Much Ado about Sharjah

Sharjah, during a sandstorm… See the sea water on the promenade?? Yup, the wind was that strong! – View from the Sharjah Aquarium

Ramadan Kareem everyone!

Yeah, that time of year is upon us, again, where work hours are short, and schools start late (in the UAE where I'm at anyway, hehe). Productivity drops, traffic accidents increase, tempers flare (when they aren’t supposed to), and malls go quiet in the day (and become a hive of activity in the middle of the night!) Huge changes, but it’s a time a lot of Non-Muslims look forward to. (Why? When else can you get an excuse to get off work early???) I dunno about Muslims (coz I ain’t one), but I always feel a general calmness, an acceptance by the bosses and the higher-ups of laying off the work pressure (a rare thing in a society like Dubai), and a re-orientation of priorities towards family, friends and …God (instead of bloody work). A welcome change, wouldn’t you say?

I’m putting some pictures of our neighbouring emirate, Sharjah. Sharjah may be crowded, jammed up and disorganized in some way, but the ‘poor man’s’ version of Dubai has quite a lot of things going on that’s worth a visit, especially when you’re looking for something affordable. I’d say, its attractions are definitely more people-orientated (than the commercially driven attractions of Dubai). In fact, the kids love it. Here, have a look!


Underwater Tunnel, Sharjah Aquarium


Jayden and a sea turtle


A guitarfish!


Sharjah Aquarium – notice how small the kids are, especially Jayden? …That’s because this was taken more than 2 years ago, i.e. Jan 2017


Sharjah Maritime Museum, which is right beside the Sharjah Aquarium


Whoa?! Who are these men in white?


Pearls! Yup, that's what the UAE used to survive on...


Pearling industry - tools of the trade

We also visited the Museum of Islamic Civilization on the same day as our visit of Sharjah Aquarium and the Maritime Museum. Click on the link for a look.


The Central Souk, Sharjah (aka the Blue Souk) …honestly, looks more brown to me than blue


Sharjah Desert Park, which contains a children's farm, wildlife centre, natural history museum, Islamic garden, …etc. That background in the photo by the way, is a prop!




Arabian Wildlife Centre, part of the Sharjah Desert Park


A camel ride at the Children’s Farm


Islamic Garden …let’s go! It’s night already! – This is more recent – Nov 2018

To those who are fasting, have a blessed Ramadan, Selamat Berpuasa!

The First Christian Nation in History

Before I continue, I want to leave a small tribute to the many innocent lives lost in the suicide bomb attacks on Easter Day in Sri Lanka. There is absolutely no reason for the mindless killing, and I don’t see what purpose they serve. Those suicide bombers, whoever they are, ARE GOING TO HELL, whatever they believe in, as I do not believe that there is any one religion who say that killing innocent men, women and children, would get them to heaven. If heaven is indeed filled with twisted souls like these, God help heaven.

God, bless those who have left us, they are with You now. Bless their loved ones, and make it easy for them to continue with hope and love, despite their loss. Lastly, bring some sanity back to the growing numbers of extremists and fanatics, who claim to represent You. Let them dissipate and disappear. Let them understand the message of peace and love that You have spread to humankind…

………

Now, back to the blog, might as well continue with Armenia. As mentioned in the post before, Armenia happens to be the first nation in history, to officially adopt Christianity as its official religion, in AD 301, well before the Romans did! (And …I actually found this out only when writing my last blog post, ahem. Wikipedia, man! …Was completely unaware of this when we visited Armenia last July!!!)

Anyway, to cut the story short, the king of Armenia at that time, Tiridates III, had one of his advisors, a devout Christian named Grigor, tortured and thrown into a deep narrow pit, 60m below the ground (200 feet!), for refusing to lay a wreath on the feet of a goddess statue. (Armenia at that time had pagan gods). But that, I suspect, might not be the main reason the king did that. Grigor so happened to also be the son of the man who killed Tiridates’s father! (Now, if I were him, I might’ve done the same thing, …or worse).

Well, Grigor managed to survive 13 friggin years in that cell at the bottom of the pit, which could be accessed only by a ladder through a narrow hole in the ground, meaning he would’ve most probably be in absolute darkness for 13 friggin years! And imagine the smell from all that poo and pee (you think they’d have toilets? And nope, I’m sure there wasn’t a ventilation fan, or a window. Come to think of it, he could’ve have died from the methane generated from his own poo itself!) Luckily for him, a widow from the nearby village, threw a loaf of bread, daily into the hole. (Don’t ask me where he managed to get water to drink!?!)

