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Life in Dubai (50 unread)

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March 16, 2010
1:40
VoIP - don't get too excited.
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

The TRA has announced an update on its VoIP policy, but I suggest we don't get too excited by it yet.

There's an immediate assumption that the cost of international calls will fall dramatically. For example, while EmBiz247 has good coverage it's under the headline: "New VoIP policy to shave call costs"

We can't assume that at all because charges are set by the operators, which have been named as Etisalat, Du and the satellite service providers Yahsat and Thuraya.

Although there may be slightly lower prices than we currently have I don't believe for one moment that they'll set prices down where providers like Skype have them for most of the world.

EmBiz247 in its information notes makes the point, correctly using the word 'may':

"There are many factors to be taken into consideration in determining the cost of long-distance rates. In addition, international VoIP calls may take place in a variety of scenarios, which will also influence the cost. There may be scenarios where international calls using VoIP Services may be more economical than current rates."

There's also the inevitable bureaucracy complicating the whole thing. The sort of red tape and jargon that causes confusion and creates unnecessary problems when new services are introduced.

And they're really talking about the technicalities rather than cost savings for companies and individuals.

For example Gulf News says: "Etisalat was quick to announce the details of its new VoIP solution for enterprise users" while Etisalat continues to talk in jargon rather than English with its statement: "...there is a significant opportunity for businesses to leverage the advantages of an integrated network and the convergence of voice and data through a VoIP solution."

Oh good, it's a solution.

And the TRA says: "The real attraction of VoIP lies in the fact that it enables true integrated services, location independent, with always-on capability and great flexibility."

I don't see anyone talking about reduced charges.

I haven't yet got my head around what we'll be getting or who will have access to it.

Here's the TRA again: "Closed groups or companies can make calls to their branches within the UAE as per the new policy and academic institutions for research purposes can utilise VoIP to contact international counterparts. This all has to be done within the framework provided by the licensee."

I'm going to wait for the clarifications and the clarifications of the clarifications.

EmBiz247 has the story here.
March 14, 2010
5:34
An inexplicable law
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

Making news internationally is another case of a British couple given a jail sentence followed by deportation for public indecency.

The UK coverage I've seen so far has been restrained, simply reporting the case and describing the morality laws as draconian.

The UK tabloid The Sun says the offence was "at the swish Jumeirah Beach Residence".

Well, if you think a burger joint like Bob's Diner is swish I guess that's right.

Anyway, they'd been out for a few drinks and were in Bob's Diner. Also there at 2am were an Emirati mother and her children. I wonder how old the children were...

The mother complained to the police that her children, and then she, saw the couple kissing on the lips and touching each other.

Welcome to Al Slammer.

The couple claim they only kissed on the cheek, they're out on bail and are due in the Appeals Court next week.

That's background, I'm actually posting about the other half of the story, which is an inexplicable law.

The second offence, for which the court fined them Dh1,000 each, was for consuming alcohol.

I've posted about this law on previous occasions.

Not, you note, 'drunk & disorderly' but 'consuming alcohol'.

It's perfectly legal for Dubai Duty Free, liquor stores, hotel bars, clubs & restaurants to sell alcohol. And for Emirates Airline to serve it free of charge.

Both private and government organisations are involved in trading in alcohol.

But drinking it is illegal.

Could someone with a better legal brain than mine explain it to me.

Gulf News has the story here.
The Sun is here.
March 13, 2010
1:46
Understated elegance
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

I spotted this elegant chair in a Satwa shop window.

The epitome of sophisticated design I thought.

I'm sorely tempted to buy it for my study back in Oz...
March 11, 2010
4:14
The roastery mystery
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

Yesterday I was wondering about the use of the word roastery in the name of a shop that isn't a roastery.

That was Queen Palace Flowers Roastery.

A mistranslation, I wondered?

El Shalab told us that the Arabic said mahmasa, meaning, yes, roastery.

So it wasn't a mistranslation.

Dave told us he'd checked it in Yellow Pages and they're listed as '"trader of coffee, confectionary, chocolate, flowers, plants and nuts".

There's another one too:

I looked in and they sell flowers, pots and vases, wickerwork baskets, chocolates...

I'm still trying to work out why they call themselves 'roastery'.

Maybe because they roast the nuts and the coffee...?
March 10, 2010
7:45
Multi-vehicle pile up
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

One dead and up to forty injured when between twenty and thirty vehicles crashed this morning.

It happened on the Jebel Ali-Lehbab Road when a bus crashed into a truck, another truck crashed into the bus and the pile up began.

Police say tailgating and the fog were responsible.

I disagree. The fog was not responsible, irresponsible dangerous driving was responsible.

As a result, the driver of the bus is dead and four other people are seriously injured. A further eight have 'moderate' injuries, whatever that means.

Yesterday I said that on my early drive I didn't see bad or dangerous driving in the fog. It was a one-off, an abberation. Later in the morning I did see my share of morons.

This morning I was almost wiped out twice in five kilometres.

A Landcruiser coming straight into the roundabout I was on, the driver not aware because he was too busy chatting on his mobile phone.

Then one of those ridiculous huge Ford pickup trucks, speeding in the overtaking lane, the driver deciding at the last second to turn off right. That meant swerving across in front of me to do it. Another coat of paint and he'd have hit my front end.

Gulf News and The National are both carrying the story.
Gulf News.
The National.
4:36
The things you see...
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

A flowers roastery.

I'm obviously missing something, but I can't work out what it is.

A mistranslation perhaps?
March 09, 2010
3:37
Wet air
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

The humidity's kicked in again, making the roads even more dangerous than usual.

There wasn't much traffic on my 7.30 drive this morning and, apart from a black Land Rover Sport (what else!) that couldn't stay within the lane markers, the road etiquette was pretty good.

No hazard lights flashing, most vehicles with dimmed headlights on, I didn't see dangerous speeding and, remarkably, I didn't see any drivers on their mobile phone.

On another trip at 10.30am, with the fog just about gone, it was different. I saw several drivers on mobiles, one tailgater in my boot, speeding on Al Wasl Road and SZR.
March 08, 2010
1:13
This really makes me angry.
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

There was the worst kind of tragic event in Melbourne a few days ago when a three year old child was found dead, dumped at the roadside twenty kilometres from his home.

He was a little boy called Gurshan Singh, who happened to be Indian and who was on holiday in Oz with his parents. Dad went out, mum was in the shower and it's thought the little boy wandered out through the front door.

Police said he was fully clothed, there were no signs of injury. A post mortem didn't reveal a cause of death, toxicology and forensic tests were being done and the investigation continued.

In spite of that the screams of racism began immediately.

To see the extent of the utter stupidity and bigotry of so many people, look at just one newspaper, the UK's Daily Mail.

The paper headlined the story with a racism slant:

"Murder of Indian boy, 3, in Australia sparks diplomatic row after spate of racist attacks"

That had the brainless bigots rushing from under their rocks.

Remember, little Gurshan Singh's body had only just been found, no cause of death had been established, he had no injuries, police had just begun their investigation.

A selection of the comments to the Mail's story:

"Racists killing three year olds? Sick and deeply disturbing." Alan, Planet Reality

"This has been happening for the past year! I'm a British born Indian and every time there is a racist attack on an Indian Student it is widely reported on the Indian news channel

A few weeks ago another Indian student in Australia was burnt alive in a racist attack." shania, London.

(Actually Shania, an Indian couple has been charged with that murder. Don't let the facts get in the way of your bigotry though).

"How can someone's hatred of a race be so great as to kill an innocent 3 year old boy." Nat, London

"HOW can anyone do this? When will people realise we are essentially all the same. Skin colour? So what, there is just no excuse for racism these days" karen n, manchester

"Has Australia failed to embrace diversity more than any other country. Australia will have problems to attract visitors if these issues are not tackled promptly." Romi May, Handsworth

"I have always said Auustralia has concentrated racism." Mukeye, TO

"Perhaps the Aussies need to remember that they are in fact ALL immigrants!" Shorty, Suffolk

"Seriously , both America and Australia have massive problems related to self worth and hatred of ethnic minorities" john, China

"It never ceases to amaze me when I hear of racist attacks in these countries when the original inhabitants of those countries were blacks or dark skinned." ira, FL USA

People with more sense responded to the stupidity of such comments to say that the cause of death and, if it was murder, the motive had not been established.

