DUBAI, FUJAIRAH AND OMAN

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April 25th 2009

Published: April 27th 2009

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Kevin and Susan

GOLD SOUQ

Dubai has lots of them.

It took us five days to get to the United Arab Emirates cruising on one engine at about 12 knots. We had plenty to do on board. The ship’s staff came up with a number of interesting parties and events such as an Indian Ocean sundowner party, the officer talent show and the annual Jimbo’s truck stop café dinner. We had a party for our group on the aft deck on a beautiful evening with warm breezes and calm seas. The Captain made an announcement that the two week cruise from Singapore to Dubai was going to be refunded in full to all passengers since we were not able to call in all of the scheduled ports. This seems extremely generous of Regent and it certainly made many passengers not feel so bad about missing Bombay and Abu Dhabi. To cruise on a luxury ship for two weeks with beautiful weather for free-- seems like a pretty good deal!

Regent was flying in some additional technicians to have a look at the ailing engine and they were searching for an available dry dock around the Persian Gulf region. Mark Conroy, Regent’s president, was also flying into Dubai to meet with

JANE & SUSAN

They went exploring throughout the Mirage.

passengers and to get a first-hand look at the situation.

Since we are cruising in probably the world’s largest desert area, it was a surprise to arrive in Dubai amid a thunderous rain and lightning storm. As a matter of fact Dubai was the headline story on CNN weather. We could see the same lightning strikes in real life as were being shown on TV. We sat on our balcony and watched the spectacular light show. Dubai gets rain maybe once a year, so I’m sure the locals were loving this unusual weather. But to us it felt really weird to have high humidity and lightning in this arid desert region.

We had contacted our American friend Jane who lives in Dubai. We first met Jane 20 years ago while traveling in Spain and have kept in touch ever since, even if only sporadically crossing paths. Jane is a lawyer and international business person and one of the most interesting individuals we know. She recently spent one year in Afghanistan working on business development. For twelve months she lived in a shipping container on the US Embassy grounds. She had dealings with President Karzai’s brother and other tribal

Sultan Qaboos and Sheikh Tinkle

leaders in this war torn country. She told us that many times when being driven to meetings her car would be stoned by Afghani men who feel that a woman should not be out in public for any reason. Later in her tour of duty she told us that when going outside the Embassy compound she would lie down in the back seat of the car in order not to be seen. Now Jane and her husband Jeff are living in Dubai and they love it there. What makes it even better is that their son Tom and his wife, Ester and baby, Oliver are also living there. Tom is working on a building project for Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum —the Prime Minister of the UAE and the Emir of Dubai.

The Sheikh is known for his philanthropic endeavors throughout the Arab world and for his champion thoroughbred horses. On board we play paddle tennis with an Aussie friend, John who is also into horse racing. He and Margie have been frequent guests of the Sheikh. We missed the Dubai World Cup by three days. It is the worlds’ richest horse race and the social event of

ROSE FOUNTAIN

Those are rose petals floating in the fountain.

the year for Dubai. The Sheikh has two wives and nineteen children—at last count. Jane said that she thinks he is one of the most brilliant leaders in the world. He is certainly the most forward looking of all the Arabic rulers.

Jane and her driver picked us up at Port Rashid in the morning and we spent a wonderful day catching up on the last ten years and seeing the sights of Dubai. Jane is an excellent host and tour guide, plus she has a lot of insider stories to tell about this part of the world. The economic crisis has had a tremendous and very visible impact in the Emirates. I read that $75 billion worth of construction projects in the UAE has been suspended or cancelled. We saw idled building cranes everywhere. Work has been stopped on the Burj Dubai which was to be the tallest building in the world. In the last 10 years Dubai has been a virtual boom town. When we first came here in 2001 it was just a dusty desert town with a few tall buildings. Now it is a teeming metropolis with terrific traffic problems. There are beautiful buildings like

Burj @ nite

We had dinner and drinks on top with Jack Darby.

the sail-shaped Burj Al Arab Hotel and gaudy malls housing designer shops, fast food restaurants, full size ski slopes and ice rinks. We enjoy the old towns of Deira and Bur Dubai with their traditional Arabian gold and spice souks.

Jane took us to the One and Only Mirage Hotel for lunch at her favorite restaurant. This resort is on the beach and beautifully decorated in the minimalist Arabian style and accented with arches and domes and chandeliers. Next on the tour was a stop at the Dubai Mall to visit one of the largest bookstores in the Middle East and surprisingly every book is in English. One of the tough parts of traveling to exotic locales used to be finding books in English. Now with English being the language of commerce, it is easy to indulge your reading habits. Next we went to the Mall of the Emirates to see the indoor ski slope where Captain Dag and other passengers have taken to the piste on occasion.

