sharjah after the storm

The winter months in the UAE bring relief from the 120°F summer. Winter is also the "rainy season." I say "rainy" because the average annual rainfall in the coastal region of the UAE is less than 5 inches. (A south Georgia thunderstorm laughs at the puny rain clouds of the Emirates.)

With hardly any rain, there is little reason to invest in a proper drainage system. When it does precipitate, the rain amounts to a light drizzle. After several days of on again, off again drizzle, Mother Nature opened up on January 28.

Tophi and I were just about to head out for a walk to neighboring emirate Ajman when the storm hit. The power was knocked out, and our hotel's restaurant was leaking badly around the doors and windows. We were trapped in the restaurant until things settled down. We watched outdoor furniture slide around as the sky turned a dark gray.

As we ventured out, the streets were flooding, and drivers didn't know quite what to do. All of the palm trees were deformed from the wind.

The remains of a beach fair got blown around. See that carousel? It was going around backwards like something from a Stephen King novel.

Where's the palm tree?

Oh! What's it doing there?

The wind uprooted several of the palm trees that line the road.

Debris was blown onto the streets in many places.

This flooded bus station was on the way to Ajman.

The sign reads "Apex Dewatering" in front of a construction site. The water is above the curb in this picture.

The wind was pretty intense, and construction sites were easy targets for damage. The sad part is that many of these sites were abandoned anyway -- who knows when this will get cleaned up.

Just as the southern communities in the United States were not equipped to deal with this winter's storms, the UAE is unprepared for a deluge. Most of the streets don't have drainage systems because usually the water can evaporate quickly enough.

The Met Office forecasts more storms are on their way. I'll keep you posted with more photos. There are more photos from our walk after the storm here.

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Posted in: ajman,leisure photos,sharjah,weather

tour dubai: part 3 - the dhow wharves and souks

There are a few sites that I always take my visitors to see. This post is the third and final in a series that covers those locations. And while my Nikon D5000 provides stunning images of the environs, you really have to see all of the glitz and sand to fully appreciate where we are. So come visit! (Or at least read the blog.)

It has been unusually wet here in Sharjah and Dubai for the last week. It has also been quite chilly, even during the day. I'm not sure what's going on with the weather, but it has put a damper on going places.

Our new hotel has also put a damper on going places. We're on the other side of Sharjah now, closer to Ajman, so it's more expensive to catch a cab to Dubai. This will be the final part of the tour dubai series; however, don't let me mislead you. The transportation is not discouraging more posts; the lack of variety in travel destinations is limiting new ventures. I can only write about walking around a mall so many times.

Onward! Today's tour is something that I find to be an eye opener. We often say how a country is built on the backs of this group or that. Dhow trading is the foundation of Dubai's economy, and it will probably return to being the only real thing going when the dust settles. There's such an immense contrast between the glamour of the shopping centers and hotels and Old Dubai.

To stretch out our travel time, we decided to walk from the old hotel to the Sharjah-Dubai border. We encountered this lot of cars leaving a mosque after the Friday service.

Though not quite a dhow, this wreck is part of the litter in the Sharjah Lagoon. In the far distance, you can see the Sharjah Eye. (NB: London later copied this Ferris wheel.)

The Dhow Wharf in Dubai is packed with boats waiting to pick up cargo. Most carry tires and appliances to countries around the gulf like Iran.

I don't think your hand is going to keep you from getting wet. Tophi and I wandered around an office tower with shops on the ground floor for over an hour waiting for the rain to stop.

This yacht takes "wooden" to a whole new level. 

Dubai's Spice Souk

It's always fun to play the "Name this Spice" game with the souk merchants. After a merchant offers you tea and dates, he tries to convince you that his saffron is the best. I convinced Tophi to play the game with one merchant in German to see if the merchant would follow. That crafty man carried the conversation with no problem.

Well. That's that. No more to see here. Move along... 

No, I'll have more stories and photographs in the coming days. We're almost at the halfway point! In the meantime, check out the some of the pictures that didn't make it to the blog.

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Posted in: dhow,dubai,leisure photos,sharjah,tour series

sharjah desert park

After multiple trips to the UAE, I finally made it out to the Sharjah Desert Park home to Sharjah's Natural History Museum, Children Farm, and Arabia Wildlife Center. (I skipped the Children Farm... I don't want to know about that.)

