I came in UAE in mid April of 2002. Summer season was just approaching. I was staying in a cheap accommodation equipped with just the basic facilities. My roommates, who had been in UAE for decades, taught me some tricks on how to economically survive the scorching summer season.

Storing buckets of water. Generally cheap accommodations do not have the option of cold water in their bathroom or kitchen and during summer season, the water coming out from the faucet in midday is like boiling water. You cannot even afford to use it for shower as it seems to burn your skin.

Hence, it is quite common to see buckets of water stored in the bathroom the night before. It allows the water to cool down.

Weekend Hang out. I heard this from others. Rather than spending their weekend at home, they go to the malls and stay there until dark. Nope, they don’t shop. They simply hang out to kill the time. In this way, they can save electricity rather than using air-condition system the entire weekend.

Take your lunch in the office. Most of the private companies here in Abu Dhabi have long lunch breaks like 3 or 4 hours and with this extended break time, it is really tempting to go and stay for awhile at home. Unfortunately during summer, it is best to take your lunch and spend your break time in the office.

Going home takes time and the weather is really unpleasant. It can be dehydrating too. So, pack your lunch with few good magazines or pocketbook to read.

The Turquoise parking ticket machine. It accepts coins and the Mawaqif prepaid card.

I was running late already for my meeting but honestly, it didn’t bother me because the weather drove me to the edge of madness. Imagine, I was standing in the open parking space at past noon and in a scorching summer heat (I think more than 45°C) while donned in a business suit.  

As I walked back and forth looking for the machine, I could feel the blaze in my feet. It seemed my feet were set on fire and my black shoes didn’t help at all! I simply wanted to leave my car without that parking ticket and run fast to the nearest air-conditioned building but the thought of paying a fine of AED 200 held me back.  

Parking ticket

Then that time, I realized that it is about time to opt for the m-Mawaqif wherein you can pay the parking fee through your mobile phone. Mawaqif is the government sector that does the parking management in Abu Dhabi. Its advantage came to light to me this afternoon after I wasted my time searching for the nearest parking ticket machine under the blazing summer heat.  

I haven’t tried this option yet because I just bought recently a Mawaqif prepaid card of AED 50. It works like a debit card where you can easily slip the card in the machine and get a parking ticket. The prepaid card has been a great help for me because from then on, I do not worry for coins anymore.  

Prepaid parking card

By the way, the Mawaqif prepaid cards are now available in supermarkets though it is more expensive. I bought one in the supermarket and they marked it up for AED 3 more. According to cashier in the supermarket, it would cost me more to buy directly a prepaid card from the Mawaqif office considering the taxi fare and parking fee involved. Good sales pitch but he was right.  

I believe choosing m-Mawaqif is more beneficial. You see, sometimes I do not know if my meeting will really take time or not. Right now, to be on the safer side, I typically pay 2 hours parking fee to keep my sanity. I cannot interrupt my meeting and leave the client’s office  just to pay for another hour of parking because the time limit in my parking ticket will expire soon.  

Just to let you know, the fine is AED 200 for parking without parking ticket and AED 100 for exceeding the time limit in your parking ticket.  

With m-Mawaqif, I can avoid paying more hours for parking ticket because I can simply send sms to extend the time limit of my parking.  

Here are summary of the parking fees in Abu Dhabi.  

Premium Parking (Turquoise & White) is AED 3 per hour and the maximum stay is 4 hours.  

Standard Parking (Turquoise & Black) is AED 2 per hour and for a maximum stay of 24 hours (AED 15 for the whole day).  

The parking fee for areas painted with turquoise & black is AED 2 per hour.

Premium parking spaces are painted in turquoise and white. Parking fee is AED 3 per hour.

For more details about paid parking in Abu Dhabi, click here.

Honestly, I haven’t visited Dubai for some time now. If I do, the visits are just confined to the shopping malls, hotels or my friends’ places. So, I was quite disappointment to see that Dubai Health Care City is not yet completely finished.

When I left Dubai almost 3 years ago, they were constructing already that area. Although most of the buildings now in Dubai Health Care City are already inhabited and majority is offices, construction is still ongoing in some areas.

We crossed from one building into the other amid the hot day because there were areas where parking spaces were very scarce. Walking through the paved pathways, unfortunately I could not ignore the unusual view in front of me.

In between the pathways made of concrete and bricks are small sized landscapes. Then in these small landscapes, there were people resting. They are the construction workers who are taking a nap during their lunch break and perhaps trying to soothe the scorching summer heat by sleeping on the grass field.

Construction workers sleeping on the grass during their lunch break

Photo Credit: www.redcofoods.com

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.

The weather here has been very pleasant lately as we approach the peak of winter season. Though oftentimes mock by people who are hailed from countries with real winter (means snow everywhere and a temperature of below freezing point), the month of November to March here in UAE is considered to be winter season too in which the temperature ranges between 13 to 29 degrees Celsius. It is indeed far better than the 35 degrees Celsius in August, the hottest period of the year. On worst summer days, the temperature can climb up to 40 degrees Celsius.

Perhaps now it is justifiable to call this as winter season even though the temperature is not below freezing point. If you have been here during the summer months, then you can definitely tell the big difference.

Anyway, back home I always like the chilly breeze after a heavy rain. As Philippines is a tropical country, we experience rain all throughout the year and every time the heavy rain is over, I go out to feel the cold gust of the wind. Then I take delight in watching my Mum’s small garden and the trees around me because they look so fresh and really happy (I know it’s weird!)

It was mid April when I came first in UAE. As summer was already approaching, I didn’t really enjoy going out because the weather was intolerable for a newcomer like me. Then I came to know later that it hardly rains in this part of the globe.

The heavy rain here is only tantamount to drizzle in my country. However, I noticed that the occurrence of rain is more frequent in the past few years especially when winter months are fast approaching or about to end.

Today I can’t help but feel very nostalgic because the light rain just finished when I came out from the main door. I could still see the damp garden in front and a sort of small ponds of water forming on the surface driveway.

As the taxi drove me home today, I opened the window and felt the gentle chilly breeze on my cheeks like I used to do back home.

P.S. I supposed to be writing now to cope up with my deadlines but can’t resist to blog the weather today.