Just Leaving UAE

Hi, I finished in Ruwais this morning. Now getting ready to go to Australia. The start of another journey. So now I'm in Dubai Airport just about to get on the plane... Back to Thailand. I've just done this quick video on my apple macbook pro, using the onboard web cam. Felt a bit self concious, so am pleased at how it has come out. And clearly no editing!!! Pretty simply really. I had tried with Final Cut to make a few videos but could not get it together.

Chinese New year? When where How. Well I missed it!

Chinese New year? When where How. Well I missed it!

All the Koreans from our Construction Companies had a day off and the site slowed down. I think they went off to Abu Dhabi to play golf and have a few glasses of rice wine and Korean food.

We, that's Deepak and he's one of our engineers.

We went off to the Al Ain Air Show.

MOVIE TO BE ADDED

As shows go it was OK. About 8,000 spectators turned up and it seemed the united nations were there and every nation you could mention had a presence. Very impressive. It also added to the atmosphere of the whole thing. There were some beautiful looking ladies mingling with the 'guiness bottles', you know the Arab ladies wearing the all covering long black cloth. That's how I describe them anyway! But everybody mixed in and the feeling of general harmony and sense of we're here to enjoy was palatable and indeed quite exceptional.

View Al Ain Air Show in a larger map

But all that said and done. and to be absolutely honest: one aeroplane looks very much like any other to me. I know some are jets and some are run using other stuff but you get my drift...So what to do reporting of such an event. I took some footage and this afternoon looked over it. So much blue sky and smoke! So I decided to attach one clip without to much editing. Its got the running commentary from the show. The pilot is without doubt a very very capable guy.

There were side attractions including simulated formula 1 racing cars, microlites, go karting, and believe it or not there was a Starbucks. Imagine an event with such a stall. Seems a bit strange, not having some local merchant doing the selling.

Fortunately it was a warm day , bit windy which I suspect helped to keep us from baking in the sun. Mind you it did not help those buying ice cream,

getting stuck in the que to return to the stadium. Tends to melt all over you!

Then you look at the security. The were Lady police. They to must have been hot. Strange sight to start with. All of them without exception tended to on the 'bulky' almost like it was part of the entry requirements. They also did not look the type of person to be messing with!!

We gave up at about 4.30pm. Well I did and went into Abu Dhabi for a quick look round. Quite busy with plenty of crazy driving. But that's a topic for another time.

Friday The Err.......well just another Friday.

Been a quiet week with little to write home about. Fridays really do seem to follow each other at an amazing rate. They go quicker than real holidays. Speaking of which I am on leave in 5 weeks. Hope the Fridays fly by...If only the real holidays would slow down...

Today was a lazy one. Late breakfast and another walk along the beach. Interesting how quickly the weather is changing and along with it the surrounding. 6 weeks ago when I arrived in Ruwais it was cold in evening through to mid morning. Not any more. Now its 16'ish at night rising to 31 Deg C in the midday sun. And its still January... A lot more heat to follow.

The walk was fine, clear blue skies. I took a few shots of some shrub land. Not much else as the beach vistas I did last walk. The sand is dry, all signs of the rains of the last few weeks have disappeared. So only the most hardy of plants can survive such an environment. Came across one particular plant. Resembles a red cactus. Strange thing growing in bunches. Not so many of them around. They might be something that got prompted to grow as a result of the earlier rains. You know, they flourish for a few days and die down again till the next seasons rains come round.

Clearly we were not the only visitors this morning. Someone had been along with a mountain bike and also there were foot prints where some birds had been walking along.

Strike Out - Shopping Abu Dhabi

Friday came round again. Very quickly. But it came along with lots of rain and wet roads. So a miserable day.

We left Ruwais for Abu Dhabi about 7.30am. The early warning signs for a crap day were already apparent for all to see but we did not read the signs. The rain and then watching the resulting traffic accidents along the way.

