Autumn

Till last week, we still had temperatures up to 40°C, but since a few days, temperatures dropped to about 15-20 degrees. And it's raining. A lot. Three days ago we had some hailstorms during the night, but today it was raining all the time. I never expected this here in Saudi, especially not in the month of November.

The Kingdom

A few days ago I arrived in Saudi Arabia where I will be working on the Manifa Field Causeway. This project involves the construction of 27 islands and causeway which will be used for exploiting of the Manifa Oilfield.

Cristobal Colon

Yesterday, Jan De Nul launched the largest hopper dredger in the world, Cristobal Colon, which is being built in Spain and is expected to be commisioned in 2009. With a hopper capacity of 46 000m³, the ship can transport about 50% more than Vasco Da Gama, untill now the largest hopper dredger.

Once this ship is fully operational, we will be able to put a 6m layer of sand on a football field in about three hours.

Palm Jumeirah

Yes, we are still alive here in Dubai.

Last couple of weeks I was working on a project on Palm Jumeirah, the first (and smallest) of the three Palm Islands. On this palm island, most of the buildings and houses area already finished. On the trunk of the tree, people are already living in their appartment.

From my working area, i had a nice view on the Atlantis Hotel. Probably an expensive place to sleep for the night but not really a building I like.

Nothing lasts forever.

Even the massive breakwaters of Palm Jebel Ali, with stones of up to 6 ton, can disappear. Designed to withstand even the roughest weather, some parts of the breakwater surrounding the palmtree do no longer exist.

But that's nothing to worry about. The breakwater did not get demolished by a hurricane, but is being dismantled piece by piece by excavators and a crane. Because the Palm Jebel Ali is still growing (several projects which are situated outside of the outer breakwater of the original project), some parts of thie breakwaters have to be removed, and will be replaced by a beach.

So now, some of my collegues who made those breakwaters are now removing them again.

Puzzle

It is something that everybody has done in his life before, solving puzzles. However, I doubt that anyone did ever a puzzle with stone which can be as heavy as 6 ton.

The top layer of a breakwater consists of so called 'Armor Rock'. The part above water, which is visible, needs to have a nice, aesthetical slope. To achieve this, the rocks have to be placed one by one, just like a puzzle. The excavator operator searches for every spot the best possible stone. After placing the stone, he pushes and knockes the stones with the bucket to achieve a flat suface.

I have to say that some of these operators are real artists. If you see the stones on the stockpile, you cannot imagine that you can create a flat surface with it.

Action?

My last post is from quite some time ago. However, after a cold and windy break in Belgium, I'm back in Dubai.

For now I'm working on the (what we call) 'Waterhomes Project'. It is an extension to the Palm Jebel Ali which consists two causeways (at the exterior of the Palm) and several breakwaters to protect these causeways. It is again something new for me. A big part of the job is done from the landside since some of the breakwaters are connected with the crescent of the Palm Jebel Ali.

Desert BBQ

Even (or especially) during the winter, the desert is a perfect place for a bbq. In between the sand dunes, in the shadow of some bushes, one can make a perfect bbq.

Cat 988H

On the stockpile we have several machines. There are wheelloaders, dumper trucks, graders, bulldozers, ... However, there is one machine which is, I think, amazing. That's the Cat 988H. It's a wheelloader. But not just any generic wheelloader, but a huge one.

The machine is about 12m in length and 4m heigh and the tires have a diameter of 2m. But what is offcourse important on a wheelloader is the bucket. This one has a bucket of about 6m³, which means it can fill up a dumper truck with just three buckets or about 30 ton.

Rain

Yes, it's raining here in Dubai.

When I woke up this morning and got into my car, it was raining outside. And not just two drops.

However, when it's raining in Dubai, the roads are full of water because they do not have any kind of drainage system on the roads. And on the site, your car gets a nice wet sandwash.

Bad Weather

Since it is winter in Dubai, the weather isn't as good anymore as it was before. Temperatures are only around 18°C anymore. But that is not the most remarkable thing outside. There is also a strong wind (up to 30 knots above the sea). Because of the rough sea, a lot of ships/barges can not work anymore. On landside, the wind takes up the sand and causes small sand storms. Especially on the site, where they move around a lot of (dry) sand, the visibility can be severely reduced because of the sand in the air.

Also, they say that if it ever rains in Dubai, it is during this month. But so far I didn't really notice any rain here.

Ajax - Inter Milan 2-2 (3-2)

Because the ruler of Dubai (full name: His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai) is celebrating his second (arabian) anniversary as ruler of Dubai, there is the Mohammed bin Rashid International Football Championship. It's a small competition with four clubs: Ajax, Inter Milan, Sport Club Internacional and VfB Stuttgart.

This was offcourse an excellent opportunity to go to my first football match ever: Ajax - Inter on Saturday evening. The match was played in a relative small stadium (I think about 15 000 people) in Dubai Sports City on a (to our impression) small field (close to 60 m by 90 m).

The match itself was enjoyable. After about 15 minutes, Inter opened the scores with 1-0. Only a few minutes later, Ajax made their first goal of the evening as well. Then in the second half of the match, Ajax converted a penalty after the goalkeeper of Inter grabbed the legs of an Ajax player. At the end, Inter made it to 2-2 which was also the end score of the game.

But since it is a small championship, there had to be a winner. So after the draw, there were penalties. Luckily, we were sitting on the good side of the stadium so we had a nice view on this part of the game. Although the goalkeeper of Ajax stopped one penalty, two Ajax players weren't able to put the ball inside the goal which made Inter winning the match.

You may have noticed that I didn't mention any names of the football players. Well, that's because I don't now the names and/or didn't recognize any of the players. Except for Edgar Davids.

New Year in Dubai

My First New Year in Dubai has been celebrated already. Together with some colleagues, I had a nice evening. As can be expected from a city like Dubai, there was some fireworks. However, I've seen less than expected.

At the company, most of the work simply continues. However, everything runs a little bit slower and more relaxed. There are a lot of people on leave at this moment and while the job goes on, it's just that little bit more quiet.

The weather is still fine here. I think we reach 25°C during the day. Only early in the morning or after sunnset, when there is no sun shining, it's a good idea to have a pullover nearby.