Abu Dhabi

Last weekend (Thursday) I went to Abu Dhabi with Ruth to visit some of her family friends. We hopped the bus from downtown (cheap!) and were picked up at the Abu Dhabi bus station by a wonderful Indian family. The object of the day was to see the sights of the city. They took us out to a world traveling bookstore ship called "The Doulos" which was currently docked at the port (also the oldest ship on the seas--commissioned in 1914). Next we went for some amazing Indian food at a local resteraunt and drove around the city to see the various sights (Like the king's residence and the royal hotel.) The town was littered with sheikh's palaces. Abu Dhabi is oozing with money. After a thorough drive, we were all pretty brain dead from all of the food we ate. The day ended while we lounged on the couches at their house for a few hours before they drove us home to Dubai.


(L) The Doulos (R) city view from the ship


(L) on board bookstore (R) the tallest flagpole in the world


(L) Ruth and the kids [and giant penguin] (R) snow scene in the mall


(L) an arab enjoying the water (R) coastal road

Colin's Arabian Walkabouts

Church

Today I attended my first authentic UAE church service. The service was held in an unofficial manner at a villa in a residential neighborhood. Upon arrival, the people I rode with explained that while any church of over 40 people that does not meet on appoved land is not officially legal, it is nevertheless known about and tolerated by the government.

I was greeted by a duplex conversion. The central wall had been half removed and thus both living rooms combined to form a sufficient, although cramped, meeting place for around 100 people. (They hold two services each Friday.) The lectern stood in the very center so that whoever was speaking looked directly into the partial wall, but could address people on both sides equally. Everybody sat in white plastic lawn chairs and seemed comfortable with the lack of isles and elbow room.

The service began with a time of greeting and people rose from their seats and spoke to the group of happenings in their homes and families and things they were thankful for. Then an Indian man led some songs with his guitar, announcments were made, and the pastor stepped forward to teach from the Bible. His text came from Jesus' "Sermon on the Mount" and was delivered with great care and passion as he exhorted us: "God is not about a system but a relationship."

Afterwards, the chairs were instantly put away which made room for everyone to mingle. I talked with people, hovered outside in the sun, and left with my ride. In summary, I was impressed by two things. Firstly, the international mix of the church. I heard and met people from Indonesia, Lebanon, China, India, Australia, South Africa, France, Nigeria, and the US. It was no hidout for white collar expats. I also appreciated the stripped down nature of the whole thing. Everything was humble and unimpressive on the outside, but it gave room for something deeper. This church was people, not a building, not an aesthetic, not a rock concert, not an existential spiritual experience--but real people--in communion with God and each other. I was impressed.

The Burj Al Bling Bling

Last Thursday, Liz, the American Club coordinator and overall surrogate mom for all us study abroad students, arranged for a free tour of The Burj Al Arab: the world's most luxurious hotel. From the moment our taxis pulled up to the front doors we were treated like guests. A very classy Indian man, who's name now escapes me, guided our jaw dropping group through the main lobby, two resteraunts, and a typical suite.

The place is absolutely amazing. Every detail of this hotel is completely over the top. Like Allison said in her blog, we were talking afterwards about how boring life would be once luxury like this becomes old hat. After The Burj becomes mundane, what's left? Although the place was amazing, it was thankfully too much for me. I wouldn't feel comfortable staying there beyond some one in a life time splurge for some very special occasion. It was too gold guilded (everything was gold plated), too colorful, too extravagant. The Burj is like downing three consecutive peices of honey glazed Baklava: too rich.


The Group


Burj Lobby View


Lobby Looking UP!


Outside the Suites


Suite Entry


Suite Bathroom


Al Muntaha (The Ultimate) Resteraunt (delecately balanced 52 floors/200 meters above the sea opposite the helepad. See top photo.)


View from Al Muntaha to the Southwest. The AUD campus is nestled among the pictured buildings.

Khor Fakkan (pt 2)

For the first morning at Rudy's hostel, on the main drag in Khor Fakkan, I was awakened at 5:30 am by the Salat trumpeting from each mineret in town. There was no point in going back to sleep because I had over ten hours even at this point. So I rolled out of bed, packed up a small bag of things, and stumbled out into the dark morning. The streets were mostly quiet at this point, but I managed to hitch a ride to the Corniche (beach) and made it down before sunrise.



