Here it is, the day that I used as an excuse to go to Dubai. The date is the 2nd of January, 2009, a Friday, which meant these dudes needed to go for prayers and I need to find something to do by myself in the morning. For the past previous days these guys have been saying that they’d hook me up with some awesome tour of Dubai. They sent me the number, I rang the tour company up and they gave me their details. Tour was starting at 10.30 a.m. and I made a booking and the meeting place was at a mall that was close to Panorama, which was Burjaman. Took me about 20 minutes to get there ‘cause I stopped once in a while to ask for directions from restaurants and hotels along the way.
Finally reached my destination. Took me another ten minutes to find their office ‘cause different areas are linked from the basement. Ingenious. I eventually reached the office based on the instructions that the nice lady had passed earlier through the phone. I stepped out of the basement and into the Dubai sunlight and was greeted by this…
Weird shape for a bus ain't it?
Yeah, it is shaped like the front of a boat
Now when I think about it, it does kinda remind me of the Magic School Bus. After all, this bus allegedly goes into the water and then does a round around the Dubai Creek. We’ll see…
I went inside the office and saw a family, two black women seated in a small room already and the receptionist called out my name (I had made a reservation earlier and they just took my surname and half my first name) and told me what’s going to go down. I then paid them about… 125 dhirhams for the tour, which was the most expensive single thing that I’ve paid for so far. Hung around the area for awhile and then people started boarding and I followed suit. I got the 3rd window seat on the left and the 2 black women were in front of me. The guide was some young dude that probably got the job last week and rehearsed the tour speech the night before. At least he seems to have a solid memory. Right on cue we started moving out of Burjaman and were heading towards the creek’s bank. After much horning we cleared the road into a ramp leading into the creek.
By the ramp, ready to dive
Water was blue and looked nice. Damn I was so ready to jump in. The guide then told the front 3 windows must be zipped up so I had to help the people in front of me and behind me zip it up. I’m not being racist but those 2 black women obviously have no idea what the dude was saying ‘cause I had to reach over their heads to zip their windows up and they were just watching me like I worked there. Freakin’ @#$%^&… and then we dove into the water. I swear. We dove.
*splash*
Would've been soaked if I didn't zip that motherfucker up
Even though I knew what was going to happen it was pretty shocking, to say the least. Water splashed all around us and true enough, most of the water splashed the first 3 windows. The hum of the bus engine shifted to the sound of a motorboat in an instant and we started our journey down the creek… in nothing short of quirky style and flair. Oh right~!
"This is your captain speaking..."
Deira side
Police cruiser on the right
Dubai Creek, man
Creek transport, economy class
The guide then started playing these old pop hits from yesteryear and started pointing out various landmarks on the Deira side. Alright, here’s how it goes down. My side at Panorama, is Bur Dubai and across the creek is Deira. You can cross the creek in 4 ways, via Maktoum Bridge, which is opened until 10 p.m., Shindaga Tunnel, the Floating Bridge and the ferry. Yeah, that 1, that last picture. That’s the ferry. They’ve got swankier waterbuses but the usual ones are those. All the same design and same safety levels. Just put a sampan, steal a bus stop roof and a couple of plastic chairs or a park bench and you’re in business. Just 1 dhirham to cross. Price was half before. Here’s a video of part of the journey through the creek.
Eventually we started getting to the far side of the creek where the guide started pointing out more landmarks and then one of the Sheik’s house. Or was it just someone important? Either way, there was a sign hanging facing the creek side saying “No photography”. Hahahaha… What’s he gonna do? Throw us a line and hope to hook our bus over? As soon as the guide pointed the house out, cameras started flashing like JT walked into the room. Hilarious.
There's a market on the other side, I think
Here comes the fuzz again...
I love this shot. That's a floating restaurant right there
Some building the guide pointed out.
More landmarks that the dude pointed out
Another floating restaurant. Would've been an awesome experience to dine in that ship
At the house we did a U-turn and then went back to the ramp we dove from. Couple of idiots were blocking the way so the driver switched over to the ship horn, y’know, the 1 that bellows out and probably made those idiots shat their pants till it dripped out the bottom. Got back in about 15 minutes and I went back to Panorama to chill a bit. Rushdi’s mum had prepared lunch and she had invited me over. I waited out until they were done with juma prayers and took a cab over to Kerama Hotel. Rushdi met me at Al-Falaq, we went for some chai and set off to his house. Lunch was a’ite, didn’t really burn a hole through my tongue but nevertheless spicy.
Next thing on the agenda was to go to this shop called Snow White in Qusais for Rushdi’s gear for the wedding. We hung around his place waiting for Raashid to come fetch us. Rushdi handed me this awesome RC car to play with. Weird thing it can’t turn left and right but the front 2 wheels can spin in 360 so it look like a breakdancer with skates. I kinda spent a good hour freaking his cats out with the car.
Eventually Raashid came by and me, Rushdi, Yasmin, his mum, nice lady and Raashid went over to Qusais. Snow White… is a men’s clothing store. Just sells regular clothes. No funky t-shirts, no gangsta shit just the type of gear you see on White and Nerdy. Eventually he settled on a blue shirt. What kind of shade exactly, I can’t say.
