Parking fine?

I wonder if there is something wrong here?

This is a picture I shot at some palce in Al Qouz. The guy from Officemart in fact walked over and asked to move my car. I wonder if the no parking sign was installed by the RTA in the first place. And if so, is it within the law to let the officemart guys now block it out by sticking their own instructions here?

I was told that parking here is 'not fine'.

Good intentions gone bad...

It is fashionable these days to be seen as concious about the environment and seen to be doing your own little bit to save it. It is also not uncommon to see many of the well known names around the city use every other opportunity to ride the bandwagon.

I've been keeping a watch on this recycling centre located at Dubai Knowledge Village. This centre may have been opened with much fanfare but obviously has since been forgotten about. I'm not very confident that the garbage from here is recycled. But I am sure about one thing. Nobody has been here to collect the garbage since about a fortnight now.

And like many others, here is another good intention gone bad.

Corniche by night

I happened to be in Sharjah the other day and got the opportunity to capture a picture of Buheirah Corniche by night. Almost the entire Corniche is lined with small stretches of lawn and rows of date palms. This makes an ideal setting for families to come out in the evenings and spend time together.

This area is very popular with local families who come out with their chairs and tables and spend time together

Also read Al Qasba

Lovers at Dubai Creek

Spotted this beautiful couple at Dubai creek a few days back. They seemed to enjoy their time together as they sat atop the buoy. They were oblivious to the noise and chaos around them. They didn't even notice the abras and various other boats going past them. They had probably not even heard of the Dubai property market woes.

They continued to cuddle each other. They seemed to be so much in love.

Other Dubai Creek related posts here:

Seagulls are Dubai Creek

Abras

Mini Manila

Often referred to as Mini Manila, Satwa is home to thousands of Filipino expatriates in Dubai. As one walks through the narrow lanes of the locality, one cannot help but notice the popularity of Satwa as a preferred area for residence among the community.

There are about 280,000 to 400,000 Filipino expatriates in UAE mostly located within Dubai. And within Dubai, you may get a feeling that almost all of the Filipino community lives in Satwa! Al Hudaiba Street in Satwa is also referred to among the Filipino community as Dubai's 'Little Quiapo' after Manila's busiest commercial district.


So the next time you feel like a Daing na bangus, a chicken apritada or a helping of Bulalo, head down to Satwa to get the real Filipino experience.

Souq Khan Murjan

Wafi City has always been one of my favourite malls in Dubai and I have covered a musical event at the mall earlier (click here) A recent addition to Wafi City is the new Souq Khan Murjan

I was at the mall last weekend and had the opportunity to visit the souq. Its another world as you step out from Dubai's modern glitzy mall and into a magical and authentic souq.

The souq is made up of various quarters including Moroccan, Syrian, Egyptian and turkish quarters each offering its own traditional ware including gem stones, rugs and carpets and beautifully carved furniture. The souq is made up of several alleys and passageways and its very easy to get lost around the place and live a truly arabian experience.

Summer time... just another time

Am I pushing it too hard?

This is probably my third post this month talking about the arrival of summer ;-) These yellow flowers are also very popular at this time of the year. I just love the sight of these beautiful flowers. I am not sure what these flowers are called but I think these are commonly referred to as ice cream flowers.

Spotted these along Wasel Road in Jumeirah.

Date Palms - Getting ready for the summer

A few days back I blogged about the arrival of the summer in Dubai.

One of the other activities that also signal the arrival of the summer is the cleaning of the date trees that happens at about this time each year. The date palm trees are cleaned by the municipality workers probably in anticipation of a good crop. The photo above shows one such worker perched on top of a tree somewhere in Jumeirah chopping off dried palms and other waste.

You may also want to visit my other post on 'dates' here

Edited on 26th May

Moryati adds: In Arabic, what he is doing is called 'tas'eef', to keep the trunk trimmed and clean. Not only it makes the palm look nice and presentable, cutting those layers short and not allowing them to grow excessivly helps prolong the palm's life. Parasites and other contiminents tend to gether in between those extensions and could eat away thru the palm's body.

Hi Moryati: Thanks for the additional and important info on the subject

Traditional Lamps

One of the things that you notice about Dubai is the array of traditional lamps that one sees. Here are a few I saw the other day. Hopefully I will be able to put together a comprehensive series of lamps soon.