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…

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!

The Raging Wadi

The flooded road to Wadi Hawer, Oman, March 2026


Wadi Hawer, a day before the photo above

Talking about rain (in the last post, I mean, not now. Now, it’s as dry as a parched desert (which is what this place is supposed to be), and getting hotter by the day), here’s an experience we’ve encountered for the first time in our long stay here in the Arabian Peninsula, a flash flood in the wadi!

We’ve visited many a wadi here in the UAE, and in Oman. And have heard about people, and cars, and what have you, getting washed away by flash floods that happened when the sudden rain hits. We’ve heeded the warnings on not to venture into wadis during inclement weather, and such… But in March this year, on the Eid Al Fitr holidays, we headed over to Oman, again (…yes, we’ve done it 4 years in a row now, during Eid), and one of our destinations, was a wadi! Wadi Hawer, this time, which is actually the downstream part of the popular Wadi Bani Khalid. And lo and behold! It rained, thru the night! Our hotel happened to be located across the wadi from the main road, and in the evening, a worried guest decided to move his car, to the other side of the wadi, saying that he drove a sedan car. We and another guest (who happened to drive SUVs) asked the hotel owner for his advice, and he said we could wait and see. Later that night, a person from the hotel came and told us that it’s best to move the car, and that he’d move it for us. We were lucky, he did it then… because not too long after that, we heard the roar of the water in the darkness of the night, from the wadi, below the hotel. I’ll let the pictures speak…


Mountains, here we come! Approaching Wadi Bani Khalid Town, on the way to our hotel in Wadi Hawer… Cloudy, with a high chance of rain in the evening, says the weather forecast (the best that I know of, is still Windy.com, if you know your maps)


That’s our hotel, the Inn at Hawer… in Anu’s favourite colours for a house – white and blue! (That’s her favourite since I knew her, we didn’t know at that time that it’s liked by so many around the world … e.g. Santorini (Greece), Chefchaoeun (Morocco), Sidi Bou Sayed (Tunisia), etc. Nope, we've never been to Greece nor Morocco, but we visited Sidi Bou Sayed in 2019. Anu wanted to paint our Silchar house white and blue when we bought it about 16 years ago, and I thought …hey, wouldn’t that just make it look like a police station?? (Malaysian police stations so happened to be all blue and white …since time immemorial, and it’s etched in my memory for good. Fancy staying in a police station!)


Cheers! Anybody for a cup of qahwah? The view from our hotel… Wadi Hawer!


Let’s go explore. And swim! A pool all to ourselves! That’s partly because the main attraction (a waterfall) is a further km or 2 from this place, and we missed the route that climbed up the hills, and decided to just chill here! Also, you can’t get to this pool without getting wet and swimming! See, no rain, only some clouds in the sky, eh?


Anu at Wadi Hawer! With the village (Wadi Hawer) behind, and our hotel (in blue and white) on the right


Papa and son at Wadi Hawer after a swim! You could see the road that we took to reach the hotel at the back of the photo. There’re 2 roads, the one on the left goes through the wadi (where the off-white SUV is), and the alternative road goes through the date palm farm at the back of the photo (near where the 2 people in black are seen). We took the route through the date palms because that’s the one they directed us to (for non-4WD cars, they said)


A view of Wadi Hawer from our hotel, on the day we arrived… with people walking on the route through the dry wadi, to the town on the other side (if you zoom in, you’d see the cars parked in the distance)


The same view, the next morning… a raging wadi, where the road had been. And that water is not at its maximum height (which happened sometime in the middle of the night). Luckily, the hotel people moved our car into the date farm…


The hotel’s owner helping us to carry one of our bags to get to our car… God bless him


That’s what became of the road that we came through the day before, a flowing stream. Look at all the debris strewn around, brought down by the water. Our blue & white hotel is on the right


Whew, we got thru! The hotel people and the villagers were really helpful, they helped us get our car passed the floods (see the first photo of this post, above)


Let’s go home… the highway near Muscat, Oman. Look at all the mountains behind. That’s why we love Oman!


A roadside stop for dinner, before continuing our journey… Look at the approaching thunderstorm (behind)

That’s all for today, folks. The stupid war is still on, with an indefinite ceasefire in place. All our traveling plans for the coming 9-day Eid Al Adha holidays (which we made in Jan) are in shambles now, thanks to the warmongers. May they all rot in hell!

The Rain Returns

A Little Valley (Combe) of Wild Flowers!!! One of our picnic spots near our favourite UAE camping spot, Wadi Showkah, Ras Al-Khaimah, UAE -- Mar 2024

Well, well, what can I say, it has been raining on and off in the region from March till earlier this month. Nice for a change. Last year (2025) has mostly been dry, and hot, and dusty. Rain cooled down the weather (but sheesh! I can’t friggin count how many mosquito bites I’ve got since the rain started…).

I’m sure the wadis will be flowing by now, and wild flowers will carpet the normally barren landscape. We would have gone camping, multiple times, …if only, there wasn’t a stupid war going on (yup, it’s still on, despite the ceasefire, and nobody knows when it’ll end (except Trump, maybe. ‘He can feel it in his bones…’, he said)). Alas, that’s life. Sometimes, you just have no choice but to put up with dickheads, and in this case, their boss.

Anyway, here’re some photos of our favourite UAE campsite, Wadi Shawka (or Showkah, whatever you prefer), from about the same time in the year, but in 2023, and 2024, when the wadis flowed and the flowers bloomed! (What about 2025? Sorry, haven’t sorted out that lot yet). Enjoy!


A mountain pond, up on the hills, near our campsite, on our 3rd visit (and second time we camped overnight), Feb 2023


It’s a wild flower fest! A spot near our 2nd campsite


On the track to the rock pools, Feb 2023




2024 was also a wet year! Wadi Shawka, Feb 2024 (our 4th visit)




The pool that saved my live! I finally decided to swim in it, voluntarily! Unlike in Dec 2021, on our first ever overnight trip there, when I fell in! Luckily, it was deep, and I escaped unhurt! (But the Redmi7 phone which I was carrying wasn’t that lucky…), Feb 2024


The high road over the rock pool… We didn’t know this route, that bypassed the rock pool, existed on our first visit. That’s how I fell into the pool, while climbing down on the return journey (nothing happened when we climbed up). Was lowering Jayden onto the ledge below, and then I lost my balance and sploosh!!! Into the pool I went!


Water isn’t the only attraction in Wadi Showka, there’re miles and miles of hills to climb. We made our first hike up the hill tracks towards the dam (Shawka Dam) on our 5th visit, Mar 2024




Our fourth campsite (6th visit), beside the flowing wadi, Mar 2024… Reversing through the rocky wadi wasn’t such a good idea after all. It damaged the car’s front splash shield (i.e. the engine’s bottom cover)…


Another wadi-splashing time, Wadi Shawka, Ras Al Khaimah, Mar 2024, on our 7th visit! (Yup, we visited the wadi 3-weekends, in one month!)


And then came the big flood of Dubai! (in April 2024). This photo was taken a few weeks after the big flood, on a day trip to see how it affected the wadi, May 2024 (our 8th visit). That path, which crosses the water, was still passable!


Looks like we’re not the only ones checking out the damages! Wadi Showkah, Ras Al-Khaimah, UAE, May 2024

That’s all for today, gotta get back to work. Tons of it waiting, gotta finish it this friggin week!