Meanwhile, up above ground, Tiridates III did as all medieval kings did, fought wars, forged ties, broke ties, fought wars, etc. Then came a group of virgin nuns who were on the run from Rome. They sought the protection of Tiridates. One of the nuns, Rhipsime, was renowned for her beauty. Again, like what medieval kings are known for, Tiridates demanded that Rhipsime marries him. When she refused, the whole group of nuns (except one) were tortured and killed. (Yeah, people then were as cruel as people now!) (The sole survivor, later went on to become the nun who brought Christianity to Georgia). Because of guilt for that ghastly act, or maybe because of the retribution of God, Tiridates became mad, and became like a wild boar. One day, Tiridates’ sister had a dream about Grigor curing Tiridates. She searched and voila! Grigor was still alive after all these years! Sure enough, he cured Tiridates of his insanity and in return the king converted to Christianity and so did his entire kingdom, being the first to do so. Grigor became the first head of the Armenian Church, and is now known as St Gregory the Illuminator, the patron saint of Armenia.

Now, here’re some pictures.


Saint Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral, the main church in Yerevan City, Armenia


Attending mass on a Sunday morning, in Yerevan!


Statue of a national hero outside the St Gregory Cathedral, Yerevan, Armenia


And this is Khor Virap, the site of the deep dungeon cell, where St Gregory was imprisoned for 13 years (or 14 as some accounts go) “…Whew, what a hot day, but luckily, there are those free-flowing drinking fountains around!” – Armenia


The main church in Khor Virap, the Surb Asdvadzadzin Church (the Holy Mother of God Church) …Yup, every other church seems to be named that


And this is the entrance to the dungeon cell of St Gregory. It’s just a small hole with a ladder at the bottom right hand corner of the photo, obstructed by all the people. It’s not in the main church but in a small building surrounding the main church. Nope, yours truly was forbidden to climb down …by the missus, coz little Jayden would wanna follow. We let Justin climb down though, and he was the only one from our group who saw the cell!


The courtyard in front of the Surb Asdvadzadzin Church, Khor Virap. By the way, Khor Virap actually means ‘deep dungeon’ in Armenian


Hey, a marriage! …This was where Jayden met a ‘princess.’ Check out my old post


Marriage ceremony, Surb Asdvadzadzin Church, Khor Virap


View of the countryside, from Khor Virap. Can you see the outlines of two majestic mountains thru the hazy air? The bigger of them is Mount Ararat, the national symbol of Armenia (although it actually lies across the border in Turkey now)


That’s Khor Virap, with Mount Ararat in the background, on the hazy day of our visit


And that’s Khor Virap on a clear day, with Mount Ararat in all its glory! Compliments of Wikipedia (photo taken by Diego Delso). Thanks mate for the beautiful photo!

Where Water Flows Free

Festival time again, it’s Easter!!! Happy Easter to all those celebrating.

I’m putting pictures of the main church in Armenia, for this post.


Entrance arch of the Holy See of Etchmiadzin, the mother church of Armenia


Entrance gate and open air altar, Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Vagharshapat, Armenia

We finally visited Armenia proper, in July last year. We’ve bumped into many an Armenian in our journey, …an old Armenian lady, proprietor of the Fairlawn Hotel in Kolkata (Calcutta) when Anu was pregnant with Justin (heck, some of Penang’s and Singapore’s most famous hotels used to be run by Armenians, the E&O in Penang, the Raffles in Singapore for example); an Armenian settlement in Isfahan, Iran, complete with cathedral (yeah, INSIDE the Islamic Republic of Iran); Justin’s Armenian classmate and his family… So, it’s kinda nice to see where Armenia actually is.

We chose the peak of summer, the hottest time of the year, to visit. After all, what fun is snow, and cool weather? We’re from Dubai! We feel at home with 40C, sand and dust (yeah, my foot!) OK, kidding apart, Armenia was experiencing a heat wave that hit huge parts of Eurasia last year. When we arrived, it was 40 degrees C in Yerevan and around! Etchmiadzin was the first place we visited after landing at Yerevan’s Zvartnots Airport (yup, we started our tour, before even checking into our hotel! We rented a car). And boy, was it hot!