The Desert Park is a hefty drive out of Sharjah, so the distance has been cost prohibitive in the past. This weekend Scott is away, and George told us to take the car and see some of the sights. The car was useful for getting to part 2 of our tour dubai series, and we would not have made the journey out to the Desert Park without it.

On to some pictures.

The less than full parking lot for the Sharjah Natural History and Botanical Garden.

The first hall within the Natural History Museum is filled with marine life suspended from the ceiling. The hanging sharks and fish had the effect of lowering my expectations.

Oops! Someone forgot to write the English translation for this kiosk. 

Awwwwwwe. This model sand cat made me happy. It's not quite Squeak, but I want to find one of this elusive cats for Webb.

Oh yeah? How about a little amoxicillin for those survivors?

The Camel -- the national animal of the UAE

Some people need help to tell the camel's mouth from its rear.

The museum even had 'splosions! of life!! in Arabic!!!

The dinosaurs were pretty neat. Every natural history museum should have at least one dinosaur.

The Botanical Garden side of the museum had several interactive exhibits. You could braid rope, play with a xylophone, smell different plants, and even find out the energy value of different compounds. Here, Tophi is seen enthusiastically playing the xylophone. In case you missed the connection, too, the xylophone is made of wood. Trees are a type of plant, obviously...

After wandering through the Natural History Museum and skipping over the Children Farm (whawhawhattt?), we went to the Arabia Wildlife Center. Live animals are always pretty cool, but the Wildlife Center was not cool with photography. You can pretend to have seen countless exhibits on snakes, rodents, birds, and mammals. And if you thought the taxidermy sand cat was cute, then you really missed out on two live sand cats running around the Center.

What a great day to celebrate the natural environment that is so often tarnished by Emirati progress! I'll close with the Desert Park's recycling initiative.

The Sharjah Desert Park is leading the way for alternative sorting.

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Posted in: culture,leisure photos,sharjah

christmas in dubai

I always look forward to seeing how other countries and cultures celebrate holidays. At the outset, you may not expect an Islamic state to observe Christmas, but we must remember that mainstream Christmas has been come less about any particular religious event and more about commercial prosperity.

And nothing says commercial prosperity better than Dubai! (I mean owing* 116% of your GDP is totally prosperous, right? Right.) Arriving at Dubai's Terminal 3 really shouted "Welcome to a New Year" with its golden palm trees and three-story fountains and waterfalls. The baggage claim was tastefully decked out with the familiar, traditional Christmas tree. As I waited for my bags, I snapped this picture.

I'm telling you now: Flat screen TVs are replacing ornaments next Christmas. Dubai is always on the cutting edge. 

Even the hotel in Sharjah was in the Christmas spirit. We've been Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree and wishing everyone a Very Merry Christmas with blaring soundtracks in all of the public spaces. And I simply cannot get over the delightful use of garland in the dining room. Someone should get these people to write a decorating blog. (Because someone sitting in the 31548 simply does not have enough of those in her bookmarks.)

Whose money is on them keeping this up year round?

Yes, Christmas spirit abounds in the UAE -- even 12 days after Christmas. With decorations, music, and cheer like this, there's no way the Emirates won't prosper this year.

The Burj Khalifa rings in the New Year with a stunning three-minute display of fireworks. Gridlocked attendees abandoned their cars in order to get closer to the spectacle. The fireworks were also accompanied by 287 EMS calls in less than 6 hours. Apparently, people that couldn't score parking spaces couldn't handle walking from farther away.

*Morgan Stanley estimate from 2009

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Posted in: dubai,holiday,sharjah

deja vu

I am almost positive that I've been here before...

The flight from Atlanta to Dubai was regrettably turbulent-free, and we arrived practically on time. I flew Delta this time around, so I didn't run into any flight attendants named Guido. From my recollection of the Emirates flight, I think that there were more Americans flying on Delta. It was particularly great to find that there were no screaming children stomping about the economy cabin on my Delta flight. Overall, I suppose I would fly Delta to Dubai again; although, I do miss my free Emirates Airline socks.

After an excruciatingly long queue for Passport Control, I raced to collect my bag, narrowly saving it from the "return bag to behind the carousel's wall" monster. I scanned the crowd that lined the exit towards ground transportation. Which driver had been sent to pick me up? None of the faces looked familiar until a waving arm caught my attention: Abhi!  My return to Dubai was starting much like my first trip. Only the hot, moist air stood between juxtaposing the two arrivals.

