Dubai In 2008

Thought it might be fun to have daily snippets of past adventures.  Dubai was the beginning of a seven week trip to the Middle East and parts of Africa.

 March 2008 :

Ah Dubai!  Where do I start?  We flew in at night.  As the plane broke through the cloud cover I looked down on the most colorful sight I have seen from the air in a long time.  Not only were the requisite streaming car lights of red and bright white on the roadways and the neon type lights on the buildings there was an added layer never seen before.  Blinking lights high and low from all over the skyline.  Lights in white, red and gold blinking so one felt as though one was sinking down from the sky into a swarm of fireflies or a group of fairies or Disneyland or Never Never Land or Fantasy Island. Actually, I dubbed it Las Vegas on steroids minus the gambling.

As we were chauffeured the 1/2 hour to our apartment building (hotels were outrageous - none lower than $400 per night and we wanted our own rooms) we passed one buliding after another of spectacular architecture.  It was if they were all trying to outdo the other and screaming "look at ME".  Our apartment lived up to the opulence we observed on our drive.  We were on the 46th floor of a tower in the New Dubai Marina close to many shops and restaurants and a fabulous grocery store.  We overlooked a section of the marina where boats of all shapes and sizes squeezed as close to each other as possible.  Our 3 bedroom 2 1/2 bath with balconies, full kitchen, living room and dining area was decorated in understated elegance.  We gleefully settled in.

The first morning it was off to the grocery.  Unreal.  There was everything you could imagine you wanted and then some.  There were even blueberries from Watsonville, California!!!  And a sign above and below the pork section stating "for non-muslims only".  I was surprised they even HAD a pork section!  Once we had our purchases in hand and paid a handsome sum for them, the young man who bagged our groceries put them in a cart and proceeded to walk us to our apartment building, into the elevator and up to the door of our apartment!  Such service.

Sandra hadn't had her coffee yet so we set back out to see what we could find.  Yep!  Starbucks AND Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.  YIPPEEE says Sandra so off we go to Starbucks for a "skinny" (that's what they called a non-fat milk) and an iced Mocha.  We sat drinking our coffee treats and taking advantage of the wifi with Sandra's iPhone.  The iPhone is her new toy and she is intent on the operation of it.

It was rather surreal sitting half a world away drinking Starbucks and using wifi.  We would find out that this was not unusual.

After coffee we set off in search of a car and driver to take us around Dubai to show us the local culture.  Finally, in desperation, I called the concierge at American Express.  When she called back to say there just wasn't such a thing, we began to realize that the activities were shopping, eating, and swimming in the ocean.  We had dropped in to the ultimate world resort; the playground of the rich and famous, a place to see and be seen.  I should have known based on the number and size of the private yachts moored in the marina.  Not to mention the fact that the people strolling about REEKED of money!

There isn't a local cuisine, culture, or quaint handicrafts.  We even went to the Marriott to the concierge and all he could offer were desert safaris, the hop on and off bus and the Wonder Bus.  His comment?  "Madam there is no local culture".  So we gave up and had lunch in Cucina, Marriott's Italian restaurant.  The caprese was the best I have ever had.  We orderd spaghetti carbonara in honor of Bob since that was his favorite dish.  He was forever on a quest to find the perfect carbonara.  I'll bet he'd never guess he could expand his search to Dubai!

Anytime we journeyed outside of our area, we needed a taxi.  There was never a ride under $60.00!

During one of these rides we were told by the driver that the city has sections where corporations can build their buildings and do business without having joint partners with local firms.  This means they keep all of the profits they make.  Two such cities were The Internet City and The Media City.  Needless to say the big guns were all there. 

The number of stations we could get on the TV were amazing.  We became fond of TCM and Al Jazeera/English.  We also watched CNN and BBC International.  TCM was great except there was a moving delay which made all of the actors look like they were doing the jerk.  It was quite funny.  For some reason it did not effect the speech. 

Wish we could get Aljazeera English in the states.  Quite the eyeopener.

Our adventures did take us on The Wonder Bus.  An amphibian that goes on land and then out into the "Creek".  A river-type body of water that feeds in from the Arabian Gulf.  It divides "old" Dubai and modern Dubai.  As in all cities where you are able to see the city from the water, this experience did not disappoint.  It only further reinforced the grand architecture that is the signature of Dubai.  There was a very interesting contrast of the Dhows (an old wooden boat from centurys ago that people live on) that were tied up on the "Creek" in front of the new style buildings.  I guess they are all that's left of the old culture.