Out and About in Dubai

Not that my husband is any of the sort. But I thought this was an interesting blog article to share. Here is an excerpt:

In the corner of a small Japanese restaurant, a dozen dark-suited businessmen gathered at a large table. Smoke hovered over the dinner and beer disappeared as quickly as it was poured. At first glance, it looked like a typical Friday night post-work scene played out all over Tokyo’s taverns. But then your eye stops on a poster-sized sign propped up next to one of the middle-aged men. It reads:

Three Golden Rules of Love:

* Thank you (say it without hesitation)

* I am sorry (say it without fear)

* I love you (say it without embarrassment)

All the men at the table stood up. Equally spaced out and still wearing their stiff black suits, they chanted in unison: “I can’t win! I won’t win! I don’t want to win!” The chant was followed by a deep bow, a straightening of the backs, big smiles and a burst of applause. The meeting of the “National Chauvinistic Husbands Association” was under way.

Tags: random | 1 comment »

So I have been experiencing a complete shutdown of blogspot blogs in the last few days and last night I wondered if it had to do with Secret Dubai’s blog being blocked. SD’s blog is one that I have been reading since before I moved to Dubai and still continue reading because she tells it like it is - about the government hypocrisy, corruption, over-ratedness, and of course, lack of free-press, that is Dubai.

7days had this to say about the blocking of SD’s blog:

But for some reason, it seems that in the process of blocking SD’s blog, ALL blogspot blogs have been blocked by my internet service provider, du. Etisalat customers cannot view SD’s blog but CAN access other blog sites. (Note: Dubai has 2 ISP: Du and Etisalat). I think perhaps du didn’t know how to do a one-blog block and just did a blanket block.

In any case, please continue to read SD’s blog here on her mirror site and let’s hope a community of readers and bloggers can help unblock the site again.
 

Edit 04-16-08: Looks like both blogspot and the mirror for Secret Dubai Diary is now blocked by du as well. But you can click here to subscribe via email or via RSS by inputing this feed address into your RSS reader of choice: http://secretdubai.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Tags: government | 2 comments »

AME Info recently posted the following:

The Dubai government, mindful of the emirate’s terrible road record, recently pushed through harsher rules to try and improve people’s driving habits. After they came into force, Dubai police said it issued 2,300 fines on the first day. So here are the AME Info unofficial rules of the road for drivers….

AME Info top 21 driving rules in Dubai

1. There are only two speeds on Dubai roads - too fast and stationary.

2. When driving at 120km/hour ensure you are 30cm from the car in front and then furiously flash your lights at them, even though it is three solid lanes of traffic and they can’t move anywhere.

3. Roundabouts are for parking/picking up/dropping off mates. Everyone knows that, stupid!

4. Never indicate at roundabouts, especially when turning left or doing a u-turn - that would just give other drivers a clue of your intentions.

5. Never choose the correct lane for your exit when going round a roundabout - drivers love it when you suddenly cut across them - it tests their brakes.

6. Never indicate when changing lanes. This also gives people a clue of your intentions.

7. If someone is courteous and lets you in, never thank them - that just shows weakness so more fool them for being nice.

8. Never let in drivers who are indicating that they need to move into your lane so they can turn right. It’s fun watching them miss their turning or pull a dangerous manoeuvre.

9. If you do miss your turning, just reverse, no matter how fast the on-coming traffic - it’s their duty to avoid you.

10. Always brake at the last possible moment - then you can see the whites of the other driver’s eyes in their rear-view mirror as they widen.

11. When speeding in the slow lane, flash the car in front who is actually going slow. Everyone knows slow cars should be in the middle lane.

12. Slow cars - always drive in the middle lane, forcing other cars to overtake on either side of you.

13. Hard shoulders are designed to help you get past that traffic jam quickly, not for broken down cars/lorries or actual emergencies.

14. When in heavy traffic, a gap of half a car is an invitation.

15. Equally, a red light is more of a request than an order.

16. Your horn is like beautiful music to other drivers, so keep hitting it.

17. Never strap your child in - that wastes valuable seconds in getting to your destination.

18. Speeding through a petrol station as a short cut when trying to get past a traffic jam is legitimate.

19. Never fully concentrate on the road; instead use your journey wisely, eg for texting, chatting on the phone, eating, drinking or reading. In extreme cases, your drive is also a good opportunity for a quick nap.

