UAE ID Pre-Registration Form Software

OK, here are screen shots of the UAE Id Pre-Registration Application, for those who aren't sure what needs to be filled, cos there are a few bits here n there that are quite mind-boggling. Click each picture to view larger image.

1: Personal Data, Nationality & Passport Data, Characteristics

Note: First Name & Middle Name are compulsory fields. For those with Chinese names like me, what I did was fill in my first name as per normal, then my Chinese name in the "Middle Name" field, and my surname in the "Family Name" field. Hope it works. If you have a typical Chinese name, eg. Tan Ah Beng, I guess just put "Tan" as your first name, and "Ah Beng" as your middle name.

2: Birth Data, Residency Data

Note: Residency Permit File Number is the 7-digits printed on the UAE Visa page in your passport. It's in a string of numbers, eg. 123/4567/XXXXXXX. Don't fill in the whole string of numbers with the slashes. Just the last 7 digits.

3: Addresses

Note: Better know the exact location... Cos they're trying to organize it according to "sectors", so Burj Al Arab, JBH & Madinat are located in Umm Suqeim 3. I had to select this for myself cos I don't know the proper sector for The Gardens.

4: Delivery Address

Note: By "Collector", they mean "Recipient". So if you want the ID Card sent to someone's workplace once it's ready, you have to fill in the Recipient's name & number. Again, I can't be sure if they'll really deliver it to my home, which is different from the Main Address that I filled in the earlier page, cos I don't have a P.O. Box for my home. So I put Ben as my recipient, and hopefully they'll deliver the card to him at the hotel.

5: Language, Occupation Data

Note: Mandarin is not in the list. Only "Chinese" or "Malay", for us Malaysians/Singaporeans.

6: Qualification Information

Note: Your School/Institution/University name can't be too long. It doesn't state maximum characters allowed, and I didn't bother to count, but just keep it short.

After you click Save & Print, you'll be allowed to select where you want to save the form as a PDF file. Then you can print it from a laser printer, or send the PDF to a friend to print.

Good luck!

Eida ai-dee

Here's a quick update about the UAE ID Card 'situation'. It's such a mess and there've been so many complaints about the whole registration process that they've come up with a few desperate measures.

EIDA's website still crashes or hangs when anyone tries to access the page for the online application form. And I think I may have wasted my Dhs.40 for the darn "special" envelope that I purchased from Empost. Cos I really don't know when they might mail me the "proper" form. Insya-Allah... next week? Next month? Next year?

Now, several organisations have chipped in, and provide a link for people to download a "special" software. I've tried it and it's quite a good idea actually. You simply download the zipped file, extract, install the application named "pre-registration". Click here to download the file.

Open the "pre-registration" program, fill in your details, and click Save & Print. What the software does is gather all your info, and save it as a PDF file on the "proper" bar-coded form. This works well, cos at least, if you don't have a laser printer, you can send this PDF file to someone who does, who can then print it out for you on a LASER printer as instructed.

Note that this only eases the PRE-registration process. Now you have to go down to your nearest EIDA office and queue, queue, queue. Most people who've survived this drama spent about 4-5 hours at EIDA, waiting, queuing, waiting some more... Some wait almost 6 hours, only to be told that they've exceeded their "quota" for the day and to come back another day... to queue and wait all over again. You've have to be like that torchlight in the old Eveready battery ad - dan lagi, dan lagi, dan lagi...

Some wait outside the office from as early as 4am, just to get in line. But if you know Dubai, then you also know that "waiting in line" means rushing to a counter like lemmings to the cliff's edge. Yup, NO LINE. No order. No system. Everyone just rushes and crowds the counter, pushing, shoving and shouting to get the "one guy"'s attention.

Actually, they have a system. It just doesn't work.

I've been reading all sorts of horror stories from 'survivors' and am really dreading my Date with Eida. But I think I might just forget about waiting for Empost and just use this "software", print the bar-coded form, and get to an EIDA office asap. Cos who knows when Empost will mail the "proper" form to me, or maybe they might send me an SMS weeks later to say that they found an error on my form after "scrutinizing" it for one month. Makes me think of a certain racist joke about a fella staring at a bottle of Tang Orange cos it said "Full Concentrate".

Oh, and the 31st Dec deadline? Now they say that the Dhs.1,000 fine wont be imposed on professional expats who don't meet the deadline, and get this, they also won't freeze your bank accounts as previously threathened! And professional expats can still register for the card after the 31st Dec deadline. But they also say, this does not mean that the deadline has been extended. Once again, WHUUUUDD?

Ok, let me see. The deadline of 31st December still stays, but you can still register after the deadline. So, what's the deadline for? I think they're just trying to weird us out. Like that kid in The Matrix who bends the spoon but says it's not the spoon that bends but you. There is no spoon.

Here's a funny thing about the pre-registration software-form-thingie though. In the name field, First Name and Middle Name is compulsory, whereas Family Name is optional. And get this, there's also a field for Famous Name. Seriously, seriously! Oooh... so many choices! I've narrowed it down to The One&Only, or Bernie The Brave. Now I'm gonna spend the rest of the day scrutinizing these two Famous names, and the tribal council will meet tonight to vote out the weaker of the two.

Drama in Karama - Part One

The “authorities” in the UAE have implemented a new identification system for all UAE citizens and residents – a national ID Card, with built-in “smart” features that will eventually replace the need to carry multiple cards like driving licences, passports, employee cards, etc.

This “project” actually started a few years back, carried out on civil servants and professionals in the government sector as initial lab rats. Then some time earlier this year, I read an article somewhere that all UAE nationals were given a deadline in mid-2008 to register and have their ID Cards made, and that after this, the same exercise would be carried out for all residents including expats in the country.

I remember mentioning this to Ben, and he said we needn’t worry cos his company’s HR dept would surely alert or advise him about it if our turn came. However, they didn’t, and about a week ago, a colleague of Ben’s received an email from his brother working in a different company. This other company, along with most other companies in the UAE, have been busy registering their staff for the ID Cards, or at least advising them how to go about registering for the card on their own.

Things hardly ever get done here in Dubai and the UAE. It either takes forever, or you just give up trying to get people to GET-IT-DONE. We don’t mind getting things done ourselves, but not everything can be a DIY affair.

