The End of Picnic Season

Al Mamzar Beach Park, Dubai, with a view of the Sharjah skyline across the sea

Looks like another UAE winter has come to pass. It’s been difficult sleeping without the air-con/ AC for the last couple of days. Nope, we’re still not gonna switch it on. First, it’s not very healthy. Second, it’s been lying unused for …let’s see, 3 months?? Who knows what’s lurking in the AC now huh? (Note to self: Get AC service man to clean it up as soon as possible). Third, and most important, do you know how much electricity costs when the AC is on? (Hey, we’re stingy for a reason OK? My pay’s not that good! I have 2 kids to look after, and …we have big plans for exotic trips around the world! What’s a few sleepless nights without the air-con? Besides, it’s good training for our big travelling plans. Imagine being stuck in Europe during a heat wave. You think the hotels there have air-cons?!?)

Very soon, the only places that we can go to outside in Dubai, will be the fabulous shopping malls. But if heat is your idea of fun, I strongly recommend visiting Dubai in summer. The perks are just fantastic. For example -

1. You can have the parks all to yourself – glorious 50 C sun, date palms, trees, flowers of all kinds (um …maybe not), empty playgrounds, etc. Go to the parks in winter, and you’ll come out smelling like barbecue. What do you expect when the entire population of Dubai, and beyond, visits the parks to barbecue stuff and picnic? Some parks are worse i.e. Al Mamzar Beach Park (pictures below), Creek Park (see this post). Don’t believe me, give it a try on a weekend!

2. You can have a free sauna experience everywhere you go. Wanna have the real deal? Just park your car under the sun for 30 minutes, then hop in and enjoy.

3. You can get hotel and tour packages for a fraction of the normal cost due to the low season.

4. You can experience the real Middle East, take a dhow (boat) cruise on the creek all by yourself, sweating on the deck. Get exclusive desert safari adventures with no one else to bug you, and feel the hot oven-like desert wind (and dust, and sand) blowing over your face.

Before all that heat-related fun arrives, here’re some photos of our park outings, in less extreme times. If I could add smell to these photos, it’d be the scent of barbecued lamb.


The central arena of the Al Mamzar Beach Park – entrance is not costly, 5 dirhams per head. It’ll be cheaper if you have a car, 10 dirhams per car, regardless of how many people are squeezed in it. But everyone will be having the same idea, so be prepared to be stuck in a traffic queue if you try driving in on a weekend


Some weird observation tower in Al Mamzar Park




More beach scenes of the family at Al Mamzar. And here's a 2008 photo of Al Mamzar Park


From left - Xu Jiangang, Office Assistant & resident handyman; Ji Yuansheng, Head of Roads Department & unofficial cameraman; and yours truly, designated carrier of baby Jayden (who's hidden in the picture by mysterious head of unknown person)


Catching up on some action at our company’s Chinese New Year 2016 gathering at Al Mamzar Park. I dunno who those 2 main actors are, but the one on the left, holding the toy trumpet, is our Tender & Cost Control Manager, Fu Chunlei


Anu and the flowers, Al Mamzar Beach Park, Dubai


Here’s another park, the Uptown Mirdif Park, Dubai – Justin having fun at a classmate’s (Miriam) birthday party


Beautiful sky, with an Emirates plane in sight. Mirdif lies right next to Dubai International Airport, so if spotting planes are your thing, this is the place to be


Flowers at Uptown Mirdif Park, Dubai


Another view of Mirdif, outside the park (can’t get enough of that amazing sky, hehe). Those apartments were built by the Company I’m working for

Chinese New Year 2016

Happy New Year everyone! Having a Chinese New Year, Arabian style. Jayden at Justin’s school, GEMS Royal Dubai School

What the heck, I might as well post pictures of our Chinese New Year in Dubai since I’ve already downloaded the lot of photos from our phones and camera. The missus was bugging me to share CNY photos on Facebook (since the entire family in Malaysia, and around, plus their friends, plus the friends of their friends, were doing the same). FB’s done, so now it’s the blog’s turn. Here goes!


The first day of CNY this year happened to also be Justin’s Sports Day at his school. Luckily for us, I have a day off (the advantages of working for a Chinese company, ahem). So we spent a large part of CNY at school!


Now Jayden, you’re too little to compete with the big kids!


Where’s Jayden?


No, you can’t play hide and seek in the lockers!


Caught you!


Gong Xi Fa Cai everybody!


The brothers in red, for CNY


Our reunion dinner, compliments of Anu (…she read my earlier post, oops!)


