Um...Dubai...

Back track....(circa July 2nd)

FlyDubai was gracious enough to provide me a ticket to Dubai and back for 50 BD ($125), and the visa officials in Bahrain were insistent that my visa had expired. So I did what any person would do.…I went to the United Arab Emirates and Oman.

An extra 40 BD later, I was on a plane to Dubai with Tima. We arrived early afternoon, exhausted and homeless. The AIESECers were in Abu Daubi for the day, and wouldn’t be home for some time. So, we did what any normal budget traveler would do….go to the mall. We grabbed some food from Carrefoure (my favorite grocer, maybe ever) and plopped down in the food court. That day, I experienced one of the greatest cultural fusions ever conceived in Carrefoure----the veggie puff. Indeed it is a combination of the veggies and spices in a samoosa wrapped in a french puff pastry. Delightful.

After lunch, I feel into the arms of Morpheus in the middle of the food court. One of the things I do best in this entire world is sleep in public places.

So after a nap, we began fulfilling my dream of learning the Dubai public transit system....and Tima came too. All public transportation throughout the Muslim world has a separate car for women and children, which is more for the comfort of the women. All I know is that it smells much nicer than the other cars/areas, and I don't have to worry about being stared at constantly. After Tima and I became masters of our own universe and the Dubai transit system, we dropped by the public beach and saw the fanciest hotel in the world...from the outside. We would spend another several days there, mostly in the company of some delightful AIESECers on the national staff.



Dubai was just a kind of....unexpectedly....not impressive. At one point a guy handed me his business card and told me to call him and ask him out....a bit later in the gold souk I got to haggle with a gem merchant and bought some loose stones---two sapphires and a garnet.



In all, the area near the creek in Dubai is the area I would suggest spending time. There is also the Gold Souk's bus station, which is by far the most helpful place for a traveler to get their bearings and learn how to get around the city. Their customer service is excellent. The area in general feels alive still, surrounded by an indiscriminate international-ish culture. Everywhere feels like a caricature of somewhere else...it is the Chinese place in the Midwest that is operated by Mexicans...all with one exception---the huge abandoned car lot.

Perhaps the most interesting place in all of Dubai was a simple, massive car lot. It is the one picture I should have captured, but didn't. Each vehicle's shell was painted with dust. It is the kind of dust that you only find in the Gulf...and to anyone reading this outside of the Gulf...I can't describe it. It weighs heavy on everything it stains---everyone carefully removes it from buildings, cars, and clothes. But here, by the side of the highway close to the lavish Palm island, it caked these thousands of cars.

It was explained to me that these were the cars left at the airport. I still didn't understand....there were thousands, as far as I could see. During the financial crisis, these were the cars left at the airport by everyone that simply got up and left Dubai, leaving behind everything...it was going to be repossessed anyway.

To me...I guess that was Dubai. But I still got a t-shirt.