Classic lifestyle

This is the view from our new apartment in International City. It is wonderful, my previous flat was on the first floor and I only had a view of the car park (estate agents here call that a 'community view'). Now I am on the tenth floor, in a brand new building, and I can see forever, even the desert sand dunes in the distance. It makes such a difference.

The feeling is almost Mediterranean, all pastel colours. My flat faces north, which is perfect because I get less sun (and less heat) but still loads of light.

From the balcony, of which I have two, one from the lounge and one from the bedroom.

Scarce Boer War stamps

We’ve been in the new apartment for about two weeks now, things are finally beginning to settle down and I can get back to blogging again. I have recently bought two very nice and scarce Boer War stamps. The Boer War is my main collecting interest, simply because it is such a fascinating event and it is pretty close to home also, my great grandmother was in the war, she survived by hiding in a cellar on the farm of an ‘Englishman’ in the area where they stayed! Close to my house in Strydenburg there are also several Boer War battlefields. Philatelically there are so many things to collect, covers from prisoners of war, covers from soldiers in the field, occupation and siege stamps – the most famous of these are the Mafeking siege stamps (I have quite a few, they are probably some of my most valuable stamps), the overprints on old Transvaal and Free State stamps when the English conquered these areas and much more. Today I am showing two scarce stamps from the Boer occupation of northern Natal. The Boers overran and occupied Newcastle and Dundee right at the start of the war in late 1899 and stayed there until around mid to end 1900. This was also the time of the Ladysmith siege. The stamps I bought show Boer postmarks used in Ladysmith and Newcastle on Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek stamps. The stamps are not scarce but the postmarks are. These postmarks are a part of history, they show the time when northern Natal was in effect part of the old ZAR, the Boers never annexed the area formally but in practice it became part of the ZAR, until they had to retreat back to the Transvaal in the face of the British onslaught.

Pictures from Santa Rita, Pampanga

A little blurred, sorry, but this is Jay and me using a jeepney.

For me this was very strange. drinking at the Total garage on the highway! In Santa Rita this is one of the hotspots at night, what seems like everyone gathers at the Total, where there are tables on the grass behind the fuel pumps, and spend a night on the town drinking right there!

Like everywhere in the Far East there are little street restaurants all over the place, serving delicious and very cheap food. This is one in Santa Rita where we went for a little snack.

The cathedral in Santa Rita dates from Spanish times. We went there for mass, it was in Tagalog but was a very beautiful experience for me.

Many places in Pampanga, including Santa Rita, were severely affected when Mount Pinatubo erupted in the early nineties. Here it’s possible to see that the lower part of the church is now buried beneath the ground because of the lahar from Pinatubo. Look at the arches, only the top half is now visible.

A tricycle (in Bangkok they call them tuk-tuks) in Santa Rita, passing by a house in Spanish style.

More Philippines

We spent about two weeks in the Philippines, mostly in Santa Rita, Pampanga, which is where Jay comes from. Santa Rita is a small town, surrounded by rice paddies and in the distance you can see the Mount Arayat volcano (not active). Jay celebrated his birthday while we were there, which was very special because he had not been home for his birthday in many years. From Santa Rita we went up to Baguio in the Cordillera (mountains) in the north of Luzon island. A very pleasant trip and very refreshing because the mountain air was cool and clean, with stunning views to add.

Jay’s brother and nephews.

The birthday feast. Lots of pork (something in short supply and expensive in Dubai!)

Tucking in. I enjoy Filipino food, it is an interesting mix of styles – Spanish, American reflecting the colonised past and local flavours.

Jay and friends. And food, of course.

The market in Baguio, many narrow alleys teeming with people and smells.

Typically Filipino, a jeepney in Baguio. After the second world war the Filipinos started modifying the US army jeeps to create their own special form of public transport.

Mines View in Baguio, me and Jay. The views in Baguio are really awe-inspiring, and what is very special is that the air feels crisp and fresh, it is nice and cool up there in the mountains even though you are right in the tropics.

Burnham Park in the centre of Baguio. The central area of the city is a cacophony of sound, swarming with people and cars and slightly polluted because of all the jeepneys, but there is a peaceful escape – this park. And just outside the centre the city becomes a peaceful haven of calm and you can smell the pines dotting all the mountain slopes surrounding the city.

Houses cling precariously to the mountains surrounding the city.

Close-up it looks like this. And the obligatory jeepney . . .

Our new home

Our new apartment, top left. It's on the top floor, so I can just run up the stairs to the roof-top pool, gym and sauna. A blissful life awaits!

This is what it looks like inside.

