the bucket list - skydiving

i crossed out one of the entries in my big list of things to do before i die.

its a long long list. and truthfully, this is one of the only achievable things at the moment. the idea first came upon me when my elder brother did one in sydney, and came again after watching flo rida’s ‘wild ones’ video. so when my housemate announced that she was leaving dubai; we decided that this was one thing that we needed to do before she left. so we booked ourselves 2 spots in skydive dubai for a tandem skydive.

from the very start things were just so quick that i barely had any time at all to process any feelings that came to me. once we signed in a guy on a cam started video-ing me as the intro, then my tandem skydiver strapped me up and began explaining what i should be doing during the jump. basically 2 things; smile and be a banana. meaning arch my body upways like a banana and do nothing like a banana.

next thing we know, we’re walking up towards this little propeller plane, my partner asking if i’m ready, my heart’s pumping like mad while i’m smiling to her saying yes lets do this. we climbed up to 13,000ft, her pointing to the view outside, but really who the fark leisurely enjoys the view when you know you’re jumping off the plane next.

oh my, crazy doesn’t even begin to describe how it felt. i just remember screaming and screaming and screaming the moment we jumped out. and after a few seconds of that i remembered i was being videotaped so i started to attempt some cool gesture shots. what an epic fail. freefalling makes its really really hard to move ANYTHING when you’re up in the air. i had to use every single little ounce of muscle i had to make a tiny effort of hand, arm or facial movements! it didn’t really feel like i was flying really, it felt more like a continuous fall that would never end.

it was really enjoyable for me. i was more excited during the entire experience more than afraid. lots of people naturally imagine what happens if the parachute doesn’t deploy, what if my tandem jumper faints in mid air (lol!). but seriously, they jump on an average of 8 times a day. if something does go wrong, that will be my fate then. HAHA.

after a few seconds of falling you get used to the feeling. and start enjoying the view, as if falling was so natural and you don’t think about it. at a certain height my tandem diver deploys the parachute and adjusts the straps to make us more comfortable.

then she pops a question; “you like roller coasters?”

me: “i love them!”

and she starts twirling us around like a little puppet. omg that beat any roller coasters i’ve ridden in my life. after a few seconds of intense g-force,squealing, laughing and god knows what, i had tears in my eyes and had to tell her to stop.

it was a perfect landing. =) no wobbly knees or fainting spells. more like a happy wide-eyed kid who just got out of the best ride of her life. the whole experience was so quick and mind-blowing i didn’t really feel much. nor had time to think about it.

it costs AED1750 / ~USD475 for a tandem dive including still photos and a video. in total the jump probably lasted only a couple of minutes but the whole experience took probably about 2 hours including waiting time.

if i had the chance, i’d definitely do it again. just maybe somewhere else =)

The Ramadan dinner

The Ramadan month ended last week. If you don’t know what ramadan is; its the holy ninth month in the Islamic calendar where Muslims fast during the daylight hours from dawn to sunset. It is apparently the month when the holy book of Quran is believed to have been revealed.

I am a non-muslim, thus do not follow the ramadan rules. However as UAE is a muslim country, everyone has to respect and abide to these rules. Thus there is no food displayed in malls, shops etc from about 5am till 7pm. Supermarkets are still open as normal. Restaurants and cafes close up with shutters and/or blinds; some of them still serve food but only for take-away. Bars and clubs are still open, however there is no music and only non-alcoholic drinks are served.

 

The reason why muslims abstain from any food, drinks and any sexual activities is highly spiritual. Through fasting, they experience hunger and thirst; to sympthathize with the unfortunate, and also to practice self-control. However, OHMYGAWD it was bloody torture for me to go through the month. As my batchmates and i finally ended our training; we could not celebrate as there was no bars/clubs that were open with alcohol. If i happened to be out during lunch time and got hungry, i could not have anything to eat out in the public. One would need to bring it back home before you could eat, or worse case scenario, eat it in the public bathroom. Imagine delicious donuts were screaming out to me as i walked past. The rules are so strict here that if you were actually caught even drinking water inside your car; you’d get thrown into jail.

The good thing however; was the iftar meals at dawn. Iftar is the evening meal when muslims would come together and break their fast together. Alot of restaurants have iftar buffets where you can eat whatever and however much you wanted for a set price. the average was about AED70/USD20 for a lower quality restaurant to about AED500/USD135 for one in a fine dining restaurant.

 if you didn’t know already, i’ve got gorgeous friends. inside and out. don’t be envious now.

I had the privilege to be able to attend 2 iftar buffets. the first was sort of a celebratory dinner at Al Merkaaz in dubai marina. The food was alright; but the hospitality was just amazing as the manager took us through all the different traditional Lebanese dishes and desserts.