The first day of CNY this year, 8 Feb, also happens to be our niece Karishma’s birthday. So we had cake to go with our reunion dinner!


Anu in a red-orange gown for CNY. That gown happens to be her pregnancy frock, but what d’ya know? It still fits, and I have no complaints!!!


Last minute CNY shopping at Dragon Mart, Dubai


Our Company CNY Get-Together in Al Mamzar Beach Park, Dubai (another advantage of working for a Chinese company, hehe)


The Vice-President / Head of the Civil and Infrastructure Division, of the company I’m working for, Mr Dong Wei


Some of the action at the Company Get-Together, love the expressions on this photo! The leader of the team (in black at the front) is Mark Wei, a senior member (Deputy GM, if I'm not mistaken) of our Division. The spectator behind, in black, with hands on hips is Hu Kaifeng, another senior member of our Division (no, I have no idea what fancy rank he holds)

On a more serious note, I’ve chickened out of my big toe biopsy (see the last para of my previous post). Since going to the surgeon, and while waiting for insurance to approve the procedure, I’ve researched melanoma of the toenail extensively (that’s what the internet’s for, right?!), and have come to a conclusion that that blasted black spot under my big toenail is likely not a melanoma. So I called the doctor and said I’ll wait it out for 2 months, and if it still doesn’t go away, I’ll head to him pronto, and have the blasted spot removed, obliterated, whatever!

On an even more serious note, I’ve just got devastating news from back home! My mom (stepmom) was diagnosed with cancer of the lung today. What’s worse is that it’s metastasized and spread to the brain and liver. We don’t know where it originated from, nor how long it’s been there, but that’s no longer important. We know that there’s no cure for it. The only help is divine help. So if you’re reading this, please do us a favour and pray for her. Thanks!

Another Busy Valentine's

Couple photo, on a dhow cruise in Dubai Marina, compliments of our niece Karishma, and the company she works for, Tour Dubai. Couple photos are rare nowadays, especially after the kids came out. This one actually has a little bit of Jayden (I cropped him out hehe!)

Looks like it’s gonna be a busy Valentine’s again. Busy not on candlelight dinners and romance, but on work, chores and kids! Hell, it ain’t even on a weekend here this year! Besides, how do people celebrate Valentine’s when one kid is constantly bugging you with questions about everything under the sun, and the other is screaming his head off for attention?

Maybe, if we put them to sleep early? Good idea! …But it’s easier said than done.

Anyway, here’re some rare photos of when we (the adults) managed to squeeze some time off the kids, to bring back memories of more romantic times. Justin is 6, Jayden is like 15 months old. …Hmmm, maybe we can have a nice romantic getaway in another 9 to 10 years’ time. 2026, not too long to go, shite!


Dinner at the Jebel Ali Palm Tree Court – another gift from Karishma and Tour Dubai. (Karishma won a Dinner for 2 gift voucher and gave it to us). But why do they keep this place so friggin dark?!








More pictures of the Jebel Ali Palm Tree Court






Cruising Dubai Marina in a dhow, thanks to Karishma and Tour Dubai. That twisted building on the left is the Cayan Tower. The building where the red string is attached to, is the Princess Tower

On a more serious note, I have a friggin black spot under my big toenail that appeared mysteriously some 2 weeks back. No injury, no rashes, no swelling, no peeling skin, no smell (OK, there IS smell. Whose feet are completely without smell anyway? But the smell is the normal everyday shoe stink, not something extraordinary, like Athlete’s Foot or something like that). Try googling ‘black spot under big toenail’ and you’ll know how scary that is. Went to a dermatologist, and she prescribed some meds for fungal infection, and added that if that doesn’t work in a week or two weeks’ time, go see a surgeon to get a biopsy done. Scary, ain’t it? Now waiting for the surgeon to call back on when insurance approval is obtained, and then I can go for the biopsy. Wish me luck!

A Story of Monkeys

Whoa! Is this the entrance to a Haunted House in a Carnival? Nope, it’s actually the entrance to the Golden Temple of Dambulla, in Sri Lanka

It’s gonna be the Monkey Year in exactly a week's time! Excited!! For reunion dinner, we’ll probably have a lovely home-cooked meal of rice, curry chicken or mutton (hope it ain’t fish), some fabulous sambal, maybe steamed eggs Chinese-style, some green vegetables, etc …just like any other day of the year! (What? It ain’t even a holiday here in the UAE, OK?) We’ll dig up some new clothes to wear (I’m sure we have some hidden away somewhere), or we’ll find some clothes we’ve not worn for ages and pretend they’re new clothes. I’ll pack some money into red packets to give to the kids. (I think I still have some red packets left over from the Year of the Horse! Who’ll care? Justin doesn’t even know what animal year it is! Besides, it’ll be thrown away as soon as he gets his hands into that cash…)

