It's often said that Britain and America are two nations divided by a common language. (If you feel like wasting some time, you might try to find out who coined the phrase - opinions seem divided between Shaw, Wilde and Churchill, which probably means it was someone completely different. (Shades of Monty Python coming on..))
Heaven knows, it can be difficult trying to express yourself when you think the person you're speaking to has the same language, only to realise that they have a totally different understanding of what's being discussed. Of course another aspect of that is the value of one's word. It always used to be said in the City of London that one's word was one's bond - so there was no need for a contract, as the promise was sufficient. (Whether there's still any value in that these days is another question.)
Trying to get things done in Dubai is an education. With such a diverse range of nationalities here, English, in various guises, is the lingua franca. Many other languages are spoken here, but as so often around the world, the common means of communication falls back to English - or variations thereof. All that can make those of us whose first languauge is English a bit lazy, as we know we can get along without learning other people's tongues. I always think it's worth remembering that if I have difficulty understanding someone speaking to me in English, they're still doing far better than me, since I can't begin to speak their langauges.
That said, there seems to be culture here of promising what they think you want to hear, rather than the truth. "This product/service will definitely be here at 1100 am tomorrow", said day after day after day begins to get a bit wearing. "This kit is on a 4 weeks delivery cycle", and it still hasn't arrived after 9 weeks. The list is long and growing - I'm here on a fixed timeline, with rising costs, and working on the basis of promises made days weeks and months ago, and each day there seems to be a further delay. Obviously anything can be subject to unplanned circumstances, but an upfront statement of the issues, and constant communication of progress would ease things, whereas the repeated promises of definite progress, repeatedly broken without warning until too late begins to sap confidence and question why I'm here. Of course, the more time one spends here, the more one starts to realise that that is how things work in Dubai, and so one starts to work round it. Even so, I have to question why it should be so - surely there's scope for someone to deliver a more responsive service. Watch this space ...
Anyway, rant mode over for the moment - back with more or something later.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
What's going on???
I seem to recall I said the next posts would be a series of rants about trying to get business done in Dubai, but they managed to get the air conditioning working in the server room last night, so I'm a little more chilled out now. Don't know how long that'll last, so I'll take the opportunity to post some pictures of Dubai, or part of it, at least ...
So far this trip, I've stayed in JLT, so haven't had time to get photos of the rest of Dubai (watch this space). Given that, these are local:
As I said, I'm staying in the Bonnington
This shot is taken from the Almas Tower side, and shows what's proving to be the bane of my life - although the buildings are next door, they haven't finished the Bonnington surroundings yet - that corrugated iron in the foreground would be the direct route through - might not sound much, and in truth it isn't very far, but when the temperature is in the mid 40s (C), having to walk all the way round the block can feel like a lifetime. The area where the wall appears to be cut away is the swimming pool, which is in the open air, and probably the most sensible place to be.
The Bonnington is part of an Irish chain - the next picture shows the base of the Almas Tower, but to the left you can see the Cavendish Restaurant, and Healey's Irish bar. The Almas is the building in the centre of the picture, with the angled glazed podium, and disappearing our of view at the top of the shot.
Actually, though I've said getting things done here can be like pulling teeth (have I actually said that? If not, take it as read!) sometimes things can be turned round remarkably quickly. I was here a couple of months ago for a week. The next photo is from almost the same place - the garden element appeared within a couple of days...
... so some things can take place fairly quickly. Getting back to the Almas Tower, I rarely get far enough away to get it all in one shot, so having seen the base, the upper part looks like this:
It's the tallest building in JLT - in fact I think the second tallest in Dubai, after the Burj Khalifa, which of course is the tallest in the world (this is Dubai, after all.) The area is still very much under development - the lakes of course are artificial, and this one - in the distance - has only just been filled in:
The one on the other side is still being tanked, but you can see the idea ...
