Dubai: Observations and Activities

After spending yesterday flying from Dubai to Singapore (with a stopover in Colombo, Sri Lanka), we've arrived to an all but invisible Singapore. Smoky haze fills the sky, the result of slash and burn fires to the west on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The air quality is so bad, and so unhealthy, we've decided to avoid going outside as much as possible.

Before closing the book on Dubai (which I'm more happy to do), I'd like to share some observations on the experience, and share some of the fun activities we enjoyed.

Arabian Dress

Stealing a meme from the movie Tropic Thunder, I've observed three family types of family units: basic Arabian Muslim, half-Muslim and full Muslim. The basic Arabian Muslim family is very secular in appearance and dress like any other western, or even American family. Dads wear baseball caps, the mothers wear mom jeans (how they do it in this heat, I don't understand).

Arabian Half-Muslim families feature wives with head scarf called a hijab - sometimes black, sometimes other colors. However, most of the time, the husbands dress like their 'basic' Muslim counterparts.

Now, Arabian full-Muslim is a sight to see. Again, the men may or may not dress the part, but the women are covered head to toe - an abaya (long black robe) hijab and niqab, which covers the mouth and nose, revealing only the eyes. Now, these women take care of themselves. The eye makeup is beautiful, and I've seen red soles on more than one of these women at the mall. In fact, the Middle East (with UAE leading the way) consumes 30-35% of worldwide fashion couture, so these women are styling under their abayas, and probably showing off their fashion to each other when not in public.

The full Abaya, Hijab, Naqib combo

The Arabian Muslim power couple? A family where mom is in fully abaya, and dad is wearing his Dishdasha (long white robe) and Keffiyeh (head scarf). This is the very traditional dress seen among the most influent members of the UAE (think the Royal family) and other traditionalists.

Dishdasha

Guest Workers

Demographically, Dubai would seem ripe for revolution. Only 20% of the population are Emirati citizenry, among which are the most wealthy individuals and families in the UAE. The other 80% is comprised of 'guest workers' - a population pouring in from countries such as Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Iran (which is the home country to the majority of guest workers).

Living in Dubai, for many, has become a solution for many to escape from their home country’s suffocating labor market. At the higher end, European and North American expatriates move to Dubai under the same immigration laws, but hold high end service jobs (financial, real estate, etc.).

This policy is clearly visible throughout the city. Construction workers more than often have the dark skin of the Indian subcontinent, while hotel service personnel are mostly Asian, with a few westerners and Emirati (as evidenced by a man's Dishdasha) taking executive roles.

Guest Worker

Boom & Bust

With humble beginnings as a fishing outpost where pearl harvesting was a common trade, Dubai linked the Persian Gulf to the Bedouin peoples of the desert, who roamed seasonally, chasing the limited water and other natural resources.

With oil having been discovered in the 1950s, and full independence from Great Britain in 1966, the government was set up so that the UAE became a federation of absolute hereditary monarchies. There are seven emirates that comprise the UAE, with Dubai and Abu Dhabi (about 90 minutes south of Dubai) being the most wealthy. Today, the UAE has the 7th largest oil reserves in the world, making it still a very wealthy country.

Gas is cheap and plentiful, at around the equivalent of $1.77/gallon (in boarding Saudi Arabia, it's even cheaper at $0.61/gallon!). Gas stations here are full service. Though a self service model was tried, the public simply didn't want to get out of their cars to pump their own fuel; moreover, against all that we've been taught in the US, drivers keep their cars (and AC) running while fueling up.

Until the global economic meltdown of 2008 (it's already been five years!), Dubai was a booming town of non-stop construction (accounting for almost 30% of the worlds largest construction cranes), reach-for-the-sky projects, and massive government spending on infrastructure.

Driving out of the city, heading for a desert excursion, I saw many abandoned construction projects. The dry bones of a boom past baking under the desert sun; parking lots created for thousands of cars, empty. However, the market has recovered in Dubai, and there are a plethora of high rises being built in the city proper.

Atlantis Dolphin Experience

 

Dolphins are such magical creatures. They are graceful, vivacious and intelligent. Atlantis offers interactive experiences with the dolphins it trains.  I signed up Leslie and the kids for the basic shallow water experience. This allowed them to pet and touch the dolphins, and observe close up what they look like and the amazing talent they are able to develop.

 

The family hugging Manny the (female) dolphin

Lily kissing Manny

Liam rubbing noses with Manny

The Dolphin Bay Facilities

Leslie and the Kids

Dancing Dolphin

A fun time



 

Leslie and the kids had a great time. Having swam with dolphins in Mexico before, Leslie thought this experience was far superior in that it was a much more intimate experience.

