Music for a lazy Saturday afternoon

This was what I was listening to this afternoon while reading the newspapers and surfing the Net.



I bought Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael a long time ago, but I had not listened to it for quite a while. This compilation album comprises of 29 songs on 2 CDs. The 1st CD, entitled "For The Heart" contains ballads, while the fast dancy tunes made up the 2nd CD, "For The Feet".

Both CDs included duets that George Michael performed with other artists - Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me with Elton John, Desafinado with Brazilian artiste, Astrud Gilberto, As with Mary J. Blige, I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) with Aretha Franklin.

Good vocals, great instrumentals made this compilation album an easy listen for a lazy afternoon.

Inline Skating At Creek Park, Dubai

Having been in Dubai for a year plus, somehow I have never quite found a safe place to do inline skating. Unlike the East Coast Park in Singapore when you have 10km or more of nicely tarred bicycle track, or Venice Beach in California, where bikini cladded babes skating around in the Californian sunshine ala Pacific Blue.

The roads are fantastic, but invariably, the drivers might try and run you off the road. The vast car parks are great too, but again, you need to be wary of cars coming in and our of the car park, and not many car parks afford shade from the unforgiving sun.

There are numerous parks in Dubai, but I was not sure if they allowed skating or if the footpaths/bicycle tracks are suitable for skating. Plus the expense of at least AED5 for park entry is deterent enough for me to experiment.

Finally, a friend of mine told me that Creekside Park has a path that allowed skating. At first, I was sceptical. The paths I have seen in Creek Park were similar to the ones they use for the public pedestrian walkways and footpaths, put together by interlocking little bricks held together with sand, extremely useful if you want to get a bone rattling, joint shaking ride while you're skating, akin to a vibrating foot massage without the benefits. The tremors from skating over the seams of these bricks will transmit through the wheels, up the blades, right through the soles of your feet, up the shins through the knees caps all the way to your teeth - totally jarring.

So this morning, I took out my skates, put on the full kit sans helmet (reminider: GET A DAMN HELMET!), took the lift down and skated out towards the Creekside Park to find that elusive skatable track. I had my route all planned out in my head. Since I live at the Marriott Executive Apartments, all I had to do was take a lift down, skate out, cross a couple of roads, go up the Maktoum Bridge on the footpath, cross the Dubai Creek, down the bridge, loop right under the bridge, and voila, side entrance to Creek Park at the side of the Dubai Courts car park.

Of course, all routes planned in the head are not what they seem when you actually take them. Down the lift, exit the building, oh no, rattling footpath all the way to the road, rattle, rattle, rattle. Cross the road, more rattling footpath, rattle, rattle, rattle. Cross the next road, up the Maktoum Bridge, rattle, rattle rattle. Across the creek, loop down under the bridge, sharp downhill bend, rattle rattle rattle. And finally side entrance, rattle rattle rattle. I was already tired from all that rattling. The seams are pretty good dampeners on speed, so you have to push harder to get some decent speed, more effort when you're skating up the bridge or on an up slope. And they don't make an effective surface for you to use your skate brake when you are coming downhill. So, in every way, you are screwed - you spend more energy than normal on level ground, expend more energy than you normally would going up slope, and when you thought you could cruise coming down slope with your brake assisting you, the brake doesn't work as well as you want it to be.

Sign at the side entrance stated "Gate Closed. Use Gate Car Park 2". Another sign stated "This gate wil open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday." Hmm, maybe I was too early. No, the opening hours sign stated "Sunday to Thursday 8am to 11pm, Friday, Saturday and public holidays 8am to 12pm (sic)" I think they meant 12 midnight there. OK, gate closed, head to Car Park 2 then, more rattling on footpaths. Rattle, rattle, rattle.

