A Different Type of Sound

Another photo post coming up! Bear with me willya!



Just for a comparison with my last post’s theme, here’s a ‘Sound’ with completely different features from Milford Sound, NZ.


This is Khor Ash-Sham (Elphinstone Inlet) in the Musandam Peninsula of Oman. Call it what you want, a fjord, a creek, a sound or an inlet, these are basically water bodies that extend into the land flanked by steep hills or mountains. A fjord is actually an inlet created by a glacier cutting through land. Khor Ash-Sham, being in a hot, barren desert, would not be a fjord in the geographical sense. (There’s no friggin ice, is there?) But neither should Milford Sound be called a Sound as sounds in geography are usually used for a small channel or straits between two pieces of land. But what the heck, who cares?! Enough of the geography lessons! Let’s get on with life and the pictures!

This was the second time we visited Musandam. The first time was in Dec 2008, before we had kids. We went with a Malaysian friend and his family. Unknown to us at that time, Anu was suffering from Hepatitis… (of the E variety, luckily, curable). Still remember, she couldn’t eat anything during the trip. Her condition became worse after the trip, she would be very sleepy, and couldn’t eat anything, especially anything oily. The doctors initially diagnosed gastric, but the medication did nothing. We would eventually find out after I noticed one day, that her urine was unusually dark (she’s a prolific water drinker). I checked her nails and eyes, and saw that they were yellowish (indicating that she probably had jaundice). We insisted to the next doctor we met (which so happened to be at a government hospital), that it was more than gastric (he was gonna prescribe friggin painkillers)! The liver function test that came out told the whole story. She was immediately admitted, and whatever money we paid for visiting the doctor and doing the blood test was returned to us. (That was Dubai government hospitals’ policy at that time. All emergency cases were free). She wasn’t allowed to leave the hospital till she was OK! And we end up staying a couple of weeks in the hospital!!

Anyway, here’re the rest of the photos of our Khor Ash-Sham boat ride.


Here’s the jetty (and we didn’t miss our trip this time, haha, because we were with dad and Hazel probably…)


Our cruise on a dhow (Arabian fishing boat). (Do you see Jayden?)


Dad and Anu enjoying the cruise


Sleepy already, Justin?!? Your Jiko (Hazel) doesn’t seem so…


You can be like Jayden, fooling around with a new found friend! I dunno the little girl’s name but she and her family so happened to be Malaysians, living in Dubai! Fancy meeting a fellow countryman who was staying in the same city as us, on some remote sea inlet, faraway from civilization!


Another friend, yeah it can get quite sleepy, huh?




Khor Ash-Sham (Elphinstone Inlet) – this hidden inlet used to be a haven for pirates to launch attacks on unsuspecting vessels, and for them to hide if pursued by more powerful ships, such as the British. (That may be why one of the names of this area and the adjoining UAE used to be ‘Pirate Coast’!)


Setting foot on Telegraph Island – I didn’t do it the first time we came. Can’t miss it this time round, hehe! Justin and I swam there. If you look closely, you’d see us! Telegraph Island has a story of its own. Click on that link to find out


Dolphin spotting is one of the highlights of a Musandam cruise – a boat chasing dolphins!


There, caught you on camera!!


Khor Ash-Sham, Musandam Governorate, Oman – Dec 2019

Why We Don’t Do Scheduled Tours

ANOTHER PHOTO POST COMING UP… (This is a continuation of my last post).


Here’s Milford Sound, New Zealand. This scenery must be one of the most recognizable places of NZ. Google New Zealand, and you’ll see scores of pictures of Milford Sound. And so, here we are, can’t miss out on this, could we? Never mind that it’s tucked hundreds of miles away from civilization, in some God forsaken corner of the world. (We’re sorta kiasu when it comes to missing out on visiting places, hehe).

Anyway, our Milford Sound trip was another reminder of why we HATE scheduled tours. C’mon why do these things have to come with a time?? Can’t they just let us walk in, and do a tour whenever people come? No, can’t do that. You have to book first. And so, we booked ourselves a cruise on one of the boats, in advance. Come the morning, we enjoyed our breakfast, and as usual for yours truly, took my own sweet time to pack, and then realized that we would not make it on time for the ride, because we’re in Milford Sound Lodge, and not in friggin Milford Sound itself. OK, it’s only 2+km away, but we have to check out, pack our stuff, drive over to the ferry terminal, find a friggin parking (which by chance is NOT very near the terminal), and walk to the terminal.

