The New Old Dubai

Eid Mubarak! Wishes for a happy and blessed Eid and Hari Ray to all those celebrating.

Hello, I’m back. This will be a super-quick post. Have been busy lately, started working on some tendering at the office, and Justin came back home for a holiday!! Took some time off to be with him, went to some of the theme parks here in the UAE (there’re scores of theme parks here, but we’ve only ever been to Legoland before this, ahem – They cost a bomb, OK?!) He’s gone back to Singapore now, as school there starts TODAY! What a bummer! I’ve got tomorrow till the end of the week off because of Eid Al Adha! So here goes my super-quick Eid Al Adha post, before I go off for the 6-day long weekend! Ahhhh, bliss, in a friggin 'heatwave'…

Eid Mubarak everyone. Selamat Hari Raya! Happy Holidays! As I’ve not downloaded anything new, here’re old photos again of a place in Dubai. “Heck, we don’t really have anything old and traditional here in Dubai to show.” Fret not, we’ll just create one, and voila! Al Seef! Looks like ‘old’ is the new trend now. And so, welcome to Al Seef, the new ‘old’ town of Dubai, although it’s all created from scratch!


The kids and I at Al Seef, 2 years ago


Hey, nice swing! This was during the COVID times, May 2021


‘Old’ Dubai even comes with cracked walls, peeling plaster, exposed cables all over the place…




See what I mean?


Did they have Starbucks in the 50’s?


Believe it or not, this is a first-floor lobby of a Hilton Hotel (or more aptly the Al Seef ‘Heritage’ Hotel by Hilton). This ummm ‘heritage’ was all created a ‘long time ago’, like in 2017, ahem






The developer completely rebuilt Dubai Creek into this fantasy ‘heritage’ area. Know how it looked like before? Check out this old 2008 post


This is the real stuff, the actual old heritage area, the Bastakia quarters, which is next to Al Seef. For a 2008 comparison, check out this post


Hey Jayden, why’re you in Chinese attire? This was Chinese New Year, 2023. Justin wasn’t with us as he was in Singapore


Twinkle, twinkle, lots of lights, Al Seef, Dubai 2023


Wishing all a happy Eid and holiday! At the Arabian Tea House, Bastakiya, Dubai

A Side Trip from Silchar - Ruins of the Cachari Kingdom

Talking about side trips and not having any in our recent trip to India, here is one side trip which we took when we visited our Indian home the same time last year. Sigh, if only our little yellow car worked this year… Where would we have gone? (I could name many, haha).


Ruins of the Cachari Kingdom’s King’s Temple, Khaspur, Cachar, Assam

Khaspur is a short drive from our home in Silchar. It is only about 25km (yes, I checked it out on Google Maps), but it took us like an hour to get there (that’s how it is with the roads there in South Assam).


An interesting spot on the Airport Road (opposite of Moirang Gas Station), on the way to Khaspur. The road connecting Silchar to Khaspur is the same as the road going to Silchar’s airport (which we frequently use, because we FLY to Silchar!) (Kolkata to Silchar is 1 hour by air, and only 3 fascinating, bone-rattling days by road – so, pick your choice).


Here we are, the site of the Cachari Ruins, Khaspur. Kachar was an independent kingdom ruled by the Dimasa people in medieval times. Khaspur was the kingdom's last capital. It was eventually annexed by the British (which is what you’d expect from the Brits, don’t you?)


Old walls of the ruins – the steps that you see there I think are later additions to prop up the collapsing walls (coz these bricks have trade names… unlike the bricks on the wall itself)


The kids with their aunt, Anu’s youngest sister, Amrita. Notice that that little yellow car, far behind on the road? That’s our car that made this trip possible


The King’s Temple. Not a very big temple, I'd say, now that you can see Anu on it…


Roaming cows are a special attraction… Petting zoo cum ancient ruins! If you don’t mind the dung that dots the landscape


Another terracotta temple in the area. The temples, walls, moats and pools are the only thing still visible of the old kingdom. Besides cows and humans, there’re goats too. How wonderful!


