Here comes the sun

Spring's almost over, and summer slowly creeping up on us. It's getting hotter by the day now! Had a few visitors from Singapore recently. First there was Andrew, then Merey, son n friends, and Jeannie (from PJ). Jeannie is Amir's wife (they just got married in January), and Amir is Ben's colleague at Al Mahara. She was here for a week, so one day while Amir was at work, Jeannie came over in the late afternoon and we chatted till midnight.

Last week, my friend Razmi, his Mom, aunt, uncle n mom's friends were here in Dubai for a few days. Razmi's mom 'Cik Ratna, aunt 'Cik 'Esah and mom's colleague 'Cik Zauyah work with SATS so they get discounted travel privileges for themselves and family. Razmi will turn 21 this October, so it's his last chance to make use of this.

Razmi and family stayed at Naif Road in Deira, as his Mom wanted to be as close as possible to Phulwani, the infamous "Air Crew Shop" selling enough silk and material to put Globe Silk Store and Kamdar out of business. The 3 aunties visited the shop every day. Dubbed the 'Air Crew Shop' because it's a favourite haunt of MAS and SIA cabin crew, Phulwani is especially popular with Malays as they sell really affordable kain for baju kurung. 'Cik Ratna, well-known for her 'power' bargaining skills, also bought a whole lot of beaded and sequinned cushion covers, table placemats n such for a really good price.


The day I met up with them, we had a rather late lunch at Delhi Darbar after the 3 makciks reluctantly left Phulwani. Then we headed towards Al Sabkha to buy perfume, dates and nuts. Razmi wanted to go to the beach, so the next day, he stayed over at our apartment in Gardens. I brought him to Madinat Jumeirah to take some pictures, and later spent the evening at Jumeirah Beach till sunset.

Razmi n I

After the beach, we took a cab to Ibn Battuta Mall for dinner and for him to do some shopping. He's into clothes and shoes now, looking for Onitsuka shoes and striped Polo shirts. Ben was off the next day, so we brought him to the Mall of the Emirates for more shopping. I wasn't feeling too well so Ben n I just lepak-ed at a comfy coffee place while Razmi had the freedom to jalan-jalan without me hanging about like an 'aunty'. It was really cool spending time with Raz, and gaining tips like downloading movies thru Azureus!

Yesterday, my brother Andrew had a short layover here again for half a day, bringing with him 'supplies' from home sweet home - some taucheo and buah keras that I forgot to bring over the last time I was back in Singapore. And he also brought over an air humidifier for us, so hopefully this will grant us better sleep, no more nose bleeds, dry skin and chapped lips.

I may not be blogging as much for a while as I'm trying to complete Ben's website and still have a lot to read up about the latest web designing tools, 'cos the last time I used Dreamweaver was many versions ago so I'm pretty much a newbie to it now. Andrew left Dubai carrying with him a stack-load of mail - Ben's CV and portfolio to be sent out to various establishments in Japan, Hong Kong and China. It costs Dhs.13.50 to send each one out from here (and we had more than 30 to send), so poor Andrew has not only been our personal courier, but now Singpost guy too. Ben n I are doing ok here... Ben's just keeping his options open, that's all.


After meeting up with Andrew, I popped by Deira City Centre to get some stuff from Carrefour and to check out the spanking new Krispy Kreme outlet that opened here in March. No long queues reminiscent of the Singapore-MacDonalds-HelloKitty craze here.


I had donuts for breakfast, and lunch, and dinner, and supper! I SMS-ed Ben that I had spent 48 Dirhams on coffee n donuts, and in another SMS, I told him about how Krispy Kreme was having a Double Dozen promotion, and in the 15 mins that I was there, I saw 3 men walk away with 4 dozen each! Ben didn't read my message properly, so freaking out, he told his colleague that I bought FORTY-EIGHT donuts... And spent the whole evening wondering if I was pregnant!

