#6 DXB

It was time to travel. Remember this is not a matter in which I have a choice. As I mentioned in the previous blog (#5 Going Saudi), without the Igama expats like myself are compelled to leave the country every thirty days for the Visa reset. I decided to take this opportunity to travel to a place I was always curious and interested in seeing – Dubai, the Texas of the Middle East in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Google pegs the population at just over 2 million people.

Flight time was an hours and 40 minutes non-stop courtesy of FlyDubai, the discount airline that criss-crosses the Middle East with no-frill airline service. When I say no fill it is no frill in that EVERYTHING costs money – even water (a bottle of water was 5 SR, free water was a little pudding type packet with about 4 oz of warm liquid). Our weekends are short and getting time off from work is like pulling teeth so I left after work at 5:30 for an 8 pm flight on Thursday and returned mid-day Saturday.

Arriving at the airport (a 40km commute from our Villa's) I quickly found a spot and trekked across the terminal(s) to find the foreign departure gates. After being processed into the secured area it was then resigning myself to what modern airline travel has become: waiting to wait. I had to wait about two hours before boarding commenced. Unlike other airports where you can spend the time with over-priced alcohol, I settled for a bottle of water and the ever present prayer time. Here it isn’t a private matter, but the chanting is broadcast over the intercom system at great volume. It is the little things that get to you after awhile in this country - and prayer time for us non-Muslim expats is chief among them.

FlyDubai is somewhat suspect in there logistic operations as the flight board didn’t indicate any delay (there was), nor did they formally announce boarding (though they were) – I just noticed the queue at my gate assuming it must be my flight (it was).

Finally we got underway at 8:45 (scheduled 8:05pm) for the relatively short flight. I’m an anxious guy at the best of times and when I’m on my way I just want to “get there” as my impatience gets the better of me. So you can imagine my frustration when we had to circle Dubai (DXB) airport for three or four loops for our turn in the landing order - so close yet so far. While the bright lights of the city were evident, being nighttime I could not see the three wonders of modern engineering – the man made islands just off the coast of Dubai – the Palm Jumeiriah, Palm Jebel Ali, and The World. As the name suggests the first two are shaped as palm trees and The World – well, you get the idea. Search google for Dubai, man made island and you will see.

Finally arrival! Unfortunately FlyDubai flies into the Terminal across the airfield from the main terminal which is where all the long haul international flights arrive which I was hoping for - I wanted to meet this girl and fly on her airline!

While Dubai is a modern, metropolitan city compared to Riyahd it is still very restrictive in terms of alcohol, like dope in Amsterdam it is tolerated versus openly embraced as we are used to. For example the best piece of advice I got prior to my departure is buy liquor when you get off the plane in the duty free shop – because nobody knows of any liquor store in this city. So your options then become limited to expensive drinks in selected hotel bars.

The most difficult part of the duty free shopping experience for me (and I imagine most westerners after spending time in Riyahd) was that I felt like a kid in candy store; wanting to buy everything but knowing that I only had a day and a bit to drink it! So after longingly looking at scotch, tequila and other of my favorite alcoholic vices I settled on a dozen Heineken (approx 45 Durem’s – the AUE money about the same value as the Saudi Riyal or about a third of our dollars). Note that smuggling is not advisable going back into Saudi as the custom declaration form we have to fill out (as we do when coming back to Canada from another country) states clearly: Bringing alcohol into the country is punishable by death! My contract is for three months – not forever in the after life.

So after a taxi ride to my hotel, a couple of beers (heavenly) it was time for bed at about 1am.

Friday started early as it was my only full day and the day to get all the tourist things to do off my list. Unfortunately with Friday being our Sunday I found out the metro does not run until 1pm so I hop in another cab to start my day off at the world’s largest mall eponymously named The Dubai Mall. It happened to be in the shadows of my 10am tour to the top of the world’s largest building: the Burj Kalifa. There not much to say about the mall – looking like any other mall only much bigger: and like the West Edmonton Mall it has an ice skating ring, amusement attractions, a huge waterfall, and the like.

Now the Burj Kalifa was something – done up in full tourist style with the history, vision, photos and of course the wise wisdom of the King, as you wait your turn into the elevator to take you up 124 floors to the observation deck. Notwithstanding the haze that prevails over this city (and Riyahd) it was quite a view and higher than I have ever been in a man made structure (my ears popped going up and down). It had full floor to ceiling window and even an outdoor area also clad in glass (but secured shut for the potential jumpers). While the pictures never do justice to actually experiencing it yourself here are a few pictures to get the idea.

