dubai: luxury and height

Burj Al Arab (the tower of the Arabs) is said to be the only hotel in the world categorized 7-star. Currently, it is the tallest building utilized solely as hotel. In due time, another hotel building, also in Dubai, will soon surpass Burj Al Arab in this category and not the rating.

Completed in 1999 and it became an iconic building where one can see images of it, it is identified to be Dubai. Just like the Eiffel tower of Paris.

The design resembles a sail of a dhow, which is a type of an Arab vessel.

Staying or even dining out in the hotel would cost one a fortune. Room rates started from AED7500 ($2100) a night. Dining in their restaurant? Expect to be robbed by at least AED350 ($100).



About a year from now, the Burj Dubai (Dubai Tower) will be completed. Upon completion, this will surpass the record as the tallest structure ever built by man. A couple of months back, it has now become the tallest standing building in the world.

Picture below was taken on November 29, 2007 while inside my car on red signal near the Al Wasl hospital.

the serial rebel

Not too long ago, July 2003 to be precise, a group called Magdalo with leader Antonio Trillanes stormed the ritzy Oakwood hotel and the nearby mall in Makati City. They planted bombs in the surrounding area while raising a banner for change in the government system.

The group was not successful and succumbed to authorities. They are now facing charges before the court of justice.

As the trial of the case is rolling by, Antonio Trillanes manage to earn a seat in the Senate. He is currently a Senator of the Republic of the Philippines. Wow. Famous?

Famous indeed. He should thank the media for that. The media, be it print or broadcast, does the most part of the campaigning for him. You know what I mean...he is always on the news during the election period.

Just very recently, November 29, 2007, while Trillanes and several other military officers are attending a coup d'etat trial (in relation to their Oakwood uprising) managed to sneak out of the court and took over the luxurious Peninsula hotel. They were joined by some well known opposition personalities like Teofisto Guingona and two other Roman Catholic priests. Their cry is for President Gloria Arroyo to step down from office.

I think we now have a serial rebel in the making. Like a serial killer who committed the crime of killing people in two or more separate events over a period of time and motivated by either power or sexual compulsion. In this case, Trillanes has committed the crime of rebellion against the government in two separate occasions and motivated by power.

He has taken arms against the government and using a posh establishment, a hotel for that matter, as a shield or a hideout whatever you may call it. He has done it twice in the last 4 years. Was it not a surprise that the venue of all this uprising is in a posh place, like hotel?

Hotel management must now start to keep its eyes on this serial rebel.

n.b. as of this writing, it has already been reported that Mr. Trillanes and company have already been under the custody of the authorities.

a colorful sunrise experience

For the last couple of months now, I have been longing to experience sunrise on top of Jebel (mount) Hafeet.

Jebel Hafeet is the highest peak of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi specifically situated in Al Ain City. It is one of the most visited places in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). During weekends and holidays, before enjoying the beauty of the place one should undergo a long queue on the road.

On November 16, 2007, at approximately 5:30 am, I braved the freezing temperature by driving my way up to Jebel Hafeet. 10 minutes later, I found myself on top of the mountain setting up my camera on a tripod to record the beautiful colors of the sunrise.

Here is my first shot of the horizon from my vantage point on the mountain.

After some scripture reading and a few minutes of prayer, the sun finally showed up. Without losing any chances, I locked my eyes on the viewfinder of my cam with my finger pressing on the shutter speed and recorded this...

....this...

...and this...

...and a lot more images.

I enjoyed the richness of the colors and pondered upon how beautiful God's creation is.

I could only imagine on that day of creation when God ordered "let there be light..." and there was light. Like the first light of day that I just experienced, it created great colors of the sky. Beautiful indeed. All things that is of God are beautiful.

God bless.

almost zero visibility

Al Ain to Dubai is approximately a 140 Km long drive. This is my routine from Sunday to Thursday, the normal work week in most of the companies in the United Arab Emirates, as I live in Al Ain and work in Dubai.

On November 15, 2005 the road was so foggy. Approximately 50 Kms after leaving our house at 6:30 early morning, visibility became almost nil as the road had been heavily covered with fog. The almost zero visibility of the road spanned to about 30 kms.

Here is a photo i manage to take on the road:

The road then improved a bit after that 30 Km stretch, and it now looked like this:

Like in the last 3 winter seasons that I had experienced, early morning drive along the Al Ain-Dubai road would be as foggy as this. Road visibility is almost zero.

Shock, Pity, and Being a Child

Shock

It was reported that on November 2, 2007 a 12 year old girl strangled herself to death using a nylon rope a day after she was denied of by her father the 100 peso she needed for a school project. The father had nothing to give as he was out of job for days. His job as a construction worker is not a permanent as it is dependent on a per project basis.

Further investigation from different news media outfits revealed that the girl, Mariannet Amper is a very diligent and intelligent grade 6 pupil of Maa, Davao City Public Elementary School. Discovered from her personal things is a diary containing entries that expressed her miseries in life, she belonging to a very poor family. Specifically, she narrated how she grieved those times when she and her younger brother could not go to school as their parents would not let them for lack of money paying for their transportation.

A letter addressed to "wish ko lang", a television program that grants wishes of letter senders whose letter is picked by show organizers, was penned by Mariannet, but not mailed. Her simple wishes then is to have a pair of shoes, a bicycle, and a living for her father.

