Day 115: Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Monday, 1 May 2017
At Sea — Persian Gulf … En Route to Abu Dhabi

Stats @ Ship’s Time 11:45p (GST) … UTC 7:45p (1 May)
Temp: 84.6F (29.2C)
Position: 25.16.60N / 55.17.13E

Adventure isn’t hanging on a rope off the side of a mountain.
Adventure is an attitude that we must apply to the day to day obstacles of life.
~ John Amatt ~

A two-day crossing from India has put us in Dubai — one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates.  This is a place of “est’isms!”  Any adjective that describes grandness and size can be applied to Dubai.  If you can’t add “est” at the end of an adjective, then just use “most” at the beginning of the word.  Biggest, best, grandest, largest, widest, longest, glitziest, wildest, fastest, most modern, most exciting, most … well, whatever … these were just a few of the descriptors we heard today as our guide Sunil took us around Dubai .

Our day was filled with mind-boggling images.  Claiming to be the world’s fastest-growing city, Dubai is definitely changed from the small trading center it used to be.  One might not care for all the urban growth, but one must admit they are well on the way to surpassing their goal of being a glamorous and futuristic tourist destination … one that’s in stark contrast to Old Dubai … where the Emiratis go about their daily lives.

I was up at 5:30a ... again.  I used the time to sit on the veranda and write for a bit.  Having crossed through the Strait of Hormuz overnight, the ship was in the Persian Gulf … a disputed name as others call it the Arabian Gulf.  A thick marine layer — at least I was hoping that’s what it was … either that or heat haze and not smog — silhouetted the cargo vessels nearby … like so many ghost ships heading to the same part of the world with us.  Filmy clouds made the sky look more white than blue.  The seascape was a monochromatic study in shades of gray.  Best of all, the temp was comfortable — something that was going to change when we reached Dubai … the forecast for which was for a high of 104F (40C) … ayy, ayy, ayy!  It was already 86F (30C) at 6:30a … but at least the humidity was only 43%.

As the ship approached Dubai, that same filmy haze was like a curtain drawn across the city’s famous skyline.  So much for enjoying a spectacular sail in.  We later learned that the heat haze is fairly typical, though there are some days in the winter when one gets clearer skies.  In our case today, conditions were made worse by the remnants of particles still in the air following yesterday’s sandstorm.

Dubai has one goal in mind — to get visitors to part with whatever cash is in their wallets.  To that end, Sheikh Mohammed has ordered up an ostentatious concrete jungle along the coast … one that is spreading inland as well.  We got to experience some of this without going broke.  In fact, the only money we spent was for the tour — booked through Tours by Locals and paid for in advance … USD $275 … split between two couples.  And, oh yes, we bought lunch … a grand sum of USD $10!  Sorry Sheikh … you’ve got enough money in the coffers already and don’t need ours!  Besides, we have to save up if we are to return to visit the UAE another time!

Insignia was docked by 9:00a.  One by one the O tours headed off for the face-to-face immigration meeting in the terminal.  Having met up with our tour companions — Bill & Star — at Baristas at 9:30a, we were all set to disembark as soon as we heard the last tour called.  Picking up our passports as we entered the pristine, marble-clad terminal, we headed to the immigration booths.  The staggered process had worked well and there were no lines, so we breezed through.  The authorities stamped our passports and kept them — to be returned to the ship once all had been collected.

We continued through the cavernous cruise terminal — remember, bigger is better here — and found Sunil waiting for us just before the exit to the parking lot.  Soon we were in his SUV … off to see the city.  With Mui sitting in the passenger seat next to Sunil to monitor his GoPro, the bench seat would have accommodated the rest of us.  But I decided to sit in the back row by myself so we all had room to spread out on this intensely hot day … we exceeded the forecast, reaching a high of 106F (41C).  I suppose that’s not bad in a country where summer temps are regularly in the 113-122F (45-50C) range!!!

