Our Circle of Friends 2015

Chinese Hotpot Lunch in Dubai (JBR) with Malaysian friends Kok Wah, Kathy and their family. Kok Wah and Kathy were my UK university mates in 1995. Kok Wah was also working in Dubai during my first stint here, in 2008 – 2010. They came for a short family tour of Dubai! …And I thought the UAE isn’t really on the tourist list of Malaysians, what do I know?!

People are important in our lives. When I first started blogging, I seldom blogged about people, seldom posted pictures of people. The posts then were mostly about the places I visited, and about the strange and interesting things I saw.

As time progressed, I realized that, ‘Hey, things actually last a lot longer than people!’ (…Except when ISIS is involved. With ISIS, nothing lasts, not buildings, not people). The people in your life changes, you move away, they move away, they go to the world beyond, etc and we don’t get to see them ever again. So I started capturing the photos of the people in our lives. Or at least I tried to. (It can be awkward, OK? ...How do you go from say, discussing politics, to suddenly ask, ‘hey, can I take a photo?’ Won’t the person you’re talking to think you’re some kind of a pervert, or something?? Maybe they’d understand if you’re a selfie-junkie, but I’m not! And besides, when you’re busy catching up with friends or family, would you like think of pulling out the friggin camera or phone?) Luckily, there’s Facebook, and social media nowadays, or we’d probably not have known where many of our past school friends have gone!

Anyway, here’re some moments we had with friends and acquaintances in Dubai in 2015. We don’t really have friends here in Dubai. Heck, we don’t really have friends anymore period. Somehow or other, our friends evaporated (or it’s more like WE evaporated from the friend scene after having our own family!) Now, our whole time is dedicated to our lovely family, not that I have any complaints with that. Worse, I’m actually happy! But I have to admit, once in a while, some friend comes along and makes the world such a nice place to be in. What’s life without the special people in it? And therefore, here’s a toast to the people in our lives in 2015! (The ones I managed to photograph, anyway.) And 2016? Oh, that’d have to wait, …till 2017 I guess. I’ve not sorted out the friggin photos, OK?

Our friends nowadays seem to revolve around our kids’ activities, school functions, birthday parties, etc. Yup, that’s life, I guess, after you start a family, especially if you’re friggin working overseas, by yourself…


Justin’s kindergarten (FS2) classmate Miriam with her parents, on her 5th birthday, at Uptown Mirdif Park. Talk about a small world – Miriam’s father turned out to be the owner of the apartment we finally bought, after looking at err… ten, maybe more apartments. The strange thing is that I found out only when we started chatting at the land office, while waiting to sign the transfer of ownership papers! And this was after we met at Miriam’s birthday party. No wonder I found him to be kinda familiar looking! Miriam’s father is Iranian with a Person of Indian Origin card, while her mother is Kenyan, of Yemeni Arab descent. Miriam's Kenyan. That’s what you call the Dubai-mix.


The kids at Miriam’s birthday party – there’re a few Justin’s classmates here, but I only know Pyper (the little blond girl on the left in the Eiffel Tower T-shirt, she's American), Sunichi (the little boy in green beside Justin, then Justin’s best friend, he's Japanese) and Nidhi (I think! …the little girl in black on the extreme right, from India)


Lamiha’s birthday party, another of Justin’s kindergarten classmate, who is British of Pakistani or Indian descent, at Mirdif City Centre


Justin’s FS2 (kindergarten) End of Year Concert at the Royal Dubai School


A farewell to Amy (left), Justin’s kindergarten school mate, and daughter of Dong Weihong my work colleague. She was to continue her studies in China, staying with her grandparents, while her parents would stay put in Dubai. The girl on the right is Mifi, daughter of another of my work colleagues, Song Lichun. She’s now also going to the same school as Justin, and taking the same school bus. She’s one year Justin’s junior


Halloween Party at Emma’s house – Emma (little girl in the middle) is Justin’s Year 1 classmate. She’s also of mixed descent, father’s Scottish (or is it English??) and mother’s Lebanese. Unfortunately, this is the only close-to-decent photo I have of the party …hey, you think it’s easy to take photos of constantly moving 5 year olds with a compact camera??! The little devil on the right is Varshana, Justin’s fellow Malaysian classmate, while Justin’s the scary spectre on the left.