So Shania came back screeching:

"To all of you saying this is isn't racist, YOU CLEARLY DO NOT KNOW THE FULL STORY!!!!!!!! I have been following the series of attacks this is just one of them. What about the attacks targeting Indians specifically from India??? you cannot say that is purely coincidence

I am not saying all Australians are racists but to dismiss this as not racism is noting but sheer ignorance." shania, London

Shania knows what's going on, she's absolutely positive. And anyone who doesn't agree with her is showing their sheer ignorance.

Right.

And another bigot, the oxymoronically named 'truthspeaker' from Newcastle has the answer to it all:

"When will the authorities just admit that this is what happens when you try and force people together from very different races."

None of them are prepared to wait for the facts to emerge before shouting their version of the truth. They're not interested in the facts because they may contradict their bigotry.

The police carried out their investigation. Here's today's news:

"Toddler's death: housemate charged

A 23-YEAR-OLD Indian national has been charged with manslaughter due to criminal negligence following the death of three-year-old Gurshan Singh Channa.

Gursewak Dhillon, a taxi driver who is in Australia on a student's visa, was refused bail in an out-of-sessions hearing.

Dhillon had made admissions to police that he had placed the child in the boot of a car while the youngster was unconscious and had driven him to Oaklands Junction near Melbourne Airport and placed him by the roadside."

In the light of that, Shania, Alan, Nat, Karen N, Romi May, Mukeye, Shorty, John, Ira and the rest of you, would you care to add to your original comments?

You'll find the Daily Mail stupidity here and today's report on the arrest of Gursewak Dhillon here.

And my 'racism' tag has some previous posts on the subject of attacks on Indians in Australia.
March 07, 2010
0:34
Melbourne looks like Sharjah...
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

Sharjah in particular was badly affected by the rain we had last week and there was plenty of criticism of the drainage system.

A bit unfair because floods from unusually heavy rain don't just happen here - back in Oz, Melbourne was under water from a summer storm yesterday.

The centre of the city looked like this:

Photo: Jay Town The Australian

And the main railway station:

Photo: Rob Leeson The Australian

The storm lasted about half an hour and included golf ball size hailstones. It basically brought the city to a halt.

Over the border in my home state the problem is a little different:

"There has been a spate of snake bites across NSW, with five people being taken to hospital in separate incidents."

All five were bitten by poisonous snakes but are in a stable condition after treatment.

I loved the final word from a NSW ambulance spokeswoman, who " warned people who come across a snake to leave it alone and walk away."

Too right.

Photos of the Melbourne storm are here.
Snakebite story is here.
March 06, 2010
5:11
Interesting paint job...
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)
March 05, 2010
5:43
Twenty seven million flowers
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

Dubai Municipality say they planted twenty seven million flowering plants in the city last year.

Driving around you obviously see that a huge number of plants are put in and then pulled out as they die off, but an average of a million every couple of weeks is staggering.

It's generally reported that we in Dubai are amongst the world's highest users of water, but I wonder where we stand if the water used for irrigation is taken out of the equation.

My guess is that the total amount of water used is divided by the population number, and I can't find a breakdown of usage by sector. The relatively large amount of landscaping, parks, greenery, flowers across the city must take a large part of the total I would have thought.

Most of the flower beds have the efficient drip-watering system, but there's a lot of wastage with the sprinkler system used for the grassy areas - this morning Al Sufouh Road was awash with water from the grass sprinklers.

Perhaps we individual users aren't as wasteful as the reports suggest.

If you're in the business maybe you could give us some facts on the breakdown of usage...

I read the press release from DM this morning, when I also received an e-mail from our neighbour back in Oz which was also about landscaping.

It included a photograph of some of the flowering shrubs, or trees, in our back garden.

They're tibouchinas, which we put in when they were only about sixty centimetres tall about ten years ago.

Pretty aren't they.
March 02, 2010
5:32
Media freedom and standards hit the wall
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

There's an outspoken column in Gulf News today about the state of the media in the UAE.

Abu Dhabi Editor Abdullah Rasheed doesn't mince his words, giving a real serve to a whole range of people and organisations.

It's quite a piece.

The heading is "The ceiling of press freedom in UAE is falling"

The thrust of the column is that "Press freedom is deteriorating and freedom of expression is in increasing danger" and he points the finger at those he believes responsible.

He includes the Federal National Council, the National Media Council, which he says are both guilty of not protecting journalists, laws and government/official bodies are criticised, he's particularly harsh on media owners and managers, and he says that journalists are not doing their job.

Here's a flavour of what he says:

"At long last, the Federal National Council (FNC) will finally hold a session [today] to discuss the media, having postponed four consecutive sessions for no apparent reason.

It is no secret that one of the main obstacles facing the media and journalists is the total inability of the FNC to protect journalists from the mistreatment they face.

Our newspapers are hardly given the freedom to tackle most issues and bring to light social, political, economic and even sports stories.

There isn't enough protection provided to journalists and self-censorship is practised by our newspapers to avoid angering official bodies and to please the government.

Adding to their woes, journalists battle to get even the simplest information due to the non-co-operation of most official bodies which is another issue that the NMC did nothing about. On this issue, the NMC has taken the side of the government bodies, as if it is totally unconcerned with media affairs.

No official is ready to respond to a journalist, and no spokesperson provides information for any ministry or government body. The title of official spokesperson means nothing, because the spokesperson thinks he is a high-ranking official and that journalists are inferior to him, and accordingly declines to co-operate with them."

Newspapers aren't spared, from top to bottom:

"Journalists are no longer doing their duty, meaning that the press is no longer monitoring the performance of government.

Some newspapers even indulge in hypocrisy to please officials and the bodies they represent, and there is also full subordination to advertisers.

Mismanagement and confusion abound in most media outlets, as a result of the lack of experience of the people running them, from editors to editors-in-chief.

Some newspapers are run by people who care only about their own interests, at the expense of the public interest."

He talks about the pointlessness of it, given our access to the internet and all the news that it contains. And how in view of that we need a strong independent media here to discuss the issues facing the country. He also complains about the decreasing number of Emirati journalists.

It's by far the strongest piece I've seen on the standard of journalism, the incompetence of media companies, the lack of transparency from government, the lack of media freedom.

I'd be interested to know if anything similar is appearing in the Arabic media.

Read the full column here.
3:28
Ibn Battuta Water Park
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

The last couple of days have given us a look as far from the popular image of a desert city you can imagine.

Just a word of warning - I had to go into Ibn Battuta Mall earlier and there's an awful lot of water around.

It's not impassable but there's plenty of evidence of the amount of rain we've had overnight and through the morning and you need to take extra care driving.

Tankers and pumps are working on it and it looks as though the rain may be easing off so I guess they'll have it clear before too long.

Inside the car park there's a few centimetre of water to wade though so don't wear your best shoes if you're going there today.
March 01, 2010
1:08
Not all was what we needed
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

I said yesterday that the rain was just what we needed.

Not all the results of it were what we needed though.

It certainly cleared the dust from the air and washed the place down, but it also had some tragic effects.

At Global Village a woman was killed and a man badly injured by a falling sign at the Indian Pavilion. And in Sharjah three men were electrocuted, one who touched a metal pole on the side of a flooded road and two others by coming into contact with water charged with electricity.

There was plenty of chaos on the roads, especially in and to Sharjah, which seems to have been the worst hit emirate. A colleague of Mrs Seabee left work in Dubai at 6pm and didn't arrive home in Sharjah until five hours later.

Dubai police say there were 170 road accidents during the first hours of the heavy rains that lashed the country on Saturday night. There were 21 classified as serious, 16 moderate and 133 minor accidents. The Command & Control room apparently received 3,415 phone calls, presumably most not about traffic problems.

Talking of the weather, parts of western Europe have also been hit by wild storms. At least thirteen people are reported dead, most from drowning.

We get these problems in Oz too. A couple of times falling branches have brought a power line down outside our house, leaving the live cable lying across the road. People act quickly, whoever spots it first sets up a warning of some sort and alerts all the neighbours. State Emergency Service crews are quick on the scene and fortunately there hasn't been a tragedy.