As he drove us to our first stop of the day, Sunil pointed out the various high-rise apartment and office buildings, palaces, and malls.  He noted that before 2006 the area was all desert … everything around us had been completed in a mere 10-11 years … with more in progress.  One of the things that struck me was how green Dubai was … far more than what I expected of a desert country — lots of plants, palm trees (imported), ghaf trees (endemic to the area), parklands … all made possible by desalination plants providing irrigation water.

After driving around and showing us not just the many tall buildings, but also the palace the sheikh uses as his residence, Sunil took us to Souk al Bahar — which is part of Dubai Mall — the city’s premier shopping destination.  It is filled with high end shops, restaurants, cafés, and an aquarium and skating ring, a gaming zone, and a cinema complex, and more.  We weren’t there to shop, however, but to see Burj Khalifa — at over 2,700 feet (nearly 830 m), the world’s tallest building.  It was as we stared at this building that Sunil told us plans are in the works for a taller building, which is expected to be at least 650 feet (200m) taller.

The Burj has a couple of observation decks — one on the 124th floor, and the other on the 148th.  These can be visited for a price.  The tower is also said to have the world’s highest mosque — on the 154th floor.  This might well be an urban myth, but it is still promoted as such.  Anyway, going up to the observation platform was not on our tour today … nor in our plans afterwards since the air was so hazy.  Instead, we enjoyed the complex around the Burj, which includes Dubai Fountain … inspired by the Bellagio fountain in Las Vegas, and claiming to be the world’s tallest performing fountain.  We didn’t return to see the evening performance since we already had a commitment elsewhere.  In hindsight, this would have been a better way of spending our evening in Dubai.  Next time.

Next we drove to Dubai Marina.  This is a district where a canal has been excavated out of the desert, bringing sea water inland to create a marina rimmed with residential towers, villas, shops, restaurants, and what have you.  I’ve read that marine animals — whales and sharks have been mentioned — come into the marina by following the water inland.  Sunil gave us about 10 minutes here.  We could have walked in either direction from where he dropped us off, but we were stunned by the skyline of high-rises across the water from us, so we didn’t get too far.  Described as the Tallest Block of Dubai Marina, these buildings include the world’s tallest residential tower … Princess Tower.  But what really captured our imagination was the 1,004-foot (306 m) high Cayan Tower … not because of its height but because it twists 90 degrees as it surges high over the marina.

From here Sunil took us for a drive up the trunk of Palm Jumeirah, an artificial archipelago built on land reclaimed from the sea.  At the time it was the world’s biggest man-made island and could be seen from space with the naked eye.  As the name implies, the development is shaped like a palm tree.  The crescent around the top end is home to 28 hotels — maybe more by now — and is designed as a breakwater to protect the rest of the complex from stormy seas.  The “fronds of the palm” are off-limits to anyone who is not staying at a resort or living in one of the residential areas.  As we drove, we noted that an elevated monorail ran the length of the trunk, ending at the Atlantis Hotel in the center of the crescent at the far end.  The tracks for this longest driverless transport system in the world were held up by pillars designed to look like trees — amazing.  There’s a 7-mile (11 km) pedestrian walk one can stroll upon, but it was much too hot for us to even think about doing that.

Retracing our way, Sunil next took us to Ski Dubai.  This is an indoor ski area that is located at the Mall of the Emirates, one of the biggest shopping malls in the world.  It has a ¼-mile (400m) long ski run, with five slopes of varying steepness.  A lift carries skiers and snowboarders up a nearly 280-foot (85m) tall “mountain.”  There is a snow park with sled and toboggan runs, an icy body slide, giant snowballs in which one can roll down a slope, and more.  Sunil also mentioned that there are penguins that one can enjoy encounters with — at a price, of course.  It’s such a popular place with locals and visitors alike that a longer ½-mile (800m) long experience is being built not too far away.