I was greeted by Bijou the waiter by name as I walked into the hotel. Huzzah! The new management kept almost all of the staff from when I was last here. At the end of February, there were strong rumors of the new management cleaning house at the beginning of March. It will be good to see all of them again. I checked in and was surprised to find that I would be staying in my old room, too.

The staff and room number may not have changed, but the room furnishings had! New furniture including two chairs and a side table sat to the side of the door. The TV was upgraded to a better flat screen, and I counted more English-speaking channels.

I opened the door to the bathroom. Yikes. The vent fan was left off, so a mass of stale air had accumulated. The temperature outside wasn't that bad; it was just odd for it to be so warm in the middle of the night.

George and his family arrive Friday, while Captain Scott is on holiday until Sunday. My first item of business is to get a haircut. We'll see if the deja vu continues...

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Posted in: Delta Airlines,dubai,Emirates Airline,sharjah,traveling

how far we've come

Today marks the one-month anniversary of Making Waves. Can you believe that a month has passed? I filled out my fourth timesheet today. Four weeks! 28 Days! Just think how far we've come since I started the blog in January. (Well, yes, I have travelled 8,200 miles on the world's sixth longest flight. [Sorry, Emirates, you aren't the world's longest flight.])

Ah, yes, it has been a productive month for my Winter Work experience. Since arriving the second week of January, I have completed over 20 drawings including schematics and manufacturing and installation plans. I've also researched underwater cameras and remotely operated vehicles. I usually spend half of my week working in the office in Port Khalid and the other half on location with Haida at Al Jadaf. Last week, we finally secured a berth and lifting assignment for Haida. After 10 years of sitting in the murky waters of Port Khalid, she's in surprisingly good condition. Her lift was emotional for most of the project team.

Mind you, I'm working seven days a week, but I have had time to see a few sights. The Sharjah Aquarium was my first time out on the town. It was also the first time that I had really deployed my new Nikon D5000. I was really impressed by the quality of the pictures -- even the ones taken through the aquarium glass. I've been to the beach several times, and Scott surprised me one day after work with a kite surfing session. There hasn't been wind since that day, but there is hope for this weekend. I also had an impromptu visit to the Dubai Mall, Aquarium, and Fountain and the Burj Khalifa. No where else can you experience five of the world's greatest somethings within 500 feet of each other.

The blog has gone really well, too. Google Analytics reports that there have been more than 250 unique visitors representing 9 countries for a total of more than 600 visits. Even with my sporadic posting schedule, more than 65% of you have returned after your first visit. And while commenting is low (ahem.), many of you have sent Facebook messages or emails with your reactions to the posts.

The online photo album has also been well-attended for not having been mentioned very often. The Picasa album is home to all of the pictures that I've taken and posted on the blog. I also put additional pictures on the Picasa site that don't make it to the blog.

The last month on Making Waves has been rich in culture and adventure, but February is prepared to blow all of that away. On Sunday, my mum arrives for her own week of exploring in the Arabian sun. Before she can explore the UAE, we're both jetting to Cairo for a quick stroll around ancient Egypt with Professor Brier, my adjunct Egyptology professor at Webb. After we return, she'll spend a few days here in Sharjah and Dubai, and I will have less than two weeks of work remaining. Actually, I'll return just in time for the arrival of the newest Haida consultant, naval architect David Pedrick (Webb '70).

So keep reading (and commenting), and tell your friends! We're just getting started around here, and we might as well have some more travel companions for the journey.

How much does the UAE friggin' rock? A lot, I think... yep!

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Posted in: announcements,dubai,egypt,sharjah,traveling

February 4, 2010: the haircut

In my rush in December to catch a cab to catch a train to catch the AirTrain to catch the plane home (that I nearly missed), I forgot something... my trip to the city for a haircut. The last two weekends at Webb were too busy to go get my hair cut, and I even considered waiting until I got home. Any chance of getting it done at home was smashed when I learned that my preferred barbershop at Shabangs had "burned down."

Eh. I've grown my hair out to ridiculous lengths before (Kirk's head is nodding in agreement), but I had to do something about it today.

Enter the curious dramatis personae. I began looking for a barbershop online on Monday in preparation for mum's Sunday night arrival. Search string after search string wasn't producing results. I had some tough constraints. I didn't want to go to Dubai for a haircut, and I wanted the place to be someone reputable. I eventually gave up searching online and decided to ask the front desk.

