This Post is Dedicated to Deira

Poor creek in fire. 3 Iranian boats burned for 2 days.

In the last week Tom and I have been working so hard; the façade of three towers have officially been completed yesterday. Thumbs up for metal work! Have missed the stinky smell of burnt skin from welding.

image credit: Tom

image credit: Tom

image credit: Tom

image credit: Tom

Love that random construction. It's in the middle of the highway, my view from the car window. No one knows what this building is. Dubai is full of these kind of unknowns. As Tom says, Dubai feels like a city on the moon, in a post-apocalyptic time interval.

Coffee mixer in process, upside down

Tonight I was humane. After work, we went to al Fanar Restaurant and had a nice meal like what normal people do!

image credit: Tom

Another unknown, "the big circle", at Festival City, that we can't enter

We walked hours on the highway, inhaled lots of sand, got lost but found a sad balloon.

image credit: Tom

image credit: Tom

Walked through someone's field of sand and derelict glasshouses (?) Hoped to get the metro, however the station we walked to was an inactive one. What a disappointment! I love the landscape though, it was worth it. Wished to make another piece of film there.

Romanticism Under Sand Storm

The gist of today is Tom, the sand storm, and getting back to the long walks. With Tom’s arrival, it was time to return to the flaneur soul, where we just walk and walk in a city, hand in hand,  no matter how unspectacular the view is perceived to be, we just enjoy being neutralised by the environment.  

image credit: Tom

When we got up this morning, two of the trees in our courtyard were unfortunately broken and dead. Obviously there was a serious storm at night. First thing, we had a really nice breakfast at my favourite cafe, Basta Art Cafe, just next to where we stay. Then started walking to Zabeel Park, that I always wanted to see, but waited for Tom to have this visit. It was a rather difficult journey, as I experienced a proper desert storm for the first time since my arrival. My mouth was gritty, and my eyes were full of sand; so was my hair; it was even inside my bag! Then I remembered the last sentence on that article, Dark Side of Dubai,  I read a few weeks ago: “The desert is claiming back its own land.”, which gave me the shivers! It was very impressive to see small pieces of lands of desert (with even a desert pattern made by wind) just in front of the gate of a very modernistic metro station, or any random building. This should be the reason for the ceaseless cleaning activity in Dubai, at malls or stations. A challenging effort to make us forget the fact that desert is still here, everywhere, inbetween two shops, on the roundabout, even underneath the green grass we are stepping on! It’s invasive, yet still calm and beautiful.

image credit: Tom

image credit: Tom

When we arrived to Zabeel Park, we ran to the Stargate section. I love those domes, the 1/2 planets I see when passing by in a car, on our way to Tashkeel. Finally we were there, so spectacular! They look even more unsettling under the murky, almost ‘0’ visibility sand storm. We were so beaten by the wind, tired and headachy, so that was the time we had a small nap at the park, on the grass, that is also situated on the sand. 

It was 2 hours to the sunset when we woke up. Although I was sure there wasn’t any sun to see from the desert floating in the sky, we were still up for going to the beach where this amazing fish restaurant called Bu Qtair is. (Ghada, Farah and Stef took us there on Wednesday, I’m so grateful to them for introducing me with my favourite restaurant) I was also looking forward to spend some time on the beach, and have a bare feet walk.

So we took the metro from Al Jafiliya to Mall of the Emirates, which is the nearest to the beach. We had a chance to see the ghost car town, the car graveyard just by the metro station. It was such a haunting place, with probably very sad story behind. As far as I understand, those cars belong to the workers who were fired and had to leave the country immediately. (I might be writing a story here, but I think I heard it from someone) So those cars are like the sad signatures and maybe the oldest artifacts occupying a space in Dubai. There were open boots and open doors, reminding  me the tower blocks of Glasgow with some floors burnt, and windows broken. Really bizarre feeling it evokes.   

image credit: Tom

image credit: Tom

We had a short glance at Ski Dubai at the Mall of the Emirates, just where the car graveyard is and then started walking to Jumeirah where we had a very peaceful walk on the beach. It was a nice walk on the way there, and was an amazing one, once we reach the beach!

image credit: Tom

We ended our day at the amazing fish shack I mentioned; with a fish , as big as my arm, on a plate. Yummy!

Yesterday was more dedicated to Bur Dubai and Deira. Tom arrived very early in the morning, but I dragged my poor husband to do some material shopping at the hardware shops of Deira. It feels so much like Istanbul, like the Thursday Bazaar in Karaköy where you can find a special shop just selling taps, or pipe joints, etc. So we bought an angle grinder, some mesh and few welding accessories. A successful shopping day!

image credit: Tom

on the abra

"Eat My Fur Coat! Eat!"

Another metro related amazing story... I am quite enjoying wearing my skanky working suit on the metro and provoke the guards of the train. I think they are the only Emirati group that I do not have much positive feelings towards. Ali and I came to a conclusion that it was definitely my painted and dirty boiler suit that encouraged the guards to fine me for chewing a gum, in the earlier weeks.

Today, on the way back from Dragon Mart, after a successful MIG Welder shopping with Kuti, from Tashkeel; I came to Rashidiya station for my train home. I was satisfied with the pleasure of finding something that I was looking for, for weeks; then I received another good news from Rami on the phone, about the arrival of the car tyres I was expecting.  Just after I hang up the phone with a smile on my face, my train arrived. At the same time the guard lady, unexpectedly pulled me to a corner; just about to fine me for talking on my mobile which every 2 from 3 people do! She brought me to the soldiers dressed in formal outfits. I just thought, “Oh no, not again”. This time fortunately I didn’t have to defend myself, but the soldiers told the guard lady something like “Let her go, what are you doing?!” in Arabic. And then she freed me, and I could hardly catch my train that I was waiting for a fair amount of time. I am literally planning to keep a diary for my metro memoirs with my ugly suit. If I wasn’t blonde, things could have been much worse.

Dragon Mart

The Depot where we were taken to get our welder

On the other hand, I had a really good and productive time at Tashkeel. Salama, Jack and Lateefa support me a lot with my needs and try to eliminate whatever problems I may have in my work environment. I would never imagine that finding a MIG would be that difficult, as everyone is either selling an arc welder, or industrial welders with big mains plug; which would be supposedly more expensive and maybe difficult to use. So I went to look for one with Kuti, first to Speedex; and then to Dragon Mart, the place I always wanted to see. Amazing and crazy China Market, Town, City, whatever you would like to call. It was all indoors but consist of maybe hundreds of streets, selling various things that my imagination cannot cope with. We finally found what we were looking for. After a good bargain, we paid 850 DHS which corresponds to 146 pounds. Not bad at all!! We now need to sort out CO2, and other accessories. I’m looking forward to take Tom there when he arrives, I should get my little toy cars from there, for my Dubai tower.

Today, I was also amazed by another fact: I learnt that very little percentage of the crazy towers like Burj Khalifa are actually occupied by people. There are not as many Western or Emirati businessmen to fill that amount of offices, so they are mainly empty. I was really impressed because this means that they are literally monuments, very big public sculptures rather than architectural and obtainable living spaces. When considering the monumental history of Turkey, when it was first established; the imagery and the symbolism were obviously more literal. In the 21st century, these abstract, futuristic monuments of Dubai carry the name of the rulers or the emirates like the modern age monuments; but the signature and the message are subtler. On the other hand, they still continue to symbolise the strength of the unity and the unbeatable power. If you are powerful enough, you could be gifted with literally partaking within these monuments. Such a unique way of demonstration!

I have received my very first mails by post. Tom and Jan made my day today. Thank you so much!