I self-medicate so that I don’t have to see a doctor. I look for fix-it tips for almost anything from the Internet so that I can reduce the need for technicians or what-nots. Thanks to Kemahiran Hidup lessons and armed with handyman tools, I can get most of the basic electrical, plumbing and other "handyman" stuff done around the apartment without calling the guys from Maintenance. Anyway, whenever you call someone to get a lightbulb changed in Dubai, at least 3 guys arrive (the most I've seen is 5). One to the hold ladder, one to climb up the ladder, one to retrieve the new light bulb from its packaging, one to flick the switch on or off, and sometimes one guy to oversee the whole thing.

Anyway, I can’t “do” banking without the bank itself right? I can’t book a flight ticket without an airline. If some other party is needed to get something done, be it a technician, sales rep, customer service officer, government official or whatever, you just kena WAIT LONG LONG.

So Ben’s company still seems to be going with the usual lackadaisical flow of things, while the rest of Dubai is in gabra-zebra mode. The unusual burst of activity and sense of urgency was caused by the announcement that all residents/expats have to register for their UAE ID Cards by 31 December 2008. Ben called me from work last week, telling me to read the email that his colleague forwarded to him, and to GET-IT-DONE.

There was a link to the website of the “authority” on this matter, the Emirates Identity Authority (EIDA). I read that the December deadline was for all “professional expats” in the private sector, holding a University degree, residing in the UAE. So I call Ben and say, “I’m a housewife, not a PROFESSIONAL EXPAT”.

Ben says, “Just GET-IT-DONE anyway. Or call the Singapore or Malaysia Consulate and ask them”. I tell him that the Consulates here don’t bother about anything but Deeparaya parties or outdoor activities, and they never bothered to email and advise us on this matter, so what would THEY know.

So fine. When Ben’s adamant about getting things done, I can’t say otherwise. So yesterday, I took the early morning Jumeirah staff shuttle bus to the Central Post Office in Karama. How did I manage to catch a bus at 8.30am? I didn’t sleep and stayed up from the day before of course.

Why the Post Office? Well, you could print out the registration form from EIDA’s website, EXCEPT THAT THE LINK IS NOT WORKING and hangs/crashes. And anyway, they insist that the form has to be printed from a LASER printer only so that a barcode can be printed clearly on it. If you visit an EIDA office (only 2 or 3 in Dubai) to get the form, you still have to go to a Typing Office and pay 40 Dirhams to get it typed for you the way they want it.


So Empost (Emirates Post) sells a "special" envelope with a PRE-registration form for 40 Dirhams. You just need to fill it, return it to Empost with a copy of your passport & residence visa, and they will “scrutinize” the form for any errors.

But get this, they’ll call or SMS you if there are any errors. That means, you’d have to go back and GET-IT-DONE all over again? Why can’t they just bloody “scrutinize” the darn thing when you submit it? Anyway, if everything goes well, Empost will get the PROPER form barcoded for you and mail it back to your PO Box along with an appointment date with EIDA. When? How long? I dunno.

At the Central Post Office, like all counters in government offices in Dubai or Malaysia, there are about 20 counters but just TWO open. Only ONE counter caters to people who want to buy the Pre-Registration Form/Envelopes, and there’s a haphazard queue of about 25 people waiting here (Notice how people have to queue around and between the rows of chairs). I stand in line, and less than a minute later, there are already another 10 people queuing up behind me.


The idiotic thing about this whole affair is that I don’t even know if I need to register for this. All I want is to ask them first, if JOBLESS HOUSEWIVES are considered “PROFESSIONAL EXPATS WORKING IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR”. Cos you never know eh, some say to-may-to, some say to-mah-to.

Suddenly this wise-ass male clerk stands at the next counter, saying “LADIES ONLY. HERE. Ladies’ queue.” So the few ladies in the queue move to this NEW row. I’m happy cos I’ve jumped from #26 in the queue to #2 in this Ladies’ Queue.

There’s this Caucasian lady who doesn’t want to give up her #5 spot at the original queue, but the clerk insists “Ladies HERE!” so she reluctantly moves over. Ladies’ Queues/Counters are usually served by ladies lah. But then, the dumb-ass lady clerk pushes her trolley of forms to the next, next counter, and calls out “Minimum 25, 50, 100 form only”.

They really are so BLOODY LAZY here. The lady clerk was supposed to serve the Ladies’ Queue, but instead decided she’d rather sell the forms in batches of 25, because they already came grouped in batches of 25 and she didn’t want to waste that little bit of energy removing the paper band around a batch of 25 envelopes, neither did she want to use her brain to calculate how much to charge if someone wanted 3 forms or 12 forms.

Selling 25 at a go was easy. Just collect 1,000 Dirhams and give the customer the whole pack of 25 envelopes. NO NEED TO COUNT! NO NEED TO LIFT AN EXTRA FINGER! NO NEED TO USE BRAIN!!

There are of course office clerks or HR people who are here to buy a bulk of forms, so about 10 men migrate from the original queue to this other new one. Meanwhile, the male wise-ass clerk still stands at the “ladies’ counter”, but he makes sure he stands about 2-feet away from it to prove that he isn’t manning it. I have to shout out my query about “housewives” to him. He doesn’t have any idea what I’m saying, and instructs me to move over to the next, next counter, to ask the dumb-ass lady clerk.

I ask her if I need to register cos I’m a housewife and I don’t work. She looks at me blankly and says, “How many form you want? Here only minimum 25 form.”

Okay, so maybe some say to-may-to and some say baba-ganoush. Like, WHUUUUUDD?

I think, what the heck, I’ll just register anyway. “I want ONE form”.

Again she says, “Here minimum 25 form. 1,000 Dirham”. I retreat back to the so-called Ladies’ Queue. But wise-ass male clerk isn’t serving anyone. Suddenly they all realize they don’t want a Ladies’ Queue, and ask all of us to go back to the original queue, which has now doubled in length.

The Caucasian lady who must have been queuing since they opened at 8am is fuming now. She starts yelling at the clerks in English AND Arabic. They point out that if you want 25, 50 or 100 forms, you queue at the counter with dumb-ass female clerk. If not, you re-queue at the original queue. This angers her even more and she shouts, “Wahid! Wahid! One by ONE! Not 25!!”

Somewhere in my head a Cerekarama-like voice-over plays:
Drama minggu ini! Detik-detik penuh semangat, penuh aksi! Sungguh dramatik!

The rest of us ladies are reluctant to re-queue too and still stay at this 'limbo' counter, caught between the original counter and the “minimum-25” counter. A few of us decide to try and 'make 25' by pooling how many forms we want. Two ladies wanted 8 forms, another two wanted 4, and then there was me, ONE HOUSEWIFE who’s supposedly considered a PROFESSIONAL WORKING EXPAT in Land-of-the-Lazy. So we get our batch of 25 and divide it accordingly. Yay.


