to USD100.

Left-Hand Drive

• It is weird why the world can’t decide which side of the road to drive on? Why does UK, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Indonesia and some other countries drive on the left side (hence right-hand driving) whilst the rest of the world drives on the right (left-hand driving)??? Why can’t we just standardize everything and spare everyone the confusion? I even heard from a Sudanese friend, that Sudan used to be right-hand but they have changed all the left-hand some years back. Must have been a major exercise. Imagine trying to do that in Kuala Lumpur!
  
  I’ve been driving in UAE the past couple of days – left-hand driving as opposed to Malaysia! Some points to share:
   Most common (less harmful) mistake is always walking to the wrong side of the car when getting on it. Countless times I have walked to the right only to find that the steering wheel is on the left!
   Groping the left for the hand brake and gear which was not to be found.
   Trying to put on the signal indicator but instead had the wiper on. (Happens if you drive Waja/ Tiara too instead of Sonata!)
   Tend to drive more to the right side of the road. Except in UAE the middle of the road is not on the right. What I find there is the road kerb! Ooops…. Which is when my German friend, Eddy commented that the road doesn’t seem big enough for my Lancer.
   Confusion when reaching a junction! Contrary to popular belief, it’s much easier if the traffic is heavy. Then there would not be any ambiguity on which side is the correct side to turn into. But in deserted areas like out-of-the-way highways and residential zones, I had to spend a second or two to get my lanes right! (Almost turned into the wrong one that day in Ruwais! Luckily I got my senses right!)
   Some roundabouts (or circus as it’s called in Singapore – hilarious thing to call a roundabout) can also be quite dangerous if there are not road dividers leading to them.
   Feels funny turning the head the other direction while reversing the car.
  
  Well… those are some of the issues of driving on a different side of the road. No worries, I am getting used to it as time passes. The problem would be when I have to be rehabilitated when I return to Malaysia!
  
  Another thing to be careful about when driving in the UAE is that there are many crazy drivers around. The highway speed limit is 100 kph in the Abu Dhabi western region and 120 kph in Dubai. But people drive close to 200 kph all the time, swerving in and out, as they liked. There are the Indian and Pakistani drivers who drive madly like they do in their home countries. Not to mention the rich, young and fiery Arabs speeding along with their sports cars! No wonders why accidents are so common. In fact there was a 6 car pile up two days back at Musaffah, near Abu Dhabi. I remembered there was a 20 car accident during the last winter in Dubai. So, drive vigilantly and carefully in UAE!

Short History of Gulf Airlines

As promised, I will give a short description on the airlines here. There was only one combined-airline for the states of Bahrain, Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Oman until quite recently. The airline was known as Gulf Air – maybe some of you may have heard of it. One weird thing is that although Abu Dhabi and Dubai are in the same country (UAE), they operate different airlines. Dubai as I’ve said operates the Emirates Airline which is quite famous.

Some years back, Qatar decided to pull out of the Gulf Air consortium and formed Qatar Airways. (Called Al-Qatariyah) Qatar Airways is famous for its cheap air fare (in comparison to other Middle Eastern airlines). Thus Doha became a ‘budget’ transit hub in the Middle East. In fact almost everyone on Qatar Airways are merely transiting in Doha (hardly anyone checks out there!)

Soon, Oman decided to have its own airlines known as Oman Air. Don’t think this is a very popular airline. And about 3 – 4 years back, Abu Dhabi decided that it was time to have its own airline and thus Etihad was born. I guess Etihad means ‘victory’ as in Al-Ittihad. In the early years, Etihad was known for its bad service and lousy planes. But recently it has up-ed its standard and is on par with Emirates. In fact, I would say that Etihad was probably the best airline I’ve taken so far. Worst could have been Lufthansa! (Then again, my experience with airlines is quite limited)

While all the countries decided to have their own airlines, Bahrain was left with Gulf Air which, by then was bleeding and loosing money like anything! I think it still is loosing money.

And that was the history of middle eastern airlines or rather gulf airlines. On to UAE – there are 3 airlines as far as I could remember! Etihad belonging to Abu Dhabi, Emirates belonging to Dubai and there is a smaller one belonging to Sharjah (think it’s called Sharjah Airlines). This is probably some kind of budget airline since Sharjah is after all the proposed destination by Air Asia X!

