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Photos and stories from many of my travels in the past 5 years

Persiaran Gurney drive seaside marina Penang

Malaysia 2010: Day 4 — One day in Penang (Around Georgetown, Gurney Drive, Penang Hill)

By Mithun Divakaran
/
Feb 09, 2011
/
Malaysia, Travel

Date: 28th September 2010

When we arrived the previous night, we left a rainy Singapore to land in Malaysia, where the rain had followed. We prayed the sun would come out the next day.

Old Penang guesthouse window sunny day — And today morning, our prayers were answered

We decide to set out early as we had only a day in Penang. While the others got ready, I decided to take a few snaps of the place we were staying.

Old Penang Guesthouse is a restored building that retains the charms of the colonial era with rooms at rates from the current backpacker era.

Old Penang Guesthouse upstairs restroom — This is the shower room and toilets upstairs

Old Penang Guesthouse library tv room — They have a ‘living room’ of sorts where you can watch TV & read the papers while you serve yourself breakfast

Old Penang Guesthouse breakfast — This is breakfast: toast, butter (but usually margarine) & fruits

Old Penang Guesthouse notice board — I made list of things I wanted to eat when in Malaysia

Old Penang Guesthouse wooden staircase — You’re instructed to walk softly at night as the flooring is all wooden

Old Penang Guesthouse breakfast area — The dining area

Old Penang Guesthouse view outside — The skies were getting clearer

Once we were all ready, we soon stepped out to head to the harbour, which was walking distance from where we were staying.

Penang Love Lane cheap hotels — There are a lot of budget hotels on Love Lane (that’s the name of the street we were on)

Penang Chulia street daytime 7-Eleven — There’s a 7-Eleven very close to our guesthouse

Penang Han Jiang ancestral temple — Han Jiang ancestral temple

Penang Georgetown Nagore Indian mosque — Nagore Durgha Sheriff mosque

Strolling through Georgetown reminded me of Fort Kochi (I need to put up those photos as well) in Kerala, with its heritage buildings by the sea.

Penang Georgetown Old Chinese temple roof — Many places of worship in and around Georgetown

Penang Georgetown old Chinese temple — Lim Kongsi Clan Temple; when we entered, there was this one dog ‘guarding’ the temple

Penang Georgetown old temple dog — Which came hopping all the way towards me and my camera. And then Loi patted it. Then it went and peed in the bushes.

Just walking past the many temples – be they Indian or Chinese, mosques etc. you get a sense of the religious harmony that exists in Malaysia. Of course, this was only the start.

We reached the road by the ferry terminal and made our way to the other side.

Penang Tanjong marina bus station — There’s a bus station near the ferry terminal

Penang marina harbour restaurant — There’s a sea-facing restaurant at the end of this walkway

Tanjong marina penang docks yachts boats — That’s where the ferries dock

We stepped into a few travel agencies to inquire about ferry prices to Langkawi. Everywhere, it was the standard RM60 (Rs. 900/US$20/€15). It was the same price quoted by the guy at Old Penang Guesthouse, but fearing he may have been quoting a higher rate, we thought we’d ask near the ferry terminal itself.

We bought our tickets for the next day and continued our walk.

Penang clock tower Georgetown circle — Georgetown’s landmark Queen Victoria Memorial Clocktower

Penang sea park — A short distance from the clock tower, and you get the beautiful sea

Fort Cornwalis Penang Georgetown — This where we went next; entry is just RM 2 (Rs. 30)

Fort Cornwalis Sir Francis Light statue Penang — Statue honouring Sir Francis Light

Fort Cornwalis Penang Sir Francis Light statue Ramesh — Ramesh dishonouring Sir Francis Light statue

You can read about the history behind Fort Cornwallis on its Wikipedia page, but from a tourist’s point of view, its nothing spectacular. Then again, when the entry is just RM2, you shouldn’t be expecting much.

Fort Cornwalis Penang sea steps cannon — But we still hung around a bit longer

Fort Cornwallis park Loiyumba umbrella hot Penang — It was quite sunny

After checking out the fort for around 15 minutes, we made our way out.

Fort Cornwalis is right near the Town Hall grounds.

Penang esplanade Padang Kota Lama grounds — Town Hall & City Hall buildings in the background

Penang sea park tree shade sunny day — The esplanade is a nice place to laze under a tree on a sunny day

Penang esplanade Mithun Loiyumba umbrella — I wasn’t imitating Loi, it was sunny (Photograph by Ramesh)

Penang bay road car parking — We continued our stroll along this path

Then, a young, kooky Japanese couple came excitedly towards us and asked us if we could pose for a photograph with them. Assuming they’re tourists wanting to pose with tourists from another country, we figured “Sure, why not”…

Penang Japanese tourists Mithun Ramesh — … and so we asked them for one for ourselves too!

They weren’t the only Japanese we came across. The Japanese were aplenty in Penang, we would later find out.

Penang Mahkamah Tinggi statue headless lady — The building in the back is the Penang High Court

Penang Georgetown town square mushroom cloud — That was one big ‘nuclear’ cloud

We decided to walk towards the popular Gurney Drive.