Now time to fill up the form and join ANOTHER queue, to return the form, get a postal slip and wait for the PROPER form to arrive in the mail with a date to visit the EIDA office that promises more queues, more idiots, more drama. Oh, joy. And so now I wait, for Part 2.

It's Over!

Water running from the COLD tap is hot, but not scald-yourself-pink-and-silly-scorching hot. So it's official. Summer's finally over in Dubai!

When The Smog Is Going Down

Aiya... haze, haze, haze. Haze in KL, haze in Singapore, and most of all, haze in Dubai almost everyday throughout the whole bloody year.

On most days it's just blah and grey. But sometimes, it gets so bad that the dense dust particles in the air block out most of the light from the sun, leaving the whole world looking yellow.

THE WHOLE WORLD ISN'T SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE IT'S GOT JAUNDICE!!

Give me back my blue skies and clean air, please...

Rambu Tan and Botak Chin

In the 70s, Malaysia had its very own "guwazhai", a notorious gangster named Botak Chin. Some considered him the Robin Hood of Malaysia, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, but most describe him as a cold-blooded killer who took the law into his own hands.

My old Sejarah Malaysia textbooks told his story using words like penjenayah ganas dan kejam (vicious and evil criminal) and kongsi gelap (secret society).

When he was 15, he joined the kongsi gelap Gang 360 (or 306?), and later formed a gang of his own. After years of the usual "guwazhai" robberies, inter-gang rivalries and killings, arms-dealing and other kegiatan haram (illegal activities), Botak Chin was caught in 1976, and sentenced to death by hanging in 1981.

He's like Malaysia's original gangstah, and quite a household name lah. Since my surname is Chin, my two brothers have been called Botak Chin whenever they sported a crew cut when they were boys. My older brother takes on the Botak Chin tag quite seriously now with his bald pate.

So it's not surprising that the other Chin of the three siblings has also decided to go botak.


I've always liked my hair ultra short. It's either that or really straight and super long (rocker style!) which is not achievable for someone as impatient as me. Although I made up my mind to get my hair cut really, really short, I felt Ben might not be able to handle the sudden change, so I opted for a short but not too short style first.

I went to a hair salon at the nearby mall one afternoon. While sitting at the waiting area, I noticed that the salon also offered other 'beauty' services like waxing, and made a note to set an appointment for a bikini wax later. (A "Brazilian" here is just called a "full bikini").

A "shampoo girl" led me into the salon and washed my hair with REALLY hot water. She then placed a tiny hand towel on my head as water dripped down all over my face and neck while I stood in a corner waiting for a rather angry Lebanese stylist to receive me.

She was really clumsy and unprofessional, and kept dropping stuff - the hairbrush, the comb, the hairdryer, the hairbrush again, the hairclip, the hairclip, the bloody hairclip...

After she cut my hair, she asked, "Blow dry, or just blow?" Here, "blow dry" costs you an extra 20-30 Dirhams, and "just blow" is free of charge. During the "just blow" she held the hairbrush in one hand, the hairdryer in the other. Sometimes she had to free one hand to use the hairclip, so she'd clasp the hairdryer between her legs at her crotch! Seriously! Seriously... Like this:


Here's how my hair looked after she performed a "just blow":

Imagine how BIG my hair could be if I actually asked for a "blow dry"!

I'm definitely not going back to this salon for a haircut again, and of course, a bikini wax here would be absolute coochie suicide!

I had to bear with my 0biang-retro hairdo for four days till I went to a better hair salon to get it sheared. The stylist here is a Middle Eastern guy, probably Lebanese, and he asked about Ben, "That guy is your husband?" He knows you're getting your hair cut THIS SHORT?" I guess he was quite taken aback cos the Arab ladies here really love their tresses and big flying saucer fringes, and of course the men really love their ladies with flowing tresses (not so much the flying saucers).


Khalas! Although Ben now calls me "rambutan", I'm really happy and pleased with my new haircut. It's spunky-gangsta-chic!

Eating our way through May

It's been a month of nothing but makan, makan, makan... As we celebrated our 2nd Anniversary in early May, Ben n I planned to splurge on a nice (iow, expensive) dinner and decided to dine at a place that serves "ultra modern" cuisine here in Dubai.

I suppose it won't be proper to be too critical about the food and I won't even mention the name of the restaurant or the dishes as it was sort of recommended by an acquaintance (and I guess there's some sort of unwritten rule between chefs not to criticise each other... much). I'll just show u pics of some of the courses we had and highlight a couple of things.


For instance, the restaurant manager who served us. He's a really friendly chap even though he speaks with a rather odd angmoh accent (for an Asian dude). He had quite a lot of talking to do too since almost every course came with detailed instructions. --- "First, pop the sphere... mix it... go for it" --- "You have to put the whole thing in... alright, cheers... go for it!" --- "Combine the flavours... Combine the textures... Go for it..."


We were mis-informed beforehand that dinner was the 9-course tasting menu cos the Chef served us a special, new 18-course menu. Yup, EIGHTEEN. There were so many courses that we didn't even know which was the main course, or if there was a main course at all since everything came in minute tasting portions.

One dish featured skate and I just learned that skate is the very atas name for stingray lah. And this piece of pari was TINY. Seriously! It was 2cm x 1cm x 0.75cm.


There were a couple of courses that stood out from the rest, but halfway through the meal, I felt pretty jelak and the only thing I could think of and wish for was an indecently huge slab of MEAT. A yummy, juicy, meaty steak.


I guess I'm really not the sort of person you can bring to a fine dining establishment. This has been proven a couple of times already. Once, when we had lunch at Les Amis and one of the rubber soles of my cheapo mary-janes came off in the restaurant. And a few days later, we celebrated Valentine's Day at Saint Julien n I felt very sick halfway through dinner from just half a glass of champagne.

So back to this dinner. One of the four different desserts we were served was this blackforest globe-thingie. Like the other globe-thingie (the red one pictured earlier), we were advised to "give it a light tap with the back of your spoon" to break it. And like its red predecessor, it needed A LOT MORE than just a tap.


So I tapped it... harder... and harder... no luck. I exclaimed to Ben, "Sounds like tennis ball!" Ben, who was trying another dessert, started choking and got into a laughing fit that took quite a while to pass. We were both giggling so much we had cramps, and tears in our eyes.

