Taxis in Sharjah

If you don't have car, then Taxis are the only way to get around. They're very cheap (unless you going to Dubai) about £2.50 for a 10 minute ride, but be aware;

• There is nothing like the "London Knowledge", you will go a different route every time!
• Taxis like using their horns - which given everybody else in Sharjah does as well, has no notable effect on others.
  
• I am glad I don't understand Arabic, as they do express themselves very forcibly at the standard of driving by the felow road users - this can cause extra stress to the passengers given it normally entails taking both hands off the wheel.
• Normally you can tell the mood - the louder the South Asian folk music normally means you are in for a hair-raising ride.
  

one other fact: a lot of the UAE guidebooks (not produced in UAE) claim you should "negotiate" the price before the journey. This I have found to be poor advice. All the taxis are metered and regulated. The Drivers stick to the metered price.

Now where did I put that Pipeline Share ?

This blog is meant to be about Sharjah, but every so often I will take the chance to comment on something else.
Throughout my 20+ year career in the Oil and petrochemical Industry, I have learnt the more senior the boss you are briefing for a particular meeting, with another senior memeber of another company: the more succinct and detailed the documentation has to be.
When the meeting comes around and you are sitting in the background, one of 2 things happens: either the Bosses bluster about nothing (neither having read or adsorbed the briefings from the Underlings); or the other side raises an issue you haven't covered in the briefing and you squirm in the corner for forgetting it and take a bollo#king afterwards .
Imagine how the Underlings felt in this meeting:

ASTANA, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev told Russian Premier Vladimir Putin on Thursday the two states should jointly buy Oman's share in a major pipeline only to hear that Russia might have already bought it alone. "Oman is a shareholder in CPC and we should buy (its stake). We should take 50 percent each so the others don't do it. It is very important," Nazarbayev told Putin during a meeting in the Kazakh capital of Astana. The proposal appeared to take Putin by surprise. "I'm not entirely sure, but it seems to me we have already bought it. I need to check," said Putin. Russia and Kazakhstan, the two governments with a stake in CPC, have first right of refusal on Oman's 7 percent stake in the consortium, the key export route for Kazakhstan's crude oil. Oman decided to sell its stake earlier this year but so far there has been no information on who may have bought it.

hattip Reuters

Sharjah Museum Of Islamic Civilisation

Out Museum hunting again today, the Heritage area by the Creek entry was the target. To be frank the Heritage Museum and surrounding area were quite disappointing. However a short walk away from the Heritage area is the Museum of Islamic Civilisation. The Museum is new, a beautiful souk that was converted into the museum, before it became Souk, following intervention from the ruler of Sharjah. The interior decoration and the elaborate ceiling itself are well worth 5dhms (less than £1) entry fee.
There are 4 main Galleries + 1 visiting exhibition gallery + small shop and nice restaurent. 2 Galleries show the development of Islamic civllisation since 1st century AD until now, one devoted to Religous artefacts and writings and my personal favourite the science and medicine gallery. I had not realised how advanced the Middle East was in terms astronomy, particularly given European education systems' emphasis on Galileo. Middle East Astronomers seemed a lot more advanced in the same timeframe (model shown below).

Helipads

Wandering around Sharjah, I have noticed that almost all the highrise blocks (luxury or otherwise) have helipads on the rooves. But I have yet to see a single helicopter land on one, and given how close some of the different sized blocks are to eachother, one wonders whether all the helipads are actually accessible.
When I quizzed a work colleague, he pointed out they were for rescue situations should a block catch fire..........the only problem being is there is no rescue helicopter service in Sharjah.....mmh........

Al Qasba with the Eye of the Emirates

Things I miss so far (1)

So far the things I miss so far:
1) bacon sandwiches
2) Red wine
3) Supporting my son's rugby team (Hull Is U16) on Sunday morning - big game against Doncaster this weekend

UAE & the internet

UAE restricts access to the internet - I guess through the fact that there is a monopoly isp/broadband provision through Etisalat....... (If someone who really knows how it works, could explain in the comments below, I would be grateful)
The rules I found so far are these, I do not know whether it is a draconian versus other Countries in the World and have thus far only bumped into the limit twice:
Unsurprisingly the Theo Spark blogspot is blocked - I do enjoy the rants but I guess some of the pictures are definitely bit "risque" for a Muslim County.
More surprisingly until you read the rules) the IG index site is blocked and all I wanted to do was to follow oil & gasoline futures.......

Health Screening for a Residency visa

Definitely my worst experience of Sharjah were my medical tests as part of the Residency visa process.
I was taken by one of the company drivers to small complex (The Sharjah Ministry for Preventative Medecine) on the edge of the city - I guess it was the size of small UK cottage hospital. It has 4 areas physical examination clinic, blood test clinic, x ray clinic and admin area with separate facilities for men and women.
Now fill it with 1500-3000 people from every nation of the world with countless language trying to fin their way through screening process (obviously in Arabic). A real recipe for chaos and where any concept of order and queueing. To be frank the staff were overrun and very stressed.
I managed the first day to get my examination and blood test done , but gave up on the xray because the queue was very long for a 40 ft Container, outside in the very hot yard, with an xray machine. I went back the next day at 0730 for teh x-ray and still waited (luckily inside) for 90 mins for a chest xray. I found out during the wait, that the outside container is for construction workers and the inside for supervisiors and management........
Anyway I am told the Dubai process is a lot more calmer and organised but Sharjah still has some way to go to achieve acceptable standards.

Contradictions

You realise that in a growing country like UAE, there are real contradictions between the impact of the "outside" world and Muslim traditions.
There was an incident I walked past yesterday - two sisters I guess - one in full "Burqa" Black dress* tending to her 1 year old in his pram, and the other in western clothes - expensive & branded with full make-up, jewelry and technology.
In the 30 seconds it takes to walk past such a cameo, I picked up the one western dress was pleading with her sister to come back to (I guess) their family home. I did not hear why.......
It was odd as well because they were speaking english............but it's the image I will remember in terms the difference in clothes but still family...............


* I am unclear on Muslim ladies dresscode, but it was of the most severe Burqa form i.e. the headdress is almost hood with a slit for eyes as opposed to wrapped headdress with part pinned across the nose & mouth for coverage, or no face coverage at all.

why did I leave 2 come and work here

well to give some insights - there will be more to follow:
view from old office - (yes my office was in a converted cowshed)















to the view from my new office window: