I'm in Dubai. Today is Sunday & I'm working. Though we had Friday off and went to a Desert Safari. Best description I can give of it is Roller-coaster ride in the sand dunes in a 4WD. In our case, it was a Landcruiser. I have a new perception of this beast and you can add some degree of respect to that as well. Been here in this beautiful Emirates since last Tuesday (14/12), insya-Allah will be going back today (19/12). Dubai is part of UAE & is one of the 7 emirates making up the UAE. Great place, very modern & cosmopolitan, lots of foreigners, most expensive (?) hotel in the world - Burj al-Arab with lowest room rate of USD3,000 per night, car lovers paradise, desert & sand, sand, sand.



Okay, the sand is from the Desert Safari & interestingly, they are really cool (as in temperature) at night. I was told now is the best time to visit Dubai weather wise.

We are loking for a holiday destination. Local destination. With the monsoon season, east coast is ruled out. The fact that we just went to Fraser's Hill a couple of months ago means a highland breakaway is not what we would like to have. I'm zooming into a beach/island holiday in the west coast.



That or our usual driving holidays. I love that actually but would like to rest this time around.

I was extremely tired and exhausted after the burial. Extremely thirsty as well. It was scorching hot and we were in the middle of the graveyard without any shade. At one stage, when it was really unbearable (at least it felt unbearable then) I was thinking and looking forward to what I'll be doing after that - wash my sticky face, get back to the car, switch-on the air-conditioner to the max, grab some cold drinks on the way home, have a quick shower at home and then take a nap - wonderful. You can say that the forward plan kept me going.



Towards the end of it though, some thoughts struck me and that was worse. What if there's no end to this? What if I'm stuck in this condition in perpetuity? And worse still, I'll be fully conscious and aware of the whole thing. Isn't that what life after death is all about, in one extreme? Wish not to me.

My uncle passed away a couple of weeks ago. Heart attack. I still think of the meaning of life and death that I learned on that day. You come, you go. Sometimes without any warning. Prepared for it? Fear it? You cannot run or avoid it.

I had to sleep on a chair the other day. Yup, 1 full night on a chair. As it happened, it was a wheel chair. Definitely uncomfortable but the memories that it brought were worse.



It reminded me of the last time I slept on a chair. That was last year & eventhough it's been more than a year, it still hurts. Not the back-pain that is still there and lurks out whenever I sit in certain ways, not the stiff neck, not the cold, not the rainy night when a group of doctor, nurses and some other guys rushed into the room checking the flooding floor, not even the plastic chair I nearly fell from. No, none of those. The pain is inside from seeing my dearest in her condition then. I couldn't even sleep well then though I always pretended to sleep whenever the nurse came to do their 3 hourly checks.



Bad episode. Hopefully, no more.

My kids love fast-food outlets. McDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut - you name it, they love it. In fact, I've concluded long ago that if McDonald's and gang are to serve plain rice with salt-water, that would be acceptable to my kids who simply ignore their mum's cooking most of the time. We are talking of nasi tomato (it's not white & too many black things in it), ayam masak merah ('pedas' even when only tomato ketchup was used in the cooking), sausages (too hard/soft, it's cracked, too hot, too cold) etc.



Anyhow, nearly all our trips would be filled with 'suggestions' like, "Abah, let's go to McDonald's", "Abah, I'm hungry. Can we go to Pizza Hut?", "Abah, when we go to KFC, what should I order?" (BTW, the last one came up without me ever mentioning KFC during the trip).



Last week, I started becoming very cooperative. We went to McDonald's and at the point of paying, I asked them to give me their 'duit raya' & we paid their meals with their duit raya. You should see the expressions on their faces.



The next day, I offered them for a change. "Shall we go to McDonald's?" & quickly came the reply, "Are you paying with your money or OUR money?".



"Your's of course."



"No, I don't want to go then."



Peace at last when I'm driving.