To old Dubai

I went into the city yesterday so I thought I'd give the Metro another go.

I was visiting Bur Dubai and then Deira and with only a few stations currently open there was a bit of walking involved. In this beautiful weather that suited me fine, I've always enjoyed walking and I love wandering around the old areas of Dubai anyway.

I went from Mall of the Emirates to Khalid Bin Al Waleed station (better known as Bank Street or Burjuman), it took twenty minutes and cost Dh6.50. That compares very favourably with driving, especially with the parking problems in the city.



To cross to Deira I wandered down to the Creek and, as I always do, invested a dirham in an abra ride.



Like all cities around the world with old and new sections the old part of Dubai is very different from New Dubai. It's grown naturally rather than being just plonked on some empty land, so it has soul, heart.

It's all a bit jumbled and scruffy in many parts but that's all part of its charm and I always get a lift in spirits being there.



I came back from Union Station and again it's about twenty minutes and costs Dh6.50.

By the way, on the way down to the Creek I walked through Bastakiyah, which I must explore again because there's a lot more going on than last time I was there.

Interesting food available too;

It's here again

Am I right in thinking that Christmas is appearing in the shops a little closer to Christmas than in previous years?

Changing times

Not so long ago, seeing one of these around Dubai Marina was unthinkable. Now there are more than a few:



Not good for investors but good for tenants and for business in general. The ridiculous and unsustainable rents were killing the goose that laid the golden egg.

A different pace Pt. 2

Construction grinds along very slowly in Australia.

Nearly three weeks ago I posted about the snail pace progress on minor work in front of our house. My friend and neightbour sent me some photographs taken on October 28 showing the work the council contractor was doing in front of our three houses - they do very small stretches at a time.



What they're doing is putting in kerbs, guttering, a footpath and resurfacing the road.

The stretch in front of our three houses was going to be finished 'in about a week'.

Today my friend sent a photograph of the Aussie workers slaving away trying to get the work finished:






He tells me they've managed, since the first photo nineteen days ago, to get the kerb and guttering laid the length of the three houses and to lay the first coat for sealing the road.

They still haven't started the footpath and they also have to build retaining walls and re-landscape the banks which they destroyed, and also replace our driveways which they dug up.

With the progress they're making I agree with my pal: "With less than six weeks until Christmas, we are wondering if this project will be completed by then."

Shhh. Keep it secret.

An interesting and strongly worded lead editorial in Gulf News today from none other than the Editor in Chief which shows a mindset I thought was on the way out.

In it he lambasts the Japanese Consul General for saying what is already common knowledge, that "Dubai companies are late on their dues to Japanese companies."

He says the CG is out of line, accuses him of violating diplomatic norms and goes as far as saying: "I urge the UAE Government to strongly condemn his stance, and summon him and his boss, the ambassador, to protest against his reckless behaviour, and perhaps the UAE should declare him persona non grata."

Ironically, it was a government-controlled paper, The National, which published the CG's remarks.

I saw no comparable editorial rant when the Financial Times ran a story about the UK's Secretary of State for Business: "Lord Mandelson has raised concerns about the failure of developers in the United Arab Emirates to pay British contractors, and has sought reassurances from local rulers that financial commitments will be honoured." No demand then that Lord M be declared persona non grata.

It leads me to suspect that the reason behind this rant was that the story appeared locally.

Local exposure goes against the old thinking of keeping the UAE population in the dark if anything unwanted is said or happens. Pointless. Those days are long gone. In the age of the internet we know what's happening, but that mindset hasn't kept up with the information age.

It really is a ferocious attack on the CG.

"Does Mr Otsuka work as a Consul General of Japan, or as an official spokesman for these Japanese companies? Perhaps the companies appointed him as their official representative and forgot to tell us.

Did the companies concerned give him a mandate to speak on their behalf, or was it just an individual effort by someone who obviously took all the wrong turns?

Personally, I don’t want to believe that the Consul General works secretly as an adviser to a Japanese company, or as a paid lawyer, which would propel him to embarrass his embassy and country. But I think the diplomat was betrayed by his ill-advised, undiplomatic comments and stuck his nose into something that is not his business.

