New Kid on the Block

Meet Nitindihong alias Jayden, Justin’s brother, born 17 October, Friday morning. Signs of labour (the childbirth one, not the labour workforce) started on the night after I posted my last blog entry. Smart kid, waited for his father’s 2-day weekend break to pop out – labour started early Friday morning 1.30am, went to the hospital at 4am, he was out by 8.30am! Pity his elder brother! 2-day weekend, but spent the whole time in the hospital and at home.

Baby’s name should be Jayden Nitin Dihong Ong to match Justin’s, but the Dubai Birth Registrar, for some unknown reason, now allows a maximum of 3 names, and asked me to drop one of the names. I combined them. So thank you Dubai, for the absurd, one in a million name, Nitindihong! Awww, what the heck, it’s just a friggin Birth Cert, right?

Looks like Dubai and China State Construction are lucky for having babies. This is my second. Wanna have a baby, come join me here!


1 day old


3 days old


Having a sun tan at 11 days old

Journey to a Sea Arch

The Marina at Al Jissah, Muscat, Oman

Here’s a quick update while waiting for baby to arrive. …These few days have been a real suspense. Anu’s pregnancy is past Week 40 now, and there’re still no signs of labour. This kid is definitely taking his time unlike his brother, who was 2 weeks early, and gave us an advance warning a month before he was due (leaking of amniotic fluid).

Did I not mention that Muscat has some pretty interesting beaches also? But don’t expect coconut palms and budget hut-type chalets. There’s not a tree in sight, and the only hotels here are spanking 5 star hotels, which I guarantee will put a dent in your wallet. They do have trees actually, the ones that they plant artificially and water through a network of sprinklers and irrigation pipes, at the hotels.

Ooops, I forgot about the beach at Seeb (west of Muscat). Seeb actually has some cheaper hotels, but don’t hope for chalet huts. Or trees.

Here’re some pictures of Qantab / Al-Jissah on the eastern part of Muscat. (Nah, didn’t take any pics at Seeb, just did a drive by thing to see whether there’s anything interesting. Didn’t help when both son and mommy wanted to head back to the hotel for a rest).


Journey to a sea arch at Al Jissah – boats are available from Qantab Beach, but be prepared to haggle your heads off. Notice how the area here looks like a flooded quarry, …but a beautiful quarry at that.




Papa and son returning from the sea arch, Al Jissah, Muscat


Mommy and son at Al Jissah


Road to Al Jissah


Qantab Village, surrounded by barren mountains


Qantab Beach


What’s a ship doing in a roundabout? Al Bustan, Muscat, Oman

2 Festivals and a Bloody Long Queue

Corniche at Muscat, Oman

I’m running out of ideas for posting! Since it’s double festival season again, Muslim Eid al-Adha / Aidil-Adha and Hindu Durga Puja, I’ll post things of what we did at this time last year.

Last year was good, Eid fell in the middle of the week, so with the weekends added, we had a full 5 day break. This year we had a total of 3! And with the baby due anytime, we just stuck around the house, ate, slept and put on some weight.

We started our first day of the 5 day break last year with a small traditional ritual for Durga Puja (it happened to fall on the main day of Durga Puja). (Durga Puja is Anu’s family’s biggest festival of the year. It is also the biggest festival in Bengali Hindu areas and is basically a major festival in East India, North East India and Nepal). This is what you have to do, Gorkhali style: -


Blessing the children of the house, with incense, uncooked rice, banana paste, etc. You have to paste uncooked rice on the forehead of the kids and pass them some money. We did a short cut and just threw some rice on Justin. It’s the gesture that counts, right?

Then we started our journey to Oman, via Hatta. We reached the Omani border post (Wajaja) at about 12.30pm. We exited the immigration complex at 8.30pm. Yes, it took 8 hours! The immigration process is very complicated. It involves half an hour of looking for a parking, 15 minutes of figuring out what’s happening inside the marketplace of a complex, 7 hours and 10 minutes of hanging around, chit-chatting with strangers, and queuing up to reach the immigration counters, and 5 minutes of paying and getting the visas stamped on your passports. (I’m recycling some material here! See previous post.) If you have a group with you, which everybody has (it’s an average of 5 passports per person queuing up), you can take turns queuing up, or your friend can help you grab a coffee, a pizza, some KFC, or something while you chat up complete strangers to break the boredom. You can also watch the kids up to their antics, playing, shouting, sleeping, giggling, crying, running around and bumping into people, throwing tantrums. What a wonderful place!

Lessons learned: - If you want this experience, do visit during an extended holiday weekend. If you hate waiting, best visit at 3am (they open 24 hours!), or don’t come during a holiday in the region.

We reached our hotel in Muscat past midnight.

Scenes from Muscat, where we spent our Eid 2013 in: -




Mutrah, the congested part of Muscat, with narrow roads hemmed in by rocky hillocks, shops and houses.


