A Show Like No Other

A scene from La Perle

Isn’t it irritating when you have something to post, but there just isn’t time, because the work keeps coming in? (No, I ain’t complaining. Work is the most important friggin thing keeping us alive… I have all the friggin respect for work. O, highly exalted work, keep me busy, as busy as you like, but shower me with lots of income… Isn’t it high time that I get a raise?!?)

Not to worry, I have something up my sleeves just for times like this… an express picture post! Talking about the opera, here’s a spectacular show like no other in Dubai! And I recommend that you go see it! It’s absolutely worth it!


The stage… Looks like any ordinary stage, doesn’t it?


Hi boys! Look how little they are. And, see those masks? Remember the COVID-19 times?


The show begins! The circular hole in the middle, is actually a pool… performers can appear mysteriously from the pool, and disappear when they jump in! Here’s a scene with acrobats and a tightrope walker (or in this case, a slackline walker… O yeah, there’s a difference!)


A clash of cultures? A Chinese Lion and whirling dervishes all in one scene?


The pool boileth over! Oh yeah, the entire stage can be under water!! And waterfalls can spew forth from the podiums!


Here’s a video… (By the way, this is the first ever video in this blog! Took me 20 years to put in a video?!?)


And, it’s dry again! Hey, someone from the audience just went up there and he’s now running and skipping on that rotating thingamajig contraption!


If you wanna know more, go watch it!


La Perle (by Franco Dragone, the renowned Italo-Belgian creative director, who developed many of the Circue du Soleil's prestigious shows worldwide), Dubai, UAE – Aug 2021

A Night at the Opera

I’ve decided to take a break from my Albania posts, to post this post, about the one and only time that we visited the Dubai Opera (so far). Actually, yesterday, Jayden had a chance to perform at the Dubai Opera!! Nice! But it’s nothing big. He was involved in his school’s play, Aladdin, and they did a rehash of one of the songs from that production, for his school’s senior graduation ceremony! (So, that’s why the school fees here cost a bomb!). Anyway, we didn’t go (it’s 100 dirhams per ticket …just to see him and team sing ONE song?!? And then be forced to sit thru the entire graduation ceremony of people we don’t know?!?? Besides, we’ve already watched the full-length Aladdin play at his school earlier, and we’ve been to the Dubai Opera before). We did however, send Justin. He’s never been to the Dubai Opera, nor seen the Aladdin production, and he knows some of the students there. So, it was a kids’ day out, and a night of blissful respite for the adults!

Here’s our one and only visit to the Dubai Opera …for a performance by the National Ballet of China! Compliments of my company, ahem. (No complains when it comes to freebies, hehe). Cheapskates, forever! (Wait till we strike it rich! Yeah, just you wait).


The Dubai Opera House




The stalls at the Dubai Opera




Introducing the National Ballet of China, Jan 2024. Bravo!


Anu at the Dubai Opera


A view of the Dubai Fountain from the Dubai Opera




The Burj Park, just outside the opera house, Feb 2024 (for a Chinese New Year function). You can get a nice view of the Burj Khalifa here, but it's too darn near to have a nice photo showing its full height!


Whoa, what's this? It's an entrance to a restaurant, or is it a bar? (We dunno coz we just went for the toilets, hehe). Lemme see... Google Maps... It's the Salvaje Dubai, a Japanese Restaurant sez Maps, which is strange coz Salvaje sounds nothing like Japanese!


Why does the Dubai Opera feature a shuttlecock? Isn't this more appropriate for a badminton stadium?




That’s all folks! There you go. One quick, express post done!

The Accursed Mountains

Church at Theth Village, on the foot of the Accursed Mountains, Albania

Let’s continue with Albania, since I’ve already started it. (Makes it easier, don’t need to think too much). Mountains, here we come! We’re mountain-lovers, what can I say? Of course, we’ll head to the mountains if there’s any, and Albania is full of mountains!

Here’s the Accursed Mountains. Yeah, no kidding, that's its real name. Don’t ask me how it got this cool menacing name. Maybe you can Google it. Is there a curse linked to this place? Let’s hope it’s just a name. Anyway, accursed or not, they’re too good to be missed.


Up, and up we go, on this narrow mountain route. It IS narrow. Can barely squeeze in 2 car widths, but luckily, the road surface is good! Why do trees grow crooked like these??!? Beats me


Whew, smooth sailing all the way to Theth, the main village here. That’s our hotel, the Logu i Harushave


Good morning! Let’s have a nice breakfast before we head out!


Exploring Theth Village – the village church… It’s a catholic church sez Google (Albania is supposed to be a Muslim country, and indeed it is. The population is more than 50% Muslim, but I think the Albanians are mostly irreligious, and we don’t see any mosques or signs of Islam in the Theth area…)


A bee farm in Theth Village – Those mountains are the Accursed Mountains (also known as the Albanian Alps) surrounding Theth Valley


Hiking to Grunas Waterfall, our first stop. Those dirt roads are bumpy, but are drivable from the looks of it (I would’ve driven, if I’d known earlier, ahem. Yup, lazy, non-environmentally-friendly bugger)


A nice halfway stop, …a rest area where you can buy drinks and snacks – on a small farm area up in the hills. Google calls it the ‘Kunora e Grunasit’ (or the Crown of Grunas if you translate it to Albanian). This is the limit where vehicles could come. After this, the path is only wide enough for foot traffic


The rustic grocery store/ farmhouse… at Kunora e Grunasit, Theth, Albania, Aug 2023


Yippee! We’ve reached the Grunas Waterfall! Supercold water! Brrrr….