Re-Visiting Abu Dhabi

I’ve left Abu Dhabi for 4 months. But now I am back… back to meet old friends, back to tie up the loose ends (a.k.a. cleaning the shit), back to desert life… At least this time around I got a direct flight. I flew in direct using Etihad Airways. Many people asked me what airline this is… well, to the uninitiated, Etihad is the national airlines of Abu Dhabi. This is relatively a new airline. Its sister would be the more established and well-known Emirates Airlines which is operated by Dubai. I will blog later on the history of Middle Eastern airlines on another date (I got a summary of that from an Emirati friend).

Anyway, Etihad was a world-class airline… much better than Qatar Airways, Lufthansa or Malaysia Airlines. The service was good, the seats were comfortable and the in-flight entertainment very personalised. Everyone has his own screen and there is a huge selection of movies, dramas or music to choose from in their in-flight entertainment. The flight was surprisingly full – I guess many Arabs were returning home after their summer holidays. I sat next to a Malaysian lady who’s going back to Saudi Arabia! Gosh… a Malaysian woman working in Saudi! She works as a nurse in a hospital in Dhamman, which is just across from Bahrain. According to her, life in Saudi was terrible but the money was good. There are many restrictions for women there – cannot drive, cannot go out alone (in fact dangerous!). You see, women are basically second-class in Saudi! I wished her all the best and hope she survives there.

I arrived in Abu Dhabi airport past midnight. The airport looked exactly the same as I’ve left it. The inverted ‘bee hive’ is still the master center piece of the terminal. There was as usual a long queue of South Asians waiting for their entry permit while I breezed through the immigration counter. Then, I went straight to the car rental counter and drove more than 2 hours to Jebel Dhanna where I’ll again be staying for the next 1 month plus (Insha-allah!) Reached at 4am there and checked into the camp. Tired, exhausted but not sleepy. Nevertheless took a warm bath and headed to bed.

Good Bye Abu Dhabi! مع السلامة أبو ظبي

Ma'a salama Abu Dhabi (مع السلامة أبو ظبي)! Good bye Abu Dhabi! After 5 months in the emirates, I will be leaving tomorrow. It has been an interesting working experience - getting to work with people of different nationalities and diverse backgrounds. There were good and bad times, challenging and light moments. The desert environment is harsh especially now in summer but hey I am proud to have survived it all! I got to visit Abu Dhabi and even Dubai - the paradise of Middle East. I had an enjoyable desert safari and met some new friends. But at the end, nothing beats home and Kuala Lumpur, here I come! Back to home! By the 28th noon time I would have landed at KLIA alas.

Malaysia - truly a food paradise

One of the things every Malaysian overseas would miss the most - Malaysian food. Yup... we are so blessed, coming from a food paradise - a place where we are spoilt for choices - huge variety of food at cheap prices. So after months of chicken sashilik, salad, spagetti and dhal, dhal, dhal.... I can now go back to Malaysia and go on an eating spree. All the Malaysian food I miss so much - nasi lemak, dim sum, curry mee, pan mee, chee cheong fun, egg tarts, duck rice, yong tau fu, laksa, char kuey teow, fried carrot cake.... oohhh the list is too long. Even the roti canai and dhal taste better back home! So, Malaysia here I come - revenge time on food! hahaha.... And to my friends who are still stuck in Dubai - enjoy more dhal! Your time to go home will come soon...

Poor camels

I have some sad news about some camels struck by lightning recently in Abu Dhabi. This happened near a town called Gayathi which is quite near where I am now. Here's the story from Gulf News:

16 camels killed by lightning
Abu Dhabi: A bolt of lightning killed 16 camels near a farmland off Ghayathi in the Western Region yesterday. The herd owned by Mohammad A'sheer Al Mazroui was stationed near a sand dune behind his farmland, 20 km from Ghayathi. The local Arabic daily Al Khaleej quoted Al Mazroui as saying that the camels were grazing at the pasture when the sky suddenly became cloudy. Soon it started to drizzle and a small group of camels broke away from the herd and climbed the sand dune nearby. Lightning and thunder shook the area and lightning felled 16 camels.


It has been rather cloudy the past few days and some parts of the Eastern Region of Al Ain actually had thunderstorms. The weather has cooled down a bit but remains above 40degC. Meanwhile, humidity climbs and it's feeling like a sauna here - sticky!

Flight out on Wednesday

It is the summer holiday season in UAE and it was difficult to get a flight out. Especially if the destination is Malaysia since this is after all voted the Best Summer Holiday Destination! Anyway, I got a flight on Qatar Airways on Wednesday night which will bring me once again to Doha for a short transit before flying back to KL. I should be reaching KLIA at noon time on the 28th. This is pretty much 5 months since I first left KLIA on the 29th January.

