Dubai – First Days
This is my first entry for my Dubai trip. I arrive in Dubai Friday night, 2 days before Nick and Alex arrive early Monday morning. I decided to stay at a hotel those first two days since only Alex’s brother Ajo would be home and he was studying for exams. The hotel is also closer to the city. My flight to Dubai started in Detroit and went to Atlanta. From Atlanta it was 14 hours to Dubai. The plane ride was pretty good, I can’t sleep sitting up so I had to pass the hours watching movies and playing games on the screen in front of my seat. Since I arrived around 7pm I figured being tired would help me sleep through the night and adjust to the time change faster. After walking a long ways through the airport and getting my passport stamped I met up with Ajo and his uncle who drove me to a money exchange place and then the hotel. I’m staying at the Ewan hotel which is pretty nice. The floors are white tile with Persian rugs and my room has its own balcony. I was exhausted so I thanked Ajo and his uncle, showered, and passed out.
I was woken up at 6 by morning prayers that were being projected by the minarets of several mosques across the city. They were saying different things, so it sounded from the hotel like they were trying to play over each other as the voices echoed off the buildings. The airport is also very close so low flying planes pass regularly. It was slightly cool and wet out, and the streets were already busy with cars bustling around. Here are a couple photos from the balcony. My room actually faces away from downtown Dubai, the skyscrapers in the distance are part of another city. One Ajo says many people go to because the rents are a lot cheaper. The pictures below are from my hotel room balcony. The large orange building is the hospital where Alex and Ajo’s mom works.
The hotel has free breakfast from 8 to 10 which consisted of eggs, a stack of white bread, two slices of cheese, and some packets of orange jelly. The coffee was fantastic so I had several cups. I decided to go for a walk after the rain died down.
Once the sun came out the weather was beautiful. Up the block from the hotel is a main road that rides along the beach. There is a wide brick walkway, then large rocks between the water and the road. There were many people walking around, some stretching in front of the water, others sitting on the rocks and fishing without a pole. A distance across the water was a huge sandy “island” that stretched several miles along the shore where I walked. It was part of the construction of the palm islands, huge man-made islands that will be filled with luxury homes. Work there has paused for now because of the economic problems but the sheer size of it was impressive regardless. It is so large it can be seen from space.
The photo below is towards downtown Dubai. You can see the Burj Dubai tower, the tallest building in the world in the distance.
A few miles down from the hotel the road curves into a huge traffic circle and there was an interesting looking building across the road so I decided to investigate. It was the Deira fish and vegetable market. Under a huge overhang hundreds of people presided over tables covered in fish and seafood. Several guys asked me if I wanted to buy some fish or shrimp. I resisted the temptation and kept walking. The market was busy, many people were pulling carts of fish and ice around. The other half of the market was full of isles with fresh fruit, vegetables, spices, and nuts. Each section of the isle seemed to be run by its own guy, who often sat elevated on the shelf among his goods.
I left the market and walked further inland, where there was a wall of buildings about 6 stories tall along the coast. On the bottom floor were endless small shops, about 10 feet across each. The ones closer to the market were part of the gold district and were full of jewelry. Many had watches, hats, handbags, and shoes. It reminded me of some of the shops in Italy with inexpensive “name brand” apparel. The proprietors of the shops stood outside for the most part, and if you looked too long at their wares they tried to make their sales pitch. One guy saw me looking at his watches for sale and started following me rattling off brands trying to sell me something. “I’ve got rolex, gucci, dolce, DVD’s, CD’s, gold” Not today man. The number of shops was overwhelming. I’m not sure how there can be enough business to support over 50 identical mobile phone stores in a 2 block radius but apparently there is.
I stopped at a nearby grocery store to pick up some things. It was a decent size but seemed smaller because the ceiling was about 10ft high, vs. the super high supermarket ceilings in the US. It was like a small meijer, with a food/bakery/meat section, then a small clothing section, TV/electronics section.
I ordered lunch from the hotel, chicken biriani (chicken with rice and slightly hot spices), a salad, and some bread. It came out to around $8 but was a huge amount of food, about 3 meals worth. I stuffed myself and still had a lot left, as you can see in the picture.
The next day I walked around some more after breakfast. This time I went in the other direction down the main road towards the hospital. The hospital complex was huge, and had some beautiful gardens. The sidewalk around the outside of the hospital looked very nice too.
