Dubai -- Day 2

What to do today, What to do? That was the big question. We wanted to visit the Burj Al Arab, the sail-shaped hotel built in the water but found out that unless you have reservations for dinner, tea or the hotel you cannot get in (very expensive). Security is very tight, so scrub that plan. Then we decided to go to the mall again via shuttle and let the adventures begin. While we were waiting for the bus to fill, the driver told the ship’s crew to get off the bus in order to give their seats to the passengers and that they could take the next bus. After waiting a few minutes, the driver started to pull away and there were plenty of empty seats. We asked the driver to let the crew back on, but he said no. All the passengers on the bus started chanting, “we want the crew.” The driver finally relented and let the crew on and away we went.

It was another hot day and the air conditioned mall was a good place to go. We really didn’t get to see much of it yesterday. This immense structure, with 1,200 stores, is the largest mall in the world. Even after two days we have seen maybe 20% of it. We found ourselves in a section of the mall that the locals patronize, where the women buy their burquas and the men their robes. The shoe stores mostly carried sandals for both men and women. There were separate hair salons for men and women. We found the grocery store and I found it to be extremely clean and well stocked with lots of brands we are used to.  Muslims do not eat pork; however, there was a section in the grocery store (in the back in a separate room) that sold pork products for non-Muslims. Unfortunately, we made our purchase at the beginning of the visit and had to tote all of our stuff around. Very poor planning on our part, but hey, we were there and the mall is so huge that to backtrack would not have been a good idea.


Moshe and Lennie ate yesterday in this terrific Lebanese restaurant and enjoyed it enough to suggest a repeat, and a good decision it was. I can’t spell the things we tried, or even pronounce half of them, but it was all wonderful. The guys decided to ride to the top of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa (204 floors). According to Michael, the trip to the top of began with a little faux pas. There were two lines to go through security, and so they selected the shortest one, only to be told by the authorities that they were standing in the female line and could not proceed. Oops!! The rest of the visit was memorable beginning with a one minute ride up to the 164th floor to see, well forever. From the pictures, it is just amazing! Will post them shortly. They had a little delay getting down as a group of sheikhs (the investors) commandeered the elevator.

While the guys were riding the elevator and getting altitude sickness, Lennie and I walked one entire floor of the mall and decided that was enough – we were dragging and my foot still hurts. We decided to wait for the guys. While sitting, I checked my email and found that a purchase had been made on the Visa card. Michael comes up and I asked him what he bought for $12.59. He was stunned that I knew he bought something (hehehe, I get email alerts from Visa when a purchase is made from out of the country). He stopped in a bookstore and found a copy of the “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” in English, a book I have wanted to read. I was so happy that I literally reached over and kissed him on the cheek, momentarily forgetting that a British couple spent a month in jail recently for committing the exact same transgression. I guess we dodged a bullet on this one.

Riding back to the ship, I noticed that there were Minarets everywhere, some plain, some fancy. Dubai is a strange city; on the surface, you could be in any cosmopolitan city. Most signage was in English and all retail workers spoke English. With the modern and new construction, I felt like I was in Las Vegas minus the neon. But then you see the burqua clad women and men in robes and realize this is not a place I really want to be. The younger women didn’t seem to be bothered by white foreigners, but I felt some hostile stares from older women and men. I am ready to leave this place as it feels so phony. Surface glitz, but underneath I sense we are not welcome and would never be able to understand their culture. This is a desert and a very hostile environment both weather wise and culturally. They are trying to make something that shouldn’t be.

New group of passengers has arrived, and tomorrow we go to work.