JT goes to Abu Dhabi to eat Roti Prata

Roti Prata was the highlight of the trip. It was probably the one factor that urge me to say "yes i'll take that 1.5 hour trip to AD". Took a drive with some other group of Singaporeans who've just arrived not too long ago too.

First stop at Abu Dhabi was the Emirates Palace Hotel. Really nice and majestic place. Unlike the Burj Al Arab, anyone can walk into the Emirates Palace Hotel. There was this grand feeling about the whole place.



There was this lady playing the harp at the lobby. It was my first time seeing someone play a harp live. She should have worn white wings and a halo.


Some private developers (maybe govt?) are planning to create a museum city. There was a museum of models in the hotel. It is planned for construction on the coast of Sadiyat (don't know if i spelt right) island - apparently AD has about 20+ islands, and Sadiyat is one of the largest island. A planned development of about 4/5 museum - one of which would be modelled after the Guggenheim Museum.
All the buildings looked really futuristic, all designed by reknown architects. Just can't explain what they look like. It's just amazing - almost like a final year not-feasable-to-build and go-crazy architectural student project.





The AD Marina Mall was the next destination. Hung around there for just an hour and a bit to kill time before we headed off for dinner at Naluketta - the Roti Prata House. (It's at the Yatch Club next to the Abu Dhabi Mall - for those who need directions there, use your GPS!).

That's my ROTI PRATA

The Roti Prata was sooo good. I'm not quite a fan of indian food. But i really enjoyed this meal. It was just fantabulous! The Sambal Sotong (Squid) was soooo good.

3 weeks and not counting

I've been here in the hot desert for 3 weeks. Over this period of time, I've met so many faces, and I'm having so much problem matching names to face. Plus all the middle eastern faces look the same to me, and they have similiar names too... Fadi or Farhad. Haha. I am finding it hard to differentiate indian people too (no- this is not a racial comment).

This week, I lost my accommodation at Lamcy Plaza. I was looking forward to moving there end of July. The current tenants decided not to move. Too bad for them, I paid my deposit, and gave them a cheque for 1 years payment! But they rang me and pleaded with me. I felt so sorry for them... so I'm homeless.

Good news, I'm moving in with Huilin now!! So i'll be living now in Al Barsha (5 mins walk to mall of emirates - that's where the ski slopes are). Woo hoo!!! I'm paying much less (so i can go for more frequent holidays), and I get company.

Yesterday I had the worst traffic in my 7 years of driving histroy. We were stuck on Sheikh Zayed Road for more than 2.5 hours (when it would normally take me only less than 30 mins). 30km of start-stop drove me nuts. They say, you'll get used to it... but how can anyone get used to it! Thank goodness I'm always against the flow of traffic (except for yesterday when I had to go on site for a meeting).

Car hunting continues this weekend. - It's Friday. sigh

Night Drive

Worked late tonight and decided to take a nice relaxing drive back home via Jumeriah Road instead of the usual Sheikh Zayed Road where drivers go crazy at 200km/h. (no it's not a figure of speech, and yes literally that fast)

Drove past the Burj Al Arab, and the Madinat, and pulled in to grab some dinner and walk around. I was at the same spot last year with David & Tim last year. Weather was so much better and the "day" pictures turned out a little different from the night. (Click on the December post to see the difference)

Each time I get in the car, I pray that I'd arrive at my destination in one piece. Thankfully that has happened in the last 4 days of driving. I've survived traffic in Dubai and in Sharjah (the neighbouring state), and getting a little bit more adventurous in taking short cuts now! I hear it is so much worse in Cairo.

My temp Home

I've moved in with Danny, Mona and David @ the Marina. I'm still waiting for my apartment to come available @ Lamcy Plaza. Dubai Marina just like Port Melbourne. Will take more pictures another day, but for now... here's some pictures of the house. It's very home-y.

Night View from my Window

Rented a CRV today. I just had my first day of driving in Dubai. Left hand driving! I drove on the wrong side of the road so many times!! Still alive. Fortunately it was a Friday drive, and not too many maniacs around (everyone is praying at the mosque). Starting on a car hunt tomorrow! Fingers crossed, I can find one by the end of the week!

