Out and About in Dubai

Maybe another Piscean trait of mine but I love fish watching. No, not endless staring in front of a fish tank, which is often a sad and contrived environment anyway. But actually going out into the ocean and watching them in their natural habitats. Yes, I heart scuba diving.

DB has his birds, I’ve got my fish. And my favorite fish of all time is the smooth trunk fish. Here is the little rascal photographed on my 2003 Bonaire trip:

This little trunk fish is seen on nearly every dive in the Caribbean. It frustrates DB to no end that as soon as I spot one, I follow it around and take incessant photos while our dive group drifts further and further away from us.

Last Friday, Donald and I went to the Musandam (in Oman) for some diving. No smooth trunk fish there as it is not indigenous to the Arabian sea, but I did see its cousin, the Bluetail Boxfish:

This dive trip was DB’s xmas present to me and the first time either of us had dived since October 2004. We went out with the Pavilion Dive Centre at Jumeirah Beach Hotel.

Since we were doing a day trip, we got up at 4:30am to meet the dive shuttle at 5:30am. Slept most of the 2-hour drive to Dibba port. When we arrived in Dibba, technically we were not entering Oman, so there were no immigration controls, just a vehicle check for contraband or who-knows-what. The drive to Dibba was pretty cool - we left the flat Dubai desert behind and entered the Hajar mountain range:

At Dibba, we embarked on a spacious Dhow (like the one in the photo above), motored into Omani waters, had breakfast, went for our first dive (woo-hoo!), then had lunch (spaghetti bolognese and also a curry chicken), and then off to our 2nd dive where we spotted our first (of many) lion fish:

And also our first leopard shark:

Then back to Dibba port to board the bus back to Dubai. I slept most of the way again and arrived home about 8:30pm. All in all, a great day of diving!

Tags: diving, wildlife | 3 comments »

So Bush is in town today and tomorrow and is creating mass chaos. He’s staying in Abu Dhabi but is in Dubai for a “meeting” at the Burj. Wouldn’t be surprised if he just wanted to have lunch there.

Anyway, instead of utilizing the Burj’s helipad, he is DRIVING! So the following roads will be closed today (so-called test-run) and tomorrow: Sheikh Zayed Road, Al Khail Road, Beach Road (parts), Al Wasl Road (parts). Closing Sheik Zayed Road is like closing down all of the NJ Turnpike plus Garden State Parkway combined. That’s like telling New Yorkers - no trains will be running into Manhattan! Imagine if every time there is an important meeting at the UN, the city closes down midtown?? And we are talking from 6am to 5pm. Here is the announcement as of 4pm today:

UAE blocks roads for Bush

With US president Bush visiting the UAE, The government announced on the radio that Sheikh Zayed Road will be closed tomorrow from Garhoud to Al Barsha from 6am to 4.30pm. Al Wasl Road and Jumeirah Beach Road will also be closed in addition to the area around Umm Sequeim.

Dubians depend on these major thoroughfares to get to and from work, drop kids off, etc.

And get a load of this nonsense that was posted on Khaleej Times (as of 4pm today):

Holiday declared in Dubai tomorrow
13 January 2008

All ministries, government departments, schools and private companies in Dubai will have a holiday tomorrow. This has been done to avoid congestion on the roads that could be caused by the closing down of some flyovers, bridges, tunnels and main roads. Official government sources have urged all nationals and residents to avoid using main roads and streets.

Ridiculous. All for BUSH???

Tags: driving, wtf | 2 comments »

I was going to blog about diving today but something very exciting has happened - It rained in Dubai!

Yes, it rains so infrequently here (it’s not called the desert for nothing) that when it does happen, it’s headline news, it’s happiness bursting from inside you, it’s wanting to do the rain dance hopping up and down from one foot to the other and chanting some unintelligible babble!

As you can tell, I am quite excited that it rained last night (and a bit today). Yesterday, we were at a friend’s house for dinner and when we left their building, we noticed that it had rained! Not the light sprinkle from a couple days ago, and alas not a downpour, but enough for the cabbie to use the windshield wipers and enough to make all the pavement and sand pits wet.

I can’t believe how much I missed rain, especially at night. I love cloudy overcast skies, I love thunder and lighting, I love rain storms. I think it has something to do with being a Pisces. Even though there was neither thunder nor lightning nor did it rain enough to call it a storm, I’d say I’m a happy camper.

Tags: weather | 1 comment »

Hurray, I get DB to myself for 3 whole days! He normally gets Fridays and Saturdays off but due to the Islamic New Year the private sector received Thursday off as well.

Some tidbits about Al-Hijra:

Al-Hijra, the Islamic New Year, is celebrated on the first day of Muharram, the month in which Muhammad emigrated from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE (the Hijra). The holiday is also known simply as Muharram. Islamic years are calculated from 1 Muharram, 622 CE. They are followed by the suffix AH, which stands for “After Hijira” or Anno Higirae (Latin).

