Jebel Hafeet

It was back in 2010 when I first heard of Jebel Hafeet. (Arabic: جبل حفيت‎) (variously translated Jabal, Jabel and Jebal- meaning "mountain") I had just parked my then brand new Nissan Altima when a friend came by and told me we should go for a drive to test its handling in the curves and cliffs of Jabel Hafeet. I did not know where that was or what it was, but it sounded good.

It was not until March of 2011 when I heard that name again. I looked it up in the maps and books (how old school!) and it was then that I resolved to actually go for a drive there.

I read more about this road and part of my readings said that when the ruler of the UAE and one of the richest men in the world decides that his palace needed a driveway, you'd expect something grand, especially when that palace sits 1200 odd meters above sea level. This so-called driveway was built with drivers in mind. Skid marks along the road stand as a testimony of how drivers negotiate the deadly curves with adrenalin flowing through the veins.

With a travel buddy, we went and explored our way to the legendary mountain road.

It took a little more than an hour to drive from Dubai to Al Ain in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi where the majestic 4000-foot mountain stands just in the border of UAE and Oman, overlooking the beautiful city of Al Ain. Just before the winding road that takes you to the peak is a well developed park, the Green Mubazarrah, where one can spend time unwinding from the stress of city life and enjoy the scenic view of jagged-edged mountains. This park also offers hot springs, swimming pools and a lake- something uncommon for a desert park. The greenery also has a football pitch, tennis courts, cabins and camping grounds for families who loved the outdoors.

The ascent to the peak starts with a modest 8% grade that gradually increases. This 7.3 miles (11.7 kms) of smooth paved ribbon of concrete has 23 sharp corners with cliffs on one side of the road and the weather-beaten mountain side on the other. Towards the top of the peak is the Mercure-Hotel and of course, the "Palace in the Sky"- another one of the Sheik's palaces in the area.


The road finally leads to a parking lot at the top of the mountain where one can enjoy the fresh air and endless views of the regions terrain. We walked around the area, enjoying the scenes from different corners of the peak. As the sun was beginning to kiss the sands in the horizon, the cloudy sky displayed kaleidoscope of colors too good for my camera to capture. The chilly winds started caressing our napes, reminding us that the desert's temperature was just about to plunge into it's "night mode".

At last it was time to go home. We started our slow descend and just as we passed on of the viewing areas along the road, we were awed by a sight that I deemed worthy for a stop and a camera-tripod set-up.


note: This road was featured by edmonds.com as the "best driveway in the world".

April's low budget photowalk

The 30 days of April will not pass without a photowalk. Since funds were running low, Macko and I decided to walk all the way to Sharjah's Gold souks just to ease our photography craving. Since the sun was still too bright and we had night shots in mind, we decided to check out the souk.

In the Souk, we found a couple of stalls that got my attention because of what they were selling: camera accessories and lenses and a line of multitools and knives produced by the Leatherman Tool Group- my two addictions in one shop! I was thankfull I had no cash or else, it would have been harder to practice temperance to the limit.

Night has fallen when we started shooting. Light trails and ghost-like figures of people accented our frames. It was like a show-and-tell kind of shoot and whoever invented slow shutter speeds and sturdy Velbon sherpa tripods should have some credit for our output. With that said, I think our tripods deserve some trivia in this page. Macko uses a Velbon Sherpa 200R And I got a Velbon Sherpa 600R. Why Velbon? It is cheaper than the Monfrottos (yeah, right!) The name comes from the fact that in Japanese the r and l sound is actually the same. So the VEL in Velbon is partially from the Japanese pronunciation of VERy and the French word BON (which means good). These two words were combined as a new word and a new trademark: VELBON. It’s short for VERY GOOD! (taken from their Official site)

We walked to get different angles and subjects.

On the east side of the Souk stands a trio of pencil-like towers. I remember shooting a wedding in one of the fine-dining restaurants here last December.

It was getting late and we thought it was time to separate ways. I then decided to walk home along the Corniche to take more shots.

It was 11 pm when I got home. time to call it a night. Going over this month's only photowalk expense: a can of ice-cold Dr. Pepper- aed 3.95. Not bad at all.

Monster Trucks & Flying Dirtbikes

Another photowalk- this time at Dubai Festival City, all just to feed curiousity that was rising as someone at work stumbled upon their site, http://www.monstertruckshowdubai.co.uk/.

Since the show lasted only an hour, we didn't mind getting standing tickets. All we wanted was to aim nikkors and fire away. A designated seat would certainly be a hinderance to capturing different angles of the stunts.

As the show started, dirtbikes, a buggy a quad and a "honkey tonkey" ferroza paraded along the make-shift arena. ( It was actually part of the parking lot) The commentator tried his best to make a lively show, but his way of entertaining just doesn't click with an audience who would rather have listened to an interpretation in their local language. He spent a considerable percentage of his time asking the audience to cheer rather than introducing the next stunt. My sympathy to the team doing stunts without any applause. (or maybe they failed to impress the audience?)