A Busy Week

My 2nd work week in Dubai has just passed. There are too many Melbourne faces around the office for me to feel like I'm in a foreign land.

Today, went to Jebel Ali. Surprise surprise. All australians! I didn't think that would be the case!

This week has been such a hectic week. We were under big pressure by the clients to deliver OR ELSE... get sacked. I think someone just got sacked (though it's been kept under wraps).

I finally got my driving license today and I'm car hunting this week. I'm looking at getting a Toyota Prado - the 2 door one. They don't have that model in Australia. OR maybe a Rav4. Cars here are so cheap!! Maybe I might get an A4... though I'm more inclined to a beast on the roads. (check the dubai drivers out - insanity)

I need a car soon. I'm moving to the Marina tomorrow. It's going to be a AED70 (AUD25) trip one way if I don't drive, and it's hard to get a cab during peak hour!!!

Dinner @ the BurjAlArab

My weekend just zoomed by in the flash of an eye. Yesterday, we spent half the day at the mall of emirates. I felt so much like skiing when i saw the little kids in their big pooofy jackets coming down the runs! I will go once day - when it gets warmer in summer!

After 5 hours of roaming around Mall of Emirates, we headed down to the Burj Al Arab. Security is so tight there. We were stopped by the gates, and they nearly couldn't find Damien's booking on the list.



Took a few pictures of both the BurjAlArab and the Jumeriah Beach Hotel. Quite a pretty sight!

The Burj Al Arab - By Day and by Night

Sunset at the Burj Al Arab

Jumeriah Beach Hotel

It looked very posh in the inside. But I think they over did it with the gold elevators. Too much gold everywhere. But the main lobby area was uniquely nice.



We had dinner at one of the restaurant on the ground floor. Lucky us, we got a very good seating spot, facing the main lounge area. Food was alright, not exactly all that fantastic. The oysters weren't all that fresh, and the prawns made me feel a little sick. Other than that, it was good!

Food, food and more food

We hung around chatting and listening to Damien's crap and stories about work. A very nice evening indeed.

Dune Bashing!

It's good to have visitors here in Dubai when you're new. So I also did get to do the tourist-y stuff! Damien and Alfie are here at the moment from the Melbourne office.

We went Dune Bashing today! This desert safari tour takes you on a short drive out of the city into the sand dunes. We stopped by a few stations (like at the desert mountain grocery - ?!?) before doing the real thing.

Fortunately, we had a driver with superb skills. He was just caning it. A few times, the 4 wheel drive felt like it was about to overturn - but of course it didn't! Some parts were fairly steep. It's not as obvious in the photos. Go try it!
There are stories of dunes having a 15m drop at the peak - but too bad i didn't see one.


Also included was a ride on the camel. Stupid camel was grunting and whinging. It just went "oooooo, ooooooooo". Maybe I was too fat and heavy.

We had a dinner and a belly dance show after at a village. It's not really a village. It' s just an area cornered off for all the tourist dune bashers. Dinner was really good. It was nice and yummy arabic sort of food - the kebabs and sorts. Post dinner entertainment was belly dancing - no i did NOT do a belly dance.

It is the beginning of my FUN 2 years in Dubai. More exciting post to come!

No Alcohol in Dubai?

I had dinner with Damien yesterday at Deira City Centre (on Melbourne's expense). He asked for the wine list... and the response he got was "sorry sir, we only have beer, non-alcholic beer" . Gee, see the look on his face. Haha.

We had our work function at the Novotel hotel today, then headed down to Le Meridian for some drinks. Yup. I had my first sip of alcohol in Dubai. Funnily, when I was leaving the pub, there was this guy all dressed in the traditional arabic dress (or whatever you call it), drinking a glass of wine. Maybe it's non-alcoholic wine.

Work has been good so far. I finally got myself a mobile number, and still hunting around for accommodation. May have to sleep in the dumps in 4 weeks if i don't find something quick!

First Dubai Post

Finally.. after doing the flying in and out of dubai for the last 6 months... i now officially based here as of today. Touch down in Dubai airport at 1:30am. Didn't have any airport dramas this time! Phewww!

Had lunch at this place called Noodle Bowl. It's the place to meet Singaporeans!??? Errr.....