Mutrah Souk






Along the Corniche, near Mutrah, Muscat, Oman


Old Muscat, with Fort Mirani in the background


A view of the bay at Old Muscat, from the front of Fort Mirani


Sultan Qaboos Mosque, at a newer part of Muscat


The newer parts of Muscat, from the front of the Sultan Qaboos Mosque. That black Toyota Yaris on the right was our car for the trip!

Pune Diary Final Chapter

Grounds of the Aga Khan Palace, Pune, Maharashtra, India

Went to Pune for a day last week, to bring niece Karishma to Dubai, to help out with chores, especially since our second baby is due anytime now. For the time being, baby is just ‘baby’, but we’ve sort of reconciled that it’s gonna be a boy, like it or not. (But of course we’ll love him to bits. He’s our son after all). We’ll come up with a name, sooner or later.

Not much has changed in Pune since we left in Feb last year. The airport’s still small (but sometimes small is good). The city roads are still as bumpy as ever. The bus stops are still located in the middle of the roads (yeah, this is how it is in Pune, the cars, trucks, what-you-have, all travel on the side lanes, while the bus lanes and bus-stops are on where you will usually find the fast lanes! When you get off the bus, you’ll find yourself right smack in the middle of the highway, which you will then have to cross to get to the shops, houses, etc.) The favourite food is still limited to deep-fried varieties of bread and potatoes, and extra-spicy curries.

Staying here (or more accurately, 80km away from here, in Daund) for 2.5 years has made us quite fond of the city, with quirks and all. So much so that after we moved to the Pune area, Pune has become something like a second base in India for Anu’s family – sister, niece, nephew all stayed, worked or studied here at one time or another.

Pune’s not a bad city. Smaller (than Mumbai and other megacities), so more manageable traffic-wise. Pleasant climate and milder weather changes (unlike Rajasthan or Delhi). Nice (and cheap) grapes and wines (the best plus point of Pune in our opinion). Quite a few up-to-date malls, hotels and restaurants (see earlier posting). And I heard that the road connecting Daund to Pune is mostly done, so it’ll take less than an hour to reach now (used to take 2 friggin hours for 80km!). So here’s a selection of some sights of Pune as a small tribute to this city we called home for 2.5 years. Maybe we’ll meet again later on, who knows? But that’ll be another story.


Aga Khan Palace, Pune – the Aga Khan is the head (or Imam) of the Nizari Ismaili Sect, a branch of Shia Islam and a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. During India’s colonial times, the Aga Khan held a status similar to that of a Prince i.e. he was granted gun salutes by the British, the only religious leader to have such a status. This palace was donated to the people of India in the 70’s by the reigning Aga Khan, who now resides in France.


Samadhis (monuments honouring the dead) of Gandhi’s wife and secretary at the Aga Khan Palace – the Aga Khan Palace in Pune is famous for being the place where the British put Mahatma Gandhi, his wife and his secretary under house arrest for 2 years during the Indian struggle for independence. Gandhi’s wife, Kasturba Gandhi and his personal secretary, Mahadev Desai died here during the 2 years of internment.


Road leading to the Osho Ashram (aka Free Sex Ashram), Koregaon Park, Pune – this ashram (spiritual retreat) is famous for its Guru’s views on sex, and for his lavish lifestyle when he was in America. (Osho or Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh was for a time known as the Rolls-Royce Guru. He was said to have 90+ Rolls-Royce in the US, given to him by his many followers in the west). Osho was a controversial figure. He moved back to Pune after being deported from the US due to some immigration violations. The ashram is now one of Pune’s top tourist attractions. Nope, we didn’t enter the ashram. It costs a couple of thousand rupees, or more, but it includes robes, a whole day’s programme of meditation (or was it 2), and a mandatory HIV Test. I dunno how true it is, that you can have free sex in the ashram, but why else would they need the HIV Test for huh?


Mutha River, near the Shaniwar Wada Fort, Pune – Pune is a city of rivers and bridges. I dunno how many river crossings there are, but it sure feels like a lot when we travelled across the city.


A view of Pune during the monsoon from nearby fort, Sinhagad (see previous post). Note how green Pune is.


High spiky doors of the Shaniwar Wada Fort, Pune – To keep out extremely tall men… Or it might just be for the elephants


Garden of the Shaniwar Wada Fort / Palace


Mandai, a famous landmark in Pune – I think it’s a fruit and vegetable market

And how can an Indian city not have a street bazaar? Here they are: -


Fashion Street, Pune – what do you think they sell here? Hint: look at the name




Tulsibaug (pronounced Toolsee-Baag, meaning Basil Garden in Hindi), Pune


Last, but not least, here’s the patron god of Maharashtra, Lord Ganesh, in Tulsibaug – You can see Ganesh temples and shrines all over Pune and the Ganesh festival in September each year (Ganesh Chaturthi) is one of the biggest festivals for the people here.