Of course, Dubai is in the throes of completing their Metro - it's largely open now, though typically, the most useful stop for me - JLT - isn't open yet. Not just for transport - it has the only footbridge to cross the Sheikh's Highway, which certainly isn't something to risk on foot - the M25 would be easier. The stations are very stylized - the best bit is they're fully air conditioned - but I can't help thinking they remind me of the sand worms from Dune:
By way of a parting shot, I mentioned that the swimming pool in the Bonnington was part of the way up the building- on the 11th floor, as it happens. Some developers obviously thought that was a half measure - with apologies for the very grainy shot (how do you clean the windows on a 60 story building?), this is just one of a number of buildings that found somewhere else to put it:
Oh - by the way -if you didn't know or hadn't gathered, if you click on the photos, they will download and open in higher resolution. Anyway - so much for the picture fest - I'll get back to reporting the trials and tribulations of doing business here later!
So far this trip, I've stayed in JLT, so haven't had time to get photos of the rest of Dubai (watch this space). Given that, these are local:
As I said, I'm staying in the Bonnington
This shot is taken from the Almas Tower side, and shows what's proving to be the bane of my life - although the buildings are next door, they haven't finished the Bonnington surroundings yet - that corrugated iron in the foreground would be the direct route through - might not sound much, and in truth it isn't very far, but when the temperature is in the mid 40s (C), having to walk all the way round the block can feel like a lifetime. The area where the wall appears to be cut away is the swimming pool, which is in the open air, and probably the most sensible place to be.
The Bonnington is part of an Irish chain - the next picture shows the base of the Almas Tower, but to the left you can see the Cavendish Restaurant, and Healey's Irish bar. The Almas is the building in the centre of the picture, with the angled glazed podium, and disappearing our of view at the top of the shot.
Actually, though I've said getting things done here can be like pulling teeth (have I actually said that? If not, take it as read!) sometimes things can be turned round remarkably quickly. I was here a couple of months ago for a week. The next photo is from almost the same place - the garden element appeared within a couple of days...
... so some things can take place fairly quickly. Getting back to the Almas Tower, I rarely get far enough away to get it all in one shot, so having seen the base, the upper part looks like this:
It's the tallest building in JLT - in fact I think the second tallest in Dubai, after the Burj Khalifa, which of course is the tallest in the world (this is Dubai, after all.) The area is still very much under development - the lakes of course are artificial, and this one - in the distance - has only just been filled in:
The one on the other side is still being tanked, but you can see the idea ...
Of course, Dubai is in the throes of completing their Metro - it's largely open now, though typically, the most useful stop for me - JLT - isn't open yet. Not just for transport - it has the only footbridge to cross the Sheikh's Highway, which certainly isn't something to risk on foot - the M25 would be easier. The stations are very stylized - the best bit is they're fully air conditioned - but I can't help thinking they remind me of the sand worms from Dune:
By way of a parting shot, I mentioned that the swimming pool in the Bonnington was part of the way up the building- on the 11th floor, as it happens. Some developers obviously thought that was a half measure - with apologies for the very grainy shot (how do you clean the windows on a 60 story building?), this is just one of a number of buildings that found somewhere else to put it:
Oh - by the way -if you didn't know or hadn't gathered, if you click on the photos, they will download and open in higher resolution. Anyway - so much for the picture fest - I'll get back to reporting the trials and tribulations of doing business here later!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Where am I?
OK - having got rid of the reason for being (watch out for the Rorschach inkblots - I feel they can't be far away!) I'll set the scene for where I am, and what I'm doing. Right now, I'm back in my hotel, trying to cool down, having been working in an office space where the air conditioning isn't yet commissioned, most of the external walls are glass, and the outside temperature is well over 40 Deg C. If ever I wanted to know what a joint of beef or a chicken felt like in the oven, I'd say I've a pretty good idea now. (Not that I really did want to know what they felt like - that's carrying existentialism way too far for me.)
Anyway, the hotel in which I sit is in Dubai. I'm sure you all know where that is, but for the avoidance of doubt, it's in the Persian Gulf, round about here:
Dubai is broken up into a number of areas, some of which are Free Zones - relevant to what I'm dong, so I'll get back to that later - and others are just municipal areas, just as you'd find anywhere else. This map shows a fair breakdown of the areas:
Within Dubai, which is one of the Emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates, or UAE, I'm in an area called Jumeirah Lakes Towers. This is just inland of the Dubai Marina shown on the map above. In addition to Dubai building new islands - the Palms, the World, etc - they also create lakes and waterways inland. Some of these are low rise; JLT, as you might guess, is an area of tower blocks, surrounding a number of lakes.