The world has been really small since I got into Dubai. After meeting Danny & Mona (who are friends of my Aunt's boss), I found out that I know their daughter through school and swimming! At Noodle Bowl, I bumped into Davis & Dennis's uncle whom I met on the plane on the way to Dubai. Too many connections to comprehend.

It's been a good and long day. Work starting tomorrow. Sigh... I haven't worked in about 2 over weeks.

Off to Dubai

After spending 11 days in Singapore just not doing much, I'm so used to staying home. Ahh... is this what retirement is like? I am finally off to Dubai tonight and back to reality again.

This is by far one of the best trips back. After so many years, I've managed to catch up with my 2 closest friends since primary school swimming days. It's been years we were away... yet when we hang out, it just felt like yesterday that we last saw each other!

It was a good day out with Mave and Faye too... plus the 2 catching sessions with Liming.

Also, I'm so happy for the few that have big business ideas at yum.sg...

I'm glad I came back for so long. I couldn't have done all this in just 1 week. It's off to Dubai for now. So stay tuned for my next post!

Sentosa-ing

Spent more than half a day with Mavis & Faye. Faye went down to CHIJMES to get her wedding preparations sorted out. That took quite a while! And went to run more errands before meeting Mave for lunch.

Finally, we got to go to Sentosa. Destination was Sentosa Cove - Faye's aunt's 2nd home. This places looks so much like Dubai... with all the Palm trees... the Dubai Creek look alike.

Went swimming at Faye's house (yah, we went all the way to Sentosa to swim in the pool).
And as usual, I do take a lot of pictures!!

Feels Good

Feels so good to be hanging out with Cheryl and Yujun. We all sort of grew up together. It's been years since the last time we all had a meal. It's the sort of friendship whereby you don't catch up for years, and it only seemed like yesterday. We're all in 3 different field of work, in 3 different countries - the singapore banker, the australian engineer, the british doctor.

We used to train together since primary school... swimming trainings were the best time to hang out! We had fun doing really stupid things at every overseas competition, and now... we still do take stupid pictures! Was taking pictures at the Esplanade & Marina / Fullerton area. Felt like such a tourist... but I AM a tourist!

Videos

I've never posted a YouTube Video... There's always a first time.
Tim, you'll appreciate this! Cheers to the winner of the competition.

Lazy Bum

Been back for a week already. I've been such a bum... waking up at 10am, messing my room up (it a sign that I've been home), watching tv. With my friends all at work, there's no one to go out with me!! *whinge whinge*.

Still managed to get a few things done over the last week. - Cut my hair short (ok, short enough), got some golfing in (which resulted in me turning charcoal colour), started on some online accommodation hunting, packing etc.

Ah... the feeling of not having to work is soooo nice. I've been getting work from Dubai (even before starting!), but it's sitting in my bag.

Oh yes, I've set up a site for my Dubai adventures... so you can click here for more (there is nothing posted at the moment)! This blog would just be for my daily ramblings...

Lazy me will end this blog entry now!....

Sad

Hasn't really sunk in yet. I'm back in Singapore now... on transit to Dubai. Feeling a little sad and a little lost. I'm not going back for a while. I'm starting to miss everyone and everything, including my new house. =(

Last day @ work

My last day in the Melbourne office. Officially!!! Though I haven't exactly been in the office much over the last 6 months....
Felt really sad leaving. We had our monthly drinks up in the big meeting room.

I will miss everyone. Especially...

Rahul - between 7:30 to 8:00am... My breakfast buddy

Luba - my 10am morning coffee gossip session

Dinnesh, Lina, Ming, Rossy - hanging out in the tea room talking about HM

Crispin - my expert who can fix all my stupid drafting mistakes

and everone else who is full of crap. Just love it!

Packing up was quite hard today, and saying the good byes was sad. Some ning nongs didn't even come for drinks and say bye (you know who you are).

House Work!

Here's a few photos of my house! For now, it's a little messy and the garden needs a little more TLC.

Front entry doors

Front Verendah / Deck

Kitchen Area - ugly blue tiles to be removed!

The extreme messy backyard!