What shocked me most is the survey by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) stating that of the one billion global population, 11 million are Filipinos including Mariannet's family are living on less that $1 a day. This $1 a day is a threshold defined as "extreme poverty" by the United Nations.

Are you shocked too?

Pity

This last few days, Mariannet's story has been the famous subject of blogs, discussion forums, and editorial sections of newspapers.

Varied emotions and finger-pointing are being raised upon by authors and commentators. Some blamed the government, the society or the world being cruel, the parents, and even the child herself.

Personally, I have pity on those authors and commentators. In my opinion, they could have been barking at the wrong tree.

Who then to bark at?

In the Holy Bible, I learned that since the fall of Adam and Eve, humankind had been separated brom God and the paradise. Man has long been trapped in this evil, dirty, and cursed world. No matter how much man exerted his own strength to experience paradise on earth, it is but only an exercise in futility.

Why an exercise in futility? It is also expressly stated in the Bible that it is not by man's strength he could be saved from the curse, but by God's grace. This grace had been manifested by the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. He paid the price for all mankind. That whoever believes in Him and confess that He is the Lord and Savior will have eternal life and experience the joy and peace that passeth all understanding.

I can attest to this claim as I have personally experience the peace and joy myself when I received the Lord Jesus christ as my Lord and Savior on April 21, 2004. Since then, I derive all my strength from the grace of God and my life has never been that peaceful and joyful.

I pity those who are yet to establish a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Being a Child

Mt. 18: 3 provides "...I tell you the truth, unless you change and become little children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven."

Keep a child-like attitude and you will enter heaven, Jesus in his word stated.

What about Mariannet? She was just a child, but acted like a mature adult. Taking so seriously their lack of material things. I do wonder what prompted this child to think the way she did?

What happened to children now a days? Was this an isolated case? I do not know. I am puzzled.

If children now a days are thinking like adults how can adults become childlike?

I will ponder upon this in the next few days and pray for revelations about the children around us.

Blessed with 'Tres Marias'

Everyday, me and my wife thank the Lord our God for blessing us with three beautiful, smart, and God-fearing daughters, or I fondly called them the 'Tres Marias'. They are such a priceless possession. They are our all. We love them so much.

As a proud father, I would like to introduce them here.

Our eldest. Sophia Louise. She loves to sing and has learned to play the guitar last summer. She for the past months, her guitar skills has improved so much that she now learns to do plucking.

Next to Sophia is my Katryna Lois. She joined Sophia in the guitar lessons last summer. Together with their friends, David, Jezreel, Kevin, and Venice, they play song numbers at our weekly praise and worship services with Word International Ministries - Al Ain.

Katryna is very organized. Among her siblings, she always won the neatest and most arranged closet.

The youngest and sweetest of the three, Adrianna Renee. She is so bubbly and dances so gracefully. She learns to read at a very young age at 4 years old. At 5 she reads magazines and newspaper.

Adrianna is now the only baby we have got. Sophia and Katryna has already turned to become a fine young lady.

Our 'Tres Marias' are indeed God's blessing to us. Thank God for them.

'til Death Do We Part

…and still in this break in period, let me talk a little more backgrounder of my self, particularly my marriage.

I got married at an early age of 21, few months after graduation and about 3 months before taking the CPA licensure examinations in the Philippines. I know full well you are now speculating that this decision to marry is brought about by the fact that my girlfriend got pregnant. Your speculation is correct.

I do love her. I got her pregnant outside of marriage. We had practiced pre-marital sex. We know full well it should not have been done.

That was past. We know we committed wrong. We repented for it. Most importantly, with Jesus at the center of our relationship, we are ready to keep our marriage vows.

We are now so confident that no one can separate us until our last breath.

"Break In"

When you acquired a brand new car, they say you need to break it in.

I am new to blogging and this is my brand new entry, hence consider this my breaking in period to the world of blogging.

When I finally decided to start a blog some few days back, I was thinking real hard as to what to write. I find it so difficult. After three days of uncertainty on how to start my blog, it came to my mind that the better way to break into this blogging world is to give a little backgrounder of my life.

In a nutshell, the first 31 years and 10 months of my life was lived without Jesus Christ dwelling in my heart. Although I grew up obeying the traditional practices of a traditional church and doing some good works like giving to charities and sharing blessings to the less fortunate, I still felt emptiness more often.

In early 2004, a terrible thing happened to our lives. We practically lost our finances, which we considered our wealth and ticket to a stable and bright future for our children. As it happened, I told my wife on that same day we learned of what happened to our finances that God allowed this to happen and He has something in store for us.

Indeed, that utterance coupled with belief in my heart come into fruition when God sent us the couple Patrick & Shonie into our lives. This couple is very instrumental in bringing in to our lives the Gospel of Jesus Christ. On April 21, 2004, me and my wife accepted the Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Since then, we felt that we were given a new life, a new hope, and a great reward so long as we keep up the good fight for our faith.

And on that hot summer night of April 21, 2004 at the heart of Al Ain City, we (me and my wife) undergone a break in experience into a new life. With our "born again" experience we were given a new life which we vowed to offer for service to the Lord and His kingdom, of course with the help of the Holy Spirit.

On that same night, the bible study group organized to meet weekly at the apartment of Patrick & Shonie met for the first time. A break in for the group.

Now we are proud to say that what we lost then is nothing compared to what we have received, e.i. salvation. And this we believe is the true and ultimate inheritance that we could hand down to our children.

Glory to God.