I wandered down the beach and found a bunch of men fishing with four wheel drive trucks... I imagine they dropped their nets out the night before and I had just caught them as they were hauling them onto the beach with little toyota 4x4's.


A fence (pictured) stopped be from continuing so I left the beach and stopped by the Oceanic Hotel. This place was some musty smelling Bollywood flavored establishment: the only hotel in town, with the market squarely cornered. The dive center was closed until later ( I wanted to check prices for snorkeling). After this I trespassed for about a hundred yards to make it around the point to my intended destination: a little private beach I had spotted earlier.

I spent the rest of the morning out there. I sat in the sand, and read some. I played around on the rocks. I caught some crabs and had fun playing with them. (They probably had a lot less fun than I.) Here's a family photo:

Click this link for a short video of "Whitey" and "Mr. Brown" in action.

Then I got in a protracted fight with a dungeness crab:

Then, after the intense confrontation, I turned on my camera, in a like manner:

Sandstorm

So I woke up this morning and the first thing I thought, upon stepping out of the dorm building, was: "fog". But then I realized that while the air was cool enough for fog, it was far too dry for it. Everything was bathed in a thick haze. It turns out, in the night, a mild sandstorm engulfed the city. Nothing stopped or even slowed, I suppose. The worst it did was gradually lend everything a light dusting. My hair is powdered with a light grit. My "side bag" (That Sarah Hoffman gave me for my birthday, thanks!) has collected the same. It also created a great sunset. (Above: This picture was taken while standing at the front gate (pictured at the top left) of AUD.)

(Sunset at Jumeria Residence. The AUD campus is one block forward and on the left of this street.)

Trip to Khor Fakkan

Now that I am back in civilization, I can post a bit about my trip to Khor Fakkan. I'll try to give it a little more detail than a complaint about the taxi service.

Sunday the 8th, I said goodbye to Tim Fincher at breakfast, checked out of the Le Meridean Fairview hotel and caught a cab to the Diera Taxi Stand. The place is more of a bus station than a taxi stand, so I don't get the name, but anyway, I arrived just as the last call for the Fujeirah bus was sounding so I waited a half hour and caught the next bus. There was a little discussion between the bus operators and I concerning my three huge bags. It was determined that if the bus filled, I would have to buy two tickets (Dh25 each). If the bus was not full, one ticket would be fine. So, after wedging my bags into the back seat of the bus, I milled around the station, watching TV, drinking Pepsi, snapping a few photos before the time came and the bus pulled away towards Sharjah and then the freeway.

The drive out was quite interesting. After we left the city, I began to wonder what I had gotten myself into. First of all, the driver drove the thing like it was a sports car. Secondly, as the city gave way to the desert I realized that I was headed into something more different than anything I had experienced up until that point. Cities are cities, but the bizaar terrain of the desert, the Islamic hick town nature of the villages, and my brooding over the fact that I was leaving English in Dubai, gave the journey an alien mood. I arrived in Fujeriah and quickly negotiated a fare with a crusty Pakistani (ALL of the cab drivers out there are Pakistani!) man in his beat up early nineties toyota. [It's funny, they all have those funny carpet covers on their dashboards.. Who uses those things?? ; ) ] We drove most of the way along the coast and I was astonished at how many ships lay perched along the horizon. I counted 48 at one point. I couldn't tell which ones were oil tankers and which ones were empty container ships, but I'm sure there were both. We passed by an oil terminal, where the oil tankers pull up to load oil. This one was rather small and I would guess it wasn't used for intercontinental shipments.

So, following the directions I had secured over the phone, we pulled up to a little gate along the road, and I unpacked my bags. The hostelkeeper's name is Rudy. He's a philipino (I never asked him how he arrived in a place like that!) and he kept a very neat house. The rent was Dh45 per night (which is about $12.) I booked two nights, dropped off my bags and walked across the street to a local cafeteria called "Hi Broast Restaurant". I was nervous until they served the food. WOW! The chicken was great. They also had awesome flatbread, salad, hummus, and some tasty fried desert bread, which was my favorite. My first day in in hick town arabia ended with a trip down to the beach and an early retirement to work off (or prolong) my jet lag.

