Companions of 2025

I’m back! And what a nice adventure our holiday was!

The main drawback to this is that there’s now a ton of work in the office waiting for me to attend to!

Haven’t downloaded any of the photos that we took during our recent trip, so I’m gonna post my annual tribute to the people in our lives. Here goes, to the people in our lives last year (2025), without which our lives would be so dull. Thank you all, for your time, for your friendship, and for enriching our lives! May you all have happy, successful, and fulfilling lives, full of joy, hope and good health!


Diwali with the Agarwals (Umesh, Bhavna and Dyuti), at their place in Oia Residence, the same apartment block that we share, Oct 2025. Justin wasn’t with us this time, as Diwali was a little early last year, and Justin was still in Singapore


And here’s our immediate neighbour Milind, with wife Rajeshri and umm… niece (right), I think, (nope, I don’t remember her name) who was here doing a temporary job as part of her academic practical training, at our home on Diwali, Oct 2025


And here’re Milind’s kids! Mihir (second left) and Aru (first left), close friends (and ‘partners in crime’) of Jayden, at their home, on Ganesh Chathurti (yes, another Indian festival – dedicated to Ganesh, the Hindu elephant-headed god), a major festival in Maharashtra where Milind’s family hails from, Sep 2025. (I don’t know who the other boy is, maybe Jayden knows!)


Here’s KP Singh (centre, standing, in black) and Abha (second left), our former fellow Oia Residence mates who’ve ‘upgraded’ and moved into a villa of their own! In Victoria Heights, Dubai Sports City. Way to go mates! The others in the photo, are the Singhs’ friends. Diwali 2025


And here’re KP’s and Abha’s kids, Advika (left) and Shreya (centre), at their new home, Victoria Heights, Sports City, Oct 2025


We don’t only celebrate Indian festivals. Here’s a little Chinese for you. Jayden, with one of the teachers in the Chinese Institute he attends, at the institute’s Chinese New Year function at their DragonMart2 branch, Dubai, Feb 2025


And this is his Chinese teacher, Liu Laoshi (i.e. Teacher Liu – ‘laoshi’ means teacher in Chinese) at the Great Wall Institute, Motor City, Feb 2025


More Chinese coming up… Jayden and fellow Chinese language students (I only know one, Rachel (third right), Jayden’s Chinese Class classmate, who’s Indian, but better at Chinese than Jayden!) performing a Chinese poem at the UAE Chinese Poem Gala and Great Wall Institute Anniversary, organized by his Chinese Institute (who else, when it featured their name!), at the GEMS Modern Academy (which, ironically, is an Indian school), Dubai, Jun 2025


Moving from Chinese to music, this is Jayden’s piano teacher, Marc, who is from the Philippines, at a piano recital, where Jayden played Hedwig’s Theme. Not bad, Jayden. Keep it up! Dec 2025


Justin’s back! And here’re his friends, Yiro and Angelina (I forgot her Korean name, which she prefers to use nowadays), both from South Korea, at our home, Dec 2025


Moving to my colleagues, here’s another Indian festival, Onam, the biggest festival of the Indian state of Kerala. At The Island Project site office, where I was stationed for 6 months last year. Here’s Mahesh, Safety Officer for the M&E works of the massive hotel complex project (4 luxury hotels on an island!) (We shared a work cubicle – don’t ask why I was sitting with the Safety people, it’s a loooong story), Sep 2025


And here’s what you do for Onam, a feast! Featuring over 20 multi-coloured dishes served on a banana leaf… but they’re ALL vegetarian! Sorry meat-lovers, it ain’t your day! In the photo are: Sujatha, Senior QS (left, from Tamil Nadu), Noufal, HSE Manager (centre) and Aryan, QAQC Manager (right) (Noufal and Aryan are both from Kerala). The hand that you see on the right, belongs to the Project Director, Mr Konudula Rao


Another feast, but I think this was a farewell feast, compliments of the colleague who was leaving, which I think in this case, was Arslan, the Electrical Engineer (5th from left) (I hope I remembered correctly). The others in the photo are (from left): - For the love of God, I forgot who that first one is; Fayaz Ahmad (Electrical Engineer); Asif (Admin Officer); Sajid Mahmood (Time Keeper); Arslan; Hazir (Land Surveyor); yours truly (ahem); Afsal (Electrical Engineer); Ashik (Sr Stakeholder Coordinator); Sohail (Project Engineer); and Munnir (Storekeeper). At the now defunct Closeout Office, in Warsan 3, Jan 2025


Here’s a party at our company’s Civil & Infrastructure Branch Head Office in Dubai South Business Park celebrating our company getting the award for the Dubai Island Bridge Project. There’s a load of company old-timers in this photo! From left: Han Guang (Assistant GM, in charge of the General Management Office of the Branch – I’ve known him since I first joined the Company in 2008, he was then our site office’s Admin Officer); Xue Bingbing (drinking from a bottle, Timekeeper? Don’t really know); Anilkumar Madhusoodhanan (QAQC Director – knew him, when I rejoined the Company in 2013, I think he joined in 2012 - he retired earlier this year); Prashant Mestha (Tender Director, joined in 2014); Cheng Qianli (General Manager, our Civil & Infrastructure Branch’s top boss); ummm… an HR Manager (I think) whom I know not, he didn’t stay very long in the Company; Khaled Adel (Contracts Director, another colleague from the 2008 times, he was the Contracts Manager of a Project when I joined in 2008, he left the Company late last year, after 18 years of service!); and Ren Bofei (Project Manager, he was a Chief Surveyor in 2008!)


