A Good Friday, As Good As Gold

It's Friday, my off day. Here, Friday is like Sunday, back home. My off day goes on a rotation, like the moon. It meets Friday, once or twice in a month. In their ecliptic alignment, this good day was not to be wasted.

The 1st part of the good Friday was a good breakfast. The menu was nasi goreng kampung, Nescafe Tongkat Ali with Ginseng pre-mixed and the Gulf News. First, I boiled little prawns and squids. I scraped 3 cups of cooked rice from the rice cooker, leftover from last dinner. I squeezed out the Maggi Nasi Goreng Kampung paste. I added 4 tablespoons of sunflower oil. All the above were fried in a hot pan and they became one happy meal. It's not that I got laid last night that I needed the Nescafe with Tongkat Ali to get another good erection. It's just that I love the aroma. The aroma I'm so used to, back home. While enjoying the coffee aroma and the fragrant smell of the fried rice, I read the Gulf News and stopped at the page that I wanted to linger. I spread that page on the table and put on the plate and mug. It was a nice nasi goreng, but kurang pedas. I was enjoying my meal in a kain pelekat at 11:00AM. The article I hooked with while eating, was about an Emirati writer condemning Western journalists who were condemning Dubai Government for blah, blah, blah.

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The 2nd part of the good Friday was the Friday prayer at the mosque across the street. The khutbah was in Arabic. Blah, blah, blah. I did my prayers, thanking God for the many blessings and asking for more. I prayed that God will give health, wealth and protection to me, my loved ones, entire family and some friends. I asked God to keep on showing me the straight way ahead, when there are cross-roads of temptations at every milestone. Amin.

The 3rd part of the good Friday was an easy shopping at Geant. I was blessed with a new vocabulary. Cili Padi is called Bird Chilli, really? It was my precious item in my shopping basket today. It would make my next nasi goreng, maggi kari, mushroom soup, tom yam, whatever, hot, I mean, nose-watering hot, the Malaysian way.

The 4th part of the good Friday was the splendid sunset viewing at the Jumeirah Beach. I was blessed with a good spot to view the sunset.

Before it was getting darker, I had good view of Burj Al Arab looming from the distance, along the same coast line. It was the small white sail-like figure at the centre of the photograph.

I had a good view of the Atlantis. It's a new luxurious resort at the tip of the Palm Jumeirah. If you find the lonely lady in the black bikini, backing the camera, in the photograph below, look further at the same direction across the sea, you'll see the a cluster of buildings on a reclaimed artificial island. That's the Atlantis.....

I had a good view of an avid reader who was oblivious of the surrounding and appeared to be very comfortable with her threefold tummy. In between the views above, I had a good swim, good skin salting and good salt tasting, while the threefold tummy owner looked after my belongings. Good beach neighbour.

I had a good view of other beachgoers lying on the beach in a social gathering like the sea lions of Galapagos. I guess there are many other kinds of mammals linked by the beaches of this planet, another possibility of the nouvelle vague, much talkabout, the six degree of separation, I guess.

The 5th part of the good Friday was the evening walk at The Walk, Jumeirah Beach. It was the place to be and to be seen. I enjoyed the sea breeze and longed to live in the posh apartment above.

The 6th part of the good Friday was the night visit at the Gold Souk, Deira. I was inspired to be there after reading the following.

"This is Dubai's best-known souk and must-do for every tourist. Wondering through the Souk is great experience. The meandering lanes are lined with shops selling gold, silver, pearls and precious stones. It is a place to try your bargaining skills. Gold is sold by weight according to the daily international price so prices will be much the same. The price of the workmanship is where you will have a bargaining power. The Gold Souk is always busy....."

The Gulf News reported this morning that the price of gold is dropping and the sales jump 400%. The price of gold on this good Friday is 83 dirham per gram for the 22-karat or 91.67% of pure gold. The Indians with their buying power in the approaching Diwali with others, losing faith in their bubble-burst property and their money in the banks, made the gold rush.....It's back to basics.

It was like the ambience in pasar malam, back home. But instead of sotong kering, udang kering and cili kering in the pasar malam, gold jewelleries, mostly yellow and some white, were displayed for sale in this City of Gold. Gold was everywhere.......

Precious gold, on my left....

Glorious, glamourous gold, on my right.......

Glittering, glistening gold, here.

Gold galore, ahead....

I stopped to look at one of the extravagant gold pieces. It's the locket of the great Cleopatra's head.

There were so many people. I was here only to look around. Not to purchase anything. It is speculated the gold price will drop further after Diwali. So I can wait. I have found what I was looking for. The gold shop that I fancy. Perhaps I'll get inside, someday, to buy a little piece of gold for my loved one.

The 7th and the last part of the good Friday was the slow sip of the great hot tea at the roadside, close to midnight. It's sweet and mildly minted. The tea was golden, no milk, rich and cheap. 1 dirham for a small glass. I tried to ask the tea maker something. Ironically, the great tasting tea was made by a cold, unfriendly and suspicious looking old Arab man who kept saying, "Arabic....Arabic....".

Old man, I will come back with the question in Arabic, since you insisted, if we ever meet again. Insyallah. I handed him the 1 dirham with a smile. He didn't look. I hailed a cab and headed home.