Questions

Ok, this blog posting business requires too much effort... I have been busy and stressed these days. I cannot even sleep properly for weeks. I have not had time to try Krispy Kreme either.

The other day I was reminded to one of my "only in Dubai" observations I had a year ago, it is time to share it.

I noticed there is a main difference in the startup conversation questions
of the places I lived in. Which reflects the way of thinking of that society.
After What is your name, you are asked:
US: So where are you living now?
UK: Where are you from?
Dubai: How long will you stay in Dubai?

Think about it.

Krispy Kreme

There is a Hungarian saying "Bearanyoztak a reggelem" which literary translates "my morning had been coated with gold". I guess it is coming from the feeling that you see the first reddish-golden rays of the morning Sun and turn happy. It is used when your day has an outstandingly good start. That is what happened today. I saw this on my way to a meeting:
Wahaha! Krispy Kreme is coming, Krispy Kreme is coming to town.

Krispy Kreme was one of my favorite chains in the US. It is really nothing special, but doughnuts with overdosed sugar, typical southern states' taste. The good thing is Krispy Kreme allows you to see their machines and doughnut manufacturing lines through windows. Or maybe that was only the Raleigh outlet and they do not do that everywhere. And OK , I admit this is only a "good thing" if you are under age 10 or a big kid like me. Maybe there's absolutely nothing good in Krispy Kreme, but I still love it!

Krispy Kreme brought up many memories from the US. Working late night in the studios and the professor arriving at midnight with a tray of Krispy Kreme to encourage us finishing the assignment. Buying doughnuts with various friends. But my favorite story is the following:

In the US, I lived in an international dorm, called Alexander House. The main concept was to pair up a graduating American student with an international one, put them into a room, and wait until they start admire eachother's culture. Because multicultural knowledge makes you more. And actually this is true, and their concept worked great. The dorm had approx. 80 rooms and they organized great social events.

Anyway, at the end of the year there was a dorm meeting and a survey on how to spend the remaining allowance. The student body suggested three options for voting:
1. Remodel the shared kitchen area.
2. Build a bigger laundry room with new machines.
3. Buy trays of Krispy Kreme doughnuts to everyone.

Considering that half of the students living in the dorm were about to graduate and the other half were on exchange programs from other countries, what do you think the outcome of the voting was? Oh yeah, 100% for Option 3.

This is a good example of how misinterpreted democracy can screw up decisions which would be beneficial to the society / community but might not be beneficial to certain individuals.

So for weeks, each room got a full (24 piece) tray of Krispy Kreme iced dougnuts. After a few weeks, everyone was so fed up with eating sweet doughnuts that we ended up playing on the corridors by throwing dry doughnuts to eachother. Doughnut fights lasted long days...

To be fair with the management, they either got extra money from somewhere, or the leftover money was more than the cost of a few hundred trays of Krispy Kreme, because they did build a new laundry room. It was completed just before we left, I even remember getting free detergents when they opened it.

Wahiba crossing

Ok, now I tell you everything in detail about my last weekend. This was quite a typical one, we do trips like this quite often. Trips that are only possible here.

I got Thursday off last weekend. Or I tried. To get that, I basically worked every day till 9-10pm, and I even worked a few hours Thursday morning... Anyway, the reason why I did it is that I wanted to join a trip to cross Wahiba desert in Oman. The plan was to start crossing it from North to South, and then drive slightly Eastward until we hit the coast, after which we would follow the coastline back South. The whole loop route in sand would be approx. 220km.

Other guys took Wednesday off as well and me and a guy from Al Ain were supposed to meet them in Al Mintirib, Oman on Thursday evening. Al Mintirib is approx 700km from Dubai... So I got up on Thursday, packed the car with all the offroad and camping stuff, rushed to work, rushed to a supermarket to fill my coolbox, bought a petrol can in Ace Hardware (it was on sale, only 99AED!), get it filled at a petrol station (I opened it and closed it myself this time) and fought my way out of Dubai through the Thursday midday traffic jam. I have to mention that I also bought at Ace a small screwdriver with 4 little baby screws, the whole thing comes a tiny box like 40mm by 20mm. I think it is to fix specs, but it is so cute I could not leave there. I show you a really bad picture on it, taken by my phone right now. I am not sure what will I do with the tiny screwdriver, especially considering the fact that I am wearing contacts, but it seems very useful and I am sure it was well worth the 5 dirhams.