In 2008, Al-Hijra falls on January 9, which will be 1429 AH. (In case you were wondering, the Chinese will celebrate the year 4706 on Feb 7, 2008 - the year of the Rat.)

Unlike the important holidays of Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, there are few rituals associated with Islamic New Year. There are no prescribed religious observances. (And no fireworks…) Most Muslims regard the day as a time for reflection on the Hijira and on the year to come. In modern times, some Muslism exchange greeting cards to celebrate the holiday.

So there you have it. Happy Islamic New Year!

Tags: islam | 1 comment »

DB has been nagging me the last few days about taking down the christmas tree so that’s what I’m doing right now. We only have 7 ornaments so shouldn’t take too long. Of course, I thought the same thing when I put it up.

Silly thing took me 2 whole hours to put up due to each branch needing to be fluffed individually and there must be about 36 branches. Now I know why my parent’s tree costs so much more compared to my $24 tree - no fluffing necessary you see - it comes right out of the box each year in perfect condition. Maybe one day I too will have a perfect fluff-free tree. (Don’t tell DB I said that - he’s into real trees).

Tags: Uncategorized | no comments »

Back in day, when I first heard people joke about English or Scottish weather, I thought I could never live in a place that was overcast so often. But then I started to notice that many winter days in NYC are actually quite overcast. For long periods too. Maybe that’s what makes the winter so depressing. That and the freezing cold. Makes you appreciate the breaks of sunlight that much more.

Dubai is sunny practically 360 days of the year. Average rainfall is 6.5 cm per year with half of that falling in December and January. Since leaving NY in November, I have not seen any rainfall at all. There were a couple of overcast days when the clouds were so dark that I would say, “If this were any other place in the world, I would say that it is going to rain.”

But today I finally experienced some precipitation. Granted not much, as it was only a 5 minute light sprinkle, if even that. Was barely enough for me to turn on my windshield wipers. But it was enough to breathe in that fresh-rain-on-newly-cut-grass smell. Ah…and then it was gone.

Tags: weather | no comments »

One of my favorite easy-peasy meals is Fish-in-a-Bag. Everything goes into a foil packet or parchment paper, it can be prepared and refrigerated a few hours prior to cooking, and then popped into the oven when you or your hubby gets home. In 20 minutes, you’ll have a nice piping hot dinner with hardly any clean-up! For entertaining, use parchment paper (it presents nicer) and serve it straight from the oven to the dining table.

The recipes are quite versatile so feel free to modify it to suit your taste or accommodate whatever is in the fridge. Works best with any non-oily white fish: cod, tilapia, hammour, cream dory, etc.

(1) Asian Fish-in-a-Bag (serves 2)

• 2 sheets aluminum foil or parchment paper (~12 x 24 inches)
• 2 fish fillets (5-6 ounces each)
• 1 cup cooked rice
• 2 cups coarsely chopped bok choy or napa cabbage
• 2 scallions, chopped
• 1 Tb vegetable oil
• 1 ts sesame oil
• 2 Tb soy sauce
• 1ts grated fresh ginger
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• dash of cayenne or Chile oil (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees F. Fold each sheet of foil or paper in half so that it forms a double layer square. Bush a little oil on the center part of each square. Rinse the fish and pat dry with paper towels. Spread half of the rice on the center of each square and then layer with half of the greens and then the fish. Mix the oils, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and cayenne together and pour half of the mixture over each packet. Fold foil/paper into airtight packets. Bake for 20 minutes. Be careful when opening the packets as the steam is extremely hot. You can eat straight out of the packets or transfer the contents onto a plate.

(2) French Fish-in-a-Bag (serves 2)

• 2 sheets aluminum foil or parchment paper (~12 x 24 inches)
• 2 fish fillets (5-6 ounces each)
• 1 small zucchini, thinly sliced
• 1 cup mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
• 2 Tb olive oil
• juice of one lemon
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• dash of salt and pepper
• 1 Tb chopped fresh basil, rosemary, or thyme (or 1 ts dried)

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees F. Fold each sheet of foil or paper in half so that it forms a double layer square. Bush a little oil on the center part of each square. Rinse the fish and pat dry with paper towels. Layer half of the ingredients in the middle of each square in this order: zucchini, mushrooms, fish, and onion slices. Mix together the olive oil, lemon juice, wine, salt, pepper, and herbs and sprinkle half of the mixture over each packet. Fold foil/paper into airtight packets. Bake for 20 minutes. Be careful when opening the packets as the steam is extremely hot. You can eat straight out of the packets or transfer the contents onto a plate.

Enjoy!

Tags: recipes | no comments »