The night was still young and would not be complete without a session of seesha, thus we headed to look for a nice chill-out spot. As we walked onto the dubai marina, i was blown away by the sight beyond. Yachts parked in a man-made marina with scores of skyscrapers and blinding lights. Sheikh Zayed Road was alright, but i definitely found the glitzy side of Dubai.

 

Okay, fast forward a week later, and i found myself and my batchmates being invited for another iftar dinner organized by the cabin crew committee; held in the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding.

  

The centre is housed in the historic traditional Emirati neighbourhood of Bastakiya. It is a lovely lovely place and would definitely recommend a walk through the maze of narrow sikkas and tall wind towers. We got lost (obviously) looking for the exact place, but when we were escorted through a series of corridors, an indoor covered courtyard laid with carpets, pillows and lots of food greeted us graciously.

We began with a little introduction to the month of ramadan, the customs and culture of muslims, what to do and what not to do, and the food of course. They had traditional names for the dishes but being in arabic i obviously do not remember any of it. except just that they were lamb, goat, rice, wheat, and donuts dipped in syrup! Breaking fast always start with a round of plain water, dates and arabic coffee. It is customary to only eat after the evening prayers end; but me being me, i popped a date in as soon as i was handed one; to the dismay of the person serving me.

iveta from lithuania and rene from south africa

No they didnt put me into jail for that but i felt bad for being such a lackwit. Oh well, after the prayers were done and dusted; time for the feast to begin! The food was alright due to the sheer amount of mass producing they needed to do to feed everyone. What made it really special was the ambience and cultural understanding i experienced, and that made the meal so much more than just a meal.

dubai the aerotropolis

the views in this blog are purely my own from my experience and in no way is meant as an offence to anyone. some statements might not be facts but just well-known rumours; so take it easy people.

the fountains of dubai mall

IMHO dubai is an interesting city. this place used to be unheard of, just some desert in the middle east, yet the past few years have seen a major change and now there’s a guide book on it, and even a music video based on the city itself. dubai has popped out of the middle of nowhere, history-less and incomprehensible. it is like an empty canvas, and here comes people playing god, creating and shaping to their liking. if you can imagine how much money is needed to kick start a building development, imagine how much capital would be needed to actually kick-start an actual city. dubai had little oil, little resources and a tiny population. but by sheer determinacy, it built itself as a flight hub  the world. the timing has never been any better, as air travel was booming, bringing the world a little closer and the next time we know, everyone is flying into dubai for connecting flights. so then the ‘fake city’ is created. there’s manmade islands, manmade rivers, and manmade green parks. downtown dubai is filled with fancy skyscrapers that defies the natural climate and the favourite hangout place is the soulless malls for excessive capitalism.


burj dubai/burj khalifah and the mall’s aquarium

everything here has to be bigger and better than the rest of the world. there’s the world largest shopping mall; dubai mall. in it theres a olympic sized ice rink and an aquarium with the worlds largest single acrylic panel. next to it is burj khalifah, currently the tallest skyscraper in the world, where it also becomes the backdrop for the dubai fountain, modelled after the one in Las Vegas only 4 times bigger.


one of the souks in bur dubai; trying out the abra to get across the creek

Dubai in a certain way overwhelming to me with its ambition and excessive ‘plastic surgery’, but when you lose yourself in its little ghettos you will find loads of traditional charm with its souks, abras and local food. The social strata here is very evident; in one area you would have the expats and local emirati population, and the other the huge labour force brought in to facilitate the city’s construction projects. The working rights here is a major social issue, where there are reports that some are forced to be in living conditions “less than humane” yet not able to return to their home country for having their passport taken away.

 towards the dubai creek and the restaurant converted dhow.

Dubai has always been portrayed as the glitzy cosmo destination. the 7-star level lifestyle, shiny malls, elegant skyscrapers and glamorous hotels. However I’ve been enjoying myself more exploring the different scene in the areas of Karama, Diera, Naif and Al Quoz. There are people pulling carts, mini stores selling abayas and pashima scarfs, restaurants that don’t look like they pass the health test yet filled with patrons. Theres an abundance of cheap authentic cuisine from Pakistan, India, Lebanon and more for less than 10AED/3AUD a meal. Compare this to one in burj al-arab where dinner starts from 350AED/90AUD, with even smaller portions. Local character and cheap food in dubai is aplenty, now i’m just hunting for them.

marhaba

i’ve landed in dubai 3 days ago. the first thing my employers did was to have escorts waiting for me at the arrival gate to guide me through customs, immigration and any other legality. man, i felt like such a big VIP being able to jump the queue and have someone handle these things for me. also, it is mandatory for everyone when they land for the first time, to go through a biometrics scan (for security reasons i’m guessing).

immigration officer: open your eyes please maam

me: *opens eyes*

IO: open them wider maam

me: *tries AS HARD AS POSSIBLE* that’s as big as it gets!

he had to repeat it 3 times; until i decided to use my fingers to pry my seedy eyes open. i’m asian dammit.