kalapati, puno, bus at ang roundabout ....

september 14, 2009:

on my way to work i chanced upon these pigeons (again) ... actually i've been eyeing them for sometime now... there were plenty of them in the early hours of the day... and it was/is a nice sight to see them feeding on the seeds that the guy scattered and the bird bath - hehehe... blue plastic basin (palanggana), everyday changed by the guy. there is also another guy who throws them feeds - the guy from the iranian bread shop.

i took out my cam and just took a shot.. before they would fly away ..

i was slowly getting closer to them for a close-up pic...when suddenly this "killjoy" man - shooed them away and walked away laughing!!..

grrr - i wanted to run after him and wring his neck! there's nothing fancy, but hey!.. i just wanted to take a photo of these birdies no!.. hmp!

anyways... on to my walking ... and there i saw "my tree " hehehe .. inangkin ba daw!.... i call it "my tree" becoz it is under these tree that i find refuge in the summer heat! nakss.. hehehe.. what i cannot understand is why do the municipality people have to trim down these trees during summer? aber? kalbo na - wala nang lilim!!! here in this photo "my tree" has grown back its branches .. giving refreshing shades to the pedestrians waiting to cross, me included :D

while waiting to cross and standing under "my tree", this big bus passed by, one of the newest addition to the fleet of RTA.. "kambal" (twin bus) as my friend's kid would call it.. it's like a 2-bus connected.

and the last photo is that of the Satwa R/A, one of the remaining roundabouts in Dubai... better to take a snap of it before they break it down. Before Dubai has many different roundabouts - there is or should I say was the Falcon R/A in Bur Dubai, the Fish R/A in Deira, the Defense R/A, Shk. Zayed and the still standing Clock Tower in Deira and Trade Centre R/A in Satwa/Shk. Zayed Road, to name a few.

hmm.. good idea.. i should make a compilation of the demolished r/a's - there must be a record of it and then take photos of the remaining and still standing r/a's... good.. good.. hehehe.. the weather is getting a bit cool - so it would be nice to walk around and check out the remaining r/a's... hmmm..... a lot goodah if "someone" is there to walk with ..... :D

Metro Ride (10.09.09)

here are some of the photos we took during our ride .. wala lang...

at the Jaffliyah Station:


the Metro Silver card:



just having fun....

Metro Experience - Dubai, UAE

The Dubai Metro was opened to public on the 10th September 2009. A lot of people thronged the stations and destinations of the rail transport (us included hehehe :D)

It's a week-end so my colleagues and I decided to join the lot that wanted to experience the metro ride. Para naman daw wala sa Pinas ano?!... back home meron nga tayong dalawa pa eh .. LRT and MRT.. pero dahil nasa Dubai ka.. so makigulo na rin daw kami sa madlang people.

After work nagkayayaan nga.. we left the office after 4pm (we worked till 3pm lang during Ramadan) kaso we waited for a friend who finishes at 4pm. Anyways, ayun - to get to the Jaffliya Station, we have to take the taxi..hmm.. 10Dhs agad yon ano! and we have to take 2 cabs kasi hindi kami kasya sa isa lang (naku 20Dhs na agad yon!!)

The others were already waiting for us at the entrance .. dami na tao doon! ... buti na lang may kabayan who guided us through (what card to buy, advantage of so & so, etc), entonces we purchased the silver card for 20Dhs.. enough to go to and from our destination which is the MOE (Mall of the Emirates).

Pag-akyat sa itaas -Platform - wala pa ang train , so kodakan muna kami.. hehehe.. yun lang naman purpose namin eh! picture dito, picture doon...posing dito, posing doon... ganon lang... kami kababaw.

Naaliw naman kami kasi ang dami ngang tao and parang yung iba first time nakakita o makasakay yata sa metro train...swerte pa rin tayong mga Pinoy kasi sa atin ngang bansa meron pa tayong dalawang klase!

Ang hindi nga lang maganda eh halo-halong amoy na sa loob ng train kahit pa airconditioned siya - mas matapang ang "jango" ng ibang people! dusa talaga pero we wanted to have the experience eh so tiis na lang.. buti na lang at medyo busog kami at kung hindi sa tindi ng "jango" eh mahihilo ka talaga.. nakataas pa naman kamay ng nakararami.. :(

Sa madaling salita, nakarating naman kami sa aming paroroonan ng hindi nahilo ng todo.. konti lang...pero idinaan na lang namin sa tawa.. "for the sake of experience" sabi nga ni Toffer...

Parang medyo mabagal ang takbo pero ok lang - hindi naman kami nagmamadali at ilang minuto pa nasa destination na kami - Mall of the Emirates - kung saan andun din ang Dubai Ski.

Pagbaba ng train siempre picture picture ulit bago pa makarating sa Mall itself and being Ramadan nga - close pa ang mga eateries and restaurants... and we have to wait for more than an hour pa before we could grab something to eat. Grabe din ang dami ng tao doon sa food court! Finally, naka-order na rin and after few more minutes nakakain na rin kami. We finished our food and noticed that it was still quite early but we decided to head back na because for sure mas madami pa ang darating... we got our chance / experience of the ride na rin lang so, sila naman.. hehehe... ang bait namin ano!

We headed for the train station na ulit and wow - haba ng pila sa entrance pa lang! what's happening? people are turning back... why? .. sandali (nakisiksik ako to inquire bakit - then I heard the guy at the entrance saying that all those with cards lang muna ang pwedeng pumasok na and those who do not have can purchase at the counters inside the Mall.. aba, aba, aba.. I pulled out my card and waved to my colleagues to go forward with their cards.. kaso nakita at narinig nang iba so yung may mga cards din pushed their way through na rin :D

Nakarating kami sa Jaffliya Station minutes after 8pm na rin... ang maganda ka, hindi namin naorasan ang biyahe hahaha.. sa kaka-pose - ayun hindi na naalala! hehehe.. pero mabilis din naman at walang traffic - o di ba?! hahahaha...

With the 20Dhs card we purchased earlier, we still have a balance of 5.80Dhs yata.. hindi na masama. If you will take a taxi to MOE it would cost you around 40-50 one way, return would cost 100Dhs, depende pa sa traffic. So we can just recharge that card and pwede na ulit gamitin.

Next week-end we will try naman daw the other route from Jaffliya to Rashidiya... atleast, we had a sort of relaxation na rin with this trip - naaliw kami kahit papaano at nalimutan ang tension sa aming tanggapan....wala lang.... :D

photos taken to follow ....

Dubai Metro

UAE Vice President launches Dubai Metro

Dubai became the first Gulf state to have a metro and joined the league of megacities around the world that have similar transport systems.

(Source: Gulf News Sept. 10, 2009)




read link below:
http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Traffic_and_Transport/10347699.html