nomad on the move

dubai

rossy — Tue, 6 Oct 2009 17:54:00 GMT

Hot...desert...arid...dry...camels...horses...

that basically describes my time here in this part of the world...it's hot, but it's understandable since it's desert country, which also explains arid and dry and camels, and horses ties it all up as it is the scope of my work here in this country.

though i'm originally from a mild muslim country, i'm surprised to find that there is still an aspect of culture shock...mainly because of how i'm viewed as a woman here.

naturally i'm asian so the first reaction of most men here is, 'oh, she's a prostitute' as most chinese here are...especially around my area because it is believed to be dubai's own version of the red light district. being constantly stared at while i'm walking down the street by myself, with no man next to me takes some getting used to.

the next thing that takes some getting used to is the fact that everyone drives an SUV....for city driving. so needless to say that cranks up the city temperature by another couple of hundred notches, making the summer here totally unbearable. And if it's not enough with the sandstorms, it's hard to say what the cloudy haze is above Dubai's shady skyline...is it just sandstorm or smog? gas is ridiculously cheap here ($0.20/litre) and more expensive than drinking water ($3.00/litre). The 'green' issue here is non-existant as everyone cranks the air con unit at their homes even though no one is home, consuming more energy than ever. There was a couple of days when Dubai was close to a city wide power failure...especially during the hottest part of the year as the generator automatically shuts down when it reaches dangerous levels due to heat. At work we had a couple of power failures during the afternoons, when it's the hottest and when the air con unit shuts down the heat creeps in at an alarmingly fast rate...almost instantly. that reminds me just how fragile humans are, and how dangerous it is to us when the natural balance of nature is upset...how easy it is to perish...and how people here just don't see to give a damn about any of that. the Sheikh wants to be first in everything, how about the first in caring for the environment? in today's day and age i would think that's what is needed to put this country on the world map...be the leader in global conservation.

the food in the region is amazing though they eat too little vegetables for my liking and since being here i'm in constant search of fibre to keep my systems going. but luckily they have Spinney's, a local 24 hours grocery store that sells Western foods and it's just a stone's throw from my apartment.

i'll add more to this journal later on...

updated: looking back - it has been a year since i've been gone from this land but it felt like a lifetime ago. you know life is really moving when things feel this way and also because the experiences were pleasant, memories profound. new memories will be made for the future and one's only option is to only keep looking forward.

dubai, i can say i learnt a lot of its culture, added another notch to my travel belt but will i want to go back? honestly not anytime soon because i found the ecology wastefulness a saddening reality. every sustainable good green things everyone is doing on this planet is single-handedly destroyed by one nation's ignorance. my background is in interior design and that's the reason why i went there...to work for a summer. i've been told many times over that our profession destroys the planet because of the materials we spec in our jobs. Living in Canada i thought it a preposterous notion, but going there i have to hang my head in shame and learn what NOT to do. it is a designers' playground - dubai, but that's not a playground i want to play in because no matter how good the money is there if i accept a job that will harm mother nature then i cannot respect what i do.

with that said, i have to say the spas there (especially the Park Hyatt spa) made the country bearable and worthwhile. i made sure to visit at least once a month, if not twice. :)

seoul

rossy — Fri, 8 Aug 2008 19:17:00 GMT

seoul was my summer vacation from my vacation...the new airport was very cool; nice, clean and SUPER clean..

i wanted a break away from work and decided to go the furthest point my meager salary would allow me...so i went to the W in Seoul Walkerhill. for those who don't know me, the W is absolutely my favoritest of hotels...it's boutique, unique, chic and ultra modern. the room was white with splashes of red to make it cozy.

in my short time in seoul i managed to visit the spa (twice), even managed to convince my friend to join (who was totally against massages before), experienced and almost mastered the subway, got dumped on at the zoo, crowded in at the aquarium (but really enjoyed the aquarium) and got to really sleep in a massive bed after rolling off multiple times on my bed in dubai. oh, and i got to visit the art gallery in the heart of the city, close to the palace.

the trip is mostly for relaxation and not so much on sightseeing all i can in my short time there so it was totally refreshing and much needed. my pics will reflect that.

Gallery: summer vacation 2008

rossy — Fri, 8 Aug 2008 18:52:00 GMT

seoul

Gallery: outgoing 2008

rossy — Thu, 1 May 2008 12:59:00 GMT

spring/summer

london

rossy — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:15:00 GMT

after staying 2 cool nights in cardiff it's back to london where i spend a couple of days before flying out.

the climate is so typical of london weather - cold, rain and bitterly so. good thing i checked ahead of time and packed my brally. the first day i arrived back into paddington via train i was exhausted, mainly because i had to lug all my luggage up the train, to the 'A' car, seat 73. OF COURSE the 'A' car was at the very back and the seats are so narrow that i keep bumping my luggage into people. so it's a constant singsong of 'sorry, sorry, sorry...' as i quickly (as quickly as i can anyway) made my way to the back of the train. it took a good whole 15 minutes because i boarded at the 'G' train (stupid stupid stupid).

ok so, i finally got back to london paddington and it being a major destination, because it is a stopping point for most trains all over UK as well as being the final stop for the heathrow express/connect; one would automatically assume that it is equipped with lifts, especially for wheelchair accessibility. let me recount my ordeal which was the only low point of this entire trip.