I had earlier during the week though it a good idea to get to the shops good and early, give myself a day out and a bit of a treat maybe buy a toy or new guitar. Silly of me! On Fridays they do not open till mid day and even then

most open between 2-4 pm. So having discovered this only on arrival I concluded a fairly wasted trip. I had planned to look at a couple of toy shops for model planes and helicopters, then a quick look at what Abu Dhabi had to offer in the way of musical instruments specifically guitars.

First off was ‘My Hobbies’. Located near La Meridian Hotel… Well how near, close, was it to Le Meridian? We eventually tacked it down, so not so close. And it was shut! Well not exactly shut, just empty, so either they had relocated or closed down. No relocation address on the window so strike one!

Second was the music shop. Closed. We were way too early. Looking through the window it all looked as if they had some good stuff. Strike 2.

Follow this by going to Toy ‘R’ Us.

And indeed as the name states, full of toys but all except some fabulous bar-b-q’s, the rest were toys for real kids. You know babies and youngsters, and not adult toys. And I don’t mean sex toys! Those are not allowed in Abu Dhabi. Again a wasted journey.

So one more time to another set of shops to see if we get lucky. Went to Marine Mall. Lovely for shopping.

However again to early. It has an Apple shop with some good software but closed. Strike 3.

What else... Saw a lovely Hummer pickup truck. Fancied one of those!!!Bet the Hummer shop is closed on Fridays!!! And driving round we looked up at some of the buildings. The towers in the picture really are curved and wonderful shapes. Not down to my photography, it’s how they are.However good old reliable Carrefour was open.

So my trip to Abu Dhabi in the rain,

on a Friday was almost a complete waste of time. I went to places which, except the last, were all closed. I came back with some deodorant from Carrefour!!!! Some trip…

Liwa, There And Back.

Liwa is a small cluster of villages set in the oasis in the southern quarter of the United Arab Emirates. We were told there is not much there. Wrong!

View Ruwais to Liwa in a larger map

Getting there is easy. Early start about 7.00am. (I know you ask why early, when you know it is my one day off in the week….). It needs to be a worthwhile trip. Khamal my driver picked me up, so for me I know, an easy day ahead. I had high hopes it was going to be a good day.

Liwa's got history and some things to see. The history side is simple enough. (Formal details below). It has water and therefore was a place for human habitat to develop and thrive over the years. Thousands of years in fact. It is also the historical ancestral home of the ruling Abu Dhabi family. So as would be expected, there are now good roads and infrastructure. Not so many people around but enough to make the rich soils work. There are a couple of good hotels catering for tourists. The locals coming up for the camel racing and the visitors more for buggy riding over the dunes and sight seeing. We missed a major camel racing event. Happened a few weeks back. Isn't it always the way...? So for sure Liwa has plenty enough going for it to have a fun weekend. Just pick the right weekend.

So after I left my NCC camp, first stop was to pick up my colleague Mr Kim. We proceeded straight inland. Dual carriage roads the whole way. First town we reached was Ghaythai. It’s a small ‘one horse’ town type place. Actually, to be fair to it, there is a school, decent houses, shops etc. No idea how many people live here but I would guess at over 5-10,000. It as a brand new petrol stations complete with a shop and small restaurant. Bit like UK with Little Chefs etc. So we stopped there for our morning coffee and biscuits. All staff are from India or Pakistan. No Emiraties to be seen, unless you include those pulling in to fill up their cars with fuel!

After coffee it was back in the car and we headed south. All this was made much easier by having our driver Khamal with us. He had been before and also spoke the local language. I say local, but most of the people we come across are imported labour from Indian or Pakistan, so language is either Urdu or Hindi. Mr Kim has English and Korean, and with me backing up with English and err…. well enough said.

Continuing south the landscape changes. It was like leaving everything behind. Fantastic to see the rolling sand dunes. They seems to open up to us and at the same time give us a sense of vastness and of being never ending. What made it so special was the timing. Early morning with the sun rising, made for stunning shadows appearing on the dunes. As we travelled along and the sun rose the shadows changed. Seemed to bring the dunes alive. Interestingly the dunes stay off the road. I think the winds take the sand completely across the road and do not allow for any built up. The fencing which goes all along the road side, we assumed is to stop camels and antelope crossing the roads. We did see 3 antelope, but they had gone by the time I got the camera out. So just believe me when I tell you we did see some!

