When in Dubai...

In tune with spring in the northern hemisphere, some trees here bear beautiful blooms. I managed to capture some pink and white blossoms two weeks ago before they all fall off the trees. Beautiful as they are, they only stay in place for a few days, after which it's the ground's turn to be dressed.



Yesterday was a terribly hot day and it happened to be a popular day (being a weekend) for tomb-sweeping or rather paying respects to departed family members. This is a yearly affair and is only practised by Taoist/Buddhist Chinese. This year, the actual day is April 4. There is a small window in which this activity has to be carried out (which is ten days before and ten days after the actual day) and yesterday (Sunday) was ideal for office-workers as most would prefer to go before the actual day rather than after.

As it turned out, it was not such a good day as most roads leading to grave-sites either downtown or in memorial grounds away from the city were congested from early morning. My family and I were caught in the congestion. We were on our way to the memorial grounds in Semenyih, south of Kuala Lumpur. Never before was the traffic condition that bad. We were practically moving by inches! The scorching sun was no help but it was still better to be in an air-conditioned vehicle than to be out there waiting for a bus, for instance.

By the way, this is a common bus stop in Kuala Lumpur (nope, doesn't come with the man) and all over the country. This one is put up by the municipal council or government. Blue is the standard colour and similar design across the board. It has a decent-sized roof and seats.


Those that are sponsored by private corporations have better designs and colours though they are a far cry from those in Dubai. Did you know that bus stops in Dubai are air-conditioned? Me neither.