Anyway, I made it to Al Ain, then we made it to Al Mintirib, where we met the others, deflated our tires and ventured towards the sand dunes. (You have to deflate the tires to get better traction on sand). We spent the night at Al Raha Desert Camp, which was quite basic, small cabins with a concrete (!) bed and small bathroom with steel door. It looked like this:After breakfast we got some GPS coordinates from the resort owner, named Ali. He showed us the tracks he is usually taking, and also a place where sand is so tricky he needs 8 hours to drive 20kms. (Guess what, we went right there later...) With all the new coordinates added to our already loaded GPSs, we left the camp. Which is not entirely true, I had no time during the week to input the coordinates to mine, so I used the excuse of Garmin not producing software for Mac. (Yeah, I am a Mac user). In the reality, I could have used my work PC, but I was too busy with working overtime on projects (that btw noone on Earth appreciates) and I knew that the other guys would have their GPSs loaded plus the tracks printed, so I figured I can just follow them, lazy me.

There is a track through a major portion of Wahiba desert, and you can drive at 60-70km/hours steadily on it. Moreover, you cannot drive anywhere else, the offtrack area has grassy bumps everywhere, which require you to drive slowly and possible change your wheels a few times as the grass bumps can tear the rubber off the rim. So it is not really a choice, isn't it. The scene is like this, all the 70-80 kms.

After all this we got bored with the track and the guys were disappointed on having no "actions" only easy track driving. So we looked for the place where Ali, the experienced local guy wanted us not to go... That area had no grass but white dunes. And we topped his record. We drove like 500 meters in an hour! The sand is tricky there, one spot is hard, the other 5 meters away is liquid like soft. It is difficult to find the right change of speed: liquid like sand requires more power. Multiple cars got stuck right after the other. Yeah, that includes me as well. The following picture shows two cars, both temporarily stuck, while one tried to tow the other.
Then we got enough of digging and went back to the grassy red sand area. Drove for an other hour, this time towards the coast, perpendicular to the dunes. It had no track. And then, unexpectedly, the small grassy dunes switched to big big white dunes with the ocean in the background. It was such a nice view, we had to stop to take pictures. Pictures on us, brave people who crossed Wahiba Desert.I really liked these big coastal dunes, they were gentle and tender and real fun. With those dunes with sharp ridges, I can never know what comes on the other side. It might be a 2 meter straight fall as well as a plane area. But these dunes here were huge and nicely curved. It was really just driving up and down and to play with them.

After the coastal dunes, eventually we reached the coast. I believe we were very lucky with the spot where we ended up, as the coast is mostly flat and sandy, but this area had these nice fringe like rocks.

It was around 4pm and we started to look for a place where we can camp. We drove by some really backward village-kinda places, with edifices put together with plastic boards and wire mesh. I am not sure how can someone live a whole life in such a remote isolated place. One of the guys made a joke, saying the Event of the Year in this village should be when Abdullah arrives from town with a mobile top up card. And the Event of the Following Year is when Abdullah brings the phone for it... Not to mention that they will have a signal in five years after that...
Yeah, you wonder what these sheep can eat. Me too. Sand? Fish? Order pizza?

We put up our tents right at the seaside and started our barbeque. I checked out the sea as well, but it seemed too cold. Not long after that, an old Landcruiser truck drove by, the driver waved. We waved back, which made him stop and come to see us. He hardly spoke English and we hardly spoke Arabic. He had two packs of brand new fishing nets with him, that he ordered from Dubai, and also some plant that he collected, those small bushes we saw on our way. He explained the tiny flowers of that plant are edible, he made us to try. It is sour and I was not really keen on it. We made him taste some of the home made cookies we had with us, he liked it. Then he asked us if we had enough money, and (!!) offered us some money! Again, this is something that can only happen here... Six people, with five cars, packed with stuff, and some local guy offers us money... terrific. I actually really like the people of Oman. They are not artificial like Dubai locals. They are genuine. They work hard and they are realistic about expectations from life. I really regret that I have not taken a picture with him.

Nor did I take a picture on our self-made camp, so I have to skip that one as well. I went to sleep early, as I was tired from the whole week's stuff. Other guys went on drinking and chatting much longer.