Overall, it was an enjoyable experience and even though we were stuffed by the end of the meal, I still craved a good steak. Since our anniversary falls on two consecutive days (officially registered at ROM on the 8th and properly married in Church on the 9th), we justified to ourselves that it would be fine to have our anniversary dinner two nights in a row.

So the next night, we had MEAT! Yeah... go for it!

We invited Seri (Ben's colleague) to join us for a hearty meal at La Parilla, the Argentinian restaurant in Jumeirah Beach Hotel. They're best known for their larger-than-life chunks of Angus beef - 500 gram portions to be precise. The restaurant manager is an extremely cheerful and very animated (and loud) lady named Margarita. She's really super, and it was really amusing each time she spoke, laughed or smiled. She practically grins from ear-to-ear with a beam that would probably outshine Eddie Murphy's!

I liked when she described the beef like it was the best thing in the world, like, "Ooh... ahh... Where I come from, we only eat BIG meat! Just roast the WHOLE COW... Oh... I LOVE MY MEAT!!"

So I decided to "go for it" and ordered the 500g tenderloin. Not wanting to feel left out, Ben ordered a 500g ribeye. That's ONE KILO of beef between the 2 of us! It definitely satisfied my craving!

Seri, who by now has made up her mind that we're absolute gluttons, ordered the more timid duck breast. Halfway through our steaks, I suddenly craved for an icy cold Coke and when I got it, I practically did a "slurp-and-ahh" thing cos it cleansed my palate way better than any wine or water could. Then I passed my glass to Ben and he did a "slurp-ahh" too and it felt so good that he passed the glass to Seri, insisting she had some too. So she had a sip, and even obliged us with a really cute n polite "ahh"! She probably didn't want to be the odd one out, what with us two going "WAH, SHIOK!" and all.

Besides unhealthy stuff like soft drinks and junk food, Ben n I also love the caramel popcorn and nachos with cheese that are sold at cinemas here. They're very, very generous with the cheese - a rich, golden yellow, creamy cheddar. Sometimes we see a long queue for the freshly made crepes, so recently, we decided to try the turkey ham, mushroom n cheese crepe, and now we're hooked!


We love it so much that sometimes we go to the cinema just to "ta pau" it. The popcorn + snacks counter is beyond the cinema entrance (past security), so it's not normal for people to enter just to buy food. But sometimes we get permission to pop in just to takeaway the caramel popcorn and have our own movie marathon at home.

One time when I bought some popcorn and a crepe for takeaway, the Arab couple queuing behind me were baffled. The lady said to her guy in utter bewilderment (and a very pekat angmoh accent), "Why's she taking it AWAY???" Ben n I are still wondering if it's really that weird to take-out popcorn from a cinema or if there are other people out there who do it too. Anyone?


In mid May, we had Friday Brunch at Spectrum On One, in The Fairmont. Friday Brunch here is like your Sunday Champagne Brunch back in Singapore. Ya, even with champagne and all. It was a bad start for our first Friday brunching experience in Dubai cos first of all, they messed up our booking and did not have a table for us. We waited at least 15 minutes till they managed to clear a small table for us. Brunch costs AED450/person (about S$200) that includes free flow of champagne, organic wine and cocktails whether you want it or not.

The restaurant was packed. Unfortunately, we found out soon enough that the attraction here was definitely the free flow of booze, not the all-you-can-eat below-par food.

Sashimi was fresh enough, but like everything else at the Japanese section, nothing worth writing home about. I wanted some miso soup but it was displayed in a very shallow dish, not a deep bowl or pot. It was utterly idiotic to expect anyone to get any soup using the soup ladle. It would be like trying to scoop soup with a spoon served on a flat plate. Totally dumbass.

BL: Yorkshire Pudding. BR: Seaweed no longer seems that edible now that I've seen how it thrives on our precious but mucky shores in Singapore.

The seafood section served fresh oysters and cooked prawns, crayfish and Alaskan crab. There were also a few disgusting trays of cold, cooked seafood soaking in a pool of diluted ice. A waitress insisted on standing right in front of the oysters to promote alcoholic shooters that were so deeply coloured they looked like little shots of poison. She just stood there, practically denying me access to the oysters as she tried to push me some poison. I told her I wanted oysters, and she gave me TWO. Bloody hell.

The Chinese/Thai section shouldn't even deserve a mention here, but I shall since I had a small bite each from 3 very disgusting dimsum parcels - prawn, chicken, and vege. The vege one wasn't even real veggie. They filled the blinking thing with chives! We didn't try anything from the Indian section, and Ben had some roast beef with Yorkshire pudding from the Western side.


It is said that the brunch here boasts the best and widest array of desserts, and they also have a Cheese Room, much to Ben's delight. However, towards the end of brunch, we were terribly disappointed. The desserts were probably on display from 10 that morning, so pastries were soggy and the colder desserts were 'sweating'. We only enjoyed the tiramisu and creme caramel.


We started our meal at around 1.30pm and by 3pm, the crowd had dwindled, leaving behind only the alcoholics who were by now pretty pissed, and getting rowdier by the minute. The once enticing spread of cheeses had also vanished with the more sober guests, much to Ben's dismay. Most of the cheese boards were only left with the rind of what might have been a nice end to a terrible meal.

Brunch ends at 4pm but they stopped replenishing any of the food at around 2.30pm. Around this time, chefs could be seen gathering in little clicques far from the counters, chatting and ignoring most guests. Ben noticed how they would attend only to lady guests. Yes, there's a rather crude Hokkien term to use here that contains the letters C---H---.

TL: The Giant Broccoli was decoration. TR: a very foul n soggy coconut macaroon.

Anyway, the next day we met Mabel and Chee Lin for lunch. Dashidai, a dimsum restaurant here had just opened a new branch in Jumeirah Beach Residence, about 10 minutes drive from where we live. Mabel n Chee Lin have raved about Dashidai before, and luckily, the food here is quite good. Actually, just comparable to mid-range dimsum in Malaysia or Singapore, but very good for Dubai standards.

We tried the highly recommended Claypot Braised Beef and (chicken) Char Siew Pau which Ben thoroughly enjoyed. Unfortunately, I had a bowl of chicken with century egg porridge that was terribly bland, almost bordering on tasteless. The next weekend, we went back for more charsiew pau!