"Rola! You want to go to Rola," replied the man at the front desk with a heavy Pakistani accent. I asked him what and where was Rola, but he just pointed me towards the bellman. After some exchange between the two, the doorman hailed a taxi, rattled off a directive for the driver, shoved me in the front seat, closed the door, and away I zoomed for "Rola."

The ride was thankfully short -- mostly because we sped around all of the other cars. After pulling up to a high rise's dirt parking lot, the driver turned off the meter and waved towards the "salon" entrance. I looked above the door; I couldn't see a sign that said "Rola." The driver obviously sensed my skepticism and walked me to the door. The manager was inside talking to a lobby of employees -- no other customers. The taxi driver confirmed that the "salon" was open and facilitated the start of my haircut.

"Do you speak English?" the manager asked as he gazed around the room. "Oh, well, then I will translate." One of the stylists stepped forward, and I stammered to describe what I wanted done to my head. The manager called for a catalog. "Here, point at a picture." My confidence continued to shrink. None of the pictures looked quite like what I would normally have done. I settled on one but emphasized that I wanted it to be slightly longer.

I sat down, and my non-English speaking barber started clipping. Hair fell in every direction. As my hair began to take a new shape, I started to relax. Mid sigh of relief, it was over. The barber had done a nice job, and I was pleased with his work.

Now to checkout. Back at the hotel, I was thrust into the taxi before I had a chance to exchange more US dollars for UAE dirhams. I only had 30 dirhams after I paid the taxi driver, but the $70 that could become 210 dirhams was sitting in my pocket. The receptionist asked me if this was my first visit. He reduced the price of my haircut to 50 dirhams from 80 dirhams. PANIC. I slowly took out my bank notes knowing that I didn't have enough. "Do you take credit cards? US Dollars?"

The receptionist smiled and asked me how much I had. "For you, 30 dirhams is enough." I apologized and told him that I would return again. I rushed out of the salon feeling terrible about shortchanging the salon 50 dirhams.

I was "broke," so I couldn't take a taxi back to the hotel. It was a nice walk, albeit a humid one. I decided to walk through the local neighborhood rather than sticking to the main roads. Old neighborhoods in Sharjah are laid out like staggered bricks. Unlike the strict New York City blocks, the streets zig-zag their way from the highway to the beach. I darted along through the neighborhood pretending to know my way.

Pretending being the key word. Shortly after going deep into the neighborhood, I realized that I was much farther away from my hotel than I had originally perceived. In the distance, I could see the radio tower that is near the beach. I searched the horizon for more familiar sights. Mosque minarets dotted the neighborhood skyline. Aha! I recognized the minaret that rises from a mosque near Scott's villa. I started making my way towards the minaret, Scott's villa, and the road back to my hotel, the minaret as my guide the whole way.

There, that's my short plug for Islam. Muslims believe that Islam was the first religion, and devout followers accept no other religion. In fact, a follower from another religion who converts to Islam is said to "revert to Islam." (This is another reason why it is of the highest shame to convert to another religion.) No worries, I won't be "reverting" any time soon.

Now, I'm going to go clean the loose hair out of my ears. I guess that feeling is the same no matter where you get your hair cut.

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Posted in: anticipation,culture,sharjah

kite surfing

My boss, Captain Scott, is an avid kite surfer. When I went over to his house last weekend, we watched a few kite surfing videos. There had been wind in the forecast last week, but the wind never arrived.

Today was a different story. There was wind and plenty of it! Scott used his lunch break to go down to the beach, and I joined him after work. I didn't get to surf today, but I'm hoping to try it before I leave at the end of February. It was so cool to watch. I uploaded a dozen photographs to my Picasa site. When I went down to the beach after work, the sun was already pretty low. I love the way the light looks during the last 30-45 minutes of the day. When I'm at Webb, the sun hits the building and trees with a dazzling orange glow. I can't wait to take pictures of that!

Here's a sample of the album from the Picasa site.

Sharjah continues to provide great scenes for me to use my new camera. I might post a few more pictures to the album tomorrow.

For now, I'm going to surf into my sleep in anticipation of Haida's docking.

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Posted in: anticipation,kite surfing,leisure photos,sharjah

January 19, 2010: Chirp goes the cuckoo

Remember those cuckoo birds that chirped relentlessly when I didn't have my itinerary? Yes. It seems that they also chirp if I don't chirp, er... post regularly. Not to fear! I'll update you on the goings-on in Sharjah.