20. Always open your door and spit when in traffic jams - it is big and it is clever.

21. Finally, one for the pedestrians - always cross the motorway/freeway at its busiest point, when cars are at their fastest. Drivers love the adrenaline rush as you run in front of them and they get to test their driving skills as they try to control that skid.

Tags: driving | 3 comments »

Yesterday, a crane collapsed in midtown Manhattan by East 51st street between 2nd and 3rd avenues. One block from where I used to work and where a lot of my close friends still work. I’m glad none of them were hurt.

The area has been undergoing a lot of construction in the last few years as new residential buildings are being erected. The New York Times reports:

At least four people were killed and more than a dozen others were injured, and damage was expected to run into the millions of dollars in what the authorities called one of the city’s worst accidents — a calamity that turned a neighborhood near the United Nations into a zone of panic, pulverized buildings, wailing sirens, evacuations, searches in the rubble and covered bodies in the streets.

Also according to The Times, the last major crane collapse in NYC was almost nine years ago in September of 1999.

In Dubai, it is often reported that the city has 25 to 30 percent of the world’s cranes. Indeed, everywhere you look, there is major construction going on and cranes, cranes, cranes everywhere. In 2007, according to CraneAccidents.com, there were 347 crane accidents and 176 deaths that were reported to the website. Theoretically, for the year 2007, Dubai could have 87 to 104 of the world’s crane accidents based on the percentage of cranes that are here.

In searching Google, there are a few reports of crane accidents in Dubai, and ironically, a recent accident occurred on January 30, 2008 just yards from a Middle East Cranes Conference.

Scariest of all cranes for me, are the ones looming above the Burj Dubai - currently the tallest building in the world at 604.9 m (1,985 ft), with 159 completed floors. It surpassed the height of the Tapei 101 building on July 21, 2007 but the Taipei building is still “officially” the tallest building until the Burj Dubai is completed. The Burj is estimated to be completed by September 2009 and the projected final height is still being kept a secret but is estimated at 818 m (2,684 ft).

From the bottom up, you can see that the building tapers inwards and then there are these 2 huge cranes that look like they are precariously perched on top. Imagine the people who have to work all the way up there!

Tags: construction | no comments »

The last couple of days I have not been able to get on any blogs hosted by Blogger. I am receiving the feeds in my Google reader so that would lead me to believe that the problem is on my end, not Blogger’s (especially since I am able to post with no problems).

This is really putting a damper on my blog surfing. Maybe it’s a sign that I should be job hunting and not reading blogs?

Tags: Uncategorized | no comments »

If you haven’t been to the Sharjah Natural History Museum, I highly recommend a trip out there. If you have kids, I doubly recommend it.

DB and I made a visit out there a couple weekends ago. I had seen an ad about the museum in a local publication and it caught my attention because it had two dinosaur skeletons amidst a dark background. It also said:

“Prehistoric and living creatures come alive in an exciting exhibit of films, collections, interactives. Witness the formation of land and enjoy the beauty and diversity of the fauna, flora and wildlife in the Gulf region. Visit Sharjah Natural History Museum and be inspired.”

So I’m a sucker for dinosaurs (who isn’t?) and decided that the museum would be worth a visit and it’s a shame Dubai doesn’t have anything of the sort. And I also miss the likes of visiting the Natural History Museum in New York.

Sharjah is a neighboring emirate of Dubai and the drive door-to-door from my apartment in the Marina was only 50 minutes.

Upon arriving at the guard’s gate, we paid the 15 Dhs entry fee per person and then drove into the parking lot to find a spot. It was a Saturday but didn’t seem to be too many people there. The museum grounds were nicely landscaped and there were even a some picnic tables which were being utilized by a few families.

There appeared to be three buildings in the museum grounds: (1) the Natural History Museum, (2) a Children’s Farm, and (3) a Wildlife Center. We entered the Natural History building first and were greeted by 6 Arab ladies who asked for our entry tickets. I gave it to them to stamp and after walking out of earshot asked DB why they need 6 people to stamp our tickets. He replied that it’s so that they can keep unemployment down. (Shrug)

I don’t have any pictures of the exhibits as photography wasn’t allowed. But here is the run-down of our visit:

(1) Natural History Museum - a small but nice exhibit about local flora and fauna, geological history of the Middle East, a small planetarium, some dinosaur skeletons, an exhibit on ocean wildlife, real life specimens of frogs, toads, snakes, lizards, scorpions, black widow spider, Omani blind cave fish and their babies. There were probably more things to see but I kept getting knocked over by little kids so avoided some areas to keep my sanity. The botanical section was still due to be open - shame as it would’ve been nice to put a name to the local fauna.

