I was at Dubai Mall, a.k.a. one of the largest mall in the world, a.k.a. a perfect place for heavily pregnant women – if they are the masochist type! “Where is the Kinokuniya Bookstore?”, I asked the concierge. Pristine was done with the Roald Dahl books she had at home and wanted to pick a new one.

The concierge looked at me, my belly, changed her expression from welcoming to worrying and replied: “2 levels up madame, then long way straight ahead, to the right.”

…and she added: “How many months are you now?”

I’m on my last month of pregnancy, thank you very much.

“Oh madame, you should not even thought of coming here at this stage! Take care!”

And boy she was absolutely RIGHT.

The walk to the bookstore was tough, as if I’m carrying those heavy metal rains. To add insult to injury, Kinokuniya Bookstore is a massive 68,000 square feet paragon book gallery.

I swear I had a few minor contractions last night!

You don’t even want to know how far I had to walk to get to the bus stop to go home! I am not going to that mall again – until I give birth, at least.

And while we were there, we passed by the huge aquarium where Pristine screamed: “A car! A car! A car inside the aquarium!”

It’s a mini cooper and I don’t have any idea what’s the story behind it. We went down for a closer look.

Nothing like a sting ray swimming about to prove that the mini cooper is indeed underwater.

I love going to the Dubai Mall because of the Dubai Fountain. It’s free entertainment and I can watch it for hours, song after song. However, of all the fountain dancing songs played so far, this is my favorite.

Time to say goodbye by Andrea Bocellie and Sarah Brightman. I think it’s the perfect accompaniment to the dancing fountain.

Enjoy!

Sorry I didn’t get the whole show – camera ran out of memory! But I still think it’s beautiful. I will try to get the full version next time.

Ride with us in Dubai’s first monorail, connecting Dubai mainland and Atlantis Hotel at the crescent of Palm Jumeirah island.

In case you haven’t heard of the huge Dubai project of a man-made island that looks like a palm, you can see some info and images here.

I’ll stop this post here and let you enjoy the video.

Dubai’s first monorail from Sandier Pastures on Vimeo.

First, they made man-made islands, marina, port and harbor, artificial snow (ski resort), and now, would you believe, they are bent on creating artificial rain?

Yesterday’s rain was induced, man-made, artificial, fake! I knew something wasn’t right! The articles can be found in Gulf News titled, Cloud seeding experiment has thundering success (with photos) and Cloud seeding tests continue.

Our car is parked in our apartment building basement. In the basement ceiling, there are big plastic pipes with gushing water sound in them.

Pristine would always ask, almost every morning, “what’s that sound, mom?” or “What’s inside those, mom?”

“Oh, It’s from the toilets. Your morning xxx is being flushed and going through those pipes right now.”

Then we both scream, Yuuuck!

In truth, I don’t know what’s in these pipes. I make up ewww stories just like that.

This morning, as we went out of the elevator in the basement, I heard gushing sound of water. Remembering what I told my daughter I thought, hmmm, so many people must have been in the toilet that very minute to produce that sound. A few meters away, I noticed that the pavement was wet and water was gushing from the pipes.

In the wet pavement were “mysterious yellow substances”.

Do you still want me to continue?

Ok, I will.

The smell confirmed it all. The pipes with monstrous gushing sound was indeed from the toilets and obviously contained no less than *cough* human waste which has has leaked and spilled all it’s contents on the basement floor. (Typing this is making me dizzy)

Ooh, don’t look for any evidence photo. I was running for my life in the other way to our car and sped off.

Thankfully, Pristine is having 2-weeks vacation from school and not with us this morning. Tonight, we’ll have to find another temporary parking space until the mess is cleaned up. I don’t want to see that before dinner!!

I received the following notice in my desk today:

Dear Customer,

As part of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority’s (DEWA) commitment towards electricity and water conservation, starting from 1st March 2008, DEWA will introduce a Slab Tariff System under which the charges are based on quantities consumed.