Georgetown old museum building — Penang museum

Eastern & Oriental hotel Georgetown Penang — The Eastern & Oriental hotel

Georgetown Penang worship plant sea — We stopped here for a break as Ramesh was quite tired from all the walking

Penang bay boats sea facing apartments condos — Gurney Drive was over there

32 at the Mansion restaurant Georgetown Penang — The Mansion, a high end restaurant

Penang tall building club — We got back on to the main road

Persiaran Gurney drive empty food court Penang — We even stopped by this food court for lunch but it was empty — and closed

Penang three buildings — So it was back to the main road

Persiaran Gurney drive premium condos Penang — And a few minutes later, we were finally on Gurney drive

Persiaran Gurney drive road luxury condominiums Penang — A LOT of luxury apartments on this stretch

It took us more than 30 minutes of walking to get to Gurney Drive. If you think that’s too much (or can’t do it), just hail a cab.

Though there were many restaurants along this stretch, plan was to have lunch from the food court at the end of Gurney drive, which is a very popular local joint.

But first, we had to quench our thirst.

We entered the only major shopping mall on Gurney Drive, Gurney Plaza. They have the usual gamut of mall brands and about the same as far as eateries and coffee shops go. I don’t remember how or why, but we sat down at the Chili’s in Gurney Plaza for beer.

Chilis Gurney Plaza Guinness beer — We ordered Guinness… and I stared at the ceiling… for some apparent reason. (Photo by Ramesh)

Gurney Plaza stores shopping mall Penang — The mall isn’t bad at all. We picked our Malaysia SIM cards from the 3rd floor which housed a lot of tech stores.

Gurney Plaza shopping mall Gurney drive Penang — Gurney Plaza shopping mall

The plan was to sit somewhere and have some beer along with lunch, but after the heavy mugs of Guinness and nachos we ordered, we were honestly quite full.

Persiaran Gurney drive food court Penang afternoon — The food court was closed too. Seems like they only open at night.

Persiaran Gurney drive roundabout McDonalds — This is the major roundabout at the end of Gurney drive

Post ‘lunch,’ we realized we still hadn’t seen any of Penang’s major attractions. So we boarded a local bus and headed to the main bus station.

Penang public bus inside — The plan was to see Kek Lok Si temple and take the tram ride up Penang hill

Inside Penang local A/C bus windows — The ride took nearly 20 minutes

Once at the Komtar bus terminal, we boarded a bus from Lane 1 that goes to Kek Lok Si temple.

Penang Kek Lok Si Air Itam apartments — This ride took another 30 minutes and was headed towards Penang hill

Penang Air Itam restaurant — Passed through mostly residential areas and housing colonies for the middle class

Penang Kek Lok Si town Air Itam — When we reached the town of Air Itam it was already well past 5pm

Penang Kek Lok Si Air Itam town — But there it was: Kek Lok Si Temple

Unfortunately, the locals told us that we were too late and it was closing time. Sucks.

Penang Kek Lok Si temple — So all we could do was zoom in and take photos

Penang Kek Lok Si Buddist temple closeup — Seemed like some renovation work was going on

Penang Kek Lok Si temple tomb — I really wanted to check out the biggest Buddhist temple in Penang…

Penang road to Kek Lok Si temple Air Itam — … but we still had to go further up to get to the temple.

So yeah, if you want to see Kek Lok Si temple, make sure you are here well before 6pm.

Instead of waiting around, we decided to head to Penang Hill (or Bukit Bendara as it called locally). So we hailed a cab as the locals said it would take us at least 15 minutes to walk it there.

Penang towards tram ride — The Chinese taxi driver quoted RM7 which sounded reasonable, so we got in

The journey barely took 5 minutes.

Penang Hill tram ride closed construction — We soon reached the foot of Penang Hill and could see the tram line

But unfortunately (again)….

Penang hill tram ride closed Loiyumba — Loi didn’t take the news too well

Turns out renovation work here as well. Couldn’t the taxi driver have told us it was closed? Of course he could have. But he didn’t… ‘cos he was a greedy b@#$%&*!

Disappointed at the turn of events, we decided to simply head back to town. Oddly enough, the very same bus we took to come here was waiting for departure near Penang hill.

Penang Air Itam Kek Lok Si temple background — As you can see, Kek Lok Si temple isn’t that far from here

Penang Air Itam Indian temple — The cultural mix in Malaysia is truly admirable

Penang Air Itam residential building — Passed through the same landmarks

Penang State Mosque Masjid Negeri Georgetown — Penang State Mosque

Penang school boys street vendors — Hmm, not that different from India isn’t it?

Penang restoran Chu Yoke — (Photograph by Loiyumba)

Rahim burger street vendor Penang — Banjo is fried egg (Photograph by Loiyumba)

We got down near the ferry terminal but contemplated going back to the rooms just yet. I wanted to have dinner at Gurney drive, so from the ferry terminal bus station, we availed the Hop-on free bus.

Georgetown Hop on free bus Penang — The Hop-on buses follow a particular route

The Hop-on bus was taking a long route, so we got down at KOMTAR.

Georgetown Komtar Tower tallest building Penang — Komtar Tower — the tallest building in Penang (Photograph by Loi)

Once we reached KOMTAR, we checked out the adjoining mall.

The offerings are anything but glamourous. Not a high-end mall at all. Just the usual clothes, electronics, grey market goods, coffee shops etc.

Georgetown Komtar ICT mall shops Penang — We didn’t spend a whole lot of time in here

We boarded another bus to get to Gurney Drive.

We got down near Gurney Drive… or at least we thought it was near Gurney Drive.

Penang Gurney Drive Solok Midlands — We walked through a residential colony

Penang Gurney Drive at night — Before finding ourselves behind Gurney Plaza

In the afternoon, Gurney Drive was quite empty…

Penang Gurney drive food court crowds — … but the scene is quite different at night!

