Abu Dhabi 301

Thursday and Friday last week were the hottest days since I've been here in Abu Dhabi. The class finished early last Thursday, and excitedly I decided to walk back to the apartment which is 3 blocks away. I looked at my watch, 16:45. Perfect time to have an afternoon walk while enjoying the sunshine and cool breeze. Then I walked out of the front entrance and phieeuhhh...warm afternoon breeze welcomed me instead of the oh so cool breeze I was expecting to accompany me walking down the street. Where did my cool breeze go? 'There goes my perfect afternoon walk' I thought. But still I've decided to walk, so I then walked in that heat, and quite hot it was. Welcome to real UAE!

The next day, not only was it hot, it was also dusty. So dusty that it seemed like fog. What happened ? Sand storm or we can also say desert storm. Don't worry, this kind of storm won't affect anything in the city except that fine sands are all around the corner. Warning!! Don't yawn or laugh out loud in the streets at that time. Not because you're not allowed to, but just because you won't want to swallow any sand blown by the wind, would you ?? Hehehe...

Talking about warning, it reminds me about the taxi's driver behaviour. Don't get surprised if they really can speed. From one traffic light to the next which is only one block away, they can speed up to 100 km/h in less than 10 secs. Always braze yourself when they brake and stop their vehicle before the red light. They do have safety belt at the back seat, but too bad, those are accessories only.

And with those speeding cars along the streets in Abu Dhabi, you really need to be aware when you cross the street. Especially for us who uses 'the wrong side of the road' as opposed to 'the right side of the road'. One of the important thing to consider in safety wherever you travel all around the world is that every country has they're own road system, driving habits, and which side of the road they are driving. The right side...or the left 'wrong' side of the road. From the places I've been, UK, Aussie, South East Asian country, and Japan, all are using the left side of the road, while US, France, Oman, and UAE are using the right side of the road. So...we just have to get used to the system and always check right left right or left right left before crossing the road.

Anomaly

If my husband read this, he will definitely veto the posting, but I will write it anyway :p Like a lot of people, even myself, we have some dislike in food. Or should I say preferance on what we eat. Some peoople chooses to be a vegetarian (herbivore), some would prefer to eat meats (I will call this type as carnivore), and some will have no preference at all which then I will call omnivore. There's also taste preference like salty, sweet, spicy, etc etc.

Now my husband has this anti-spicy food. Somehow his tongue cannot stand even a little bit of spicy taste. What I mean by spicy here is chilli spicy, not other type of spicy. You know, the kind of spicy that makes your tongue burn and make you hot and sweat and if it's too much will end up with stomach ache, but still we love to eat it ?? That kind of spicy. Pepper is not as spicy as chilli I say, but some people consider pepper is spicy enough. Hmm...they will get an argument from me for that matter.

Anyway, the point is he despises hot spicy food. But...hehehe...that's why I say anomaly...because there's a but in his case. And the exception is so typically him. Despite of his dislikes in spicy food, he loves red meat. Why I specifically say red meat ? Because it doesn't include chicken, or fish. In order, he likes lamb, beef, then if no red meats, he will then choose chicken, and the least is fish and seafoods. If there's other choice than fish, he will definitely choose the other. That's why, generally speaking, I said that he loves red meats. Which is too bad because I love spicy foods and seafoods, but strongly dislike mutton, and not really fond of beef. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem eating beef, as long as it is well done cooked, and has to have distinguished taste that I like, but yes, I don't like mutton and almost detest it. So there you go. Imagine cooking at home for both of us. At the end, one of us has to compromise, and most of the time..as you might guess...it will be me :) There's no question on his spicy food eating capability :p

His love in red meats relates to what I'm trying to tell about his spicy food detestation anomaly. Eventhough he doesn't like spicy food, but it will all disappear if the spicy food is from mutton or beef. So he will still happily struggle with agony to finish those spicy delicious food (well at least delicious for him) such as 'mutton gulai', 'beef rendang', etc. What can I say...anomaly is an anomaly...it's something we simply cannot understand according to the normal tendency.

Abu Dhabi 201

My husband has just arrived in Abu Dhabi last Friday. By far, it's the most western place he's ever been :p He said the city is just like the buildings in Yokohama, and the city plan is just like in the Simcity game, you can see clearly the blocks and all the streets are straight. It's always interesting to hear other people's impression of a new place.

Anyway, since he is here, I have someone to accompany me roam around the city. Or rather I accompany him, since he has never visited this place before, arabic country in particular. And somehow he's kind of attracted to their men costume (the white long robe I mentioned before in Abu Dhabi 101). Ofcourse he then went hunting this costume complete with the accessories, dragging me along.

Finally today he got what he wanted. One kandaurah (the long white dress) or the Lebanese would call it dishdash and the accessories which are smaagh (white and red head cover) or guttrah (plain white head cover), 'aighal (black ring that you wear on top of the head cover), and the white head cap they call thaqiyah.

