Kathe’s Blog

I’ve found a convenient location in Business Bay and an 1 bedroom apartment for an affordable price in Executive Towers with stunning view of the Burj Khalifa (tallest building in the world) and the Fountains, but that was all and then the disaster began…

1. Move-in date was 1 week after signing the contract and I was promised that the last finishing touches and repairs are done within 2 days… for the first two weeks we had to use our guest toilet until they finally fixed the toilet in the en-suite bathroom. We had no water in the kitchen, no shower head in the bath tub, power plugs were not working in the living room and several other small fixes (damaged walls and scratched doors).
2. The leaking kitchen sink and unfinished bathroom I fixed myself with some silicone after all. And also for curtain installation I rather rented a drilling machine for 24 hours than calling a technician and waiting for days.
3. One month after we moved in, the telecommunication services were up and running. It took only 85 minutes queuing up at the DU office to apply for landline, internet and TV. The application took 30 minutes, though we just ticked which internet speed and TV channels we want. Maybe they also the a Manager to improve their business processes?
   Three days later the installation guy came, it took whole day but finally we were connected. He told us our current router from Siemens wouldn’t work for wireless and we should buy a linksys one. Well I guess he has no lue about networks, but I managed to configure our wireless LAN via WAN input, as our internet is not a dial-up but wide-area-network connection.
   The German TV channels (ARD, ZDF, RTL2 & DW-TV) as well as the Russion channels were missing, but after a mail to customer service that was fixed as well. We still have no TV connection in bedroom, need to apply for additional sockets and a 2nd decoder or buy a splitter and pull a cable, well… or just leave it as is.

Wow, just back from the Burj Dubai Tower Inauguration watching the breathtaking light show and fireworks.

828 meters as revealed today and its got a new name as well suddenly… instead of “Burj Dubai” it’s now called “Burj Khalifa” … so we now know what the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi wanted in return for the billions of dollars he was lending Dubai recently when it was about to file bankrupcy. Smart deal. Anyway…  the building is looking beautiful glittering white in the daylight and turning red during sunset. On special occasions like National Day they switch on the sparkling lights on the facade of the building, so the tower twinkles among the stars…

November is my favourite month in the UAE, the weather is just perfect, sunny and not too hot and the sea has a pleasant temperature of 27°C. We only live 3 minutes drive away from the beach and so we decided to go there from 4:30 – 6 pm to have a swim and enjoy the beautiful sunset and mild breeze. I enjoyed so much these precious moments with Nayan, where time and busy live doesn’t matter and one can just sit and relax and be truly happy and thankful for what we have.

In Dubai parking costs are fairly low compared to Germany. But I do not have coins with me all the time and it is inconvenient as well to walk to the meter and back in the extreme heat. So the RTA (Dubai’s Road and Traffic Authority) started a project for parking fee payments via your mobile phone. Therefore the parking zones have signs now with a picture of a mobile phone followed by a 4 digit code. If the vehicle is registered in Dubai, one can just send an sms with the plate number followed by the parking area code and the number of hours the ticket shall be valid. As my car is registered in Abu Dhabi, I first had to register at the mParking website and create myself an account an username. Now it works the same, I just need to send my username instead of the plate number. Once the message was sent, you will receive a message with the confirmation and you will be reminded shortly before your ticket expires and get the option to extend it without returning to the car.

I was happy with the service and it was working quiet fine, only that sometimes I did not receive the confirmation message and by re-sending I was extending the ticket another hour, that was a bit annoying.  Usually I only needed parking tickets next to our Salsa club, when giving Zouk classes from 8 pm onwards. Only once I went to a bank in another area to cash in a check. Next time I went to give classes I was in a hurry and just looked in the outbox of my phone and re-send one of the mParking messages. Though only a chance of 1 to 10 I forwarded the message with the wrong area code and did not receive the confirmation message, so I didn’t even realise it. When we came out of the club I saw that I got a fine and thought the police man did not check the online system. When I received the reminder to extend my ticket next morning, I saw that I payed for the wrong parking zone and therefore have to pay this fine of 150 Dhs (30 EUR). Now I always check the area code twice .

I am aware of Dubai’s traffic fines, especially since they’ve increased the fines drastically few months ago. I did a U-turn at Al Mina road, where there are 3 lanes and then went inside a parking area. Two police cars were standing there and told me to stopp and asked for my driving licence and car registration card. I thought it is just a normal check as they stopped the cars infront of me and behind me too. Then the police men filled out a paper and gave it to me. I was asking if something is wrong, but he did not speak to me in English and just pointed out that on the back sideof the paper instructions are given in English. There I read something about fine, but I did not know for what I was fined and how much I would have to pay. The form was filled in Arabic, so I could only figure out the numbers, such as my plate and licence number, but no amount was mentioned. At the parking machine I met someone who also got fined and ask him for what. He told me that it is not allowed to do a U-turn there and next time I drove past that point I saw the sign behind a lamppost. A week later the fine showed up in the police’s portal, where citizens can check their traffic fines online. Actually it allows for online payments by credit card, but some link was wrong, so it did not work. Eventually I had to go to a branch of Emirates bank, where they have deposit machines to pay fines. Usually one only need to pay fines at the end of the year when renewing the vehicle registration, but this only applies to parking and speeding fines. My fine was issued manually by the police and had to be paid within two weeks. A wrong U-turn cost me 200 Dhs (~40 EUR).

The German guy, who sold his car to me was a restaurant manager at the famous Burj Al Arab Hotel. It is possible to enter the hotel as a non-guest, if you make a reservation for one of the expensive restaurants and the Skyview bar offers afternoon tea for 395 dhs per person (~80 EUR) or at night bar packages with a minimum spend of 275 Dhs (~55 EUR). So I would never spend that amount of money just to enter the hotel and see it from inside. I was asking him, if we should celebrate the car deal by having a drink in the bar on the top of the hotel. He anyway had to collect his documents, so he made a reservation and put us on the guest-list. I had to park my car outside, because of the export number plates and maybe it was little dirty. So we took the buggy to the hotel which was built on a small artificial island. The tourists there look pretty normal, also wearing slippers and shorts like in other hotels.

We went through the lobby, which offers an amazing view inside the sail-shaped architecture of the building, with golden palm decoration. We took the elevator to the top of the building, it is made of glass and one can enjoy the view while quickly going up 200 meters above sea level and my ears got slightly blocked. I was invited for a drink and we were chatting with his colleagues. Later he showed me around in the ballroom, where they usually celebrate weddings or present new projects.  We went downstairs and he showed me the restaurant Junsui, which is offering the finest Asian cuisine and the entrance is decorated with glittering diamonds. Well I gladly took the opportunity of a personal tour through the hotel, but frankly, even if I would have that amount of money to afford staying here (room rates span from 6,000 – 60,000 Dhs resp. 1,200 – 12,000 EUR per night), I would rather spend it for a good purpose rather than indulging in unnecessary luxury