Penang Gurney drive beef slices — Beef. Looked yum.

Penang Gurney drive food court seafood Sotong Bakar — As you can see from the above photos, lots of sea food available here

Very limited (to virtually no-existent) pure vegetarian options though.

Before we sat down for dinner, I wanted to check out another joint near the roundabout that I had seen during the day .

Penang Gurney drive seafood restaurant — Saw the lobster sign and assumed it was another food court by the sea

But turns out it was a big ‘mid-to-high’ range restaurant. Looked nice but we didn’t want to spend too much and sit for long — because it was only going to be me & Loi eating. The vegetarian in our group Ramesh still had nothing to choose from.

Penang Gurney drive marina at night — Anybody notice the drain vent in the sea — or is that litter?

Once back at the food court, myself and Loi each ordered what we wanted.

Penang Gurney drive food court oyster eggs — I chose ‘raw oysters and egg’ scrambled

Penang Gurney drive food court dinner — Loi had his boiled meat on a stick. With some beer of course.

Us two had to eat first, and then head back to Gurney Plaza so that Ramesh could find some vegetarian to eat.

Penang Gurney drive food court boiled meat — But Loi wasn’t done with his boiled meat. He wanted more! 🙂

Soyabean curd dessert Penang Gurney drive food court — I had Soyabean curd with hot brown sugar sauce for dessert (RM1 = Rs. 15)

After we were finally done, we headed back to Gurney Plaza so that Ramesh could now eat.

We went back to our rooms by taxi.

Old Penang Guesthouse Red Inn New ABC pub Georgetown — Old Penang Guesthouse, next to Red Inn, next to a pub

But instead of calling it a night, I told the guys I wanted to roam around a bit more. So as Ramesh and Loi went back to the room, I walked on.

Gelugpa Buddhist Association temple Georgetown Penang — This temple was just across Old Penang Guesthouse

Love Lane Inn guesthouse at night Georgetown Penang — There are several budget hotels and guesthouses on Love Lane

The reason I wanted to walk around a bit more was because I wasn’t truly content with all that I saw today. I don’t think I can say I ‘saw’ Penang. I visited Penang, sure, but I don’t think I saw all there was to see.

We landed in Penang after 3 crazy days in glamourous Singapore. So obviously, everything felt a world apart. Throughout the day, every mall we went to, all we talked about was how much cooler Singapore felt. Well duh. Obviously its a unfair comparison… but given how little we actually got to experience in Penang, we could only feel disappointment.

When we were planning our trip, we knew before hand there wasn’t anything stunning to see in Penang. In many ways, it is true. Especially if you have travelled throughout South India, seen Singapore or Thailand, Penang really doesn’t offer anything great in terms of new experiences. Sure, I would have loved to have gone for the tram ride up on Penang hill… and seen Kek Lok Si temple all lit up at night. But we all wanted to even take a ride on Penang Bridge. I also realized Penang isn’t just the island, but there exists Province Wellesley with towns like Butterworth and other attractions on the mainland as well.

So clearly, there was a lot more to Penang than I thought.

Red Garden food court back entrance — I saw this ‘food garden’ which I thought I’d check out

Red Garden food night line dancing Georgetown Penang — Line dancing + food court = Not bad

Red Garden food court Georgetown Penang — Not enough space in tummy to try out everything edible Penang had to offer

Red Garden food court night market entrance Georgetown Penang — This is the entrance

Ho Ping Chinese restaurant Georgetown Penang — Ho Ping the food is safe to eat 😛

Kampung Malabar Georgetown Penang — Yes, this street is named after Malabaris

(You can read about the history behind Kampung Malabar here . Besides me, I didn’t find any other ‘Malabari’ — it’s all Chinese)

Chinese traditional sculptures at-night Georgetown Penang — Saw these outside, what I presume was a store dealing in sculptures

Chinese stone sculptures at night Penang — Why didn’t anybody steal them? I dunno, probably too heavy to lift and run with

Penang Georgetown World Heritage building — Georgetown is a UNESCO World heritage site

Georgetown Penang brick paved roads at night — The same road was wet yesterday

Crystal Guesthouse backpackers Georgetown Penang — Penang is very easy on the pocket

Would I have liked to have stayed just another day longer? Yes. I was curious what was across Penang Bridge on the mainland to see. But alas, this was our last and only day in Penang.

Tomorrow, we were going to be heading across waters to another island — Langkawi!

Other posts in this series:

Singapore & Malaysia 2010: Planning and preparing for the trip

Singapore 2010: Day 1 – Little India, CBD, Clarke Quay, China Town… and a lot of walking

Singapore 2010: Day 2 – Orchard Road, mall-hopping… and already shopping

Singapore 2010: Day 3 – Singapore Zoo, Marina Bay Sands; leaving Singapore for Penang

Malaysia 2010: Day 5 — Langkawi (Ferry ride from Penang, Cable car & Sky Bridge)

Malaysia 2010: Day 6 — Langkawi (Island hopping tour, Pantai Tengah beach, Night market)

Malaysia 2010: Day 7 — Kuala Lumpur (Low Yat Plaza, Petronas Towers, Jalan Alor)

Malaysia 2010: Day 8 — Kuala Lumpur (Batu Caves, Petaling Street/China Town)

Malaysia 2010: Day 9 — Kuala Lumpur (KLCC Aquaria, Merdeka Square, KL Tower observation deck)

Malaysia 2010: Leaving Kuala Lumpur… and about going back

Dubai creek abra boat passengers afternoon ride

UAE 2010 (once again) Day 1: Flying to Dubai, shopping, Burj Khalifa at night

Date: 12th November 2010

On Monday the 8th of November, 2010, I got a bunch of missed calls as I was preparing to head to office. When I finally did speak to the person, it turned out it was someone from VH1 India informing me that I had been shortlisted as finalist in their Linkin Park Ticket to Ride Contest!

But before that, she had a bunch of questions to ask: “Do you have a valid passport?,” “Can you fly at short notice?” and then asked around 9 questions about the band itself. After answering most of the questions, said she had to speak to the others and that she would call back in some time.

After the call, the only thought that came to my mind was: “HO-LY SHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitttttttttttttttttttttt!!!!!!!!!!!!! All the 60-plus times I took part in the contest on Vh1 India’s Facebook page paid off!” I eagerly awaited the return call and 5 minutes later, it came.

She told me I was selected as the final winner because I answered the most questions!

Jeff Gerstmann Woohoo fistpump — “Woo-hoooooooooo!”

She told me I could take a guest too and so I chose my elder brother Nithin, who had never been to UAE. She also told me she would send me details on tickets, where we would be staying and how we would be going to the venue. First, we weren’t going to staying in Abu Dhabi, where the Yas Marina Circuit is located. Instead, we would be in Dubai.

Hey, I wasn’t going to complain. From there, on the day of the race, we would get picked and dropped via taxi. Cool, works for us!

After we hung up, I couldn’t hold my excitement and fist-pumped “Yes!”. This was the first time in life I actually won something big! Anyway, I headed to office and also prepared to get our visa arranged (we still had to do that ourselves).

For our Dubai visa, we approached DVPC by VFS Global, the exclusive service for all Emirates flights. We rushed all our documents to their office on Cunningham road on Tuesday afternoon and hoped we could get our visas by Thursday, since our flight was on Friday early morning.

Long story short, we managed to get our 96-hour/4 day visit visa (costs Rs. 3000 per person) processed by then.

On the dawn of Friday 12th, December 2010, we were in our Emirates flight from Bangalore to Dubai.

Star lit sky night from Emirates plane — It was a very star-lit night sky

Emirates breakfast India to Dubai flight — Early breakfast was pretty decent

We landed in Dubai at 7am.

Dubai airport tarmac terminal 4 construction — As if three terminals weren’t enough

Dubai airport Emirates planes arriving in morning — We rode on the tarmac for nearly 5 minutes before finally stopping

We descended into one of those airport buses to get to the terminal. That ride took another 5 minutes — and my god was it cold inside that bus! It was mobile freezing chamber!

We finally got into Terminal 3 and made our way to immigration.

I was a bit worried about visa because we didn’t get any official copy prior to our departure since everything was so ‘last minute’. But it was in our ticket and we faced no issues at immigration.

Once out, we hailed a taxi and headed to Deira where our hotel was located.

We were put up at Fortune Hotel. We had breakfast and checked into one of our rooms (we got two individual rooms). First thing I did after stepping out was call up my parents and then inform my friends in Dubai that I had arrived. We didn’t rest for much because we only had one day to roam around Dubai.

We briefly caught up with my good friend Azhad, walked around Deira a bit and then made our way to the creek.

Dubai creek trading ship — Though not the main port anymore, trade still goes through these waters daily

The abra ride costs just AED1 is one of the must-dos when in Dubai, be it in daytime or at night.

Once in Bur Dubai, I showed my brother the souq.

I’ve covered the souq a lot more in my trip from April. We went around a bit, bought some chocolates and made our way towards the Bur Dubai bus station.

Plaza cinema theater Bur Dubai — One of the oldest theaters in Dubai

We were in Bur Dubai to meet my friend Jassim, who had invited me and my brother over to his house for lunch.

He picked us up in his Mitsubishi Pajero.

Dubai inside Mitsubishi Pajero dashboard interiors — With a mileage like that, it’s a good thing petrol is cheap in UAE

Once at home, we were treated some fantastic mutton biriyani Jassim’s mother-in-law prepared. It was brilliant! Oh, there was chicken too. Equally delicious.

Dubai Jassim family — Our gracious hosts (the adults i.e., the kids didn’t care much for our presence)

After an extremely satisfying (and heavy) lunch, Jassim offered to drive us to our next destination.

Dubai Raffles pyramid hotel — Raffles Dubai hotel, attached to Wafi Mall

Dubai skyscrapers buildings skyline shadow — Never tire of this sight

Dubai festival city building — We were on our way to Festival City

Festival City was the only major mall I didn’t visit the first time I came to Dubai, back in April. Also, the mall houses Dubai’s IKEA store.

Dubai Festival City parking Pajero vs Hummer — The Pajero faces off with the soon-to-be-extinct Hummer

Dubai Festival City Jamie Oliver Italian restaurant — Popular British chef Jamie Oliver is opening a restaurant here

Festival City is another mixed-use development, comprising of a mall (of course), residential apartments, offices and even a marina.

Dubai Festival City marina panorama — (Panorama comprised of 6 shots)

Dubai Festival City Intercontinental Hotel — There’s an Intercontinental Hotel here

Dubai Festival City water canal — A water canal offering boat rides as well

Dubai Festival City water boat rides — Plenty of eateries by the water canal too

Once inside, the store offerings weren’t that different from any other major mall in Dubai.

