Went to a working trip to Dubai. Departed from KL at 1245pm and reach Dubai Airport at 6pm, Dubai local time. To my despair, the airbus wasn't equipped with television screen (whatever people call it). I'd expected to kill my time watching the latest movies with 10 hours on the flight. But no, I can't so I'm forced to sleep...
Carless, that I am. I dragged my heavy bag all the way from my house to Taman Melati LRT. Climb a few stairs with the bag. Took KLIA Express. "Syg... jgn lupe bawak cross stitch tu, nnt borink2 bley la buat..." my hubby told me. So whilst one chic classy lady reading financial daily or something that most high powered business people always read, me feeling a bit stupid but boring, took out my cross stitch thingy and started stitching away. I felt like some old lady in the old folks home but hey... this is what I actually enjoy doing, so tak class pon takpe lah...
And the consequence of me doing so was that, while I was waiting to board, I thought I had lost my handphone. There were 3 possibilities: 1) I dropped it on the train 2) Somebody took the handphone from my backpack's unzipped compartment (my mistake for not zipping it up) 3) I'd mistakenly put it together with my cross stitch kits in the bag which I'd checked in. I called my hubby using the public phone & got scolded. Huhu... suits me... "You are not even in Dubai & you make me more worried than I already am!". Xpe la... mara tu kire syg la kan kan?? Kih kih...
Guess which one of those 3 came out to be true? :) PHEWWWW... The person who's supposed to pick me up from the airport was not there. After scouting and asking around at the 'greeters area' thick faced asking something more like "Are you waiting for me?" with no avail, I finally decided to hit the cab alone. This is no interesting story but I might as well go on just to draw a picture that attending meetings overseas is not all glamorous and fun. What I felt are mixtures of these feelings: lonely, vulnerable, homesick and small (wandering around in places which I'm not familiar with unfamiliar faces). Nobody will come to my rescue should I get into trouble (I'm a very careless person). Tp redah je lah... buat mcm negara sendiri.
My first meeting overseas took place in Phuket 3 years ago. At that time, I was very fresh from the oven & actually I didn't really know what my job entails. Org tny lain, I jawab lain. But the best thing about this job, my boss let me learn on my own & at my own pace. I'm very well aware that there are many bosses having this penyakit of checking every small piece of your work up to your grammar & sentence structure. RIMASSS... tgk keadaan la kan.. Lain la klu you work as a journalist..
Our meeting was held at Dusit Thani Hotel. I thought the key looked a little bit different than usual.
Constructions are everywhere in Dubai. These people are so obsessed on tall buildings.
The food in Dubai are basically either sour or salty. I thought.. most Arabs must not have known how to make use of spices.
You must've always heard that a whole Arab family can gobble up a goat whereas here, a goat can feed a small kampung. According to Khadija (an expatriate who works at Abu Dhabi), the Arabs love luxury and they tend to be lavish on everything. They just need to have the whole of the goat on the table, eat a little here & there & then stash the leftovers, plenty of them still into the rubbish, one whole goat. MassyaAllah... these people are so damn rich! & reckless...
Our host had been too generous; they arrangged for a dinner at the ATLANTIS, located at the end of the palm (Jumeirah).
Before embarking the bus...
Our Chairman, Sher Bahadar a very warm man, retiring soon & therefore this would be his last meeting. He said many times "I believe we shall never meet again". Bukan senang kerja Chairman tau... Just imagine how Yang Dipertua Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia managed to get through chairing our Dewan Rakyat almost everyday.
I got to see many interesting properties during our 45 minutes journey. They are extremely expensive for someone like me but I think the upper class income earner in Malaysia could be able to afford them. It's just that the properties are only accessible to the locals & also the famous & influential. I really like this design (I took this picture somewhere in the web; it's difficult to shoot while the bus is moving + my phone camera is not that canggih but this is the exact piece I saw).
We were able to get a glimpse of the Burj al Arab. Beautiful colors. I was told that the burj keep on changing its colors every now & then. &... you would have to pay AED200 Just To See the hotel.
The luxuries of the Atlantis was beyond my imagination even though I didn't have the access to all the places. It would cost you at least 250 AED per person to enter only one particular venue (lost chambers, aquaventure, dolphin bay, etc). The Arabs are incredibly wealthy! Please click here to see what I mean.
We had Lebanese food for dinner. We also had plenty of Lebanese restaurants within Ampang housing area. But it's not about the food, we were here to have a taste of the environment...
We were entertained by a belly dancer. The tall, slim & muscular girl is not an Arab. I think someone told me she was from Bulgaria... I'm not so sure. These girls came to UAE to learn & practise belly dancing as a career, they are paid rather handsomely. Believe it or not, a fresh graduate in UAE can earn up to 30k AED per month i.e. almost equivalent to RM30k!! HUWAAA... I feel like migrating! 3-4 year will do. Hehehe...
I watched her entire performance in awe. The way she moved her belly, bloat... & then swallowed them in... INCREDIBLE... just like the ocean waves. She did it repetitively & very fast. It must have took the entire muscle of her body... I can't do it if I learn it my whole life. 2 more amazing actions; she swirl her head round & round, up & down it's amazing that she's didn't fell down out of dizziness (I felt dizzy watching her did it); dancing & circling the restaurant with the tip of the sword on her head for 20 minutes non stop. Meleleh air liur tgk die menari... Haaa IGT APE, its not out of eroticism ok... just dumbfounded.
Souvenir from our host, Etisalat.
