Nearly the end

Our last stop on what has been an amazing and incredible journey was Dubai — and for the first and only time on the whole trip, we ran into a glitch in reservations. We had booked an evening trip to a desert Bedouin camp for dinner and a show, preceded by dune bashing. We never got picked up and when we called, the vendor was rude and lied about our reservation. Oh well, we decided. We probably had no business going dune bashing anyway! So we rebooked a nice sedate dinner cruise and they didn’t pick us up either. That was also very likely for the best, since it was advertised as being from 6:30 to 8:30 and turned out to be 8:30 to 10:30. Our bodies were still on Thailand time and it would have been 3 am to us, by the time we got back to the hotel. 

We did get lucky when we first arrived at our hotel. We had to wait in line a little too long to check in, and when the desk clerk apologized I assured him that it was fine and don’t worry about. He then upgraded us to a suite, with balcony and a great view because we had to wait. Then he noticed that we have VIP and gold star status with Expedia and said, “oh you were entitled to the upgrade anyway” . I don’t book through Expedia but I guess Hotels.com must be part of them. The funny thing is that although we are heading to the airport tomorrow night, we booked it for tonight and tomorrow so we can leave the luggage here and hang out till time for the chauffeur to pick us up, and I just redeemed points for the two nights. 

The next day was our only day to see Dubai, so we pre-ordered our Hop On Hop Off tickets with admission to the Burj Khalifa.  We took an Uber from the hotel, intending to be dropped off at the main entrance to the Dubai Mall - the base stop for the hop on hop off. Instead, the driver took us into a deserted parking garage, up to the 6th level and told us that’s where he was dropping us - and the mall wasn’t even open then. We finally got him to the correct spot and that’s when he confessed that it was his first day on the job. 

After reading about The Museum of the Future, we decided to make that the first stop. With my usual brilliant planning, I went on line to order our tickets. You know, just so we wouldn’t have to stand in line. Ummmm, next available - end of the month. So much for that idea. 

  

We ended up only getting off the bus twice. The first time was to go to the top of the Dubai Frame and that’s where we very nearly committed a major faux pas. Looking for toilets we both headed for our respective doors only to realize in the nick of time that instead of toilets they were men’s and women’s prayer rooms. 

 

The Dubai Frame was built to make a gigantic picture frame of the city. A huge rectangular building, empty in the center, has elevators in both vertical sides, and across the top are windows and a glass floor. Cindy and Amy had done a glass floor tower in Bangkok, Brian had no trouble on this one. But one of my feet accidentally stepped on it, I looked down and nearly passed out.

The other stop was the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. Our tickets were for 1:30, but we did arrive early so we decided to check to see if we could move our appointment up. The entrance to the observation deck is in the Dubai Mall.  With no clear idea which way to go, we set out by inadvertently taking the long way from the Mall entrance. By the time we finally found it the entrance to the Burj Khalifa, I was somewhat bedraggled and worse for the wear. Not to mention my dehydration and incipient heat stroke. But fortunately (in this case), everything shows on my face. That, plus just being old, made the staff take one look at me and pull us out of line to send us as priority through security and up to 124th floor. After my vertigo at the Frame, I was nervous about being so high, and the building is thin and needle - like  and doesn’t look steady and solid. But surprisingly, it wasn’t at all scary, no doubt because it doesn’t have a glass floor. 

  

The best thing to me about the Burj Khalifa is the light show it puts on at night.

                                         

And speaking of looking old and haggard - this was the second time that I’ve been in a line looking old and tired, only to be rewarded by a diversion to the head of an empty priority line. Being haggard pays off, apparently. Of course the two times I was diverted to the restroom for the elderly and handicapped was a bit insulting. But hey, I may have discovered a great way to travel!

 

Dubai is a bit overwhelming. There are tall, new buildings everywhere with the most inventive architecture that I’ve ever seen. Yet unlike other cities, we saw no slums, no indications of extreme poverty. There are a multitude of different types of souks such as the gold souk, the spice souk, the fabric souk, and some crowded streets full of differing types of shops, but none of these places reek of the poverty seen in many places.  There are also “heritage neighborhoods” and they all look like Disney stage sets, or places in Epcot. Dubai is a very clean and wealthy city, with several malls that carry very upscale, foreign, merchandise. The Mall of the Emirates has an indoor ski slope, another has the Dubai Aquarium and the entrance to Burj Khalifa. There are man made islands; one is shaped like a giant palm tree. Another holds the iconic Burj Al Arab, a hotel shaped like a sail. 

                 

                                                                         

But over it all is the 100 degree heat, which zapped all my strength and energy, but doesn’t seem to faze the multitude of devout men who dress in floor length, long sleeved white robes and large headscarves, while the devout woman are completely covered in black robes and usually heavy veils that often cover every thing except the eyes. I can’t understand how they do it. By mid afternoon, before we could complete the second bus route, I was feeling as bad as Brian had been on the elephant. Heat stroke, dehydration,

dizziness left me exhausted and sick, so we abandoned the bus and caught a cab. 

A lovely, very air conditioned cab, and that’s when we had our last interesting conversation with a Pakistani driver. Things must be beyond horrible in Pakistan. This man earned a degree in electrical engineering, couldn’t find work, became a mathematics schoolteacher for the government, but couldn’t support his family on his meager salary. He came to Dubai and the only job he has found is driving a cab. This is earning him a visa, but he hasn’t been able to afford a trip home to see his family in over 2 years. Those of us lucky enough to be born American and able to live and work in our native land can’t begin to imagine the misery that so many people all over the world share.