Dubai, UAE, April 26-29, 2002

Travelogue

Getting to Dubai

So, how do you get to Dubai? In my case, it was through London. It was six hours from Boston to London and then seven hours from London to Dubai. Most of the people on the plane to Dubai were wearing western clothes, though about half spoke Arabic. The flight crew from British Airways also spoke Arabic, along with English. It was very funny watching Harry Potter with Arabic subtitles. They didn't even try with SpongeBob Squarepants.

When we arrived at the airport it was 10:30 pm on Saturday night. Oddly, the BA purser had given out landing cards, only to apologize afterwards, since no one entering Dubai needed one. Almost no one, including Americans, needs a Visa, so it was a quick walk through passport control. I visited the rest room and found both western plumbing and the more traditional "squatting" type option. The airport is new and shiny and very European looking.

At the airport roughly half the people were in traditional dress. From my quick take there are three forms for men: a long white gown and kafia, a slighter shorter gown and white slacks and a kafia, or just a white western dress shirt and slacks. Women had more variety - some had flowered dresses, others white and, the ones at the conference, black. All had their heads covered and one woman had only her eyes showing.

Everything in the airport and the city is written in both English and Arabic. Inside the airport there were full grown palm trees. I thought that was cool and nearly bumped into someone while I checked them out. A woman watching me just laughed - I guess it's common for foreigners to gawk at the trees. Nescafe has little ads everywhere - like on the arm that lets the cars out of the parking lot at the airport. Many people here smoke, as did the two couples who joined me in the hotel van. It was hot - about 90 I'd guess - and humid and hazy. Our driver gathered us in a handicapped space, then went to get the Toyota van. The drive to the hotel was about 15 minutes on the highway. Signs are in both languages, but the signs and symbols reminded me of those in the UK. You drive on the right here.

On the way to the hotel I saw lots of big company buildings just off the highway. The names didn't seem familiar, though. The hotel, as promised in the conference literature, is right across from the American Hospital. I checked-in with two smoking couples who I believe where speaking Russian. One of the ladies wore black fishnet stockings and pointy high heels. Check-in took so long that the clerk brought them an ashtray so they could smoke. Although there were other clerks, no one seemed too anxious to work too hard. Eventually I got my key.

The Hotel and its Neighborhood

The hotel was fancy - the lobby had fountains, big chandeliers, and a marble floor. One cool thing: lights in the ceilings that look like stars. In the lobby they reflect in the fountain. Tarek Kazzaz of the American University of Beirut, who I actually met in Cambridge, MA some years ago, was kind enough to be my local guide during my stay. He explained the lights are a throwback to the days of living under the starts.

I got a credit card like key and thought I was all set. The door opened ok, but I couldn't get the lights on. Luckily, someone walked by and saw my predicament. I was a dead give-away as my luggage was still in the doorway. He took the key and put it in a slot just inside the door. The lights went on! After some experimenting I found that the lights stay on for about a minute when you take out the key. So, I reasoned, you are to leave the key in while you are in the room and then take it with you, thus turning the lights off, when you leave. Clever way to save energy!

The hotel is fairly standard, though I will note that my room had two single beds. The last time I had a single bed was in Stevenage, UK, when I worked at Cadcorp. The only other distinction was a bidet. I didn't have an outside window in my room, so I opened my curtains a crack to the inside courtyard which I thought had a skylight to get a sense of when morning came. It came too early, needless to say, and since the rooftop track wasn't open until 7 am, I went running outside. It was humid, but not quite as hot as the night before. The lady at the desk said I'd have no problem running near the hotel.

I found that this area is all under construction - there are dirt piles and cranes everywhere. I found a map in Arabic of the area and my intuition was right - English was on the other side. The development, 63, was mapped in several colors. What was called out? Mosques, schools, parks and streets. I guess that's all that matters. Alas, all of the parks are within school grounds, so I'm not sure I'll be able to fly my kite. Besides, there was almost no wind last night or this morning. On my run I checked out Our Own American High School. Students in slacks, skirts and bright colored dress shirts left a fleet of buses and cars in the driveway. Before school started the teenagers played basketball in the yard. Around the corner I found St. Mary's Catholic School, an Indian School and an English school. At the Indian school the girls wore gray skirts and maroon tops. How one young lady wore a sweater is beyond me! On the same street with the school I found the Norwiegan Fisherman's Association, the Jordanian Social Club and one other social club. The soil is sandy and the palm trees stubby - at least compared to the ones I'm familiar with in Redlands, CA. Still, the place has a bit of the feel of southern California. I saw billboard ads for Hardees, McDonalds, Burger King, and Baskin Robbins.

I've decided that conversion rate for money is about 3 Dirham:1 US dollar. My breakfast was 50 Dirham. I didn't change any money, so I'm not paying too much attention to it.

I learned over lunch that addresses in Dubai are roughly non-existent. Roads are not on a grid and the gentleman who told me this, originally from Houston, now living in Abu Dhabi, spent two hours finding the hotel.

