The train souq

This is an old picture that I found while browsing though some old files. Located in Sharjah, the Central Souq is also commonly referred to as 'train souq' on account of its shape that resembes a train.

It houses a thriving gold market in one wing and an odd mix of electronic shops, imitation jewellery shops and others in the other wing. Its a popular stop along the tourist trails in Sharjah.

Also read about Al Qasba in Sharjah here

Yet another perspective

My last post on Buheirah Corniche sparked off a lot of interest in Sharjah.

Here is another pic of the Buheirah Corniche shot during the day. The water gives Sharjah a new feel!

A mosque in Jumeirah

This beautiful mosque is located at the junction of Al Abaari Street and Al Wasl Road in Jumeirah 3

I was once told about this very famous 'Jumeirah Mosque' by a visiting releative from Canada. And having lived for a few years here, I must conceed that I had never heard of it yet. So when she landed here, the first thing we did was to go out and visit the famous Jumeirah mosque.

But this post is about the 'other mosque' in Jumeirah. I think this mosque is extremely beautiful and is probably the best design in terms of its architecture. This mosque is located at beach road in Jumeirah. Surprisingly I have not had a post about the Jumeirah mosque yet.

My other post on a mosque.

The art of making a Mushaltat

Loneliness...

Loneliness is probably one of the largest issues that plagues the expatriate work force here in Dubai. I spotted this worker sitting alone at the beach in Jumeirah. He lives in Dubai while the rest of his family has remained back. On this particular day, his other mates were away at work while he enjoyed his weekly day off. Enjoyed? He spent most of the day sitting alone in this spot with loneliness for company.

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.

Summer time

The summer is here. Unofficially.

The summer flowers are in full bloom. And the shower now has water at 2 temperatures. Hot and Very Hot. So now I have to store water in a bucket so that I can have my daily dose of a cold water bath!.

The govt. is yet to announce the staggered work hours for the construction workers. That I guess confirms the official arrival of the summer in Dubai

A 'Bachelor' in Dubai

The term bachelor has been discussed on several occasion on so many blogs. Yet I am tempted to discuss it here.

The term itself is probably unique to the Middle East which has such a high ratio of an expat population. The term bachelor is commonly used to refer to a single male resident. This does not in any way reflect his marital status. It only confirms that he lives alone here while the rest of his family resides in his country of origin.

This young man is an example of a 'bachelor' in Dubai. He spent most of the Friday afternoon sitting on this step and watching the people pass by.

The hand carts of Bur Dubai

For a city known for its skyscrapers, glitz and modernity, the term hand-carts may seem a bit out of place. I spotted these handcarts during one of my many trips to the Bur Dubai souq. Bur Dubai still manages to hold on to the old world charm.
These hand cards are usually used by the local trading community to transport goods from the creek to the shops and surrounding areas.

The only Hindu temple in Dubai

I understand that this is the only Hindu temple in UAE? Located in Bur Dubai, the Shiva and Krishna Temple caters to the religious needs of the vast Hindu community in Dubai. While the temple performs marriage ceremonies among the Hindus, interestingly the marriages cannot be registered in the country.

It's strange to see the temple located on the first floor of a building. I found out that this was a pre-condition to having a temple in Dubai i.e the premises should not be located on firm ground. Can anyone confirm this?


For directions to the temple click here

Read about the only Gurudwara in Dubai here

Edited
ps: Refer to comment by Harsha for more info on the topic


Check out the most popular posts at Dubai Photo Story. Click here

The Al Fahidi fort ...contd

Here are some more pictures as a continuation of the last post.

The Al Fahidi fort

I've been in Dubai for several years now but must concede that I had never been to the famous Al Fahidi fort since my arrival in Dubai. I had passed by the fort on a number of occasions and had always wanted to stop and visit the site.

This weekend was a good time to go down to Bur Dubai and visit the fort.


Built in 1799, the structure is probably one of the oldest in the city. Built with the primary objective of protecting the city from attacks via the sea, the structure lies on the banks of the Dubai creek, close to the abra stations. The fort now houses the Dubai museum which was opened in 1971 and provides a fascinating peek into Dubai's history and culture.

The fort has an underground gallery of artifacts depicting Dubai's history and traditions.

Check out some more pics here

Peaceful

The last time I was at Dubai Media City (DMC), I wrote about it here.

I happened to be back at DMC this morning and spotted this structure right in the middle of the water pond. The reflection in the water was beautiful. It was also as if time stood still here. While the hustle and bustle of DMC was evident all across the place, one felt a sense of peace here.

Nice.

In a trance....

Spotted this kid off the beach. He seemed to be in a trance, almost possessed. He did his maneuvers like an ace.

Deserved a perfect 10!!!

This begs an explanation!!!!

This 'begs' an explanation!!!!

Thanks to CG, I was lead to this important document released by the Ministry of Health (MOH)

This is an extremely important release from the ministry given the gravity of the situation and risk posed by 'begs'.

For more read here

Just another hotel?

While almost half of Dubai may have made its way to the famous Atlantis hotel since it opening in November, I can now claim my rightful place in the sun. I made it down to The Atlantis over the weekend for a small celebration and it turned out to be quite an experience.

The Atlantis have have been news for all the wrong reasons including it's multi million lauch party and then for this.

But my visit to the hotel certainly made me one of its strong fans. The place is simply out of the world. Loved it. Every bit.

Went back to Jumeirah this week and came across this small group of 'locals' having a chat.
The place was almost deserted and there were not too many other people besides these guys. As they sat against the background of a setting sun, I wondered what they were discussing. The future of Dubai? The recent bad press that Dubai has received? Their roles in the modern day Dubai? The 'real Dubai' that they may have never seen?

The tradition of fishing

Over the years in Dubai, I had never ever come across a local Emarati fisherman so it was quite an exciting sight to see this young Emarati fixing his nets on the beach. Dubai is steeped in the tradition of fishing and it was interesting to see that a lot of this tradition is still evident. The young man spent almost 4 hours all by himself weaving a net while his toddler played alongside in the sand. As I started talking to him, it was evident to me that this young man was well educated and well traveled.

But he was so passionate about his family's traditional occupation - fishing. He told about the boats that he keeps and a few interesting stories from his experiences.

Read more about UAE and fishing here

The Pier

The small boat was anchored at this pier in Garhoud. I found this picture very peaceful. The entire place was entirely deserted with this solitary boat bouncing about on the water. It was almost like time stood still.

Enjoying the weekend

Spotted these kids enjoying the weekend at a Dubai park. 

A mosque in Dubai

This is an old picture from my camera. I cannot remember where exactly I shot it. Many of my Muslim friends told that the way the moon is framed in the picture is supposed to be auspicious. I am not aware why it is but they all seemed to like it.