Dubai Festival City mall water wires panorama — This was pretty cool though

Dubai Festival City water wires long — Water trickles down these wires and makes a sound when it touches the ground

Dubai Festival City Ikea store — Why we came to Festival City mall–IKEA (There is no IKEA store in India, yet)

Dubai Festival City lit up trees — After nearly an hour inside, we were done with our shopping

Jassim quickly took us around to show us some more unique ‘water fountains’ inside Festival City.

Dubai Festival City water fountain structure — But this big one takes the cake

Dubai Festival City unique water fountain closeup — That’s a thin stream of water flowing all the way down

We were running late and Jassim had to head back home. So after quick stop at an electronics store, we headed back to the car parking.

Dubai roads driving night — Next stop, Dubai Mall

Dubai clock tower roundabout at night — Dubai’s old landmark

Driving on Sheikh Zayed road at night — Sheikh Zayed road, where all of Dubai’s new landmarks are

Dubai Pajero sky roof open — Sky roof open…

Dubai Jassim driving Pajero night — … volume up!

Jassim dropped us off at Dubai Mall and we said our goodbyes.

We had booked our entry to Burj Khalifa’s At The Top for 8pm. But we quickly went around the mall before that.

Dubai Mall aquarium world record — First we passed by Dubai Aquarium

Dubai Aquarium Guinness world record plaque — The Guinness Record for the World’s Largest Acrylic Panel

My brother wasn’t really interested in going inside the aquarium. So we continued up.

Dubai Mall Denon LG showrooms — My brother instead wanted to check out home theater systems

He was tempted to pick a unit which cost half of what it costs back in India. But given the size of the entire package (and fearing customs,) he dropped the idea.

Dubai Mall digital runway screens — Funky runways huh?

When it was time, we made our way to the At The Top counter in the basement.

My brother isn’t staring at a white screen, watch this video for what you really see.

Dubai Mall At The Top observation deck which floor — I didn’t get it the right the last time but this time I vowed to point to where exactly the observation deck on Burj Khalifa is

Once we reached the top via the fastest elevator in the world, I switched to video:

This is the view at night in photos.

Dubai Mall from top at night — Dubai Mall’s roof goes green at night

The Address hotel Dubai at night — The Address hotel

Burj Khalifa At The Top view financial centre at night Dubai — Dubai’s Financial Centre

Sheikh Zayed road offices at night — Drive up further you reach Dubai Marina

Burj Khalifa At The Top observation telescopes — You can use these to get a simulation of how the same view looks in daylight

After 30 minutes on top, we made our way back down.

Once down, we walked past the other displays as you make your exit.

This was the second time for me ‘At the Top,’ a more detailed description of the experience can be viewed here.

Once out, the Dubai fountains were on show.

Dubai Mall fountain show at night — The shows are every half an hour

Dubai Mall Christmas tree decorations — Islamic country, but they still deck a heck lot of lights for Christmas

Burj Khalifa in the dark Dubai — The tallest X’mas ‘tree’ in the world

We took the shuttle bus from Dubai Mall to the metro station. Even though we were tired and sleepy, we still decided to quickly check out Mall of the Emirates — four stops from Dubai Mall.

We were here mostly to check out the Virgin Megastore. Last time I was here, I spent quite a bit on video games. This time, we just picked up some blu-rays, a music CD… and then some more video games.

By the time we were done with everything, it was 10:30pm. We had to get back, have dinner and then figure out how we were going to pack all our IKEA goods.

Dinner was shawarmas, which though better than the stuff you get in India, wasn’t as good as the ones I grew up eating in Bahrain. The Egyptian joint we picked it up stuffed it with french fries and wrapped it in kuboos instead of Lebanese bread. These were the kind of shawarmas pretty much everywhere. I don’t know, they were inferior in my opinion.

After dinner, I roamed around a bit in search of empty carton boxes big enough to hold our IKEA purchases but despite asking just about every cold store in our vicinity, the best I got were water bottle boxes. I came back with one but realized it was grossly insufficient.

Next morning, I had to call up my friend Azhad for help.

Next post in this series:

UAE 2010 (once again) Day 2 – Ferrari World, Abu Dhabi F1 and Linkin Park concert

Abu Dhabi F1 Yas Marina circuit Ferrari McLaren Red bull race cars

UAE 2010 (once again) Day 2 – Ferrari World, Abu Dhabi F1 and Linkin Park concert

By Mithun Divakaran
/
Dec 21, 2010
/
Music/Videos, Travel, U.A.E (Abu Dhabi/Dubai)

Date: 13th November 2010

If you are wondering “Errr…. where’s Day 1?,” well, I wanted to push this one out because it contains a large chunk of why I was in Dubai and Abu Dhabi for a second time this year. Long story short, I won a contest on VH1 to fly all the way to Abu Dhabi during F1 weekend to watch Linkin Park, one of my favourite bands, live in concert.

All the details of how I got here will be in the Day 1 post. [EDIT: Day 1 is now live]

Since we had shopped a bit yesterday, we had to spend the morning trying to find a carton to fit all of our IKEA shopping. We met up with my friend Azhad who took us to a cargo shop to find us a large box. After we bought one, we made our way back and then headed out for lunch.

For lunch, Azhad took us to a Syrian restaurant in Al Rigga.

