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Published: December 5th 2009
Creek Ferry
Anarchy on the creek. Shame you cannot hear the sounds and see the movement.We arrived in Dubai at 1-00am but our taxi driver could not find our hotel and we had to drive around a bit until we were welcomed at about 2.00am.
Next morning we went for a walk round and found that although Dubai was very modern it is more like India than an Arab country; indeed Arabs are hard to see amongst all the Asians that do the work. 90% of the people on the street are Asian and also 90% of the people on the street are men, this may reflect their views on women.
Terry had been ill for two weeks before we left and Michelle was further worried about him in Dubai as he had started to tip taxi drivers! However, he fell short of tipping restaurant waiters so she felt better over that.
Bus stops are something else with self sliding doors and air conditioning. No sweeping up the glass next morning, as has become the norm in Manchester.
Taxis though are plentiful, cheap and modern, unlike most of the taxi drivers who cannot find anywhere, cannot advise you on anything and of course cannot read maps! Our taxi driver this day told
Market Scene
No this is not Calcutta this is Dubai. us that ‘here’ was this side of the creek and the other side is called .... ‘the other side’. This was helpful as we wanted to go to ... ‘the other side’. We decided to go by ferry; these are identical small wooden motorboats in bad condition. Again they are plentiful but, as we had arrived on National Day, there was to be a boat procession. So 2 hours before the procession they closed the water completely. After this ‘exciting’ procession of police boats and a few flag flying trip boats had passed and returned back, we went to get on a ferry boat. Unfortunately, the ferry boat drivers are not the most patient in the world and the way of getting their boats to the front is pure anarchy. The rules of sailing have been changed to “I am coming through”, “No you are not”, “BANG” a few splinters, some Urdu swear words and we all get drenched in spray. However, at 1 dirham (16p) each way this was the bargain of Dubai.
We considered the desert safari, but it was described to us as: Camel ride - done that. See Bedouin tent - done that. BBQ -
Tallest Building in the World
Michelle looks like she may prick her finger but it is nearly 1 mile high. we are vegetarians. Belly dancing - seen that. Smoking hubble bubble - nah. We were also running out of time.
The weather was perfect and we never needed coats. Most things seemed to cost half of what they would cost in the UK except from international chains where they cost the same. However, somehow or other Dubai did not work for us. The photos show a modern city with futuristic skyscrapers; this is only a small part of Dubai. There are shops everywhere selling the usual copy watches and designer clothes, similar to many third world countries. The beach can be seen as beautiful and has white sand, unfortunately most of it was private and it is straight with no coves. Maybe we should not sit in judgement after staying here only 3 days but what did it lack? It lacked soul.
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Janette Jones
non-member comment
Been looking forward to this
Great first entry, its nice to hear other peoples points of view on a Country. I have only heard good news about Dubia before apart from it lacks soul. Looking forward to the next.