An Expo from a Century Ago (Nearly)

Since I’m on the Expo topic, I might as well post these photos. Introducing the Plaza de España. This was the main ‘pavilion’ built for the Ibero-American Expo of 1929, held in Seville, Spain.


The Plaza de España sits smack inside the María Luisa Park, a public park in the centre of Seville city. (The María Luisa Park formed the site of the Ibero-American Expo in 1929-1930). The photo above is of the adjoining park, the Jardines del Prado de San Sebastián


This is a nice place to visit if you’re in Seville, because it’s a mere 20 mins walk from the city centre, and it’s free!




The Ibero-American Exposition was connected to the 1929 Barcelona International Expo. While Barcelona was the main venue for the Expo 1929, the countries which have historical ties with Spain (mainly Hispanic American countries), were represented in Seville, in the Ibero-American Expo. Its purpose was to improve relations between Spain and the countries in attendance. Many of the pavilions are still standing today, converted into consulates, museums, etc, heck, there’s even one that’s a flamenco school now (the former Argentine Pavilion)!


The Plaza is flanked with tiled alcoves, each representing a different province of Spain. The one above is of Avila


Apart from taking photos and posing, you could also hire a boat to row around (yep, that’s a good work out, better than any rowing machine in the gym, hehe, or hire a horse-cart, nope, not much of a workout there!)


And of course, you could watch a flamenco dance while you're at it! What’s Spain without flamenco!


OK, that's all for today, signing out, yours truly at the Plaza de España, Sep 2023. Till we meet again, hasta la vista!

There, one super express photo post done, hah!

The Church That Was a Mosque

It’s the Holy Week this week (the week of Good Friday and Easter). So, here’s a church for a change! From the series of mosques in the last few posts. (Incidentally, it was also Songkran, the Thai New Year, (and a horde of other new years) a few days back – How contrastingly different these festivals are, huh? That's the beauty of diversity!)


Anyway, back to the post, this church happens to actually be a former mosque! No, it isn't the only mosque to be converted into a church, but it’s one of the more renowned ones. Welcome to Andalucia, Spain!


This is the cathedral of Seville. The bell tower on the right of the photo (aka the Giralda) used to be the minaret of the Grand Mosque of Seville (or Ishbiliya in Arabic). This is how it is with humans. To the victors, go the spoils. This is a church that used to be a mosque. We've visited a mosque, which used to be a church, the Hagia Sofia. When we visited, it was a museum! Now, it's a functioning mosque, once again

Andalucia got its name from Al-Andalus, the Arabic name for the region in current Spain & Portugal that used to be under the control of Islamic rulers. Al-Andalus was under Islamic rule for 7+ centuries until the Reconquista, when the Christian kingdoms in Europe reconquered the area and made them into Spain and Portugal as what they are today. The new rulers either forced converted the remaining Muslims and Jews, or drove them out altogether. I suspect Israel and Trump have the same ideas for Palestine… Sigh… (I would’ve thought that modern people were less ‘barbaric’ than our ruthless ancestors, but it looks like we remain the same, barbarians by nature) …


I diverge. Back to my post. Here’re more photos of the Catedral de Santa María de la Sede (Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See), or more commonly, the Seville Cathedral.


A view of Seville city, from the Giralda


In this view from the Giralda, you can see the Court of Oranges (the courtyard with orange trees, in the lower part of the photo, or in Spanish, Patio de los Naranjos). The lone skyscraper in the background, is the Torre Sevilla (Seville Tower), which housed the Eurostars Hotel, which was one of the hotels yours truly stayed in, during his 3-day business visit to Seville! More specifically, I was there for a function, the IPMA (International Project Management Association) Global Awards actually, thanks to my Malaysian passport (because of that dang Schengen Visa, my bosses and colleagues, who’re mostly Chinese, Indians, Egyptians, etc, couldn’t attend, and I, being Malaysian, do not need a visa for Europe! 3 cheers for Malaysia!!!)

Being an ardent traveller, how could I be in Seville, and not experience a little something of the city? I’ve missed out on a whole lot of opportunities travelling with other, less travel enthusiastic people, on business trips. Not this time. And that’s how I planned a trip to the cathedral! (Tip: BOOK ONLINE BEFORE YOU VISIT, AT LEAST BEFORE THE SLOTS FILL UP. It’ll save you a whole lot of time! I did it on the morning of the day of my visit). (And if my company, would’ve stuck to the earlier, ungodly flight schedule they said they’d book me into at first, for the return leg of my journey to Dubai that is, I would’ve spent a half-day in Lisboa as well! And seen a whole new city, and a new country! But luck would have it, that they finally booked me into a more sensible flight, departing mid-morning, with a stopover in Barcelona. I’ve seen Barcelona before (in 1994). It’s a huge city, too big to get around, so I just stuck around in the airport, eating Iberian Ham sandwiches and drinking sangria, Salud! The Lisboa flight was like 6am, on the morning after the award function, which ended past midnight, meaning that if I’d taken that, I’d have to make do with only a couple of hours of sleep, before I head off to the airport… Urgghhh, that’d be too tiring. Luckily, they found a ‘better’ flight!)