Last week Ben told me he had about a week of lieu days that he had to clear from work and asked me to plan a short getaway. He specified "not anywhere in the Middle East" cos then it wouldn't feel like getting-away. With the Pound n Euro sky high, it was difficult to plan a trip to Europe without breaking the bank. I finally decided on Ireland but later we discussed and figured it wouldn't be much of a holiday either cos we'd have to cram so much within 4-5 days.

Then... I suggested something else to Ben... His face lit up immediately n just from his expression u could tell there were a million thoughts n feelings rushing n buzzing about in his mind at that very instant. He was so excited about it that he even cut his finger real bad while daydreaming at work the next day. And he says we should go in September to celebrate my birthday... That's my husband's sneaky way of taking the guilt of himself cos the whole idea of it already seems so lavish.

So the magic words? All I did was suggest, "How bout we travel to London n stay in Bray for just a few days, just to dine at The Fat Duck, and then fly back?" Heck, why not... Go For It!


So it seems we're not only eating our way through May, but are eating our way to Bray. :p

The toys come out to play

Back when I often stayed up from night till morning, then slept during the day, I went to the mall thinking I'd "start" my day early one morning. However, I was a little TOO early, and none of the shops were open yet, although the mall was already lit. It was really weird, walking around the empty mall, its large halls echoing the sound of my footsteps and the occasional cleaners passing by.


I passed store after store, some shut and in complete darkness, others with its window displays brightly lit. Looking at all the mannequins made me think of Amelia Jane and golliwogs or whatchamaycallems. You know, those Enid Blyton stories of the toys coming out to play at night, or if you never grew up reading Blyton, then, like how the displays came to life in Night At The Museum.


In a weird way, it may make sense if they did come to life, after all the trouble it took to deck them in the latest fashion apparel and what not, and with such a huge mall to run around in.


The "girls" could finally meet the "boys", especially 'em tall, dark and handsome'uns from Hugo Boss or Debenhams. The kid mannequins could play with anything in the toystore, and sit on the funrides for free. And the "flying man" could finally really fly, instead of being suspended from the ceiling all day :o)

The Long and Winding Road

This is one spot in Dubai that I actually like and MAY miss when we decide to finally leave this place.


It's a street near our apartment that leads to Ibn Battuta Mall, and is a longer route compared to walking along the main road, as it snakes through the Gardens villas. But in the evenings, just before dusk (and only during the winter months), walking along this street makes me feel like I'm back home. Something about how green it is, with trees and shrubs lining the entire stretch, and even patches of green moss on the areas of earth not covered by turf. Imagine that, moss in a desert city.


At twilight, just as the streetlights are lit, it's cool and windy, and walking along this stretch just takes you to another place. Seriously. You no longer feel like you're in Dubai, and forget that the rest of the city is mostly grey, brown and dusty, its streets full of traffic, its skyline dotted with large construction cranes and concrete structures. So I'm enjoying my weekly walks to the mall while I can, cos once the cool months are over, walking ANYWHERE in Dubai only takes you to the nearest airconditioned environment to escape the heat and humidity.

The Parable of the Big Flood and Two Loaves

It rained on Sunday, drizzled on Monday, and on Tuesday, it rained all day from morning till night. That's really not much rainfall if compared to the cats n dogs we get back home, but by Dubai standards, 24 hours of light rain equals flooding throughout the emirate.

People in Sharjah probably had to swim to Dubai, and many roads in Dubai were accessible only by big vehicles like 'em Hummers that the locals love to drive. Ben said he saw a Ferrari stranded near our home, left to "soak" by the roadside. Imagine the earful he gets when this dude explains to his wife why he came home, sans-Ferrari. "Lah illah ha illallah... How many times have I told you, Limo on weekdays, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati on weekends, but take the H3 out on rainy days, habibi".

The weather has finally caught up with the rest of the northern hemisphere, with temperatures dipping to as low as 1 degree Celcius in places like Al Ain. I'm now thinking of nice yellow Phua Chu Kang boots to keep my feet dry, and gloves to save my fingers from icy petrification.

Along with the cold, comes colds - the dreaded winter sniffles. Luckily, unlike the usual flu, most of us just have a runny/blocked nose and slight cough, minus the fever and phlegm by the bucketloads. The best remedy is, as always, lots of liquids, and keeping warm. I've been cooking soups and stews a lot. Nothing like a warm and hearty stew or soup for dinner during winter. I even managed to find "kiamchye" (sour mustard) here, so we had the usual post-Christmas turkey bones with kiamchye soup recently.

All we did last Christmas and New Year was eat... Actually, all we do most of the time, any time of the year is eat! We baked a lot in November and December - cheesecakes, lemon pies, sugee cake, cupcakes, cookies...


And Ben says Christmas isn't complete without a lorry-load of chocolates, so we stocked up on chocolate biscuits, caramel-filled chocolates, fudge-like chocolates, mint chocolates, praline- nougat- semisweet- assorted chocolates... even chocolates shaped like Santa Claus... You get my drift.


This last Christmas however, we had something really special, brought all the way from Singapore - two loaves of Gardenia bread!


Our friend Jac had her parents over just before Christmas, so she asked Ben if he wanted anything from Singapore. "Gardenia! Gardenia!" Ben's been craving for Gardenia sandwich bread since he heard that Chee Lin and Mabel brought TEN loaves over when they moved to Dubai, cos the bread here is terribly dry... It's so dry, you could wipe your nose with it when suffering from winter sniffles.

In fact, local bread is so dry, they should line the streets with it to solve the flood problems. "Yulla, yulla, throw the roti out the window, habibi... Khalas!"

HSBC SUCKS!!!

HSBC in Dubai is the #$%*!+^!! worst bank in the world. It is ****ED UP. Ya, I'll say it again just to stress my point - HSBC UAE is ****ED UP. All banks here are ****ed up. This whole place is one big **** up. I know my timing sucks cos I just happen to be pissed off with this country on the eve of its national day, but TOO BAD!! YOU SUCK!!!

A bitter pill

I caught the flu bug two weeks back and did not visit a clinic or see a doctor for medication. I usually self-medicate, and only see the doctor when I need an MC, need to stock up on painkillers, or am really sick and have no idea what I’m suffering from.

Another reason why I especially don’t like to visit a doctor when I’m suffering from the flu/fever is cos I don’t take antibiotics. I have a phobia of swallowing pills, and till now, still crush my pills to a powdered pulp to mix with a bit of water and then swallow in liquid form… no matter how bitter or gross it is.

So if I tell a doctor this, he gives me the same look that my Dad does, like it’s really such a crime to have a phobia. I really think it’s kinda unfair to be judged and treated like a kid just cos I take my meds like a two-year old. Some people are afraid of heights, needles, blood, rats, the supernatural, or whatever.

