Where did that come from?

Wow, what a dust storm this afternoon – it looked like rain sweeping across the city!

The following images show it coming in from the east across the Emirates’ Golf Course. With about 15 secs between exposures, it was moving fast on a driving wind.

Click on the images to enlarge them

This is the normal view that we get from our apartment.


This is today’s view during the storm!


Looking outside now, everything is back to normal. We can see down to the Emirates' Towers - it's like the storm never happened!

Get killer cars tuned or choke

Following on from the below post on pollution in the UAE, here's what's happening in New Zealand to combat the effects of vehicle exhaust smoke, as reported in the NZ Herald.

As part of an awareness campaign to educate New Zealanders on the dangers of unhealthy levels of vehicle exhaust emissions, billboards like the one pictured are being erected in city streets.

As the vehicular fumes affect the billboard, the light text will darken and become more visible.

Over 24 hours on an Auckland street, the text had already gone from invisible to light grey.

Can you imagine what would happen if these boards were erected in Dubai?

Sticking one's head in the sand smog?

I started a reply to John Chilton's post on the UAE Community Blogsite, but by the time I had finished, my response was longer than John's post, so I decided to put it here!

I had to shake my head in disbelief when I read this the other day which starts by stating: Experts from various universities, including a professor from the American University of Sharjah, have launched an international research paper, saying the dangerous levels of ozone in the UAE come from Western Europe.

The report goes on: The purpose of the research was to explore the inherent characteristics of the photochemical and dynamic structures of the lower atmosphere (up to 15km above the earth's surface) of UAE urban areas, according to Dr. Majeed, assistant professor (at American University of Sharjah) of physics.

Before they went into the costly exercises of launching ballooons (carrying expensive testing and monitoring equipment) towards the stratosphere, I would have suggested that they take a helicopter ride and sample the air a bit closer to the ground - in the troposphere. I know how this is done. I've been in a helicopter in New Zealand gathering samples of air and water with a friend who worked for the Auckland Regional Authority's monitoring department.

Take a look at this diagram which I found on the Environmental Protection Agency's website.

It shows that most smog happens closer to the earth's surface, with the higher ozone layer being mostly affected by CFCs and halons caused by things like air conditioners - and I doubt that we will see the day when this region will turn those off!

The UAE smog isn't happening 15km above the ground - it's sometimes no more than 15 storeys up. On some days I can't go out onto our balcony without my eyes stinging and my sinuses getting blocked up.

Click onto this image taken from our 21st storey office in December 2005. The top of the smog, that layer of brown crud above the natural horizon, is parallel with our office. Look how it bisects the Burj Al Arab!

It's not caused by the European smog - the air above is clear. This is a local cause, and it's mostly from all the construction traffic which spits out copious amounts of muck 24/7.

When the construction traffic wasn't around for 3 days during the mourning period for Sheikh Maktoum, (and also for Sheikh Zayed), the air was beautifully clear, like this:

Conjuring up international research papers and concentrating on Balloon-Borne Electochemial concentration cell (ECC) Soundings will be subversive to identifying the real issues. As John Chilton points out, smog from Europe would not make its way down here to just hang around urban areas, as the Gulf News article would suggest!

The authorities should be clamping down on the actual majority cause - the vehicles which emit fumes that are way above the safe levels for roadworthy vehicles.

It's the same in the sea too. There's this little gem about the yachts at the Dubai Marina with 2-stroke engines causing fouling in the water. We're talking about 50+ mostly small sailboats whose engines are rarely used for more than getting them on and off their moorings/berths. The true sailors who own these smaller vessels like to do just that - sail!

Talk about detract from the real issues!

We have greater problems caused by people with their own agendas spurting on about how the turtles aren't affected by the Palm construction, because they only come ashore on remote islands, however they are planning to build an island for the natural habitat where turtles will return to the area. So can we deduce from this statement that there were turtles here before and now there aren't any, because of the disturbance to their environment?

