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Dubai, United Arab Emirates,
Tom's Rambles: Wow! It's humid
here! When we landed it was at about 7:20 p.m. local time,
and the sun had set at about 5:30, but it was still 85 degrees
or so and so, so, humid. Sweaty! I was expecting desert, but
overlooked that we are right on the shore of the Gulf…The
population of the United Arab Emirates is about 3 million,
but there are over 1.5 million foreigners working here. Seems
that most of the taxi drivers and shop owners are from India
or Pakistan, and the staffs at both the Hyatt Regency (where
Pam and I are staying) and the Burj Al Arab (where Pat and
Ashley are) are an international mix. We have met hotel folks
from Malaysia, Lithuania, Germany, the Philippines, and others
and they are all friendly, helpful, and speak English…This
is neon city! It makes one think of Las Vegas, what with all
the glitz and all the lights. All of the store signs, neon
or painted, contain the name in both English and Arabic lettering…Speaking
of glitz, the Gallaghers invited us to dinner at their hotel
on Wednesday night. The Burj Al Arab is absolutely unbelievable!
Their room is the fanciest and largest hotel room that I have
ever experienced. This is the famous building that looks like
the spinnaker of a sailboat. Fountains, mosaics, neon, gold,
gold, and more gold, or maybe it's just polished brass. A
couple of the fountains are the ones where you swear the perfectly
symmetrical and constant diameter arcs of water must be created
by plastic tubes - until you run your finger through the water
to convince yourself it is free-flowing! Also, the restaurant
and the food were both outstanding…I hate to admit it but
I will: The Arabs, in their traditional dress, are intimidating.
One of the "laws" that Kamel Attuturk enacted when he formed
the Turkish Republic in the 1920s is that the officially-endorsed
dress code would be Western, not Islamic. Pictures of him
and his ministers taken at that time make you swear you are
looking at a Chicago Mafia group, due to the long coats and
old style fedoras. Only the violin cases are missing. But,
because of that, we could all relate quite easily to today's
Turks, as you know from past journal entries. For all we know,
the Arabs here may be the nicest people in the world. But
with their women clothed foot to head in a black wrap, sometimes
without even the eyes showing, and with the men in white flowing
robes with the "dish towel" on their heads…? Well, it's just
quite hard to walk up and say, "Hi Guy. How ya doing?" Hence,
although we have enjoyed our stay here greatly, we have no
"feel" for the natives. Like I've said, their hired help is
great, but who really are the citizens of UAE? Don't know.
Plus, right or wrong, I have heard the rumor that Arabs tend
to look down their noses at foreigners, infidels, and overall
are very haughty in demeanor. This rumor predisposed me to
play a role of quiet reserve, always trying to carry my own
bags, let the Arabs enter doorways first, etc. So far, none
of them have indicated that they didn't think this was just
fine, thank you very much. See what I mean? It's too bad they
don't come across as more, well, friendly. If they did, then
maybe we'd have a good dialogue and confirm the hypothesis
that we are all human "birds of a feather."…We are told that
the per capita income of the UAE is the highest in the world.
Maybe so, based on the number of fancy cars on the road. Oil
under your land is a good thing, eh?…And the high rises! Oh!
The high rises! This city has basically been built in the
last 35 years. Almost all is new, and it appears that each
building has attempted to outdo its neighbor in being unique
and impressive. Gorgeous! Roads, too, are wide, straight,
and smooth…This is a big port on the Persian Gulf, founded
here primarily because of a river - they call it The Creek
- that flows out of the desert into the Gulf here. Off shore,
one can see many large freighters and tankers. In the Creek,
however, which is too shallow for the big boats, the traditional
dhows still rule. They are docked side by side, about three
or four deep, all along the shoreline drive that takes us
to our hotel. We are told that they are a staple of trade
here, roaming as far as India and Sri Lanka, not to mention
the shorter routes to Iran…It is fun to watch American sitcoms,
in English, but with Arabian subtitles. Weird! They seem to
have a lot of episodes of "Will and Grace" showing. Does that
mean anything? There are more channels available here than
at most other hotels. CNN is still our staple. Geez! I wish
they would lighten up! You know, maybe they should also be
reporting on the number of deaths caused by bee stings and
snake bites. I bet there'd be a whole lot more than the Anthrax
deaths, right?…We all four played golf Wednesday morning at
the Emirates Golf Club, of Tiger Woods-winning-last-year fame.
In fact, I think the real name of the place is Emirates-Golf-Club-Where-Tiger-Woods-Won-Last-Year.
Except for the dense morning fog that caused our driver to
miss the turnoff and delayed our tee off time for over an
hour, it was great. Darn! I have been missing my golf hobby!
Dalton, Bob, and Bob, I sure miss our foursomes! But Pat and
I have a fun Nassau, Ashley plays well, and Pam? Well, she
enjoyed the great setting and took some fun pictures…For a
US dollar you get 3.45 UAE dollars and, yes, prices here are
not cheap…At the golf course we met many Britons living and
working here. It was like stepping back in time. Here was
the "retreat" for the "expats." No wonder they're here. The
weather is warm, the money is good, and there is no tax!…Before
our dinner at the Burj, we had a drink at the bar up on the
gazzilionth floor of this behemoth. There was a black pianist
who did a great Louis Armstrong imitation. Awesome! However,
we are not sure if he spoke a lick of English or not. Oh well.
It was great in any case…Speaking of music, I sometimes think
that if it wasn't for American composers and the Beetles,
there wouldn't be any music in the world! Everywhere we go,
the songs are all ones we know. Is American music really an
international language of connectedness, or are we just staying
around places that cater to Americans?…One cab driver told
us that the local joke is that Dubai comes from the phrase
"Do Buy." Maybe he's right. There are stores everywhere. Plus,
there is a big push on to develop even more tourist business
from all corners of the globe…American football needs another
name! Football, worldwide except for us, means soccer, and
that of course is a worldwide obsession. I got to admit that
watching the constant "football" plays-of-the-day on TV is
very intoxicating. That is an exciting game when played at
the professional, not the little league, level. What would
we call our football? American Mayhem? Catch the Pointy Spheroid?
Make Lots of Money? Nah, there must be a better choice!…Thursday
was a total day of leisure for us. Time to write these journals
and send them off, time to shop for a few necessities, time
to exercise and stride the treadmill (well, only for me; Pam
was not feeling welcome by the all-male group), time to check
e-mail, time for a nice dinner in the revolving restaurant
on the top floor. Yeah, time for that, too. It's been a good
couple of days!
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