Dubai and Abu Dhabi

We were in Dubai for 2 days and the end of the first day was spent saying farewell to new acquaintances and friends.  Unfortunately, I had 3 appointments for the same time.  As you can tell, my memory is still not what it was before the accident and it’s imperative that I make a note and post it prominently.

On the second day, I took the shuttle bus to the Burjuman shopping center.  As I got on the bus, I met Mark who asked where I was going.  When I said the aquarium, he said that he was on his way there, too.  So, we travelled together.  He is a cheerful travelling companion – very funny, thoughtful and quiet at the right times. 

The “strip malls” along the way into town – the ground floor of offices and/or apartment buildings – had every American (1 Canadian = Tim Horton’s) fast food joint – KFC, Pizza Hut, Burger King, IHOP (I think) and of course, McD.

On the bus, I was lectured by a complete stranger about the wonders of the Metro – a form of transport I had not intended to use.  Mark, however, was convinced of the ease and efficacy, and after changing money at the top of the clean, clean, clean Burjuman over an endless supply of clean, clean, clean escalators, we headed out to the Metro station, also clean, clean, clean.  Day passes were about €3 / $4.

The metro is un-manned which un-nerved me at first but it was clean, actually clean and polished:  no trash (rubbish to some of you), no graffiti – none!, no plastic bits blowing into the corners – nothing, nada!   And, in about 10 minutes we arrived at the Burj Khalifa station, with a covered walkway to the mall. 

Once inside, after a long walk on moving sidewalks – go figure! – we got to the entrance of the mall, an enormous archway, very glitzy.  Just ahead of us was a young couple with a baby:  the man, about 25, dressed in deliberately worn jeans, Nike trainers, a tan, very expensive leather jacket¸someone at home in London or NY and his wife/sister dressed completely in black, with slits for her eyes, fashion-wise really only at home here, Saudi Arabia or Yemen.  I wonder if she can read and write and if the daughter she was holding will also be veiled.

The Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, has an enormous mall with a gazillion shops at its base.  Most of the shops are well-known chains stores:  Gap, Banana Republic, Mango, Sony, Virgin Records, Sephora, and the upscale stores including Saks 5^th Avenue and Bloomingdales.

We walked in the direction of the aquarium, window shopping along the route – “look at all that gold”, checked out a jacket for me at Gap and a knitted jacket for him.  I visited the tourist “souk” inside the mall – a really silly idea but air conditioned.

When we got to the enormous aquarium Mark was rather blasé about it but I dragged him in past the giant windows into the tunnel where we stood surrounded on 3 sides by giant rays, sharks (one of which had a bit of flesh or thong dangling from his front teeth) and other fish which manage to live with the sharks.  For me, the rays were the most amazing – easily the width of my outstretched arms with the grace which belies their strength.  We were there for almost an hour, standing still, “ooh-ing and ahh-ing”, look up, look behind you, look at that!!!”

Abu Dhabi is like a restrained Dubai.  Perhaps that is why they were able to help Dubai financially – they did not overspend.  There is a beach, all along the road from the container terminal into the city and lots of trees and very green grass.  But, I never saw anyone swimming.  I did some shopping at the Carrefour (paper towels, post cards, contact lens solution, Pear’s soap) and hurried back to the ship.  Enough of oil money excess!