(2) Children’s Farm - we skipped this as it was nearing closing time.

(3) Wildlife Center - this was by far the best part of the trip. This truly is a wildlife center as there were live specimens in a (quasi) natural environment of Middle Eastern wildlife. The Aviary was the coolest (so I thought at that point). The birds weren’t behind a cage where you watched from the outside. You actually walked INTO the aviary. The birds were kept from flying out by large-diametered rope barriers.

We saw birds gathering twigs and building their nests, birds sitting on their little eggs. Rupell’s Weaver was my favorite - a little yellow bird that was quite territorial and would fly over to any other bird that was in it’s tree to chase it away. Also in the aviary were Lesser Flamingos, Fat Bruce’s Green Pigeon, and Caracals, among many other species. There was also an Egyptian fruit bat exhibit.

Next was the nocturnal animal section. Each animal was in it’s own (contrived but spacious) diorama of sorts. You could observe them behind a glass partition. There were Indian Gray Mongoose, White-tail Mongoose, Small-spotted genet, Desert Wild Cat, Arabian Red Fox, Ruppell’s Fox (image below), Asiatic Jackal, Indian Crusted Porcupine, and Ethiopian Hedgehog.

After that was the rodent section with Jirds (kept thinking they were misspelling “birds”), rats, mice, gerbils, an owl and even a desert eagle.

I thought the rodent exhibit was the end of the tour but as we walked into the “cafeteria” I noticed that the open space outside of the building was another natural exhibit with roaming herds of Sand Gazelles, Nubian Ibex, Arabian Oryx, and a few Ostriches all mingling together.

As I enjoyed my newly ordered and freshly squeezed mango juice, I headed towards the exit thinking it was time to go back to Dubai. Surely this must be the end of the wildlife center?

But no! More live animals - each in their own outdoor area separated by hidden moats - Baboons, Arabian Wolf, Striped Hyena, Cheetah, Leopards, oh my!

By this time, I was definitely tired and ready to head home. There’s only so much museum one can handle. As it was closing time anyway, we skipped the Children’s Farm and headed back to Dubai, pleasantly surprised that we saw more than just prehistoric skeletons.

PRACTICAL INFO:

Getting there: It took us about 50 minutes door-to-door (we live in the Marina) as there was hardly any traffic on a Saturday. We took SZR to Al Khail to Emirates Road to E-88 and exited at Interchange 9. (Probably could have cut out 10 minutes if we had continued on Al Khail to route 611 instead of exiting early onto Emirates Road as both Emirates Road and 611 intersect with E-88). Check the museum website for more info and this map.

Opening Hours: Sun to Thu 09:00 – 17:30, Fri 14:00 – 17:30, Sat 11:00 – 17:30. Closed on Tue.

Admission Fee: Adult - Dhs15; Children (12 – 16) - Dhs5; Under 12 - free

Tags: birds, sharjah, tourist, wildlife | no comments »

 13 Things I Like About Living in Dubai  1. Weather is perfect just now - great tanning weather and comfortable outdoor dining temperature.

2. Shawarmas off the street for only 3.50 Dirhams (that’s 95 cents!).

3. Freshly squeezed mango juice easily accessible at street stands and so yummy.

4. Visiting the spice market and trying to identify which spice is what. Getting better and better at it every time.

5. Easily accessible and an incredibly wide variety of ingredients at any grocery store for proper cooking of Indian recipes.

6. Being able to go scuba diving at any time of the year (granted, with a 5 mil wet suit during the “winter”).

7. Frequent sightings of real camels - sometimes even on the beach in front of my apartment!

8. Trying to get a photo of every camel statue I see.

9. Hoopoe sightings in our general vicinity - such cool birds!

10. Being only a short 4 hours away from Seychelles and Maldives. (Can’t wait to go to the Maldives!)

11. The smell of shisha wafting in and around outdoor venues.

12. Being able to wear flip flops EVERY DAY and EVERY WHERE.

13. Stunning sunsets in the desert.

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Tags: thursday 13 | 9 comments »