Longtime members of the Emirates Diving Association will tell you of protected green turtles coming ashore between Dubai and Jebel Ali to lay eggs. It's not happening now. Once while walking around the breakwater at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, I saw a green turtle as it was eating algae from the rocks about 15' down. But that was over 2 years ago when the water was still clear enough for me to see 30' away. A turtle could now be 2' away from me and I wouldn't be able to see through the muck in the water and by now, any self-respecting turtle should have high-tailed it out of the area and gone to Oman.

A ship discharging its ballast water into the gulf can cause far more damage to the environment than 50+ 2 stroke engines ever will. If the ballast is taken onto the ship in foreign waters, it may contain marine organisms that are not present in the gulf waters and which could potentially do a lot of damage in this area if they are predatory or toxic to the native flora and fauna.

The beach area in front of the Royal Mirage Hotel used to be beautiful - little waves crashing onto the beach and sparkling water. Since the Palm development, the area looks more like a stagnant pond - there is very little flow of water now.

The smog in the UAE is now comparable to what I've seen in more developed cities such as Los Angeles. It will only get worse here if nothing is done.

I was in LA during and after 9/11 - unable to return to New Zealand due to the airports closing down. The prevailing Marine Layer, (which hovers over LA, traps the smog and blocks out a lot of the sun's heat), disappeared within a day of LAX airport being closed. Astronomers in the US reported the best viewing conditions of the celestial heavens in the 3 days after 9/11 - there were no planes in the air spewing out their toxic waste.

The new Jebel Ali Airport will swing into life in the next few years. It's going to move more people and freight than DXB, and will eventually be the combined size of London's Heathrow and Chicago's O'Hare Airports. That's HUGE! It will also mean even more pollutants added to the air over the UAE.

It's about time that the authorities stopped playing games and addressed the real issues.

The water quality and marine environment is being affected by the artificial islands.

The air quality is being affected by local conditions and not Europe.

We need comprehensive studies on the cause and effect process which will be undertaken by independent agencies that do not have existing business affiliations with the UAE - although the monitoring should have started about 6 years ago if we're to get a true representation of the changes. Only then can the real issues be identified and, she writes hopefully, addressed.

Not the Moon...

...but the Sun, taken 60mins ago.

10mins after this, it disappeared behind the dust layer that has covered the city all day.

It's like the desert version of a rainy day: the best option is to stay indoors to keep dry and cool!

Moving Out

We just received word from our landlord that he's cashing out and moving back to his homeland which means that the apartment that we rent from him is now on the market.

We'll be homeless in September!

If anyone can help us by recommending:
- a reliable real estate agent with rental properties preferably in the Marina area
- a reliable moving company
- any apartments that are for rent

We'd love to hear from you!

Official Freehold Property release

Gulf News has published an article with a link to a document which shows where all the freehold properties are in Dubai that can be purchased by UAE and GCC nationals as well as non-GCC citizens.

Sheikh Mohammed released the 3 page, 5 article Order No. 3 of 2006 designating areas for expatriates to purchase on maximum 99 year terms.

The pdf which accompanies the GN article is only 1 page. If anyone knows where a copy of the 3 page Order No. 3 can be viewed, please provide me with the info.

Palm removal

The palms are being removed from the middle of the Dubai Marina Road – I guess that it’s being done in anticipation of more road works.

Oh well – as they’ve almost finished with the beautification of the Jumeirah Beach Rd, I suppose they have to find something to do.

I have 2 hopes that:
1. at the end of this project, the road will be safer for residents and visitors to exit the marina accessways without fear of being broadsided/wiped off the planet by speeding vehicles.
2. the palm trees are being replanted elsewhere and not being dumped to die.

As a teacher of mine was so fond of saying, “We live in hope.”

To me, hope describes what I feel when I’m not in control!

Busy, busy world

It’s time for another marina update photo. I last did this in January.

Click on the image to enlarge it in your browser.

Just as it got quieter around here with the completion of most of the closer projects, and we (erroneously) believed that we could again sleep at nights without being woken by construction noise, it’s time for the next round.

Ding ding!

In the red corner, Cayan is constructing their twisted Infinity Tower on the marina entrance across from Grosvenor House.

In the blue corner, Damac is wedging their twisted Ocean Heights Tower between the Emirates Crown Tower (currently receiving its domed headpiece) and the Infinity Tower.