Aroos Damascus restaurant Al Rigga Deira Dubai — This was the restaurant

Aroos Damascus Syrian restaurant Al Rigga Deira shawarma — And that is a LOT of meat

Aroos Damascus tables outside Syrian restaurant Al Rigga Deira Dubai — Azhad and my brother Nithin at the table to the left

As fans of Arabian cuisine, we ordered a few items unaware of just how much food was coming our way.

Syrian Arab lentil soup dal — First up: Lentil soup (dal)

Aroos Damscus restaurant Al Rigga Deira starters Dubai — Then, salad and a diamond shaped bread

Fattoush salad Arab restaurant Dubai — Next, fattoush salad

Arab restaurant kuboos bread Deira Dubai — With healthy supply of kuboos (Arabian bread)

Arab restaurant fresh fruit juice kiwi — Then our juices (the green one’s Kiwi fruit; it’s what I ordered)

Arab restaurant hummus mutton — After that, our hummus with mutton kheema & grated almonds

Aroos Damascus restaurant Deira grilled chicken — …and finally, the ‘main course’ — one full grilled chicken

By the time our ‘main course’ arrived, my hunger was already taken care of. All I could think of was ‘how the hell we were going to finish that bird!’.

And just as we began to dig into it, I get a call. It was our taxi driver, for our pick up. We had to tell him to wait at least 15 minutes as we were having lunch… and that we had an entire chicken to go through.

Sadly, even 10 minutes in, we knew it was hopeless. We would have needed at least an hour of slow eating to finish all the food that was on our table. Or according to Azhad, we needed our friend Jassim.

The bill came to around Rs. 1200, very reasonable considering what we ordered was enough to feed 4 to 5 people. After we paid up, we quickly made our way back to our hotel where our taxi was waiting for us.

Now, we were expecting a taxi. We weren’t really expecting this:

Lincoln towncar black Dubai — This was our ride

Lincoln Towncar limo interiors — Not bad. Not bad at all.

We dashed off to Abu Dhabi via Sheikh Zayed Road.

Emirates towers building from car — The Emirates twin towers

Sheikh Zayed road metro station — This is what Dubai’s metro stations look like

Sheikh Zayed road small building contruction — Construction activity has slowed down…

Sheikh Zayed Road Gloria hotel rooms for rent — … because there is still plenty of over-supply

Sheikh Zayed Road offices for lease — Still no takers

The real estate scene hasn’t seen much improvement since the last time I was here.

Burj Al Arab from inside car — Burj Al Arab in the distance

We drove past the impressive Dubai Marina and entered Jebel Ali zone.

Sheikh zayed road Ibn Battuta Mall — Seen at Ibn Battuta Mall

Dubai Hummer stretch limo rent — Okay, so our limo wasn’t as pimp as this one…

Sheikh Zayed road radio tower — Not a whole lot to see on Sheikh Zayed road…

Sheikh Zayed road vehicles — … besides cars

Sheikh Zayed Road is one heck of a highway. For one, it’s really straight. So it’s filled with a lot of speeding cars. And despite being extremely wide, and UAE’s strict code on the way you drive — accidents are still common.

We lay witness to one one this trip.

A Toyota Yaris lost control, swerved right across two lanes, rams into a Mercedes convertible, and dangerously reverses back on to the highway. Everybody brakes. Fortunately we were slightly far behind and the Yaris did eventually come to a stand still.

Sheikh Zayed road accident Mercedes — The Merc that got rammed into

Sheikh Zayed road accident Toyota Yaris crashed — Dunno how he lost control

The police car quickly made its way towards the accident site…

Sheikh Zayed road accident truck overturn — …from *another* accident it was tending to

So yeah, just because you have awesome roads, don’t assume its accidents-free.

An hour-long drive later, we were in Abu Dhabi.

IKEA Abu Dhabi near Yas Island Ferrari World — Damn you IKEA! Here too?!

Ferrari World La Rossa roller coaster — La Rossa — the fastest roller coaster ride in the world, part of Ferrari World

We actually asked our driver to drop us at Ferrari World because we had time and didn’t want to head to the Yas Marina Circuit so early. Plus I had to check it out, sine the last time I was, it was still under construction.

Ferrari World mall entrance reception — The entrance leads you to a mini-mall

Ferrari World mall escalator stores — But a lot of stores were yet to open

Ferrari World Abu Dhabi main lobby — The ticket counter is to the right

Ferrari World Ferrari store Abu Dhabi — They have a pretty big Ferrari store to the left

Ferrari World Abu Dhabi Formula 1 model car — This was in front of the Ferrari store

Ferrari World Abu Dhabi gates to theme park — You pass these gates to enter the theme park

After checking out the store, I made my way to the ticket counter. The tickets to Ferrari World come in ‘general’ and ‘premium’ classes — the only difference being the premium admission give you access to a VIP lounge. Otherwise the general admission costs AED225 (Rs. 2500) and entitles you to unlimited rides. Not bad, compared to how expensive other world class theme parks cost.

But I still felt compelled to ask the ticket receptionist if it was worthwhile if we went in today. She replied that we’d need at least 2 hours to go through the whole place (Ferrari World is the largest indoor theme park in the world). Also, the main attraction at Ferrari World: La Rossa — the fastest roller coaster in the world, wasn’t (let’s just say) functioning perfectly. There were stopping it intermittently to run check ups.

Now, I know Ferrari World had just opened during this year’s Grand Prix race, but I didn’t feel like paying AED225 to be a crash test dummy at 250 kmph. So I decided to skip it and check it out next year. Hopefully by then all the chinks are sorted out.