Liwa, well we think we got to Liwa but there were signs for Mezairria. We followed this. In fact having carried on and on southwards we came to a roundabout. Three point roundabout. The road we were on and two more exits. Simple choice: left or right? Right looked to be going nowhere and was a smaller road. So turn left it was. I mentioned earlier that Khamal spoke the language. He did at this time call a friend to check we were on the right road, I mean left road.....

Within 2-3 kilometers of turning left, the area transformed in an all lush green with date palms everywhere. Unfortunately they were not in season. Still well worth driving along and seeing all the agriculture.

We continued along the road and came across a camel racing track. Loads of camels being trained and exercised. Seemed strange, a fully fledged track in the middle of an area surrounded only by sand. Good photo opportunity.

We had by now travelled about 350 kilometers. Time for lunch. Only place we could find open was the Liwa Hotel. Imagine you travel all this was in the sand to come across a 5 star hotel complete with swimming pool. I mentioned earlier about dune buggys. Well it seems this was one of the places people stayed while enjoying driving up and down sand dunes.

Lunch as you can imagine for a 5 star hotel, was excellent, with an amazing array of mouthwatering Arabic and European dishes.

Then, back to the NCC camp, but another route via Madinet Zayed. Its another small town with a slightly better range of shops and more quality housing. Again we tried for fresh date. Again told out of season!

Then home, but not before buying some packaged dates from the local supermarket… Home ‘James’. I mean home Khamal ! Great day.

All in all, we covered about 700 kilometers. All on first class dual carriageway roads. Probably take weeks on a camel, and give you sore feet. Food for thought.

2011 New Years Day

We, that's David, Ronald and Roderick, and me of course. We had a walk down to the shore this morning. Hardly to clear out any cobwebs as everyone had an early night !!! That's a side bennifit of being in Ruwais to celebrate New Years Eve.

The Bay. Its a lovely little bay with a few fishing boats tied up above the water line. A working ferry that goes back and forth to a neighbouring island called Sir Bani Yas. Not sure whats on the island. Looking at google earth it seems oil tank farms anf also some nature reserves. Will get over there on day.

Here this little harbour/jetty area sort of place seems very quiet, just a few people doing some fishing from the shore. Have not seen anything being caught.

But the quietness, I put it down to being a public holiday. I somehow suspect however that it is quiet most days, except for some activilty when the fishermen are putting out to sea in the mornings and bringing in their catch at night. I did visit the Ruwais Housing Complex last week, where there were plenty of shops, one selling fresh fish so maybe, just maybe, they come from here.

We walked from our camp up a small road and along the length of the jetty then up the adjacent hill. Looking down at the sea, it was very calm, beautiful clear blue water. The bay had obviously sometime ago been dredged and small landing stages erected. I would guess the dredging was carried out several years ago, maybe 5 -10 years past. The small landing platforms are all rusted and in rapid decline. Sad to see but you will know as well as me that the salt water will corrode anything. Add in the effects of warm sunshine and things just rot away almost before your eyes.

Some improvements are underway. It does however bring back memories and remind me of my first times in Qatar when things were not so developed. That was 1978! Back then in similar places there were lots of small jetties and shore structures dotted along the shorelines. They disappeared during my time there to be replaced by 'bigger and better' and more modern structures. Sure the same thing will happen here and it will change here, possibly even in the period of my short stay.

Anyway enough writing about the decline and gloom of an old jetty area. It's Jan 1^st 2011 and a new year. Sun shining etc etc. Happy times ahead for sure.

New Years Eve And All That

Firstly HAPPY NEW YEAR.

The thing that appears to be sticking out of my head is not from me. It is the top of my guitar resting on the settee behind me. Bad self photo.