Remainder of a moat in the Cachari Ruins Khaspur


Time to go! We, at the Cachari Ruins Khaspur, Assam, India. Here’s a link to another photo of this place with Justin


Tea gardens! Near the Dayapur Tea Estate. Instead of going back to Silchar, while returning, we decided to take the route less travelled and drive from Udharbond through Pallarbond to Fulertal, Anu’s mom’s house and spend the night in Fulertal. That’s the beauty of having a car, hehe


A tea garden temple, near the Dayapur Tea Estate




Views from our car – thru tea gardens on the Dayapur to Pallarbond road. The sun’s setting. Let’s get home!


Leaving one last pic, before I end this post. Near the Dayapur Tea Estate, Cachar, Assam, India – Apr 2022

A Home Trip with a Difference

At the neighbourhood temple, Fulertal, Cachar, Assam, Apr 2023

Finally, here are the photos of our recent family trip to Assam, India.

This was a trip of many firsts. This was the first home trip that we went without Justin since he was born 13+ years ago. (He’s in Singapore studying). This was the first trip that did not have any side trips (save one silly excursion out of Kolkata that nearly ended up in disaster). This was a pure banking and family trip (although while planning, we had a whole bunch of side trips lined up that we wanna do). This was the first time that we did not get to use our little yellow car since we bought it 10 years ago (it friggin broke down, probably due to last year’s flood and a lack of maintenances, and we spent days trying to get it fixed). That partly accounts for why we didn’t make any side trips… (And it’s not even fully fixed when we left!) But this was not the first trip that we got food poisoning. This was the second in a row, actually. Maybe we’re no longer accustomed to the water in India. (I blame it on that blasted COVID. It made us too clean, ahem). So, to Anu, this felt like a wasted trip, because she couldn’t fully enjoy the ‘feasts’ that we used to have on home trips! Anyway, here comes the photos of the family in Assam and a few friends.


Anu with her sisters and mom… at our Silchar home. They’re only 4 sisters this year. The youngest sister, Amrita has moved to Canada with her hubby


Yours truly with Anu’s eldest brother Ramesh (sitting), second eldest brother Ganesh (right) and Ganesh’s brother-in-law, at Ganesh’s in-law’s home, Pailapool – Ganesh’s brother-in-law just became a brand-new father, but we forgot to take a photo of the new-born… or her mom


Cheers! Having a beer with Anu’s third eldest brother, Manoj at his home in Fulertal (Anu has 3 brothers and 4 sisters…)


Anu with her godbrother Rajendra’s family, in Fulertal. On the left is Savita and their kids are Deb (elder) and Ankit (younger). Ankit is Jayden’s age


Jayden loved it in Fulertal (except for the toilet, ahem). He made so many friends. There’re lots of kids his age. Plus this time, Jayden didn’t have Justin to play with. Here’s Jayden with his cousin Mahi (left) and a friend, Arohi


More friends! The kids from right are Mahi, Jayden, Prince (whom Jayden and Mahi kept calling Princess) and Ankit. The lady behind is Sudadi, Rajendra’s sister. Behind in the ‘auto’, you could see Deb and Kunal (Jayden’s cousin)


Here they are! The cousins 3, Kunal, Sonia and Raja. They’re trying to replicate their posts in a photo I took more than a decade ago (in 2008). Many of the cousins are no longer in Fulertal or Silchar. Rohan and Sweety are in Delhi now, and Aakash is in Punjab


The new cousins 3. The 3 youngest of the family, the Generation Alpha. Mahi and Jayden are the same age both born in 2014 (Mahi is 8 months older though), and Anshu was born in ummm… 2019 I think


More of Jayden’s friends, Fulertal – From right, Ankit, Jayden, Mahi, Sangvel and Prince