Yeesh - which planning guru gave permission for 2 twisted towers to be built at the marina entrance? If they both get built to plan, at 80+ storeys each, they'll both be 25% higher than the Emirates Crown Tower and ridiculously out of scale in comparison to the other buildings around them. I hope that wind tunnel tests have been completed to assess the effect of high winds swirling off the towers and affecting the rest of the environs.

The Emaar office has been demolished, apparently to make way for a new lowrise hotel.

In the background left, the Jumeirah Beach Residence towers are being topped off and the cranes are starting to disappear, and in the background center/right, the Palm Jumeirah continues to be filled with villas stacked cheek by jowl in uneven lines along the branches.

If beloved children’s author Richard Scarry was still alive, he would find a whole lot of good ideas in Dubai to spin off a Middle Eastern version of his Busy, busy world stories. But then he’d have to find replacement animals for his favourite porcine and canine characters!

Just another laid back Friday

Today has been one of those days in Dubai that I love the most.

For a start, it’s the weekend!

As a bonus, the weather has been stunning – clear skies, warm, cool breeze blowing to take the edge of the heat – and best of all, the prevailing smog layer wasn’t so prevalent.

Here’s a shot taken of this evening’s sunset. The special thing about it is that the sun set at the horizon tonight. Normally it has disappeared behind the heat/smog/dust layer long before it gets anywhere near sinking into the sea.

Good things take time

Luxury delivered.

So say the signs on the side of Damac’s Marina Terrace apartment tower in the Dubai Marina.

I imagine that the apartment owners wondered if they would ever get to see that luxury for themselves.

Construction on the tower took 11 months longer than expected. Originally given a highly unlikely 19 months to be completed, it was planned to be delivered in March 2005.

The keys weren’t handed over until January 2006. When given the keys, owners were also given a letter that stated they couldn’t stay the night in the tower until further notice! It turns out that the building had yet to receive a “final occupiers’ certificate” – notification from Civil Defense that the building is deemed to be safe and habitable.

What to do? There must have been some homeless Marina Terrace owners wandering around Dubai; wondering how long it would be before they could move into their apartments. Relief came in early February with another, and this time, apologetic letter from Damac telling them that it was now possible for them to live there.

A few questions arise for me that I know are silly to ask in Dubai, but is it legal to hand over the keys to owners when the building isn’t yet certified? Did they get the owners’ signatures on the hand-over papers before giving them the letter that said, “Oh by the way, you can’t live there yet.”? This is a reputable property development company, one of the big 3 in Dubai, not some shifty fly-by-night operator working out of his car.

Now that the residents are moving in, the building isn’t without its little foibles. You can read more about it on ITP’s Construction Week website.

A Cacophony of Cars

Every weekend night, it’s the same deal. People flock to the Dubai Marina for dinner, with the adults sitting outside enjoying the food while the kids play in the fountain.

It’s a great scene – here’s Dubai enjoying itself.

However, around the valet parking area, it’s a different story. It’s a problematic dead-end street with a turning circle at the end – one way in and one way out. Exacerbating the situation is that the entrances and exits to the 2 underground garages are also on the turning circle. Even if it’s your desire to park your own car, you'll still end up in the valet parking traffic.

Chaos reigns!

Porsches, Mercedes, Lamborghinis, Jaguars and Bentleys are forced to wait and mix with Hondas, Toyotas, taxis and their ilk as the road becomes a carpark. Mix in a couple of stretched limos, and the situation really starts to get heated. A common misconception is that the harder and longer you lean on your car horn, the faster you’ll be, and a clear path will magically open up.

It’s fun to watch, and reminiscent of the Neil Diamond song from the 70s, Beautiful Noise.

Wow - did it rain

It rained camels and goats today - it was too heavy for cats and dogs!

Here's what the Marina looked like at 8am.

Click on the images to enlarge them in your browser.

Dubai Marina Market

Every Friday until April 28th, there's an open air market along the Dubai Marina Walk. It’s happening now as I post, and already the place is starting to fill up.