Back to the cathedral, this is one of the largest cathedrals in the world. Yeah, believe me not! It’s in fact, the largest Gothic cathedral in the world. Yeah, sez Wikipedia… But it doesn’t feel as big as the Milan Duomo. Is it because the Milan cathedral was surrounded by a huge, spacious square, whereas the Seville cathedral is sorta hemmed in by the surrounding buildings??


Look at that humongous pipe organ!! And it’s not the only one. It has a twin on the other side


The Choir! Now, if only they were people singing… Those rib vaults (on the golden ceiling) are one of the defining features of Gothic architecture by the way


Not every part is Gothic though, here’s a Renaissance dome in the cathedral. I think this is the Chapter House, whatever that is…


That’s the screen that shields the Retablo Mayor, the largest altarpiece in the world, from visitors. Aww shucks, but why?


There, the Retablo Mayor (High Altarpiece)! No iron grill is gonna stop my phone from squeezing in, and getting a shot, haha. I didn’t even know what it was, until I started writing this blogpost! And there it was, on Google. Apparently, it’s a masterpiece designed by Pierre Dancart, and it took 80+ years (in the 15th to 16th century) to finish (No, Pierre Dancart did not live to see the completed works)


The cathedral isn’t only famous for the things I’ve said above. Some famous people are also buried there. The most prominent one, Christopher Columbus, discoverer of the new world! That’s his tomb / catafalque above, carried by four figures


The tomb of Columbus, Seville Cathedral


Holy Santa Maria, what’s it with the heads? If anyone knows why Mother Mary is standing on some heads, pray do tell, OK? An exhibit in the Main Vestry of the Cathedral


There you are. Signing out, Catedral de Sevilla, Sep 2023. Happy Easter everyone!

The People Who Graced Our Lives 2023

Hello people. This is my annual post of the people who graced our lives in the past year. These friends, acquaintances and family (but there weren’t any who visited us in Dubai last year, although you could say that Anny (see photo below) is family, as she’s Anu’s eldest sister’s husband’s sister’s daughter) make our lives so much richer and memorable. Thanks for your time, and for bearing with us. Here’s a toast to all of you. Salud!


A reunion, after 17 long years! Anu and Anny in Dubai – (Orchid Vue Hotel). The both of them arrived in Haulawng, Mizoram, in the beginning of 2006, to work in the project that I was in. At the end of 2006, Anu and I left Mizoram, and we’ve never been back since. Here’s a picture of the girls in 2006.


They’ve gone a long way since. While we’ve mostly been in Dubai, Anny, her husband and son live in Tanzania. Here’s Anny and her son, Kiann, visiting us, in Jul 2023


Anny and husband, Dipak, at our home. They were in Dubai for the handover of their Dubai apartment, which they purchased for investment. Business-savvy people, huh?! They’ve invited us to visit Tanzania! That will be an awesome adventure! But Africa’s not really Anu’s cup of tea, and it’s expensive! And kinda scary (coz we dunno much about it). Let’s see, hehe


Meet the Agarwals – Bhavna, Umesh and Dyuti, Diwali, 2023. Our normal circle of friends now mainly revolves around our neighbours… Many of the friends whom we’ve been closed to before, have moved away. That’s how it’s like in Dubai, unfortunately


Another neighbour, Abha, KP Singh, and their 2 daughters, at their apartment, Diwali 2023. Here we were, with a visiting couple and their son


Our immediate neighbour, and Anu’s adopted godbrother, Milind Pandhare and his wife Rajeshri, at our home, Diwali, 2023. Diwali’s the time for photos, as most people (I’m talking about Indians, of course) would be dressed up nicely. That explains why most of the photos here are of the Diwali times!


The Pandhare’s kids, Mihir (left) and Aru (right) with Jayden. This is another way we’ve made friends in Dubai in the past. The kids’ friends, and if we meet up for playdates, their parents…


Jayden’s friend from Ukraine, Daniel (I think it’s actually Danylo), but we just called him Daniel. He was a good, well-behaved boy. He was here in our apartment building, staying with his aunt’s family, but only for a few months. Less than half a year, I think. He was learning English at that time, and sometimes we had to communicate with sign language. He’s moved on to Germany, to join his parents there! All the best Daniel!


