This news here has been a few days old. But it still trigger some memories.
I arrived in Dubai November 2007 not knowing where I will be staying. Having met a good friend from first trip to Dubai back in April 2007, I trusted her to make arrangements for my accommodation.
I landed in a villa good for six but at that time, one was vacant. The pay was cheap and that works for me, being a newbie. The villa had several rooms which will always be a question for me. Those that I know were maybe around eight including our own. But I didn't really find out exactly how many rooms were there. Maybe I didn't care. Just as long as our room is alright, it didn't matter.
Living in a villa in Dubai is not really ideal. Villas are prone to inspection and possible closure since the living conditions in some of the many villas are not really good. But, as for me, I was perfectly okay with where we were at that time. It was a place in Al Qusais and I feel very comfortable living there. The place is quiet, laid back and away from the city rush and pollution. I used to joke my room mates and friends that I chose to live in a villa because there is place where I can hang and dry my towel. A joke that is somewhat very true for me. I like my towel to smell like some clothes dried in the sun.
I also remember telling my best friend back home that I would really prefer good company than a good place. That's speaking in terms of the fact that I was happy with the people I lived with for about a year and a half. I will always remember we had our happy hours from 9pm to 11 pm. This is the time where we start to arrive one by one and sometimes have the opportunity to eat dinner all together.
Then, it was time to move.
I ended up in another villa that is a much better place than the one I left. I didn't have much time to interact with my room mates here since we were all preoccupied with our own jobs and our working hours rarely allow us to some bonding moments.
My stay with these people were short-lived because our villa was raided by the 'baladiya' (Immigrations people and anyone from Dubai know what this means) and our water and electricity were cut off, forcing us to look for a place to move into right away. I had no qualms about it because this is part of their law. So, all of us spent that whole day looking for our own places, because we thought it would be best to look for places near our work to save some travel time to resting instead.
But I didn't end up with a place near my workplace. Again, I choose to look for a place where I could be tired yet have a good night's sleep than be five minutes away from my workplace and spend the whole night suffering from noisy, annoying room mates and house mates. I ended up with a friend's friend whom I didn't know at all at that time. She is a friend of the same friend who got the place for me when I first got to Dubai and I trust her judgments when it comes to these things. I ended up in a flat with her friend who is far more better than those two places I have. In fact, I used to describe the scenario like this: it's like you moved from the first floor of a hotel to a penthouse suite. Yes, far more better.
But again, my stay here at the flat was short-lived because I had to go home due to my medical condition. But I can say that given a choice, I will still choose to live in those two villas than the posh flat that I moved into. Villas give me a sense of home, no matter how far worse the conditions may be.
I wonder how it would be now for those people who live in villas. Back then, there was a law but it has been ignored for far too long. But now that there are more vacant flats that need to be occupied, they say this is the main reason why the Immigrations people are so eager to inspect. They need those flats to be occupied for economic reasons. But people stay in villas for economic reasons, too.
*The picture is the flat I lived in before I went home.
I arrived in Dubai November 2007 not knowing where I will be staying. Having met a good friend from first trip to Dubai back in April 2007, I trusted her to make arrangements for my accommodation.
I landed in a villa good for six but at that time, one was vacant. The pay was cheap and that works for me, being a newbie. The villa had several rooms which will always be a question for me. Those that I know were maybe around eight including our own. But I didn't really find out exactly how many rooms were there. Maybe I didn't care. Just as long as our room is alright, it didn't matter.
Living in a villa in Dubai is not really ideal. Villas are prone to inspection and possible closure since the living conditions in some of the many villas are not really good. But, as for me, I was perfectly okay with where we were at that time. It was a place in Al Qusais and I feel very comfortable living there. The place is quiet, laid back and away from the city rush and pollution. I used to joke my room mates and friends that I chose to live in a villa because there is place where I can hang and dry my towel. A joke that is somewhat very true for me. I like my towel to smell like some clothes dried in the sun.
I also remember telling my best friend back home that I would really prefer good company than a good place. That's speaking in terms of the fact that I was happy with the people I lived with for about a year and a half. I will always remember we had our happy hours from 9pm to 11 pm. This is the time where we start to arrive one by one and sometimes have the opportunity to eat dinner all together.
Then, it was time to move.
I ended up in another villa that is a much better place than the one I left. I didn't have much time to interact with my room mates here since we were all preoccupied with our own jobs and our working hours rarely allow us to some bonding moments.
My stay with these people were short-lived because our villa was raided by the 'baladiya' (Immigrations people and anyone from Dubai know what this means) and our water and electricity were cut off, forcing us to look for a place to move into right away. I had no qualms about it because this is part of their law. So, all of us spent that whole day looking for our own places, because we thought it would be best to look for places near our work to save some travel time to resting instead.
But I didn't end up with a place near my workplace. Again, I choose to look for a place where I could be tired yet have a good night's sleep than be five minutes away from my workplace and spend the whole night suffering from noisy, annoying room mates and house mates. I ended up with a friend's friend whom I didn't know at all at that time. She is a friend of the same friend who got the place for me when I first got to Dubai and I trust her judgments when it comes to these things. I ended up in a flat with her friend who is far more better than those two places I have. In fact, I used to describe the scenario like this: it's like you moved from the first floor of a hotel to a penthouse suite. Yes, far more better.
But again, my stay here at the flat was short-lived because I had to go home due to my medical condition. But I can say that given a choice, I will still choose to live in those two villas than the posh flat that I moved into. Villas give me a sense of home, no matter how far worse the conditions may be.
I wonder how it would be now for those people who live in villas. Back then, there was a law but it has been ignored for far too long. But now that there are more vacant flats that need to be occupied, they say this is the main reason why the Immigrations people are so eager to inspect. They need those flats to be occupied for economic reasons. But people stay in villas for economic reasons, too.
*The picture is the flat I lived in before I went home.
No comments:
Post a Comment