Now that we are able to get Final Completion for the project, there is really nothing much to do on-site. I am packing up and roaring to go! Everyone here has said that I was very lucky to miss the full-blown summer by just a few days. Come July, the entire Gulf region would be offering a complimentary sauna to everyone. Not the best of times to be around.

Final completion soon

Alas, after 5 months of hard work, the final punch item was resolved yesterday. There was some initial setbacks in the morning when the new communication line installed for the gas chromatograph did not work. But a few phone calls later and lots of hard work, the system was put back in service with the punch item issue solved. All in all, this last bit of work took 11 hours but when it was done, there was a sigh of relief. Even the final most worrying job of clearing all the site office foundations was completed. The last signs of Siemens is now removed from site!

With that, we can now apply for final acceptance of completion from the customer. This also means my tour of duty in UAE ends here. I am still waiting for my flight to be confirmed. I am trying to get a flight on the 26th but so far I'm only able to confirm one on the 27th. Anyway, I have to start packng up and saying my goodbyes to all my customer engineers.

The end is near

Just got confirmation from my project manager today. 25th June would be my last day of work here in UAE. Expect to fly out on 26th June and be back to Malaysia! 3 days short of 5 months in UAE!

Listen with your ears

Finally a Friday I could spend lazing around at camp, away from work – doing absolutely nothing. A time to relax and cool down. As I lay on my bed not willing to rise, I kept my eyes closed and let my ears exercise its senses. What did I hear? I could hear…

• The air-conditioning running with occasional sound of the compressor cutting in. Not only mine, but other neighbors as the entire UAE is now droning with air-conditioning running 24hrs a day.
• Water dripping from the leaking shower in my bathroom. It has been leaking since day one and repaired once. But it just keeps on leaking. Water is wasted in this water-scarce nation.
• Kittens purring. The mother cat of the camp has just given birth to a litter of kittens and they like to hang around under my cabin during the day time.
• Birds chirping away happily unperturbed by the hot weather as they dodge around in the shades of the trees.
• Myself breathing – inhaling & exhaling. Breathe in… breathe out. The sound of life.
• The sound of email coming into my inbox. I’ve kept my laptop switched ON through the night. My inbox has been very busy nowadays with emails running around UAE-Malaysia-Germany-Italy. It’s hard to imagine a world without internet nowadays. We held ransom by this technology!

The ears are always under-utilized. We tend to keep it closed to sounds and voices that we do not want to hear. There are always background noises that we miss out in our hurried life. But if we just sit down a moment, close the eyes and allow our ears to do its job it’s amazing how much background noises escape our attention at other times.

Black and White

I'm really getting darker... tanned by the summer sunshine of UAE. Check out this latest picture of me. See the contrast in skin color? My face & arms vs my legs! (Sigh) will take some time to reverse this when I get back to KL!

Beside me by the way is my Tunisian friend. I don't really understand everything he says most of the time since his English is jumbled up with Arabic and French. Yup, Tunisia is French-speaking. And the way he describes it, Tunisia seems to be some paradise! But all I know is this Tunisian man is very friendly, helpful and cheerful all the time. Nice to have such people around sometimes to give a lively atmosphere!

What is on my mind lately? What else? To go back home! Home to KL! But before I can do that, I still have lots to settle here on-site - to clear up the last bits and pieces. Sounds simple but when you actually get down to it, it can be taxing and energy-consuming. But as some may say - there's no such thing as "easy money"!

Floras in the Middle East

Rare Moments

A cloudy day is a very rare occurence in UAE. This picture was one that I took couple of months back during better times!

The cyclone Gonu which was supposed to bring us some rain has been a total dissappointment. It lashed the northern emirate of Fujairah causing some floodings. But for the rest of us here, it only brought down the temperature slightly to 38degC instead of the usual 45degC. And that was it... no rain, no drizzle, no cloudy day. There was one particular day though when humidity was exceptionally high because of Gonu. Could you imagine a fog at 30degC? That was a first for me anyway as I've only known fog to appear on cold days and 30 ain't cold.

Actually I remembered someone telling me (maybe in geography class) that deserts are very hot in the day time but very cold at night. As far as I'm concerned, it's terribly hot at day time and hot at night.

Cis, bedebah!

I remembered the Malay phrase 'Cis, bedebah!' from some Malay text books during schooling years. I suddenly thought of it today as I connected that phrase to a crane contractor in UAE known as CIS.

When I first started off as an engineer, and had to deal with contractors I tend to rely on them for 'expert' advice and in many ways trusted them to provide their best services. I had known many contractors who had done remarkable high-quality jobs. Generally, I have always maintained a cordial relationship with them as we never know when they will be my client in the future. After all, the engineering world is not really that big. As such, I've tried being accommodating and understanding at all times. I believe I still am most of the time and I hope that my contractors had a nice working relationship with me. Although I admit, as times pass by, I am no longer such a 'young ciku' who would just take anything that comes to me as it is.