2011 has arrived and with it lots of new ideas and plans for the future. Last night was a quiet one. Chatted on the phone with friends and family and then had an evening in. Since I stopped drinking, yes still going strong in that department, the idea of going out to celebrate new year seems less important.

Wanna was at home in Ban Muang, and she with some of the family had a dinner and drinks together. I managed to chat and video away with her on Skype for a while. Really amazing when you think of it. Sitting in Abu Dhabi and using a simple laptop talk to the rest of the world. really.

But back to New Years Eve, I had dinner in our 'camp' usual stuff of meat and 2 veg, at least thats whats I think it was... then back to my room. I have my Lego Mindstormer robotics kit out here with me so decided to get back into some building and programming. I really enjoy it and need to move way from following the simple assembly instructions and be more creative. It will come.

Today will be a walk down the beach complete with a backup set of photos. Our camp is situated only a kilometer from the sea so plenty of boats and shore line. We'll have a few hours wallking along and see what we see!!! Will let you know how it goes.

Ruwais And Desert Camp Life

Where? Yes, but where exactly is it?....

Click this link Ruwais for more info on the place. its a technical link about Oil and Gas development in the area.etc. Below I've added a few sort of made an arrival events diary really for me to remember the sequences and let my colleagues know the deal. And Its easy to cut and paste into here!!

Email sent to colleagues....

Short review of steps to be taken on arrival in Abu Dhabi.

I arrived late Saturday evening. Its about an 11 hour flight from Seoul. On arrival follow the crowd!! Go to the visa on arrival desk. Its just to the right of the immigration desks. Go to the counter and hand over the photo copy of your visa/employemnt/sponsorship forms. (Its the Pink form with your photo on it.). They then hand over the original. You may need to sit and wait a bit. I did. 20 minutes. They hand you the original then you go for an eye scan. After which you do immigration and go to baggage collection. Hotel driver should be waiting outside. (I think you can buy duty free on the way in. Shops are open in baggage area? or was it before, not sure. Where ever if you want to buy some booze buy where you see it available! Not sure the limti but no one appears to check you coming in anyway)).

Hotel is on Hamdan street. About 30 minutes from airport. Its situated almost directly opposite the office. I was given a room on the 17th floor. 'Club' rooms. So good rooms, cable TV etc. Fridge full of booze which was very expensive. The hotel does breakfast etc and also has a pub in the ground floor/basement. Looks good. Only down side is they are renovating lobby area so entrance is a bit strange and difficult to navigate. Need to take a lift to the lobby then you need to change to get up stairs. Not really an issue.

Walk to the office is less than 5 minutes. 7th floor of Al Ghaith Tower on Hamdan Street. Office hours are 7'ish till ....??... don't know I never stayed long!!! Suggest you use the proper provided road crossing, at least initially

On arrival ask for Kristine, Sharon or Abigail. All very helpful. They will organise you a mobile phone and park you at a desk. It has internet access. Once there they will organise for you to have a Motts email etc. Any problems on this and the IT guy will help. The girls will also show you the coffee area etc.

I also made a curtsy call on Hisham Managing Director, and had a coffee with him in his office!)

Next up they will organise you for the medical. Medical requires you to take a form (from Kristine) to the medical centre. (Motts driver Ibraheem) wil take you and lead you through the process. Suggest you go early morning otherwise you sit in a big que. It is very simple.Examination by Doctor. He does not touch you just asked if you are OK? Then a blood smaple followed by an X ray. Once in the processit is all over in 5 minutes. Ibraheem will pay for all this so you do not need cash. He will need to go back the next afternoon to collect the paper work. You do not need to accompany him.

They will also have some one from HSBC visit the Motts office so you can open an acocunt. This account is only activated once you get your work permit. But itshould be in place within days meaning your salary gets credited into it!! HSBC offer you a choice of accounts and additional insurances should you be interested..

PPE. Again Ibraheem helps out. he will take you to the Motts prefered PPE shop. See Red Wings! They have all the PPE except ear mufflers and life jackets. Do this purchasing trip when you want.

