Satwa: The end is nigh

We've been evicted as the entire area of Dubai bordered by the unnamed road that runs behind the Fairmont, Al Diyafa Street, Al Satwa Road and right through to the Dubai jail on Al Safa Road is being cleared. This is a stretch of land 10kms long by 2kms wide. The Dubai Department of Lands has given residents in the area 3 months notice to leave. Apparently the eviction letter was given to the Arabic residents of the compound we live in a few days ago but we weren't given a copy of the letter because it was issued in Arabic only and they thought that as expats we couldn't read it. D'uh! Did they think we wouldn't notice if we came home from work one day to find the house bulldozed? We had to ask the compound security guard for our copy which Colin scanned and I emailed to Rasha who confirmed the bad news (amusing that the Lands Dept describes it as an "evacuation"). An article from the Khaleej Times is here.

This mass eviction effects thousands of people, many of whom probably still have no idea that they are going to loose their homes in the near future. We have friends in a compound two streets over from us who've heard nothing about it and they're right in the firing line. Any Emiratis in the area who are effected by the eviction will be compensated by the Government with either cash or land on which to build a new house.

Here's an article from 7 Days that was published last Wednesday that I hadn't seen until a neighbour told me about it this morning:

"Where do we go?
Thousands of people in Satwa are struggling to find somewhere to live after being told to vacate their homes by the Land Department. The villas they live in are to be demolished to make way for the construction of a new project, but residents say they cannot find anywhere else affordable to stay. “I have no idea where to go. Rents are skyrocketing everywhere in Dubai,” said Mohammed Jaleel, an Indian who lives and works in the area. "Satwa was the ideal place for people to stay as it was centrally located and had a number of houses which were available at reasonable rent.”
Many of the residents, who are mostly bachelors, have been living in the area since the villas were constructed more than 20 years ago. With the department slapping the eviction notices on them, many residents are now running out of time to look for new accommodation. “I have a very short period to stay in the villa. After my tenancy contract ends, I have to vacate and look for a new house. Getting a house at nominal rent is difficult in Dubai,” said Farooq Ahmed, a Pakistani.
The Land Department has already begun to demolish some villas which were vacated by tenants earlier this month, although officials yesterday refused to say what would be replacing them when contacted by 7DAYS. A number of UAE nationals also reside in the area, but the Land Department has promised them they will be suitably compensated with either money or with land on which to construct a new house.
And the soon to be homeless non-Emirati residents said they could do with some help as well. “I would like the government to help us find alternative accommodation so that we can move on,” Ahmed said."

To my horror I've realised that the clearance area includes:
Ravis, the best Pakistani restaurant in the world
Jabal Ohod, the finest shawarma joint in Dubai. Not only do they produce delicious chicken and mutton shawarmas but they make wonderful mango juice too, and its all home delivered by a guy on a pushbike.

And ladies, you'd better get to Karama asap to buy your "genuine fake" handbags, because the tenants at the Karama Centre have been given 3 months notice too.

For a more corporate take on the whole situation, here's an article from MEED which parrots the development company's media release and asks no questions.

The world's best blues guitarist? Compare and contrast.

I was in the car with Maureen and Ian and there was some brain loosening blues guitar playing on their car stereo. (Not the car stereo that went underwater in the great Wadi Sinking of 2008). I asked who it was and that's how I was introduced to the incredible Joe Bonamassa. Thanks for the intro Ian. If you like blues in the style of Led Zep's "Since I've been loving you" or if you like Robin Trower or Gary Moore with a touch of Kenny Wayne Shepherd then Joe Bonamassa is the man for you . He's a blues guitarist and singer from the US who's amazing and I can't understand why he's not better known. (He was a child prodigy and was only 12 years old when he first played with BB King.) His producer works with Joe Satriani, and Bonamassa has also worked with Leslie West so if those two gents are involved then that's it for me anyway, all the boxes are ticked and I'm hooked.

More happy news from the Dubai RTA

"As you may be aware, the RTA have announced today that from tomorrow (Fri, 8th Feb 2008), motorists in the Al Garhoud area of Deira are expected to face massive traffic jams due to the closure of a key road leading towards Al Garhoud Bridge and Bur Dubai.

Part of the road and bridge leading towards Al Garhoud Bridge from Casablanca Road and Al Rebat Road will be closed from Friday (See attached). There is no date given to say when the road would re-open to traffic.

Due to the closure of this major approach road, motorists can expect massive traffic congestion on the Deira side and roads near Dubai International Airport. Traffic going to dozens of schools in the Al Garhoud areas will also be affected while passengers travelling to and from the airport will also face long delays.

While motorists will be able to drive through Al Garhoud Bridge towards Casablanca Road (which leads to Dubai International Airport) and Al Rebat Road, which leads towards Festival City, Rashidiya and Al Ramool areas, they will not be able to use the same roads to come back to Al Garhoud Bridge.

Motorists coming from the airport either will have to take the Al Maktoum Bridge, the Floating Bridge or the Business Bay Bridge to reach Shaikh Zayed Road and Bur Dubai.

Given the above, we would be grateful if you could proactively update our customers and advise them to use alternative routes and to leave extra early if travelling to/from the airport.

Thank you."