It was almost 2:00p at this point, so we asked Sunil if we could grab a quick bite to eat before continuing our tour.  He directed us to the food court since we didn’t want to waste too much time eating.  Bill & Star headed to a coffee shop, while Mui and I settled on Zaatar W Zeit, where we got a taouk [chicken] wrap.  No pre-made wraps here.  The chicken was cooked after we placed our order and it was still warm — and quite tasty — when we received it.

Our next stop was at Burj Al Arab — billed as the world’s most luxurious hotel … at USD $3,000 to $18,000 per night, it better be!!!  Supposedly it is a seven-star property — the only one with that rating in the world.  I say supposedly because one cannot enter unless one is a guest or has reservations for tea or a meal, so we have no first hand experience of the property.  It is the world’s third tallest hotel — though 39% of its total height is not usable space.  It sits on an artificial island not far from the pink sand of Jumeirah Beach.  After taking us to the gate of the property for a photo op, Sunil next took us to the beach for the more iconic photo op that makes the “ship’s sail” design of the building more apparent.

On our way back to the city, we made a quick photo stop in a parking lot that has views of Jumeirah Mosque.  It was closed to non-Muslims at the time, so we made do with a few shots of the exterior.  Construction began in 1976 on this Fatimid-style mosque, meaning the design goes back to one that was popular in North Africa during the period between 909-1171.  That explains why people have told me that it is a smaller replica of a mosque in Cairo.  I liked its monochromatic adobe color and the subtle flowing script and such carved into the exterior.

Since we had a 5:30p O event scheduled, we had asked Sunil to return us to the ship by 4:00p.  He had one more place he wanted to take us to, however — the spice and gold souks in Old Dubai.  So we gave him permission to stretch our return time to 4:30p.  After driving to the waterfront, he dropped us off at the pier and went to park the car.  When he rejoined us, he directed us to board one of the abras … wooden boats that operate as water taxis between the two banks of Dubai Creek.  I was under the impression that this is another man-made body of water, but that is apparently not the case.  It does, however, connect to the man-made Dubai Canal, thus extending through to the gulf.  Along the banks, dhows that have been plying the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea for ages were loading and unloading goods.  The overall ambiance was more like what I imagined the UAE to be like before today’s visit.

The creek separates the city into two — we chugged across it from the But Dubai side to the Deira side.  Here we disembarked and went for a short walk through the small spice souk where Sunil described the various spices to us — frankincense, cumin, paprika, saffron, sumac, and much much more.  Then we walked out the other end and into the gold souk where over-the-top gold jewelry, including women’s vestments, filled the display cases of the stores lining both sides of the street.  Some of the shiniest and gaudiest jewelry designs were in evidence here … but somehow it fit with the theme of Dubai’s “est’isms.”

Hopping on another abra, we crossed the creek and walked to the car.  From here the drive back to the port was a short one … and luckily we encountered no traffic.  In hindsight, that might not have been a bad thing as had we missed the event, we probably would have grabbed a taxi and gone back to Dubai Mall to check out the fountain show.

So what’s this event I’ve mentioned a few times already?  Our RTW booking came with several special dining events off the ship.  We missed two of them in order to spend time with friends, attending only the one in Bora Bora … which we enjoyed.  This fourth event was to have been dinner at the Singapore Eye, but the venue was changed to Dubai well before we left home.

The dinner was held on Lebanon Island, one of the 236 islands in The World — an artificial archipelago being built offshore and which is supposed to look like the continents when viewed from the air.  Construction, which began in 2003, apparently came to a halt in 2008 during the financial crisis.  Though work has resumed, Lebanon Island is the only one that is developed and used for special events — such as ours.  It is accessible only by boat, requiring well-planned logistics to pull off the event … and therein lay the problem tonight.

I really, really don’t want to dwell on the evening and how it turned out.  I’d rather remember how much we enjoyed our sightseeing during the day instead.  Suffice to say that from our perspective it was a logistics disaster.  So much so that we’re seriously considering skipping the next event, which is scheduled for Seville, Spain at the end of this month.

And on that note … wrapping up Dubai.  We have another port … another Emirate to visit tomorrow.

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