There are different ways to wear the smaagh. Either use the 'aighal on top of the smaagh to keep it in place, or just wrap the smaagh on top of your head like the way my husband use it in the picture (because I prefer him to use it that way, fits better for his face..hehehe).

We also tried this arabic coffee in the store. I thought it will taste not very different from other coffee, but it turned out to be very different. Their main ingredients are cardamom, something else i don't remember the name, and a little bit of coffee. They normally drink it with small cups without handle and the coffee tastes plain with no sugar and a little bit bitter. For me, it tastes just like herb tea, but I might get to like it ;)

So...we are now ready to wear the complete pair of UAE costume and walk down the road and malls just like the locals do. Peace.

Children song

Maman: Do you know that the kids are being manipulated by this song? (he asked me one day)
Balonku ada lima
Rupa-rupa warnanya
Merah kuning kelabu
Merah muda dan biru
Meletus balon hijau..dor!!
(he sang it quite good actually :p)

Maman: There should be six balloons and not five if we count the colours of the balloon. Red, yellow, grey, pink, blue....and green !! The green balloon exploded but it wasn't mentioned before.

Dian: Yeah....you're right. But wait a sec...was the song correct ? Shouldn't it be 'hijau kuning kelabu' rather than 'merah kuning kelabu' ??? You got it wrong!! If it is red all this time like you sang it, someone would have picked this mistake long time ago

Maman: (oops....embarrased)

International Woman's Day

To be honest, I've never realized that today, March 8, is the Woman's Day. I even heard that in some part of the world like in China and Rumania, they were giving half day off or even one day off because of this. Why have I never heard about this? Well it seems that in some country like Indonesia or Malaysia, it's not really being celebrated.

One of my Russian friend congratulated me when we had breakfast together (because I'm a woman of course) and then he took off to the class in a hurry without any clear reason. Is it me that just missed what he said or he tried to hide something...I'll never knew.

Anyway....I then walked to the office with my other two Russian friends, the ones in the picture in my previous posts. All ladies...without expecting anything, we chatted and joked until we finally arrived in the classroom. You cannot imagine how surprised we were to find out that on each of our table there was a red rose, put nicely in between our computer. Then I realized why my friend hurried to go earlier than us to the class. So sweet....thanks a lot guys :)



If you remember my post about valentine's day...this is exactly what I meant by small gesture that actually gives a lot of meaning. At least it made us all smile in happiness before being grilled in the classroom, trying hard to understand the physics behind sonic measurement and applications.

For all the woman in the world, Happy Woman's Day...all the best for us, and may we all get what we've dreamed of.

Tuing..tuing...

I wish I can describe what I meant by the title. The easiest way is actually to draw it, but then ofcourse I couldn't possibly draw it here. If you like Japanese manga or anime, then just look for the dizzy expression of the anime character when they're about to faint after long long hours being grilled inside the classroom trying to digest the presentation materials, but somehow it just got into their right ears and went right through their left ears without even bothering to stop by at the neuron system of the brain.

That's exactly what happened when the intructor was still excited to give us something to learn, without realizing that it was 7pm already and nobody actually listened to him any longer. Haha...there's no point on keeping us in the classroom that late if less information was actually being transferred due to our lack of interest. There's only so much a person can learn in one day inside a classroom. Get a life man!!

I wonder why most of these people are quite workaholic. It's one thing to work in odd hours because we have no choice, but it's another thing to work in normal hours without any deadline to catch and don't realize that they're past overtime. It's called no life.

It's really not my dream to spend most of my evenings or weekends or free time to work overtime in the office. No way!! If that's the case, I'm better off working as a field engineer. At least I still can have days off and enjoy my life in between my rig days.

Midnight poem

There is an emptiness without you by my side
There is a loneliness when I can't hold you tight
There is a missing feeling inside my heart
I miss you yan....

courtesy by Etisalat UAE, reached my mobile phone in the middle of the night...

Miss you too mas..

Old Muscat

Sultan's palace being shot from the garden

One thing I did learn in my first day in Oman...if you tell a taxi driver to get you to Muscat, he will bring you to this old Muscat, the old town by the sea with old Portuguese fortresses on top of the cliffs, with one of three Sultan's palace and its beautiful colourful garden, the first bank in Oman which is HSBC (why am I not surprised) and the first fuel station in Oman (ofcourse it's Shell...what else would it be). Most of the goverments buildings are located in this old town, although I'm not quite sure if they really are based in this old Muscat. It seems to be too shady as the center of the Omani monarch. But who knows... The palace and gardens are quite beautiful. And the landscapes are magnificent.