Justin and Emma on UAE’s National Day celebrations 2015 at his school – photo compliments of Justin’s school class blog


Justin’s Year 1 Teacher, Ms Vanessa Gray, dressed as a Victorian school marm, in line with the Now & Then Topic that was being taught at that time – another photo taken from Justin’s school class blog


Justin and Juju (I think), his classmate from the UAE, at the start of Year 1, compliments of the school class blog


Aria’s birthday party, one of Justin’s Year 1 classmate, from India


Justin and Leah, an Ethiopian classmate at Magic Planet, Mirdif City Centre


Celebrating Justin’s 6th birthday at home with our Chinese friends / colleagues. From left, Dong Weihong, Li Lei (Dong Weihong’s wife), Jia Weimin’s wife (honestly, I dunno her name!), and their son, who is about 4 months older than Jayden


The Pink Sikhs – our neighbour for a month. Our next door apartment is something like a holiday apartment. The husband who has been working in Dubai for err… more than 10 years finally decided to bring his wife over from India for a one month visit. The wife, being lonely started talking with Anu, and that’s how we ended up with this photo


Finally, church friends – a photo with a Filipino family. Their younger daughter is about the same age as Jayden, she’s a few months younger, I think

Goodbye Mom

Leaving a small tribute here in the memory of my step-mom, my Ah Ee, my mother for 28 years of my life, who went back to be with the Lord on the 9th of June…

You came, you left, you leave behind a sea of sadness, but so much memories of hope & joy.
As sudden as you came into our lives, more sudden it was when you went away.
You are now with the Lord. May you now have the peace that you desired & so deserve.
Your world now is the world of eternal comfort and peace and everything nice.
RIP Mom, till we meet again someday…

Mom left us suddenly on the night of the 9th of June, 2016. She had Stage-4 lung cancer, but it wasn’t exactly cancer that took her away from us. I don’t know the exact cause, but I suspect it to be a combination of diabetes and the potent side effects of the cancer drug that she was taking.

On Thursday, 9th June, morning I received a whatsapp message from Dad saying that they had admitted mom into the ICU of the local specialist centre in Butterworth. She was breathless, and her blood pressure had risen to 214. Her blood sugar was also high.

By the afternoon, everything had stabilized, and her chest x-ray actually showed that the cancer in her lungs had abated!! Ultrasound results were also good! A while later, another message came saying that mom’s kidneys aren’t working and that a dialysis would have to be done. About an hour later, I saw a lot of missed calls on my phone (was charging the phone on the laptop), and finally the whatsapp message bearing the bad news.

Only the doctors were with her at that time. Dad, sis Hazel and Su the maid had momentarily left the hospital, having been told to return in 4 hours’ time as dialysis would have taken that much time. They went for dinner, and had just reached home when they received a call from the hospital. This was after only about an hour from when they left the hospital. By the time they got back to the hospital, mom was gone. Doctor said her heart failed. It was that sudden. Nothing of what anyone expected. Only 2 months back, mom was looking fine. We watched a movie together (Zootopia) and even had dinner in Penang. Still can’t believe that she’s gone, so soon.


Our last outing with mom, Penang, April 2016

Thanks Mom, for coming into our lives. For accepting us as your children. For accepting our family as your family, our children as your grandchildren. Thank you for accepting our father, a widower with 3 children as your husband. For loving him, helping him, and taking care of him so thoroughly. Thank you for giving us a sister, and nurturing her to be the wonderful person she is now. Thank you for the discreet acts of love that you showered onto us, never talking about it nor asking even once for recognition. Without you we would not have done many things, might never have had the chance to further our studies overseas. You gave us that valuable gift.

I’m sorry not to have known you better. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to return the kindness you’d given us. You are a deeply misunderstood person. To some, you are proud and unfriendly, unsmiling and insensitive. But they’ve not seen your jovial side, nor your kind side. They’ve not known the things you’ve done, always done subtly, without fanfare. To me, your actions speak louder than words, and I thank you for everything that you’ve done for us.

Maybe it was a blessing in disguise, maybe God did answer our prayers and took you home, without letting you suffer the deadly effects of cancer. One last time, Mom, goodbye.

Here are some photos of the wake and funeral for remembrance's sake…






Mom’s last time in her beloved Butterworth House


Makeshift kitchen & tents – One good thing about Malaysia, you can close up the road and use part of the park for a function like this, without needing a permit. Just an understanding from the neighbours is all that’s needed. (We blocked 5 houses’ entrances for 3 days). Thank God for giving us such understanding and accommodating neighbours. If all Malaysians can be like this, it’d be paradise


The church service at our home…


Bidding our last farewell to Mom




At the crematorium, with Pastor Bernard on the right

Family and friends have been a pillar of strength for us throughout the few days of mourning. Thanks everyone for your kind wishes and support… Here’re some photos of family we seldom see.