I only ate four out of the 'measly' seven donuts I bought... Yes, just seven. Put back those cigars n the champagne dude...

About work, and no work

Ben recently had a chance to apply for a promotion at a fine dining restaurant in one of the company's hotels. His Chef de Cuisine (CDC) and Executive Sous Chefs at his current hotel were all very encouraging and said they supported him. The Big Guy (the one right at the top) also said he supported him 100% and would help him sign the necessary paperwork and vouch for him. After staying up till the wee hours of the morning to print out a super-swee-swee cover letter, CV n portfolio, he submitted it to HR thru The Big Guy.

Three days later, he finds out from the CDC that The Big Guy said Ben's not gonna get the job 'cos he'd rather have him work at the Asian restaurant, and that Ben's CV did not even reach the other hotel. Like kena sabo big time man. Firstly, the Asian restaurant was supposed to open last June. Then they said, August, then end 2006, then April 2007...mid 2007... still indefinite. More than half of the employees who were brought in for this restaurant more than a year ago have already resigned. Some were promised a higher position at the "new restaurant" to entice them to stay on... Empty promises... like what The Big Guy is trying to offer Ben now.

Ben doesn't NEED the promotion. He just wants to head a restaurant so that he can create his own special menu n not have others say they created it. There was one occasion when The Big Guy wanted a special menu, so Ben created one, and the CDC submitted it, saying Ben did it. The Big Guy rejected it without even looking at it, so the CDC said, "Actually, Ben n I worked on this together", and so the Big Guy accepted it!!

The blatant racial discrimination here is really getting more obvious by the day. Not just for Ben, but me. After trying for months and applying for more than 80 jobs, I received about 6 replies. And these 6 who called me in for an interview probably did so only for fun. Like "Hey! A Malaysian... Where is Malaysia? I wonder what a Malaysian looks like.... Hmm... Let's call her in for an interview and see if she swings from tree to tree".

At one interview, 30 over candidates were called in at the same time, and I had to wait about an hour till I was interviewed by some "big shot" for 5 minutes. At another interview, 5 people were called to attend it at the same time, and we waited 1 hour and 45 minutes to be interviewed by this cold and expressionless lady for 2 seconds. Another time, this Indian guy called me, asking me all about Singapore & Malaysia. "Oh, you're Catholic? There are Catholics in Singapore?" Then he praised my portfolio till high heaven n offered me the world - high pay, a driver to pick me up, send me to work n back, blah blah blah n then never called me back. Full of crap gurrganeh...

I have a European friend who earns AED10,000 (S$4,500) a month as a PA. When I found out, it motivated me to go out there n earn big bucks too. That moment of motivated thought and "counting chickens" lasted for about 2 minutes till I realised I wasn't white. So the feeling afterwards was one of frustration and utter de-motivation. Now I've made up my mind to stop applying for jobs 'cos I do not want to be de-valued and treated like cheap labour. At least, as a full-time "ministress of home affairs", I "work" for Ben n myself, and there's no corruption, politics or discrimination. The hours are long, but the reward is priceless :o)

Recent pics

My brother Andrew was here in Dubai again a few weeks back. His stop-over was for less than a day, so Ben n I met him at his hotel in Deira and had lunch at the Chicken Tikka Inn nearby. Here we are at the lobby of Radisson Hotel:


Two weeks ago, my friend Merey and her son Reef visited Dubai with two friends, Chi Lin and Mabel. Chi Lin n his wife Mabel are moving to Dubai in June, and were here to look for an apartment, settle paperwork, etc. Chi Lin works for IE in Singapore and will be posted here for 3 years.

I met Merey at Mall of the Emirates. She was skiing with Mabel n Chi Lin at Ski Dubai and since I don't ski, I was able to accompany Reef to the Snow Park as he's 4 and too young to enter the Ski area. I didn't take any photos 'cos my fingers were pretty much frozen from all the ice n snow. Here's one place I won't bring any of my relatives, or even Ben, since we're too "Asian" to appreciate the cold. My Mom would say something like "qua ka kee kee choon" or "qua ka bar ki" ("cold till body quivers" or "cold till frozen").