Blowing in the wind

We had floods in Dubai last month and now, only two days into the new month, we've had a sandstorm. It was carried in on strong winds which picked up serious speed on Thursday afternoon and by Friday morning visibility was very poor, the dust and grit in the air made it contact lens wearers' hell and anything that remained stationery for too long was quickly covered with a layer of fine dust. Some of the huge billboards around town had the advertising covers ripped off them and left flapping in the wind.

There are some photos here.

Where's Miss Manners when you need her?

Here’s a question for the Miss Manners/Emily Post's amongst us: What is the etiquette when it comes to singing in the shower in a public place? No, its not me doing the singing, as most of you know my singing voice is registered with the UN as a Weapon of Mass Destruction, this is something that's come up at the gym. This is the same gym that has signs on the wall of the changing room asking that there be no nudity, how you achieve that in a shower/change room I can’t imagine, but moving on. The story goes like this; when I go to shower after I finish my workout there's often a woman singing in her shower cubicle. After several weeks I've noticed that there are two different shower singers and I have to say, they are the yin and yang of vocal ability:

Singer 1 - this woman has got to be a pro, she has a fabulous voice and I’ve stayed in the shower too long some mornings, almost turning into a prune, because I've enjoyed listening to her. She occasionally sings some jazz standards and sometimes other songs that may be Hindi, I can’t understand a word of those but I don’t care, she’s got a great voice. She could sing a commercial for laxatives and it’d sound good.

Singer 2 - this girl couldn’t hit a note if it came out and hit her first. She repeats the same line of the song that is her chosen victim for the morning over and over again, each time with different notes, all wrong, then hums, then la-la-la's, all off key, then silence, thank God the aural torture is over, but no, away she goes again. This morning we suffered through “lalala - hum - lalala - love and peace - hum - love and peace - hum”. Love and Peace? Like hell.

So, I guess this is a similar situation to that of passengers being able to use their mobile phones on planes. On that topic, can you imagine the 14 hour flight back to Sydney, trying to sleep while some dickhead talks loudly to his mates in another time zone (Look how important I am) or some bimbo shrieks down the phone to her friends about her new shoes. I predict an outbreak of a new crime “Aviation Phonicide” where the victim is found in a plane toilet with their mobile phone shoved down their throat (or somewhere else depending on which disgruntled fellow passenger gets there first....)

Al Ain Airshow

There are lots of Colin's fabulous photos of the airshow including the incredible wingwalker here.

A flying visit to Cairo

I'm writing this at Cairo airport departure lounge after a very hectic weekend. The departure lounge at the airport still looks like a series of portacabins stapled together but never mind. Colin has been offered a job here in Egypt and we were here this weekend to meet the company people and see the project site he could be working on. There are some photos here.

It’s been full-on since we flew out of Dubai just after lunchtime on Thursday. (I watched "Death at a Funeral" on the plane going over, very English, very funny.) On arrival at Cairo we were met by the Egyptian 'fixer' who arranged the visas and got us through immigration. There is no customs procedure on arrival in Cairo it seems, as long as you collect your bag that's customs enough. The hotel car, a nice new Mercedes, was waiting for us and off we went into the Cairo rush hour traffic. We were staying at the Semiramis Hotel which is right on the banks of the Nile opposite the hotel I stayed in when I was here in 2005. We had time for a quick shower and change before heading off to dinner with the company reps at the Thai restaurant in the hotel. Lovely meal. Unfortunately I couldn't stay awake to watch Dina perform at the nightclub in the hotel, she doesn't come on until at least 2am, though I was pretty annoyed to find out that Saad Al Sagheer sings there on a Thursday night and I'd missed him too. Ah well, next time inshallah.

We were on the road before 7:30am the next morning to drive out to the development site which is on the north coast about 100kms from Mursa Mutruh. Whatever is the Arabic word for "back of Burke/out in the boonies/beyond the black stump" then this is it.

We had a very interesting morning looking at the proposed project, had lunch at the El Alamein hotel which is right on the beach and is now part of the development that Colin was looking at. The sea was an amazing azure blue which I hope will show on the photos we took. Next on to look at villas and apartments at several places along the coast then a very quick stop at the Commonwealth area of the El Alamein War Cemetery. The cemetery is set in a small valley and could be very easily missed. We'd already passed the Italian and German cemeteries which are on the other side of the highway. The Italian memorial is marble with the names of dead soldiers on it while the German memorial is a large cube possibly made of granite, very austere and marks a mass grave, no individual soldiers are named anywhere on it. There is also museum near the Commonwealth area but we didn't have time to visit it unfortunately.

Next we drove into Alexandria but as it was dark we couldn't see much except the marshes of the Nile Delta. From there we headed back to Cairo and arrived back at around 8:30pm. When we got back to the hotel we went for a walk along the Nile to Roda Island, found the palace I visited last time, then walked back along the Corniche. Very nice.

This morning we only have had time to have breakfast and get out here to the airport. Our flight leaves at 12:15. Unfortunately because it was such a short trip and it was all business, Colin hasn't seen anything of the marvels of Cairo, we couldn't even see the pyramids in the distance last night because it was already dark by the time we got back - next time inshallah!

Back to work tomorrow and we have to work a whole 5 day week - good grief I think I've forgotten how :-)