Al Khail, Bawadi, Kite

Sunday 22nd August
Returned to Al Khail, then to Bawadi as the light would be better and also to International City – a lot of empty houses and shops due to their sewerage problem. Later headed to The Greens but saw nothing in particular of interest until driving back when I saw a labourer flying his kite made of a bin bag on some vacant land. Seems they can still have some fun even in these hard times.

Ajman

Saturday 21st August
Drove out to Ajman yesterday, a neighbouring Emirate where Dubaites flocked to buy cheap, affordable housing when Dubai’s prices were sky high. Ajman was touted as the new up and coming place from which to commute to Dubai. However, the crash happened, prices plummeted and there was no need for these developments miles away from anywhere in the middle of the desert.

I love the big hoardings, left to ruin, and the housing development of about 8 luxury villas with a space-age looking sales centre – all empty and left to rot.

The Drinking Club with a Running Problem

Thursday 19th August
Having met the guys from the Hash House Harriers at the Jebel Ali Club last week, I decided to check them out on their get together.

From what i can make out, they meet up, have a few beers, wander around Dubai following a trail set out by “hares” earlier in the day, then go to the beach with a cooler of beers and drink a few more, then head back to the villa of whoever is host for the evening and form “The Circle” in which the R.A (Religious Adviser) picks out certain people for drinking punishments whilst the rest of the Harriers “give em a note”, singing the Harriers chorus.
Lots of drinking, tonnes of coarseness and a lorryload of good humour.

All members, having been to 10 runs are given a Harriers name chosen by their team members, carefully considering their character traits….such as Lickaclit, Shitenose, Gussetgobbler and TwatnDale – check out the full list below…
Good ole English expats living life to the full in downtown Dubai!

Apparently it’s an International social network, with clubs all over the world, from the Isle of Wight to Kuala Lumpar, which is where it all started.

Caravan Park

16th August
Thinking about revisiting the caravan park in Lydd for my major project. Bert would be the anchor at the pub, but also cover the characters in the caravans. A real slice of marginalised life. Unlucky men brought low by divorce, illness or basic bone-idleness and chose the cheapest option – to live in a caravan.
here are some photos of Julian, Leslie, Murray, Peter and Phil. Each a great character with a fascinating story to tell..
In order
Leslie – a biker, a born again christian and do-gooder
Murray – a divorced dad whose young daughter visits often
Phil – ex darts champ for essex, has rested on his laurels since the 1980′s
Julian – brain tuma survivor who spends much time metal detecting on the beach to occupy his time
Peter – aristocratic in looks and demeanour – a little part of the old empire
some snaps – not amazing as was quite rushed at the time, but there’s so much to go back for…
i love the one of julian on the beach tho

Dubailand, Bawadi, City of Arabia, Universal Studios

16th August
Up at 5am to get the best of the cooler weather and headed out to take some photos of the developments that haven’t…well, developed.
Drove out to Dubailand then the sales centre of Bawadi out in the desert – absolutely nothing going on there, then to City of Arabia and Universal Studios – both at a complete standstill without a soul around. Gonna have to get some people soon tho and personal interest.

Going to see the camps of the guys who’ve been abandoned without their passports on Wednesday, so that should give some good human content. awful situation tho. i hope i can do something to help. would be great to get some publicity…mind you, there’s been quite a lot already from Al Jazeera and CNN.. will see what turns up.

Also want to shoot Ross, as the older expat who is hanging on tooth and nail for his villa. Every other one on his block is empty and ready for destruction. He has the reprieve of Ramadan, but then is pretty sure he’s going to get chucked out…mind you, they’ve been saying that for about 3 years now…

Moji, The Lagoons and Jebel Ali Village

15th August
Am thinking of a project called “Folly” or maybe “Suspended animation” – to tell the tale of Dubai’s collapsing property market. Everywhere you look there’s desolation and half built buildings. Projects abandoned, or, as the govt likes to say, “suspended” – they don’t like to come out looking foolish..
I quite like “Folly” tho coz it can relate to the absurdity of the “vision of dubai” as imagined only a couple of years ago, but could never have been accomplished, it also means an unwise investment and a costly, foolish undertaking, and lastly, a Folly can be an extravagant, whimsical structure with no real use..as a growing number of buildings in Dubai now seem to be – empty white elephants, merely gathering dust.