The Conference and the City

The conference itself has about 30 attendees, about 1/3 are in traditional dress. Thus far, and I expect this to hold, all presenters have been in western dress. That said, several of the best questions have been from the traditionally dressed folks. There are two women, in black, who stay in the room during coffee breaks. I saw one of the conference hosts bringing one coffee. No one claps after people present, like we do at home. (More on the content of the conference can be found here.)

After the sessions on Sunday (which is basically like Monday at home since the weekend is Friday and Saturday) I hooked up with Tarek who wanted to go to the markets. It was about a 10 minute cab ride, which was 10D, about three dollars. The exchange rate officially, is 3.6D to a dollar. There are several markets on either side of the Dubai Creek. Some are older, and others newer. The most famous is the gold market. The first market on "our side" of the creek had a mix of cloth, tourist trinket and shoe shops. The buildings are quite old, and a new wooden roof (very tall) keeps the sun off the thin path between them. It was about 6:30 pm, still hot and humid, but every now and again there was a breeze. Tarek helped me understand the mix of nationalities here - Indians, Asians, Arabs of many sorts. This was driven home when the call to prayer sounded. Tarek ducked out to a mosque and I poked around. The streets were quieter and those working seemed to be mostly Indians and some folks who looked vaguely Asian. Of course, Tarek noted after he returned, many Moslems are not that religious.

The coolest and most active commodity seemed to be cloth. There were bolts and bolts - white, black, red, embroidered, bright colored… The odd thing was that none of the flashier fabrics were worn here. This is a conservative country. The few colorfully dressed women I saw, after close inspection, were African. While I waited for Tarek at the mosque I saw several men trying to convince an overly full pick up to hold a few more bolts. Most of the local movement of goods - from stall to stall - is done by hand using giant two wheelers.

To get to the gold market we had to cross the creek. To do that you take a sort of water taxi. Each boat holds about 30 people sitting on a slab. You walk down the steps and right onto the boat. It costs 1 Dirham for two people (about 15 cents each) and takes about two minutes to make the trip. It was pleasant, if a bit smoggy, since these are essentially motor boats. Along the shore there were dwellings with what looked like fat chimneys. Tarek explained that they pull in air, cool it with water and circulate it in the house. Ideally, they are the highest thing in a community, but with new taller development, they are not as functional as they have been in the past.

On the other side we checked out the gold market. Tarek says that the UAE is the largest seller of gold in the world. Most of it simply passes through the country. There were stores that seemed to sell only gold chains. The spice market had the sweet smell of spices and huge bags of rice and popcorn for sale.

Outside the older stalls, the streets were packed with screaming neon lights and electronics and clothing stores. By 8 pm, traffic was heavy on both streets and sidewalks. With the heat it makes sense that most shopping is done after dark. We hit the water and a big statue of a camel. Tarek picked a restaurant for dinner. It looked like a diner (It reminded me of "Greek Corner" in Cambridge) and we didn't know until we got inside what type of food was served. It was Iranian according to our host. The menu seemed traditional middle eastern to me. We both had lamb kebobs which came with soup, salads,  yogurt/cucumber dip, fresh beets, and fresh bread. Oh, and french fries! The bread looked like pita, but was in fact the Iranian version - which is heated from the top. The top had big bubbles and was crunchy. The bottom is soft. It's quite different from pita and reminded me more of Indian breads. After dinner we walked along the water to the new and funky Sheraton and checked out the newer architecture of the Bank of Dubai. We took a taxi back so I could get a good night's sleep. 

Heading Home

The second day of the conference was much like the first. I took a nap before heading to the airport. It was much drier and breezier - almost pleasant at 8 pm. I took the hotel bus (a really nice VW van unlike any I'd seen in the US) and got there in ten minutes. Even though the arrival and departure areas are all new and complete, the screening areas in front of them are still under construction. The food court included Baskin Robbins, a coffee place and a sandwich place. All the other stalls, for restaurants, a pharmacy and other stores were empty. I'm not sure why there were so many people waiting outside the screening area. Most were men in white robes. The security staff seemed to be waving them back. My driver did the same for the fleet of red uniformed porters who approached the bus to help with luggage. I didn't need them; I had my own wheels.

About two hours before my flight they posted which security lane I was to use and I got my luggage screened. Then I got the BA check-in desk. Then I arrived at the departure terminal. It had a pretty good sized duty free area - not as big as Heathrow, but big. Lots of people were sleeping on the carpet alongside the moving walkways. And this is the land of unattended luggage! There were bags everywhere with no sign of their owners. I toured the indoor palm trees including one crafted in (fake) gold. I picked up some gifts for folks at home including a postcard with a satellite photo with an arrow pointing to Dubai noting "we are here." Then I picked up a few stamps.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. In all, I got a quick but valuable insight into this very modern, very mixed Middle East country.