The Almas Tower - the round location shown between the 2 lakes to the left - is where the office that I'm working on is located; the hotel is - on this image - immediately below the Almas Tower and to the left of the road.
As I noted earlier, Dubai has a number of Free Zones. If you set up in business in Dubai, broadly you can do so in one of 2 ways. If you set up "on shore", you can trade more or less anywhere in Dubai, doing anything (subject to your trade license.) However, your business must be 51% Emirati owned. If you set up in a free zone, the business can be 100% foreign owned. There are pros and cons to either approach, and the reasons for selecting how to set up a company here are far more complex than I want to trouble you with in this post. The reason for getting in to the issue of Free Zones, is in general you must set up in the Free Zone that relates to your business type. Hence if you're in finance, you must set up in the Dubai International Finance Centre, if in Internet, then in the Dubai Internet City, and so on.
The commodities market, although a governing body was created (the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, or DMCC), didn't actually have a physical location, so if you were in that market, you could set up anywhere, and operate under the DMCC regime. However,after a few years like this, the DMCC now has a home, and any businesses that operate under this authority have a time limited period within which they must move to the new Free Zone. Just in case you haven't spotted where this is going, the location of the DMCC is Jumeirah Lakes Towers, and the DMCC organisation itself is in the Almas Tower.
The DMCC fills 3 floors of this building; the remaining 60 floors or so are beginning to fill up with commodities organisations. The reason, then, that I'm here is to help commission the new office of a firm for which I do work in the UK, but actually has it's head office in Florida.
That should round this post out nicely - the next will probably be a series of rants about the joys of doing business here - but in the meantime, you might find the following links interesting - for the DMCC, and the hotel in which I'm staying. See you on the other side ...
http://www.dmcc.ae/
http://www.bonningtontower.com/
Anyway, the hotel in which I sit is in Dubai. I'm sure you all know where that is, but for the avoidance of doubt, it's in the Persian Gulf, round about here:
Dubai is broken up into a number of areas, some of which are Free Zones - relevant to what I'm dong, so I'll get back to that later - and others are just municipal areas, just as you'd find anywhere else. This map shows a fair breakdown of the areas:
Within Dubai, which is one of the Emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates, or UAE, I'm in an area called Jumeirah Lakes Towers. This is just inland of the Dubai Marina shown on the map above. In addition to Dubai building new islands - the Palms, the World, etc - they also create lakes and waterways inland. Some of these are low rise; JLT, as you might guess, is an area of tower blocks, surrounding a number of lakes.
The Almas Tower - the round location shown between the 2 lakes to the left - is where the office that I'm working on is located; the hotel is - on this image - immediately below the Almas Tower and to the left of the road.
As I noted earlier, Dubai has a number of Free Zones. If you set up in business in Dubai, broadly you can do so in one of 2 ways. If you set up "on shore", you can trade more or less anywhere in Dubai, doing anything (subject to your trade license.) However, your business must be 51% Emirati owned. If you set up in a free zone, the business can be 100% foreign owned. There are pros and cons to either approach, and the reasons for selecting how to set up a company here are far more complex than I want to trouble you with in this post. The reason for getting in to the issue of Free Zones, is in general you must set up in the Free Zone that relates to your business type. Hence if you're in finance, you must set up in the Dubai International Finance Centre, if in Internet, then in the Dubai Internet City, and so on.
The commodities market, although a governing body was created (the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, or DMCC), didn't actually have a physical location, so if you were in that market, you could set up anywhere, and operate under the DMCC regime. However,after a few years like this, the DMCC now has a home, and any businesses that operate under this authority have a time limited period within which they must move to the new Free Zone. Just in case you haven't spotted where this is going, the location of the DMCC is Jumeirah Lakes Towers, and the DMCC organisation itself is in the Almas Tower.
The DMCC fills 3 floors of this building; the remaining 60 floors or so are beginning to fill up with commodities organisations. The reason, then, that I'm here is to help commission the new office of a firm for which I do work in the UK, but actually has it's head office in Florida.