We had a tsunami alert there for the east coast as a result of the Chile earthquake, as did the whole Pacific rim. Beaches were cleared but the surge came a little later than predicted and met the outgoing tide. That took the sting out of the incoming water so the tsunami fizzled out.

Sea levels did rise and there was a small tsunami wave, and now the oceanographers are coming under attack for overstating the danger. I have to agree with the comment from the Hawaii Tsunami Warning Centre though:

" It's a key point to remember that we cannot under-warn. Failure to warn is not an option for us. We cannot have a situation that we thought was no problem and then it's devastating."

Looking out of my window now it's sunny and calm with the leaves not moving on the trees. However, the weather bureau says we can expect unsettled weather with gusty winds and heavy rain for the next couple of days.

Reports I've referred to:

Results of UAE weather.
Tsunami alert.
February 28, 2010
4:20
Just what we needed
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

After a few days of strong winds everything was covered with a layer of dust and sand and the air was heavy with it.

Last night we got what we needed...

Thunder, lightning, plenty of heavy rain.

Apart from the usual flooded spots it's been good news. The trees and plants are looking green instead of gray, the streets, footpaths and buildings have been washed.

Plenty of water came down, but on Sheikh Zayed Road's Interchange 5 it's being added to by water coming up...
February 27, 2010
6:42
Our worst kind of weather
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

Summer is very hot, 50C, very humid, 98%, very uncomfortable.

Winter rains cause flooded roads, crashes, flooded car parks, leaking roofs.

But what we've had the last couple of days is the worst of all in my opinion. Strong winds thick with sand and dust.

Who'd want to swap jobs with the poor guys who have to work out in it all day, wrapped up as best they can to keep the dust out.

Not much job satisfaction either - as he sweeps it up even more replaces it.
February 26, 2010
5:33
Did 'Dubai' do it?
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

I've been reading some of the reports around the world about the leak at Dubai Aquarium.

They often add the the old property crash/debt crisis/Burj Khalifa lift problem stuff, so they become very negative about Dubai. And of course it encourages the real Dubai/Arab/Muslim bashers to jump in with their comments.

Here's a classic from the Huffington Post for example:

"Coool! Dubai is the farce of modern society. They have everything.... but it's built with our oil money ..... they are NOT a modern society... they are the oppose. People still get flogged for kissing in public, jailed for infidelity, and any other horrific thing you may hav heard about; men whip women on the beach in bikinis, spit on them...and that's just the tip of the sand dune."

Anyone in Dubai recognise the place from that?

But I did enjoy a couple of the other comments:

"It was probably caused by a stray bullet from the not-so-secret Mossad hit squad.

Boy! When things go wrong..."

And:

"Dubai has a lot of problems,,,,,,,,,,,,,, i.e. bankruptcy; closure of their new tower; this.

Is it possible that they themselves staged the hit on the Palestinian murderer to take attention away from its own problems?"

Anyway, that was really an aside, I distracted myself.

What I was going to post about was that while 'Dubai' is taking all the flak there's an important part of the story that isn't included.

'Dubai' didn't make the huge acrylic window, 'Dubai' didn't design the aquarium and 'Dubai' doesn't operate it.

The difference in reporting is interesting.

Buildings collapse in other cities but the stories aren't negative about the city itself.

Toyota has major problems and the negative stories are about Toyota. Not about 'Japan'.

But with the aquarium leak, and other stories about problems in Dubai, it's 'Dubai' itself which takes the hits. In fact, the aquarium problem must surely relate to either the designer and operator, Oceanis Australia Group, or to Emaar.

The viewing panel, which leaked, was commissioned under the supervision of Oceanis Australia Group. I can't find the name of the manufacturer, although there seem to be only three companies in the world capable of producing it. It's the world's largest acrylic panel, 32.8 meters wide, 8.3 metres high, 750 mm thick and weighs 245,614 kg.

When it was commissioned it was, according to Emaar's press release:

"...at the limit of production abilities by major acrylic manufacturers..."

It isn't in one piece though. If you stand at an angle to it you can see where the panels are joined. The panels are apparently fused with acrylic-soluble cement. From what I can gather from the stories it was a joint that was the problem, although the information is vague as usual and I could well be wrong.

I assume the panels were joined in the specialist factory, in Japan or wherever, which built it. Or could it be that the panels were joined here? That might be something that could be (but won't be) clarified by Emaar's PR people.

It would be good to hear from Oceanis Australia Group and from the manufacturer of the window about what happened and why.

I wonder if the PR people from the three organisations are talking to each other and getting factual information together that would stop the speculation...

Huffington Post story is here.

Emaar's original press release is here.
February 25, 2010
9:00
Now Dubai Aquarium has a problem
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

Following closely on the malfunctioning lifts in Burj Khalifa creating bad international publicity for Brand Dubai we have another bad story.

The huge aquarium in Dubai Mall has sprung a leak, causing an area of about 100 shops to be cordoned off with people told to leave the area.

The Wall Street Journal heads the story "Leak at Dubai Mall Aquarium Forces Evacuation"

It notes that it's: "the latest mishap to hit one of Emaar's prestigious projects. The company was forced this month to close the viewing deck in the world's tallest building, Burj Khalifa, in the center of Dubai."

A visitor from the US is quoted as saying: "It seems that as they're building things here, they're crumbling at the same time."

And the head of Middle East research at UBS AG told the WSJ: "Emaar has always been known as a quality developer, but they've been under pressure to finish Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa. I'm not surprised that they've had maintenance issues. They've definitely put into question their quality and are compromising their quality over volume."

The news wires have put the story out, it's starting to appear in the media all over the world and the reports use words like 'evacuation' and 'shark tank' to add to the drama.

The Chicago Tribune headlines the story "Dubai's latest blooper".

Even the usually restrained BBC runs the headline "Huge shark-filled aquarium in Dubai cracks open".

Apart from the more serious media I always like to check out what the tabloids are saying, because they have the most readers and so shape much more opinion, sadly.

Predictably, the UK tabloid The Sun screams: "Terror as mall shark tank cracks". It goes on to tell its several million readers: "Shoppers at the Dubai Mall fled in terror fearing that they about to be engulfed by 10 million gallons of water holding 33,000 sea creatures...Mall security men donned life jackets"

And inevitably, according to The Sun: ...anyone with photos of the drama were ordered by cops to delete them."

Too late, the paper has a photo of water gushing from the crack.

Naturally, most of the stories also refer back to the lift problem in Burj Khalifa and to Dubai's debt problems.

It's all doing huge damage to Dubai's reputation and it's becoming a PR man's nightmare.

The Wall Street Journal story is here.

The Chicago Tribune is here.

The BBC has the story here.

The Sun story is here.
0:54
Racism again
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

How irresponsible it is for people who influence opinion to immediately claim that any violent assault on a non-caucasian is racially motivated.

Before there's a police investigation, before the perpetrators and motives have been established, the accusations that it was racially motivated have started.

Australia has been getting a lot of criticism lately, particularly about attacks in Melbourne on Indian students. There's no doubt that some were racially motivated, and my guess is that a lot of those are copycat attacks by neanderthal youths who brag to their friends about it.

However, many are simply muggings and some are by people of the same ethnicity as the victim, as I've pointed out in previous posts (just hit the 'racism' label to go to the earlier posts if you're interested).

A Malaysian-born Australian was killed in Sydney on Sunday. In Australia we had the headline "Race-hate fears over fatal bashing".

Malaysia's New Straits Times had "Road rage or hate crime?" The story went on to emphasise the race angle:

"Australian police should work quickly to ascertain the motive behind the murder of Malaysian-born Mohd Shah Saemin who was brutally attacked by two men in Sydney on Sunday night.

Police there linked the attack to a possible road rage incident but Foreign Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman, while offering his condolences to the victim's family, asked if the incident was a race-based hate crime.

In a statement released on Monday night, Anifah urged the Australian authorities to "thoroughly investigate the case to ensure that the incident is a genuine road rage case and not a case of race-based hate crime".

Australia was rocked recently by a series of attacks against Indian nationals and students living there.

There have now been arrests.

Guess what. Race isn't remotely involved.

