UAE Identity Card

Applying for the UAE National Identity card.
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Unaware

One purchases a Turbo car to obviously enjoy the added performance of a forced induction turbine. Forced induction turbine is the technical term. Its the turbine (turbo) mechanism that forcefully induced more (compressed) air into the cylinder. More can be learned online but the point is such engines require Super grade fuel (blue in uae) to fully utilize the power. In fact, using anything lower (I.e: special and God forbid red) will damage the engine. The spark plugs are triggered by a specified amount of fuel&air mixture and using lower octane fuel causes premature firing which results in mismatched synchronization.

Image : Cayenne Turbo fueling up on Special grade. Owner's manual clearly dictates Super grade. RTFM lol.
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Dinner

Chinese food from the night before last.
Look @ the freshness.

Night market

Pictures from 3 days ago. Outdoors Night market.

Comin home sweet home

Local time 23:48

Future Koreans

Local time 17:33 @ Starbucks

- 10

- 10 degrees
Too cold 4 me
Local time 18:44

Upscale mall services

Local time 15:31

- 2 degrees

Its freeeezing
Local time 10:25

NO PECHaaRS

That's what the supposed kind old woman selling puppies said when I raised my bb at her puppies. I still raised my bold Black Berry Bold boldly (punS intended haha) at her.
Cute haa
Maybe the idea is to *fatten* up your feast then cook it?
They openly eat dog here. I ethically see nothing wrong with it. I wouldn't eat dog but why shouldn't others who see it fit nutritionally. They also eat cat, but not too often. Dog is the preferred meat after beed.

BBBRRrrrrrr

Its now 4 degrees outside and 16 degrees inside.

Local time 00:41

Current temperature

6.5 Celsius degrees
Local time 21:32

Snow

Maybe just maybe tomorrow. The temperature dropped from a mean of 24 to 8 Celsius in 24 hours following a full day of torrential rain.

Temple of Heaven

Local time 19:32

Chinese lunch

Local time 14:42:

Hot and Sour vegetable & mushroom soup.
Chicken with vegetables & cashew
Chicken with garlic
Sauteed vegetables with mushrooms
Fried rice and vegetable with crab fried rice

Gyeongbukguk Palace

Local time 13:23

Wonderful Joseon Dynasty architecture.

The Westin Chosun

Suite at hotel. And breakfast in club lounge.

Dedication

To the most artistic artist in the world.
- I got a few different sizes and firmness :) -

Unfortunate night and free hotel stay and dinner

Crazy entry title, I know, but it was a crazy night.
I guess I should tell the story of the unfortunate night.
We only spent the one night at The Hilton in Gyeongju city. I have to begin by mentioning that Rashed and I both enjoy and actually need the room temperature chilly to be comfortable, especially when sleeping. Now the temperature in the room was 26 upon entry. 26 Celsius (80 in our home) is pretty warm,especially to what we have been conditioned to in the UAE. So without thought I turn on the AC and set it to 15 (66 in our home). We leave to go see the sites expecting to return to a chilly room. We return to a "room temperature" room (pun intended haha) of 24 C which is not hot nor cool. Anyway we decide to bare it and continue the night. I cracked open a window just before bed. A couple of hours in my sleep I wake up to Rashed hopping on his bed with his hands extended up towards the AC duct. What are you doing Rashed and why is it so fucking hot??? Too tired to say more I fall off to asleep. I woke up myself a few hours later (now its about 4 am) and its blistering hot. The temperature was 30 Celsius, that's the temperature outside at 12 noon yesterday in Abu Dhabi & Dubai!!! What's going on Rashed? Why is the window closed? He said that he guessed that the open window was messing up the AC's internal system and therefore causing it to blow out hot air. WHAT???? I said. HOT AIR I said as I extended my arm (no hopping on the bed, I'm actually tall). Yes he was not hallucinating. The fucking AC was blowing out hot fucking air. I turned it off, still blowing hot air. What's going on? I called the front desk and asked for the duty manager to come. He came with a silly fan. I explained that 30 degrees Celsius is uncomfortable let alone not healthy. We then began hunting for cooler rooms on the same floor. It seems all rooms were uncontrollably blowing hot air. The on duty engineer was notified, deputy manager was checking other floors. In the end we were transferred to another floor and larger room but who cares because we moved at 4:40 am in our pajamas. We then had to pack our belongings, take out money and passport from safe, gather toiletries and close suitcase. The other room wasn't better at 24 Celsius but at least the AC was off, and a fan was strategically placed near the window so it draws the cold air and directs it toward us. I still had to exit the building for 5 mins to allow my body to cool before going back up to the room. I asked the manager how we were going to be compensated even after he apologized 100 times. He was expecting me to be ok after accepting fault and inconvenience and just be ok. I should try that the next I buy something at a shop. Sorry I don't have money and I'm really sorry and at fault. Will the shop allow me to leave without paying? Haha. We paid a lot of money for a premium Hilton room, sure if the bathroom faucet wasn't working too well or not all TV channels were working it would be "just ok" to pass but waking up to a sauna like ambiance at 4am and then hunting for a room, then gathering and packing to another floor is intolerable. I asked him for compensation,he said he had no authority and that I should wait till morning. I then I asked him to document the whole crisis and sign it. He was surprised and intimated and reluctant but he did it. He wrote that the temp was 30an we moved floors, packed our stuff and required compensation. The next morning after breakfast when we returned to the room to pack up we found him (general manager) casually strolling the corridor of our floor. Good morning, how are you? Not good at all, are you the manager? Yes he was and he was actually a really nice guy. We got on the elevator and he kept apologizing and then said he waived the room charge ( free night ), as I stated the night before that I was not paying. Anyway we reached the front desk and was presented with the bill sans room charge. It consisted of the water we drank and the dinner at the Chinese restaurant. A total of about 400 Dirhams. I exclaimed, why is there a bill? Everything should be waived and you should be offering me us free night coupon at any Hilton in the world. He quickly retracted the bill and waived everything. We said good bye and were on our way to Seoul. Free night and hotel restaurant dinner. Worth it to be woken up super hot? I'll leave that for you to answer.

Vibrant Seoul

Myeongdong area (5mins by walk from hotel).
After spending a week in Seoul, I can with confidence that my favorite aspect is its vibrancy. For a city populated with 20 million people(compared to 2 million in Dubai). Its literally buzzing with life all the time all over the place. The images are from today. Its neither a holiday nor a weekend, just a regular workday but see how busy and crowded it is. Its the same all over the very vast and sprawling Seoul and Greater Seoul area.

We L O V E it