Scheduling conflicts prohibited me from popping over to Al Jadaf on Monday. By scheduling conflicts, I mean the ABS attending surveyor showed up at the office to talk about underwater lighting and the oily water separator. I'm glad that I didn't go to the shipyard because I learned a lot by being in the meeting. At some point, I really would like to intern with ABS on the survey/tonnage side of the business. It's fascinating stuff, and I think it would be a great way to learn the ins and outs of the ABS regulations. After we finished the meeting it was impractical to drive over to Al Jadaf (see: Dubai rush hour traffic; cross reference: parking lot.)

To avoid the Dubai traffic, we settled on leaving the hotel at 6:30am this morning. Those familiar with Sharjah-Dubai traffic are already shaking their heads. We should have left at 5:00am if we were really intent on avoiding the traffic. This morning a simple, 15-minute drive at any other time lasted almost two hours. Oy! I'll take NY traffic any day. Aside from roads being pushed beyond their limits, a real source of the delay is the sheer number of (stupid) drivers that take "shortcuts" off of the shoulder and reenter traffic no more than three cars ahead of where they left. The slowdowns that result from said drivers trying to merge cause a good bit of grief.

This morning was no exception. Most of the shoulder is fenced so that drivers can't "make-their-own-bypass," but just as soon as a break appeared in the fence, there were cars darting off to chase the "shortcut."

Haida is still waiting patiently outboard of a small cargo ship to see her day (see: eternity) on dry land. Unconfirmed speculators have said that Thursday, Jan 21 looks promising, but I'm not holding my breath.

Today I traced some of the piping that I've been plotting from the original plans. Note to self: designs on paper seldom see execution. Supposing that you are fortunate to have a shipyard that builds exactly to spec without some laborer deciding that you, the engineer, really wanted that pipe welded instead of threaded, a half-century of operators will surely muck up your design. I wasn't really surprised to find modifications from the original schematics, particularly on the fuel oil service system. I wasn't expecting the globe valves on the fuel oil lines to have been replaced by ball valves. I also didn't expect the new diesel generator's fuel line to branch off of the day tanks before the fuel strainer. Oh well.

In preparation for the eventual dry docking, the new bow thruster and stabilizing fins were offloaded today. After the crane had neatly placed the assorted crates on the pier, I went up to the yard's office to hire, er... rent, a forklift and driver. Who knew that moving and weighing seven crates could be such an ordeal. So often it is the simple tasks that take too long (see: Haida refit.) After finding a chap, er... guy, to drive the forklift it took another two hours to move everything. The wayward sheep kept doing other odd jobs to help out his coworkers -- moving little bits of scrap or things instead of moving our cargo. My favorite moment was in the middle of the last transport. The driver decided that a smaller forklift would due, so he abandoned the nice, new forklift to go find a smaller, older one. Twenty minutes later, the wayward sheep returned. Just classic. He's lucky he doesn't work for IMI. He'd never make it on one of the supply boats.

On the long rides between Dubai and Sharjah, Scott and I have been talking about UAE politics, construction projects, and environmentalism. Did you know that Abu Dhabi is the home of the International Renewable Energy Agency's world headquarters? (See: travesty.) At some point I will do an entire post about all of the great energy saving (wasting*) construction methods used here in Sharjah and Dubai. I'll follow that post with a lesson on infrastructure planning and why it was not necessary (necessary*) to install a central sewer system in Dubai. After all, why wouldn't you want a cesspool truck to come to your house and business each day to pump out your tank?

Oy! Scott is allowing me to work from the hotel tomorrow while he goes back to Al Jadaf. Thank goodness I don't have to get up at 5:30 again. I have several other posts in the works, so keep reading and commenting!

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Posted in: ABS,al jadaf,dubai,haida,sharjah

the aquarium

I had a half-day of work today because it's Friday (cue Joe Maz!) I used my afternoon to visit the recently opened Sharjah Aquarium. I'm going to keep this entry as short as the time it took for me to go through the aquarium. Let's go to the pictures...

I don't remember those fish being in the shark's mouth when I took the picture.

These are silverfin catfish. They like to swim in schools that are spherical-shaped.

The end of the exhibit had a short section on UAE environmentalism. This tank has a few fish coexisting with trash, but the moral is not to pollute the environment.

Right... it was the tourists that made such a mess of the UAE coastline.

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Posted in: aquarium,leisure photos,sharjah