so we all know i travel light...usually...however this time since i am going to be away for 4 months so i decided to pack a bit hardier. mistake #1. the luggage is not so heavy that i cannot lift but it's shape is cumbersome, plus i had a garment bag and a backpack to carry. anyhow, i had to lug all said items up a flight of stairs (25 steps - ya i counted), up 5 more steps to cross a bridge, then down another flight of stairs to my platform for the tube train. so 55 steps in all because i was taking the 'district' line towards wimbledon, where my aunt was going to pick me up.

mistake #2 was not taking the yellow 'circle' tube line instead. it would have cut down my journey time by a bit but i wouldn't have had to go up and down stairs.

mistake #3: why didn't i take the bus then i wouldn't have to go up and down stairs as the bus is a direct line to wimbledon station.

sightseeing-wise i only went to the victoria and albert royal museum and the science centre. i didn't run to all of them (even though it's free) since i know i'll be back again real soon, so if i don't catch it now, there's always next time. i even got myself an 'oyster' card - which is their version of bus pass that will last me forever because it's reloadable, and since it expires every 2 years it gives me an excuse to come back. =) the most sightseeing i did was basically walking up and down streets, poking my nose into people's business looking through windows, catching glimpses of hidden streets, taking mental snaps so i can remember to return to that spot. it was a great day to walk, even with my bag full of goodies and rain spitting at me from sideways.

now what? BUBBLE TEA? boy, was i in a desperate need for it, let me tell ya. so i set out to soho (chinatown) determined to find some relief by form of tapioca with some tea. nope, no bubble tea anywhere to be had and instead went to M&S and bought massive amounts of candies, snacks, and crisps; butter mints, steak and horseradish crisps, root vegetable crisps, roast chicken with rosemary crisps, chewy toffee, sultana biscuits, ribena. umm, yum!

next it's off to 'boots' for some deodorant. for some reason, the stuff made here is extra extra extra strong by canadian standards and promises to keep you fresh and moisture free for 24 hours, or in my case for 72 hours, even after showering no re-application is needed. and only at 65p per bottle, which works out to CAD$1.40 how can you possibly go wrong??

oh! the best part about london - i got to buy books at RIBA's bookshop. needless to say i managed to kill about 5 hours there and came out with a bagful of books...a very ve-ry happy camper =).

the next day was spent walking oxford street, going from the marble arch to picadilly circus. i went into burberry's and got myself a bottle of perfume, a steal at GBP$27, which works out to CAD$54 (the same bottle is $80 back home). i went into harrod's and couldn't figure out why peole wanted to go there in the first place, then there's selfridges...meh. the usual american chains littered both sides of oxford street.

i had narbucky (starbucks), tried their version of orange coffee cake (holy sugar batman!), then went into a pub and had a lamb burger with pineapple and bbq sauce with a raspberry collins chaser. dinner was at another pub eating chicken curry and conversing with a local bloke (toby) who was waiting for his wife to join him for supper. toby pointed out the points of interest all over london and even pointed me towards the design centre at chelsea harbor. he enticed me by further saying that there's another branch of RIBA's bookshop out there. my brain was salivating at the thought, but i was leaving the next day and still needed to go to the grocers and pick up some more food stuff. all in all, i didn't get to go home till i picked by 4 jars of bouvril, milo, horlick, sainsbury's instant soups and some asian crisps from Tesco and Sainsbury's.

my flight was leaving at 9:20 so after securing my seat via on-line check in i was knackered. the next day, my aunt dropped me off at a bus stop and i caught a bus with my oyster card (only 80p) and it took me all the way to the airport. bye london, you know i will be back.

cardiff

rossy — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 00:09:00 GMT

even though it was only a 8 hour flight out of toronto to london heathrow, followed by a 2.5 hour train ride from paddington station to cardiff central, it felt like an eternity.

i always had this fascination with Wales and now i'm finally here! it's hard to believe but ya, though this is gonna be a very short trip (one of my shortest to date), i already have multiple plans to revisit the place.

my hotel, the royal hotel cardiff, is just a stones throw (literally) away from the train station so that was a huge relief. the bed is so cozy and all for me...and blu. i rolled from one end of the bed to the other for about 8 hours then woke up at 4 am GST, going downstairs to harass the night staff for a snack. some guy staggered into the lobby semi drunk and very non-brit like. i say that because he had nice teeth and a nice smile...looks like the typical Nordsman, which was nice. i hadn't realized or perhaps i forgot just how nordish the UK folks all looked, and i totally like that about them.

i like how easy it is for me to pick up their accents and before long, i started sounding like a true brit. haha, and that's after being there for a day. some of then were hard to understand and i had to stare at them for a while before it sank in what they were saying, but i'm sure it's likewise with them because darren seemed fascinated with my verbage. it's either the slang or a mixture thereof...or perhaps it's 4 am and he's snoggered.

the people were nice and the welsh accent was also a bit hard to comprehend. at first i thought it was because they were speaking with an old welsh accent but actually it wasn't that at all. as it turned out, the traditional old welsh language was oppressed in the UK up until the 50s so a lot of the older folks don't know how to speak the language and can't pronounce it. i asked an older lady how to pronounce 'Daegian' (it's a name i want to name my daughter, apparently it's old welsh for 'Dawn') but she couldn't say it either for sure. we figured it's prolly di(as in diana)-gi(hard 'g')-an(as in ann). and together her and i figured 'Jolyon' would be a good boy's name for a son. i loved it! the old welsh is so hard to comprehend, it seems as though they don't use any vowels whatsoever, it's all consonents. cardiff was originally 'cardydd', and that at least has some sort of resemblance to 'cardiff'. i figured the 'dd' is pronounced as 'f'. sooo interesting! i love the language, the culture, the traditions.