We next went to Palm Island which is an enormous reclamation project built in the shape of a tree just offshore in the Persian Gulf. Upon the fronds are built

The GONG Show

luxury homes, condos and hotels. There is rumor that some of the dredged islands are subsiding back into the ocean which, if true, would doom this billion dollar project. According to Tom, the asking price of the homes has dropped from about $3 million to a bargain rate of $1m—this just in the last year.

We met up with Tom and family at the newest hotel in Dubai, the Atlantis. It is pure Las Vegas in size and ostentation. We had a delightful Lebanese dinner under the stars complete with belly dancer, incense and hooka smokers. Even some of the women were puffing away! It was so interesting to see and hear how Jane and her family are adapting to the Arabic way of life and making a home for themselves in this foreign land.

Jane had planned to take us out to an oasis in the desert the next day but as it turns out it was not to be. On April 1st we received a letter on our door stating that the world cruise would be ending in Rome in three weeks time. We kept hoping it was an April Fool’s joke. But alas, further inspection

SKI DUBAI!

It's hard to believe you're in the desert.

of the engine revealed that extensive repairs would be needed and that the ship would not cross the Atlantic Ocean on one engine. Passengers were given the option of leaving the ship that day and flying home, flying to Singapore to join up with the Regent Mariner for the remainder of her world cruise or staying on the Voyager until Rome and then going home. The passengers that chose to leave had about five hours to pack up three months worth of luggage. Regent made all of the flight, transfer and hotel arrangements to ease the transition for those who left. We sailed that evening with about 400 passengers and started making our way to a Mediterranean dry dock. That evening we had drinks with President Mark Conroy who in a wry comment told us: “A $10 fishing net will end up costing Regent $10 million.”

We made a short stop in Fujairah, whose main claim to fame is having one of the world’s largest livestock shipping companies. It is also where the oil pumped in the UAE is shipped out to the rest of the world. We hired a taxi to take us around some of the main

TOM, OLIVER, ESTER

sites and stopped at a local hotel where much to our surprise there were women sunbathing in bikinis around the pool. Outside of the hotel we hardly even saw any women and the ones we did see were covered from head to toe in black abayas. We told the driver that we would take him to lunch wherever he wanted to eat. He chose KFC! So the three of us shared some of the Colonel’s finest in this dusty Arabian outpost.

The Sultanate of Oman is one of our favorite places to visit on a world cruise. It is such a unique country and lies in sharp contrast to Dubai and other Arabian nations like Egypt and Jordan. The Sultan seems to be a very thoughtful and bright person who puts the welfare of his people first and tries to improve their living and working conditions. This was a closed country until about forty years ago. Perhaps for that reason it has retained its very exotic atmosphere alongside modern improvements. There were no roads when Sultan Qaboos became ruler. Now there are schools for both boys and girls and fancy hotels and good hospitals. We got a firsthand look

Dancing @ Atlantis

This Miss showed up wearing a burqa and veil. Nice change, eh!

at their medical system two years ago when we spent time in one after Dr Tinkle had taken a fall. Oman has it first female minister which really says a lot about the place. People still dress in the traditional Omani robes and veils--dishdasha for men and sirwal for women. The Sultan and therefore the populace is very tolerant of all forms of Islam and other religions. The Mutrah Souq is the best bazaar this side of Casablanca. We went touring with Tink and Katharina in Muscat and had a great day. We had Indian guides and Omani drivers. Driving a limo is considered to be very prestigious and therefore all of those jobs are held by Omanis. Our Indian guides were so knowledgeable you would have thought they were natives. We saw the second largest mosque in Arabia and visited several of the many forts that have protected Oman for centuries. After wandering around the bazaar where we picked up some nice pashminas, frankincense and suitcases we drove to one of the Sultan’s palaces and then to Al Bustan Hotel for lunch. This hotel resembles a mosque and is one of the most beautiful buildings in this part of

Fun Nite @ Atlantis

The Lebanese Restaurant is super!

the world. We ate at the Chinese restaurant because Dr Tinkle likes sweet and sour chicken. We decided to dub this cruise the “Sweet and Sour World Cruise” because we shared that dish with Dr Tinkle on every car tour we took around the world.
At the end of our touring I gave our guide a bag full of books. He had mentioned that, unlike Dubai, books in English are almost impossibly expensive and are very difficult to find in Oman. The only library in the country is located in the Mosque and books cannot go out on loan. As a Hindu, he is somewhat limited in spending time at the mosque, so he was extremely grateful for our gift of books.

I wish I could adequately describe the beauty of Oman. “Masquat” means cliffs in Arabic and that is where the name of the city comes from. These rugged mountains surround the town on one side and the sea protects it on the other. There are minarets, watchtowers, ancient walls and forts and monuments sprinkled across the mountainous backdrop of this 5000 year old country. I am not entirely comfortable in Islamic countries but Oman is an exception.