Back from Dubai

It's a great and strange place. Great because of the huge, modern buildings, and the many hundreds of cranes sprouting from the numerous construction sites. Strange, because in the end it's in the desert, with an unusual mix of arabic and western cultures. You see many men walking around in long white robes, with head coverings of white or white/red checked, sometimes accompanied by women in tip to toe black. At the same time, the office areas are full of western suits of both the male and female variety. The hotel was announced as "dry" in that no alcohol was permitted. The biggest mall (Dubai Mall) also proudly labels itself the same way. There is another mall next door for those who want a drink with dinner.

There is clearly a lot of money around the place. Lots of Hummers, Mercs, Porsches, Ferraris, etc. But the bulk of the population is actually low-paid imported labour from India, Bangladesh, Philippines, etc. In fact I remember seeing a statistic saying that the expats comprised 70 or 80% of the population (I think that's what the number was, but whatever it was it was very high). The population declined by around 15% when the crisis hit, with many of the expats losing their jobs and being packed off home.

The new tower is tall - very tall. Stupidly tall, in fact. And because they are worried about someone else building a taller building, they have a backup plan to add more height to it - just in case.

I'll probably get back there again, hopefully with a camera next time.

Permits

Well there is progress on the work permit front. I'm sitting in the Ramada hotel in downtown Dubai. It's right next to the new Burj Dubai - the tallest building in the world. And indeed, it is very, very, very tall. Standing close by and looking up, you really are looking straight up. It was clearly visible from the plane as we were coming in last night. In fact it was poking up from the low clouds that were hanging around.

Anyway, back to the work permits. On Saturday I submitted my extension for HK as a dependent on Sonia's work permit. This expires tomorrow (Monday). And then today (Sunday) I went to the Japanese consulate here in Dubai and submitted the application for the Japanese visa. This was possible because here in Dubai Sunday is the first day of the week and is therefore a working day. Friday and Saturday are the "weekend". I am supposed to go back to the consulate on Wednesday around 1pm to collect my passport, which should have the visa stamp by then. Then Wednesday evening we fly out, back to HK. I'll probably stay there until Sunday and fly back up to Tokyo.

Riveting story, huh?

The Tokyo Towers

As requested (T) here is a link to the apartment complex's website.

Glad to see that someone is reading the blog :-)

More progress

Well, more progress on the housing front. Told the company today which apartment we want - they are now sorting the contract. We should be moving in on 1st February - work permit and shipping permitting...

Progress on the housing front

Well, it appears that there is progress on the apartment front. The company has negotiated a pretty good deal on one of the apartments that we like. With a final tweak, we might have a place sorted in the next day or so. Yay!

Location on Google Maps (point C):

View Larger Map

Conveniently close to the Tsukiji fish market (specialists in premium sushi-grade fish), and the Ginza super-premium shopping district. Maybe that is a bad thing given Sonia's preference for shoes. I wonder if it is too late to cancel the application?

Tokyo - end of week one

I guess you could argue that we arrived just over a week ago, but it is close enough. In any case, it is probably time for an update on things.

Saturday and Sunday we looked at apartments and houses. All pretty much on the southern and western sides of central Tokyo. We started the first day with a nice little house - nice neighbourhood and layout. But a little in need of care and attention. We mostly saw apartments for the rest of the time. Most were in low blocks - 3-6 floors. This makes up most of Tokyo. I believe it has to do with earthquakes, and only more recently built places in higher.

I went to work on Tuesday (Monday was a public holiday ) while Sonia fly back to Hong Kong and then on to Bangkok. First day at work was pretty normal - ease into things, lunch with the team, that sort of thing. Wednesday went similarly, although I have been working to prepare for the first trip, which is to Dubai for a workshop with the team for middle east and south asia. This will be the week after next. I had not realised that it took so long to get there - from Tokyo to Hong Kong is over 6 hours, then to Dubai another 9 (if memory serves).

Thursday morning I went back out to look at a few apartments, and found a couple that were nice. We ended up with 3 choices, and have passed them over to the company to negotiate with the landlords. They basically sort the best deal they can, then come back to me to agree before they sign the contract. Very helpful.

Went for a run last night, as the current apartment does not have a gym. Sore legs this morning! I guess I used muscles that I have not used in a while. Running is interesting - it was very cold (13 degrees in the apartment when I got up this morning) so there was very little sweating involved until I got back to the apartment. And it was a little windy as well. Makes it challenging when you are waiting at a crossing for the lights to change...

Breakfast this morning is Starbucks while waiting for church to start.

One last thing - I had forgotten about Tokyo weather. For some reason it seems like it is either really good (bright blue sky now) or proper rain. Not much in between. And not like Hong Kong's continually polluted skies. Yay!

News

Well after a pointed email from a relative who shall remain nameless, here are some photos from the trip.

First up, the Christmas fair in Hyde Park in London.

And the hotdogs that you can buy there - the sausage is almost twice as long as the bun.


On to the night we spent at the French Horn (restaurant and hotel) in Sonning on Thames. In the morning:
In the evening:
And later once the sun had basically gone down...

Then on to the Danesfield Hotel for Christmas. First the Great Hall:

And Carols sung by the local church choir...
The view from the bedroom window:


And the light in the bedroom:


Then back to London for New Year (skipping Manchester because we didn't take any photos there):

And lastly, one taken on a bike ride in Japan - in the distance you can see Mt Fuji. Note the colours on the trees.

We're Back

In Hong Kong for the week, before flying/moving to Tokyo on Friday!

Cute video for the day: