tender - no bid

the alarm sounded amidst a meeting. got the the mrt and stopped at raffles place station and walked to republic plaza. met the group of 7 and talked about strategy in a coffee shop across the rd. another member turned up later. moved on to open the tender box at the 39th floor, republic plaza, the property agent's office, at 3.30pm.

the agent went thru their marketing effort, then invited the chairman to use the key he held to open the tender box, a big envelop was fished out. and 4 other small red packets from the agent. the big envelop contained the mandatory valuation report at the time of opening the tender, and there's NO BID.

macro is not good, nobody wants to tender for big projects.....

Taiwan trip - ok

went to teh airport at 1.20am, the plane arrived a little later and waited for 30 minutes for him to come out.

taiwan trip was ok, he said.

Thank God.

dubai city tour - shop till you drop

deira, jumeira, the creek, souks, sheraton hotel, ..... all familiar names that reminded him of his younger years when he was living in dubai in an apartment shared with his colleague beside the creek. those busy days did not leave much memories except the food, the desert, the work and his colleagues. dubai then was just about 10 years into its city development phase from a mere fishing village. but the pace was already noticeably rushing, though tall buildings were not that many, but the desert along the creek had already turned into a small city, with bustling activities, mainly manned by foreigners from pakistan, india, and other arab countries.

now getting down from the plane, the airport impressed on him that it's just like in a busy bazaar, the shopping area was crowded with people from all over the world. though compared with the old airport, it had definitely made improvement in big strides, you would take 20 minutes to find a toilet, and when you find it, it's also like a bazaar, overcrowded with people wanting to empty their bladders.

they checked into a 3-star hotel downtown, past midnite. the room was 2 floors above a filipino bar, which played deafening music until 3am. though they were 2 floors above, they could still feel the thumping beats of the bass. the extremely tired body did not have a good rest for the first nite.

the next morning, city tour.

toured the creek, came down at the gold souk, to buy some spices, and went to the market to buy some dates and golden guava. visited the seaside, drove by burj al arab, stopped over in front of the atlantis, and ended in the dubai mall, next to burj kalifah, for the desert safari.

after the desert safari, they asked the driver to drop them at city center mall, and continued their shopping, since they still could find what they wanted with the right prices. after an hour tour around the modern mall, they took metro back to al rigga station, near their hotel. they met some tour members who bot some cheap souvenirs from some shop nearby, 4 of them took out their last ounce of energy to check it out, walking one km to and indian shop where they sold everything from souvenirs to clothes to electrical appliances, food.... and they got what they wanted finally at the RIGHT prices.

when the reached the hotel, it's already past midnite.

- shopping in the malls of dubai cost a few times more than shopping in roadside shops for the same items. knowing this little secret before hand, your balls will not drop, instead the prices will.....

camel ride - bob of arabia

after the desert ride, they queued up for the camel ride. after that, they adjourned to a desert camp for some snack, some entertainment and the big feast came.

everybody had a good bite of the mutton kebab, grilled chicken, beans, nan....

during the camel ride, an angmoh wanted to cut queue, bob, one of the tour group members confronted him. though the bedouin camel-herd was not happy that bob did what he did, questioning his way of wanting to give in to the angmoh after the angmoh apparently trying to offer him something to cut the queue, bob stood his ground. the angmoh stood aside.

also there's another incident involving another angmoh, a big angmoh, who when trying to mount the camel, did not get a proper mount. when the camel stood up, he could not hang on to the grip, fell down from the camel. the camel did not care, continued to make its first stride, with the fallen angmoh on its way.

bob, jumped out and pulled the angmoh away, just before the camel's hoof landed on his big body. the angmoh thanked him profusely.

tonite, the stars did not show up in the arabian sky as he had witnessed them many years ago when he worked in this very desert, probably due to the sandy dust kicked up by the tourists in the camp site. but one star did rise from the east, magnificent and bright.... he is:

- bob(aka our former president ong teng cheong)of arabia, who saved the day.


                                                                    bob .....

dubai desert safari ride - whose turn is it, tonite?

they arranged the desert safari on their own for us$45/pax, instead of going thru the tour agency for euro75. they met the land cruiser driver, hassan, a pakistani at the dubai mall at 3.30pm. they drove out of the city towards the desert along the hatta-oman highway for about 45 minutes and pulled over at a shop to wait for the other 2 cars from the same tour group, before starting the desert safari ride. he refilled his stomach with ample water, like a camel before the arid journey into the desert.

they drove a short distance into the desert and pulled over for a last assembly before starting off for the roller-coastal ride. they had a few pictures, and then vroom they screeched off into the dunes.

it was stomach-churning right from the start; the 4-wheel-drive, 6-litre monster dipped from the peaks and rose from the troughs of the dunes..... just before it tipped over, hassan with his superb handling of the wheel, jerked it back into course and up it went for another roll.

the convoy weaved thru the dunes like big bugs going for a forage outing in the desert. they saw a couple of vehicles turned turtle, or stuck in the sand.

half way thru, the phone rang! and all eyes turned to the phone resting on the storage cavity next to hassan. he reached out for the phone, amidst a tight turn.... all shouted...."hassan.... watch out!" he squeezed hard the gas, whiffed the wheel to the left, the car roared up onto another peak. everyone let out a good sigh of relief. all this happened, while he spoke into his handphone, "ok...ok.... ahajskakaks....kskslslkakswasc..."

"hassan, who was that?"

"my second wife.... she wanted to know whose turn's it, tonite."