I felt very pleased with myself; I’d had plenty of time to pack and get ready and even had a lift to the airport after having dinner with my good friends Jan and Mark. At the airport plenty of time to gather my thoughts, and I’d already checked in on-line. “Good evening, where are we off to tonight?”
“Dubai”
“Can I see your passport, please?”
“Yes”
“I’m sorry Mr Phillips, you were supposed to be here last night for your flight”
My world suddenly went into a spin of shock, surprise, and disbelief.
“What, what, that can’t be!!
“Can you go to the service counter and they’ll sort you out.,
I moved very quickly and desperately trying to control the rising panic within me. How could I have done this? How could I have been so stupid?
“Don’t worry Mr Phillips, a lot of people do this you’re not the first and you won’t be the last”
Somehow that didn’t make me feel any better about it.
“We’ll be able to put you on tonight’s flight”
Thank God for that, At least I was going to travel. They charged me $75 for the change of flight, but luckily waved the $150 fee for the no show the previous evening.
I got on board still kicking myself for making such a basic mistake, and settled in to the 7.5-hour flight to Kuala Lumpur and then another 7 hours to Dubai.
I’m sorry to say that the seats in economy on Emirates are no better if not harder to sleep in than every other airline, so I arrived at Dubai Airport very tired at about midday. An hour later we were through all the processing and luggage collection and customs and finally through to the taxi rank to get to the Hotel.
Wham!!! out of the air conditioning and into 44 degrees !! I knew it was going to be hot here, but when you’ve just left Melbourne in the middle of winter and step into this it shocks the system a little bit.
I checked into the Admiral Plaza Hotel, and go back into the comfort of the air conditioning. It’s amazing how much better you feel after a shower and cleaning your teeth. I went out for a walk to try to find some bottled water and coke to mix with the Bundy Rum I’d bought in duty free later on. I managed a circuit of the block around the hotel before I found a supermarket then gave up and went back. Neither the body, nor the mind was ready to cope with such a temperature battle. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing watching the ‘Bourne’ movies. I made it until eight o’clock before the eyes couldn’t take anymore and the brain shut down for the night.
I think it was about four o’clock in the morning when I woke up first. It seems that as I get older the jet lag gets me more and more. Breakfast at 07.00 and while I was stoking up for the day I thought I’d check if there was a tour that covered most of what I wanted to see in Dubai. They confirmed that there was but I would have to wait until 09.30 to see if there was anyone else, because there was a minimum of two people required for the tour. It turned out there wasn’t so just after 09.30 I headed out on foot to try to see as much as I could.
The Hotel was very close to the old part of the city and surrounded by all the computer shops. With instructions from the front desk and a free ticket to the Museum in my pocket I slowly made my way up towards the creek and the oldest area called Abra. It only took twenty minutes to get to the old fort, which now serves as the Museum, but the temperature was already 38 degrees!
It’s getting warm.
The exhibits at the fort give you a good idea as to the very rapid development of Dubai over the last century, but for all the glitz and glamour of the modern city it has become it’s still and trading based economy, with the feel of the ability to barter and bargain if you feel inclined. The old souk is very close to the fort and has been kept in the old style of building that had very tall chimneys to catch the breeze and act as cooling towers for the shops below, although these days that’s supplemented with air conditioning units.
The original air-conditioning
The old market
The next thing was to get across the creek to get to the spice and gold market. There are small boats that act as water taxi’s at various points along the creek and you only have to wait a few minutes before the next one leave’s and all for the princely sum of 1 dirum (about 35cents) As well as getting to the other side of the creek it allows you get a good view of the old boats called Dows, that still ply their trade from this waterfront.
The Dows that still work and moor along the creek.
The spice market is the same type of thing that Mike Green and I came across throughout Asia and especially in Istanbul. The smells are always amazing and “foreign” to our western noses, but evoke the feeling of being somewhere exotic.
I had a quick look around the Gold Souk but I didn’t want to buy, and after going into one of the air-conditioned mini malls within the Souk and finding it far more pleasant to be in than the 44 degrees outside
The gold business is obviously making a profit in Dubai!!
I started to head back to the creek to catch the water taxi back to the other side. Once there I soon hailed a taxi and returned to the Hotel to the welcome cold shower and air-conditioning to try to get the core body temperature down.
I left the next morning for the UK happy with the short time I’d had in Dubai, and still slightly dark with myself for not having the extra day there which I would have been able to fill quite easily. I’m glad I’ve seen the older part of Dubai before it disappears for good, although they seem to be realising that some of there heritage needs to be preserved for posterity.
Five weeks now in the UK which I never really consider to be a holiday. It’s nice to have some good beer, a good curry (which I think is now the national dish!) and catch up with the few good friends I still have there.