But… one very nice thing that you’d notice in Armenia, especially if you visit churches and monasteries (and you’re bound to do that, since that’s the main thing to see here…), is that there’re free-flowing drinking fountains all over the place! And there’re no levers, toggles or switches to turn them off! They just keep flowing, and flowing, and flowing… like a land of abundant water! Heck, Armenians are surprised when you say you wanna buy a bottle of mineral water (they’re scarce but not unavailable), they just drink from their friggin taps! (In Yerevan, at least).


Jayden and a priest, at an ever-flowing drinking fountain in Etchmiadzin


Another drinking fountain (the eagle-headed structure at the back). The monument in front, is some modernistic Khachkar (cross-stone), a common decorative sculpture in Armenia


Entrance Gate to the compound of the Holy See of Etchmiadzin, Vagharshapat, Armenia – the main cathedral can be seen right in front, decked up all over, with scaffolding


Etchmiadzin Cathedral, nothing much in grandeur for a main church, compared for example, to the likes of the primary church of the Roman Catholics (St Peter’s Basilica), or even the primary Georgian church, in Tbilisi

There’s actually nothing much to see at the main church itself, despite it being the ‘oldest cathedral in the world.’ It’s been sacked countless times in history by the Persians (and relics taken to New Julfa, Isfahan incidentally). It was somewhat side-lined during the Communist Soviet era, but has now regained its position as the seat of the supreme head of the Armenian Church. Much of the church was under renovation at the time of our visit. By the way, Armenia in its antiquity, was actually the first nation in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion, in year 301. (Don’t believe me? Wiki it!)


Lighting candles inside the oldest cathedral in the world, Etchmiadzin Cathedral


The main entrance, lined with tombstones …no, they’re actually Khachkars (cross-stones), commemorative carved stone slabs common in Armenia, with crosses as its main motif


Asdvadzadzin Church in the Etchmiadzin compound (How do I know the name? …Google Maps, man!)


Inside the Asdvadzadzin Church


A building beside the Asdvadzadzin Church


Church of the Holy Archangels (one thing I noticed in Armenia, the churches here are either very old, or ultra-modern, like this one)


Gevorkian Theological Seminary


The manuscript / book repository (library) at Etchmiadzin – Book repositories are really popular in Armenia, for some reason or other…

The Sanctuary of Truth

The Sanctuary of Truth, Pattaya, Thailand

To those who are celebrating their new years in April, Happy New Year!

This is my yearly (almost) Songkran (Thai New Year) post. I love festivals. They are my shortcuts to updating my blog. Just post a whole bunch of photos, and wish everyone for the occasion! Hah!

The Sanctuary of Truth (Prasat Satjatham) is an incredible temple monument work of art dreamt up by Mr Lek Viriyaphant, an eccentric Thai millionaire, who lived between 1914 and 2000. The entire structure, all 105m tall of it, is constructed completely from wood, without a single metal nail (or so claims some website). Construction started in the 80’s and is still going on. (It’s projected to be completed between 2025 to friggin 2050!) It’s like a continuously built structure, with old parts being replaced and refurbished, as new parts are being completed, due to it being made entirely from timber, and is located on a small sandy promontory jutting out into the sea. This interestingly, creates continuous work for woodcarvers, improving their skills, and preserving the art. By the way, this is the second creation of Khun Lek (Mr Lek) featured in my blog, the first being Ancient City. Enjoy!


It’s a family visit! The kids, with dad and Hazel – Sanctuary of Truth, Pattaya, Chonburi Province, Thailand


Anu & Hazel at the Sanctuary of Truth. And here’s a selfie taken at the Sanctuary of Truth


We have to wear hard hats to enter the Sanctuary! It’s a construction site after all…


Justin and a gong (no, the gong is metal, but everything else is wood)


Heck, even the lift is wooden!


It contains Thai, Cambodian, Chinese and Indian motifs


Elaborate windows


Decorations in the interior


Can you spot Justin?


There you are, little Jayden!


Justin on a rope bridge (aka Burma bridge) on a rope course outside the Sanctuary of Truth. Nope, no one else from our family tried. Saw other adults struggling to get thru with some giving up! Justin did fine though.

Happy Songkran! Happy Thingyan! Happy Vaisakhi! Happy Bohag Bihu! Happy Vishu! Happy New Year to all the others that I've not managed to name...