...it seems the Japanese Consul General, through his strange comment, has joined the orchestra that has been playing all the negative tunes against Dubai, especially in some sections of the Western media"

Actually, the reality is that dilomats and business are inextricably linked. Embassies are involved in promoting and helping their countries' companies as much as they are in issuing visas and attending cocktail parties.

Even royal families promote their countries' exports. Britain's Queen visits a country and a huge business group travels with her. Her son Prince Andrew, Duke of York, is the United Kingdom's Special Representative for International Trade and Investment.

So it's a bit rich saying that a CG is out of line and exceeding his brief, which the editorial sneeringly refers to as: ... his job, which I believe is to issue entry visas."

He also says: "So far, we have not heard from the companies on whose behalf the Consul General volunteered to speak - in the process, shooting himself in the foot."

We have.

The report in The National included a quote from the GM of Mitsubish Heavy Industries saying that MHI was awaiting payments on major contracts with Dubai companies.

A decade into the 21st century, with all the strides the UAE and Dubai have made in moving on from archaic thinking, I really am surprised at the mindset and at the ferociousness of the criticism.

You can read the editorial here. What do you think?

Interesting weather...

A radio report this morning said Dubai is getting weather stations that will automatically alert motorists to dangerous weather.

I thought it was relevant because there was an interesting mix of weather as I drove into Knowledge Village and when I'd parked I took two photographs, a few seconds apart.

We had unusually clear blue sky:



But down at ground level the wind was swirling and the air was full of dust and sand:




Amusingly, in the dust and sand there were four joggers out running in Dubai Marina, one of them with his eyes closed to keep the dust out. You can't help wondering how they can't work out that any health benefits of the exercise are more than cancelled out by the lungsful of rubbish they're sucking in.

Thumbs up for the Metro

A visit to Deira was in the diary this morning and I decided to go by Metro.

It's not a novelty for me, I've used the equivalent in other cities all my life but I can understand the excitement for people who haven't experienced it.

For me it works if it gets me from A to B conveniently, easily, comfortably and gives value for money.

Credit where credit's due, the Metro ticked all the boxes.

I was also going to Mall of theEmirates so that solved one of the potential problems, getting to and parking at a station. I parked at MoE and walked through the mall to the station. I was only going to be a couple of hours so the parking was free.

In the station the ticket counter was closed but a staff member, an Emirati lady, was on hand and directed me to the Information counter, which was issuing tickets.

The current ten minutes between trains isn't too bad and I waited only a couple of minutes. Train wasn't crowded, they're clean, modern and comfortable;



The big plus is sailing along SZR relaxing and watching the motorists. Not jammed at 10am but the Defence and Trade Centre roundabouts, and of course the city itself, were very busy. The Metro is a hell of a lot less stressful.



The ride isn't the roller coaster the track suggests it will be, in fact you're hardly aware of all the ups and downs.

I forgot to time it but I guess I was in to Union/Ittihad Station in about twenty minutes. Much less than in the car, no parking problems and much more relaxing than driving.

Coming back, again the ticket office was closed - is that a cost-cutting measure I wonder? I was directed to the ticket machines, by an Emirati male staff member, who talked me through the steps. Actually it's easy enough and the how-to-use information is clear and good.

A couple of other ticks - the trains have a visual and voice information system which tells you the name of the next station, the information signage at the stations is clear, the stations have good clear local area maps - or at least there's one at Union Station so I assume the others also have them.

The staff were on hand and helpful, and it was interesting to see Emiratis in such non-executive positions, which goes against the general view of the jobs they will do.

A problem I can see in future when all the stations are open is the time a journey will take. The stations are very close together - I took this shot as we pulled into one station and the previous, currently not open, station is very close:



But that aside, it works very well and it'll certainly be my preferred transport if it goes where I need to go.

I have visitors coming in to T3 and I'd be tempted to meet them and bring them back on the Metro rather than driving - but bizarrely you can't take luggage onto the train. There's not a lot of point having a train servicing an airport if luggage isn't allowed on it.

So, there are a few things to be looked at but overall they seem to have done well.