The Vegan Lifestyle

Have you experienced seeing captivating beautiful sunsets aboard luxurious but cheap cruises?

Beautiful sunsets have enthralled most people throughout the ages to pen their most romantic poems about the amazing grandeur of Nature’s beauty upon the western sky. Lovers, bards, artists, and Nature lovers in all history were all enraptured by the splendor of beautiful sunsets that only God can make.

Sunsets are indeed very entrancing to both young and old alike.  The  glorious silver slivers of sunbeams radiating downwards and penetrating the clouds of  fiery red, orange, yellow, and purple against a  bluish  background evoke a very solemn heavenly glory that engrosses the curiosity of most children, and enlivens the hearts of most lovers around the world.

If sunsets are captivating to lovers strolling along the shore, how much more glorious would it be to see it nearer and unobstructed aboard a cruise at the middle of the sea! I had this kind of experience while working offshore in one of the remote platforms at Fairley oilfield in Brunei. The sea was dark blue and placid, the summer sky was high and lonesome, and the horizon was far and wide. But on the western sky was the most spectacular view of the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen in my life. Oh, what a gloriously awesome and magnificent sunset to behold!

Beautiful sunsets can be seen in most places around the world, but the most beautiful ones can be seen only in famous places such as Abu Dhabi or Dubai in the United Arab Emirates;  Santorini in Greece,  India, Brunei, Philippines, Hongkong, Honduras, Gibraltar, Grenada, Bahamas, Spain, Morocco, Egypt, Tazmania, and many more.

Experience the joy of seeing the most beautiful sunsets together with your family and loved ones in these famous places aboard luxurious but cheap cruises. Book your vacation now, and have this once in a lifetime experience.

This story is the second part of my previous article Missing Abu Dhabi.

I worked in Abu Dhabi for 5 years, and I learned to love the place, the people, their food and their culture. I will always remember Abu Dhabi, and forever cherish in my heart the pleasant memories I had for it.

My first week in Abu Dhabi was the loneliest. I wanted to go back to my country immediately on the very day I arrived in Abu Dhabi. The people could not speak English – we could not understand each other. Their customs and culture were totally different from ours. I could not eat their very spicy foods, and the climate was very hot and dry.

I worked as a Site Engineer in a contracting company for ADCO oil and gas projects onshore. As a Mechanical Engineer, I was assigned in the renovations of pumping stations, oil gathering stations, water injectors, dual wellhead oil installations, and in pipeline constructions.

This month of June evokes in me a very nostalgic memory of Abu Dhabi. I remember how we worked in the desert every day under the scorching heat of the sun. Summer in Abu Dhabi usually starts in March and ends in September. It is in this month of June that the climate becomes very hot and this hot climate extends up to August. The ambient temperature during these months can soar up to 70 degrees Celsius! During these days, the desert is like a big oven with baked, red-hot sand dunes. No houses, no trees, no vegetation for shelter whatsoever! It is all sand dunes all around that stretch miles away – so wide, so high, so lonesome, and so scorchingly hot and nowhere to hide!

I could never forget the experience I had when we constructed a pipeline in Asab oilfield one summer. As usual, a British piping inspector working for ADCO showed me the right of way, and my workers marked it with pegs. Our big Kenworth truck loaded the pipes from ADCO’s warehouse and delivered them on site.

We started work immediately upon issuance of work permit. It was a windless hot day! I saw the water vapor ascended from the top of the sand dune mountains around the area like flames of fire. The temperature was extremely hot that I felt very uncomfortable and wanted to go inside our car – but it was not around. I wished there was a tree or any small vegetation where I could take shelter, but there was none. It was barren all around stretching miles away. It was so wide, so high, so lonesome, and so scorchingly hot and nowhere to hide! I started to faint and was about to collapse when our car arrived.

That was the  worst experience I had while working in one of the deserts in Abu Dhabi. I withstood the extreme temperatures from 60 up to 70 degrees Celsius while working in Habshan and Bu Hasa oilfields, but the temperature in Asab oilfield during that certain summer day was terrible! It could have been more than 80 degrees Celsius! I thanked God that I was fortunate enough that our car arrived just on time to rescue me.

In 1984, two years after my graduation from college, I was hired as a site engineer in one of Abu Dhabi’s oil fields. It was my first work stint outside our country.

When the plane arrived in Abu Dhabi, I saw the beautiful, colorful lights that lined their highways and streets. The houses, and buildings too were richly lighted with various colors. Most especially the palaces of the king and his princes were lighted all around — glowing like precious stones!

It was November 6 when I arrived in Abu Dhabi. The dry warm air met my face as I disembarked from the plane. In the airport, I noticed the big contrast of culture with ours. I saw young and old men dressed in long white robes with long mustache, beards, and sideburns. The strict deportment of the men in uniform was scarily obvious.

My first week there was the loneliest. I was the only Filipino in the company, and most of the workers can only speak Arabic or Urdu. One or two spoke English, but in hard-to-understand broken, halting English. We tried to understand each other by signs.

I was very homesick; I wanted to go back to my country as soon as possible. What with very hot climate, language barrier, culture shock, and overly spicy food, the life in the desert was too much to bear. Oven-hot sand dunes that stretched hundred of miles away — so wide, so barren and so lonely!

Eventually I was able to adapt to their culture. I studied their language and learned it in a few months. Gradually, I learned to eat their spicy food and unleavened bread, and I started to like the taste of mutton.

I worked for five years in Abu Dhabi, mostly in the desert. From seven in the morning up to five in the afternoon, we work under the scorching sun, with lunch as our only break. We fabricated and installed the piping on oil gathering stations, pumping station, water injectors, and dual oil wellhead installations. We also worked on pipelines.

I missed Abu Dhabi so much: the shawarma, the spicy food, the dates, the grapes, the chocolates, the mutton, the hot dry summer nights, the festival before and after Ramadan, the romantic, starry Arabian nights, the sand dunes, the sand storms, the thick morning fogs, the lighted buildings, palaces, streets and highways, the “kubash” or unleavened bread, the people and their culture — all these I learned to love. And I will always cherish their memories.