Ferrari World Abu Dhabi entrance hall — We made our way out

That’s me ^_^

Ferrari World Abu Dhabi cascade walk — There was an open area we felt like checking out

Ferrari World cascade walk fountains Nithin — My brother Nithin

It was nearing 5pm at this point, so we decided to leave.

Ferrari World bus to Yas Marina circuit — They had buses to Yas Marina Circuit

Inside bus to Yas Marina circuit Abu Dhabi — The buses go all around the circuit stopping at all the entry points

Entering North Stand Yas Marina Circuit — We got down at the North Gate entrance

Ferrari World Abu Dhabi road to Yas Marina — Which isn’t very far from Ferrari World

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix F1 ear plugs guide — This is what you get as you pass the gates: ear plugs and a guide

Abu Dhabi F1 Yas Marina circuit Yasalam — This is where Linkin Park is going to perform

Abu Dhabi Yas Marina circuit sunset — It was time to go in

Abu Dhabi F1 Yas Marina circuit Yasalam Linkin Park stage — They were running a sound check and you could hear Chester test his vocals

Abu Dhabi F1 Yas Marina circuit North Grand stand lounge — This is the lounge area for North Grand Stand ticket holders

Yas Marina Circuit North Stand panorama view — This was the view from our seat

And this is the action we saw:

Our seats were great, we were at the grand stand at the North section of the track. The vantage point is a good one as you get to see the cars coming in from a distance (though in a matter seconds, they’re already at the turn) and then you have the long straight stretch where you get to see them accelerate.

First thing that really hits you is the noise. I experienced this during the Singapore F1 back in September. I loved it there, I loved it here as well. Of course, you have to love cars to to enjoy the sound of a lightning fast engine. Otherwise you’d be deemed ‘weird’.

Abu Dhabi F1 Yas Marina Lewis Hamilton St. George flag — Since this was the crucial final race of the season, the Brits obviously had Lewis Hamilton’s back

Abu Dhabi F1 Yas Marina circuit north stand flags — Not that the Spaniards and Canadians were far behind

Abu Dhabi F1 Yas Marina circuit big screens — They had screens broadcasting the rest of the circuit

They had commentary on the speakers too, but because of the noise from the cars, you won’t hear it until the cars pass.

Abu Dhabi F1 Yas Marina circuit Red Bull car — Red Bull racing was doing pretty well

Abu Dhabi F1 Yas Marina circuit Force India car — Force India wasn’t doing that bad either

After seeing cars zipping by and listening to engines for nearly an hour, I went inside the lounge to have some of the gourmet food on offer.

Abu Dhabi F1 Yas Marina North Grand stand lounge food — Gourmet food in very tiny portions I might add. But you can take as much as you wanted.

The whole affair was very posh, with German waitresses and what looked like local celebrities (or posh posers) in the lounge.

After having a bite and drink, as I walked back, I suddenly stopped. And I do mean suddenly stopped. I literally froze.

I turned to my left and in front of me were two guys. One, a fairly large, tattooed white bald white dude and next to him, a regular looking Asian guy, fairly tall. Dressed in formals, he looked like a guy who probably worked in an IT firm. I looked at him and they both looked back at me. The white dude sitting next to him nodded as if to say: “No”.

But in my excitement, I said ‘hi’ and that I had one question to ask him. I began to prep the camera when he smiled and said: “No Interviews”. The bodyguard was about to get up so I put my camera away and just asked him. He answered and then I asked him if I could take a photograph. The bodyguard said “No,” but he said “It’s fine,” gave my camera to his bodyguard and asked him to take our photograph.

The bodyguard pressed the shutter and it didn’t click. The guy joked: “He’s not very good at this” and asked his bodyguard to take the shot again.

So who was the guy?

Mithun with Mike Shinoda Linkin Park Abu Dhabi F1 — None other than Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park! The ONE guy I was hoping to meet!

I thanked Mike and told him how much I liked their new album and said: “Keep experimenting” to which he smiled and said “Thanks”.

First impressions. Wow, he’s taller than I thought (I’m 5′ 6″). Plus, he’s changed a lot since his Hybrid Theory days.

Oh, what was the one question I wanted to ask him and finally could?

“When is Linkin Park coming to India?”

Mike said they needed find the right promoter and figure out the logistics to try and cram it into their tour schedule. It wasn’t a very convincing answer so I asked him whether they had ever considered touring India, to which Mike replied: “Oh yeah! Of course!”. I told him Linkin Park has such a huge fan base in India and he nodded his head: “I know…” with a smile. He said it will happen and assured me the band would tour India — but he just couldn’t tell me when.

Oh well, at least he knows we’re dying to see the band live in India.

As I went back to my seat, I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. When I got the call from Vh1 telling me I had won, I was so hoping to meet the band. But I was informed there would be no meet & greet. And despite all that, I still got to meet the one guy I wanted to talk to. I know for a lot of girls its Chester Bennington, but for many hardcore LP fans, it’s Mike Shinoda — the unofficial spokesperson and leader of the band.

I told my brother Mike Shinoda was inside and he got a glimpse of him too, but neither of us disturbed him again.

Abu Dhabi F1 Yas Marina circuit night race — The race was at its final laps

Abu Dhabi F1 Yas Marina circuit at night — The qualifiers had ended; Vettel took pole postion with Lewis Hamilton in second

Abu Dhabi F1 Yas Marina circuit photographers — That’s the kind of lenses you need to cover an F1 race

We got up from our seats and went back into the lounge to get a good view of where we were heading next.