About three fourths of the show were dirtbike and big bike stunts. The dirtbike stunts were ok- jumping over cars and other stuff, while the big bike stunts were just something one can regularly see done by dare devils and adrenaline junkies on the highways of Dubai: smoking tires, doing wheelies. (what else?)

The feroza did a two-wheel stunt, and I wish I could say more.

As the final 10 minutes of the show came, the monster trucks were introduced. One broke down while doing a rambage over a pile of junk cars, and the other just did circles while the comentator was stressing the thousands of UK pounds spent on the car and the high fuel consumption (he must have forgotten he was in Dubai- a place where water is more expensive than gasoline) At last, that truck did its rampage over the junk, and that ended the show.

At the end of the show, I would only imagine the queen's voice, in its perfectly royal Brittish accent saying: "We are not amused...."

*** The stunts did a perfectly good job and a lot of skill and talent were seen. I am only expressing MY own point of view about the show. Having seen a number of similar stunts performed around the world, this show just did not meet my expectations. (or was it too hot to appreciate ther stunts? Blame it on the unforgiving arabian sun...)

Seven stars in my kit lens!

Well, I'm not trying to capture seven astronomical bodies with a humble 18-55mm nikkor. That would be hard to do. An easier way to capture seven stars would be a few minutes drive from home. The best part of it was diong it with friends from work who shared the same nikon addiction.

Burj al Arab. The only hotel on the planet to boast a 7- star rating was a sight to behold. Although we were not able to enter the premises because we didn't have time, (time is gold, if you know what I mean) we were allowed to shoot from the main gate. And shoot we did!

A short walk from the gate passing Wild Waddi adventure park and Jumiera beach hotel (another sight to behold) brought us to an open beach right next to the dubbed luxurious beach. Actually, they had the same sand and sea water. It's the fence that defined the boundary between the luxurious price of basking and swimming and the free-for-all beach.

We spent a goot 2 hours draining batteries and filling memory cards while exhausting creativity.

The sun's heat made us decide to go the the Mall of Emirates to cool down and from there, we parted ways. The photowalk was a success and we plan to do it again.

Babel

Babel. The Tower of Babel (Hebrew: מגדל בבל‎ Migdal Bavel Arabic: برج بابل‎ Burj Babil), was an enormous tower built at the city of Babylon (Hebrew: Babel, Akkadian: Babilu), a cosmopolitan city typified by a confusion of languages, also called the "beginning" of Nimrod's kingdom. According to the biblical account, a united humanity of the generations following the Great Flood, speaking a single language and migrating from the east, participated in the building. The people decided their city should have a tower so immense that it would have "its top in the heavens."

We all know what happened to ancient Babel. Those people had one intension of building such a structure:

"Then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves..."

Fast forward around 4000 years later. On the same region of the ancient face of the earth has risen a simillar tower, built to top the records of modern engineering and architecture. Rising 828 meters into the arabian sky stands Burj Khalifa (formerly known as Burj Dubai) This icon in the heart of downtown Dubai has caused a spark of light for a city that sits on a shadow of scandalous econimic crisis.

Indeed, a "name for oureselves" has been established. In a city of superlatives where adjectives with "est" suffixes are a daily cliche among tour guides, the "tallest building" surely has found it's place on the list of places to visit.

The Burj is not hard to miss. Rising over three times higher than any building forming the cityscape, the Burj can be seen from great distances, even from Sharjah, Dubai's neighboring Emirate. At night, the tower's strobes rhythmically slice through the darkness to the desert sky, declaring its hights to aircraft pilots and silently commanding many flight passengers to scramble for their cameras to capture a glimpse of a celebrity among skyscrapers.

Sadly, this symbol of Dubai's bling is already scarred. It is a fact that this tower of vanity does not belong to Dubai (anymore). About a month before the tower opened its doors to the public, Dubai's economy was on a freefall. It's oil-rich neighbor, Abu Dhabi shelled out a whooping 10 billion dollars to cushion the blow. One of the trade offs was that this tower would be property of Abu Dhabi right smack on the heart of downtown Dubai.

Opening night was a blast. A multitude of mixed nationalities waited, anticipating the fireworks and fountain shows. Through the cacofony of various languages and fashion statements at the opening night, one can just imagine reverse of Babel. Babel was never completed and people fled from it. this time, on Burj Khalifa's completion, people of different languages came over to sing and unite in celebration of such an engineering feat.

The Eye of the Emirates

Walking along one of the man-made bays in Sharjah at dusk, your gaze can never miss a magnificent structure built near the shore. As the sun slowly retires at the west, its dying rays seemingly point to this iron giant. Man made lights turn on and continuously beg for attention while the gigantic ferris wheel's iconic image imerges from the lego-like sky skraper backdrop.



