Lazy Homemade Bar B Q - Ruwais Camp

Forget work. Yes forget it for a few days. We had a busy time of it yesterday. Priority was to forget the main works and concentrate on more important matter, making a new bar b q complete with a stand up frame. Wonderful job they did to.

One of our quality Inspectors, Ronald spent half the day supervising!!!! Whats so difficult and involved in making a Bar B Q you ask? So read below see if it is the way to go, maybe you just prefer to buy a small one in the local DIY shop at I am sure a minimal cost.

But we did it our way.......

Our Method and approach was simple, but perhaps, just perhaps, a bit over the top...

Well first take

one international Korean Contractor, preferable not to far from our camp,

two specialist welders,

high quality steel plate cut and bent to required shape,

special (expensive) welding rods,

essential of course to have full time Health andSafety personnel on standby watching proceeding,

additional inspections by senior management from the Contractor,

and approval and acceptance inspections by the Supervising Clients Engineers and,

then and only then, have it delivered preferable in a decent 4x4 (looks better than arriving in the back of a pickup) and then have it set up by yet more workers!!!!

This approach whilst you might consider it a bit excessive does 100% for sure result in a working fit for purpose Bar B Q.

We did get what we wanted. But cost...... Don't ask!!! As the joke goes it was free, but for everything else there is Master Card!!!!

So having had it made and delivered to our camp we decided to give it a christening this lunchtime. Ronald again took charge of the cooking while the rest of us mucked in with the supply of beer, soft drinks and generally getting things set up. We also seemed to be constantly in the way of the cooking!

What did we have? Fresh fish, Bonito and some snapper. Also squid and a couple of pork dishes and of course the old standby favourites of Chicken and Sausagges. All washed down with a few cold beers. It was quite a collection of people as well. Filipino, Korean, Indian, Pakistani, Brits and all enjoying. No ladies which was a pity as they always bring an added something to such events. But not to be. So I can tell you all the salads and extras came from the canteen!!!!!

The highlight for me was the abundant supply of proper chilies. To date, all we've had in the canteen are large chillies that really have no taste but just look the part. So for me a good start to the meal. Ronald, Arnold and Roderick are Filipino

and were keen to strut their stuff and impressed us by producing some excellent 'home' foods. We had some Sisi, which is best described as being basically ground pork with spices. Very tasty. There was also a stew which was good but not dissimilar to something I might have cooked. Basically a not so hot pork stew without lots of Filipino spices. Stuffed squid and several sauces.

I was really enjoying myself but a little uncomfortable. Almost like I was there under false pretence. Unknown to all the others sitting with me, and indeed to you as a reader!!! I had, earlier in the week given my notice and plan to be gone before next weekend. Therefore it was a bit strange to be sitting amongst everyone talking about the next Bar Ba Q.

I'd decided to leave this place and my current employment. Basically I have a chance to go to Australia and take Wanna with me. So really not much of a choice.

I just said, I gave notice a few days back. Can you believe I only have to give one weeks notice. I think it was considered from the company as a good idea so they could get rid of 'undesirables' at short notice. They have used this approach to their advantage on several occasions already, two guys that I know off. So I also realize it works both ways. Now its my turn to go, and within 7 days! But then having tendered my resignation they ask me to stay on for a few days extra! Seems a bit illogical to me. Still whats few days if it helps out, promotes good will and I get paid....

What next you ask? Well I'll be adding a couple of additional blogs in UAE before I go. Then a lot of new ones covering life back in Thailand for a week or so before onwards to Australia. Just reading over this I realize there are probably a lot of Bar B Q stories to follow from the land of Oz!!!

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.

Ruwais again

Before coming to Ruwais I bought an Apple MacBook Pro thinking it was time I tried out an Apple computer. I did have an Apple 2 about 30 years ago but time has moved on since then. This one comes complete with some basic software a bit like Windows but you still need to buy the decent programmes. Why am I mentioning this here? Well... I've been spending some time, a lot of time struggling and learning the basic stuff and believe you me it does take a bit of learning. They do things differently at Apple and its hard work to 'mind' swap over from my old Dell. What it means to me is the additional time and effort to edit photos and actually manage to do a video. Hard stuff indeed.