Back in Dubai after a wonderful, month-long holiday in the Far East. I will post some pictures and stories about the trip soon. But first, it’s time to move. After two year staying in my current apartment, a very comfortable and quite spacious studio apartment in International City, it’s time to move on. We need a bit more space and a bit of extra comfort would be nice also. Rents in Dubai have fallen quite spectacularly in the past 18 months or so. The property boom here was at its peak just when I move here and rents were simply outrageous back then. Even a small studio apartment in International City, a nice-enough area about 20 minutes from the city centre, cost around 1,500 US dollars back then per month, payable in advance for a whole year in one payment. Luckily things have changed, the norm now is to pay in four cheques (quarterly), some landlords are even beginning to accept 12 cheques, like in the rest of the world where you pay your rent monthly. But quarterly seems to be the way here now. And you can get a one-bedroom for much less than the price of a studio before! It helps a lot, makes it a lot easier to find somewhere nice that you can still afford. I looked around quite a bit, there are many areas in Dubai now within my budget. Dubai Marina, once a very upmarket area but one of the worst affected by falling rents and an exodus of tenants, was one option. I gave it serious thought though and actually decided against it. It’s a good area but very, very built-up. Row upon row of very tall apartment buildings and no sense of space really. I feel it’s a bit claustrophobic there. The same is true for Jumeirah Lake Towers and Al Barsha, similar to Dubai Marina and relatively well-located. Still about 20 minutes from my workplace, same like here in International City. Then there is Bur Dubai, the traditional ‘centre’ of Dubai, mostly older buildings but very well-located and with good services readily available – shops and the like. That counts against JLT, Dubai Marina and Al Barsha. Imagine row upon row of apartment buildings in a very stark landscape with basically not even a corner shop anywhere near. There is a status factor involved here, especially Western expats prefer to stay in ‘the Marina’ or ‘Barsha’ because of the name. Fortunately I am not someone to be bothered by status at all. Which basically narrowed my search down to International City again. The area has a bit of a bad reputation, partially because of a problem in the past with a bit of a sewerage smell late at night because of the municipal sewerage works in neighbouring Al Awir area. And many people still think International City is very far away from the city. The sewerage problem has been solved (most of the sewerage processing work has been moved to Jebel Ali now) and IC really is not that far away from town. In many cases travelling time to the city is much quicker than even inter-city travelling, say from Bur Dubai to my workplace on Sheikh Zayed Road. So I have no qualms about staying here – and a big plus is there are many, many shops and restaurants and laundries and everything else you could need right here. It is an area swarming with small businesses, and the residents are a real mix, some Western expats, very many people from India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Nepal, Vietnam and also eastern Europe like Romania, Russia, places like Kazakhstan, African countries like Ethiopia, Lebanese, Egyptians and many others. Also many South Africans, my local Spinneys (similar to the Spar in South Africa) sells boths Huisgenoot and You! The wide mix of nationalities of course means there are all kinds of ethnic restaurants literally just down the road. International City’s China section is also the Chinatown of Dubai, with many thousands of Chinese people living there. For me this is great, I find Dubai a bit drab sometimes but International City is a very colourful ethnic meltingpot, and I really do enjoy Asian cuisine. So, for a while I had my eye on a very attractive new building in the CBD area of International City. When we came back from the Far East I went there, spoke to the guard, was told the building would be ready for occupation next week (perfect timing). I called the managing company, had a look, and signed the contract this morning. So I will be moving in about three weeks’ time – to a huge one-bedroom apartment, with two balconies, a big kitchen, two bathrooms AND a big rooftop swimming pool (big enough for lap training), a gymnasium, sauna, steam room and basement parking. I am as excited as a little boy with a new toy, can’t wait. I was very happy here in my studio, but space – especially kitchen space, will be very welcome now.

Up in the clouds

The views from Marcos Highway, leaving Baguio.

On the way to the Mansion House, an old estate house up in the clouds in Baguio.

We arrived in Bangkok last night, will be here for about a week after our visit to the ‘in-laws’ in the Philippines. We spent about two weeks there, in a small town called Santa Rita in the province of Pampanga. It is about two hours north of Manila. I did not post much while I was there simply because the internet connection in Santa Rita was excruciatingly slow, like Telkom dial-up in SA. But had a great time, we spent most of it just visiting Jay’s family and friends, and also went to Baguio City, which is way up in the Cordillera, the mountains, in northern Luzon (the main northern island of the Philippines). Baguio was really a surprise, it is very cool up there, at night I think the temperature dropped to about 12 or 13 degrees only, by day it was about 25. Quite unexpected in a tropical country like the Philippines for me and really very refreshing, and of course beautifully green. Central Baguio is a bit of a mess, lots of pollution from all the Jeepneys, but just ouitside the central area things change completely, beautiful pine forests, amazing views and cool, fresh air. It is a bit strange now that we are in Bangkok seeing so many tourists here, in some places in the Philippines I feel like the only foreigner for miles and miles and miles. Of course lots of people go to the beaches of Boracay and some other places, but generally speaking it seems to me that not many people go a bit off the beaten track there, it is very refreshing to travel like that, you kind of feel a bit like an explorer! I think in Sta Rita I was probably the only foreigner in town for the whole two weeks we were there. Even in Baguio there were not that many tourists, except for the Koreans, for some reason the Koreans really love the Philippines and there are large ‘Korea Towns’ in many of the main cities, including Baguio, where you can get Korean food and buy Korean products at the Korean supermarkets.

Burj Dubai, tallest tower in the world

In the clouds . . . This view greeted me today just outside my office. The tip of the tower breaking through the clouds.