Jayden’s started to be more social… Bravo! When his elder brother was in Dubai, Jayden didn’t seem to have any friends. Here’s he at school, with Sofian (with glasses), and Jad. Sofian is the son of the school’s principal, by the way.


Jayden, with classmate Yusuf, holding their Junior Duke certificates. Junior Duke is an award scheme that promotes the development of life skills, like cooking, swimming, patching a punctured tyre, managing time, etc… (which basically means, …a whole lot of extra work, for the parents. Sigh…) It was inspired by the Duke of Edinburgh Award


Jayden with his best friend at that time, Hardit (I don’t know whether they’re still best friends, because his friends change all the time…), at Xstrike, an indoor laser tag park, in Al Quoz, Dubai. This was Sofian’s (see photo above) birthday party, the first birthday party I remembered that Jayden attended… (Whereas, Justin had been going to birthday parties since he was in kindergarten…) Thanks Sofian! And Mr Nav Iqbal and missus, for inviting Jayden. (They’re British of Pakistani descent).


Two of his friends/ classmates at our home for Jayden’s birthday last year, Hardit and Omnia. Another friend, Callum would later join this party.


And here’re big brother’s friends, Yiro (left) and Sean Linz (right). Although Justin doesn’t stay here, he seems to be keeping his friendship pretty well. They’d hang out whenever Justin’s back for the holidays – Jun 2023


Moaaz (or is it Moaadh?) (centre) and Yiro (left) at our home when Justin was here again in Dec 2023. Moaadh made the trip all the way from Abu Dhabi where he and his family stay now!


And now for some colleagues, as always. Hmmm… doesn’t seem to have any photos of colleagues last year… Wait, here’s one. Yours truly, with a colleague, Andrew Battershill (left), Project Manager of our company’s NEOM Tunnel Project, and an acquaintance we met, Marcus Pathan, from the Association of Project Management, at the IPMA Global Awards Gala, in Seville, Spain – Sep 2023. The IPMA (International Project Management Association) Global Awards are an annual function organized by the IPMA that celebrates and gives out awards for achievements in Project Management. Our company participated in the awards in 2023, and 2 of our company’s projects were finalists in the category of Large & Mega-Sized Projects. As luck would have it, the awards were held in Spain, and most of my colleagues (who’re Chinese, Egyptians, Indians, etc), including my bosses, needed a Schengen Visa, while yours truly, being a Malaysian, could just fly, haha! (And Schengen Visas, for some inexplicable reason, takes months to apply, here in the UAE!!! Europe should really get its act in order!) And so, there I am, with a British employee of our company, to represent the Company in 2 Projects which we had no involvement in at all! And We WON! Gold & Silver! - Hacienda Azahares, Seville, Spain

That’s it for now. See you!

Jayden on His Own

Jayden, 8 years & 4 months old, at Al Hafiya Picnic Park, Kalba, UAE, Feb 2023

Jayden is 9 years old! (As of last month, actually). This is my yearly post about the kid’s life, but before I go into it, here’s some GOOD NEWS!!!

Amrita, Anu’s sister, who is in Canada, just gave birth to a healthy baby girl!!! This is wonderful news for the family indeed, especially after a heart-breaking earlier pregnancy 2 years ago, that resulted in the birth of an extremely premature baby boy, who sadly did not survive. That pregnancy was complicated because of fibroids in Amrita’s womb, and all were worried about whether the fibroids would pose a problem for future pregnancies. Thank God for answering our prayers. Praise God. Jayden has a new cousin!

As I was saying, Jayden is 9 now, but he’s still behaving like a baby, sigh… Maybe, we give him too much love, or maybe it’s just the nature of him being the youngest in the family. Nope, it’s definitely too much love, so we gotta get tough and start being serious-er…

This past year, he was pretty much on his own, for a change. His elder brother left for further studies in Singapore last Nov, exactly one year before. I think it did Jayden some good. At least, he started having his own friends, instead of hanging out only with his koko and his koko’s friends. (Thanks a lot to his mommy actually, who helped him build up his courage, and arranged play dates). Here’s a recap of his past year. Enjoy!