So I think I’m pretty gungho if compared to quite a lot of people, since nothing much scares me… except big cockroaches, pills..... and dirty old men.

Quite often the doctor just prescribes me pills anyway, even when I say I can’t swallow them. Like my Dad again, the doctor will say, “You shouldn’t have any problem swallowing it, it’s not that big… or it’s just a capsule”. In fact I can’t remember the last time a doctor has agreed to give me meds in liquid form like the gross pink or yellow goo that they force on kids.

So sometimes I don’t even bother telling the doctor that I can’t swallow pills. I just see him to get an MC and then throw away whatever meds he gives me. That’s why I never take antibiotics, cos I would definitely never finish a course.

We recently had dinner with Ben’s supplier Rohit and his wife Geetha. They’ve been living in Dubai for 16 years and told us that doctors and clinics here suck big time. So it turns out the lack of knowledge and efficiency isn’t just restricted to banks and governmental institutions. It really applies to everything in Dubai. Big and small companies, local and multinational, across all the various fields/industries.

Geetha had the flu two months back which developed into pneumonia and she just recovered about a week ago! It seems the doctors here are really, really useless. They never give you the proper medication that’s meant to cure you immediately. Instead, they’ll give you “Cocktail A” which you take for 7 – 10 days, then prescribe you with “Cocktail B” when you find that you’re not getting any better, and after almost a month of all sorts of drugs, they decide happy hour’s finally over and present you with “Cocktail C”.

And the few doctors who are supposed to be good are booked so far ahead that if you were sick today, he’d be able to see you two weeks later. So I can’t imagine why people would say he/she was a good doctor if they only visited them after making an appointment weeks before, meaning patients are either well by the time they see these “good” doctors, or close to dying, or plain psychic.

Since I’m not working now, I treated my flu with lots of rest, liquids, vitamin C, honey, lemon, Panadol Cold & Flu, and Lemsip Max. I guess doing it this way takes longer than if I ‘nuked’ it with real drugs from a doctor. The flu took about 10 days to pass from different stages of fever, body ache, headache, blocked nose, plus lots and lots of green stuff…

I stopped taking cough syrup after ten days cos apparently that’s the maximum amount of days you can take cough mixture continually, and if it’s not cured by then, it means the cough has already developed into an infection or whatever.

However, the cough that develops during the course of the flu for me always lingers on for much longer, sometimes up to two months, and I usually just wait for it to pass without any medication. This post-flu cough of mine usually ‘sounds’ really bad, like a whooping cough, where I’d have a really deep cough that sounds like an old car with a loud and rusty engine followed by wheezing and shortness of breath. This time around though, it doesn’t sound so bad but it ‘feels’ quite bad.

Since yesterday, my chest has been hurting a lot. First it hurt when I coughed, then by the end of the day, it just hurt, like I had a huge internal blue-black. It's never hurt this way before and Ben's kinda worried and wants me to see a doctor about it, but I'm still hoping it'll heal itself in due course.

Anyway, I just learned that they’ve just gone and banned 4 different flu meds and a few other cough meds, including Panadol Cold & Flu. Like how Decolgen was banned a few years back, apparently these recent additions to the list of banned drugs cause some pretty serious side effects, like heart failure or some scary shit like that.

This kinda stuff gets you thinking…. These are approved drugs - tried, tested, approved, and sold over the counter for years. Every year, hundreds of different drugs are taken off the shelf cos some ‘genius’ discovers that it has potentially dangerous side effects.

So how the hell do drugs get approved only to be later “discovered” unsafe? Well, most drugs are already known to be potentially harmful, and its side effects are usually stated in the fine print on that small piece of paper that come with meds that we don’t bother to read.

And you know how we have some friends or relatives who always bombard us with forwarded emails about the dangers of this and that? Like, oh, don’t microwave such and such a thing cos it will release some sorta toxin that will cause cancer, or don’t consume such and such a thing cos it contains such and such an ingredient that’s the same stuff that’s used to clean industrial machinery. Half the time these emails warn of cancer-causing materials/ingredients. Then there are the emails that highlight the qualities of certain products/ingredients and how it combats cancer or any disease/ailment known to man.

Well, I guess now I know that perhaps there’s some truth to some of these emails and as much as I’m sometimes annoyed by the bombardment of forwarded emails, I also have to remember that it’s usually sent by thoughtful relatives and friends who may seem like hypochondriacs at times but I guess the bottomline is that, they worry, and they care.

I’m not gonna turn into a hypochondriac, but I recently read an online article from The Ecologist about Lemsip Max Cold & Flu Capsules that really got my attention since I’m an over-the-counter-drug-junkie when it comes to the flu. The Ecologist has a regular “Behind The Label” article that features the potentially harmful contents found in all sorts of products. This recent article highlighted over-the-counter flu meds, especially since it’s Winter and the flu bug is going around.

According to this article, most over-the-counter remedies “have been found – through objective, scientific studies – to be useless”.

“Crucially, people who regularly purchase cold and flu remedies are usually ill when they make their purchases, and this phenomenon, known as the ‘distress factor’, is a real boon to manufacturers. Sick people don’t think, they simply want relief – immediately.”

“So, in spite of the fact that nothing you can buy will cure your cold, a huge number of us have succumbed to the hit-it-hard-and-hit-it fast remedies such as the Lemsip ‘Max’ range, which predominate on the pharmacist’s shelves and promise that you can happily continue to work long hours and enjoy a full social life, even if your body is telling you to slow down.”

The article takes Lemsip Max as an example, and lists its ingredients with descriptions and side effects. You can find the full article here.

Medical and scientific studies have shown that the best cure for the flu is rest, warmth and lots of liquids. But with our busy lifestyles, we seldom have the luxury of taking more than a day or two off work to cure a cold. So we rely on over-the-counter remedies that only offer temporary relief.

The scary thing here is not that these drugs don’t actually cure you, but that in the long run, it may be harmful to your health. Perhaps that’s why my cough is so bad. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) believes that if a cough is suppressed or not treated correctly, it will remain in your body and may eventually develop into something worse.

"According to TCM understanding, many conditions can have their origin in an untreated cough: asthma, diabetes, and even cancer." [Ref: article about Cough and TCM]

So now, I’m desperately waiting for an alternative cough remedy to arrive from Malaysia. My Mom has mailed me a packet of tong sum (Codonopsis root) to be cooked based on a recipe of tong sum, ginger and lean beef, stewed for half a day as a herbal broth to cure bronchitis. Let’s hope this works, cos I’d really rather not see a doctor (especially since they don’t have that “power” black cough syrup here cos most drugs here are alcohol-free).