OK kidding aside, the missus and I are thinking of catching a movie in the cinemas, minus Justin (he’ll be schooling hehe!) Me? Well, that’s the beauty of working for a Chinese Company! I think (judging from past year practices) our Company will give us at least one day off, despite it being a working day in the entire friggin Middle East, and the regions beyond. That’s the only time we can catch an 18/adult-rated movie, but …with Jayden around now, I doubt we’ll have that liberty… (yeah, the cinemas here apply movie ratings to even infants whose only knowledge are the teats of their mommy!) And that’s our CNY plan! Nice huh?


Dambulla Cave Temple, Sri Lanka

For the blog, I’ve decided to do a story on monkeys (it’s the Monkey Year after all). Here are pictures of Dambulla, in Sri Lanka. Dambulla is the site of a famous Buddhist cave temple. The pictures are from my second visit with Anu and Justin. On my first visit in 2004, this place was teeming with monkeys. On that particular visit, I, my brother and my friend, Wai Yen had the total of 2 days and a night to see the entire friggin country of Sri Lanka. It was a stopover for their return flight to Malaysia from India via SriLankan Airlines. They had visited me in India. I decided to join them for a visit to Sri Lanka (heck, I was single, and ready to see any country on a whim!)

Anyway, to cut the story short, we hired a car from Bandaranaike Airport (Colombo’s International Airport) to take us to as many places as possible within that limited time. We arrived at the airport at 4 friggin am, and Jason and Wai Yen had to fly out to Malaysia on the next evening. (I had an extra night in Colombo). The driver we engaged through a tourist booth at the airport was an ‘expert’ tourist guide. Expert or not, he also happened to be the only driver around at that time. Hell, what choice do you think we have, at 4am? (OK, there may be more if you wait, and visit a few more tourist booths with bleary-eyed staff). Sri Lanka was still technically at war, so it felt like the soldiers with machine guns outnumber tourist arrivals.

Our first stop in our whirlwind tour was Dambulla. A few hours after we started, our expert driver suddenly stopped at a road side by a hill and said, “there up that staircase”. Huh? “Yeah that staircase, and no shoes!” So we kept our shoes in the car, and started walking barefoot up the stone steps. It was a really peaceful walk, through rocks and trees, and stepping on sharp bloody stones and twigs, and monkey poo, (must have been that, coz monkeys were all over the place). Didn’t strike us strange that we were about the only ones on the steps. Not long after, we reached a clearing and there it was, the temple. Now, here were a lot more people than we thought there’d be, and they had shoes on! (It turned out that our ‘expert’ driver dropped us at a side entrance). The main entrance is a much shorter walk, and shoes could be worn right up to the entrance of the temple area! (Maybe the driver did that to save us the entrance fee… Was there an entrance fee?? …Honestly, you think I’d remember?) And we had to walk all the way down again!! But it sure saved us some money (in the form of reduced tips for our brilliant driver).

One of the most memorable things of our 2004 visit, was the antics of two monkeys in the courtyard in front of the main temple. We and a lot of visitors – families, kids, old folks, camera-toting tourists, etc were hanging around, in front of a fish pond, when two amorous monkeys went at it, doggy-style, with full expression and sound, in the middle of the friggin courtyard. The adults laughed (most of us anyway), the kids just looked on and wondered what the heck the monkeys were doing. The male monkey looked at us, bared his teeth and shrieked while banging his partner for the world to see. What a sight!


This was where the monkeys went at it in 2004 – Courtyard in front of the Dambulla Cave Temple. Here’s a view of the pond by the courtyard.

But I liked the temple on the whole. That’s why I brought Anu and Justin here. There were a lot less monkeys in 2013, and none inside the temple compound. 9 years, and the end of war meant a lot of difference I guess, or the temple officials must’ve finally gotten enough of the daily X-rated drama unfolding at their doorsteps!


Anu, on the frangipani-lined stone path / steps leading up to the cave temple


Another view of the Golden Temple’s entrance


The Golden Buddha at the temple


Monks (or more like statues of monks) lining up to pay homage to the Buddha


A small stupa in the temple. And here's a view of a golden stupa in Dambulla






Pictures of the cave temple interior, Dambulla, Sri Lanka

Happy New Year everyone! Gong Xi Fa Cai! Koung Hey Faat Choi! Have a blast!!!