That should round this post out nicely - the next will probably be a series of rants about the joys of doing business here - but in the meantime, you might find the following links interesting - for the DMCC, and the hotel in which I'm staying. See you on the other side ...
http://www.dmcc.ae/
http://www.bonningtontower.com/
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Why are you here?
Seemed like a good idea at the time?
You could be anywhere in this picture - the great thing about the internet is you don't need to be local - so where here is can be open to debate. Of course, Descartes, having proved his own existence, had to proceed to prove that his audience existed. Then again, I've dwelt on him quite enough. For me, I've no idea if you're there or not, so if you are, welcome; if not, then you don't know what you're missing - of course then you'll never know if that's fortunate or not(?!) Just to follow the poetic theme, briefly - if you are here, I can't help thinking of Auden:
Some thirty inches from my nose
The frontier of my Person goes,
And all the untilled air between
Is private pagus or demesne.
Stranger, unless with bedroom eyes
I beckon you to fraternize,
Beware of rudely crossing it:
I have no gun, but I can spit.
See you in another post ...
You could be anywhere in this picture - the great thing about the internet is you don't need to be local - so where here is can be open to debate. Of course, Descartes, having proved his own existence, had to proceed to prove that his audience existed. Then again, I've dwelt on him quite enough. For me, I've no idea if you're there or not, so if you are, welcome; if not, then you don't know what you're missing - of course then you'll never know if that's fortunate or not(?!) Just to follow the poetic theme, briefly - if you are here, I can't help thinking of Auden:
Some thirty inches from my nose
The frontier of my Person goes,
And all the untilled air between
Is private pagus or demesne.
Stranger, unless with bedroom eyes
I beckon you to fraternize,
Beware of rudely crossing it:
I have no gun, but I can spit.
See you in another post ...
Friday, July 23, 2010
Why are we here?
Maybe a bit existential for a start. Perhaps we should try the Descartes route - "Cogito, ergo sum", but I'm probably more in tune with "I think I am, therefore I am - I think!" The link (try clicking on the title of this post) appeals to my sense of humour, anyway, which if you don't already know me should warn you what's to follow (or warn you off what's to follow, perhaps.)
Why we are in this particular place, however (or why I am, at least - your reasons I wouldn't dare to guess at) is that having told friends I was actually about to take a holiday for the first time in years, they said I should write a blog to show what I was seeing, and where I was. Since the route to a holiday was occasioned by travelling on business, I extended the topic to what I'm doing in general, hence the divergence from "travels" in the title.
On that basis, having found myself a pulpit, I'll take the opportunity to jot down musings on what I'm seeing and doing, and observations on what I hear around me. It may be regular or fractured, pictures or verbosity, as the mood takes, and if you wish to accompany me on the journey, you're very welcome. If not, the "back" button on your browser may be your easiest saviour. Just to show that I can sometimes be erudite (if irreverent) it makes me think of Whitman:
Stranger, if you passing meet me
and desire to speak to me,
why should you not speak to me?
Probably not quite in the context he intended, but the thought is there - I can speak to you through this - if you wish to reply, feel free to comment. Enough, then of my vacant musings for the time being, I'll leave you to ponder why I'm here (or bothering to waste your time) until I have some thoughts - or pictures - to post.
Why we are in this particular place, however (or why I am, at least - your reasons I wouldn't dare to guess at) is that having told friends I was actually about to take a holiday for the first time in years, they said I should write a blog to show what I was seeing, and where I was. Since the route to a holiday was occasioned by travelling on business, I extended the topic to what I'm doing in general, hence the divergence from "travels" in the title.
On that basis, having found myself a pulpit, I'll take the opportunity to jot down musings on what I'm seeing and doing, and observations on what I hear around me. It may be regular or fractured, pictures or verbosity, as the mood takes, and if you wish to accompany me on the journey, you're very welcome. If not, the "back" button on your browser may be your easiest saviour. Just to show that I can sometimes be erudite (if irreverent) it makes me think of Whitman:
Stranger, if you passing meet me
and desire to speak to me,
why should you not speak to me?
Probably not quite in the context he intended, but the thought is there - I can speak to you through this - if you wish to reply, feel free to comment. Enough, then of my vacant musings for the time being, I'll leave you to ponder why I'm here (or bothering to waste your time) until I have some thoughts - or pictures - to post.
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