In the morning it was calm, sunny and unrealistic. Waking up by the sea, in the middle of nowhere. We had breakfast and started packing when we noticed one of my wheels was flat. Great. We changed it, it went quickly. Finished packing and drove approx 5 kms on the coast. It was low tide and the flat wet sand makes an excellent highway. It is a great experience to drive along the coastline, makes you smile, like running down on a blossoming hillside field at summer, same deep happiness.
There was a coastal village nearby, with a few basic workshops, like a wheel fixing place. It was a great place, with good reputation from clients with high end fashionable cars, like this ancient Landcruiser truck... And this truck was not the only one around, we saw a few others, and then some more in other villages.They pumped air into my flat tire and put saliva on the valve. Then they decided it was fixed. Probably we did not seem convinced, because he put even more saliva, fresh out of his mouth. Then he looked at us and offered to "put water". We cherished the idea, that was a big mistake. 'Aha, water!' -they said, and pulled the wooden cover from a pit filled with some really stinky liquid. One of them stirred it with his hand. I expected his hand to dissolve, but I guess he is immune. My best guess is that the liquid contained 30% urine, 30% used engine oil and 10% water, with the remaining 30% being some mysterious secret ingredient that boosts the smell. He submerged my wheel before I could thank his efforts. Whatever this 'test' should have shown, it totally convinced me that my wheel was fixed and I felt ready to continue our trip.

We drove through some more villages, these are some random pictures.



After a while we reached the tarmac road and drove slowly back home to Dubai, arriving at 11pm. On my way home I stopped at the petrol station bakery and bought some Maple Pecan Danishes. I picked it because there were three pieces displayed. I made the guy's day...

That was my weekend. I love these offroad trips.

Damaged can

The other day I went to the petrol station. Not only to fill my tank, but also to fill the jerry can that I carry while offroading in the desert, just in case. The petrol station assistant, Indian or Pakistani guy, surprisingly enough from a pump assistant, had never seen a jerry can before. Even more surprisingly, he decided not to share his small secret with me. Rather, he decided to force the cap open, by bending it with his maximum force. It was too late by the time I noticed the trick, and of corse however he twisted it, the cap has not closed the can properly any more. I got quite angry as that can was 150 dirhams, not to mention the extra trip I would now need to the hardware store.

Driven by European habits, I asked for the manager. He arrived. I requested him to explain me how could I complain. I learned I could not. There is no form to fill. There is no Headquarter's phone number to call. There is no customer service to mail to. There is no way to get a reimbursement from the company. There is no way the company would stand for the faults of their individual workers.

'So what can I do?'- I asked desperately.
'Ma'm, just buy a new can, bring the receipt and he will pay for it.'
'Who?'
'Him'- pointed the manager to the pump assistant.

Well, that immediately cooled me. I mean, having the huge rich oil company pay my can and then the manager educating the guy on how jerry cans operate -after the customer had left- would be something you would expect. Worst case, if he repeatedly causes damage to the company, a small salary deduction. But making him pay for the full damage? And what if he damages my 100.000 dirham car? They give me him as a slave for life?

'How much he earns?'
'He makes 800.'

Fuck. There is no way I would make a guy earning 800, spending 300 for a filthy bedshare, eating steamed rice every bloody day for years and years and sending 300 home to his numerous relatives, to pay 150 for my damned can. No way.

So basically that is it. That is the story. It is about the lack of Worker's Union and the lack of Customer's Rights Associations. It is about Dubai.

They won, environment lost

As everyone urges me to post pictures, here we go.

Last weekend locals went almost crazy. Apparently the UAE team won the Gulf Football Cup, first time in the event's 18 years of history. I cannot see why, but this made them feeling a strong urge to paint their cars in national colors and create massive traffic jams. Sitting in traffic, it is obvious that one has to honk, sit on top of their cars, shout, play load music and throw finely chopped colored paper pieces everywhere. That is exactly what happened. I took some pictures entering towards Trade Center Roundabout. In an hour we were only 600 meters away and it got dark so I could not take pictures on the outraged crazy people any more.




























Btw, the Sheikh was so happy about them that he decided to present each player a villa. They also got half a million dirhams each. (In case you are considering a quick career change, for any of you to become a world class football player is more likely than to get UAE citizenship, which is totally impossible. So forget about it.)

You know, I just could not be happy. Not because I am totally not interested in football, or because a bunch of people beating an other bunch of people in any sport does not change my life the slightest. But because I cannot feel good while tacking multiple stickers onto a car that someone needs to remove in a few days, or popping out colored paper pieces to the grass, that again someone needs to pick up the following day.

For New Years Eve we went to camp in a wadi (dry rocky riverbed) in Oman, in the middle of nowhere, dancing all night under the sky. We had everything with us, barbecue, speakers and music, drinks. I actually had a good time and even got drunk quite early that obviously helped enjoying myself even further. Until at midnight a friend of mine pulled out some popper tubes and covered the whole wadi with pink, red, green, purple, blue and yellow paper confettis. I could not be drunk enough to feel peaced about it. In the morning I spent 2 hours picking up them. Some fall to the small stream and colored the water. Sure fish were happy about it, they must love paint chemicals. It was a hopeless fight though, you cannot believe how many small paper pieces can fit into one of those popper tubes. Almost half of them are still in the wadi... I have to add my friend did feel bad about them as well and picked some up. Basically, I think all of us felt bad about it.