There are limits to my patience and as some may have seen I am not a pleasant man when I am angry! This was exactly what I felt today with CIS. If I had my way, I'll make sure this company is blacklisted from all Siemens project here. I've not vented my anger verbally and in written for quite some time and today I did not hold back at all. Sometimes, the only way to deal with unprofessional, unreliable, untrustworthy and just plain stupid people is to be bloody nasty. I am seldom like this even when dealing with adverse situation - I believe hardly anyone who had worked with me had seen me angry at work. Most of the times, being nasty does not help to solve the problem. But it sure is a good 'pressure relief valve' and it also makes known that I mean business. It's just too bad that CIS bedebah had to get it from me today!

Cyclone to hit UAE!

Guess what everyone? Tropical cyclone Gonu is about to hit UAE after battering neighboring Oman. Well according to the newspapers, it's going to bring thunderstorms throughout most of the country between this Thursday and Saturday. I hope this means my area as well! We badly need some heavy rains to cool down the temperature here. The apparent temperature has reached 51degC today in Abu Dhabi! The high temperature is okay except that by now the humidity occassionaly creeps up and that is unbearable. By the way, the picture here is that of what happened in Oman during the last storm in March!

Had a phone conversation with my project manager in Offenbach, Germany yesterday. Will be having a meeting with him next week. After that he will be meeting the client MD for final discussions. Hopefully, I'll get to confirm my departure date after that! Meanwhile, I'm excited that a cyclone is going to hit here! How nice!

Opulence & Wealth

Call it extravagance, call it opulence but the scale of mega projects in Dubai never ceases to create wonders. There are so much construction going on there nowadays that 15% of the world's cranes are situated in Dubai. This one hell of a big construction site is a sign of Dubai's wealth. I don't really think they need all these. But they are rich and have too much oil money to spend and so be it. In today's blog, I'll just show you some pics of these mega projects - some of which are beginning to take shape.

^ Dubai Towers

^ Dancing Towers

^ Burj Dubai (Tallest building in the world)

^ Trump Hotel

^ Infinity Tower

^ The World

^ Palm Jumeirah

Vermicelli in UAE

I have always thought that our vermicelli (popularly known as bee hoon) is very much a Chinese food usually either fried or cooked in soup. However, in UAE vermicelli is eaten in quite a different way. Ever been to a Chinese breakfast stall and you choose your combination of rice – noodles, kuey teow – noodles, bee hoon – noodles and so on? But I bet hardly anyone would usually make a combination of bee hoon – rice. But here, vermicelli rice is the exact combination they use! You could find bits and pieces of vermicelli in your rice to go with your kebab! And just as I thought it is weird enough, today I sampled a dessert made of vermicelli! It’s some kind of jelly with lots of vermicelli (cut into smaller pieces) served with some peanuts. A sweet and chilled concoction – not bad although sweet vermicelli tasted a bit weird in my mouth. And there is also rice jelly – a concoction of jelly with rice (almost porridge like) with some raisins sprinkled over. I thought that this tasted better than the vermicelli dessert. Oh… and perhaps the weirdest food name I’ve come across was ‘kenduckly chicken’ – is it a chicken or a duck?

I am still counting my days to the end of my 5-month affair with UAE. Everyone seems to be aware I’m about to go off – I made little secret of it since I’m clearing up the office and demolishing everything around it. As one pointed out – I am demolishing his nostalgic memory of the site office! Well… everything has to come to an end.

The Empty Quarter

Do you know there is a place here called the Empty Quarter? Also known as Rub’ al Khali (الربع الخالي), this area covers an area about the quarter of the Arabian peninsula. The quarter is around the border areas of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman & Yemen. The conditions here are so hostile that even the Bedouins only skirt around the edges of this desert land. It is virtually uninhabited and hardly anyone has ever ventured deep into the quarter. The summer temperature reaches up to 55degC and the sand dunes are taller than Eiffel Tower. The area can go for years without any rain. It has intrigued many adventurers and some have dared to explore this vast emptiness. Visit this National Geographic website - Sights & Sounds: The Empty Quarter for more insights on the world's largest sea of sand.

Some trivial information I've just plucked out of the internet: The hottest place on the planet is Al Azizia (somewhere in Libya) where the highest temperature recorded was 66degC! Wouldnt want to be there at that time! Meanwhile, it's only 43degC today in UAE!

