We took a midnight flight from KL to Dubai. A pre-arranged taxi driver picked us up at the hotel at 9 pm. It’s a long way from the center to the airport – over 60 km. We were driving and driving and at some point the signs showed airport to the left and we kept driving straight. We started thinking that maybe we were being hijacked. Luckily, it was only a "longcut" to avoid paying the toll.
Anyway, we got to Dubai at 3 am after a 7 hour flight. There was no point in going to the hotel so early so we killed time at Costa café drinking coffee and emailing. Finally, at 5:30 we got in a cab and went to our hotel called Comfort Inn. When we got there, it was still dark and there were no rooms available yet. However, we noticed that all the signs in the hotel were in 3 languages: Arabic, English and …. Russian. Later, we found out that 90% of the clientele is Russian.
When the sun finally rose, we left the luggage in the hotel and started our first walk in Dubai and a loooooong walk it was. We walked to Dubai Creek and then along the creek to the center of Deira, the old part of Dubai. We walked through the Gold Souk, which was still closed and the spice souk. Then, we decided to take an underpass to the other side of the creek to Bur Dubai. We ended up in the oldest, historic part of the city –the heritage and diving villages, Sheikh Saeed’s house, Al Fahidi Fort. We walked and walked and it grew hotter and hotter. We were exhausted. We were still on the other side of the creek and no bridges in sight. Finally we spotted a bunch of little boats which seemed to transport people from one bank of the creek to the other side. After some enquiries, we ended up on one of the boats (water taxis) and for one dirham each we had a nice ride across. I (Bo) was the only woman on the boat. Generally, we saw very few women walking around. Most are dressed in the long, black tunics covering their bodies from head to toe. Some have their faces covered as well. Many men wear the loose white tunics and the traditional reddish head covering.
We got to the hotel completely exhausted and overheated, checked into our room and rested until the afternoon. After a huge Iranian lunch, we decided to take the hotel minibus to the center/market. The bus was totally full of Russians. We were the only non-Russian speaking people on it. When we got off, a number of people approached us (in Russian) about fur coats.
We decided that this city sucks. There is so much wealth here and people not only cheat, but also try to nickel and dime you everywhere. Even at Starbucks you have to pay for internet access. In other countries, even the poorest ones, internet access at Starbucks has been free --- not here. And the price is outrageous, at least 5 times the amount charged by internet cafes.
Anyway, we got to Dubai at 3 am after a 7 hour flight. There was no point in going to the hotel so early so we killed time at Costa café drinking coffee and emailing. Finally, at 5:30 we got in a cab and went to our hotel called Comfort Inn. When we got there, it was still dark and there were no rooms available yet. However, we noticed that all the signs in the hotel were in 3 languages: Arabic, English and …. Russian. Later, we found out that 90% of the clientele is Russian.
When the sun finally rose, we left the luggage in the hotel and started our first walk in Dubai and a loooooong walk it was. We walked to Dubai Creek and then along the creek to the center of Deira, the old part of Dubai. We walked through the Gold Souk, which was still closed and the spice souk. Then, we decided to take an underpass to the other side of the creek to Bur Dubai. We ended up in the oldest, historic part of the city –the heritage and diving villages, Sheikh Saeed’s house, Al Fahidi Fort. We walked and walked and it grew hotter and hotter. We were exhausted. We were still on the other side of the creek and no bridges in sight. Finally we spotted a bunch of little boats which seemed to transport people from one bank of the creek to the other side. After some enquiries, we ended up on one of the boats (water taxis) and for one dirham each we had a nice ride across. I (Bo) was the only woman on the boat. Generally, we saw very few women walking around. Most are dressed in the long, black tunics covering their bodies from head to toe. Some have their faces covered as well. Many men wear the loose white tunics and the traditional reddish head covering.
We got to the hotel completely exhausted and overheated, checked into our room and rested until the afternoon. After a huge Iranian lunch, we decided to take the hotel minibus to the center/market. The bus was totally full of Russians. We were the only non-Russian speaking people on it. When we got off, a number of people approached us (in Russian) about fur coats.
We decided that this city sucks. There is so much wealth here and people not only cheat, but also try to nickel and dime you everywhere. Even at Starbucks you have to pay for internet access. In other countries, even the poorest ones, internet access at Starbucks has been free --- not here. And the price is outrageous, at least 5 times the amount charged by internet cafes.
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