I hung out with Alex’s brother, Ajo a few times. We had lunch at a small restaurant/cafeteria. They have the food made already so it gets to your table quickly. It was very good. He had chicken biriyani and I had chicken curry and some bread and we both had small salads. They give you a spoon for the rice dish but you are supposed to eat with your hands or with the flatbread for the rest. There are 2 sinks at the back of the place to wash your hands when you are finished. The food was very tasty and cheap. Both our meals together was 17 dirhams, about $4.60.
My brother and Alex were supposed to arrive last night but someone at the airport screwed something up so they had to cancel their ticket and move it a few days later, bummer. That night I met up with Ajo and we walked towards their house. We grabbed a delicious coffee at a smaller cafeteria, only room for 1 table inside and a larger table outside. On the way we passed a crowd of people playing cricket, a popular game here.
We also passed a few very large homes that you can see in the picture below. Since this is a desert climate very few people have yards, some areas have almost no vegetation at all which is much different than in the US. Many people live in apartments or flats, and there are many postings around for people looking for roommates. Ajo and Alex’s family live in a 4 bedroom house that has a carport and a nice garden/courtyard in the back. Most of the houses are connected as a group that lines the street, with an outside wall against the road. Many people had Christmas lights up. Ajo explained that the country was about 90% Muslim. Their family is Christian and the religious diversity is welcomed by everyone there.
That night we met up with 4 of Ajo’s friends and went to a pool hall. Like Ajo and Alex, most of them were studying to be engineers which is pretty cool. The pool hall was on the bottom floor of an office complex and there were TVs playing the soccer game. There you pay for the tables by the hour, which is really nice compared to paying for each game with quarters like you do in the states. It was unusual that there was no alcohol around, since pool and alcohol are very closely associated for me. Juice or not, Ajo and I still won 4 games in a row. Alcohol is somewhat forbidden here, only certain places can get a license, mostly hotels.
So far I’m really enjoying it here. I’m bummed that Alex and Nick had airline problems but they will be here soon enough. The weather, food, and people have all been great so far.
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December 23rd, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Steven, thank you for your commentary. So interesting! I’m glad you are having fun. I’m praying Nick and Alex make it alright. The first attempt was a fiasco! Love you honey.
December 23rd, 2009 at 11:49 pm
Steven, EXCELLENT read! I love all the detail, you’re very observant, things like th supermarket ceiling and the picture of the remaining food from your dinner in the hotel after you “stuffed” yourself. And the pics of the tallest building in the world in the distance, the cricket game, it all makes it easy to visualize what you’re seeing and doing. I’ll be back to learn and read more. Be safe!
December 24th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Yo Steveo! Is there any old school architecture there or is it all relatively new, like only a few decades old? And do the folks mostly keep to their quarters? Are you around a bunch of expatriates when you’re at Alex’s or is the neighborhood diverse or mostly Arab?
And what’s the going rate on a nice hookah pipe?
December 26th, 2009 at 9:12 am
Thanks everyone. Internet is down at their house so I’m at an internet cafe, but there will be a lot of new posts up soon.
The architecture is all relatively new. The places I’m at right now are like 20 or so years old. All of the tall skyscrapers have been built within the last 7 years. Its a lot different from Europe or even some US cities, where everything is hundreds of years old. This feels like a brand new city
Stuff is pretty diverse. I haven’t really seen any ex-pats except for maybe at the malls. Alex and his family are catholic and there are a few around because you can see the christmas lights in a few apartments, but it is really mixed, there are a lot of mosques around and people walking in the traditional Islamic garb. Its interesting being a minority for once, at the christmas mass me and santa were the only white people there. And hookas are really cheap, I’ll pick up a nice one for you.
December 28th, 2009 at 12:37 am
Thanks for the comments everybody!
The architecture is all relatively new. The oldest buildings I’ve seen are about 20 or 30 years, all the major skyscrapers were built within the last 7 or so years so it is all really modern architecture. It is pretty different from the US or Europe where there are some really old buildings. The neighborhoods are diverse, the neighborhood I’m in is mostly Muslim with some Christians scattered through. The only expats I’ve seen have been at the malls or when we drove through the palm island area with all the uber-rich people.
I already picked up a sweet hookah pipe for you, it is really nice.