"Love triangle behind murder of consulate employee Mohd Shah Saemin" says the headline.

"THE wife of a Sydney taxi driver accused of murdering her alleged lover is due to face court today.

Nita Eriza Iskandar, 46, was yesterday arrested in Leichhardt and charged with being an accessory after the fact to murder, and hindering a police investigation.

Her husband, taxi driver Hazairin Iskandar, 55, was arrested at his Croydon home on Tuesday night. He was charged with murder and will appear in court again in April.

The couple's 20-year-old son was arrested in Singapore, and NSW detectives will seek his extradition today."

I don't pretend that race crimes don't happen, and when they do they should be exposed as such. But politicians playing to their voters and the media looking for sensationalism by immediately screeching 'racism' at every opportunity do nothing but irresponsibly add to tensions.

Road rage or hate crime.
Love triangle behind murder.
February 24, 2010
4:31
Getting back to basics
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

People say that Dubai has no culture. I think it has, and that culture is working.

Trading. Doing business. Wheeling and dealing.

Location has always been a key. Added to that has been access and infrastructure. Dubai has always led the region in all three.

It's very much a working city. People come here to work, they work long and hard hours. It's all about working. Working is Dubai's DNA.

It's something I've talked about it in several previous posts, recently in response to gleeful 'Dubai crash' stories.

The fact is that Dubai always has been and always will be a trading centre, but that was all but forgotten in the mad property scramble.

It was madness.

Billions of dollars changed hands in spite of there being no laws governing the sector.

Speculators were allowed to flip properties, even without having made one payment, and made millions doing so. For the first two or three years it was all done not only with no laws in place but with no properties actually built.

Caught up in the madness too many senior executives went on huge ego trips. They announced more and more outlandish developments and they borrowed short term money to buy companies which would produce only long term returns.

Then the world hit the wall. Dubai is part of the world so we hit the wall too.

Not a bad thing, it was a runaway train out of control.

Huge, badly thought out developments have been halted. Many of the incompetent senior executives have gone.

But behind all that madness, unnoticed, was the trading Dubai. From the big merchant family conglomerates to the small and medium business which are so important to the economy, the trading went on. The world didn't comment because it didn't notice.

It's why the 'Dubai doomed' stories, the 'ghost town' predictions are wrong. The people writing them don't know Dubai's history. They think, indeed they say, that the city sprouted from the desert ten years ago. Before that it was just a small village they say. They think that property is what Dubai is all about.

They couldn't be more wrong.

Today's Gulf News has some stories talking about the real economy.

The lead story is that Dubai's non-oil direct exports jumped 23% in 2009 over 2008. The value of exports through Dubai Customs exit points in 2009 was Dh52.4 billion (US$14.25 billion).

The major product categories were valuable metals and products made from them, processed food products, plastics, rubber and natural metal products.

The top export markets were India, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran.

Another front page story says that passenger and cargo business at Dubai International Airport were way up in January over January last year. Passenger traffic was up 17% at 3.38 million, which was also a monthly record, beating the previous best of 3.81 million of December 2009.

Freight volume was up 31.5% over last January, at 171,453 tonnes.

The airport is now the world's fourth busiest for passenger traffic and fifth busiest for freight. Last year 40.9 million passengers used the airport.

A fourth Chinese airline, China Eastern from Yunan, also began flying into Dubai this week, so trade with the world's third largest economy should grow.

The new cruise ship terminal was also opened yesterday, in a joint inauguration with the cruise ship Costa Deliziosa.

The terminal, which can handle four ships simultaneously, is currently used by Costa Cruises, Royal Caribbean and Aida cruises. Last year there were eighty cruise ship calls to Port Rashid, bringing 263,000 passengers.

So there's plenty going on in the real world of Dubai's economy, as it always has.

Let's hope that lessons have been learned and in future the focus will be on Dubai's strengths.

The full stories:

Exports.
Airport.
Chinese airline
Cruise terminal.
February 21, 2010
2:48
Metro completion delayed again
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

While it's clear that work has been continuing on the Metro, you can see workers on the stations and bridges along the Red Line, it's obvious that they're way behind with completion.

Now the official word is that the opening of the remaining eighteen stations has been put back, with seven due to open on April 25 and the final eleven opening 'in phases' on unspecified dates.

I think most of the seven new stations will encourage more people to use the Metro because of their convenient locations. They're at Ibn Battutu, Dubai Marina, World Trade Centre, Karama and Terminal 1 at the airport, plus the stupidly named GGICO Station (Al Garhoud) and Emirates Station (which people will confuse with Termnal 3 I'm sure).

Mrs Seabee had to go to Terminal 3 last week at peak traffic time so she decided to take her first trip on the Metro. Taxi to MoE station from her office in Knowledge Village, Metro from there right into the terminal. Quicker, easier, less stressful than driving, quicker and cheaper than a taxi all the way so she gave it a thumbs up.

As for the Green Line opening, that's been put back yet again, this time to August 2011.

Gulf News has the story here.
February 19, 2010
6:00
Photo mix
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

I was sorting out my recent batch of photos and thought this random selection might be of interest.

We're used to seeing Dubai police in BMWs and 4x4s, but at Dubai Marina/JBR they have a whole different kind of fleet, hardly hot pursuit vehicles:

There's some appropriate topiary in that area too:

A bit further on, Ibn Battuta Gate is looking good:

Also looking good is the bouganvillea around town, coming towards its best at this time of year:

And at JBR, a Russian bear has appeared. It's in a restaurant we tried the other evening, called Suvoroff. I'm no expert on Russian food but I thought it was pretty good. The menu has a big variety, with very different dishes from the usual things we're offered.
February 17, 2010
8:00
Spiderman at JBR
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

I'm told they do it for fun. I'd die of fright.
1:12
I deleted it
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

My last post was a malware warning. All the comments said I was wrong to post it, so I've deleted it.
February 16, 2010
8:11
MALWARE WARNING
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

This afternoon five sites I went to, which I visit regularly, produced warnings from my virus protection that it had blocked malware which they carry. There hasn't been a problem before so I assume they've been infected recently.

Four of them were in my blogroll, sites which have linked to Life in Dubai and I reciprocated.

I've obviously taken them off the blogroll.

Another is on the UAE Community site.

Here they are. If you're one of them your virus protection hasn't prevented them getting in so you may want to think about changing to one that will kill them.

An Occasional Blog

An Englishman in Dubai

Jimmy's House

slaphappy

They were on my blogroll.

On the Community blog:

Some Contrast.
4:12
The anti-immigrant immigrant
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

I love the irony in the story about Australia's most famous anti-immigrant becoming an immigrant herself.

Pauline Hanson made news around the world with her anti-immigration rantings. In fact it was pure racism, she was anti-immigrants if they were not Anglo-Saxon.

She had a short-lived political career and in her maiden speech in parliament commented that Australia was being 'swamped by Asians', which did great damage to the country's standing abroad, especially of course in Asia.

In particular I loved her reasons for leaving Oz:

"Over-regulation, increasing taxes and lack of true representation are affecting our way of life."

So she's decided to get away from that by moving to what UK blogger Keith calls Britanistan.

BBC report is here.
February 15, 2010
7:16
Curiouser and curiouser
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

Seeing curious signs with strange names, spelling mistakes, letters transposed is not unusual around Dubai. They're hand-painted or printed.

But on Al Wasl Road the other day I came across a type I've never seen before...
February 12, 2010
4:24
The opulence of Dubai
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

In Deira the other day I thought of the image Brand Dubai has generated overseas.

A picture's been drawn of luxury, opulence, wealth, the biggest, the tallest...

Walk through Deira though and you see the Dubai that isn't publicised overseas. From the stories I'd guess that most visiting journalists never see it and don't even know it exists.

We don't all drive around in luxurious cars or 4x4s...

It's not all, and only, huge marble-tiled shopping malls...

It isn't all high-end designer label boutiques...

We don't all live in super-luxury apartments or villas...

It's not all fancy jobs with huge expat salary packages, maids and gardeners...

It's a pity there's no balance in the stories.
February 11, 2010
3:59
Codeine doesn't mean Al Slammer any more
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

You remember the over-enthusiastic enforcement of the drug laws at Dubai airport?