Abu Dhabi Yasalam Linkin Park concert venue — There were people already making a beeline for the concert gates

As I walked out I saw Mike again… and Dave Farrell, the band’s bassist! Dave smiled at me and gave me a thumbs up, probably after noticing my Linkin Park t-shirt and I wished him all the best for the show and that I was looking forward to it. I was tempted to ask for a photograph again but the bodyguard kept looking at me everytime I passed by. Oh well, he’s doing his job.

Walking towards the venue, I came prepared and fully charged with my camera and lenses… but unfortunately, there was dude announcing on the speakerphone that DSLRs and other high end cameras were not allowed in. Crap.

So, I hesitantly hand over my camera to the counter and make my through the gates. Hundreds were getting their alcohol (on sale for 21 and over only) and though there were a lot of people at the venue, everybody had enough space to move about freely.

Me and my brother chose a spot a bit far away from the speakers and right in the middle.

Yasalam Linkin Park Abu Dhabi concert panorama — They were showing promos of who all had come before… (yes, the Jonas Brothers were here before LP)

We could have gone further up front but I was going to be recording videos on my phone and staying too close to the speakers only meant “brrrrr brrrr” in recordings.

The stage itself, as you can see above, was quite impressive.

Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Linkin Park concert warm up — They had a DJ spin out some good hip hop to warm up the crowd.

After half an hour or so, the DJ leaves the stage. The crew come on, clear everything and the crowd begin to cheer. A lighting rig comes all the way down, two guys get into seats on either side and the rig goes up again.

After some more waiting, finally, the show begins:

They opened with The Catalyst, the first single off their latest album A Thousand Suns.

Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Linkin Park concert — After that, the crowd went crazy for the next song

And when I mean ‘crowd,’ I mean me, my brother and a few young Arabs around me. I was seriously aghast the whole crowd wasn’t jumping up & down.

But then again I reminded my self that this concert was only open to Formula 1 ticket holders, most of whom were 30-plus. Not exactly your core Linkin Park fanbase.

Abu Dhabi formula 1 Linkin Park concert chester on stage — Man, Chester can scream his face off!

I didn’t record every song in full, intentionally. I had to conserve my phone battery and I didn’t feel right about recording the entire concert as though I was going to bootleg this or something.

Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Linkin Park concert Mike Shinoda — “Hey, I met that guy!” 😛

Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Linkin Park concert Joe Hahn — The awesome Mr. Hahn

Of course, some songs I had to record in full.

Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Linkin Park concert stage lights — The lighting was just as good as the music

This was the ending set:

After a very brief break, the band were back on stage for the encore.

First, they performed one of my favourite songs from the new album:

…before closing out the show with some more of their biggest hits!

Nearly an hour and 45 minutes later, the show was over. In that time, they played pretty much all their singles (except for “Breaking the Habit“). The band said their goodbyes and left the stage. Everyone except Mike Shinoda that is, who would spend nearly 10 minutes or so shaking hands and greeting fans in the front row. What an awesome guy.

We left Yasalam, collected my camera bag and managed to contact our taxi driver who had come all the way from Dubai to pick us up.

Abu Dhabi Formula one buses after race — They had plenty of buses plying from the venue to Abu Dhbai city and Dubai

Abu Dhabi Formula 1 bus service to city — But there were quite a lot of people queuing up for them

Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Ferrari world at night — We had nothing to worry about…

Inside Toyota Previa taxi Abu Dhabi — … ‘cos we had comfortable private ride back to Dubai. Tee hee.

Leaving Yas Marina circuit Abu Dhabi — It was past 11pm, time to leave Yas Marina Circuit and Abu Dhabi

As we drove back, I couldn’t help but think back on the past few hours. Sure, we were tired as hell, but what a weekend! Landed in Dubai yesterday, went around, shopped, today witnessed a Formula One race on a Rs. 40, 000 ticket (which we got for free) and then watched one of my favourite bands perform live (again, for free)! But most of all, the moment that did it for me, I met Mike Shinoda and got a photo with him! That was good enough.

On one hand, I enjoyed a evening with a decent crowd with no pushing or shoving and an amazing stage setup. On the other hand, the concert could have used a better crowd. But thinking about it, I can’t fathom how much I would have hated the first Linkin Park concert in India — with thousands of their young fans who are going to go absolutely apeshit because they waited for so long to finally get a glimpse of their rock idols. (I pray Linkin Park plays at least 3 venues when they land in India)

Every artist uses the “We’ll be back” line at the end of their concerts. Some do, some don’t. Linkin Park will be back in UAE for sure. And next time, it will surely be for their real UAE fans at some event more suitable like the Desert Rock Festival or a stand alone concert.

Dubai driving Sheikh Zayed road night — An hour of cruising at a 100kmph later, we were in Dubai

Once back in our hotel, we quickly went out again to grab some shawarmas and some juice for dinner. We didn’t have anything planned for tomorrow other than packing and heading to the hotel.

Yeah, it would have been nice if we could have stayed back one more day, saw the Sunday race and watched Prince perform afterwards. (We had tickets for all 4 days; Kanye West performed on Friday but we couldn’t have been bothered to drive all the way to Dubai for his inflated ego). But I just couldn’t afford to. I had to head back to office on Monday and then on Tuesday night, had to catch my postponed flight to Thailand for my next trip.

All in all, a hectic but memorable experience.

Oh, and finally, thanks VH1 India! (Especially Aparna)