Tai-Kor-Tai-Tor

My husband was recently promoted at work, and although he's carrying out all the duties and responsibilities of his new position, the promotion will officially take effect only in December. As head of a new restaurant, he had to oversee countless photography sessions for the press/media the past few weeks, as the company's PR department is busy publicising the restaurant's opening. These were mainly food shots, or photos of models pretending to dine at the venue. The PR department also arranged for a photographer to take a professional shot of Ben in the event that his photo is required for any press releases or articles.


Of course we all know, big title = big jobscope + big responsibilities + big headache. So Ben no longer works on a shift basis but for as many hours as needed, going in to work as early as 7am and leaving as late as past midnight. Most days he works from 8am - 11pm.

What to do... now Tai Lo already. And to prove this, he's Tai-Kor-Tai-Tor with FOUR handphones! One's his own, one is for the restaurant, and the other two are 'em walkie-talkie-type of com-phones. All hail Mighty Ben-yah-meen... Lord of the Ring-Ring.

The Ultimate Lepak Experience

Hi, our names are Benjamin and Bernadette, and we're couch potatoes.

Ben works about 14-16 hours a day, with just 4-6 days off in a month. So when he gets home at night or on his days off, it's extremely important that he feels as relaxed as possible to unwind and take his mind off work. Lucky for him, he met a lazy bum like me, so we're like two peas in a pod... two "ubi berisi" on a sofa.

There are women from China who sneak about the apartment blocks selling DVDs. And then there's Shams. No-Holds-Barred-Bo-Kia-Si Shams, who lugs around two huge bags of pirated DVDs openly. Shams is the man, man. He sells DVDs with 16-in-1 movies for just AED20. 16-in-1!! Super-power-terrama!!


For my birthday, Ben bought me a spanking new iPod since I drowned my Nano in the washing machine. This new baby holds 30gigs and plays videos too. That much disk space meant lots and lots of downloads.... So I went crazy and downloaded almost every single song I've known since the 70s... Plus movies, entire seasons of sitcoms....

One series that Ben n I are hooked on is Grey's Anatomy. He enjoys it so much that he wanted "scrubs" of his own too. So when I was in Singapore in June, I bought some cheap cotton from Spotlight and sewed us both a set of our very own "scrubs". It's especially comfy for lounging around in when we're semi-comatose on the sofa.


But the couch was too small for two big potatoes like us. Not that we're too fat to fit on the couch, but we wanted The Ultimate Lepak Lounge. We considered moving the TV into the bedroom, or the bed into the living room but the logistics weren't right for that almost-brilliant plan.

So Ben made his birthday wish... "I want a sofa bed! We'll go to IKEA on my birthday to get it".

We couldn't find a set that we liked cos sofa beds are either really bulky, or really "leceh" cos u have to take it apart and put it back all the time. We asked the salesperson if we could have two chaise lounge sets joined as one... like an extended two-seater sofa, or a bed with armrests. Trust the imbecile to say "yes yes of course no problem" and then screw up.


The chaise lounge sets were delivered a week later, but it didn't come with armrests and couldn't be joined together. So it's like we bought two deck-chairs or mini-beds. Apparently the armrests have to be ordered separately, or only come with the couch! Anyway, we still love it cos it's damn comfy, man.


"Budaya lepak" has arrived and evolved. Malaysia boleh? Dubai lagi boleh!

The red n white pack

Dubai n Singapore aren’t all that different, or perhaps very different, being that each have “qualities” unique to them. Ben n I have come up with a collection of images n things that we find “Uniquely Dubai”. I shan’t list them down here but just highlight a couple.

On my flight from SIN to DXB in July, the lack of video-on-demand got me flipping thru the in-flight magazine n duty free catalogue. When I was on the Duty Free allowances page, two countries stood out from the rest in the cigarettes category. Singapore is the only country that does not allow duty free cigarettes, with NIL boldly stated and a note mentioning a hefty fine plus probably other scary words like PROHIBITED.

While other countries allow 200-400 sticks, the UAE, as one-of-a-kind as Singapore, allows 10,000 sticks. Yes, TEN THOUSAND! No typical UAE typo error here. The odd thing is, following in Singapore’s footsteps, Dubai is trying to be a “smoke-free” city by 2008.


Apart from the ability for each passenger to bring in 50 cartons of Marlboro, Dubai displayed a different show of red n white recently. The 2nd NDC @ UAE was held last Friday at the Movenpick Hotel - the Singapore National Day Celebration in the UAE, organised by a dedicated group of Singaporeans, with support from the Consulate-General of the Republic of Singapore, IE Singapore, STB n many other sponsors.


Ok, time for a bit of flashback and intro to people.

I was informed of this event last month by Mabel n Chi Lin, whom I was introduced to by my friend Merey from Singapore. I met Merey when I was working at SRC some years ago n she was the Sports Manager there. We didn’t know each other that well n I think she tried to avoid me at most times ‘cos each time I bumped into her, I’d be reminding her of deadlines n chasing her for articles n photos for the Club’s newsletter. We lost touch after she left SRC n met again a few years later when I joined BWV. A few of us in the Reefwalk group organised a trip to Kota Tinggi, including Merey, her husband Eng Wan n son Reef.

Eng Wan was working in Doha last year, so on one of her visits to Doha, Merey stopped by for a short stay in Dubai with her friends Mabel n Chi Lin. Chi Lin, who works for IE Singapore, was posted to Dubai this year n Mabel joined him here in June. So that’s how I know Mabel n Chi Lin, and came to know about the NDC.

Ben n I invited Andrew n Arman along but unfortunately, they couldn’t make it since it was being held on a Friday, busy day for people in the F&B line. Andrew’s our chef friend from Singapore whom Ben n I knew from our days at Gourmet Cellar. He’s the Japanese chef at a Japengo outlet here.

Arman’s the Chef at a Noodle House outlet here. I met him when he first arrived in Dubai last December, back when we were living in Ewan Residences in ulu-land. We took the same shuttle bus to the nearby shops and he asked me for directions and found out that I was Malaysian/Singaporean n I discovered that Andrew was his smoking kaki since both their restaurants are located in the Madinat Jumeirah.