People were escorted to Al Slammer for carrying what in their countries was over-the-counter medication, or having poppy seeds in their clothing, or having minute specks of cannabis on their shoes.

I did some posts about them at the time, back in 2008 I think.

There was outrage in the western, especially British, media, plenty of online criticism and 'don't visit Dubai' websites appeared. It was a real blow to Brand Dubai and I think it might have been this issue that was the beginning of the negative stories.

This problem has quietened down recently, presumably partly because people coming in were much more careful, maybe others cancelled their trip, but also it appears because the authorities have been less heavy-handed recently.

A report in Gulf News suggests a more reasonable approach. It also says that the damage being done by the reports was taken seriously by the authorities.

Major General Abdul Jaleel Al Mahdi, Director of the General Department of Combating Narcotics at the Dubai Police told Gulf News that the increase in reports about passengers carrying medical pills without a prescription got them to change the earlier regulation.

The law is still in place but the way people are dealt with has been changed.

"I agree the previous regulation was somehow strict whereby passengers were extensively interrogated and in extremely few cases detained till the substance is examined," said Lieutenant Colonel Khalid Saleh Al Kawari, Deputy Director of the General Department of Combating Narcotics at Dubai Police.

"Now if the pills are not clear to us or do not include a prescription, then we hold the passengers' passport till they provide evidence and for us to examine the substance, which only takes less than couple of days."

I've mentioned on here over the last couple of days some of the most often asked questions on forums from people planning to come to Dubai. 'How much do I need to live on' is one, 'what's the weather like in (a month)' is another. The third is about OTC or prescription medicines.

The medication question came up again yesterday on a forum, showing that those reports are still having an effect.

What a pity the new more reasonable approach wasn't used in the past.

The Gulf News story is here.
February 09, 2010
0:41
Handled the worst way - again
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

The official statement:

"Due to unexpected high traffic, the observation deck experience at the Burj Khalifa, At the Top, has been temporarily closed for maintenance and upgrade".

From a visitor:

"I was walking around the observation deck when I heard this really loud noise and what looked like smoke or dust coming out from one of the elevator doors. One of the elevators had not reached all the way to the 124th floor and I saw some people climbing a ladder from the elevator up on to the observation deck."

The story goes on with visitors' reports that around sixty people were trapped on the deck for over an hour until they were taken down by service elevator, that they were scared, angry, crying, that there was a lack of information

Absolutely typical. And absolutely the wrong way to handle issues.

It's not rocket science. First, tell the people involved what's happening. Quickly. It's not hard.

'There's a mechanical problem with an elevator. There is no danger and you will shortly be taken to the ground floor by the service elevator. While we're arranging that please continue to enjoy the view.'

Then tell the media what's happened. That's not hard either.

'There was a fault with an elevator, no-one was hurt and there was never any danger. All visitors were taken to the ground floor by service elevator. The deck will remain closed for one week, affected tickets will be refunded and there is no delay in handing over the rest of the building.' Take questions and answer them honestly.

But what's the normal way to handle a problem here?

The immediate reaction is 'can we deny it outright'?

If what's happened is too public to deny outright, make an excuse that dismisses the problem as routine or so minor as to not require comment. Under no circumstances do you say what actually happened. All senior people immediately go to ground.

Pointless. Wrong. Counter-productive. You've added hugely to the problem.

Because people who were affected reveal what really happened.

Senior people remain in hiding. The 'ignore it and it'll go away' strategy. But the damage is done and they're adding to it by their actions.

I've ranted about it many times in the past. It's not the problem that's the problem, the way you handle it is the problem. And here we have yet another repeat of the absolute worst way to handle a problem.

It's yet another blow for Brand Dubai too, because it's making news around the world. Bad news.

I've seen it in US, Australian, British, New Zealand, Indian papers already this morning.

The Huffington Post story, for example, includes:

Electrical problems are at least partly to blame for the closure of the Burj Khalifa's viewing platform – the only part of the half-mile high tower open yet. But a lack of information from the spire's owner left it unclear whether the rest of the largely empty building – including dozens of elevators meant to whisk visitors to the tower's more than 160 floors – was affected by the shutdown.

The indefinite closure, which began Sunday, comes as Dubai struggles to revive its international image as a cutting-edge Arab metropolis amid nagging questions about its financial health.

In a brief statement responding to questions, building owner Emaar Properties blamed the closure on "unexpected high traffic," but then suggested that electrical problems were also at fault.

Despite repeated requests, a spokeswoman for Emaar was unable to provide further details or rule out the possibility of foul play. Greg Sang, Emaar's director of projects and the man charged with coordinating the tower's construction, could not be reached.

The shutdown comes at a sensitive time for Dubai. The city-state is facing a slump in tourism – which accounts for nearly a fifth of the local economy – while fending off negative publicity caused by more than $80 billion in debt it is struggling to repay.

It goes on to say:

Questions were raised about the building's readiness in the months leading up to the January opening.

The opening date had originally been expected in September, but was then pushed back until sometime before the end of 2009. The eventual opening date just after New Year's was meant to coincide with the anniversary of the Dubai ruler's ascent to power.

There were signs even that target was ambitious. The final metal and glass panels cladding the building's exterior were installed only in late September. Early visitors to the observation deck had to peer through floor-to-ceiling windows caked with dust – a sign that cleaning crews had not yet had a chance to scrub them clean.

Today's story on what really happened is here.

The Huffington Post story.

A couple of previous examples of how not to handle a problem are here and here.
February 08, 2010
0:45
Typical!
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

Open all of four weeks, now "due to unexpected high traffic, the observation deck at Burj Khalifa has been temporarily closed for maintenance and upgrade."

Absolutely typical.

Build something, open it to great fanfare. Almost immediately surround it with red & white cones and dig it up.

'Unexpected high traffic'? It was always going to be a major attraction, numbers are capped, volume of traffic to expect was obvious.

The real problem is in the statement though: "Technical issues with the power supply are being worked on".

Again, it's absolutely typical. Had the work been done properly in the first place there wouldn't be 'technical issues' after four weeks.

The story's in Arabian Business.
February 07, 2010
5:10
"What salary do I need?"
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

One of the most frequently asked questions on various forums I'm active on is along the lines of "what salary do I need to live in Dubai, and to be able to save."

Some are more specific, quoting salaries they've been offered which are often four or five thousand dirhams a month.

Answers vary, but usually say that whatever the figure quoted is, it isn't nearly enough.

I always say "it depends" and try to explain, so that the questioner can work it out for her/himself.

It depends where you come from, what your standard of living is and therefore what standard of living is acceptable to you, how you want or are prepared to live, what your current salary is and whether you're able to save anything from that.

In terms of saving, the cost of living in your home country comes very much into the picture. Transfer a thousand dirhams to many countries and it's a huge amount, in others it won't buy you much more than a few meals out.

I know people here earning Dh100,000 a month, with luxury accommodation, family air fares, school fees, top medical insurance, a luxury car all paid by the company.

I know others being paid Dh2,000 a month and sharing a villa, living ten to a room. And yet others being paid Dh600 a month and living in storerooms.

As a general rule too, I find that those at the bottom of the ladder are often providing for an extended family back home, while those at the top of the salary ladder are usually responsible only for their immediate family.

What they have in common is that they all say they're better off than they were back home.

Gulf News had an illuminating full page yesterday on the subject.

The main story is about Diane, a Filipina now working in Dubai.

In 2004 she experienced what happens to so many people; to pay the placement fee, in the Philippines, for a job in Taiwan she borrowed from a loan shark. The employment deal was a scam, the money she borrowed disappeared and there was no job.

After a year she managed to find a job in Kuwait, on a salary of about Dh1,280. On that meagre salary she managed to not only pay off the loan shark but also apparently saved 'a few thousand dirhams'.

She returned home where there was an ailing mother to take care of and siblings needing money, so her savings didn't last long.

Like so many others she came to Dubai on a visit visa, did some visa runs while she searched for a job, and eventually after almost a year she found one that paid Dh2,500 a month. This was early 2007.

The story gives details of her expenses and lifestyle. She shares a room with seven others, eats cheap take-away lunches, buys storeable food to cook at home, such as canned goods and rice, rarely goes out.