Taxis and Buses

The taxi dropped me off at the "Diera Taxi Stand" and I was immediately accosted by men who wanted to drive me to Fujeriah. The first question I have is this: "How dumb do you think I am?" Why would I want to pay you dh100 to drive me to Fujeriah when I can pay dh25 and ride on the bus 50 meters away? Sheesh. I will admit, I pay too much money most of the time. I paid dh25 for a car from Fujeriah to Khorfakkan (Which, I am told is usually dh10-15) I paid dh50 for the 1 1/2 hour ride back to Sharjah (I am told, this is dh25 tops in a shared cab) My, (and their) excuse is the three huge bags I am dragging everywhere with me. I like to think of them as my three body bags. (morbid? yes.) So, in conclusion, yes: I am an American. I have to pay a premium for this I have found. (either that or I still have to work on my haggling skills.)

Comments

Quick admin note here: I was wondering why people were emailing me with their comments and not just commenting directly in the blog. Well, thanks to Starbucks Matt,(!!) I found out the comments were not working for some reason. Well all is well that ends well. The comments should be working now. So comment away!

Tour By Taxi

This was my first chance to get some time to expore Dubai. Tim Fincher and I left the hotel and walked across the freeway (which was an adventure!) to Our old digs, The Sofitel Hotel at City Center. The hotel is connected to a mall, which we slipped in to for some breakfast at this bargain place that Tim heard about. It was a very english meal: Grilled tomato, mushroom, sausages, one egg, toast, some beef bacon, and. All of this for under 20DHS (which means, "Under six bucks")



We hopped a cab which took us to the Diera Gold Souk. We were bothered by "Copy Watches? Rolex, Movado, Omega.. Very Cheap!" literally every minute. I told Tim it was because he looked so American. I, of course, blended in naturally. (Right: On a Dubai Creek Water Taxi)

After tramping around the souks for a while we hopped a water taxi over the creek to Bur Dubai. Tim mentioned the Dubai Museum, so we headed over to it. The mesuem is set inside a fort which is the oldest standing building in Dubai. The place was restored in the mid nineties and converted into a Mesuem. The enterance fee was under $1 and was well worth it.



Dubai Meseum



After we finished downtown. We decided to check out Dubai's newest mall called "Mall of the Emirates" (oddly familiar?) The Place was colosal. I would say the largest mall I have ever seen. I am still awed by the strange contrast of traditional Muslims in full Hijab and Burka shopping at stores like Forever 21, and Calvin Klein! The indoor ski slope was closed, so we could only snap a few shots through the glass.

Mall of the Emirates (Central Plaza, Ski Dubai, Starbucks!)


Sheik Zeyed Road (Emirates Towers, Financial District Skyline, Starbucks!)


Sheik Zeyed road is the main thoroughfare betwen old Dubai (ie. the creek, souks, downtown) and new Dubai which is spinging up at an ABSOLUTLY GROSS speed from the financial district to Jumeriah Beach Residence (which is where AUD is located, sweet!). I cannot fathom how many of those huge construction cranes they had to import into this city. I am not exagerating. There must be at least two hundred highrises/huge buildings under construction right now. I'm not kidding. At least that many. Maybe more like 300.

Well, we ended the day back at the hotel where I quickly dozed off into a three hour nap. We ate some dinner at Chili's down the block and turned in at the hotel.

Plans

Hello from Dubai!
(Left: On the bus to the Le Meridien Hotel)

The RZIM conference has now come to an end. It was such an impressive time, and lived up to and surpassed my expectations. The hospitality was generous, the lectures provoking, the company priceless. I was glad to be able to meet and converse with people from all around the Middle East--countries such as Lebanon, Syria, Pakistan, Egypt, Qatar, UAE, Jordan, and (exotic!) Texas. Plans are already shifting a bit as I work in a weekend trip to Qatar, and check flights, etc to Syria.