It’s a fun atmosphere, especially later in the afternoon and into the evening. The place gets so crowded that it’s sometimes hard to move.

All sorts of products are for sale – ornaments, clothing, jewellery, painting, photographs.

If shopping isn’t your thing, then sitting on one of the benches or at one of the restaurants and watching the crowds is also great entertainment.

The kids love the fountain!

It’s so good to see the marina complex filled with life.

Towering thoughts

So, J had coffee with a friend of hers the other day, and invariably the subject got around to all the Dubai construction, and who was going to live in all these tower blocks that are beanstalking out of the ground.

Her friend, who always knows the latest local scandals and gossip in the property arena, had this theory which had been told to him – and it sounds quite plausible.

Before the latest Gulf War in Iraq started, there was a huge building boom in Jordan with lots of residences being built. Local Jordanians wondered who would live there too.

Then the US invaded Iraq.

All the wealthy and able Iraqis fled their country to Jordan – snapping up homes and apartments.

Rumour has it that a lot of gulf countries would not loudly oppose an intervention in Iran, and if this happens, then more than a few Iranians would also be leaving home.

What could be better than a short flight across the ditch to Dubai? On a clear day, you would swear that you could see the homeland from your 50th floor apartment.

I still reckon that they’ll only fill up 5 towers at the most.

Marina Progress

Every month, we take a photo of the progress that’s happening on the construction sites that we can see from our balcony.

The following 3 images were all taken in 2005: January, July and November.

There was furious pace in the first 7 months of the year, but we reckon that progress has slowed down somewhat over the last 5 months.

You can judge for yourself. Click on the image to open it as a larger one in your browser, and then once it has opened, you should be able to magnify it again.

We can see clearly now...

...the smog has gone.

Over the past few days, Dubai and the UAE have been in mourning due to the death of its beloved Sheikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who upon his death, held the posts of Ruler of the Dubai emirate, and was also Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE.

Sheikh Maktoum was an instrumental force in the forming of the UAE in the early 70s, and was witness to his father Sheikh Rashid, and the ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Zayed, signing the agreement that was the catalyst to the 7 emirates coming together as the UAE.

You can read more about these inspirational men from the links in the sidebar of this blog.

As a result of Sheikh Maktoum’s death, in the UAE, a 3 day mourning period was declared for the private business sector, a 7 day mourning period for the public sector and government, and an official 40 day mourning period for the country. During this time, there are no parties, no loud music, flags are flown at half-mast, and all celebrations have been cancelled or postponed – even the Dubai Shopping Festival and the marathon.

This has also meant that there has been no work since Wednesday – and in particular, there is no construction taking place on any of the numerous building sites that are dotted around Dubai. No red, blue, green or yellow overalled men to be seen anywhere.

As a result, there is also no construction traffic: cement mixers; cement pumps; water trucks; cranes; trucks carrying sand, gravel, iron, building panels, rocks or glass – and no buses carrying the workers. In fact, there has been very little traffic of any kind.

For 2 days now, the air has been pollution-free and crystalline. So much so, that today from our 21th floor (this is what it says on the sign!) office, we have been able to clearly see the Emirates Road to the east, and over that, the jagged Hajjar mountains that border the UAE and Oman. Out west to sea, we spotted the oilrigs – and the horizon - the latter is usually cloaked in a layer of smog that obliterates the setting sun, and rarely allows for a decent sunset.

This clear air is fabulous! It gives us hope that, one day, when most of new Dubai has been built and the construction traffic is reduced, the clear skies and superb visibility will once again reign supreme.

Bring it on!

The images of the Grosvenor House Hotel and the Dubai Marina were taken tonight just after sunset.

Images from the weekend

I promise that I'll get the post on our last Oman trip into the blog soon - it's a BIG post, and it's taking a lot of writing and editing of images - and we're very busy with work stuff right now which, (sob!), has to have priority!

In the meantime, here are some images from the weekend and this morning. You can click on them to open them as larger images.

The tribute to Gotham City continues to rise at the Jumeirah Beach Residences.

Fireworks at the Jebel Ali Sailing Club last night.

The smog is bad this morning.