Littering is actually an increasing problem in the UAE. In the middle of the desert, in beautiful wadis, - trash everywhere. Not too many folk seem to pick up the remainders of their barbecue, plastic bags, toilet papers, soft drink cans, etc after themselves. The most disappointing are the rain water filled pools: you swim into, pass in between the rocks, one pool to the other, water is soft and clear, it is quiet, you hear your echo, you are happy and satisfied with life placing you to Planet Earth, and then... you enter deeper towards the last pool... hmmm... it smells pee... and hmmm... it is trash everywhere... even more trash... and yukkk... it is disgusting, am I swimming in a sawage pit?

Having no National Parks or any authority seriously enforcing environmental awareness has both advantages and disadvantages. From my personal point of view, it is really comfortable that I can enter and fun drive in the desert and in wadis everywhere. Also, I can camp everywhere without asking permission from anyone or paying any fees, how nice. On the other hand it is just not good in a long term. Beauties of nature should be kept clean and untouched... After I saw them...

Oh, this weekend I should go to the used car market place. I am sure there are good deals for brand new Landcruisers for peanuts. Except they are painted weird and have millions of heavy duty stickers on...

Accents

Dubai is also a highly multicultural place. Noone knows the exact population of the city, it is believed to be near 1.5 million. I am not totally convinced, just make a trip to the airport, I always have the feeling that much more people are coming than leaving. It is also believed, and sounds about all right, that only 8% of the population are UAE nationals, there is an other 12% other Arabic people, 30% westerners including Europeans, Australians and Americans and the rest 50% are the Asians, such as Indians, Philippinos, Pakistanians, Chinese, etc.

I really looked forward to learn Arabic here, and I still believe speaking the language gives a better understanding on a certain culture. But learning Arabic in Dubai is like learning it in any non-Arabic city. One would have basically no opportunity to practice it outside the noble building of the Language School.

Coming to the point, the common language is English. All possible accents of it. And even more! Indians born in Canada, Chinese lived in Germany, French educated in South Africa - infinite versions. You surely have to master understanding all 'languages'. Sometimes even speaking it... Three must be "tree" unless you want to stay in the shop until the Indian assistant gives you a piece of paper to write on, the sofa is "sopa" if you want the Philippina cleaning lady to vacuum underneath, and the movie did not suck, it was just "weird" or worst case you are "not sure about it" if you want your British friends go out with you again.

That is why in Dubai, and only in Dubai is it possible to have a "Guess the accent" morning radio show. They play the same sentence, praising the sponsor, pronounced by Dubai based speakers from all over the world, and the audience have to guess their city of origin. Cool. Almost motivates me to get up earlier.

Something positive on Philippinos

Further to below post, I have to tell this recent story.

I went to buy new computers for the company. There is a place called "Computer Plaza" that has about 100 computer shops stuffed into two storeys, one next to the other. I went to the first, the Indian guy working there promised the blue sky, I got it priced, bargained a little, and went to the second one in hope of a better offer. This second shop had two Philippino shop keepers. A young one standing and an elder boss sitting behind a desk. I told the young one what I needed, and he directed me to talk with the other one. I sat down and waited until he finished his important work on the computer (maybe solitaire, or minefield?). Then I explained what I needed. Then he slowly, very slowly pulled out a list from the mess on his desk and told me to select the machine. I looked at the list, which was of course completely irrelevant to my request, and explained again what I was after. He slowly, very slowly dug out a notepad, and slowly, very slowly jotted down some basic parameters of the machines I wanted. Then he started endless phone calls, explaining to some even slower guy at the other end about the machines and engaging in discussions about the feasibility of such a wonder machine. Here I gave up. I lost my temper. 'I really do not have time for this' I said 'If you are so reluctant to help, I do not need your help!' and rushed out from the shop. I went into a third one, run by Indians, where I quickly explained my needs and went ahead discussing the price and the delivery time. I spent about 15-20 minutes in that shop , when the young Philippino shop assistant from the other shop came in.
'Oh Ma'am, oh Ma'am, so good I found you, have been looking for you at all the shops.'
I expected him to say that they figured my machines would be available, but it was something totally different.
'You left your bag in our shop.'
And in that instance I remembered I put my handbag behind me on the seat when I was there. I had 5000AED company money with me for the deposit, 2000AED own money, expensive camera, expensive phone, carkeys, flatkeys, IDs with car registration number and home address... And this guy, after I played hurt and left them very impolitely, wasted 20 minutes of his life to look for me and gave back my bag that had cash worth about 4 months of his salary...
I felt so embarrassed, I did not even know what to say. I left the shop after a quick 'Thanks a lot, it is really kind of you.', I felt too embarrassed to stay or to look at them.

