After the initial shock and slight panic of finding ourselves stuck in transit in Dubai instead of home in London I gave up fretting about how we would get home and who and what we were missing and we all got into the very surreal experience and began to settle in to our new environment, donning our tourist hats and stepping out. The volcano was clearly going to carry on causing havoc for a number of days yet and there was very little point in farting against thunder – as my mother would say. At least we weren’t on yet another aeroplane where my youngest child, who throws up constantly was looking like this:-
It was at this point that I lost my sympathy vote amongst friends and family on my sad refugee status. Being trapped in Dubai in a five star hotel was not exactly a hardship posting. It’s an unusual place. It’s meant to be a melting pot, a global city, a business hub. It certainly seems to accommodate many different cultures with a tolerance that many other areas of the Middle East does not share. But still. I feel I don’t undertand the attitudes and culture at all. I need it explained to me.
The heat, as you left the hotel felt like a blanket and it was only spring! There is a hazy desert coloured glow to everything:-
The major lure for the tourist I discovered, is shopping. There are SO many shopping Malls. Every shop imaginable. We even found a Waitrose and a Top Shop, although I didn’t find any of it particularly cheap. We went to several of the malls, including the largest shopping centre in the world “The Dubai Mall”. Unbelievably huge. Very modern, with more than ten floors of parking. You can hire a golf buggy to help you find your car when you have been looking for it for over three days. There is the biggest ice rink you have ever seen and outside is a dancing fountain that choreographs a water fountain to music:-
The Emirates Mall houses a ski slope. We didn’t get to see that but I can imagine that the sight of skiers wandering around wearing ski suits and goggles when the temperature is over 30 degrees Celsius outside is just bizarre.
Dubai is one of seven Emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates. It’s in the Arabian Desert and as you fly in the pattern of sand dunes is all you can see for miles. Many of my fellow exiles on unexpected “volcation” went on a desert tour. Driving in Landrover’s around the desert, riding a camel and sand surfing. That would have been fun too. It’s situated on the Persian coast but much of the beach around the city is built on reclaimed land. There is no river running through the city, but a creek which houses many of the souks on either side that the tourists love.
We didn’t go up the tallest building in the world which looked like a needle:-
and we didn’t eat in the Al Mahara restaurant in the Burj al Arab which is like eating in a giant aquarium – mainly because I didn’t think my insurance would cover it.
We did go shopping for fake bags. All sorts available. Chanel, Mulberry – every label imaginable in fact. That too was a bizarre experience. You walk into a shop and they ask what sort of bag you are after. You are then asked to follow them out of the shop, across several roads and into some other shop. You walk to the back of the shop, go through a door, climb some stairs, walk across a floor full of stock, go through another door, climb some more stairs and then watch as a wall of shelves open up to expose a tiny room full of leather goods. Honestly, it’s like Aladdin’s Cave. I was terrified we’d get lost forever, or I’d lose my daughter. Fun though – once we’d escaped alive. With wares.
Kelloggsville
April 28, 2010it looks and sounds wonderful. “fart against the thunder” – like it :0)
Shiny
April 29, 2010Farting against thunder… I love it x
Jon Storey
April 29, 2010Nice try but you’ve still lost the sympathy vote!
angelsandurchinsblog
April 30, 2010Funny being stranded, wasn’t it? We had an extra week in Tunisia, which would have been fun had it not been for the bleeping BlackBerry and enforced group dancing around the Club Med pool! Hope you didn’t get stung too much financially in Dubai, as you say, it isn’t exactly cheap. It is surreal though, isn’t it? Don’t think I could cope with the heat, all those shops, and bizarre stuff like the indoor snowdome. Can’t bear to think of the environmental impact of it – or those day-glo ski suits!
Family Affairs
May 1, 2010I know. I agree. I find it such a strange place and kept thinking about how much it cost environmentally too Lx
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