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Published: August 8th 2007
The Desert Winter Wonderland
A picture of the ski slopes rising from the Mall of the Emirates. Do they have avalanches?Just so you know, the phrase “The Great Imitator” has a medical significance that we’ve decided to leave out of this blog. The origin of the phrase is totally unrelated to Dubai, but I wanted to give it this title because Dubai creates a feeling that everything you can find in another part of the world can also be found here. Call it imitation, in a positive light. After all, if nature blessed Dubai with sand and sea, but not snow, what’s so wrong with using some human innovation to make some?
Pinoy breakfast in Dubai The bright Dubai sun creeps into our hotel room early in the morning, and our thoughts are on what happened with the Manchester United - Milan UEFA semifinal game last night. It absolutely *sucks* (elegant word, I know) that we didn’t get to watch it last night due to the subpar cable we have in the room. Really, we should have been a bit more proactive and searched for a sports bar last night. This morning, I highlight no less than eight sports bars in Dubai for tonight’s match. The best options are the English ones - there’s no way they won’t be playing
Peek-a-boo
I see you Burj al Arab a Chelsea - Liverpool match. By the way, ManU beat Milan 3 to 2, with goals from Cristiano Ronaldo, Rooney, and Kaka. Way to go, boys. Sorry I missed it. Next thought is breakfast. Although yesterday’s fish curry was tops, a breakfast with eggs would be a nice way to start the day. The first mission is to do something we’d never do stateside - go to McDonald’s for brekkie. But on the way, Roosters Chicken (for fried chicken and Filipino food) invites us to reminisce on our Manila breakfasts. Dasilog (daing na bangus, garlic fried rice, and an egg sunny sideup) and tosilog (same combo but with pork tocino instead of fish) are on order, and I only spend a second wondering where they get the pork for the tocino in Dubai. The shopgirl is not as friendly as I would have wished; she doesn’t even look at Leroy’s Rizal shirt, which he has worn because there are so many Pinoys in Dubai. Breakfast is good (and yes, Bett, very vinegary), giving us enough energy for a late morning search for an internet café.
Hot hunt for Internet We swore we saw one on our street (Al-Rolla) last
night, but we must have been imagining that oasis. We spend a good half hour walking within a five block radius of the hotel in already searing morning heat. My inability to tolerate hot temperatures has certainly limited our portability - I just don’t want to walk in it, especially during the hottest hours. In Vietnam and Thailand, that would be about noon to 4pm. Here, it’s more like 10am to 5pm. I’ve worn a cap just to keep me a little less irritable (and more tolerable) as we go about our search, but I hate it. I just do not react well, I feel like I’m literally melting, unable to concentrate. We walk and walk. Some shopowners give us some bad advice. We end up at the shopping mall next to the Lebanese Village where we had lunch. After spending just enough dirham to check emails and get some business and chores done, we are back to our spot, and the bottom line is… thank God for air conditioning.
Checking out the slopes at the Mall of Emirates The early afternoon is spent avoiding the sun and hanging out at the Havana Club (our room) before going to
A cool embrace
I love you, man! the Mall of Emirates to check out the largest indoor ski resort in the world and the only one in the Middle East. Once out of our room (bye bye A/C), we pass by Sun & Sky travel agency and book our desert safari for tomorrow night. The agents are, of course, Filipina, and one says coyly, “That’s Jose Rizal.” Ah, Leroy gets his first bite. We are happy about our tour (140 dirhams each, which is less than what we were quoted by an acquaintance of my friend who lives in Dubai, who is unfortunately in L.A. right now). It’s everything we want - a half day sand dune bashing in a SUV, camel riding, sand skiing, shisha smoking, barbeque eating, belly dancing, and free henna painting (for me). Spending sunset in the desert is the icing. Sweet. Next we are off to the Mall of Emirates in a cab whose meter seems to be climbing a lot faster than any other ones we’ve seen. Dubai really needs to work on public transportation. In this kind of heat and traffic, buses are no good, and with all tourists being forced to take taxis for 15 or 20 kilometers each
The Desert Winter Wonderland
Playground for the kids. I love da kids. ride (from Bur Dubai to the malls or beaches), it gets quite expensive. Lee is particularly peeved at the cabbies with the fast meters, especially when they make pathetic attempts at giving you change (they automatically round to the next five dirham mark, or sometimes even ten; U$1 = 3.67 AED). Cultural norm, or a scam? Either way, whenever Lee feels cheated, he wants *exact* change and leaves no tip.
At the Mall of Emirates, we enter near the restaurant section where the bottom of a slope is the first thing we see. They really did it. They created an aspen experience in a mall in the desert, complete with snow park, a polar bear mascot, and an “Aspen café”. I guess Vail isn’t all that. I just saw a special on Ski Dubai on TV this morning, so I know that they have five runs ranging from beginner green to a black run. But I am hard pressed to believe that this experience would substitute for a real mountain. But then, I doubt that is the intent. It’s great that kids who otherwise might never experience snow can come here and throw a few snowballs around. I’m sure
the ones with parents who are rich enough to sign them up for lots of ski lessons also have the means to take them to a slope. It’s a nice touch. What does Dubai not have? Although Leroy has never skied, we decide the 150 AED each for two hours is a deterrent. After all, haven’t we lived within driving distance of Lake Tahoe all this time? That and we’d have to buy a hat and gloves. I think I’ll opt for another experience at a later time that is a bit more… well, authentic. That leaves us with the rest of the mall to walk and pass some time. One particular section, Via Rodeo, has all the designer boutiques (but no Manolo Blahnik’s for me to try on and fantasize about). Hmm, from Pinoy breakfasts to faux Aspen to a replica of Rodeo Drive. Dubai really is a great imitator - a city where you could have the whole world at your fingertips. I am conflicted. While I think it’s great for residents here to have such a strong local culture in conjunction with every global luxury, a lot of it seems fake to me. I guess I’d rather
travel the world than have replicas of the world in my hometown. I don’t say this to dis Dubai at all… it’s a fantastic city, and one that looks like it will have everything anyone could ever want in a city in the future (including a light rail system). There is no limit to resources here, it would seem. It’s like the city that one would imagine if you had all the dirhams you could ever want. But I guess money really can’t buy everything.
Lunch is at Johnny Rockett’s because I’m dying for a cheeseburger. We are halfway through our trip, and this is my explanation for our recent hankerings for American breakfasts and burgers. The Pinoy waitress at Johnny Rockett’s gets a quiz from Leroy as to who graces his shirt, and she passes of course. He proceeds to kid with her during our visit, prompting the response “Niloloko mo ako naman, e,” (You’re playing/fooling with me). I gotta take this boy home.
Work bites Back at the crib, Lee chills for a bit while I hunker down to work (again). While my commitment to my medical career is solid, there is nothing worse than having
to work during vacation. True, this vacation is of sufficient length that some work here and there is nothing to complain about. But with two weeks left until my presentation, that oh so familiar stress is creeping back into my body and I really can’t wait to have just one moment where I don’t have any work-related things to do or worry about. Just a short respite. I suppose it will never come, but I envy those who are able to let stuff like this go and live life fully—like Lee is doing right next to me. You know, work to live not live to work, as he says. At 9pm, one hour before our planned departure for the Goodfellas sports bar, we both pass out (a little jet lagged I guess). No UEFA and we have only ourselves to blame. I couldn’t even lift my eyelids to watch the Shakira in Dubai concert they’re playing on TV. We sleep as if we spent all day skiing.
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