Went with a young Iranian woman called Moji this morning to her supposedly finished apartment. It’s far from finished yet they’re asking her for full payment on completion by the 15th September or she loses the whole 65% she’s already paid. She can continue to pay in installments, but can’t pay all at once, but they’re not interested. She’s at her wit’s end and incredibly stressed about it. Not sure what’s going to happen. it’s ludicrous tho as the apartment isn’t even finished. she’s fighting a losing battle against the developers, as too many expats in Dubai are.

Afterwards I drove out to the Lagoons, which was supposed to be an enormous glorious project out in the desert. the sales centre is finished, sitting proudly among…well…nothing. I tried to take some photos but got chased away. I liked the hoardings tho.

Then finally to Jebel Ali Village – a large villa compound built originally in the 80′s for Dutch Dredgers, but soon filled up mostly with English expats who made it a bustling and happy community. In 2008 all the families were told to leave as the village was to be bulldozed and new, bigger, more expensive villas to be built instead. Sadly all the families moved out, with some people having to return to the UK because they couldn’t afford the higher rents they had to pay elsewhere. Some have stayed, mostly those who had their accomodation paid for, such as Matt Dale and his mum and dad. Matt’s dad is a teacher, so has his accomodation provided. The family lived there from 1998 to 2008. See portrait of him in the grounds of his old villa.
Eery place. completely desolate and quiet, yet you can get a feeling of what the village used to be like from the layout of the village and the left over items scattered around. What struck home most was the colour of everything… the desert is slowly reclaiming the village, turning everything shades of dusty, sandy brown.

Back in dubai

14th August
went to a friend’s house party out in the al quoz district last night and stayed over. this morning on leaving the apartment I saw the estate properly. row upon row of blocks with hardly anyone living there. I took one photo, but will return there tomorrow to get more.
today, i saw Luca Tronci’s work No Season – really like the feel of it, and would like my landscape stuff of dubai to be sort of similar. sterile and bleak and stark. think her stuff is a bit overproduced tho.

http://www.foto8.com/new/online/photo-stories/1250-no-season

went looking for homeless people tonight, but didn’t find any. was told that they usually come out a lot later in the parks etc. will go back at about 1am sometime this week… I interviewed nicholas warner yesterday tho – the ex-homeless english guy, who has received lots of media attention and as a result was offered a place to stay. a lot of the filipinos and indians won’t be so lucky. would prefer to use their portrait rather than his, as their story is new and untold.

8th and 9th August
Went round to Sheikha’s house on the 8th for lunch and took a few photos. Then on the 9th went round in the evening and took some shots of her and her sisters hanging out. took some lovely ones inside the house but they asked me not to publish them coz they didn’t have their headscarves on. damnit!
Waited for the wali again in the evening of the 8th … still a no-show…
However, on the 9th, in the morning, we got a call and went to his house. He was ok at first but then started to get a bit moody with my questions. Sheikha was translating, so i just asked her to ask him about going to stay at Kumzar after Ramadan. He said he would say oK, but we have to go through the govt for approval. aAARRRGGH! so annoying. i thought he had the final say.
Everyone is so cagey about the govt. Apparently Sultan Qaboos, the Sultan of Oman provides for the Kumzaris because they are such a great source of fish for the region. He wants them to stay there. And they depend on him for electricity, the desalination plant, the hospital, the police station, the projected new road and housing, so everything must go through him…
Called Mr Ali, the Information Attache in London who I visited in july, and his assistant said he’d chase it up for me.
STill waiting…
Also moved from Esra Apartments to the Khasab Hotel. Just as tacky. But the scenery more than makes up for the 2 star accomodation.
Also went to a football match which is an annual competition between the three tribes of the Musandam – the Kumzaris, the Al Shehis and the Dhahuris and the – some shots here of Shehis and Dhahuris match.

