November in Dubai

November is turning out to be a busy month in Dubai. Despite the deepening financial crisis worldwide and a continuing slide on the Dubai Bourse, the property sector seems to be holding on. After the success of Dubai CityScape in October, Palm Jumeirah officially opened last weekend. It was celebrated not only in style, with over 2,000 celebrities from Hollywood to Bollywood turned up, with the fireworks alone costing an astonishing USD3million. Entertainment was provided by many popular international artists including many scantily dressed ones such as Linsay Lohan and Kylie Minogue, to name but a few. In Malaysia, these artists would have been banned! All in all USD20million was reported to have been spent on the event. November also saw the opening of Dubai Mall, touted as the world's biggest shopping mall located next to the world's tallest building, about to be completed, the Burj Dubai. On this 26th, QE2, the world famous cruise ship, will sail into Dubai on her final voyage where she will be turned into a floating hotel instead. The refitting cost, I am told, is about USD300million!

I am now back in KL for a week till Saturday

From Outside the Coconut Shell

This is actually a title of a book which I attempted to write for many years now but have not got around to completing it due to my busy work schedule. This book would have been about my life experience of growing up in Malaysia during my formative years. In school, we learned a lot of proverbs in the Malay language and the one that struck a chord with me is 'Seperti Katak di bawah tempurung,' which translates to 'like a frog under the coconut shell. ' A frog whose life is defined by the boundaries of the coconut shell is equivalent to a person whose life is full of self imposed barriers, invisible barriers that block the mind.

Far too many people live under a coconut shell, I for one have always wanted to peek out from under it and eventually leave the comfort of that sphere for the wide open spaces. Opening my eyes to new sights and experiences. So, having lived and travelled to many places in this world I imagine that I now have a view of the world from outside the coconut shell, hence the title for this blog.

Currently on Vacation

I am currently on leave from my work in Dubai. Been back in Malaysia since 24 July where the weather seems to be better and cooler compared to Dubai.

Announcing the birth of my son

My son Ryo was born on 1 August at 8.12 am. He weighed 3.47 kg at birth. His elder brother, Russo seems to be very pleased to have someone to play football with at last. He showers him with kisses every time he sees him.