End of Year Post 2015

Burjuman Mall, Dubai

Deck the halls with boughs of holly, fa la la la la la la la la
Tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la la la la la la
Don we now our gay apparel, fa la la la la la la la la
Sing the ancient yuletide carol fa la la la la la la la la

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Everyone!!!


Snowmen & Christmas Trees for Christmas! (…I think it’s from the Mirdif City Centre, …or could it be Dubai Mall?? …Seriously, don’t remember!)

Here’re some photos for the festive season! These are all from the malls of Dubai. That’s where we spend most of our holidays! Roaming the malls, shopping for groceries, and sometimes, do some festive shopping (yeah, our life here is really THAT exciting!!). We’ll stop for a coffee now and then (although Anu’s adopted a new cost-saving strategy lately, making hot coffee at home and carrying in a flask – Do you know that Dubai & Hong Kong have the most expensive coffee in the world according to research??). And eat out once in a while (somehow the food here ain’t really that good, and it’s not cheap either). Movies used to be one of the things that we do (until we realized that Jayden’s at an age that ‘sshhhhhh’ means nothing more than to make more noise, or to cry at the top of his voice)…

Anyway, we’re taking a short 1 week break from roaming the malls. Yippee!!! See you all again in 2016! Till then, have a look at our adventures in the malls (notice that there’s only 1 photo of Jayden? …That’s because they’re mostly old photos hehe, haven’t had time to look through the newer photos yet, as usual). And if that’s still not enough, here’s a post with more malls!


A circus in a mall! Burjuman Centre, Dubai


Anu at the Burjuman Centre (I’m posting more pictures of Burjuman as I don’t think I’ve ever posted any Burjuman photos before)


Dubai Festival City, …this is the nth time that I’ve snapped similar views of this place, dunno whether I’ve posted any before… Aww, who cares? I’ll just post them again, what the heck!


Mall of the Emirates, used to be our favourite mall in 2009 – 2010, when we were staying in Al Barsha, and IMPZ – Check out this post


Mirdif City Centre, our current favourite, coz it’s only a ten minute drive (10+km) from our house! No, I dunno what Justin is doing, ...maybe a taiji master in the making?!?


Yours truly at Mirdif


Justin, engaged in some serious colouring work at Mirdif City Centre …all for the sake of a free yoyo and a wrist band, compliments of the Cartoon Network! Good thing Justin doesn’t shy away from things like this, …unlike his old man!


Dragon Mart, even nearer, only 2km from our house! Everything Chinese under one roof, and it’s huge, 1 km in length! And now there’s even a Dragon Mart 2 next to it! (I’ll post pictures of this next time, OK? It just opened, and we’ve been there only once!)


Justin looking at the Golden Dragon Globe, for inspiration on becoming a taiji master (just kidding, …it's actually a friggin fountain in front of Dragon Mart)


And finally, this is where we usually do our weekly grocery shopping – the Union Co-op Hypermarket, next to the Fruit & Vegetable Market, Dubai, exciting huh?!?

Signing off for now. Meanwhile, have a joyous Christmas and a fantastic New Year!!!

Justin Year 6

Justin is 6!

Finally, …found some time to sort out some photos of Justin. Yeah, Justin’s 6 years old!!! Time sure flies. Felt like just the other day that Justin was talking his baby talk and messing things up, and now he’s 6. (And he’s still messing things up…)

Anyway, here’s a recap of his antics in the past year.


Justin, papa and grandpa in Butterworth, Malaysia last Christmas


In Silchar, Assam in Feb 2015, with his mommy and Chema (aunt) Amrita (who has, for some reason or other, started to grow pretty big …she said it’s all because she works in the US and must somehow be this size, to blend in with all the Americans!?! Amazing logic huh?) Wanna know how she looks like before – here’re some photos of Amrita just some 3+ years back – the miracle of being in the US!


Justin and Papa at a swimming pool in Hatta Hill Park. For some unknown reason, the pool is opened only for residents, and Arabic-speaking people, …and occasionally, when there’re no other people around, to the odd Malaysian and his vocal wife (who started bugging the hell out of the poor guard on this strange policy)… (Aww, come on, how often do you come across a Malaysian in Hatta??)


The Karate Kid in Arabia – the Hajar Mountains, Fujairah, UAE, Mar 2015


Rollerboy, in Dragon Mart, Dubai, May 2015


Completed Foundation 2 (i.e. Kindergarten Year 2), with his class teacher, Ms Pascal Cumberbatch, at the Royal Dubai School, Jun 2015


Fooling around, …as usual, at the start of his summer school holidays, Jun 2015 – Yup, that's what we (or more like his mommy) have to bear with for 2 months before he starts schooling again!


The sign says it all! In Switzerland, posing with the Matterhorn (that pointed mountain - the one in the Toblerone chocolate bars), Aug 2015


Justin on Lego-camel at The Lego Shop, Mirdif City Centre, Sep 2015 – Lego (or any building block for that matter) is his favourite toy


At our living room in International City, holding one of his Lego creations – a set we bought in Slovenia. Lego is about half the price in Europe, compared to Dubai.


