Visiting Dubai

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The emirate of Dubai is an interesting oasis of prosperity in the desert with the honor of being the 22^nd most expensive city in the world and with a population of 2.5 million from 190 nations, 17%!a(MISSING)re from Emirati origin and 1.2%!E(MISSING)uropean and American. Fueled by oil income (with 93%!o(MISSING)f the U.A.E. oil reserves) it has the world’s tallest building (the Burj Khalifa) completed in 2009 at 2,722 feet, and is one of 7 emirates composing the United Arab Emirate nation. Abu Dhabi is the country’s capital. Our first excursion took us on a shopping spree to a couple of the souks or bazaars, but in our next bus adventure we saw some of the buildings that make visiting this country such an architectural adventure. The Burj Al Arab hotel is built on its own off shore island and you can only visit it with a meal or room reservation. To land your helicopter on its upper level special tennis court/landing pad you have to have overnight reservations. We travel to the 27^thfloor for a special “high tea” with a view and then spend the rest of our short time there taking pictures of magic water displays and sweeping internal vistas since the inside facing the sail-like front wall is open all the way to the top. Our next stop is at the restored Al-Ahmadiya School with its museum depicting the early methods of education taught by religious men known as ‘Al-Muttawa’ who taught in the form of ‘Katatib’ in the privacy of their own homes. This form of education was limited to reading and following the religious teachings of the Holy Koran, writing, arithmetic and Arabic calligraphy. Gradually schooling became more formalized and subsidized by the government as depicted in panoply of historic pictures. Here English is second only to Arabic and well understood.

Next we board a motorized Dhow for a ride “up the creek” (the main water artery of the city) viewing some of the unique waterfront features of the past and present including many tall skyscrapers. Driving to the Al Fahidi Fort and Dubai Museum we browse through the collected artifacts of a desert nation before returning to the ship.

Throughout this fascinating land we see examples of the local dress. The national dress for men is the spotlessly clean and crisp white “dishdasha” or ‘kandoura” sometimes covering trousers or a skirt like garment and is worn with a headdress known as a “ghuttra”. The ghuttra is secured around the head with a black cord or “agal” which is still used to tether the camel’s feet together to stop the wandering off in the desert. Local Emirati women wear a traditional black weightless cloak called an “abaya” together with a headscarf called a “sheyla” sometimes decorated with traditional embroidery or sequins. Some women will also wear a leather mask called a “burgaa” or use a very light veil “niqab” to cover their face. Tradition, culture and religious modesty all influence the local dress for both men and women and simplicity is the rule. We noticed women wearing all sorts of dress from complete coverings to western clothes. In most of the Gulf States (we were informed this is not the “Middle East”) women are restricted in their public wear but reserve their colorful garb for the privacy of their homes or a private room in the restaurants. This mode of dress is reportedly cool and very comfortable. On visiting the mosques we not only remove our shoes (not a bad idea judging from where we’re walking) but cover our knees and women covering their head, shoulders and arms additionally. No shorts and tank tops here!

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