Monthly Archives: April 2010

REVIEW: IKEA – Marina Mall Abu Dhabi (UAE)

Posted on April 17, 2010 by | 6 Comments

One of IKEA’s mock-up living room and kitchen area

 

I bet..  ;-)  You can track pieces of IKEA products in most of the households here in Abu Dhabi. Either you are renting only a room or being accommodated in a villa, some IKEA items are definitely visible everywhere from bathroom, kitchen, kids’ rooms, living room and even to car compartments.  

So, you may wonder why people here have such fondness to IKEA products. I’ll answer that with few questions.   

  1. Do you want to organize your cluttered room?
  2. Do you need more space in your kitchen area?
  3. Are you looking for reasonable and quality duvets or pillows?
  4. Are you scouting innovative ideas on how to maximize your small bedroom?

These are only few reasons that people flock in IKEA. Also, the prices of most of the items are reasonable. No wonder that people from all walks of life just simply storm IKEA for any household concerns.  

One of my closest friends is an IKEA girl too. She visited me here in Abu Dhabi last week after working for more than a year in Qatar. And guest what? She only asked me for one thing – to take here to IKEA in Marina Mall because she missed it as there is no IKEA shop in Qatar.  

So we walked around and she shopped for some items for her new room. Then as we headed to the counter, I couldn’t help but really admire the creativity and innovation of IKEA products. It seems that they invented solutions to whatever household concerns you may have.  

I would say also that the product displays are strategically planned and marketed.  You can spend time also in a corner where items are priced for AED 10 (USD 3) or less.    

Anyway, my friend was indeed very happy when we parted ways that night.  

If you are planning to move here in UAE, IKEA is worth a visit for your household needs.

About these ads

→ 6 Comments

Posted in Frugal Tips, Life in Abu Dhabi, Reviews, Shopping

Tagged , ,

Summer Time in UAE: What to Expect?

Posted on April 13, 2010 by | 3 Comments

Typically summer is one of the awaited seasons of the year in most countries. Summer always entails tons of fun. It is time to enjoy various outdoor activities like summer camps, hiking, fishing, hunting, kayaking, rock climbing, and so on.

If such exciting activities are waiting for you, then you can’t definitely wait for summer season to come, right? But here in UAE, it is another story, a completely different scenario.

For us living in this part of the globe, summer season implies the end of outdoor activities. It is goodbye to the beautiful weekend mornings by the beach or picnics at the parks. Summer means it is time to hide in the malls, at home, or anywhere as long as there is an air-conditioning facility.

Summer season is not really a pleasant time of the year. The scorching heat of the sun feels like a hot laser beam that penetrates up to your skin’s inner layer.  Temperature reaches up to 40 degree Celsius or even higher on some occasions.

So what to expect in UAE during summer season?

  • Business demand in tourism industry is low.
  • It is vacation time for expats for numerous reasons – school classes are over, weather is just difficult to bear so they travel to escape it, employees are asked to go for vacation because it is not busy.
  • High humidity at night
  • It is common to see people in sweat soaked shirts.
  • Buckets of water are kept overnight. For accommodation without cold water system, it is the best option when taking shower during midday. Tap water tends to be very hot. Don’t dare. You may end up with falling hair or scalded skin.
  • Buckle up the basic summer stuff in your bag and do not leave your home without it – bottle of water, sunscreen, hat, umbrella, and anything to cover your skin from the sun’s madness.

So far, that’s all I can think of now but for sure, I can have a longer list of what to expect during summer season in UAE in the next few weeks as summer is just really kisses away.

→ 3 Comments

Posted in Life in Abu Dhabi, Outdoor Activities, Weather

Tagged , ,

How We Were Kicked Out Of The Park?

Posted on April 3, 2010 by | 4 Comments

The beautiful park on Friday afternoon

 

It was a great sunny and windy Friday yesterday. So my friends and I decided to have a late BBQ lunch at the park.   

Close to my home is an open park which is generally packed with kids and families on weekends. To our delight, the park this time was not crowded as there was only handful of “park dwellers” who were mostly couples.   

Anyway, we simply bought this instant disposable grill pack because we are only an occasional “park dweller”. Also, it is very reasonable as it costs approximately US$3 only for the small pack and there is no cleaning required.   

Instant disposable BBQ grill

 

Twenty minutes later my friend started to grill the pork bellies which she marinated in her special BBQ sauce concoction. All of us were hungry so we drooled for every piece of cooked barbeque meat. Half way to our BBQ cooking process, our attention (and hunger) was distracted by the police car’s siren. Then I realized that the people on the other side of the park were actually staring on our area. There were us and two other couples only on our side.   

Yummy pork BBQ

 

 So I turned around to see what they were staring at. Then I saw one policeman in a luminous green vest approaching the second couple while the first couple started taking their steps already to leave.   

Well, at that point of time, I just thought that perhaps the policeman sensed that the second couple was into some inappropriate intimate behaviour hence they were approached. Then maybe the first couple left too because it terrified them.   

Before I even found the answer to my curiosity, I saw this young handsome policeman walking towards us also.   

At that instant, my mind was already soaring with thoughts of possible offense which perhaps we committed.   

Maybe barbequing was not allowed in park (though impossible because we saw people grilling and roasting meats in the park on many occasions).   

Or maybe because we were grilling a pork meat.   

Eventually the young policeman came closer and informed us to leave. He said “not allowed”. We asked for any reasons but he didn’t replied.   

After he left, I saw the other handful of “park dwellers” packing their things too. And so we did.   

Then minutes later the park was empty.   

We could not fathom any other reasons for being kicked out from the park except that on that day, it was still the mourning period. The government declared a 3-days mourning due to the tragic loss of Sheikh Ahmed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president’s younger brother. (Click here for details).   

As we walked past the park, we saw the UAE flags still at half-mask.     

So our BBQ lunch ended a lunch at home. We finished grilling the remaining pork belly meat in our George Foreman indoor grilling stove (luckily we had this!)   

Our George Foreman indoor grilling stove

→ 4 Comments

Posted in Events, Frugal Tips, Life in Abu Dhabi, Outdoor Activities

Tagged , , , ,