A Dash through Dubai

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Only just now found a borrowed Wi-fi spot to get on the Net. So here goes...

After a 13 hour flight from Atlanta, we have landed in Dubai, UAE. Anant has a classmate who has lived here for the last 12 years so we have a contact and a place to stay. plus a capable tour guide. We are really only here for one day before we go on to India. please forgive my iPad, it hates capitalizing letters, even when I ask it to, nicely or otherwise.

Dubai has been in the midst of a huge building spree which has turned the desert into a spiny porcupine of dense clusters of sleek high rise buildings and concrete jungles. unfortunately, half of the buildings stand unfinished due to the economic downturn. the architectural styles are pretty modern. the tallest building in the world, at least at the moment, is the Burj Khalifa, which ascends some 400 floors. Tom Cruise was filmed climbing this in the Ghost Protocol movie.

Anyway, we drove down through the neighboring emirate to the south to the city of Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi has a glittering gem, the Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque, which is quite a grand site indeed. After donning a head to toe black abaya, I joined Anant and his classmate along for a tour. the mosque holds 7000 people and is very elaborately decorated inside with inlaid stone work and lots of white marble. Those of you have see the Taj Mahal in India will recognize what I mean. The Iranian carpet was woven by hand in 9 sections and sewn together on site. the several chandeliers are German, gleaming with Swarovski crystals. this was my first trip to a mosque and I came away with a bit more knowledge of the local Muslim culture. Even so, AbuDhabi and Dubai are quite cosmopolitan, with tourists from the world over.

Our Air India flight arrived late and so we departed late, an hour late, actually. I had heard bad things about the service on this airline and I got confirmation that it is indeed well-deserved. Interestingly, instead of paper napkins with our meals and snacks, we got handed a piece of Kleenex tissue. Also, of interest was that whiskey was apparently free and so quite a number of the menfolk partook happily. It was 2 AM, and I only wanted to catch a nap. No such luck. A sick guy behind me hacked the entire 4 hours of the flight. But, in the larger scheme of things, these were trivial annoyances.

Okay, we made it to Chennai, India without the plane crashing into a ball of flames. that is good, I suppose. Now the climate has gone from a dry heat to an absolute swelter. I need to get adjusted. So, BYE for now.

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Photos

Dubai
Dubai buildings

Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque
The outer courtyard inlaid with stone work.

Inside the Mosque
Note the chandelier and carpet.

Comments

[Connie]

Whirlwind of the Desert
Thanks for your blog--caps or no, it was very interesting reading. On to India! I'm reading. Thanks!