It is expected that the system will encourage consumers in the higher slabs to reduce their water and electricity consumption using simple conservation techniques.

The consumers in the higher slabs include companies. Now, why I think that this is just one of Dubai’s scheme to earn more money from non-tax paying consumers? Because in this part of the world, people are willing to pay than conserve Earth’s limited resources.

Last week when we transferred to a new office building, everybody was complaining that 22C (71F) room temperature is too hot. I thought it was just right but they looked at me like I was carrying a deadly virus! Everyone disagreed and now we are back to 15C (59F).

What to do? It’s always winter in Dubai’s offices. 

*****

My friend Kailani of An Island Life is on vacation and has given me the chance to guest post at her blog. Please check out my first guest post at Kailani’s blog – one of my favorite family blogs around!

While we were grocery shopping in Spinneys, we were greeted by the bright new corner with lots of Japanese kanji and a beaming promo lady talking in Japanese to my husband. “Nihon kara no kudamono, dozo! (Fruits from Japan!)”.  We got near that corner and checked out the array of goods. Amazing! I wondered if the fruits tasted the same after that long journey.

I reached out for an apple because after more than a year in Dubai, the apples I had in Japan is still unbeatable in my opinion. My eyeballs nearly popped out.

Apples from the US, France and China are sold here at US$2.00 maximum per kilo. However, the beloved ‘apple of my eye’ Sekaichi costs US$36, Shinano Gold at US$30!

Here’s more, Pristine’s favorite mikan, or Japanese Mandarin Oranges, that seedless, succulent and very sweet orange was there as well, sitting on its glory at US$24.

Oh, while I was there, I also erased my craving for sweet potatoes and I will pass on cooking Japanese food with these root crops.

I know by heart that these fruits and vegetables tastes really good and I badly miss them, but, no thanks!!

They did it again. License plate No 1 broke the world record as the most expensive car number plate, with a price tag of Dh52.2 million (US$14.5 million) in an intense bidding in Abu Dhabi last week.The buyer broke the record by paying more than twice the previous record which went to plate No 5 and is owned by his cousin, also a prominent businessman. The money generated will be used to establish a specialised hospital in Abu Dhabi. The proceeds of the auction are said to go to charity so I guess the buyer is hitting two birds with one stone. A contribution to charity and a special plate to boot.

A number plate for a more than a million dollars. Wow, I wonder if it’s really worth it?

Note: The Maserati MC12 Corsa is the most expensive car in the world costing Dh9.78 million(US$2.8 million) .

The 2008 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon will be the richest long distance running ever in history with prize money of US$1,000,000. Breakdown of the first three, for both men and women category, are:

• 1st place – US$250,000
• 2nd place – US$100,000
• 3rd place – US$50,000

The marathon along with 10km road race and a 4km charity run will be held on January 18, 2007. It will start and finish in Za’abeel Park near the Dubai World Trade Center. 

A whooping US$1 million bonus for new record will also be given away. Registration is available online until midnight of January 10, 2008. Running shoes ready?

*My husband will be participating in the 4km charity run. *

You wouldn’t think much would be happening, don’t you? Considering this is Dubai, situated in the Persian Gulf in the Middle East with Islam being the official religion, I could not blame anyone who’d think expats in Dubai would have the most sober Christmas.

But think again, this is Dubai, a city that break almost all Middle Eastern stereotypes. Dubai is also home to a massive population of Western expatriates so this means that Christmas is celebrated here as well. The shopping malls scream Christmas and my next door neighbor (a Muslim from Lebanon) is decking her halls with lots of Chrismassy stuff!

Deira City Center, a mall we frequent on weekends had a gigantic tree at the center.

… and three bears with their musical instruments, as if providing tune to the Christmas song in the background.

More of the malls dressed in Christmas next time! We’ll be having a 4-day work off starting today and will surely be rounding up some malls. Maybe if we get lucky, Pristine could sit on Santa’s lap. Santa’s Dubai post is currently at Ski Dubai (indoor ski resort)  at the Mall of the Emirates.