Today another working working week has passed. And passed very quickly. It is amazing how fast. Friday having arrived I had no plans. We, David and I went for a walk on the beach in the morning. I plan to spend the afternoon doing one of my Lego Robot toys. Some sort of colour sorter. You'll know about it soon enough! (If it works...).

The walk was enjoyable. David started by collecting lots of 'floats' which had been washed up from old fishing nets. There were lots. Every few meters as we went along the shore we kept coming across more and more. Very quickly he had himself a sizable collection. We even ended up searching for some string with which to tie them together as he could only carry so many in his hands!!!!!

I asked him his plans for this seemingly strange and rapidly growing collection of floats. “I'll taken them back to Thailand on my next leave.” David lives about 300 kilometers from the nearest shore line?....

“err... OK” I responded.

We continued walking. He did not say much for a few minutes, must have been reflecting on his last answer for he suddenly announced “You know... I think I'll just leave these on the beach” At which point he promptly dropped the floats on the beach where he was standing and proceed to march on. One less thing for Thai Customs to worry about!!!!

Good walk and now time for lunch. The days half gone already. Work tomorrow...

Wednesday

It's Wednesday. Nearly the weekend. I have yet to get used to the idea of Friday being 'La Weekend'. It has advantages. Working Saturday and Sunday is not such a big deal and before you know it Friday has arrived. And time is flying by here. I have not had a chance to do much exploring since I posted on Saturday, but hope this weekend (Friday) to do someting and look round. Next weekend I think it will be a trip to the interior. There is a place called Liwa and another called Al Ain. They are both about 200 kilometers inland. Big beach!!! I went to Al Ain in 1978. Suspect it has changed beyond recognition, not that I remember all that much anyway... So first inland trip this time is Liwa.

Memories of it, Al Ain, all are vague at best. I do recall lots of sand, sand and more sand. But not entirely the full picture. Al Ain itself was quite beautiful. A small oasis town set in the foot hills of the mountains seperating UAE from Oman. My memories do include some fabulous scenery, sun burnt mountains and golden and 'red' sand. For some reason the red sand I recall as we walked through it for a few hundrew meters. Sure it was there..? Hope I can capture some of the 'feeling' of it all on my little camera. Will do my best. For now I am still near the shore. So I'm attaching a nautical photo, I came across, scan actually but that does not really matter. It shows a local dhow plying the waves. They have annual competitions and I'll be attending for sure. Another event to look forward to.

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.

Boxing Day

Yes I know Christmas has passed and is over for another year. All over that is till 25th Dec 2011. And that’s not a long way off. Only 364 shopping days left. Sounds a lot but really 2010 has flown by. Why do I sound so cynical ?
I spent my Christmas in Abu Dhabi, well Ruwais actually, on a construction site. It was a working day like any other day here. Started on site at 07.00 and finished at 18.00 hrs. Same as the day before. Need to keep some perspective and remain honest in my descriptions! Actually Friday was our weekly day off!!! And I can assure you that as well was not much fun. And I still got up at 5.30am. What to do? Why was I doing it? Well they were good questions I asked myself many times throughout the day. I have no idea why I got up so early or why I got up at all. Should have just relaxed in bed all day.
But last night before sleeping I did relax in bed and gave myself some time to reflect.

• Me, spending Christmas day working in the desert living in a workers camp.
• My wife in Thailand.
• My daughters in Seychelles.
• My parents and brother in UK.
• And then the meaning of life. No I won't go there.

This reflection really did make me wonder why exactly I was so far away from them all. I could have gone and flown off in almost any direction and I would have been with some of them. I should have taken a couple of days off to join them. Life after all is not a dress rehearsal and I should make the most of it.
2011 is on the way. Lets enjoy it and look forward. Only looking backwards to learn from our experiences. Smile and make someones day.

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.