Went shopping today for furniture, lighting, gardening stuff, paint colours etc etc. I have all this ideas for my house, but a pity I'm leaving for Dubai. Jeremy's going to have fun dealing with the garden. Haha.

Tasmania - the Holiday

Just got back from a long week in Tasmania.

Too many photos, so it's just going to be a few here with more description.

Day 1

A long boring 10 hour journey aboard Spirit I to Devonport. We took the day sail out of Melbourne. Sat & Slept in the bar area, and also played Skip Bo to kill time. How exciting.

We got into Devonport at about 7pm. First destination was Noodle Box in the city. Dinner box was way too big. Took it back and had it for breakfast the next morning.

Stayed in La Trobe for the night. The owner was a retired civil engineer who used to work for council up in Yaas in NSW. Very nice guy!

Day 2

Had a good sleep in - best one in ages. We decided to head into Launceston to get some accommodation before moving anywhere else. Stopped by Ashgrove cheese to get Tim's Bushpepper cheese (which was really good cheese). That was our lunch - Bread and cheese.

Got our accommodation sorted out in Launceston first, before heading straight to Liffey Falls. It was quite a nasty dirt road. Poor Emma. Liffey falls had enough water to be not named "liffey trickle". It was a nice short walk into Liffey. Sitting on the rocks, collecting thoughts... ahh... all perfect! I had one sorry arse after that because the stupid rocks was so sharp and i didn't realise it would give me a bruise.

Liffey Falls

Destination 2 was Pine Lake. It was freezing by then. Still, we did the tourist thing and took some stupid pictures there. Of course there were nice ones too.

Did more driving and exploring up to the Great Lakes. It was getting dark and cold, so it's back to Launceston!

Couldn't find any decent place to eat that wouldn't cost us "an arm and a leg". So well, other than a $24 pizza, KFC was the next best. It was good. I got to drink my sunkist!

We walked back via Launceston City Park. It was scary. Just like in the movie "Night at the Museum", every thing in the park would come alive. Especially that statue standing at the entrance.


Day 3

We went back to the park to check that statue out. He moved! I'm sure he did at least.

Headed south along the east coast. Along the way, we stopped by Avoca for more bread and cheese for morning tea, and at the Elephant Pass for real good pancakes. Chicken, Cheese and Mushroom pancakes + Apple, Banana & Berry pancakes. Perfect!


Took our drive up to do the Wineglass Bay walk. Weather was a little crazy - it was hot/sweaty and cold and freezing. Walk down to the lookout and the bay was really long, and rocky, but well worth the views!

Wineglass Bay

Had take aways from the Cod Rock Cafe - Fish and Chips...

Stayed at Bicheno for the night.

Day 4

It was spitting the whole night and into the morning as well. Tim was feeling crooked by the morning from the hot/cold weather. We headed out in the rain and stopped by Orford for a quick lunch in the car.

Finally got into Hobart. Headed straight to the office to meet David. Caught up with Rosa and the others as well. Had a quick stop over at Mt Nelson before heading to David's home. Was greeted by Jackie and the 3 dogs - Piper, Bella and Brooke.

It was a good dinner with heaps of interesting stories and experiences of Tasmania.

Day 5

It was lunch hour by the time we got ourselves organised. Stopped by a few pull ins and outs and at the picnic areas too. We came across a rubbish rat in one of the picnic grounds and to prove a point, a rubbish bin lid was opened. 2 eyes, a big furry body and this ugly face came shooting out. Gee, I've never heard such a scream before. Haha. It was funny though.

Headed down south to the Airwalk. It was a great sight of the Huon river and the branch off to the Picton River. Felt a little wobbly. Just imagine the engineering involved! Whoa.

Took it easy, and drove back to Hobart via the coastal route. Got attracted to the name Eggs and Bacon Bay. That's cool.

Had dinner at the Swann's again (thanks David and Jackie!), and a round of Yahtzee and a few rounds of SkipBo! It's more fun when you have 4 people playing! They all gang up against you.

Day 6

Embarking on a long journey down windy roads to Queenstown with a sick person in the car is not funny. Oh well, some people just get grumpy.

Had a few stop overs - mainly at towns where we heard strange stories and experiences from David and Rod - one of which was Tarraleah.