Saturday 7th September
Up early to get a speedboat to Kumzar with Mohammed. It took about an hour through the stunning fjords of the musandam. Finally Kumzar came into view around a rocky headland. Already it looked different from last time I’d been there. Wafa had said that there were 2 new houses built on the beach – big orange monstrosities that made the village look oddly unbalanced. As we drew nearer, we could see a few people and goats near the water, but not a lot of movement anywhere.

We took a walk around the village, where Mohammed showed us a well which is full of water in the winter. Sheikha had explained that the housing used to be up on the mountain, but around the 1700′s the villagers moved down to the beach. However, they didn’t realise the wadi would fill up during the winter and it washed some of the houses away, creating a natural divide between the two sides of the village, now called Gishban (on the right) and Ackle.

Mohammed took us to the house of his cousin Ali, and we were allowed into his room, where he and his friends were watching TV out of the summer sun.

WE also walked up to see the desalination plant and the school, which is in the process of being refurbished for the new term in September.

There’s also a hospital, which we dropped into…much to the joy of Renny, a Keralan Indian posted there for the summer duration. He was so glad to see us, as had had hardly any companions to speak to since June. The hospital was, of course, empty, so he showed us around. I felt quite sorry for him being all alone there.

Mohammed had to go back to his boat so we had to leave before going up to the mountainside, which was a real shame, as it would’ve been great to get a high perspective on the village.

No shots I love here yet, but getting a feel for the place. need to get closer to the people, but that can’t happen until after ramadan when the people come back.. and i can only do that if i get permission from the govt.

fingers firmly crossed on that one. I”ve contacted the embassy many times so it’s a waiting game…

Went to meet the wali as planned, but Suleiman didn’t turn up, which was strange. we waited over an hour but nothing. so gave up and went to the Golden Tulip for a few beers. the only licensed place in town.

Friday 6th August
Cold omelette for breakfast, courtesy of the Esra Aparments, then went to meet a Kumzari woman called Wafa, who works with Odina at the Tour Company. She spoke about how she prefers to live in Khasab, as it’s more modern and liveable. She said Kumzar is too overcrowded, and too noisy as all the houses are so close together. There is a desperate need for more housing, but the kumzaris need financial help from the government to proceed with building. On the beach where they houses currently stand, there’s no more room, so they would like a new road up to the top of the mountain in order to build where they used to dwell, before they settled on the beach. Wafa said many of the young people prefer to live in Khasab or even Muscat. Jobs are very limited in Kumzar, allowing only the men to fish, so that women are dependent on the men and have no way of independently making a living.

After meeting Wafa, we took a wander around Khasab and met Abdul Qadar who said he was a linguist/teacher/housing officer (!). We took a ride around Khasab, and he spoke of how much he loved Kumzar – it’s peace and quiet and old fashioned values. Quite a different story to Wafa, despite being the same age.

In the evening, we met up with Mohammed, a contact through Suleiman, who delivers water to the surrounding fishing villages. Kumzar now has a desalination plant, thanks to the government, so he no longer delivers there, but there are many smaller villages where he takes water to. After we’d seen his boat, we went to his home and he introduced us to his daughter, Sheikha. Sheikha spoke good english and told us of how she is returning to Kumzar to teach in the school when they migrate back to kumzar. Her father wants to extend the family house there, and she wants to help pay for it with her earnings from teaching. However, whilst at Ittihad University in Ras al Khaimah, she met a Jordanian man she wants to marry so doesn’t want to stay in Kumzar forever. She would like to move to London.

I found it quite odd that on being invited to their home, Chris and I went to speak with her in her bedroom! then, at one point, Mohammed left the room, which meant there was a man in the room with Sheikha and her sister Naseema who wasn’t family – very unusual for muslims. The family were lovely, and very hospitable. we stayed for coffee and dates, then back to the salubrious Esra Apartments…
Tomorrow to Kumzar!
Oh, and we happened to bump into the Wali/Sheikh of Kumzar whilst waiting for Mohammed – he said to write a letter to him, and he’d give me permission to stay on kumzar after Ramadan – fantastic news!