Skating through the car park of Dubai Courts, I headed towards the footpaths that led to other entrances of the Creek Park. The policemen at the car park sentry post did not even bother even though I skated past and waved to them. Sorry, not my day, they've dug up the whole footpath, the only way to the other entrance was to skate on the road. Not actually what I had intended to do, but as they say “马死落地行“ （when the horse dies, you dismount and start walking), if I wanted to get to Creek Park, gotta hit the road. Good thing too that it was a Friday morning, not much traffic, but a lot of learner drivers on the roads. Hopefully, I don't get run off by one of them. Anyway, I had some identification on me, so if anything happens, they will know who to contact. I hope.

After 2 roundabouts, countless stepping aside and giving way to cars and learner drivers, I made it to the entrance of Creek Park. The moment of truth. "Good morning." I took out AED10 from my pocket and gave it to the Arab manning the ticket booth. "Good morning", he replied, and gave me my ticket and AED5 as change. I skated on into the park. No "Hey, you can't do that here", so I went on my way, back to rattling on the footpaht in the park. All the footpaths in the park were made of the same material as the public footpaths. If I didn't find that path that my friend mentioned, I swore I'd give him a good rattling the next time I saw him.

The park was huge. The lawns were green, very green, and well maintained. The landscaping was very well done, and the plants were well maintained. Quite impressive, I must say, excellent place for picnics and for family outings, especially for families with kids. There were quite a few play areas for children, and very well spaced out. There was a huge group that was having their outing, at least 50 persons, I must say, but the park was vast enough that if you move away from any noisy crowd, you won't hear or see them. There was also the famed cable car that takes you up 30m into the air and allow you to have an unobstructed view of the park and the creek. Not free of course.

I headed towards the creek, and yes, the much spoken path was there. Not tar/bitumen/asphat, but probably concrete. It was good enough for me. I had just about enough of that rattling. The path stretched the full length of the park on the side of the creek, so you are skating with water on one side and greenery from the park on the other side, and a cool breeze with the warm sun. I would think it is about 2km, or slightly more. Beggars can't be choosers. Mindful that I had to make my way back home on skates and get rattled on the way, I did 5 laps up and down the path. Saw a few kids on skates as well, but they looked like they needed more practice. Attracted a few stares along the way, not sure if it was because they've not seen a person on skates before or if it was just me.

The weather was getting hotter, and I decided to head back, hoping that the roads were still just as empty as they were when I came. Exited the park, onto the road again, back into the Dubai Courts car park. The policemen have abandoned their sentry boxc position retreated to the cooler climes of airconditioned comfort. Under the bridge, rattling up the sharp bend, across the bridge, crossing the 2 roads, stopping by the nearby convenience store for milk to make my latte, and back into the buildling where my apartment was. The security guard on duty commented "Very interesting". Yes, if only she knew what I skated through.

I thoroughly enjoyed skating at the Creek Park. I wished I had more time and energy. I am starting to feel the muscles that I knew I had, coz they're all starting to ache! If anything, I'll probably pay for the price of the rattling tomorrow, when the joints start complaining. Still, it was good, not having skating for such a long time.

Next time, I'll just drive to the Creek Park.

Grand Cinemas E-ticket, Blood Diamond, The Departed

Grand Cinemas now has a online ticketing facility that allows you to book your movie tickets online, choose your own seats, print out your ticket, and present yourself at the entrance just minutes before the screening of your preferred movie.

E-tickets are currently only available for 2 venues in Dubai, namely the Grand Megaplex 21 at Ibn Battuta Mall and the Grand Mercato at the Mercato Mall. There is an ongoing promotion where for every e-ticket booking you make, you get AED5 back in the form of a sticker. Collect 6 stickers and you get to redeem a free ticket.

















I booked myself for 2 movies, Blood Diamond and The Departed, both starring Leonardo DiCaprio. The good thing about online booking is that you get to choose what seats you want, and decide which movies to watch back to back, no queue and you don't have to reach the box office early to make sure that you get the better seats. What I didn't like about Grand Cinema's online booking system was that if you wanted to watch movies back to back, you need to complete your booking for 1 movie before making the next booking. And I didn't like the idea that I had to collect 6 stickers to enjoy the refund. You can't use the AED5 refund sticker as cash.