Reef had a fun time on those tubee-donut thingies. We had to wait our turn n queue for the tubee, then travel up this flimsy escalator carrying the huge tubee to the slope. Then the Ski Dubai attendant would push Reef (seated in the tubee) down the slope as I ran down the steps to meet him. Then we'd queue again... We repeated this about ten times!

The "local" kids at the park are pretty nasty, ill-bred brats. I guess, just like they're parents, they are brought up with the notion that they have the "right of way" in everything. So there was a lot of queue-cutting, tubee-stealing, pushing... There was a bunch of "local" young ladies there, all dressed in black, doing the same too. Not malu, just cut other kids' in queue and hog the tubees. And the Ski Dubai attendants couldn't do anything about this 'cos they're "local". The 'men-in-white' n 'ladies-in-black' are like The Untouchables here man.

There wasn't much Reef could do in the Snow Park as some of the obstacle courses were too difficult for someone his size. We spent about 2 hours in there and met Merey n the rest outside afterwards. Mabel had a fall just as they were leaving the Ski park, and suffered a hairline fracture to her foot. So she had to be sent to Emirates Hospital by ambulance. Merey, Reef n I had dinner at Chili's next door while waiting for Mabel n Chi Lin to settle the hospital stuff. Reef was so tired that he fell asleep while eating a french fry. It was so cute!


Mabel has to go about in a wheelchair or with crutches, but she should be up and about the next time I meet them when they return in June. The next evening, they picked me up from home and we drove to Abu Dhabi. It's a pity we didn't get there earlier 'cos according to Chi Lin, the sea is so clear that you can see the underlying reefs during the day. We visited the Emirates Palace Hotel, and drove back to Dubai after having dinner at an Arabic restaurant there.

How a Taitai Passes Time without Mahjong n Gossip Kaki

Many of you are curious about how I manage to pass time at home every day, without a job or friends. As you know, Ben works from 9am till midnight or 1am on most days. His weekly roster is usually made up of 1 or 2 early shifts (8am – 5pm), 1 or 2 late shifts (3pm – 1 or 2 am) and mostly split shifts (9am – 3pm, 6pm – 1 or 2am).

They usually work throughout their split shift, although once in a while, Ben uses that 3-hour break to go for driving lessons, and if he’s really tired then he comes home for a short rest. Recently, he’s also used this short break to come home to work out in the gym. Ben gets about 6 days off a month – 1 day off this week, 2 days off the next week, and so forth.

So anyway, here’s what I do on most days while the husband’s at work…

On ‘good’ days, I wake up some time between noon – 1pm. Some lazy or down days, I’m up at noon but continue lazing and daydreaming in bed till 3 - 5pm! I usually sleep at around 3am, and often also stay up till around 6am. And once in a while, I stay up till morning if I have an ‘outdoor-jalan-jalan’ day planned, and just zombie around on "low-batt" till evening.

So I’m up at noon most days, have my first cuppa and later have ‘breakfast’ – usually toast loaded with cold slabs of margarine, sometimes a banana and Herbalife Formula 1 with orange juice, if I’m a really good girl. Sometimes I skip ‘breakfast’ and have a plate of Indomie for lunch. Indomie Pedas is the only edible instant noodles here, and it’s pretty good.


I do the laundry at least 3 times a week. Ya, it’s unbelievable how we have so much laundry to be washed when I’m in my pajamas all day and night most of the time. But Ben wears a clean pair of pants or jeans every day, and there’s his pajamas, shirts, socks, towels, etc too. The floor has to be swept every 2 days because it gets dusty and my hair falls a lot more in this dry weather.

It doesn’t help that if I stay in all day, it means I’m living in an air-conditioned environment 24 hours a day, with no chance of fresh air… Not that the air outside is what one can call “fresh” or clean. Then there’s mopping to be done once a week, and washing the balcony, about twice a month.