The Burj Dubai, the tallest tower in the world (about 800 metres tall, roughly 180 floors), will open on the 4th of January. I will miss the opening day, I will be in Kuala Lumpur by the time it opens. Dubai has been through some ups and lots of downs lately, but this tower is still standing, and really is quite spectacular. We had quite a bit of rain today, and even hail.

Happy New Year to all!

Jay and me, relaxed and ready for whatever 2010 might bring!

 

Dinner for six, or eight, or nine . . .

Closing the old year and in with the new. We had a lovely new year’s dinner with friends in Satwa, just around the corner from my workplace. I was working until 11.30pm last night, so it was a mad rush to get to Satwa in time for the bell. Luckily, and strangely perhaps, the roads were pretty quiet at that time of the night last night, so it took me just a few minutes to get to Satwa and everything worked out well. We arrived well in time to celebrate the passing of 2009 and the birth of 2010. Satwa is probably one of the most characterful areas of Dubai. There are some freestanding houses but mostly the area is filled with apartment blocks, mostly occupied by working people who often share a flat and a room. It is not unusual for up to six people and more to share one room, simply because Dubai rents can be pretty high, and because working people get paid rather pitiful salaries. Maybe that is why Satwa is such an interesting area, most of the three major expat groups in Dubai (the Filipinos, Pakistanis and Indians) are well-represented there in terms of special ethnic supermarkets, restaurants and shops, each catering to a specific community. You can quite literally walk between the Philippines and India and Korea and Nepal and Sri Lanka in one street block. The area is buzzing day and night, and one of the places where we do our shopping is there in Satwa. The area has a kind-of Hillbrow feel to it for me, slightly seedy, flashing neon lights that have seen better days (bulbs missing, zinging sounds . . . ), in the end just full of life.
Our new years eve dinner was a pretty flash affair, we all pooled our money and then some of the guys did the cooking – pancit (noodles), prawn tempura, pork, chicken, pudding (Filipino style but very much like trifle), and, most bizarelly, we did not even touch alcohol! You kind of get used to life without alcohol here in Dubai. Of course it’s available and pretty easy to get, I just don’t have much of an inclination to pay hugely inflated prices just for a drink. So I rarely do, except when I go on holiday outside the country and on one special night out each month!

The hobby of kings

I am in the lucky position of sitting at the office on late shift two hours before new year, so what better way to pass the time than write another post!
There was a time when stamp collecting/philately was seen as a really nerdy hobby, and it still is the case in many English-speaking countries, South Africa and the UK included. But in many places it is seen as a very respectable, very educated hobby. This is particularly the case in continental Europe and these days in China. There is a HUGE demand for Chinese stamps these days, especially from the Mao/Cultural Revolution period. The reason for this is two-fold. The Chinese government officially promotes stamp collecting in schools and universities, you can even study stamp collecting at some universities there. It is a very educational hobby, that is part of the reason why they promote it so much. There are about 50 million stamp collectors in China. During the Cultural Revolution period it was seen as a bourgeois hobby and the government seriously discouraged it. Stamps from this period were mostly sold to overseas collectors. Now times have changed, the hobby is encouraged and the Chinese people have a booming economy and much higher disposable incomes. The result, massive demand for a limited supply of stamps and ever-higher prices. Just take a look at Chinese stamps on ebay from the 1960s and 1970s. Sets of four stamps routinely sell for more than $100. Of course it helps that Chinese stamps are simply stunning, like the example shown here. The miniature sheet at the top of this page had been bid up to $256 on ebay when I was busy writing this post. Amazing, if you consider the original price was about 50 cents in 1978.
Then, to add further interest to the hobby, some well-known people have recently ‘come out of the closet’ as stamp collectors. They include French president Nicolas Sarkozy and tennis player Maria Sharapova. Other statesmen like Franklin D. Roosevelt and King George V of England were also prominent collectors.
I have returned to the hobby of my childhood recently, partly as an investment, because if you buy wisely you can see very good appreciation of your investment. But investing in stamps is not for the faint-hearted, you have to choose very wisely. For me the joy of collecting is more important and if I manage to get some valuable pieces it simply adds to the pleasure.

Off I go

There are only six days left before I pack my bags and we head off on a well-deserved month-long holiday. I haven’t had a good long holiday in more than a year. This past year I went back to SA twice on short one-week trips, not enough to really relax and switch off completely. But now the time has come, we will be visiting some of my favourite places, first to Kuala Lumpur for a quick stopover, then on to Pampanga in the Philippines and Baguio City, a hillside resort. Then to Bangkok for about a week, Singapore for about a week and finishing off with a visit to Melaka in Malaysia before heading back home to Dubai via KL. Can’t wait, I have been counting the days. I have been to all these places before except Baguio City which I am looking forward to very much, and it will be great to just see and experience Bangkok and Singapore once again. Amazing food, great people and bargain shopping. And having a beer al fresco in some tropical cafe with palm trees waving in the wind, something I really miss here in Dubai. There is a place in Santa Rita, Pampanga where I’ve been before that is especially nice, the Filipinos are some of the most amazing people around and really make you feel at home.