No spoilers here for either movies. I thoroughly enjoyed Blood Diamond. Moral of the story is: If you can, check the source of the diamond that you are buying. I also enjoyed The Departed although I had seen the Hong Kong version, Infernal Affairs, on which The Departed was based on. Infernal Affairs had 3 parts, so it would be interesting to see if Hollywood would pick up on the trilogy although if you had watched The Departed, and compared it to Infernal Affairs, you would know that the likelihood of this happening is extremely slim.

Seems like DiCaprio excels in roles where he plays the underdog, or the unlikely hero, like in Titanic and in The Aviator.

Try and catch these 2 movies if you can.

Hey, Where Is My Filet O Fish?

I went to the Ibn Battuta Mall yesterday to catch 2 movies at Grand Cinemas 21. Grand Cinemas now allows movie goers to buy their tickets online. Pretty convenient if you ask me. At least, now, I don't have to go to the box office at least 2 hours in advance and join the long queues to get my preferred seats when I watch a movie. I will elaborate more on the e-ticket option in another post.

My first movie was scheduled for screening at 8pm. I reached the Mall at 7pm, spent a few minutes looking for a car park space.

TIP: If you need to park near China City, there is a double storey cark park at the covered car park. Enter the covered car park, go on straight, exit and turn right up the ramp to the 2nd level. Plenty of car park lots, even if the covered car park is full.

As I came down the stairs, I saw a Scotch 3M tinting shop within the car park. Made a mental note to myself that I should check out the prices since summer is coming and I need to tint my car windows soon.

As always, the Mall was crowded, given that this is a Friday evening. Fought my way through the crowd to get to the food court at the other end of the Mall. For those of you who don't know, Ibn Battuta Mall is the largest themed mall to date in the Middle East, so it takes quite a bit of effort to walk from one end to the other end.

By the time I got to the food court, having stopped by a few shops on the way, I had 30 minutes left before screening started and about 20 minutes left to eat since I'll be fighting my way in the crowd again to get back to China Court. So, it has got to be fast food. So McDonalds it shall be. This guy, Mariel was his name, I think, took my order.

"Filet O Fish meal, please"

"Sir, for 1 dirham, you can upsize to a larger Coke and fries."

"No, just give me the regular."

"Sir, that will be 14 dirhams."

Gave him 20 dirhams. He gave me my change, and place my regular Coke and fries on a serving tray and said "Sir, you will have to wait 2 minutes for your Filet O Fish. You can wait here", pointing to the a corner at the serving counter, "or over there", pointing to a table adjacent to the counter.

"Alright, I will wait at the table."

Took my Coke and fries, and went to the table and started eating, turning my back with every munch to see if they'll call me to get my Filet O Fish. My fries were half finished and so was my Coke. Mariel was nowhere in sight. He's probably gone off to do kitchen duty. So I approached his colleague, an Indian guy, and asked "Hi, I am waiting for my Filet O Fish." He turned back, checked the burgers, checked the fryer and said "Sir, 1 minute more." Alright, I've waited for 2 minutes, another minute won't kill.

I had finished my Coke and fries, still no sign of my Filet O Fish. Mariel has reappeared with a mop, and he has happily moping the floor, chatting with his colleagues. I approached the counter again. The Indian guy saw me coming, turned his face to avert my line of sight. His other colleagues were either busy with customers or simply oblivious to the fact that I needed some help with the service. Mariel was still chatting and moping away. I stood there for 30 seconds, and then I raised my voice and said "Mariel, hey Mariel, where is my Filet O Fish?"

Mariel seemed a little embarrassed, but is that my problem? His female colleague turned to look at the burgers, and sitting there were not 1 but 3 Filet O Fishes. She took 1 and gave it to me. No "Thank you, sir", no "Sorry to keep you waiting, sir". Nothing.

I don't know about other countries, but in Singapore or in Thailand, if you have to wait for your burger, the burger will be brought to you at your table when it is ready. I suppose in some situations, you need to put your foot down to get what you want or else you will never get it.