Not surprisingly, despite our dash (I even forgot to shut the bloody back door of the campervan, until maybe we were half way to the terminal, …luckily nothing dropped out. Just imagine the look on Anu’s face), we missed the ride. Shucks, it ain’t the first time! We missed our time slots in Neuschwanstein Castle (Germany), Hobbiton (NZ), Dubai Marina Cruise, and God knows where else. Luckily, they gave us a later slot, whew!! Here’re the photos.


At the dock of the Milford Sound Visitor Terminal, waiting for our cruise. The one we were supposed to be in had already left :(


Here we go, …looking back at the terminal from our boat


Milford Sound, Southland, New Zealand


The captain of the boat


Hey, aren't those seals?!


And quite a lot of waterfalls. On this one, the boat went really close, like almost into it, before reversing and backing out. All those on the deck were drenched! But it was nice. (We were forewarned…, so we ran back inside just before that, hehe)


Then an underwater observatory


The boys at the Milford Sound Underwater Observatory, waiting for our boat to get back to the visitor terminal




Hey, the sun’s gone! We were lucky to have the sun out earlier, as Milford Sound is gloomy most of the time!




Back on land! At the breakwater walkway

Bye for now. I don’t think this is the last of the scheduled tours… I hope we’ve learnt our lesson though. FINGERS FRIGGIN CROSSED!

And yesterday marked a moment in history, the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, the only British monarch the world has known for ummphh 70 years. RIP your majesty. You've earned your peace to be back with your husband and family.

Our Very First Campervan Adventure

Eglinton Valley, Fiordland National Park, Southland, New Zealand

Express photo post coming up! There, told ya, I’d do one. These are photos of our very first campervan adventure. And it was in New Zealand’s South Island in December 2018. I have loads of old photos stored up just for busy times like these. Unfortunately, in most cases, these also had to be sorted out, as they’d be tons of photos, thanks to our trigger-happy fingers, ahem!

Here goes.

We decided to rent a campervan. It’s summer in NZ, don’t think there’d be a problem. What better way to see the South Island than by campervan! Woohoo! We’re cheapskates (as I’ve mentioned hundreds of times before in this blog), so we rented a basic campervan, instead of a motorhome or a caravan. (Heck, I don’t even know whether I could drive those things or not!?!)


First up, let’s stock up on some supplies before we start our trip! Outside the Countdown hypermarket at Queenstown Central, Queenstown, NZ. This area is near Queenstown’s airport where we hired the campervan!


AWAY WE GO! To the south. Beautiful weather beside Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown


Wow, what’s this great expanse of yellowish grass? Lemme see. It’s the Eglinton Valley. We’ve reached the Fiordland National Park. Our destination for the day is the Milford Sound Lodge Campervan Park. In NZ, you can only park your campervans at designated locations, or you’d be fine, or worse, banned from camping… (I think)




Let’s play cowboys!!


Our campervan in the distance. Hey, let’s go before it gets too late!


Next stop, the Mirror Lakes. (How do we know all these names? All the sites are clearly sign posted. This is a National Park, OK?)


Anu, at the Mirror Lakes, Fiordland National Park, NZ


On the road again…


Next stop, uh-oh, I don’t know where this is. (Spoke too soon, not everything is bloody sign-posted). It looks like the flower field from the Hindi movie, Hamari Adhuri Kahani, where the hero was blown up by a land mine! Nope, no land mines here, only crazy tourists and flowers!


Wait, looking at Google Maps, I think it’s at the turn off to the Cascade Creek Road. In Google Maps, it’s labelled as ‘Cascade Creek Historic Campsite’ near the start of the ‘Lake Gunn Nature Walk’. There you go!


Gotta go, getting late… Look at the majestic snowy peaks! And it’s summer!


Finally, we reached our destination! Our Jucy campervan, with extended room above the van (Justin slept there, all alone), at the Milford Sound Lodge. Luckily, I booked a space in advance. The campervan parking was FULL! Summer is super busy in NZ. Book everything in advance or you’d be left with no place to sleep (even if you have a campervan). Or get ready to pay premium bucks!

Becoming Indian, Almost

Whew… I’m back from a 3 week break home to Malaysia++ (that plus-plus sign will be explained later). Right after coming back, I found, to my surprise, that our usually slow relaxed and stubborn bureaucratic head office, has transformed into a madhouse. Heck, they’re on panic mode! Working thru nights and on weekends and they’re trying to drag everyone along with it. Double heck!

And all that just because of some sort of audit from China (it must be some serious-shit audit, or those bureaucrats there at our office wouldn’t have budged…). Anyway, as a result, yours truly have been slogging over reams of god-damn financial records for the past 2 weeks, trying to figure out how they all piece together. At the expense of my other, ‘more important’ work (according to me) and family (talk about hell).