She not only lives on the Dh2,500 a month, she saves between 20% and 40% of it and is helping her brother buy a property back home. The story tells us that in three years she has almost fully paid the equity line on the new home, which is equivalent to 19 per cent of the property value. "I'm almost down to a zero balance. And I did it without borrowing money! I paid the equity line in cash".

On a salary of Dh2,500 a month.

The story ends with the fact that it's not the lifestyle she dreamed of before she moved to Dubai, with its prospect of a high salary.

On the other hand, she hasn't gone back to the Philippines so the assumption has to be that she's yet another person doing better here than she would back home. She's able to live, to save, to buy a house.

It explains my 'it depends where you're from' answer to the question of 'how much do I need'.

Let's take Diane's current Dh2,500 a month and look at it from others' perspective.

No way in the world would an Aussie be prepared to live as Diane does - nor would a Brit, an American or many, many others. Share a room with seven others? Not on your life. We'd be so much better off back home.

We wouldn't be able to live on Dh2,500 a month, let alone save. It's about A$785, or GBP435, or US$680.

We wouldn't accept that kind of money anyway, a fraction of our 'back home' salary. Again, we'd be much better off back home.

On her small salary Diane's able to buy a house back home. To do the same thing an expat Sydneysider buying a house at the median price of A$630,000 (over Dh2 million) would be paying about Dh13,000 a month on a mortgage.

To live to a standard we're prepared to accept and be able to provide exactly the same things for when we go back to our home countries, it depends where you come from.

The Gulf News story gives an insight into what a lowly paid worker can do with a small salary and it gives some typical salary ranges for various job functions.

Gulf News has it here.
February 06, 2010
6:52
Some good news for Dubai
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

We're no longer Top Ten, which for once is good news.

This Top Ten is a list of the cities with the world's most expensive hotels. Dubai has been at or close to the top for expensive hotels for some time.

Now we're not even in the Top Ten according to the report of a survey I found in The Daily Telegraph.

World's most expensive cities for hotels

Moscow £266.56

Abu Dhabi £223.35

New York City £203.70

Paris £201.07

Manama (Bahrain) £189.36

Milan £185.73

Geneva £185.19

Copenhagen £182.74

Washington £179.53

Athens £177.81
February 05, 2010
4:21
Sponsorship system under review?
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

What a massive change it would be if the much criticised employer sponsorship system under which expatriates work and live in the UAE was replaced by a new system.

Well, it could happen according to Gulf News, which reports that the current system is under review.

They're quoting a 'cabinet source' as saying that cabinet is discussing a new employment system for expatriates, proposed by the Ministry of Labour.

On the same subject, a couple of days ago the president of the Emirates Human Rights Authority said that the Ministry of Labour is expected to approve "a new system to replace the sponsorship system" by year's end.

There are no details of what's being discussed and there's been no official comment or confirmation so we'll just have to wait and see.

There's another report on labour conditions in The National today too, which has me confused.

The report says:

"New York University has demanded a sweeping set of rights for workers hired to build its Saadiyat Island campus.

The university and its Abu Dhabi Government partner said workers must be allowed to keep their passports, receive 30 days annual leave and not be left indebted to recruiters. Foreign employees must also receive medical insurance and an airline ticket home each year.

Employers must pay or reimburse fees for requirements such as visas and medical examinations.

Wages will be paid on time by electronic transfer."

Now I know that those things are often not provided by employers, especially in the construction industry, but I thought they were part of the Labour Law anyway, which a quick search seems to confirm. For example:

The maximum prescribed working hours for an adult employee is eight hours per day or forty-eight hours per week.

For every year of service, an employee is entitled to annual leave of not less than the following:
1. Two days leave for every month if his service is more than six months and less than one year.
2. A minimum of thirty days annually, if his service exceeds one year.

At the end of the contract the employer is responsible for the repatriation expenses of the employee to the place of recruitment or to any other place which the two parties have agreed upon.

I found that here.

In addition, keeping passports is illegal, employers have to pay for visas, salaries have to be paid by electronic transfer and Abu Dhabi made providing medical insurance for expat workers obligatory a while ago, didn't they?

It would seem that the 'sweeping set of rights being demanded' are already covered by the law. All it needs is enforcement, and as the government is a partner in the development surely that won't be an issue...

Then to the other bit I don't understand:

"Recruitment specialists said the demands were unrealistic."

Uh?

So as I read it the developers, NYU and the Abu Dhabi government, are demanding that contractors abide by the law. But recruitment specialists say that's unrealistic.

Not for the first time, I'm left confused.

Gulf News.
The National.
February 03, 2010
3:16
It's never that simple
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

A couple of reports recently from Oz prompt me to post again about the attacks on Indians in Victoria.

I posted a couple of times last year, when the media frenzy in India seemed to be at its peak.

The theme was that Indians were being targeted in racially motivated attacks. There were the inevitable protests on the streets, effigy burning, government discussions at the highest level, calls for Indians to boycott Australia because it's so unsafe, the Indian government issuing a travel warning.

Of course, like everything, it's not that simple.

I don't doubt that some of the attacks were racially motivated. Morons, usually young males, usually with the bravery that comes from being in a group and often drunk, attacking lone walkers after dark.

But then you look at context.

According to the Victorian police, in 2007/08, 1,447 people of Indian origin were victims of crimes against the person such as robberies and assaults. This compared to 24,260 Caucasian victims and 36,765 victims overall.

The police go on to say that a lot of international students work and study late at night and are often travelling home by themselves on trains, equipped with their laptops and phones. That makes them much easier soft targets than the average person.

Then to the two recent reports.

At the end of December Ranjodh Singh was stabbed repeatedly and then set on fire. Another racially motivated attack?

At the end of last week it was reported:

"In a new twist to the 'horrific' murder of Indian youth Ranjodh Singh, whose partially charred body was found from the city of Griffith Dec 29, Australian police Thursday arrested an Indian couple in the case and said the victim was burnt alive. Police charged a 23-year-old Indian man and his wife with murder."

An Indian couple.

The report is here.

Early in January we also had:

"In yet another attack targeting Indians in Australia, a 29-year-old man from the country was set on fire by four assailants, drawing strong condemnation from a student body which called such assaults unacceptable and asked authorities not to "dodge" the issue."

The Times of India reports that story here.

Today's report:

"AN Indian man who told police he was attacked and set on fire by a gang of four men has been charged with making a false report to authorities and criminal damage for financial gain."

It was an insurance scam.

That story's here.

As I said, things are always more complicated than the knee-jerk reaction would have us believe.
February 01, 2010
2:02
The humidity's back
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)
January 31, 2010
7:06
Why do they do it?
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

Not unique to Dubai by any means and I've often wondered over the years (fumed, actually) why the lazy bastards do it.

This happened to be in Ibn Battuta Mall car park. The trolley park is just the other side of the silver car but the shopper couldn't be bothered to take it the few steps. Instead it's left between two cars. Where it can cause damage and has to be moved by someone else.

It really is only a few steps, a few seconds. So why do they do it? Laziness, stupidity, inconsideration, can't be bothered, don't understand? Arrogance - I'm too important to take my trolley to the right place? All of the above?
January 28, 2010
3:59
Another steady job...
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

I began my post on Sunday with "There are a number of people who have steady jobs in Dubai, like the guys who have small domestic brooms to sweep the sand back."

I spotted this one this morning:

He had plenty to do after the couple of windy days we've had.

He has to work with less than hi-tech equipment too - a domestic broom, a dustpan & brush, a black plastic bag.
January 26, 2010
8:12
An Australia Day story
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

As it's Australia Day here's a topical Australian story.

It's about the Aboriginal flag:

The flag first flew in 1971, the year it was designed by Harold Thomas. It was declared an official flag of Australia in Federal legislation fifteen years ago and Mr Thomas was given copyright on the design.

Now to today.

Google ran a competition, 'Doodle 4 Google' in schools across Australia. The winner was eleven year old Jessie Du (now there's a familiar name to us here in Dubai!) with a very clever design.

Jessie used native animals to form the word google with the Aboriginal flag incorporated in the design around the second 'o'...

Then it all went pear shaped.

I won't bother you with the details, claims and counter claims, there's a link to the story below, but it appears to be a copyright payment issue.

