The New Global Village

World Avenue, Global Village, 2015, Dubai

Work sucks! Working after a holiday is a pain for me, however short that holiday is. Doesn’t matter whether we went anywhere or not. Does this happen to everyone?

Anyway, taking advantage of the lull in work before things start picking up again, here’s a quick update.

I’m fine. Everyone’s fine. The mysterious black spot on my big toenail that I discovered in Feb has finally grown out for me to trim it away! Turned out to be just a bloody blood clot, not friggin cancer, hahah! Good thing I chickened out of that biopsy.

Apart from that, things are super boring. Nothing’s happened or happening. Justin’s restarted school, Year 2. He’s learnt how to cycle and swim 10m during the summer (nope, the triathlon is still a long way ahead). He’s started learning karate at a dojo that opened recently on the ground floor of our building. He’s also learning Mandarin from a Chinese Learning Centre (and so am I, indirectly, when helping him do his friggin homework!).

Jayden’s still not speaking, except Mama (Mommy), Papa, Ah-ah (also means Papa, when he’s cheeky), Oe-Oe (Koko – Hokkien for big bro), Ahhhh… (water), Um or Ugm (eat), Ts-Ts (wee-wee), Mm-Mm (poo-poo), Bhoo (blue), and the Hokkien words for fish (Bhóo for Hóo) and button (Buwa for Liuwa)! He’s fit and maintaining his weight below 10kg (and we’re trying to force feed him to put on weight!) He’s winning so far. He's been at 8 - 9 kg for the past 8 months!

And we’ve still managed to spend a ton of money, despite not going anywhere for the entire summer! I’ve also bought a guitar for Justin. Now if only I can learn to play it from watching YouTube, I’d be able to pass on the lessons to Justin!!! (Great ideas from a cheapskate, huh?)

And that’s about it. Now back to the topic of staging Expos (see last post). I don’t think Dubai has any problem staging Expo Dubai 2020! After all, Dubai already has something of an expo permanently in the city, Global Village! Last year (or was it the year before that???), Global Village underwent a major face-lift! Here’re pictures of the new improved Global Village (…and here’s a link to the old Global Village before the revamp). Another place for you to spend your hard-earned cash. In Dubai, there’s no shortage of places like that! Good luck (on saving money in Dubai)!


Anu & Karishma in front of the all new Global Village Main Entrance




More views of the Main Entrance Complex, Global Village, Dubai


World Avenue, Dubai Global Village lined with replicas of some famous world landmarks – seen here are a Japanese Temple, the Taj Mahal, and a weird tree decorated with faces (no, I have no idea where that's from??)


The Main Cultural Stage, Global Village – Doesn’t look anything like a village to me. I dunno why people here are so fascinated with the word ‘village’?! I’d have named it Global City, or Town, or Park, something like that…


The Egypt Pavilion (the one with the imposing mosque on it), across the canal. The canal is the only thing that bears some resemblance to the old Global Village before the revamp


The all new China Pavilion


The India Pavilion


A tiger at the India Pavilion


The Africa Pavilion


The Japan Pavilion


The Thailand Pavilion


And the kid’s favourite of ‘em all, the Palace of Entertainment, the new improved amusement park at Global Village – that’s where a lot of your hard-earned cash will go (these Dubai developers are smart, OK?)

Expo Milano 2015

Today is the culmination of a lot of the hard work put in at the office for the past few hectic weeks. 3 tender submissions in one day, today, and 2 others in the last few days! Whew!

Here’s another quick picture post. The brain’s too tired to think of what to write. But before I forget, here’s to wishing all those celebrating Raya, Selamat Hari Raya! Have a blessed Eid Al Adha! I’m off for the next few days for the Eid holidays, hehe!


Pavilion Zero, at the Expo Milano 2015

Here’re some photos of the Universal Expo held in Milan last year. Universal Expos are held every 5 years. In 2010, it was in Shanghai, China. The next Expo will be in Dubai in 2020! That’s one of the reasons why I wanted to see how a World Expo is like. We're building so many things here in Dubai in preparation for Expo Dubai 2020.

Our visit to Italy last year was a late addition to our original tour plan. We had planned to only visit the Alps, with Switzerland as the main destination (Switzerland has always been Anu’s dream destination). And then we checked the weather forecast. And it said that the weather would suck for the entire friggin Alps area. So I checked the map, and Voila! Milan’s just a short distance south from the Swiss border, and what’s more, there’s a World Expo in progress! So here we come, Milano!


Justin & Mommy at a grape & wine stall?


Yours truly, posing with some vegetables

Expo Milano 2015 is a food themed Expo. Its theme was ‘Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life’. That’s why everything (well, almost) at Expo Milano looked like something related to food! Every expo has a theme. The 2010 Expo Shanghai’s theme was ‘Better City – Better Life’. Expo Dubai 2020’s main theme would be ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’.

Here’re photos of some individual country pavilions. There’re just too many pavilions to visit, let alone photograph. And the queues were just amazing. I’d never have guessed there’d be so many visitors!


Justin at the China Pavilion


The Japan Pavilion, with a sake barrel headed monster! I’d be dead drunk if my head was like that!


The Korea Pavilion – No, they could spell. It’s just that Korea is spelt Corea in Italian


Anu waiting outside the Malaysia Pavilion, while Justin & Papa went inside (it was the only one we went in) – Just look at the queue behind!


The Thailand Pavilion


Anu at the UK Pavilion


The Czech Pavilion with a Car-Bird …or is that a Bird-Car?? What the heck! What’s this got to do with food anyway?


Pavilion of the United Arab Emirates – I have no idea what this is. Doesn’t look like food to me. Looks more like some scene from the movie ‘127 Hours’, or if your mind is dirty (like mine is), like some bump of a supermodel in a white thong!


That’s what you’ll become if you eat too much Italian food – At least the food in Italy gives you choices. In the German parts of Europe, the only food commonly available are bread, cheese and cold cuts. Have only that for a week, and you know what a paradise Italy can be when it comes to food!




Inside Pavilion Zero, Expo Milano – looks like some humongous Chinese Herb Shop with drawers stacked right up to the roof!


Our factory-styled hotel, Residence Rho Fiera, some 5 – 10 minutes walking distance from the entrance of the Expo Milano Site, right after a downpour. We had to wait for the rain to stop to start our visit to the Expo. That black Opel Zafira parked in front was our trusty rented car for our Europe Trip


Weird statues and buildings at Expo Milano, Rho Fiera, Milan, Italy – Now the sun is up! Maybe the rain was a blessing in disguise, made it cooler for us to visit. We’d not have seen this nice a sun if Anu & I hadn’t had this misunderstanding on where we’d meet up after we split. It took us an hour to find each other again. What a waste of time! Try imagining Anu’s face!

…Oh, some great news just came in about those tenders today. I think it’s time for a celebration at the company! Whoopee!