Grubbs n Critters

February 11, 2014

On the road:Dubai

My work schedule has been a little more than just crazy since the start of the year as my job now requires me to do a little bit of travelling for business after years and years of hiatus. We are only in the second month of 2014, and already, I have got 2 other trips (not including the one I’m currently doing) lined up to keep me busy till March…which kind of explains why I haven’t been blogging in the last one week.

In a way, it does feel kind of strange to have to leave the kids at home for more than 3 days at a stretch. While (in a way) I do think that such separation is healthy and that I don’t mind being away from them for a little while, I can’t help but feel a little heavy- hearted to leave them at home, knowing that I will miss them when I don’t see them for a few days. (I am also feeling a little guilty of having to leave Silver Bullet at home with them for 2 weeks back-to-back) I am currently in Dubai – a country I haven’t been to before, and will be attending my company’s global summit for 5 solid days. (So, please pardon me for the lack of updates)

My very first impression of Dubai is that the country seems clinical, and perhaps, somewhat superficial. It reminds me of Singapore and its concrete jungle. From the moment I stepped out of the airport, I sense decadence. The roads seem to be extremely systematic, well-orchestrated and done with what seem like quality workmanship.

The skyline is filled with massive, impressive buildings and everywhere is just filled with bigness and a touch of luxury. The houses look more like luxury villas than anything else. The road, very well paved for pedestrians. Dubai looks perfect!This place smells of wealth and prestige all around. As we cruised along the highway to get to our luxurious hotel, it makes me wonder if the real Dubai dwellers and each and every one of them are actually living a life of luxury. Here are some snapshots of Dubai and the vicinity of the hotel which we are currently being put up at.

More to come – assuming I have a little downtime in the next few days to be able to blog. Stay tuned.

Year of the Horse

Category: Random

[This is a long overdue post]

Almost two weeks has passed since the world celebrated Chinese New Year to welcome the Year of the Horse. A year purported to bring about fast victories, unexpected adventure, and surprising romance. It is high energy and production is rewarded. It is a year to take a leap and fly. Quoted from an online source, it will be an excellent year for travel, and the more far away and off the beaten path the better.

Like every other year, we don’t celebrate Chinese New Year in our household and unlike our neighbouring countries, Thailand does not accord long public holidays over this period, too. Not every company is closed and some do remain opened as Chinese New year is considered as an additional public holiday granted by the companies at their own discretion.

Thus, it is easily missed as celebrations are not big like those being celebrated in Singapore like I remember it. The festivities are mostly concentrated in Chinatown and individual homes who celebrated New Year in a more symbolical way especially so for the Thai-Chinese with Chinese ancestral descent.

Even Spud’s school stayed open, but they had a theme where every student was required to wear red that day and because I had an off day, I decided o stick around for a couple of hours to watch the kids at play.

I remember that I used to get ang-paos (red packets filled with money in even numbers or “8” as a symbol of luck) whenever I visited a friend’s home. Tradition calls that as long as one is not married, one is entitled to get an ang-pao, no doubt, an occasion I had immensely enjoyed in my younger days. These days, I have to be the one to give…although my kids would likely to be the ones getting their red-packets if we were to do our round of visiting our Chinese friends.

Chinese New Year is still symbolical and a very good friend of mine made sure that we did not forget it by sending over new clothes for the kids to mark this celebratory occasion. Squirt received a cool Chinese New Year outfit and I was only too happy to let him wear it on the first day of new year. With a smile on his face on the realization that he has a new outfit to wear, I thought he looked quite cute in it.

Like every other year, my wish for the new year has also been more symbolical more than anything. This year, however, my wish is more heart-felt with a sense of urgency for a smoother journey to an uncharted, yet ambitious success in my new career, a happy and healthy family life, good health and well-being and above all, wishing for all goodness all around because this time, my wish is not just for me, but stemmed from only one inherent desire in which I truly, really and genuinely want to help in whichever way I possibly can.