 

Desert Safari

 

The most exciting and memorable experience of the trip came with an hour's drive outside of Dubai into the drier, yet hotter desert. It didn't start all that great. The afternoon jet lag was kicking in to high gear when we met our driver, who wasn't all that loquacious, and whose Hummer (ideal for this trip, as I'll explain) stank of the smoking he obviously did with no passengers aboard. The kids were complaining of the long ride, though I found the shift from an urban to an exurban environment interesting. Skyscrapers changed to lower profile structures, and more evidence of the economic downturn was visible as we passed many projects abandoned at some point.

 

Our driver stopped at a small set of storefronts - gift shop, convenience store - which served a dual purpose. Give the tourists a chance to use the bathrooms (and buy something, if so inclined), while allowing our driver (and dozens of others, all on the same itinerary) to drastically reduce the air pressure in their tires. Why, you may ask?

 

Five minutes after proceeding, we pulled off the road, and joined 2-3 dozen vehicles from a handful of various tour companies in the shadow of an unending stretch of undulating, red sand dunes. The first part of this desert safari? Flying up and down the dunes, roller coaster style. Right around this point, my daughter started to completely freak out (with my wife not far behind). Watching the line of vehicles take the steep dunes ahead of us, my wife and daughter started to regret this excursion. For the next 20 minutes, we experiences a roller coaster ride across the sea of dunes. Up and down, down and up. It was exhilarating, and pulled me immediately out of my jet lag stupor. The poor driver was trying to calm us down, informing us that he's been doing this for 15 years, and that he needed a special license (renewed annually) to make the trip.

 

Riding the dunes

 

The caravan of 4x4s



 Lily started crying, threatening to puke everywhere, but when pushed, she admitted she wasn't at that point - just nauseous.  At the end of the ride, we stopped for a photo op, and discovered the extent of the desert heat when we stepped out. The thermometer in the car showed 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees). With the reflection of the heat shimmering off the hot sand, and with the humidity, it felt like in excess of 120 degrees.

 

Taking a break

Liam

Leslie and Liam

 

 



 

 

Once we survived the thrilling ride through the dunes, we headed to the desert camp located about 15 minutes away. Moreover, I had come to appreciate our driver immensely; he deftly handled those dunes, fishtailing several times and otherwise compensating with aggressive steering and throttle control in order to avoid tipping over.

 

Our driver, Ahmed

 

 

We arrived at the camp about an hour ahead of sunset. There was no shortage of attractions. A short ATV course, camel rides, a henna tattoo station, a place for tourists to try on dishdashas and abayas, a man with a falcon for photo ops, free water and soft drinks, and a cash bar. Moreover, a sumptuous buffet was offered (I took no part of it - the heat killed my appetite).

 

The girls started with henna tattoos, and I went to try on the largest dishdasha I could find. I yelled at Leslie, across the walled camp, and she didn't even recognize me as I motioned her over to take a photo of me wearing the traditional garb.

 

How do I look?

 

 

Desert Falcon

We were all so hot from the desert heat, that I had a real concern that one or more of us would get heatstroke. I drank a ton of water, but even when the sun went down, I couldn't stop sweating. Liam went to play with a friend he made, and came back extremely flushed in the face - and more worrisome - had stopped sweating; not a good sign. Water, water and more water.

So very hot!

Leslie's Henna Tattoo

 

As the sun was setting, Leslie wanted a camel ride. Heading over there, we had to jostle and hold firm our position in the line as time and time again, people tried to cut in line or otherwise get ahead of us. Mounting the camel (named Champagne) while she (er, the camel) was in the kneeling position, Leslie took a leisurely, but short, ride on her.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, Liam made a friend, a boy named Vincent whose family was from Mississippi, and whose dad was almost 7 feet tall. He was probably a pro basketball player, but I had no idea since I don't follow hoops. They were whooping it up playing in the sand and getting dirty.

 

Liam and Vincent

 

Dirty Liam

 

With a waxing moon high overhead, food was served and the entertainment began. Beautiful and, I assume, indigenous, the dance spun round and round while manipulating various objects. Fantastic.

 

Dancer

 

 

However, soon after, when it became clear that none of us were cooling down, and continuing to sweat without end, I signaled our driver Ahmed to return us to the hotel. In total darkness, at 8:30pm, the temperature was still 101 degrees.

 

A very tired and hot Lily

Lily and Leslie

 

 

On the drive home, we passed several palaces that, as Ahmed explained, were owned by various members of the royal families of Dubai. Located out in the desert, he explained that they liked to stay close to their Bedouin desert roots.

 

Feeling an air-conditioned powered surge in energy, I spent the trip carrying on an interesting conversation with Ahmed on a variety of subjects: his ethnicity (Pakistani), local politics, the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 and its impact on regional geo-politics, his living situation, the Saudi playground of Bahrain among other things. A fascinating character, I enjoyed his stories and his perspective on living as a guest worker in Dubai.