With that done my next item on the agenda was to hop on the now open metro to get a better overview of the city – as it goes right to the airport my ride back was secured. The mall is about in the middle of the metro line that stretches some distant north and south accessing all major area’s of the city. So I went south (away from the airport) first, then doubled back to get back home. I won’t bore you with the details but will say I was amazed how big the city was. Everyone has seen the pictures of the main drag in downtown Dubai with the canyon of skyscrapers lining the route, but what surprised me was several metro stops that contained yet another cluster of tall buildings, primarily condos/apartments. Especially the Dubai Marina district, which was inspired by Fox Creek in Vancouver. This area includes an area known as The Tallest Block which as the name implies is a cluster of very tall residential buildings including a twisted building of some 80 floors, and what gets to be tiresome by it’s audaciousness, a number of world records including the tallest residential block in the world (90 stories) on the world’s largest man made marina in the world (though there is debate that Marina del Rey in California is larger). This is Dubai.

As for getting out of Riyahd it was needed for a sense of normalcy – where women and men mingled freely where you can eat without being segregated – just like being at home. It is funny how Riyahd gets to you. While normal in so many ways, it is abnormal in many other ways. I have yet to meet any expat who lives here who hasn’t expressed the fact that you just have to ‘get out’ every so often to experience “normal”. Classic example was stopping at the grocery store after work, find my items go to the checkout to find it abandoned: prayer time, so I stand and wait for the cashiers to return to work for about 10 or 15 minutes (though the manager assured me it would be 5 minutes).

Otherwise nothing of noteworthy to report about my time here as with many active vacations my feet got sore from so much walking so it was back to the hotel to work on drinking those beers. As a big airline guy I packed up a few of these tasty beverages and sat outside the hotel on a nice green space (real grass) to enjoy the weather and watch the action at the terminal on the other side of the freeway.

Ironically as you can see I was very close to the terminal (walking distance from the hotel) yet there was no way to walk there - only a cab or the free airport shuttle will get you there. The Middle East lags behind the west in promoting two key things we now take for granted at home: a healthy lifestyle and being environmentally friendly. There are regular commercials on television saying that diabetes, obesity and other unhealthy conditions are among the highest in the world and that you should try and walk more, take the stairs versus the elevator, etc. I often take the stairs here at work as I have contacts on the 14th, 10th and 7th floors (I'm on 15) and while it clearly states in both English and Arabic that smoking is not permitted it always reeks of smoke with cigarette butts all over. Sweets of all varieties dominate grocery store shelves and ice cream shops and donut places proliferate in commercial areas. Being "Green" is mostly absent as well - I have seen no recycling boxes anywhere and people toss trash out at will anywhere and everywhere. Your forget how far we have come at home in a relative short period until you visit a place like this. 

The next day was low key around the hotel, enjoying the weather and then back to the airport to wait yet again. While I would have preferred not to wait so long, the terminal provides a wealth of people watching opportunities. While most airports have a variety of ethnicity's, cultures, and nationalities represented in the mix, these mixes are different based on where in the world you happen to be. Dominated primarily by Indians, Pakistanis and all Middle Eastern Countries - the white guy in the crowd is definitely not the majority. I was fascinated by a group of men I assumed to be Afghan's with the loose half thawb, pants with vest and the head piece that is not a turban but almost. I don't mean to stereotype but given my lack of articulating well what I am trying to describe think of those Afghan rebels we saw on the news that would shoot down Russian helicopters and you know what I mean.

Thankfully the flight home was pretty much on time and arrived back in Riyahd at 5:30. While expecting a long queue to be processed what bothered me is that after standing in the line indicating it was for Exit/Re-Entry for 15 minutes a guard comes around quickly looks at my passport and says move to this line (back of the queue again), then after waiting there I finally get to the gate where the guy says go to the office (for what I will never know) so back thru the crowd to an office to show some other guard my passport – he looks and waves me off without any awkward communication. As  a Canadian I adhere to the notion of an organized queue – this was anything but!

My troubles continued, this time of my own doing: remember me mentioning finding a parking spot quickly? Well mental note - remember where you parked!!! Well much to my frustration and annoyance I couldn’t find my car! Even though I’m tired and just wanting to just get back to the Villa, I am forced to pace back and forth over two levels of parking garage for an hour before I found my car. The only saving grace from my own stupidity was that given the way people drive and park around here I knew that I wasn’t towed (not to mention there are no signs which are common at home indicating the name of the towing company if you don’t find your car). Like losing your car keys/wallet or the like – I never loved seeing that car as much as I did in that moment.

I will have one more “out” in April prior to my departure home and given that I spent more time in airports versus seeing the city I went to visit I now see the merit in flying somewhere for the day, having a quick drink and getting back on the plane. The big disappointment here is that I am in a fascinating region of the world to see and explore but I don’t get any vacation time in which to explore it.

A different city for such a short stay
Being abroad is it even considered being away?