Some old friend of Anu’s at neighbour Mamuni’s house – Rinku and his family. Rinku grew up in this house but have settled down in Jorhat, another part of Assam. He was on a one day visit


Back to Silchar, we met an old aunt I’ve met more than a decade ago. She used to stay in Fulertal in the house opposite to Anu’s mom’s house. Anu called that house ‘the Clean House’ because the family staying there was obsessed with cleanliness


And they have a new grandchild (or is it great-grandchild, beats me – I only put this photo because that’s such a cute baby, haha)


Birthday party! For niece Sweety’s mother-in-law. Sweety got married a month before this, but has already left for Delhi to resume work. Her husband is Debanjan. He’s not seen here because he’s the one taking the picture, duh! From right, only the people I know, OK? … our nephew Zeeva, Debanjan’s cousin who’s a manager in the Tata Automobile’s Silchar showroom, Debanjan’s elder brother’s wife (yeah, that small girl there, she’s a grown-up, OK?), Sandi (Anu’s sister and Sweety’s mom), Jayden, an uncle of Debanjan, Anu, Debanjan’s eldest brother’s son (the little boy), Debanjan’s mother, Gopal (Sweety’s dad), a boy umm… I forgot whose kid this is, Manju (Anu’s eldest sis), yours truly, one of Debanjan’s relative who’s a British citizen (her family owns these flats), the lady’s daughter who’s also a British citizen, and finally, Debanjan’s elder brother… Whew!


Finally, dinner time. Gopal, Debanjan and yours truly, at Silchar, Assam, India, April 2023

That’s all for now folks! Ciao!

Where Carthage Stood

Happy Vesak to the Buddhists around the world! May the Fourth (Force) be with you! (It’s the informal Star Wars Day!! – Just because of how the date sounds like, haha!)

There’s no reason for this post, other than that I have these last photos of Tunisia in my laptop which I wanted to post, but can’t seem to link it to anything. Vesak was just a coincidence and Tunisia has nothing to do with Vesak, but Tunisia figures big time for the Star Wars movies franchise (since so many scenes were filmed here). So, what the heck! It’s Star Wars Day. Here goes.


The Gulf of Tunis at dusk from Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia – This was where Carthage was located in ancient times

Carthage was an ancient maritime empire and rival of Rome. They fought 3 wars called the Punic Wars. (Oh, it was in our history books. Yup, somehow in my days, the Sejarah books in Malaysia had a section on this! If not, where would I have known about it?) At the end, Carthage lost and was conquered by Rome, spelling the end of Carthage. The ancient ruins now are in a suburb of Tunis, the capital of Tunisia. Here you can still spot the ruins among houses and gardens, and what have you.


Another view of the Gulf of Tunis from Sidi Bou Said. This must be how the view looked like in ancient Carthage. Imagine Roman ships approaching the Carthaginian coast…




The ruins of Carthage dot the place. Some are fenced off and form part of a series of archaeological sites and museums


The Acropolium of Carthage sits on top of Byrsa Hill, one of the archaeological sites of Carthage. It used to be a Roman Catholic cathedral, built by the French during the colonial times. It was built on top of the ruins of an old Punic temple. It’s now used as a concert hall or convention centre


The Malik ibn Anas Mosque at Carthage


The blue and white suburb of Sidi Bou Said occupies a significant area of the promontory which Carthage used to be


The Café des Délices, in Sidi Bou Said has a commanding view of the Gulf of Tunis. "Romans approaching, fire at will!!!" (I think they have catapults, don’t they?)

Here’re some photos of us in Sidi Bou Said.


Yours truly, outside the Café des Délices


Exploring Sidi Bou Said


The courtyard of our hotel in Sidi Bou Said, Villa Landalucia. Did you let the bird out of the cage?? Just kidding. There was no bird actually. They're still waiting for a suitable bird to put in there...


Breakfast at Villa Landalucia – nice cuppa coffee, eh?

That’s all folks! See you next time.