Al Alam Palace area in between the rock hills

One other thing that will never leave your eye sights everywhere you go in Muscat, are the rock hills. Houses and bulidings are built in between these rock hills or cliffs, giving what my husband would call 'mediterranian look'. I don't really know how this mediterranian look actually looks like since I've never been there, but just see the pictures and you will know what I meant. Pictures after all can represent more than thousand words. Now where did I get this phrase from...oohh yeah...the geologists!! They love pictures, graphics, colours, and drawings. Just because they cannot really represent their subject in equations as we engineers normally do. Mmm...not me though...I love pictures as well :) and don't mind at all having less equations.

Houses area in one of the town

Nearby that old Muscat is another old port town, by the sea ofcourse, called Mattrah. Cargo ships to traditional wooden fishing boats are part of the regular view here. Sound of the sea gulls, honking of the car horns, and the distinct sound of the ship's diesel engine exhaust, mixed together with the warm sunshine, refreshing sea breezes and nice view of the sea, rock cliffs, and old forts, altogether creating an exotic nuance that never failed tourists to take more than just a glance. There's one recommended 'souk' or market full of native Omani souvenirs and handy crafts. Must bargain to get cheaper prices. As I'm not really keen on bargaining things, I only ended up with one souvenir. Plus the fact that I will still have to go camping with my backpack, I'm not really excited to do a lot of shopping. The less additional weight to my back and shoulders is the better.

That was a very short story to tell about Muscat, and I don't think it can represent even quarter of its beauty. But stay tune for my next geology trip journal...if I ever got a chance to write it because it was a long exciting week with lots and lots of story to tell....hmm...we shall see... ;) I just hope I will still remember all those geological terms by the time I actually write it down :p

Road by the sea - Mattrah town

First step to Oman

One thing I have never thought of doing back there in university, or even after graduation from my electrical engineering study...was actually observing rocks and learning the history of those rocks layers. And yet, just a few days ago, I spent a week studying how these rocks in Oman could exist the way they are as seen these days, or in short I could say....studying geology. Yes...I've been cut off from any internet connection (not complaining..just stating the fact why I haven't post any new writings since my last post) for a whole full week to have a geology trip to Oman mountains and carbonate factory a.k.a coral reefs.

Oman Outcrop..heaven for geologists :)

Sultanate of Oman...one of the most beautiful monarch country in Middle East, with its pure architectural design preserved in the middle of the bustling modern city life. After spending few weeks staring at the modern buildings in Abu Dhabi full of glasses, steel and concrete, such unique design of Omani houses and buildings were very refreshing. Their design are so down to earth. As Oman's capital city, Muscat rarely has high rise buliding. In fact you will find some hotel buildings with not more than 10 levels, and that's about it. They're not very keen on building a sky scrapper like most of the capital city in the world who compete on having the tallest tower or building in the world. But that's what I really like in Muscat. It has its own identity, with their own cultural background and pride. Omani people also has this reputation of being friendly with foreigners that has driven tourists from all around the world to enjoy the warm wheather and beautiful landscapes in this country.

Portuguese fortress behind Sultan's palace - old Muscat

Opposite to its neighbour, Yaman, the Jewel of Arabia, which also has beautiful scenery...maybe better than Oman, but due to the security issues that make most of the foreigners feel unsafe, it becomes the least tourist destination. Hmm...nevertheless...I would love to go there someday.

First step to Oman, fiuuhhh...it was hot!! Muscat, with a latitude not too far below UAE, at least 10 degC temperature difference was felt, warmer for sure, but I didn't expect it will be this much.

First sight of Oman buildings...they are really something, unique in its own way, just plain attractive, with its window design and wooden two leafs main entrance door. Favourite colours....white and beige, but mostly white, perfect for hot area. And like the rest of other countries in Middle East...green garden with beautiful colourful flowers, like the ones in Sultan's palace of old Muscat.

Me and my two Russian friends

First glance to Oman beaches, clean sandy Al Qurum public beach. But wait a sec...were those foreign girls with bikinis swimming in the sea ?? It turned out Oman is quite liberal for these kind of thing with a certain limits ofcourse. No nudist beach..hehehe...sorry guys...

Al Qurum beach

First walk in Oman, hahh..hahh...it really does have hills and terrains...hahh..hahh...where does this uphill road ends anyway ???

First sight seeing in the city, well, they definitely have lots of spaces since most of the buildings were built more laterally, less vertically. Lots of lone buildings sparcely apart from others. Lots of houses built in between the mountain terrains. Definitely not a flat area, this Muscat. There will be lots and lots of flat area down south though, but I will write it in other post. One of the old area in Muscat city is Mattrah town, a port town near to the old Muscat with a local souk (market).

Mattrah town nuance

First overall impression....very exciting and a promising one week I would have in Oman.

ps..it's definitely not a kurma tree guys...it's a regular palm tree..uh uh..not the same coconut tree as we can find in tropical area beaches. Definitely different type.

Any idea what kind of palm tree this is??