Raashid then dropped me off at Panorama to get ready and went back to Kerama so Rushdi can get a haircut and get ready as well. Watched some TV, lazed around and eventually picked myself up off the couch to go take a shower.
Yeah boi~
Everyone swung by once more to Panorama and we left in search of Al Murooj Rotana, which was supposedly near the Dubai Mall. So we left without knowing where exactly the venue was. Luckily enough Dubai had better road signs than Malaysia so finding our way was easy. We got dropped off straight at the entrance of the Yasat Grand Ballroom. Oh, by the way, here’s how the invitation was like. It was kind of dumb to mail us the invitation and shit ‘cause we were just friends so Suheil just transferred over MSN to us.
Your standard invitation sans my name
We thought we were late but it seems that the Suheil had decided to adopt Malaysian timing for his wedding. Sure, the papers were signed this morning so they ARE officially married but the formalities must be dealt with too. After waiting say…. an HOUR the dude finally came in. They put a Moroccan cap on him and a garland of flowers on him and ushered him onto a couch with a nice golden cloth laid on it in the hall. I have pictures of all this but since Suheil kind of asked me not to post certain pictures I supposed he meant this. If any of you can get any confirmation from him regarding the pics, I’ll be grateful.
People were mobbing the poor lad left, right, centre and upside down as he waltzed in. He sat on the couch with his brother and there was a Sith Lord looking dude sitting adjacent to him. He was old, huge and was draped head to toe in white.
“Something something something darkside… Something something something complete~”
A religious speaker started talking about how this union is a symbol of hope of intertwining two cultures together in this time of blablablablabla… Yeah, he’s a religious speaker. Respect there but he’s talking balls. Total unnecessary balls. From the look on Suheil’s face, he’d probably agree with me. After he finished, everyone went into the dining halls to chow down. Yeah, halls. Chicks on the left. Men on the right. Segregated affair. I know. Huge bummer. It’s official… Chinks party harder and better at their weddings.
Rushdi and Shakir
Me and Rushdi
The lads from Sunway
Today's the day man!
Usual selection of a centrepiece
Shakir taking shots around too
Altogether now for the Sri Lanka men!
Total sausage fest but I couldn’t care less ‘cause the food was good and the company was nice. The only people that made it from Sunway were me (biggest effort by ,far too!), Rushdi, Shakir, Suheil (duh) and Azhan (who’s next in line to join the family). I think they were playing Nasyid’s stuff in the background but eventually it was all drowned out by my insane laughter and the clanking of cutlery, digging into the awesome Arabic food.
Briyani~!!! CHOOIIYYY~~~
Chicken, beef and mutton - skewered, delicious, heavenly
Bleargh. Some half assed fruit cake. Spat that shit out in 2 seconds
Awesome chow right there man ('cept the fruitcake). Only can be topped with a nice satisfied look…
Aaaaaaah... *belch*
We went out for a bit, looked around Rotana. Pretty swank place, small lobby surprisingly but not short on the bling bling. After some snooping and looking at the white folks jostling in and out for some night action, we went back to the dining hall. We were greeted with dessert…
It was some nice cake. Can't remember what was it exactly...
There was another chocolate mousse cake but it was terrorized by the kids on our table that a picture would’ve been completely inappropriate. Oh yeah, forgot to mention that our table was made into the kiddy table. God damn it. The age gap was roughly about 10-14 years! Jeez… But that did not stop me from laughing like a maniac, swearing my ass off and definitely did not stop the flow of dirty jokes.
Somehow we eventually yanked Suheil off the table from his in-laws that were trying their best to make him shit in his pants to get a group photo. Guess he was lucky to have us and his brothers there to keep him sane!
Sunway Boys
Our photographer of the night, Harun
We hung around for awhile. Azhan bailed first ‘cause his sister recently had a baby and he needed diaper changing lessons soon too. Me and Rushdi bailed next when Raashid came over with his mum and Yasmin. On my way out I almost bumped into this…
Classic! Just missing the cans
Riding out in style on the biggest day of his life
Choiy, that’s a sweet ride. Strange though… Suheil told us that he was staying over at Rotana when this shindig was done, so why’d he need this sweet ride? Maybe it’s just a good ending ceremony kind of thing. Later on, Rushdi was telling how the wedding went down and I started having a laugh-a-lympics challenge with his mum. Good times.
They dropped me off once again at Panorama and I stumbled upstairs to crash… but not before a nice shower. Suit was killing my shoulders. Stayed up for a bit more watching TV and then crashed nicely.
Well, that was quite a day. So, thanks to Shazia's family for the awesome shindig. Look into that fruitcake issue, they ripped you off there... and of course congrats to Suheil and Shazia for tying the knot! May you guys be blessed with enough children to start a soccer team and happiness 'til death do you part!
Alright, this has been a nice happy post and all that and I’d hate to end it on a sour note but I gotta get this off my chest. Israel. Gaza. Christ. Fucking idiots. I don’t know what sickens me more, the fact that innocents are dying or that the world powers are just filling up the papers with condemning and talks and “urges” to stop the war. Someone needs to get the Avengers Initiative up and running man.
Peace out y’all.
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