Dubai

Eid Al Fitr marks the end of Ramadan. Families have a week off, travel to see one another, give gifts and celebrate, much like Christmas to much of the world. Since we observe Saudi holidays, we also had the week off. So, I jumped on my new friend Corry's bandwagon to Dubai where she has a friend with whom we could stay. Although our first travel arrangements didn't work out, due to the airline going under and ripping us off, we bought new tickets through Gulf Air.

Travelling out of Jeddah (often pronounced Ji-duh)

is quite an experience, especially after Ramadan.

Millions of people from all over the world make their pilgrimage to Mecca through this international airport. Corry and I arrived early for our flight out, to see hoards of pilgrims camped out in the airport with piles of luggage and giant bottles of holy water. Most notable are the conditions in the bathrooms and the array of smells throughout. Two words adequately describe the experience: vomit and body odor..well, I guess that's three.

On a positive note, the gentleman working for Gulf Air could not have been more accommodating: When I enquired about which gate we should pursue, he ushered me to the front of a very long line of impatient looking thobed men to have the man behind the counter print boarding passes and direct me further. I heard one man saying to another man behind me, "it could be worse.." I should mention that the guy behind the counter knew my name before I handed him my information. This is not the first time this has happened.

Once in the gateway, it was breathtaking just to look around and see people from Africa, Asia, and all countries between, with soiled feet and very tired (but satisfied) faces. Again, the bathroom was quite an ordeal. Women who don't seem to know the concept of a line aggressively pushing their way right in front of the stall door, knocking on it and shaking the handle until the person inside comes out. Ladies were claiming their stall by literally holding on to the handle. At one point, a little old lady made a gesture to me to just get on in there and claim a spot, so I just pushed right in and held on to a handle, boy. I must say, though, that most of the people I ran into were sweet and friendly; smiling and making eye-contact is something every language can understand.

Due to the short notice ticket purchase, I sat in business class on the flight from Bahrain to Dubai. That was a treat. A full meal on real dishes, a hot towel, and yes...my first glass of real wine in almost two months! It definitely feels different being a single women travelling in the Middle East. While it's not always required, I often feel more comfortable covering my head. Showing hair out here seems similar to showing cleavage.

Turns out, Corry and I have a lot in common. She is the music teacher for the primary grades. She's lived abroad in China and Africa, but Canada is her home. Her friend Obdulio (we call him Fonseca) has only been in Dubai for several weeks. He's teaching Spanish and originally from Costa Rica, so I immediately connected with him, but soon realized just how rusty my Spanish has quickly become. Fonseca took us to the world's seventh largest mall: the Dubai Mall. On facebook you will see a photo of the giant aquarium in the mall, which was a little overwhelming; things were high end and overpriced because people like to drop money in Dubai.

Outside the mall is the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. It looks like it reaches the height of a mountain and is very hard to capture in one frame. Apparently we got lucky and saw it on a clear day.

Fonseca also took us to a great local Arab restaurant where I became well acqainted with Fatoush, a cucumber and tomato salad with greens and fried pita on top. We drank fresh squeezed fruit juice (one thing NOT lacking here in the Middle East) and smoked mint shisha.

Corry and I spent the rest of our time exploring Dubai, while Obdulio had to work. We got around by taxi. First, we went to the Atlantis hotel, ate a perfect Italian lunch, and rode the metro down the spine of the "palm", a man-made island in the shape of a palm tree with condos and resorts. Another day, we went to the creek, in historic Dubai. On the creek were many boats for transportation and streets lined with vendors (souks) selling tapestries, electronics, gold, indian clothing......you name it! It was too hot to shop outside so we went to the museum and got a taste of old Bedouin life. Dubai as it looks today is younger than I am. In fact, construction in everywhere! The oil discovery was only in 1971.

We had a great afternoon at the Burj Al Arab (the sail-looking building on the horizon below), which is apparently the tallest hotel in the world. Just to go in, reservations with a minimum purchase are required. We sat in a luxurious asian lounge, drank a couple of adult beverages and sampled some snacks. The Burj turned out to be quite accommodating, as the concierge took great care in helping us book a desert safari.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xhu3OVpXRo

Obdulio was very generous to have us stay in his home (and sleep in his bed) for five days, especially because it was his first week of school. It was nice to start each day with some tea and end each day with good company in a cozy neighborhood home.

Our last evening was certainly the climax to a wonderful time away: we went off-roading through an endless see of sand dunes! Our driver was friendly and asked us if we wanted to go slow or fast. Well, of course we wanted to go fast!! It was a little scary and I think we all sreamed at different points along the way, as the jeep would seemingly tip to one side and slide down a dune, while creating a wave of sand higher than the vehicle itself. At one point, we pulled over to just get a look of the land and the driver offered us a snow-board to ride down the dunes. Woohoo!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n48ESbF6HWE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1UqThld-T0

After the off-roading, we went to a camp to ride camels, eat some authentic Arabian food, smoke some shisha, get our hands painted with henna, and hang under the stars. Did I mention the belly dancing? It was a magical evening and I'm so blessed to have shared it with two fantastic people: Corry and Obdulio. Unfortunately, my photog skills were lacking on this trip, but what I haven't posted here, I will post on facebook.