I know that a few of you have been concerned that I would end up homeless on the beach between the conference and my check in at the AUD dorms. No worries. As of now, I am sharing a room with Tim F. at the Le Meridien Fairview. He's here until Monday and we're going to check out the city together for the next few days. On sunday I plan to take the bus out to the East coast of the UAE and stay at the YHA in Khor Fakkan. This is a quiet coastal town and sounds like a perfect place to unwind on the beautifully sparse beaches. I could use a break from the pace of this town! I'll keep you posted.

Leaving the Gold Souk, Diera

This bagger, carted my luggage from the gridlocked streets around my Tuesday hotel to the taxi stand by the highway. I could hardly keep up with him!! We haggled on his price and finely settled on 5 dirhams, one dollar, and some change (excluding the British pence I offered). In all the bill came to around $3.50.

The Mall

Well, it turns out the shopping festival has not been ruined by the Sheik's death of a heart attack after all. The shopping mall that is connected to my hotel was absolutely PACKED with people and most every shop was open, with impressive sales. The thing that most amazed me, is that you would never know you were in Gulf region except for the amazing array of people. There were gulf arabs walking by holding hands in their long flowing white robes and sandles passing women dressed in full black with only their eyes showing, passing men and women dressed in the latest european fashions. Oswald, a Syrian cardiologist, and I walked the mall together because he was determined to show me what dates look like. Well, we never made it, as we both got so caught up in the stores, and Starbucks, and talking to other conference delegates that we never made it to the date shop.

Sheik Maktoum bin Rashid al-Maktoum Dies

Here is an article about it: LINK

Right now the whole country is shut down for four days (Ruining the shopping festival) Work resumes on Sunday.

Alive and in Dubai

Hello from the Middle East! I have been on the go since I hit the ground Monday night. I found out why the flight was so comfortable from Chicago to London. I was flying in business class! This was a harsh realization as I walked to the back of the 747 for my flight to Dubai. I survived although a little more sore/tired.

The walk through the Dubai airport was simply amazing. The place was opulant, to say the least. I was amazed by the incredibly wealthy Saudis decked out in their checkered headgear, long flowing robes and thousand dollar luggage. Customs was simple enough, and I made it through with all of my belongings, including the five pounds of coffee that are meant to sustain my habit for the next four months. Most of the coffee I have had since arrival has been unimpressive at best. (But come on, bad coffee is always better than NO COFFEE!) (Left: self portrait at the Dubai Airport)


Exiting customs, I was greeted by a huge throng of hotel drivers waiting for various guest arrival. Behind them was the taxi stand, managed by a "Hurry! hurry!" Arab, who, if he could have, would have pushed each of us into our cabs.

My driver was particularly unfamiliar with the layout of the city. I have heard that in London, cab drivers have to pass a demanding exam in order to earn their medallion. I think Dubai cab drivers are supposed to learn on the job. Thankfully I had my map of the city (thanks Aunt Nola!) and after some broken attempts, I made it "Souk Deira Street" and a little hotel (which, at this time, I don't even remember the name). The place was 200 Dirhams per night. Don't worry because that is only a little more than 50 bucks.


The souk district is decidedly NOT a touristy kind of place, at night. All of the stalls are dark and the many hotels cater mostly to the lower middle working class from Pakistan and India. My hotel was cramped but quite clean and comfortable. The bellboy loaded me and my bags into a little elevator that felt more like a dumbwaiter or a laundry chute with a lift installed. I concluded that it must be safe as this kid seemed to have used the thing for years and was certainly still alive. (Right: a view outside a window at the hotel)

Dinner is being served downstairs, so I must cut this post short. I will finish later!

In London

I found a terminal here at London's Heathrow airport. Can I just say: "This place is a mess!" Understaffed, mismanaged, clogged like heart disise. I suppose it is mostly my own fault because I decided to go out through customs and come right back through security. I think a visit to the dentist is more appealing now that it's over. My flight to Dubai leaves in 45 minutes and is just two gates away.
The flight from Chicago was actually enjoyable. I was finely able to relax. The seats were huge and the cabin was nicely dark and quiet for most of the flight. I had a good dinner and breakfast (which seemed like mind control because it was actually 2am on my clock).

I had better run and get on the plane because I already almost missed one flight. I was thoroughly scolded in Chicago.

Ta Ta