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Published: January 13th 2022
Commuter ferry
Going around the harbour on land is time-consuming.John and Peggy drove me around to see sights. We drove to
Al Jumeirah , a popular beach area, although hidden from the road by development. Most prominent of these is a huge
dhow-sail-shaped hotel, so extravagant that you must have real business or a room there to enter the gates. The man in the airplane said it cost $5000 a night, you get your own Rolls and they fly you there by helicopter. (There is a copter pad hanging off the top to one side.) John said it costs 200 dirhams for tea – about US$50.
Next door is the
Jumeirah Beach Hotel , which Peggy and I did wander through. It’s imaginative, particularly with flowing multi-coloured pillars along the front hallway where the shops were located. Beside the hotel was a canal that is planted with grasses. The hotel was designed in the shape of long, undulating sails. The effect was of a yacht moored in a river. Vertically, in the lobby, was a fantastic map of UAE with arching rows of lights and a mini-tower marking Dubai’s location.
From here we caught glimpses of the sea, and we also drove into a public part of the beach. The sea was
New development
Fast growing city indeed blue and the sand fine white. The sun was very hot.
We stopped to do some shopping. Although the grocery store was open, the small shops were closed for Friday. Peggy took me through a couple of malls – they are very popular here, presumably because of air conditioning.
The grocery store was huge, with varieties of everything from everywhere – especially from Australia and the other Gulf states. There was every sort of fruit and vegetable imported from somewhere. There were rows of packaged goods and cheeses. I didn’t even get all the way through to the end where were the meats. Dubai is obviously a prosperous place.
In the afternoon John took me down to the swimming pools in the apartment building. There were two, both of modest size. One was deeper and was heated! After this initiation, I preferred swimming in the shallower, cooler pool. Later, after Peggy came home, we went for drinks for me to meet Bonnie, another Canadian who lives upstairs. She had beautiful textiles from Bahrain, where she used to work.
In the evening, Dirk came for dinner. He is also from Calgary and has his two teenaged
Road to Deira - centre of old Dubai
All modern highways look the same, despite the writing in Arabic daughters with him. He teaches art in the
American University in Dubai , and they are taking courses there. We had good, wide-ranging discussion on topics of both locales.
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Isabel Gibson
non-member comment
Interesting observation - the street-level infrastructure (and the streets) do look remarkably familiar, allowing for the completely different alphabet on the signs. Functionality trumps all, I guess. I checked out the site of the first hotel. Clearly, there is no upper limit to luxury.