Finally, some complete strangers. Good Samaritans who tried to help Anu to ice-skate, 2 kids from Eritrea! Anu’s a kid magnet! Children just seem to gravitate towards her, like she’s one of their own! And this is not the first-time things like this happen! At the Galleria Ice Rink, Hyatt Regency Dubai, Mar 2025

That’s all for now. God bless us all! (Except those who’re still fueling this stupid Iran War…)

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!

15 Going on 16

Express post coming up. Up to my neck with work, with the upcoming Eid holidays starting tomorrow, and a deadline to meet right after the long holidays. But I want to post this out before the end of the month. It’s a recap of Justin’s 16th year, and it’s way past when I usually post it (around January… His birthday’s in December! 5 months late) So, without further ado, here it is!


Justin, right after turning 15, in Dec 2024, at the Address Beach Residence Hotel, Dubai. We were all there to see his little brother, Jayden performing with the school choir at a pre-Christmas event at the hotel


Can I go cycling before I leave Dubai? OK. Here you go! (That’s Justin, speed junkie…) At Mushrif Park, Dubai, Dec 2024


It’s the schools’ winter break. Let’s head out. First stop, Kazakhstan! And his dream come true! At the Shymbulak Ski Resort, near Almaty, Kazakhstan. First time he skied down a mountain! This was his second skiing trip (after Uzbekistan in Dec 2023, where we took only a half-day pass, bcoz, who knows whether we’d like skiing or not?! He loved it, by the way, but we only had enough time for the beginner’s slope. He nailed it on his first try! Unlike yours truly, who rolled and fell himself down, the friggin beginners’ slope, twice, and then gave up. But at least I tried it twice!) This time, only the kids went skiing (ahem, I hurt my wrist, OK?!? Fell off the friggin snow the day before, OK? And that’s a valid excuse reason…)


Next stop, Meghalaya in North Eastern India, en route to his mother’s home village, in Assam, India. This was the first time he visited India, after starting school in Singapore. With a kacang puteh (that’s the Malay word for this, I don’t know what it’s called in India) street-vendor, at the Elephant Falls near Shillong, Meghalaya


Continuing on our road-trip in Meghalaya (might as well make the best out of our journey home), at the living root bridge of Riwai Village, near Mawlynnong, the so-called “Asia’s Cleanest Village”, with his cousin, Sonia (beside him), and aunt, Rekha (far right)


Finally, in Assam - Silchar city to be precise, where we call home now, with another of his cousin, Sweety, sharing a …ummm snack (I dunno what they’re having, but it looks like they’re enjoying it…)


On another road trip, this time with his granny and another cousin, Mahi, Rekha’s daughter at the Unakoti Rock Carvings, a UNESCO Heritage Site, in the neighbouring state of Tripura, India. We did this all in our little yellow car. Bravo Tata Nano! You still work despite years of lack of maintenance


Back home in Fulertal, Assam… Trying some paan (betel leaf and areca nut) – his first time. When in Assam, do as the Assamese do! Dec 2024


Time to go back to school in Singapore… tough going, but as people say, when the going gets tough, the tough gets going… I hope he takes it in that spirit. Got this from WhatsApp. That Justin fella just isn’t very keen with photos… Those must be his floorball mates, SJI, Singapore


It’s June 2025, his school’s midyear break. We allowed him to visit Malaysia and stay with his aunt, June in Kuala Lumpur so that he could indulge a little bit in his hobby, racing, which is a lot cheaper there, than in Dubai, and also gel with his Malaysian side of the family, his granddad, aunt, etc. Here he is at ummm… I don’t really know which go-kart track this is. Somewhere in Selangor, Malaysia. On hindsight, we shouldn’t have let him do this, he’d be better off with us here in Dubai, studying… so that his results would be better. There’re little photos of him because his phone which was his mommy’s repaired Samsung S20+ phone, self-disassembled during the trip…


Finally, back with us in Dubai, June 2025, at DragonMart 2, Dubai


With his Dubai friends at our home… Moaz (left) and Yiro (right)… Look at how big the Dubai kids became?!? Is it the food?


Back to Singapore! Some sort of graduation party at his hostel (I think), St Andrew’s Hall, Singapore


An international school trip! To Shanghai, China, Nov 2025. That’s one of the only photos I found that had a decent view of him!


Back home with us in Dubai. Let’s all watch a family movie! Mall of the Emirates, Dubai, UAE


What do you want for your 16th birthday? Not racing again… Yes, racing, again… At a pre-race briefing, Dubai Kartdrome, Dubai, UAE.

Justin, I hope you stay focused and be diligent in your studies. Your efforts will pay off, and it’s only a few more months to go, for the O-Levels. All the best my son. Love you.

That’s all folks. To those celebrating, Eid Al-Adha Mubarak! Selamat Hari Raya Haji!