Finally got into Queenstown. It was a long 4-5 hours drive.

Day 7

Drove to cradle the next morning. Got there fairly late, so we only managed to do the Dove Lake Circuit. We went to the Glacier Rock. Tim got mocked by a bunch of pensioners when he couldn't open the child proof gates. That was hilarious. Anyway, it was a cloudy day that day, and started pouring. We got soaking wet. =(




Recommended from David and Jackie, We looked up Charlotte of Gowrie Park. She gave us the best dinner - Lamb Bethelson. It's lamb cooked in a creamy white sauce. Even the steamed vegetables tasted so good.

We enjoyed Gowrie Park so much that we had to stay another night. Anyway, we wanted to go back to do Hanson Peak.


Day 8

Hanson Peak was on the agenda - courtesy of Tim.

From Hanson Peak

Had another round at Charolett's kitchen. She had a nice chat with us on her cooking recipes and how they came to her in her dreams. Well, Charlotte even had a job / life counselling session with Tim!

That's Charlotte!

Day 9

We didn't know what to do whilst waiting for the ferry back to Melbourne. We drove up past Sheffield, and past Devonport to Penguin and Burnie. Penguin is such a cool place. I just love it. Even the bins have penguins on it!

Ah, holidays over... Coincidentally, we went to to Tassie and came back with a lot of the Targa cars. This is a guys thing. Not really my cup of tea, but I must say that some of the cars really looked good!

I suppose, in a nutshell, that's my Tassie holidays!

I have heaps more photos. Click here for more. There's about 202 photos. So it's gonna take a while.

Milkcrates Pinching - Legal?

I have to remain really anonymous. I had an MSN conversation between Mr He-Who-Must-Not-Be Named, let's call him X.

X: Have you stolen milk crates before? I was getting out of my office and I saw the milk crates just outside the lobby door and i took them home, and I see that.... they printed on the crates 'unauthorised use of milk crates is liable to prosecution'. I took 4 out of 5.

Me: Maybe they mean.... you cannot throw the milk crates at someone?

X: It also has a sign WARNING: The owner will prosecute for withholding return or unauthorised use of this container. So how!

Me: Keep it, since you already have it

X: But my office has cameras! It will be so embarrassing if they email the entire building. How do I even return it.

Should the crates be kept?!?!?

ps. this site has some cool use of milk crates. Haha.

Drinks @ Windsor Castle

Just a few pictures from my going away drinks @ the Windsor Castle Hotel. It was Walter's going away too. He's off to Toowoomba next week, and I'm leaving Australia in a couple of weeks.

(Might be delayed because I did the "janice tan" thing again - I had a boo boo with my Employment Visa - Forgot to fill in page 2. Haha.)

Thank you all for coming! and... sorry if I didn't manage to get a picture. Completely forgot I brought my camera along till the end of the night!

Hunted House

14 April 2007 - a mark in my life - I just bought a house.

The house hunting has finally come to an end. Not that I really started anyway!
I know I'm leaving Australia soon, but well... at least it was a good buy.

It really is stressful buying a house.

Visit YUM.SG

Alright, I'm doing a little publicity for my friend.

Looking for a quick bite, a long dinner and have no clue on where to go, what to eat?

VISIT....... YUM.SG

Here's what it looks like... check that out!

Urm... guide only works in Singapore. It wouldn't help if you're wondering down the streets of Melbourne, and searching for seafood restaurant in East Coast Park.

Oh yes, and write a review too!!

Anyway, here's more words from the horse's mouth about Yum.sg:

• Extensive Search Engine first narrows down these options with the basic useful filters.
• Fully blind Reviews help setup your expectations of the restaurants.
• Articles allow you to see the bigger food picture. (Why people love food the way they do?)
• Red Hot Yum.sg deals which look at how you can get one step, (sometimes two) ahead of others in enjoying your dining experience
• Quirky Experiences to let you enjoy that something extra (Our government really does want us to think out of the box)
• The List which helps you track the best that our users enjoy, when you lack the time to enjoy food day in, day out (which is not really an excuse)

Direct all queries to Joel Tay. or the man in the picture - that gives you an excuse to check the website out!

Remember... if it's good food in Singapore... it's

YUM.SG!