Sheikh Zayed Palace Museum

We drove down to Al Ain over the weekend with no specific plan whatsoever. And what a reward when we finally got there!!

The Sheikh Zayed Palace Museum is a must see if you head down to Al Ain. Built in 1937, the palace was converted into a museum in 2001. The palace provides an interesting peek into the life of the former president, the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan. 

The palace was the Al Ain residence of the ruler from 1937 to 1966 and is comprised of several courtyards. The external areas each house a different type of majlis or meeting room where the Sheikh received local and foreign dignitaries. The inner courtyard contains the main kitchen and the store room.  

An interesting part of the museum is the family tree room which houses portraits of the royal family depicting the lineage. 

Quad Biking in Dubai

I finally managed to get onto a quad bike after all these years in Dubai. In case you don't know already, quad bikes are all terrain bikes that are used here for riding across the desert. They have now also become part of a standard desert safari and you get to ride one of these after you head back to the campsite.

We spent most of yesterday at the quad bike center along Al Ain Road. This place is about 40 kms as you head past Outlet Mall and easily stands out with it's colorful flags and banners.

There are various sizes of bikes so the entire family can dig into the fun. It can be an absolutely adrenaline pumping drive as you head up and down the dunes in the desert. I strongly suggest that you listen carefully to the instructors advice as you will need to use most of it!!!. Or at least the part about how not to get stuck at the top of the dunes! 

I think Quad bikes are no longer 'street legal' in Dubai though I am not very sure. 

Driving through the countryside - Camels

Driving through the country side can be an absolutely awesome experience. When we went out for a drive yesterday, we had one of the best views of camels in the desert. We spotted these camels on the way to Umm Al Quwain. Referred to as the ship of the desert, the camel forms an integral part of the local customs and traditions. Camels were the primary mode of transport and were used to get across the vast desert. However, with the booming socio economic progress of Dubai in the last few decades, the use of camels as a means of transportation has lost its importance. Camels still continue to be an important element of Arabic traditions but have now become more of symbols of pride and affluence.

Camels have once again hit the news recently albeit for an entirely different reason. Camel meat is a local delicacy and one of the local chain has recently introduced 'çamel burgers' which have attracted a fair amount of controversy. Located in the Bastakiya district, the Local House restaurant's menu includes several local delicacies.

Read about the Bastakiya district here.

Other posts of interest:

Dubai's eco warrior

Dubai's mall culture

Who's bicycle is this?

I spotted this bicycle at a park over the weekend. I looked around the place for the owner but there was absolutely nobody in sight. The bright colors against the green of the lawn made an excellent picture. I felt like the bicycle was almost posing for me!!! ;-)

For married only

This was on display at one of the stalls at Global Village. This is a particular type of honey that can apparently work wonders for an otherwise dull 'married' life. Needless to say, the wife would not let me try any of it.

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The solitary angler

Captured this picture at Dubai Creek Park over the weekend. This spot is very popular with Dubai's anglers and one normally sees several of them here. On this particular day, the place is deserted. All I could see was this rod and the bait box. There was nobody in sight. I thoroughly enjoyed the view. It was almost as if time stood still for those few minutes.

Read about The Sea Gulls at Dubai Creek Park here

You can also read about A lamp post at the creek side here

Dubai Pet Show

It was that time of the year again. The Dubai Pet Show is back. Held at Dubai Festival City, the show is an extremely colorful affair and a big hit with the kids. It is probably the largest gathering of pets from all over UAE, all dressed up to impress. Besides the various competitions, the contest also included an awesome display by the police dogs. Here are a few pictures from the day's action.

For pictures from last year's edition of the show, click here

The two faces of Dubai Police

Global Village 2010 Part II

In my last post, I have spoken about my visit to this year's edition of Global Village. Here are a few more pictures from the visit.

Global Village 2010

Positioned as one of Dubai's premier cultural, entertainment and shopping festivals, this year's edition of Global Village was just as popular as the previous years. I was expecting a smaller turnout given the recent crisis situation but I found the place buzzing as usual when I visited the venue last night.

Started as a small event alongside Dubai creek in 1996, Global Village now attracts over 4 million visitors each year. Here are a few pictures from last night.