In the end Google airbrushed the flag out.

In purely design terms I think they've ruined it, which is a shame.

But the real reason I'm posting about it is that Mr Thomas is from the town with my very favourite place name and I can't resist the temptation to mention it whenever I get the chance.

He's from the spendidly named Humpty Doo.

No, it's true. Look, they even have a pub:

You can read the story here in the Sydney Morning Herald, for the claims and counter claims.

There's some info on Humpty Doo here and some thoughts on how the name came about here.
January 24, 2010
7:09
A steady job
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

There are a number of people who have steady jobs in Dubai, like the guys who have small domestic brooms to sweep the sand back.

I came across another one in Dubai Marina.

There are seven or eight kilometres of railing, a man, a bucket and a rag...

All on his own he was doing a good job.

Wipe the rag over the railing for several metres, walk back to get the bucket of water, take it a few metres further on, walk back and wipe the rag over the railing, walk back to get the bucket of water, take it a few metres further on........
January 21, 2010
2:06
More on driving standards
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

"Transport Minister says the results show that while most drivers are well-informed about road safety, many are choosing to ignore the warnings."

Very true.

But in another of those 'it ain't only Dubai' moments, it's the Australian Federal Transport Minister talking about Aussie drivers.

I've long complained about the lack of lane discipline in Oz, drivers doing much the same things wrong as here in Dubai.

A single lane road widening into two or more lanes sees the majority of drivers immediately dashing to get into the wrong, overtaking, lane. Slow drivers sit in the overtaking lanes, on freeways and other roads.

Every person I've asked who took lessons and passed their driving test in Oz, without exception, has said that lane driving was not taught or even mentioned.

A couple of recent stories give an idea of how serious the problem is on our roads.

A survey has found Australian drivers are continuing to ignore warnings about road safety and engage in risky and illegal behaviour on the nation's roads.

Almost two thirds of respondents admitted to regularly using their mobiles while driving, twenty-five per cent of respondents felt it was acceptable to speed in some circumstances, sixteen per cent had fallen asleep at the wheel and four per cent believed they had driven while over the legal blood alcohol limit. Almost twenty five percent of drivers have been booked for speeding in the past two years,

I'm sure it's not just in Oz either, many countries have similarly dangerous drivers.

Not just dangerous but incompetent.

How's this for leaving an office block car park...

Photo. Sydney Morning Herald

The driver claims she 'lost control' of her car.
I would have thought that if you're driving sensibly and competently out of a car park it's very difficult to 'lose control' of the car.
We're right to complain about the poor driving standards here but we shouldn't fool ourselves into thinking it doesn't happen elsewhere.

Survey report.
Woman freed from hanging car.
January 20, 2010
0:12
The clarifications begin...
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

The first of the 'clarifications' on the visa story I posted about yesterday appears in Gulf News today.

I said in the post that one of the things the announcement hadn't explained was whether the rule that visitors cannot re-enter the country for one month applied to the 33 passports which get an automatic visa on arrival.

Today's 'clarification' actually talks about 36 passports - they've added Cyprus, Malta and Paraguay to the previous list.

Citizens of those 36 countries are exempt apparently and can come and go at any time.

So that's one question answered.

Now they need to give some thought to the effects of the one month ban on the cruise business, which Dubai is trying so hard and expensively to develop, and on the general tour business here. Thirty-six exempt passports means citizens of about 170 countries are not exempt.

The 'clarification' with the list of passports exempt is here.
January 19, 2010
3:43
Act now think later
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

We had a report on Sunday that an official has confirmed that visit, transit & tourism visas are for one visit only. Visitors leaving the country can't re-enter for one month, after which they'll need a new visa to come back in.

This visa 'clarification' is another example of the sort of nonsense we get all-too regularly. There's no thought about what it actually means before an announcement is made.

Relate it to another subject we've had stories on recently, about Dubai being a regional cruise ship hub. That's not to mention huge government investment in infrastructure for it.

So are the cruises for residents only?

If visitors enter the UAE and get on a cruise ship they can't, according to this 'clarification', come ashore when it docks back in Dubai. They've already used up the one entry allowed by their visa. And they can't come back in for a month.

So what happens?

The report is also yet another example of something else I complain about ad nauseum, the lack of questions from 'journalists'.

An official makes a statement which raises more questions than it answers, yet the questions aren't asked.

In addition to the cruise customer questions, what about the 33 passport holders who get an automatic visa on arrival? Does the one month ban apply to them too?

Gulf News has the visa 'clarification' here.
January 17, 2010
7:08
Stuffed
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

I've posted a couple of times about Sam the koala, injured in last summer's Black Saturday bushfires, Australia's worst ever fires.

The first time was when this photo appeared...

Photo: Russell Vickery. Herald Sun

...and later when it was reported that the koala had died, not from the fires but from an unrelated disease.

I guess we're now at the final chapter in the story because it's reported that the animal will be stuffed and put on display.

I'm not sure I'm entirely comfortable with that.

Anyway, the story says that:

The female koala survived the fires but later died from the disease Chlamydia.

Sam's body has been preserved, and will become part of a bushfire memorial display at the Melbourne Museum.

The Museum's chief executive, Dr Patrick Greene, says Sam now has a special place in Victoria's history.

The ABC story is here.
January 14, 2010
4:12
Moron report
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

Dubai's Traffic department has issued a list of the top ten worst traffic rule violators in 2009.

The number of offences they must have commited are astonishing.

Even the tenth on the list racked up fines averaging over Dh111 every day of the year. A total of Dh40,750.

The worst offender had fines totalling Dh84,510.

There's no information about whether they've been banned and had their vehicles confiscated. I do hope they're not still on the road, still endangering the rest of us.

By the way, for once the official report is the same as anecdotal reports - males and Emiratis dominate.

Nine are men and nine are Emirati. The lone expat is a male Brit, who's number two on the list. The woman is at number four.

The story is here.
January 13, 2010
4:22
Laws, blind eyes & heads down
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

The latest legal case here making the news internationally is that of the British woman who reported a rape and was charged with having illegal sex.

That's actually the way it's being reported, the all-too-usual mix of truth and fiction which ends up giving the wrong impression.

She wasn't charged with having illegal sex in relation to the alleged rape nor was the rape claim ignored by police, which is the way it's being presented and is what many people seem to believe.

The story is that she reported the rape, the complaint was ignored, she was subjected to humiliating tests and then charged with illegal sex and drinking.

It's actually somewhat different.

The brief background is that she was here with her fiance, sharing a hotel room, she got drunk and passed out in the hotel toilet. A waiter followed and allegedly raped her.

When she reported it to the police she and her fiance were arrested (they're out on bail) for drinking alcohol and having illegal sex.

To clarify, the police have said:

The rape allegation of a 23-year-old British woman was registered and investigated by Dubai Police with a full forensic report filed to the public prosecution, said a police official.

Contrary to what have been reported in many international media outlets, Lieutenant Colonel Abdul Qadir Al Bannai, director of Jebel Ali Police Station, said: "I am aware to what have been reported recently. A case has been opened against the Syrian suspect who she claims raped her. He was detained and referred to the public prosecution.

"All the necessary procedures were undertaken. Our rules are clear in the UAE; illegal drinking and sexual intercourse is considered an offence, so a case was filed against the couple as well. But we didn't ignore the rape report," he said.

It's another example of what many people see as incomprehensible differences between what's illegal, which laws are enforced, what's allowed. It's also another example of people naively believing that the laws in other countries are the same as in their own country.

It is indeed illegal to have sex outside marriage. But as with any society it happens all the time. Unmarried couples live together, unmarried tourist couples are welcomed without question by hotels.

Alcohol is freely available, yet you can be jailed for drinking it.

People are confused by it all but I think it's actually very simple.

The laws are there but a blind eye is turned as long as you keep your head down.

That the laws are in place is no surprise. They're appropriate for a Muslim country, for a country in this conservative part of the world.

But Dubai in particular treats them pragmatically and the police turn a blind eye, allowing residents and visitors a relatively liberal environment.

The key thing to remember though is that you have to keep your head down and not come to the attention of the police.

Drinking is OK, but cause a disturbance in which the police get involved and you're in trouble.