Tuesday. After that it is a waiting process. Me, I've come in the office to check emails etc and catch up on some private correspondence!!! Not staying all day. Just been told my security pass available. So off to site this afternoon.

End of email....................

Well I'm now in Ruwais. See the attached map and photos of my accommodation. I'm here for some time to come and that could be days, weeks, months or even up to a couple of years. Time will tell!

So far OK. I'm in a small camp with adequate accommodation and fed and watered 3 times a day. Since I've only been here a week it is difficult to comment on the food except to say it is OK. However I must reserve judgement as after a few more weeks of the same, same, same my opinion might change. Will let you know.

Now being here is not Thailand. Obvious statement but I am seeing lots of different things on a day to day basis which are new and worth recording. However day by day I am on a construction site where taking photos for some strange reason only known to the Owner is forbidden.

So what to do. How to record activities. Probably end up doing stuff on the Fridays which is our weekly day off. So I can cover some things. I needed some inspiration on this.

I was looking through some of my youtube links and watching someones Vlog. He was chatting away about things to do in 2011 and he made a couple of good suggestions. He was going to pick a theme for 2011 for his youtube videos and commentaries. He was thinking along the line of herbs. Yes medicinal herbs. This got me thinking. What a clever idea not the herbs so much as the idea of developing some themes and I now need to take this idea and develop something for myself. Obviously not the herbs, but give myself a set of objectives while here in Ruwais.

First throughs are that I should visit the area and just get to know it. See if there are any interesting things, boats, old houses, sand dunes etc as a start. Also already I've noticed a lot of bird life. Mainly due to the dredging activities which churned up a lot of stuff for them to eat. So that's a start. Give me a few days to think this one over. But herbs it won't be.

Abu Dhabi Arrival

Got to Abu Dhabi late last night. It was difficult to know quite what time it was. Add in the extra time I had for completion of my immigration formalities, got dropped at hotel and finally reached my room I was even more uncertain! I had however remembered to ask hotel reception for a 7.30am wake up call. Not necessary as it happens.
We are 5 hours behind Seoul so I was still quite awake during the course of this morning. Beginning to flag now and I think early to bed this evening is looking very attractive.
Went to the office about 08.00am and started the process of meeting the new team etc then onto work permits, including more form filling. Seems never ending.
Opened my emails only to get a very sad message that a very close friend Clarence in Sacramento had died. So a sad start to the day. But not much unfortunately that I can do about to help apart from say a few prayers for him it.
Popped out for lunch at a small sandwich place recommended by one of the girls in the office. Initial impression of my first 5minutes in Abu Dhabi streets is that every one seems gentle and very polite. Also on the way back to the office I called into what appeared to be a local grocery/supermarket. Full, I mean busting at the seams type full of everything you could want. Fruits, meats, breads spices and nuts. Loads of nuts and dates. All combining to produce a beautiful smell.
Now this afternoon I am off to get a medical, necessary to be able to complete the Work Visa. Going to be tested for AIDS, HIV, TB etc. Could be some interesting results! Watch this space. They always say they are testing for TB. Well I had TB as a kid yet no one ever picks that up in a medical. I did crack some ribs a few weeks back coming off a motor bike. After the x-ray I might ask the Doctor about that. Then again why bother just get it all over and done with?
Tomorrow is no more exciting. HSBC are sending someone round to open a new bank account for me. The rule is if you work here you must be paid here. Simple enough so the banks are very keen to sign me up. I’m not so sure they will be keen when they realise just how small my monthly savings are going to be!!! This event will be followed by buying some site personnel safety kit. Plastic hat, safety goggles and steel toed hard boots. So shortly I’ll be all set to hit the work site running. Well I plan to do it as more of a quick walk!!!
Abu Dhabi. Well that’s going to have to wait till after all the above is done. Then I am free to roam until the work permits are all sorted. Already decided I will do some walking. Weather is good and I’ll get a chance to look round and see what’s what. I was last here in 1978’ish so it is all completely new. Photos and comments, observations and views to follow.