Okay, so at 11 am this morning a terrific wind hit the ship – strange, but no big deal … we thought. Actually, it was part of an enormous sand storm blowing in to Dubai. What a deal – you were hard pressed to see a skyscraper from a block away for all the sand and haze in the air. They cancelled all the “Desert Safaris” that people on the ship had booked. I must say I am apparently greatly influenced by the weather. I was really looking forward to Dubai. Everyone that we talked to that had been here said it was like Vegas on steroids. Well, Dubai is an ultra modern city. Sinbad the sailor once called this place home; I don’t think he’d recognize it today. It is one of seven autonomous emirates in the UAE federation. Big into oil and tourist, this once sleepy little fishing village now has some of the most unique, modern buildings and housing developments in the world. Maybe if we had been here on a clear, sunny day my impressions would have been better. The guide said they get these sand storms in April and May. The whole city – what I could see of it through the sandy haze, was neat and modern. The main reason for this is - this place didn’t even have running water and electricity 50 years ago. Almost everything you see here was built in the last 40 years, after they discovered oil. Now, they have the tallest building, the largest shopping mall (1200 shops) and great housing. The average income is almost $50,000 a year. I guess I was so prepared to be “wowed” by Dubai that it is the first stop I have really been disappointed in. It is more cosmopolitan than I had expected with 80% of the population made up of foreigners. You only see a burka here and there. Of course no taxes, gas is 40 cents a gallon etc. The guide discussed Islamic divorces. When a woman wants a divorce she needs two witnesses to abuse and must go to an Islam court to get a divorce. A man just has to say “I divorce you, I divorce you, I divorce you” – three times and your divorced. That must save a lot of legal fees. However, because men often say that in anger, you are allowed to remarry 3 times. After that, if he says it again, you are divorced for life. I was so fascinated with the pictures I had seen of this wealthy, ultra modern, glittery city in the desert maybe I was expecting too much. It does have fountains like Bellagio. It does have a lot of huge 5 star hotels. Interestingly enough, only 4 and 5 star hotel can serve liquor – no restaurants or other hotels. Dubai only has one large city – but it has a million people living here. There are sections of Dubai with the old markets and souks but your general impression is of skyscrapers and bustling commerce. On our city tour today we saw the gold souks, museums, mosques, impressive buildings – or at least we sort of glimpsed them though the haze. Since this is one of the few places where we spend two days we decided to just to take this tour the first day and see where everything was, then book what interested us for tomorrow. The Burj Al Arab Hotel is the one shown above, that you always see in pictures of Dubai. It is the world’s only seven star hotel. I tried to book breakfast, lunch, high tea or dinner reservations there - as you can only get in to see the place if you are staying there or have dinner reservations. We almost got in as someone on yesterday’s tour had booked lunch for tomorrow, about 4 months ago. They wanted to cancel. I said we would take the reservation but when people told them what a hot item it was, they decide to keep the reservation for themselves. (To just have “High Tea” or a “light lunch” by the pool is a $125.00 minimum per head and people are lined up, months in advance, for the “opportunity”. To eat in the nicer restaurants someone told me you had to book a table for 4 at a $1000 minimum.) I couldn’t imagine that it could be that great, but I just wanted to see for myself. The room rates start at about $1500 a night for the cheapest, low end room. I was disappointed that we weren’t going to be able to see inside. Then we got a call today after we got back to the ship – they changed their minds again and we could have their reservation. Sadly or perversely, after seeing the place today, I wasn’t that impressed and decided we didn’t want the reservations either. So … sorry, I won’t be reporting on that experience. Anyway, on today’s tour we saw the world’s tallest building, the Burj Kjalifa, and the Jumeirah Mosque, one of the most photographed structures in Dubai. It is supposedly one of the best examples of Islamic architecture . I was so proud of myself yesterday. All the ship’s tours to the top of Burj Kjalifa (world’s tallest building) were sold out. I talked to a few people who tried to book independently and couldn’t get tickets. I got on line and they had a few tickets left for one time slot - 11:30 am tomorrow. Great. Apparently they release a few tickets everyday – by the time I told anyone and they got on line, they were sold out again. I was feeling so smug – now if the weather doesn’t clear we are just going to be looking down on a hazy cloud of sand. So that was day one in Dubai. I will have pictures from the 153 stories building to show you tomorrow – even if it is just looking down on a brown haze! After that, we will just wonder the streets of Dubai and maybe look for a souvenir or two if we can find them through the miasma that they have passing for air here.
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