I hardly watch TV during the day ‘cos you get a 2-minute portion of Oprah, followed by a 5-minute ad interval, then 2 minutes of Oprah again, then more ads… Other than Oprah, daytime TV is made up of other talk shows like Dr Phil, Rachel Ray, and soaps like Fashion House and The Bold & The Beautiful. Towards evening you get more interesting stuff on TV like The Tyra Banks Show, Pimp My Ride, a very censored screening of Desperate Housewives (1st season)…and they've just started showing Newlyweds! Like Hallo? They broke up dudes!

Later into the night we get some rather decent movies. I’m guessing people in the Middle East sleep at around 2 or 3am ‘cos the local English TV channels show good movies only at around 11pm or midnight. They provided me with 4 hours of Harry Potter fun, but the marathon started at 11pm so I was up till about 3am. Then they showed the Matrix trilogy, one installation a week, at 11pm. But even then, I don’t watch much TV ‘cos there are only three English channels (movies & sitcoms) and BBC World, to choose from the eight hundred plus free-to-air local (regional) channels (all Arabic).

So most of the time, I’m glued to my computer. If I’m online, I’d be reading/sending mail, uploading pics onto my Flickr album, updating my blog, checking out favourite sites like Wild Singapore, the Wildfilms & Reefwalk blogs, and other Singapore sites like Channel News Asia, and food stuff for Ben. Sometimes I get curious about something, it could be anything, like say… molecular gastronomy. So I surf all day gathering info about it. I’m at a loss without the internet for my daily dose of info and my virtual connection with the rest of the world, beyond the walls of this empty apartment in this distant and grey land.

But of course, I still can survive without the internet at home… for about one week till I can’t tahan and fork out lots of money at an internet café! I still do lots of stuff on my laptop without having to surf. True to typical Virgo attributes, I can spend hours making lists, organising stuff, planning, sorting, updating calendars and address books, designing stuff, and being an anal perfectionist when it comes to all the above.

I record our daily/monthly expenditures and amend our monthly/annual budgets accordingly. Come up with new stuff for my blog to entertain the rest of u :) If I have new photos from a recent trip out to the beach or town, etc, I can spend the entire day or days, just sorting and touching up photos, saving them into three different file sizes for archiving, blogging or uploading/emailing.

Then there's the stuff I do for Ben. If I download any info from the Net for him, I've gotta resize and re-layout the whole document, whether it's just one page or a hundred page document ('cos Ben falls asleep if reading stuff with a point size of less than 12). So this is really leceh if it's a PDF file 'cos then I've gotta cut & paste the text into Word, and edit each of the pictures in Photoshop 'cos they can't be exported directly into Word from Acrobat Reader. And I'm really anal about layout and type, so I have to make sure each sentence is double spaced, make sure the leading and kerning is just right, etc.

I've also just started the initial layout, designs and pics for Ben's website (akan datang...), so I've gotta figure out my way around Dreamweaver again and keep abreast with the latest internet tools and gadgets...

Some days I’m reading and completing assignments for my Diploma in Montessori Education which I have yet to complete after 3 years! I can’t sit for my Final Exam in Singapore till I’ve submitted all my assignments two months before the exam date, and they only inform students of the exam date about one month before. So even if I submitted all my assignments and projects now, I wouldn’t know when the final exam is until a month before, giving me just a month to prepare for it and plan a trip back. My Montessori diploma is turning out to be like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow - something I look forward to attaining, but......

My parents are of course worried that I’ll waste it, just like how I got my Higher Diploma in Mass Communications but didn’t pursue a Degree after that or put it to good use. But I really do make full use of what I learnt every single day. I learned a great deal more about the world, society, culture, the media, government, etc and have honed my writing and analytical skills since graduating. This in turn has helped me a lot in my Montessori course ‘cos the readings and assignments are really ‘chim’ man, and it being a self-study course, I wouldn’t have been able to cope if I didn’t have my Mass Comm background.