I’ll have to leave my story of our recent home trip (which took us on 11 flights, through 11 different airports, in 7 different countries) till later, ahem. Meanwhile, here’s a short photo post to keep the blog alive, till I find some time. These are photos I’ve collected earlier, of last year’s friends and gatherings, which I wanted to post before I went on leave, but… It’s better late than never, huh? Gotta think of a way to catch up on posting…

Last year was basically an extended COVID lock down year with the Dubai Expo2020 brightening up an otherwise drab year. Our gatherings were mostly during the Indian festivals towards the end of the year when restrictions were less strict. Luckily, we were still able to mingle and stay in touch with friends. Thank you, God, for continuing to bless us with friends and fellowship. See for yourself!


Red vs Black – a gathering with old frens at the Jebel Ali Village Recreation Club, Apr 2021 – with Roby, Madhavi and Jasna. They’re all from the expat Indian community, born and brought up in Dubai. Hey, what’s with the red? Valentines ain’t in April!?


Here’re the kids! Justin’s Year 1 classmates Aria and Mashel, and also Aria’s younger sister Viva who is Jayden’s age – Jebel Ali Recreation Club


Summer break’s coming up! It’s the end of the School Year. Here’s a school party at Bounce, a trampoline park in Dubai – Justin with 2 of his Year 6 classmates, Nikita from Russia (right) and ummm, don’t really know the name of the girl (Justin never talks about any of the girls in his class...), Jun 2021


Here’s Justin’s Year 6 Class Teacher, Ms Harland Tither from the UK and Moaz, another of Justin’s classmate, who’s from Egypt. Hmmm, I remember Anu taking a lot more photos including photos of Ms Harland and Justin together, but I found only this one?!? Bummer, I must have accidentally left out a huge chunk of photos when transferring photos from Anu’s phone into the hard disk. I found very few photos from June – July months of last year… Now, they’re gone for good…


More bouncing fun coming up… with the parents joining in this time! This is Bounce-X Dubai. The mothers (Madhavi, Jasna and Anu) decided on a play date where they’d also play! (What about the fathers? It's not like we could sit around and enjoy a mug of beer while waiting?!?) In the middle of the photo is Jasna and Anu trying to out-bounce each other. Madhavi is on the left playing ball with her younger daughter, Viva. The one lying down I’m sure is Jayden, up to his usual antics… Jul, 2021


Just like that and summer’s gone! School starts again. This is Ms Mariesa Ford, Jayden’s Year 3 class teacher. (Nope, I don’t have a pic of his Year 2 teacher, Ms Rachel White). This photo was taken at the end of last year, when restrictions were less strict and when parents could actually visit schools

Let the festivals begin! And here's what we did during the festivals towards the end of the year.


Ganesh Chaturthi, Sep 2021 – At our Maharashtrian neighbour Milind’s house. We decided to go traditional, while our Maharashtrian friends stayed casual, hah! But at least, there’s a Maharashtrian cap to go! Justin and Jayden, with Mihir (right) and Arul


Durga Puja, Oct 2021 – Our friends visited us. Anu with Madhavi, Jasna and Madhavi’s family’s dog… Stacey, if I’m not mistaken


The Festival of Lights, Nov 2021 – A Diwali dinner at another neighbour’s house – That’s Bhavna, the lady of the house and her daughter Dyuti


And this is the host, Umesh Aggarwal with yours truly. Thanks for the treat mate!


Another neighbour – KP Singh and wife, Abha


Here’re their kids – Shreya and Advika (right)


At Milind's house, Anu with Milind’s wife Rajeshri (right) and their housekeeper (left) on Diwali


Our neighbor Milind Padhare, on Bhai Dooj, which comes right after Diwali / Deepavali, at our home


Finally, it’s the end of the year. Celebrating Justin’s birthday with some of his classmates staying nearby! The boy in red is Jamal (who’s a Kyrgyz national) but speaks only English at home, like Justin, because his dad is Saudi and mom is Kyrgyz and they don’t speak each other’s language. There’re lots of kids like that in Dubai! The other 3 are brothers, Moaz (centre), Malik (left) and Musab (right) from Egypt. Moaz and Malik are both in Year 7 this year, although Moaz is a year older than Malik. That’s normal also, Moaz just started school at a later age. Justin and Jayden are 5 years apart in age, but only 4 years apart academically, because Jayden started school at a younger age… Musab is Jayden’s age

And that’s it for the time being… Now, what other photos have I collected earlier to let me do another express post???...