UAE National Costumes

Today, let us take a look at the traditional costumes of the Emiratis (and most of the Arabs)

Male

Kandura - Also called a dishdasha, this white long cloak that the Emiratis wear always look elegant and crease-free (not on me though!) They never look dirty and gives a sense of authority on the Arabs. I felt they looked great on them.

Guthra - This is the headscarf that the males wear. It is usually either white or in red/white checks. I find them quite useful to shield yourself from the heat and to protect your face during a sandstorm.

Egal - This is the black rope that is used to secure the guthra on the head. Apparently in the olden days, the Bedouins will also use the egal to tie the camel's feet down at night when they travel!

Kerkusha - This is a little string flowing from the neck like a tie. You can see Emiratis sitting at Starbucks and swinging this around as they chat!

Female

Abaya - This is the long flowing black gown that ladies wear to cover up the elegant and colorful clothing beneath!

Niqab - The face veil that ladies wear to cover up their face as part of the hijab.

Gishwa - Some ladies wear this too. This is basically a piece of cloth used to cover the entire face (including the eyes). It is just dark enough so that you can't see through it and light enough that the lady can see through!

Burqa - Just remember the Taliban days and you'll remember the Burqa. This is seldom worn here in UAE. But there are some old ladies who wear a different form of burqa - a metallic object used to cover their face. But so far I've only seen this once in Dubai at the heritage village.

Relaxing days

I am in much more relaxed state-of-mind in the past few days. In fact I could even leave office after lunch and enjoy an evening nap! The work load has decreased dramatically over the past few days with conclusion of several important jobs. In fact, my boss just submitted papers for final completion of the Electrical Shared Facilities (ESF). And soon I'll strike off the last of the punch list item and we could apply for final completion of the Power Island (PI) which means final completion of our project here. It is nice to know that the end is in view now. Let see, my pending jobs including that punch item would be:

• Modify the gas chromatograph software
• Rectify some defects on some cranes
• Rectify some defects on an air-con unit
• Bring in the BOGE people to modify the compressors
• Clear the site office area & demobilize the office.

That is all to keep me occupied till end of next month. Very busy months indeed, hahaha. Wish me luck and I'll be back in KL in no time!

Meeting the TNB of Abu Dhabi

Had the opportunity to deal with the TNB of Abu Dhabi – TRANSCO(ترانسكو). Actually this is the company responsible for the transmission network system. I had a small punch list to clear in the 400/220kV substation which comes under their jurisdiction. As for most government-linked company, I had expected lots of red tape from such an organization. An indeed there were lots of procedures and enquiries for a small job. The job itself was not so smooth because my manager made a mistake and sent a 2” valve to be installed on a 1” line! Trying to present me with a puzzle! He thought the control circuit for this valve is there but actually the valve figured nowhere within the original design and I had to design the control! Somehow by hook or crook I managed to install it and commission the valve. Surprisingly, TRANSCO was very helpful and accommodating and I got the job done!

The TRANSCO engineer is a very talkative guy who could pluck a topic from the sky and discuss it at length. And they have an eccentric behavior of keeping all the lights off in the substation leaving the entire building in total darkness. Another weird thing is he likes to ask 'How do you do?' after an hour of meeting me. Funny....But nevertheless, I enjoyed working with him and I had the opportunity to take a peek at a 400kV substation! The picture is that of that bloody valve I had to install by hook or crook – a valve that nobody wants and is now not in service anyway but is required by contract!

Now that this is done, I only have 1 more punch item to complete and the plant is ready for final completion! Hooray!

Past vs Present

I have always been fascinated by old photos (especially B&W ones). Especially so, when I compare the past with the present. In fact, history was my favorite subject in school although I'm bored with the overemphasis on Malaysian history - it would have been more interesting if they had included more of world history. After all how much is there to bother about - 11 years of history classes on the short history of Malaysia ends up being dead boring! Anyway, I've stumbled across some pictures of Dubai -old vs new. Just amazing to see how much that city has changed over the years. I've seen these pictures too when I visited the Dubai Museum and Sheikh Saeed al-Maktoum House. Simply incredible how Dubai has grown to become what it is today.

View around Dubai Creek in 1950 - I can even see Al-Fahidi Fort which is now Dubai Museum!

Dubai Creek area in 2004 - Bur Dubai side has grown incredibly!

Sheikh Zayed Road in 1980's - still very much desert land.

Sheikh Zayed Road in 2005 (Now it's even more vibrant with massive construction going on around Burj Dubai, Jumeirah & Jebel Ali areas!)