So don’t worry, I’ll get my Montessori diploma (one day) and even if I don’t end up teaching, I’ll know a heck of a lot about child development & child psychology. So future kids in my family may be able to save on kindergarten fees... Or they’ll just be very afraid of psycho-anal-aunt Bernie.

BEN OR BERNIE’S RELATIVES OR FRIENDS
Let’s go to Uncle Ben’s & Aunty Bernie’s house for the holidays.

SFX: DARTH VADER’S ENTRANCE MARCH

KIDS
No-o-o-o-O-O-o-O!!!

Anyway, back to my taitai life. Once in a while, if I pick up a book and it’s good, I’ll be hooked on it for the next 2 or 3 days till it’s done. Sometimes if I’m really bored then I’ll pick up my crossword puzzle book and work on puzzles for a while… till I get bored again. About once a month, I meet Jana for coffee at a nearby mall. Jana lives in Gardens too, with Manfred, Ben’s colleague.

Once a month I usually look for a new place in Dubai to explore on my own too, so this gives me the opportunity to take more photos and come up with more interesting blog entries instead of what I do on a daily basis. Now that we have a gym on the 6th floor, I follow Ben to the gym once in a blue moon (he goes more often of course), but I spend not more than an hour in there.


By evening/night or the time I get hungry, I’ll cook dinner. Sometimes just something instant like noodles or porridge, and if I’m preparing it for Ben too, then something more elaborate like rice with dishes or one-dish meals like pasta, curry, stew or “deconstructed Sheperd’s Pie” (sautéed minced beef, peas, mashed potatoes & gravy, minus the hassle of actually baking the darn thing).


I’m not an expert in the kitchen like Ben or my Mom, so sometimes I take several hours or even half a day to prepare and cook a proper meal! Thanks to ready-made sauces from my Mom and Brahim’s, I don’t have to spend an entire day cooking, unless I’m attempting to make something complicated from scratch. If I’m in the mood, I bake cookies or brownies for Ben.


When drystores and fresh produce are running low, I head out to the mall to buy groceries (Ibn Battuta Mall is a 15-min brisk walk away, and the Geant Hypermarket another 15-min walk away at the far end of this huge mall). So sometimes I have dinner at the foodcourt in the mall, since I no longer cook supper for Ben n myself ‘cos we’re getting a little too chubby.


The hypermarkets in Dubai (Geant & Carrefour) are so huge, and with nowhere to rush to, I can spend up 3 to 4 hours just supermarket shopping.

Now you know how Ben developed such a sweet tooth since coming here. Supermarkets are stocked with chocolates, sweets, snacks and everything else, from all over the world.

Apart from groceries and household stuff, I hardly shop (for clothes, shoes, accessories, the usual ‘girlie’ things). But if I’m feeling particularly down, I conveniently forget it’s Ben’s money I’m spending and go ahead and spoil myself a little. Like recently, I spent 55 Dirhams on a book, The Green Guide to the Emirates, to help keep me sane because we didn’t have internet and TV in our new home yet.

When Ben’s off the next day, I usually call the DVD shop (back at Courtyard near Ewan) or take the shuttle bus to Ewan, and borrow 2 or 3 DVDs. On his days off, we either stay in watching TV and DVDs ‘cos there’s really nowhere to go in Dubai. Movies at the cinema are ridiculously expensive, not to mention outdated. But Ben enjoys window-shopping, so quite often we have to go to Mall of the Emirates or Ibn Battuta Mall for him to stretch his legs and ‘cuci mata’.

I’ve always been quite a hermit, opting to stay at home doing “my own stuff” rather than go out, unless it’s to a nature spot. There’s a Bird & Wildlife Sanctuary at the Dubai Creek/mangrove, but it’s not open to the public and you have to get special permission from authorities to visit. Then there are the beaches that are partially man-made on reclaimed land. So I’m quite starved for forests and bugs and rocky shores and slugs and such. When I go shopping or window-shopping, if ever, I usually like to go alone.