Standing proudly on Sharjah's Qasba canal, the 'Eye of the Emirates' has become a key attraction at Qanat Al Qasba. Her Highness Shaikha Bodour Sultan Al Qasimi, Chairperson of the Qasba Development Authority, explains: 'Our vision was to create an impressive structure that would allow people to see and appreciate Sharjah's rich mix of tradition, culture and modernity. We are confident the Eye of the Emirates will become Sharjah's most visible icon and portray a fresh, vibrant image of the emirate.' And true to her word, the eye is now an icon.



The wheel was built in the Netherlands according to the latest technology and highest safety standards. It features 42 fully air-conditioned passenger cabins, or gondolas, attached to its external rim, with each gondola accommodating eight people at a time. Passengers enjoy a panoramic view of 25-30 miles, including breathtaking aerial views of Sharjah and Dubai.



Around this tourist spot you are embraced by a nostalgic atmosphere of cozy mediterranean and asian restaurants offering the best of their cuisine along with western snack bars. Children ride their bikes and skateboards while some younger ones tske their shoes off to play along the water fountain.

Boats used mainly for touring the bay area and some routes along the canal are tied to posts along a port that seems to boast an invisible tag with "mini Venice" in it.

Amidst the buzzling noise comes a distinct prayer song from the mosque at one corner. As you wipe the swaet from your brow, the warm arabian night reminds you that you are still in the UAE.

The one that got away

This is one of the articles I saved because it hit me in the head the very first time I read it. (ok, that was years ago) I just want to share it and maybe this write up might use its powers to change lives again. Here goes:



The one that got away

Source: The Manila Times
By: Mark J. Macapagal

In your life, you'll make note of a lot of people. Ones with whom you shared something special, ones who will always mean something. There's the one you first kissed, the one you first loved, the one you lost your virginity to, the one you put on a pedestal, the one you're with... and the one that got away.

Who is the one that got away? I guess it's that person with who everything
was great, everything was perfect, but the timing was just wrong. There was
no fault in the person, there was no flaw in the chemistry, but the cards just didn't fall the right way, I suppose.

I believe in the fact that ending up with someone, finding a longtime partner that is, does not lie merely in the other person. I can actually argue that an equal part, or maybe even the greater part, has to do with the matter of timing. It has to do with you being ready to settle down and commit to someone in a way that goes beyond the little niceties of giddy romance.

How often have you gone through it without even realizing it? When you're
not ready to commit in that mature manner, it doesn't matter who you're
with, it just doesn't work. Small problems become big; inconsequentials become deal breakers simply because you're not ready and it shows. It's not that you and the person you're with are no good; it's just that it's not yet right, and little things become the flashpoint of that fact.

Then one day you're ready. You really are. And when this happens you'll be
ready to settle down with someone. He or she may not be the most perfect,
they might not be the brightest star of romance to ever have burned in your
life, but it'll work because you're ready. It'll work because it's the right time and you'll make it work. And it'll make sense, it really will.

So that day comes when you're finally making sense of things, and you find
yourself to be a different person. Things are different, your approach is different, you finally understand who you are and what you want, and you've become ready because the time has truly arrived. And mind you, there's no telling when this day will come. Hopefully you're single but you could be in a long-term relationship, you could be married with three kids, it doesn't
matter. All you know is that you've changed, and for some reason, the one
that got away, is the first person you think about.

You'll think about them because you'll wonder, "What if they were here today?" You'll wonder, "What if we were together now, with me as I am and not as I was?" That's what the one that got away is. The biggest "What if?" you'll have in your life.

If you're married, you'll just have to accept the fact that the one that got away, got away. Believe me, no matter how fairy tale you think your marriage is, this can happen to the best of us. But hopefully you're mature enough to realize that you're already with the one you're with and this is just another test of your commitment, one which will just strengthen your marriage when you get past it. Sure, you'll think about him/her every so often, but it's alright. It's never nice to live with a "might have been," but it happens. Maybe the one that got away is the one who's already married. In which case it's the same thing. You just have to accept and know that your memories of that person will probably bring a nice little smile to your lips in the future when you're old and gray and reminiscing. But if neither of that is the case, then it's different. What do you do if it's not yet too late? Simple...find him, find her. Because the very existence of a "one that got away" means that you'll always wonder, what if you got that one? Ask him out to coffee, ask her out to a movie, it doesn't matter if you've dropped in from out of nowhere. You'd be surprised, you just might be "the one that got away" as well for the person who is your "the one that got away." You might drop in from out of nowhere and it won't make a difference. If the timing is finally right, it'll all just fall into place somehow and you know, I'm thinking, it would be a great feeling, in the end, to be able to say to someone, "Hey you, you're the one that ALMOST got away."