Which way to the city center?

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14th and 15th Oct (others coming!)

So I am off, although a teary goodbye to the parentals is not on the cards, as it was a bit of a rush job “go Jack, we got to leave before they start charging us for parking, its free if you are less than 5 minutes!”

To be fair to them, this was the second visit to the airport this day, as my flight had been delayed for 3 hours. From this began an ongoing battle with Emirates Airlines to secure free rewards for my patience and understanding, but this time around the three of us failed in achieving much more than a meal voucher as Mrs Customer Services kindly informed us that there is nothing she can do, “it is an aeroplane not a bus, it is not possible just to shuffle people along the seats to squeeze an extra on.”

In I got to Dubai long after my connecting flight had left and spent the early hours of the Middle Eastern morning trying to catch some sleep on the airport’s floor amidst the warbling of Muslims being called to pray. My luck thankfully changed when check in finally opened. In a moment of desperation I pathetically poured out my sob story and reinforced it with plans of do-good in Kolkata (medical student working in a mental hospital co-founded by Blessed Teresa of Calcutta for the sick of mind…) which somehow won the check-in lady over a bit. She was concerned that an hour in Bahrain was not enough time to get from one plane to another and thought it best that I stay in a rather plush Emirates hotel with all-inclusive meals and catch a direct flight to Kolkata the following day. Reluctantly I took up the offer.

So Dubai, after catching up on some sleep, I hit the city hard seeing all the sites and taking in all the scenes. That was the plan anyway. What actually materialized was me spending about an hour trying to cross the equivalent of the M25 just with twice as much traffic and no pedestrian crossings. I eventually found a way across after learning that the key is to negotiate each lane individually. You would think somewhere being such a developed commercial center would at least install a few pedestrian crossings where I need them. But no. Although looking around, I realized that apart from the workmen by the roadsides, I was pretty much the only one ambling about in the mid-afternoon sun, all the other rich Dubaians opting for their comfy AC vehicles trying to avoid the deluded white man stranded in the middle of the bypass. So onwards I trekked towards the city center, looking forward to seeing the striking architecture of hotels and tower blocks, including the tallest building in the world. It was not until I was actually standing outside The City Center, that I realized CBD’s do not tend to be labeled so blatantly, and that it was in fact a shopping mall I had reached after hours of effort. Brilliant.

It should be understandable then, that I opted for the 4 hour city tour on offer that evening, and got to see the 7 star hotel, famous buildings and The palm islands all from the comfort of an AC minibus. The locals really do no best.

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