Needless to say, in any other cities, especially European ones, with all that "smart" people, you do not need to leave there your cash stuffed bag for 20 minutes. It is enough to look at the other direction, and it is already stolen. We really have to value how honest people can be here in Dubai. Only in Dubai.

Something negative on Philippinos

Cheap labour in Dubai is supplied from Asia. Mostly from the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal. Those people are coming from backward villages, they are not educated or even familiar with "Western life". But they work for pennies... And you get what you paid for... Failing to realize the reasons behind, many people turn racist and have assumptions on the general mental capability of these people. Which misbelief is unfortunately gets justified on a daily basis in Dubai. After all, why would a smart Philippino or Indian come to Dubai, where he/she would be discriminated, and not to somewhere else? Therefore we have a big selection of not-that-smart Asians here.

My favorite Philippino is a guy, who works for a bakery franchise. I frequently go there at night, on my way home after work. By the way, the bakery is located at a petrol station, but that is not surprizing in Dubai. You can even pay your electricity bill at a petrol station, all these businesses are just owned by the same people. Anyway, he probably got a few weeks of training when he started, where his bosses clearly explained how he should encourage the customers to buy even more bakery products. And he does his job...
Me: 'Can I have that Chicken corn roll?'- and I point to a single pastry displayed.
Him:'Only one piece Ma'am?'
Me:'Do you have more?'
Him:'No Ma'am, this is the only one left.'
Me:'Ahhh, so why do you ask then?' (smiling)
Him: (looking at me, expressionless)
Me:'Ok, could you give me that Cheese roll as well?' - there is only one piece, as I said, I always go there at the end of the day.
Him:'Only one piece Ma'am?'
Me:'Do you have more? Give me two.'
Him:'Sorry Ma'am, this is the only one left.'
And it goes on and on...
And when I go next time, the same will happen.
He is dead sharp, isn't he.

But he certainly would lose in competition with our Philippina secretary. Not knowing how the fax machine works after 8 months with the company is a good start, but here is something that cannot be topped.

She used to work 5 and a half days, having Thursday afternoon and Friday off. When we all switched to 5 day workweek, she was explained she gets Friday and Saturday off, but has to stay all day Thursday. She seemed to understand it. Until she said 'Goodbye, I go home.' the following Thursday at 1 pm. "No, you stay here, don't you remember, blabla.' Ok, maybe she got it this time, I hoped. The second Thursday I got back to the office in the afternoon after a meeting. She was nowhere. Her bag was not there. I called her. Yeah, she went home. How can you be so stupid repeatedly not to remember your own days off?

Next summer I want to go to the Philippines. I am sure there are very smart people from there. I have to find them.

Big Village

Dubai does not have a great cultural life. Not that it lacks demand, but it lacks facilities. While theaters, events halls -and even opera houses for some mysterious reason- are under construction, currently there are only a limited number of operating small size halls with a choice of "bad" or "really bad" acoustics that can cater for cultural events.

This contributes to the fact that despite the sudden growth, Dubai still works like a village.

For example, the whole city got deeply excited on the arrival of The Circus. And as in the fairy tale, The Circus set up their tent at the edge of the city and started playing. All the media reminded you that They are here, and you could not skip the conversation topic with any friends, workmates, or just random people in the elevator. The following points had to be discussed, with absolutely everyone.
1. Have you heard about The Circus? (Try to give a negative reply and you will not be popular any more.)
2. Have you seen them? (If yes, go to question 3. If no, go to question 4. and be prepared that you have to repeat the test within a few days.)
3. Did you like it? (Essay question, min. 5 max. 10 sentences required for "Pass" mark.)
4. What are your other friends who saw the show saying about it? (Do not ever attempt to say "None of them did." You must have someone who saw it. If not, better if you make it up.)
5. Don't you think the ticket is very expensive? (Correct answer is "Yes, it is!!".)

And guess what, the other night I paid for the bloody expensive ticket and saw the show. Not that I love circus, but that is The Event in our village. Everyone talks about it.

Sudden City

On our company Christmas dinner my boss's wife who just visited from Australia for a few months explained how she thinks every city and target location must be named. New York is the Big Apple, Paris is the City of Light and Malaysia does a good job with advertising itself as "Malaysia Truly Asia". So what can be a name for Dubai.

A few days later in a friend's bathroom I saw the Jan 2007 issue of National Geographic. It has an article on Dubai, advertised on the cover. They named Dubai. It is the Sudden City.