Family of my cousin sister, Ah Yee (she’s my natural mother’s brother’s daughter), taking a photo with Stacey, Jason’s daughter (left)


Tua-Kor (Big Aunt), with cousin brother Kok Seng, and wife


Tua-Kor’s other son, Kok Leong, and family


Dad’s younger brother, Seihan-Chik and Seihan-Chim from Singapore


Mom’s elder brother (right), and elder sister and her husband (left)


In laughter and in tears – mom’s former long-time maid, Nanik (left), and Sukate (Su), her current temporary maid


In happier times – a family picture outside our Butterworth House, Jan 2015

Three Years in International City

England Cluster, International City, Dubai – a view from our window

Today is exactly 3 years since I returned to Dubai in 2013. I’ve made much progress since. I’m 3 years older. I have another son now, and he’s 1.5 years old already. My eyesight is getting better …at blurring out things which are too near my face. (I now have to hold my mobile phone at arm’s length to read what’s written on the friggin screen. …Maybe I’ll get a selfie-stick …to help me see better.) I have maintained the same weight and waistline (happy). I have maintained the same position and salary (unhappy). I still have hair and genuine teeth. I still remember birthdays and forget where I put the friggin pen, towel, phone, car keys, rings, watch, etc #@*#! My wife says I’m too serious now (my ex-boss should see me now, he who complaint that I was too childish before). And I’ve got a car now in Dubai, and paying off the loan on our own apartment!

Which reminds me …last month was our first anniversary of shifting into our own apartment!! So it should be a celebration of sorts eh? Well, here’re some pictures of the area we stay in, International City a.k.a. 龙城 (Lóng Chéng, or Dragon City in Chinese).

The development of International City started with the building of Dragon Mart, a huge mall filled with Chinese shops and goods, the largest China-product mall outside China! (Well, that’s what the developer of the mall claimed in their web-site!) With Dragon Mart came a residential area called China City (which was later renamed China Cluster and the area expanded to become International City, with other country-themed clusters added like England Cluster, Russia Cluster, Persia Cluster, etc. 10 different-themed clusters in total).

This place is now something like a Chinatown of Dubai. This is where most of the Chinese community in Dubai still stays in and is where you’ll find Chinese supermarkets, restaurants, etc. The Chinese still call it Dragon City, 龙城 (Lóng Chéng). (…Chinese somehow aren’t very good with names, especially non-Chinese names, they’d prefer numbers to names anytime!)

International City looks like a friggin Persian rug on the map. (Don’t believe me, check it out on Google Maps!) The town-planner/ designer (whatever you call it) must have just copied his favourite design from his fabric pattern book, and pasted it onto the map. And Voila! International City. It looks really interesting from the air, but it’s even more interesting on the ground. Fancy driving around flowery roundabouts, and getting confusingly lost? Come to International City! (But watch out for the hundreds of crossroads. They’re blind junctions waiting for accidents to happen. I know because I stayed right beside a crossroad for 2 years and the sounds of a screech followed by a bang became so normal, that we didn’t bother checking outside anymore).

And that’s about the long and short of International City, Dubai


Our old apartment block, V23, Russia Cluster, International City




Posing with the flowers outside our old home, at Russia Cluster


Justin, Russia Cluster, near our neighbourhood supermarket, E-City (everyone in the supermarket knows Justin by name. Who wouldn’t? With him running all over the place, and us having to shout at him to behave, or to find where he is)


Justin and his ‘toy shop’, Russia Cluster home – his only customer was his papa


Mommy and the cow kids, Russia Cluster


Doesn't look like Dubai huh? But it is! Justin and his didi (sister) at the car park of our old Russia Cluster apartment block, fully grown with reeds. Anu likes the reeds! Says it adds greenery to the place!?!


Finally, reeds all cleared! Providing a better view of the adjoining England Cluster


Spain (straight ahead) and Italy (on the right) Clusters near our family clinic, the local clinic that we frequent


Italy Cluster, International City




France Cluster, near Lulu Express, one of the larger community supermarkets in the area




Justin at the car park of our England Cluster home, Block Z-03


Family picture, England Cluster, International City, Dubai

Oh, and there’s some exciting family news from the other side of the world! My sister, Kim gave birth to a healthy baby girl last Saturday, 28th May, in Auckland, New Zealand. Yippee! Now, we have a new baby in the family, Sophia Skye (...unless the parents have a change of mind again, that is).