The 100th Post – Some recent interesting pictures

This blog is a few pitstops along life’s road… some people, pets, places and times that mattered… With this post, it has reached a 100 post milestone. I never expected to continue on for so long as it all started out as an experiment.

As it stands, it has been an interesting journey so far and I hope to continue on.

Anyway, these are two interesting pictures that I had taken during the Pujas this year taken during Sandhi Puja . . .

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Bahrain Landmarks

On the way home, we decided to drive to Bahrain and take our flight from the BIA (Bahrain International Airport). Took some pictures with the Panasonic Fx-5  during the times we were stuck in a jam on the way to the airport.

Bahrain Chamber of Industry and Commerce

The Bahrain World Trade Centre

It is the first skyscraper in the world to integrate wind turbines into its design.

The two towers are linked via three skybridges, each holding a 225KW wind turbine, totalling to 675kW of wind power production. Each of these turbines measure 29 m (95 ft) in diameter, and is aligned north, which is the direction from which air from the Persian Gulf blows in.

The sail-shaped buildings on either side are designed to funnel wind through the gap to provide accelerated wind passing through the turbines. This was confirmed by wind tunnel tests, which showed that the buildings create an S-shaped flow, ensuring that any wind coming within a 45° angle to either side of the central axis will create a wind stream that remains perpendicular to the turbines. This significantly increases their potential to generate electricity.

The wind turbines are expected to provide 11% to 15% of the towers’ total power consumption, or approximately 1.1 to 1.3 GWh a year.

This is equivalent to providing the lighting for about 300 homes annually. The three turbines were turned on for the first time on the 8th of April, 2008. They are expected to operate 50% of the time on an average day.

 

BWTC and the moon

 

Sandhi Pujo

Sandhi Puja is an important ritual performed during Durga Puja. It is performed at the juncture of Ashtami and Navami. It is believed that Goddess Chamunda emerged at this moment to kill Chando and Mundo, the two generals of the demon king Mahishasur.

Some pictures from the Sandhi Pujo at the New Alipore Association . . .

At the start of the Sandhi Pujo

Crowding to light the 108 lamps

Lighting the lamps

Ma lighting the lamps

Another view

A close-up of the lamp

Sandhi Pujo

China House

China House – a Chinese and Filipino restaurant is our regular weekend haunt. Owned and run by a Bangladeshi family in Saudi Arabia and with Filipino cooks and frequented by Europeans, Indians, Saudis and of course Filipinos . . . it is a true symbol of globalization.

A chinese lantern in the restaurant

The Giordano boutique is visible across the street.

Waiting for the food to arrive.

Nikon D200   18-55 lens   400 ASA

Bahrain

The coast of Iran from the New Delhi – Bahrain flight.

I have promised myself that from next time I will buy the tickets early so that I have less flight changes. The return journey was terrible, with more time spent sitting between flights than in them!

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Bahrain from the window as the flight aligns itself for the landing.

The tall buildings are in Manama, the capital of Bahrain.

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Sunset in Bahrain. From the terminal window.

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Another view. . .

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Duty Free shopping in Bahrain

It reminded me of our return journey from Cairo in the month of May this year, with the duty free area teeming with ABP personnel. The place was the same. Only the famaliar faces were missing.

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Santa-s in Bahrain Duty Free

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Merry Christmas!!!

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Taken with the Nikon D200 with 18-55 II lens. Auto ISO.

Visit to Fanateer and Khakheel Beach

Today being a Friday and a holiday, we decided to do a bit of exploring. Our (I and Mehul – a colleague at SABIC – and his family) plan was a drive to Fanateer (the posh area of Jubail and developed by the Royal Commission forJubail and Yanbu), Khakheel beach and then make a stopover at Jarir Bookstore on the way back to Jubail.

En route to Fanateer and the beach
This is the way to our office incidentally too.

Turning from the Port Road into Highway 6

Highway 6.. en route to Fanateer

The Royal Commission Building in Fanateer

Fanateer

The beach finally.. standing close to the water. No pictures of people though, you cannot photograph ladies in Saudi Arabia. I have taken extra care not to get into trouble.
Anyway, the beach was packed (you will have to take my word for it) and you could see families enjoying themselves at the beach. The weather being cool, we saw only one person swimming in the sea.

Another view of the beach

Yours truly.. not exactly beachwear.. but was my first trip here in any case…

Another view…

Warning.. according to this sign Children are prohibited from swimming
I gathered that this area is deep and risky

Kites at the beach

Leaving Kakheel beach…

Jarir Bookstore (www.jarirbookstore.com). This is the largest book and computer store in Jubail. It was amazing . All makes and all models of laptops were on display.

The most interesting find was a Fujitsu-Seimens for SR1690 running Linux. A full sized laptop for less than the price of a Acer Aspire 1. It also had the brilliant Fujitsu keyboard.

As it was nearing 6.30 PM, we decided to go back to Jubail and plan for a major outing next Thursday.

Jubail Industrial City…all these on the right are petrochemical complexes

Back to Jubail

Jubail….

Postcards from Jubail 2

Some more interesting pictures from Jubail.

Contrary to the popular idea, it is a real city and not a collection of tents and one does not have to live like a Bedouin.

Bangladeshi shop – advertising all that is necessary for Bangladeshis to flock here. This shop is less than a stone’s throw from where I live and get my cigarettes, juices and water from.

Took the trouble of going to one of the best restaurants in Jubail – called COCO – to pick up two Shawarmas for dinner (@ 4 SR each). They are large.. in fact very large (my cross pen is there for comparison). I thought I will have 2 for dinner since this is the start of the weekend. Have given up after just one.

It is loaded with roast lamb slices. It is brilliant. Hope it does not become a habit….

Jubail at night… 7.20 pm taken while I was waiting for my Shawarmas. There is a McDonald sign, that is barely visible behind the palms. The lighted area on the right is called the international market. The left is the Safeway Super Store. The spot from where the picture has been taken, is about a 30s walk from my main door.
Downtown Jubail. The other direction of the same road. The place till where the street lights are visible is the Jubail city center. The Nikon dealer for Saudi Arabia is on the right , about 50m away. The multi-coloured sign on the left is Samba Bank (Saudi American Bank).

A view of the roof of my flat. There, in the front you can see Samba Bank.

Postcards from Jubail 1

Landed in Jubail on the 20th of October, after several months of delays to take up an offer with SABIC.

After what I had heard about Saudi Arabia, the passage through Dammam Airport was a breeze. In fact the customs officer told me to enjoy my stay here.
Traveling from Dammam to Jubail in the company provided transport – a Toyota Camry – driven by a Sri Lankan driver (Jaya). Jaya was chatting away while driving at a rock steady 120 kmph.
First view of the desert. It ocurred to me that Saudi Arabia was mostly desert. The specks in the distance was camels.

Sand whipped up by strong winds en route to Jubail. We hit a tyre that some one had left behind after something that should have been a spectacular blowout.

Jubail… next to the King Aziz Naval Base.

Outskirts of Jubail City. Close to a place that was my temporary accommodation.

Having brunch at a cafe near Al-Lulu Dispensary, where we went through a battery of pre-employment medical tests. The coffee and the pizza (with a middle-eastern topping) was brilliant.

Corals & Fishes

Finally, after a year of waiting, the friend of mine has added fishes to his reef tank. 

Some photographs . . . of the reef with fishes (the breed is called common clown).

Photgraphed with a Nikon D200 with Nikon 50 f1.4 @ 800 ASA.

 

More Flowers

Still more flowers. Interesting colors. Shot just before a squall hit Calcutta.