A temple visit, with his Mommy and Koko for some divine blessings, before his Koko left for Singapore. This was like a week after Jayden’s 8th birthday – Dubai Hindu Temple, Jebel Ali, Dubai – Oct 2022


Jayden on his own, his first time attending a friend’s birthday party! (As far as I can remember). In contrary, Justin had attended countless birthday parties by the time he was this age. The birthday boy was Mosaab (the one in red) from Egypt. He’s the youngest brother of Justin’s 2 school mates, and they lived in a unit on the same floor of our apartment building. At The Zone, Circle Mall, Jumeirah Village Circle, Dubai – Nov 2022


Our first camping trip without Justin. Good morning, Jayden! How do you feel being on your own? (He missed his Koko). At some random suitable camping spot by the road near Ain Lighmour (aka Blossom Valley), Fujairah (Google Maps calls it Jabal Al Haleefah). The missus is pretty good at picking camping spots, when we need one (like when sun is setting, and yours truly hasn’t got a clue yet of what to do…) We were all alone for as far as the eye could see. It isn’t really a popular camping spot I think, but we’re no longer strangers to lonely camping spots, hehe – Nov 2022


This ain’t a pool, believe me!! It’s all natural and it’s in Arabia! Oman, to be exact. We made a 1200+ km road trip to Salalah, Oman (and another 1200 km back) during the UAE’s National Day holidays last year. This is a gem of a place in the Arabian Peninsula. Waterfalls in Arabia?!? Yup, it’s true. No wonder it is so popular with the Arabs – Wadi Darbat, Salalah, Oman – Dec 2022


Jayden and his Year 4 Teacher, Mr David Moore, GEMS Metropole School – Dec 2022. (He prefers lady teachers he says. He thinks they’re kinder… Are they?!?)


Back in Oman! We love Oman, ever since they made it free for UAE residents to enter, we’ve made 3 visits in a span of 5 months! – Jebel Akhdar (literally, Green Mountain), Oman – Dec 2022


New Year treat for the little one to his favourite type of place, an aquarium! This is the Sharjah Aquarium to be exact. We’ve visited it before, but what the heck, it’s the most affordable, nice aquarium around! – Sharjah, Jan 2023


Motor City, the name of our neighbourhood, isn’t just a strange name selected from nowhere. Its main feature is the Dubai Autodrome! Apart from this, it has an outdoor and an indoor Kartdromes for go-karting. When there’s a race, it’s a din!! – Jayden at the Dubai Autodrome, Motor City, Dubai – Jan 2023


It’s spring break, and we headed to India, to do our boring banking work and to visit family. Jayden at the Victoria Monument in Kolkata. We’ve visited this place before, a long time ago, before we had kids. But what to do? We’ve visited Kolkata so many times, that we ran out of new places to visit, ahem… West Bengal, India – Mar 2023


Jayden made lots of friends at his Mommy’s village! From left, Mahi (his cousin), Ankit, and Prince (whom Mahi and Jayden kept calling Princess… Jayden, Mahi, you shouldn’t tease your friends!), Fulertal, Assam – Apr 2023


Not Oman again?!? Yes, Oman again. Jebel Akhdar (Green Mountain), again. It’s an interesting mountain, where access is only allowed for 4WD cars (which our trusty ol’ Hyundai happened to be, hehe). It’s a nice, cool place, with beautiful views and treks for as far as your feet can walk… Plus it’s rose harvesting season. Jayden pointing to some fossils, at the Sunset Viewpoint in Jebel Akhdar, Oman – Apr 2023


Yippee, koko’s back! It’s Koko’s school break, and he came back for a visit! Bloomsbury’s Café, Silicon Central Mall, Silicon Oasis, Dubai – Jun 2023


Jayden in Albania on his summer break. Koko’s school break and Jayden’s do not match. Justin’s mid-year school break is from the last week of May to the last week of June. Jayden’s summer break starts from the second week of July! By then, Justin would have been back in Singapore, and preparing for his Term 3 exams. For the summer break, we made a short trip to Albania. This is the first overseas trip we made without Justin – at our hotel, the Logu i Harushave, Theth, Albania – Aug 2023


Jayden made another friend! Daniel from Ukraine at our house. Daniel was staying with his aunt at the exact unit where Mosaab’s family (see third pic above) used to stay. The Egyptians have relocated to Abu Dhabi in April this year. Unfortunately, Daniel also left the UAE for Germany in early October. That’s how it is with the UAE, it’s a halfway home. People come, people go. Hope to see you again sometime, somewhere, Daniel! – Sep 2023


And finally, it’s Jayden’s 9th Birthday! At home! A small party with a few of his friends. Here’s Hardit (left) and Callum (right). Both of them are Indians – Oct 2023