Ben invited Jac along, a HR Management Trainee at the Burj Al Arab. She’s the only other Singaporean working there.

Ben was excited about this event especially since I told him they’d be showing snippets from the National Day Parade. I remember how homesick he was last year, his first National Day away from home. So when I was back in Singapore in June/July, I searched the whole country for the Singapore flag to bring back to Dubai. EconMinimart, NTUC, Giant, Carrefour, souvenir shops, Community Centres… (flashback again).


Whether it's in town or the suburbs, none of the shops are selling the flag. The only red n white I see is the latest lian-trend - mini white shorts n ugly red patent PVC stilletos or wedges. It's my last day in Singapore, and still no flag.

I start calling all the Community Centres in the East side, and finally one in Tampines says, Yes, we have the flag! Two dollars only. So I rush over, and when I ask the lady at the counter about the flag, she says, There, this one! and points at a mini-flag that drivers clip to their car’s radio aerial.

No, aunty, I want the big flag, the one to hang on balcony one. Aiya, that one don’t have yet. Still early, RC haven’t sent to us. A second aunty joins in the conversation n I explain that I live in Dubai n will be leaving Singapore in a few hours n my patriotic husband gets homesick during National Day, etc.

Both aunties look so sympathetic n start calling the various RCs, CCs, GRCs, and what nots for me. Sorry, girl. Don’t have leh. You try NTUC or not? Ya, also don’t have. Ayo… sorry lah.

Dejected, I leave the CC and walk about, stopping at any household n convenience store I pass. I walk till I reach “Afghanistan” and stop at a household supplies shop there. Aunty, got Singapore flag or not? The big one for balcony. You wait ah, I check.

She goes to the back of her shop that sells everything, from melamine kitchenware to fishing nets, PVC pipes to gas stoves. Aunty is gone for a really long time, and finally, she emerges from the chaos of hanging pots, pans n bubble-wrap with the Singapore flag! Ah, girl, si-kor-pwa.

So this $4.50 piece of red and white polyester follows me all the way back to the UAE, and on 8th August, is hung proudly in our hall. I didn’t dare hang it on the balcony ‘cos people here can be quite ignorant n mistake it for a communist banner.


So back to the National Day celebration here. Tickets were sold at only 42 Dirhams (Singaporeans will know why 42), which was really, really cheap ‘cos a KFC meal for two here already costs at least 45 Dirhams. The dresscode for this event was smart-casual but I was told quite a lot of people would come dressed to the nines, gowns, gloves n all.

The ballroom n foyer is already bustling with guests when we arrive at 6.15pm – very early by Singapore standards since the time stated was 6pm, meaning most people would arrive at around 7.30 - 8.00, especially if it was a Singaporean wedding dinner.


Ben, Jac n I stand by the side, feeling awkwardly out of place. Jac comments that everyone here is “so old” and this looks like a function that her dad would attend. So like typical Singaporeans, we stand there commenting on what people are wearing, saying, doing, and I’m pretty sure some of them were doing the same too.

We probably stick out like sore thumbs as a man named Adrian approaches us to break the ice. He informs us that they are expecting at least 500 pax this evening. We can tell he’s with the organising committee from the huge orchid pinned on his lapel.

Only an exclusive few in the crowd don the national flower, including a lady who looks like she could be a descendant of Miss Joaquim herself, in her shiny lilac kebaya.

With Asia Pacific Breweries being one of the sponsors, uncles feel right at home with the free-flow of Tiger beer. Only thing missing is ice cubes, the Tiger aunty or ah huay, and live screening of a match.

Soon, guests are ushered into the ballroom to await the arrival of the Consular-General, Mr Dileep Nair. Adrian, also emcee for the night, leads us in a few cheers. Yup, the crowd is asked to shout “Hallo, Singapore!” and “Happy Birthday, Singapore”. One uncle seems to have had one Tiger too many as he bellows, “Hallo, Sing-GABURRRP-pore!”


Just when I feel my goosebumps are gonna burst out from my skin, we are invited to sing Happy Birthday to Singapore as a huge cake resembling the flag is wheeled out. We also recite the Singapore pledge and sing the national anthem. I’m tempted to shout “Malaysia Boleh!!” at the end of the Majulah Singapura, just to see if I’d get thrown out :p


Finally, it’s time to eat! We’re hoping to get good ol’ Singapore food, but the only thing resembling dishes from home are the names of some of the dishes – rendang, gado-gado, goreng pisang, Hainanese chicken rice, assam fish… But all cannot make it lah. Ben and Jac join the extremely long queue of suckers for the chicken rice, only to find that it’s plain white rice with chicken that looks like it’s been boiled.


I meet Mabel n Chi Lin, and we’re introduced to a few of their friends. We also meet Eng Wan, who moved to Dubai just last month, and chat with him for a while.

The highlight for the night, for Ben, is the 2007 NDP screening. Unfortunately, they only screen the first 15 minutes as the screens are used to display winning lucky draw numbers the rest of the night. Jac hopes to win the Creative mp3 player while Ben n I eye the LCD flatscreen TV.

Unfortunately, we leave only with small goodie bags. One has a Tiger beermug, and the other bag doesn’t but has a soft-toy of a red crab, the Singapore Chilli Crab. And the other “goodies” are brochures, an SIA paperbag n cheapo-made-in-China keychain n calculator.

Of course, it’s typically Singaporean to complain that this n that cannot make it lah, blah blah. As much as we poke fun at events like these or the people who attend them, I always say I’m almost-Singaporean because of how much I’ve assimilated into the culture n lifestyle there. I remember how I got all teary-eyed when I watched my first NDP on TV. The crowd, a sea of red n white, waving their little red n white flags about, and singing proudly in unison as the big red n white flies past overhead.

I know some people say the NDP is the biggest PR event in Singapore, propaganda at its finest. I say, who cares, it works. The sense of unity, pride and passion, expressed through the reaction of the spectators is brilliant. And I still get a little teary-eyed now when I watch the NDP flypast n fireworks each year.

So yesterday Ben n I had to settle for watching the 2007 NDP webcast on a tiny 480x360 pixel window online. Although lacking authentic Singapore food and the full screening of the NDP, the NDC @ UAE event was still enjoyable. Ben n I got to see the macam-macam of the Singaporean community in Dubai - a couple of bengs and lians here n there, typical aunties and uncles, SPG also got!

And of course, those who believe their sense of fashion isn’t just restricted to Orchard Road.


Happy Belated National Day to all Singaporeans, and Happy Merdeka to the rest!