Picture of the tallest building in the world CLICK HERE

The link to the website of Global Village is here

Dunlop 24 hrs Dubai

It is now almost 3 months since my last update at this blog. I have been travelling a bit and just been busy with other things. It is not surprising that the Dunlop 24 Hrs Dubai Grand Prix finally got me to dig out that camera and get going. Here a few pictures from today's action.

The community P O Box

Ever noticed one of these colorful boxes placed outside the neighbourhood grocery store?

Apparently this works as a community post box where the local residents cna choose to recieve their mail. I am sure we have all experienced situations where our mail from our friends and relatives that was sent across to the office address has been delayed for a long time or has failed to arrive.

In a country where the practice of delivering mail to the residential address does not exist, this serves as a nice solution. This becomes even more important where some of the staff are based out of a remote location and where access to the office PO Box is either difficult or does not exist.

Many from among the Asian community (and specially among the 'blue collared' group) prefer receiving their mail at such boxes. So instead of providing the office P O Box no., many prefer to hand out details of the grocery store. The owner of the store religiously places all incoming mail into the box from where the recipient arranges to collect it.

A very simple and innovative concept that works as well as the regular postal channel. And its free too!!!

An awesome ride

I took this picture while visiting a friend over the weekend. We were having a lazy afternoon in the balcony when we spotted these two gentlemen passing by. They took turns in treating each other to an absolutely super ride in the wheel barrow.

Need for Speed

If you've got a tiny Jenson Button hiding inside you, you should probably make your way to Dubai Autodrome. Located off Emirates Road and in the vicinity of Arabian Ranches, the 5.39 km track boasts of the best of modern day technology and is probably as modern as it an get.

A few of us boys made it down to Dubai Autodrome a few days back to check out the place. We had already tried

out the karting facilities at the complex and went back to check out the main autodrome complex. While we were there, the SR3's were testing for the big race day and we had the pleasure of meeting with Usmaan Mughal, who is currently racing for AUH Motor Sports. These are much smaller cars as compared to the huge Formula 1 one but nonetheless it is still a super experience watching the machines burn rubber.

The UAE National race day is coming up on 16th October and we will be back at the venue at the weekend. Besides the UAE Touring championship, It will involve the UAE GT championship, a new format introduced on the lines of the international GT series. So head down to Dubai Autodrome next week for a super adrenaline pumping race day

Do you see a sign?

Cityscape Dubai is in town. The euphoria is certainly missing. The punters were nowhere to be seen. The media has reported that the total floor space at the exhibition has in fact dropped by a whopping 30% this year.

It is now almost a year since the property market nosedived and let loose fear and chaos right across every section of the city. Redundancies piled on while Dubai shot into the lime light for all the wrong reasons.

A year later, a lot of the dust seems to have settled down. Cityscape appeared to be a lot quieter this year and a sense of reality seems to have set in.

If you have been following the local press, you'd have observed that property prices appear to be bottoming out though some surveys forecast that rentals will continue to drop over the next quarter. Having said that most of the current buyers will have lost 30% to 50% of the value of their property. With the buyer confidence at such low levels and banks still unwilling to reduce the interest rates (despite the significant drop in EIBOR), it is unlikely we will see a recovery anytime soon. Add to this the supply that is expected to come into the market over the next 12 months thus tilting the balance towards oversupply.

It will probably be several years until we see a sign of recovery.

Filipina Staff - A new job title in schools?

Looking for a placement at Regent International School? You could apply for a position shown as 'Filipina Staff'. Other positions available include Music and Drama Teacher, Public Relations Officer, French and Arabic Teachers.



In the past various blogs have discussed the subject of organisations advertising for specific nationalities in placements ads. However, what caught my attention in this case is that 'Filipina Staff' is now a job category! Interesting.

Do I need to be a Filipina to qualify? Or what if I am a Filipino?


You can access the Regent International School website here

An array of lamps

Here is another picture of lamps in Dubai. I had done a post about the different types of traditional lamps seen in Dubai and had said that I would be putting together a collection of pictures of lamps in Dubai. That was 4 months ago and I hadn't got around to doing it since.

This post is in continuation of the last one on lamps. I spotted these lamps at a mall over the weekend.