I’m not anti-social but I am a loner. Not narcissistic but enjoy spending time by myself, doing “my own stuff”. I don’t ‘party’, don’t drink, and got used to missing nights out at the mamak with friends when I lived in Singapore. So adapting to a quiet life here isn’t that difficult for someone like me as compared to your regular, city girl.

Then again, a ‘city girl’ might really like it here, what with all the big brands at the malls, the nightlife, and rather happening dating scene (Guys chat you up all the time - on the bus, at the mall, at nightspots, by the beach…). Conversations always begin with a stranger saying “ in a very gatal way and asking, "So you work here?" --- “Oh I don’t work. My husband works at the Burj Al Arab.” --- "Oh…" --- Silence. Most effective ‘lecher repellent’ so far.

So that’s about it lah. By the 3rd month I was here in Dubai, I did get really bored and depressed, what with no buddies, horrible housemates and the inefficient, incompetent service standards here. I even told Ben that if I didn’t get a decent job by early 2007, I’d move back to Singapore for good in May, ‘cos I was really unhappy here. Then we got the internet set up at home in November and I’ve been alright since!

Little red dot among the white

Funny how it is when you watch movies like The Last of the Mohicans, or The Mission, you think this kinda stuff only happened back then, or happens only in the furthest and most remote part of the Amazon or whatever. You know, like, white man come, take everything. Or even in movies like Braveheart or 300, where a bigger or more developed nation tries to conquer a smaller one. You know, like, they can take our lives, but they can never take away, our FREEDOM...

This kinda shit still happens now man. Right before our eyes. I guess that's why movies like these, of legends or folklore, are still so relevant today. Call it what you want - the representation of masculinity re-presented, hegemony at its sneakiest, or simply, escapism for the man of today (and perhaps a little voyeurism for us girls!).

We watched 300 at the cinema again last week. Guess it's one of the only movies we'd be willing to pay 30 Dirhams to go watch.

If Ben's life in Dubai was a movie, he'd be the victim, left to fend for himself among all the angmoh aggressors. Poor dude from the tiny island country in the Far East has no chance against this army of white dudes sitting high up on their pedestals. So we always root for the underdog right? I would of course... he's my husband.

Many find it extremely difficult to accept that a 28-year old "Asian" is a Sous Chef at such a fine establishment. Especially the mat sallehs. Ben has a mat salleh colleague who's terribly threatened by Ben's presence, and goes beyond what can be deemed "healthy competition" to get ahead. He takes credit for Ben's work all the time. I told my parents once that Ben cooked for Michael Schumacher, Tiger Woods, Laurence Fishburne, etc. They asked me excitedly, so did he get to meet them? Well, if you have someone famous dining in your restaurant, would you get the coloured guy to go out and speak to them, or one of your own white guys?

VIPs and special guests have the liberty of requesting a special menu instead of ordering from the ala carte menu. So it usually has to be something that really wows them. This gives the Chef de Cuisine and Sous Chefs a chance to get creative. The boys in the kitchen are all too familiar with what happens when a special VIP menu is requested. When I say "boys", I mean the junior chefs and cooks. One of them says to Ben, "What's new? You - work, work, work, plan special menu, do special menu... Then white guy goes out, nods his head and says, Yes thank you, I did it."

On one occasion when Ben planned this really 'power' menu for some VIPs, the CDC insisted that Ben must go out and meet them before the meal was over. After the CDC left, and while Ben was busy with other orders, etc, guess who went out to take credit for Ben's work, as usual. Yup, there he was, the "green-eyed gwailo", nodding his head, Yes thank you, yes thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed the meal...