Having a go at the drums – it’s all for show (thank goodness – just imagine the din, …it’ll be good if it’s the piano or violin) Justin doesn’t play anything much, …besides Lego


Scene from The Grudge 4, …just kidding – Justin on Halloween, in our scary apartment corridor


With his little brother, at the car park downstairs, Nov 2015 – all grown up huh?


Justin at Little Explorers, Mirdif City Centre, Dubai – his 6th birthday present from us (i.e. one day at Little Explorers, a kiddie play centre). He totally enjoyed it!


Justin, with UAE face tattoo for the UAE National Day celebration – National Day (Dec 2nd) is celebrated with full fanfare in the UAE. School kids wear UAE colours on the last day of school before the holidays (yup, we’d end up buying UAE stuff every year – UAE’s really good at making poor consumers spend money!). There’ll be houses flying huge flags of the UAE, cars adorned with UAE stuff, malls with UAE decorations all over the place, people dressed in UAE scarves, shirts, underwear (nope, I made that up), etc. If only Malaysia learns something out of this…

A City of Sand & Swamp

Abu Dhabi, the UAE – Would you believe it, that all this was sand (and sea), just some 60 years back?

Just started work after a long weekend. Long weekends are nice. They let you relax, and forget about work. They’re not so nice when you return to work. Heck, who wants to work after a nice time enjoying? But that’s life – no work, no money, no life, sigh…

The long weekend was for UAE’s National Day celebrations, on December 2nd. Generous UAE has now made November 30th another holiday, Commemoration Day, to remember the fallen heroes of the UAE. We like it. Heck, any holiday is a good holiday. And UAE being what they are, has a habit of clubbing holidays together. Better so, when it coincides with a weekend. This year, the UAE announced that the holidays would be from December 1st to December 5th (4th and 5th being the weekend Fri-Sat), never mind that Commemoration Day is actually on the 30th of November. (Heck, we can always remember them a day later right?)

Our not so generous company however, decided that the holidays would only be for 3 days, from December 2nd to 4th. Commemoration can always take place while we’re at work, in the company’s mind. But hell, it’s still better than no holidays at all!

December 1st happens to be Justin’s birthday. So, it looks like there’ll always be a holiday on his birthday from now onwards eh? In the UAE anyway. Lucky fellow!

In keeping with my present strategy of posting every post with some pictures (except depressing posts which I don’t need people to read about), here’re some pictures of the capital of the UAE, to throw some UAE festive spirit onto the blog, and to commemorate some dead heroes along the way, …whoever they are. It was this, or post pictures of Justin’s 6th year birthday, and there’re just too many photos to sort out and too much work to do for that to happen immediately. Enjoy!


The Marina Mall Abu Dhabi – We’d somehow always end up here, don’t ask me why


On the causeway / breakwater / whatever you call it, between the Abu Dhabi Corniche and Marina Mall


A cafeteria on the causeway. Here’s a picture of the place in 2008, on our first visit to Abu Dhabi

In a place where everything is sand, a piece of swampland, however undesirable it may sound, is a gem! And so it is with Abu Dhabi. The mangrove swamps around the city are so treasured, that to remove or disturb any little piece of them, will need approval from the highest office (or so I heard!) What’s more, you’d have to replant mangroves double the area of what you’ve removed! OK, I’m not against swamps, I know they’re very important for the eco-system and such, but just imagine, all the muck and critters crawling around! Heck, in Malaysia, we just use them for bakau piles! And fishing! And protecting the shoreline. And… Hey, looks like swamps are actually quite useful after all!


The old and the new – Boats on the beach at Abu Dhabi Heritage Village, with a view of the Abu Dhabi Corniche Area across the sea


Camel herder at the Heritage Village, Abu Dhabi


Along the Abu Dhabi Corniche, beautifully landscaped – Don’t believe this was all sand not too long ago? Just google images of Abu Dhabi Past or Abu Dhabi History


Sand sculptures on the Abu Dhabi Corniche Beach


The leaning tower of Abu Dhabi, …no wait, let me google. Huh? Google Map doesn’t even have a name for this place!? …Luckily Wikipedia has it – Capital Gate


Inside the Royal Meridien Hotel, Abu Dhabi – rare pic of my current immediate boss, Ravi, Senior Engineering Manager, and Keith Sargeant, ex-Business Development Manager of the company


Courtyard of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi – for more pictures of this fabulous mosque, check out this previous post


Anu & Kim on the seafront facing the Emirates Palace Hotel (the squat brown buildings, with the central dome). Recognize those shiny towers on the left – they’re the Etihad Towers where the heroes in the Fast & Furious 7 movie stole a sports car and drove it flying through 3 of the friggin towers!!! Only in Hollywood!


Same seafront as above, different view, with Anu & Dad. Not a bad place for a picnic huh? …In winter that is