See pictures of other traditional lamps on Dubai here

The most peaceful spot in Dubai?

Karting in Dubai

It's the Eid weekend. So here's wishing all Eid Mubarak.

It is a long weekend and so little to do. Most of the plans didn't work out except the one trip to the Dubai Autodrome yesterday. We planned to have a go at the outdoor Kartdrome and take a spin around the track.

Located behind the main stand of the autodrome, the karting facility was a bit of a disappointment initially. It looks bare and may be a bit too quiet for a racing facility but once you get down to the track it is awesome. The track itself is 1.2 km and has all the trills of a good standard circuit. The session started off with a briefing, the gear was supplied including suits and helmets and off we went. After 15 minutes on the track, a few crashes and lots of bruised egos, we headed out for iftar.

Only 3 coconuts please....

Remember my recent post about Lulu Hypermarket in Barsha? I am now a regular at this place and it works out very well for me. They stock almost everything I need and at great prices.

However, one particular message got my attention while I was there today. Apparently, each person can buy up to 3 coconuts only. That is if you need them scrapped. They don't really care if the lady of the house has instructed you to get 4.

Strange.

Read about the last Barclays Dubai Tennis Championship

Dubai's Pet Show. The best dressed dogs of Dubai

Take the Snake

Take the 'Snake'? Thats a term made famous by Dubai Eye's Malcolm Taylor in yesterday's episode of Business Breakfast. He was refering to the excitement around the imminent roll out of the new Dubai Metro and the many probably ways Dubai residents may refer to the new mode of transport.

There was certainly a lot of excitement in the air when I made my way to the metro station outside Mall of the Emirates. Contrary to reports on the radio this morning, the station was crowded and there were lots of people waiting to get aboard the metro. I had purchased my NOL card well in advance so I didn't waste a minute and headed straight out to the platforms. Hats off to the RTA for such a commendable job. There were no first day glitches that one may have expected. Everything worked like clock work. There were several attendant waiting to help out passengers needing help.

I took the metro down to Nakheel Harbour and took the next one back to Mall of Emirates. It was a fantastic experience. Now if only the parking is taken care of at all the stations, I don't see any reason why many residents will not adopt the new mode of transportation for their everyday travel.

Read about Dubai's mini Manila here

Lulu goes green? May be not!!

Lulu hypermarket located at Al Barsha has now won my loyalty. After having been a regular customer at one of the other chains for many years, I have finally made the shift. Lulu hypermarket is where I shop for my groceries now.

That itself is not the main story. Even though I have been to the outlet several times in the past 2 months, I had not noticed a small message on all the plastic bags that they hand out at the exit. Apparently, the plastic bags are 'biodegradable' and will disintegrate over time!!!. Many of the other supermarket chains have either stopped handing out plastic bags or are strongly promoting jute bags at the counter. And here is a supermarket that is subtly 'promoting' the use of plastics bags. Now when I pick up that plastic bag, I will probably not feel as guilty given that the fact that the bag is biodegradable. The word 'biodegradable' may be interpreted by many as 'eco friendly' but is it?

The two faces of Dubai Police?

More often than not we are used to coming across positive news about Dubai Police. Hence today's headline in Gulf News was a bit disturbing given the nature of the news. Two corporals from Dubai Police have been charged with abusing their authority as law enforcement officers. For more details on the case itself, click here.

However, that is not the important part for me. What is more important that the force itself has taken steps to correct the problem. The fact that the operation was uncovered and that the officers have been charged is the more important news. I am sure we will all agree that despite all steps to filter in the best talent, we will always have the exceptions.

Later in the day, I got to see another face of Dubai Police. It was a very nice sight to see a Dubai Police car coming in to help a stranded motorist. As I was waiting at the signal, I saw a Dubai Police car coming in with petrol for a car that had stalled. The officer not only drove in with the petrol but filled the empty tank himself. I am not sure if this is something we would have expected from the force in our own countries.

Dawar Shami

Dawar Shami is a traditional pully system that was used for pulling boats out of the sea. While one end of the boat would be tied to the boat, the other end would be fixed to the Dawar Shami. Strong men would then rotate the lever to pull the boats out. This can be viewed at the Al Fahidi Fort in Bur Dubai.

For information on Al Fahidi fort, click here