5 Minutes of Fame

Spirit of Manila Airlines is a low-cost airline based in Philippines and Manila Skies is their inflight magazine published bimonthly. In their April/May issue, there was an article on Dubai tourism.




Above is an excerpt of the article copied from their magazine's website.

3 months ago, I was approached by the editor of Manila Skies, requesting the high-resolution file of a photo taken by myself in Dubai and my permission to use the photo in their magazine publication. I was hysteric and elated, by all means! That was the first time ever my photo is being considered to be used in publication. I emailed over my photo as discussed and was looking forward to the next magazine issue.

However, the editor informed me that they had changed their mind at last minute and used another photo instead. Heck! "Return my jpeg file!" - as if this could help.

Obviously I was disappointed and dejected.

Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai by Nelson Chin

I only remembered to check out Manila Skies' article on Dubai today.

I actually think mine looks better than the one being featured! :p What do you think?

Read more...

Dubai Creek & Souqs

Having spent the whole morning at Jumeirah, we went to Dubai Mall for lunch.


En route, we passed by many modern towering skyscrapers along the Sheikh Zayed Road. These buildings were non-existent merely a decade ago. Imagine the billions of dollar that have been spent by the Emirates state to put Dubai on world map.


That's the newly-opened indoor aquarium at Dubai Mall.


Burj Dubai, is undoubtly the tallest structure in the world by all records. Standing majestically at over 800m, Burj Dubai is almost twice as high as the 452m Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia. I felt so minute standing at the base of the megastructure.


The Gold Souq of Deira Dubai. This's bizarre; basically most of the shops lining the street were selling gold, 22ct gold!


We strolled around the area, gold shop upon gold shop. I have never seen so much gold in my life, until as if they were unreal. ;)


Abra, being used as water taxi to ferry people across the river of Dubai Creek. This form of transport was very cheap, AED1 one way!




Emirati costumes. In fact, there were still many locals wearing these costumes at the streets. All of the staffs at the airport were wearing these costumes too.


We thought of seeing the city from another perspective - from the river. No other tourist to share with us, we hired a private abra for an hour river cruise at Dubai Creek. Emiratis are adamant. I bargained for about 10 min and was only able to reduce AED10 to AED90 for the private cruise. Well, thinking it was less than €10 per person, we took the deal. :p


Dubai Creek is home to the historic sea port of Dubai, or Dhow Wharf as it's being called. Dhow is a traditional Arab sailing vessel with lateen sails. Many dhows today still dock at Dubai Creek and the wharfs are still bustling with activities.




Silhouette of the Burj Dubai and the Emirates Towers during sunset.


Dhow Wharf.


The sceneries along Dubai Creek were indeed picturesque. With cold breeze bashing against your faces as the abra cruised, it's just so relaxing. :)


He's our captain onboard - the cool man who refused to give me further discount! Darn him!






The sunset was warm and glorious. This is my favourite photo taken during the trip.


After the cruise, we proceeded to the Bur Dubai Souq. We were rather tired and thus just walked around the souq briefly before heading to our last destination of the day.


Bastakiya District. It's home to many reconstructed buildings in traditional styles - with the Dubai Mosque looming in the background.


Bastakiya also houses some nice museums and galleries. It was getting late and some of the museums were closing during our visit.


Traditional wind towers.

We decided to call it a day. I'd love to visit the Arabian Peninsula again, and probably head to the dessert for sand activities and overnight at Bedouin camp next time round. Siew Leng is not so fond of Dubai though, having met some hostile-looking Emiratis at the souqs. :)

Next, we were going to meet my friend, Chow for dinner. Guess what, he brought us to a chinese restaurant! I wanted to try Arab food, Arab spices! *frustrated*

Read more...

Dubai's Madinat Jumeirah & Burj Al-Arab

During our last trip back to Malaysia in Jan, we travelled with Emirates Airline. It was my first experience flying with Emirates, and also my first experience boarding the gigantic Airbus A380!


Emirates operates its international network from Dubai. We took the opportunity to stop over for a day and visit the city of Dubai. Dubai has been home to many superlative structures built during the last 2 decades. The world's tallest building at over 800 m is located at Dubai and was under construction. Being a structural engineer having involved in a number of high-rise towers, I was eager to see the tallest! :)


From Heathrow Airport, we arrived early before dawn at Dubai International Airport. We had our breakfast at the city centre and then headed straight to our first destination - Madinat Jumeirah. The taxi journey costed us about AED50.


Madinat Jumeirah is a modern and chic place to hang out which includes a 'traditional' souq. A market in an Arab city is called souq. Without further ado, I got out to the outdoor terrace to have a glimpse of the famous sail-shaped hotel, Burj Al-Arab towering behind Madinat Jumeirah Resort.










We strolled around the souq, browsing through the shisha water pipes, textiles, vases, sculptures and various Arabian souvenirs stall by stall. They were not cheap though.


Extensive man-made lakes and canals have been built linking various parts of Madinat Jumeirah Resort & the souq. The surroundings were really scenic with soothing weather of around 20 degree celsuis in the morning.


Abra, which is UAE's traditional wooden boat were available to ferry resort guests around. Tourists could hire the abra to tour the area too - at a hefy price. We toured around as well - but by foot. :p






There were many swish restaurants, cafes and bars located in this complex. Above was one of the alfresco cafes facing the beautiful Arabian architecture of traditional wind towers.


Our morning was basically revolving around the Burj Al-Arab. From Madinat Jumeirah, we walked for about 15-20 min to our next destination - the Jumeirah Beach. No. We were not there for the sun and sand. We just wanted to be at the best location to see - yes - Burj Al-Arab! ;p


Towards afternoon, temperature was rising during our walking journey. I started to take off my jacket and hoodies. Not long after, I even sweated; it was winter and I hadn't sweat for months. Even the Emirati in the poster was getting red-hot. ;)


Jumeirah Beach. It's a beautiful beach, except that construction activities were visible offshore - the reclamation and construction of The World. The World is another ambitious project in Dubai that lands are reclaimed offshore to form the shape of a world map and these plots of land are then sold for commercial and residential developments.


Burj Al-Arab, claimed to be the first 7 stars hotel in the world is a super luxurious hotel in Dubai. The building structure itself is an engineering masterpiece built on top of a man-made island. It costed more than USD700 per night for a standard suite. Tourists were not allowed to visit the hotel, unless you reserve a table at one of the hotel restaurants or bars, and with a certain minimum expenditure spent.


Like most tourists, we could only see from afar.


I have seen ladies in bikini lying on a beach, but not so much women in headscarf, or tudung sunbathing on sandy beach - a truly Arabian state. ;)

Read more...