Unmarrieds living together is OK, but attract the attention of the police and you're in trouble.

I think this came about because Dubai from its beginnings has interacted with people from outside. They traded with, visited, resided in Dubai and the people here became comfortable dealing with foreigners.

As the society developed, laws were put in place and because lawmaking is official and formal they inevitably followed the religion and culture of the region. But the reality on the ground was tacitly acknowledged.

Turning a blind eye is not a new thing brought in as a result of greed for the tourist dollar either. It's been the same since the laws were written. As long as people keep their heads down.

I'm not suggesting this latest couple should not have reported the alleged rape, but they seem to have been unaware that their own actions were illegal and that they could be arrested.

Gulf News has it here.
January 11, 2010
5:05
Sheikh Eisa not guilty
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

An up-date on a story I've posted about in the past, the last time being a month ago.

Shaikh Eisa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has been acquitted of assaulting an Afghan merchant after the Al Ain Court of First Instance found him not responsible for his actions which were videotaped and put on the internet last year.

The court also cleared Shaikh Eisa of endangering the life of the Afghan merchant, M.S., and of sexually abusing him with a stick.

I've always had a problem understanding the way the law is structured in the area of responsibility, not just here of course.

It makes no sense to me that a verdict can be 'well, yes he did it but he's not guilty because...'

If he did it he's guilty of doing it. That should be the verdict. Yes he did it. Guilty.

Extenuating circumstances should, to my non-legal mind, come in later when the sentence is considered. If the person did the deed, ie is guilty, but was coerced, mentally unbalanced or whatever then the sentence, if any, would reflect that.

Anyway, back to the 'torture tape trial'. The verdict is what was widely expected and I don't suppose anyone's surprised.

In an earlier hearing, a doctor from Abu Dhabi's Forensic Laboratory testified before the Al Ain Court that the medication given to Shaikh Eisa at the time when he allegedly assaulted the merchant may lead to loss of memory and uncontrollable behaviour.

The court accepted the 'not responsible' defence.

It's a bizarre case.

The tape is on the internet for the world to see. A number of people are shown torturing an Afghan merchant, Mohammed Shapoor. Sheikh Eisa has been found not guilty while five co-defendants were found guilty.

Couldn't they also have mounted a 'look what you made me do' defence?

Two associates of Sheikh Eisa, American citizens, released the tape to the media. They were sentenced in absentia to five years in jail for having drugged him, thus endangering his life, and defaming & insulting him by broadcasting the tape.

The victim is suing them for libel because he says that releasing the tape defames him. The court must have agreed because he was granted Dh10,000 in temporary compensation.

It's reported in The National that after the verdict the victim Mr Shapoor congratulated the sheikh, kissing him on both cheeks.

I really have trouble getting my head around all that.

While Sheikh Eisa and and a co-defendant were acquitted, three other co-defendants were jailed for between one and three years for the assault.

Public Prosecution can appeal the verdict. I'll be as surprised as you if they do.

So far the international media has simply reported the verdict, although the Financial Times does add the comment that: Reaction to the verdict ranged from a weary assumption that the judicial process was bound to find the brother of the UAE president innocent, to shock that in spite of graphic video evidence Sheikh Issa was found innocent while five of the seven accused were sentenced to jail, including two farm employees who had carried out the assault with the sheikh.

Where newspapers allow online comments the predictable reaction, a travesty of justice, from people is obvious and almost unanimous.

The real attacks will start tomorrow I'm sure, when the columnists file their pieces.

Gulf News report.

The National report.

The Times report.

Financial Times.
January 10, 2010
3:09
It may be art, but is it food...
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

In the days when I used to run advertising agencies in the UK and Australia I used to take in design students to give them practical work experience.

They were usually in their first year in art college so they had no practical experience, they were learning the basics and were starting to explore their creativity.

Although what they designed was often pretty it was inevitably completely unworkable and unrealistic with no relevance in the real world.

I was reminded of it the other evening when we made one of our rare trips to a hotel restaurant, the Hunter Room Grill at Westin Mina Seyahi.

It's been a while, a couple of years in fact, since I posted about pretentious food but I couldn't go past this example.

Mrs Seabee ordered what was described on the menu as braised Short Rib with puree sweet potato, mushrooms and onions.

Those first year art college students came to mind because this is what arrived:

This isn't from a first year student but from what must be a qualified and highly paid chef in a five star hotel. Which charged Dh158 for the dish, served on a strange slab of cold china.

The quality of the food wasn't the problem, that was fine. Excellent, well-cooked meat and fresh vegetables. But who came up with that presentation, and why?

Another reminder that we're right not to encourage such nonsense by visiting hotel restaurants very often came a few evenings earlier.

Nowhere near the same pretentious presentation but another example of a menu misnomer.

At Pachanga at Hilton Jumeirah Beach Mrs Seabee (she always orders the wrong thing) ordered Paella, a dish she really enjoys.

As you probably know, paella is a dish which has all its ingredients cooked together in one pot at the same time.

Here's what arrived:

A strangly moulded circular pile of rice with peas artfully arranged on top. Pieces of separately cooked seafood were carefully arranged on top of that stack and other seafood items were dotted around the strange piece of china it was served on.

Again, top quality ingredients, well cooked. But paella it ain't. It's seafood served with rice and peas.
January 09, 2010
2:34
Armed police storm Emirates flight at Heathrow
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

Armed officers have stormed a plane at London's Heathrow airport as it was about to depart for Dubai and arrested three men on suspicion of making a bomb threat, police say.

The three men arrested Friday night aboard an Emirates Airlines plane at Heathrow Airport had made a verbal threat to staff, police said Saturday.

The men, ages 58, 48, and 36, were arrested on suspicion of making a bomb threat and remain in police custody

Sky News television, which broadcast the grainy picture from the plane, said the men arrested were English and appeared to be drunk.

No surprise there then, from my experience of Emirates and Virgin flights into and out of Heathrow.

To avoid flying with drunks falling about and throwing up we're going back to flying with Singapore Airlines.

I don't know what the maximum penalty is but I hope it's what these morons get.

The story is here and here.

NEXT DAY UPDATE

Robert Fowles, 58, from Dover, Kent, is accused of making a bomb hoax and being drunk on the Dubai-bound Emirates flight on Friday night, the Metropolitan Police said.

Another man on the plane, Alexander McGinn, 48, also from Dover, has also been charged with being drunk on an aircraft.

A third passenger on board the plane who was arrested at the time - a man aged 36 - was released without charge.
January 08, 2010
4:34
Still in the pre-internet age
» ‎ Life in Dubai (uae)

There's a huge gulf between the claim that Dubai is an ultra-modern commercial/financial centre and the out-of-date thinking of so many of the companies operating here.

We're still in the age when to get anything sorted out people are expected to visit companies personally and wait in endless queues. In an age when e-mails aren't even read let alone replied to. In an age when material needs to be sent to companies by fax.

Companies got as far as understanding that a website was a good idea - but having set them up they simply left them. Huge numbers of them are several years out of date, making them useless.

On various forums there are regular complaints from people overseas that they get no response to e-mails to hotels, tour companies and others.

There are a couple of reports in Gulf News today that continue the story, relating to the ultra-modern tallest structure in the world, Burj Khalifa.

The first is headed "Confusion over Burj website owner persists" and talks about the people involved in registering burjkhalifa domain names.

How could it be allowed to get to this? When the name Burj Khalifa was decided on it should have immediately been protected. It's very basic stuff that the domain names such as burjkhalifa.com and .ae and .org and .info and the others should have been registered.

They weren't, so we have the free-for-all that's now going on.

The official website is all over the place too.

That Emaar site is still burjdubai.com and that's what the tower is still called on the site.

The second report is about the queues for Observation Deck tickets, in which the final para says "The announced online ticket booking on the tower's website was not yet active at the time of going to press."

I went to check it. If you browse through the Observation Deck section you'll find the valuable information: "At The Top will open in January 2010." Will open. How long ago was that put on the site?

A pop-up tells you to: "Purchase your tickets online for the date and time of your choice" but nothing happens if you click on it.

The Observation Deck was obviously planned years ago, everything's now in place, it's up and running - but no-one thought to have the website ready.

What's going on with management and IT people here?

The stories are here and here.

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