“Jayden, don’t run!” And there goes Anu, running down the path, trying to catch up with Jayden, and taking a bad tumble! Through some sort of freak accident, a jagged piece of stone made a bad cut on her knee… Looks like it’ll need stitches. (…Hmmm…, maybe that’s why it’s called the Accursed Mountains??!??) Anu, limping down the path till the rest area. We asked a fellow tourist to help talk to some construction people further down the dirt road to drive up to the rest area, to take us back down to the village, and we’d pay them. Thank God, it wasn’t worse, and that someone came to help… Also, thank God that a doctor was present at the one and only ‘seasonal’ clinic in the village, who could stitch up the wound. The clinic was just beside our hotel. She had 4 stitches!


We were supposed to also visit the Blue Eye (a scenic turquoise, blue pond, with a waterfall flowing into it) which is a different 2km hike, but decided to give it a miss and rest instead (of course, with the stitches and all that, what d’ya think? We’re bonkers?!?). This view of the Theth River Gorge, is from the road leading to the Blue Eye Kappre trail


Hello Honey. How’s your knee? Looking good!!


Let’s get back down to the city. A crucifix beside the hill road on the way down to Shkodër, the biggest city in Northern Albania


Bye-bye Accursed Mountains… Till next time

The Poorer Side of Europe

A view from the Skanderbeg Museum, Krujë, Albania, Aug 2023

What the heck. The stupid war is still on. And it fucked up the holiday plan that we made in advance for the recent Eid Al Adha holidays. We were supposed to be in Moldova. We had the flight tickets, the hotel bookings, the plan, and the friggin visa! Yes, this time, I managed to get the visa for Anu (the kids and I don’t need visas because we’re Malaysians!) BUT, one month before we were supposed to fly, the airlines, which was a Moldovan low-cost airline, cancelled our flight! No reasons given, but we know for sure it’s because of that stupid war, as almost all the other airlines have already stopped flying to Dubai! Due to the same, said, stupid war, that some lunatic started. The cost of rebooking an alternative flight on a UAE airline is DOUBLE the friggin costs (and it went up to friggin TRIPLE the price, as the date crept closer!) Damn that FlyDubai and Emirates! I think they’re just taking advantage of the situation, because nobody has an alternative, but to fly with them, if they still wanna go somewhere, and who doesn’t, here? When it’s a 9-day break! And those airlines know full well that ‘Dubaites’ are that desperate, when it comes to flying off somewhere. Not us, we buried that holiday ‘dream’, and decided to go on a road trip, to Oman. Again! (NO, FlyDubai, we’re not flying! You can shove the flight up your arse!)

I’m gonna leave a picture post of the last time we went to Europe for a holiday. Nope, not to an EU or stupid Schengen country, where the wait to get a visa can take months (for Anu), because of the travel-crazy Dubaites… It’s to Albania, the closed-off, Maoist, hermit country of my childhood's memories, with that awesome, red, double-headed eagle flag! The North Korea of Europe, once upon a time. (Yeah, I’m that old, and I can remember the times when Albania was under Enver Hoxha). But Albania has really opened up since then (since when I used to read all the world affairs articles in the newspapers in my teenage days). And here’s it! Albania in 2023! (First time, I've posted about Albania since our visit, except for 1 photo of Jayden).


Our first stop was Krujë, a town, or more like a village, in the hills, topped up by a castle, about 20km north of Tirana, the capital. We went there straight from the airport, and I think it’s the correct decision! It’s way nicer than a large city like Tirana (where we stayed on the last day of our trip)


Kruj̄ë (or I’ll just call it Kruja from now on, as how I see it spelt in the photo above – easier than to type the ‘e’ with the umlaut all the time) also happened to be a historically important town in Albania. It’s the capital of the first Albanian state in the umphhh… 12th century! And the home base of Skanderbeg, Albania’s folk hero of the Middle Ages! And it’s a good introduction to many of the towns we would later visit in Albania, like Gjirokastër and Berat, with narrow, steep roads going up olden forts that contained houses and historical places all in one! That building behind the Albanian flag, is the Skanderbeg Museum, dedicated to the national hero of Albania, who defended Albania from the Ottoman Empire for decades




Good morning Kruja! A view from our hotel (Rooms Merlika), which is inside Kruja Castle! Told you, the castles in Albania typically contained houses, and shops, restaurants, museums and historical places all in one…


The old fort/ watchtower atop the castle at Kruja, all strapped up for some reason…


A view of the Kruja and the mountains from the watchtower site


Inside the Skanderbeg Museum




Kruja at night, Albania, Aug 2023


The Skanderbeg Museum all lighted up (the museum is built on the castle grounds)




The rustic old bazaar of Kruja, nice, eh? Souvenirs, anyone?


OK, let’s get out and explore a little of the countryside… This looks more like Oman, than some place in Europe??… Many of the places outside the main cities in Albania, still have roads like these…


Ah, well, the road went nowhere, let’s get back town. Wait, anyone for some mulberries? Hey, uncle, what d’ya think you’re doing? Ahem…