One of the boys now calls "green eyes" by another name, "Tekele". He told Ben of the legend of King Tekele from Sri Lanka. King Tekele would walk about his country, see a statue or sculpture that he liked, and ask who the sculptor was. The sculptor would then be thrown in jail, his name erased from his creation, replaced with Tekele's name. So now, Sri Lankan boy constantly warns Ben, "Don't let Tekele see this" or "Don't let Tekele learn how you created that".

After a rather lengthy discussion with me (Ben would call it a "lecture"), Ben has been a bit more assertive when it's time to meet guests or take credit for his work. Of course it doesn't help that the restaurant managers are angmoh and racist too. So they usually just go straight to the angmoh chef and tell him that the customers wanna meet the Chef. But Ben has had more opportunities to meet guests recently, which makes Tekele feel even more threatened.

Guests are usually surprised when they meet Ben. Oh, you're so young! Where are you from? Etc etc. But at least at the end of each conversation, they would usually say something like, "I'll remember this. I'll remember the young chef from Singapore who cooked this amazing meal for us".

Perhaps this is what happens to all underdogs. They don't go to war with victory as their goal, but because it's the right thing to do. They don't always win the battle, but will always be remembered for what they stand for.

Day at the Beach

Missing seaweed, sea slugs and natural beaches, I decided to walk the entire stretch of Jumeirah Beach (from Jumeirah Beach Hotel to Mercato Mall) one day. It didn't occur to me that it was a Friday till I reached the beach and noticed the chaos there.

The stretch of beach next to Jumeirah Beach Hotel was packed with people. Young and old, Caucasian, Indian, Pakistani, Middle Eastern… There were kids picking seashells and building sandcastles...

Half naked men and bikini clad women soaking up the sun, and two men playing cricket, not bothered about the fact that the tennis ball they were batting might hit a child or passerby.

Then there were hunky surfer dudes, either riding the waves or checking out girls.

White sails dotted the horizon, with the Dubai Offshore Sailing Club not too far from this beach.

I walked to the far end of this beach and found nothing. There was nothing on the shore that was alive (except for the humans of course) – only scattered seashells plus a few seagulls soaring above.

The beach is divided by a marina, cordoned off by a rock wall and barbed wire. The rich and elite of Dubai were enjoying the ‘weekend’ too, taking their boats and yachts out for a ‘swim’.

The next stretch of beach I came across was deserted, as it was not as artificially flat and white as the one before.

However, I still did not spot anything here except for vacant shells and broken bits of coral.

After a while, an Indian couple came by, and to my wonder, performed some sort of Hindu ritual right before my eyes. The lady removed a large, wooden statue of a reclining Ganesha from a bag, placed it in the sand, and walked around it three times. Then she scattered the few flowers she was holding in her hands over the statue. The man with her then picked the statue up and threw it into the sea.

The waves of course washed the statue back ashore, so the man threw the statue back again, a few times, without luck. Finally, the couple climbed the rock bund at the end of the beach and threw Ganesha into the open sea.

After the couple left, an Arab couple arrived, choosing this more secluded beach to set up their ‘payung’ and do a bit of sunbathing.

This stretch of beach also ended with a man-made rock wall, separating it from another marina. So I continued, till I came to the next beach, and the next, and the next, till the sun set and my legs could not take me any further.


My finds for the day…

Sand collar of a moon snail

Sand Star (dead)

Limpet?

Cuttlefish "skeleton"

The beaches are so ‘clean’ that you don’t even see seaweed, so spotting an occasional sliver of algae became some sort of “Desperate Search For Weed”.

Sargassum sp.

Next ‘discovery beach walk’ - the other stretch of beach, from Umm Suqeim to Jebel Ali. I hope to find more there, as there used to be a marine sanctuary at the far tip of Jebel Ali (closer to Abu Dhabi). The Palm Jebel Ali is being developed at this same location (taking over the marine SANCTUARY itself), so this means more walls, barbed wire, tighter security, a lot of sedimentation and maybe even devastation of marine life.