Dubai adventures with John

Well, we’ve been to Dubai now, and we’re pretty sure we won’t be back.

Why? Well, a mix of reasons, some of them probably inconsistent with our views on other places. But, there you go, who said we have to be consistent?

We docked at Terminal 3 at Port Rashid and could walk from the gangway to the terminal entry in less than a minute. So far, so good.

The terminal is huge and ornate. It looks like this.

There was a promise of free wi-fi and there was, but it was very slow and kept dropping out.

Security on the way to the outside world was super easy. No problems there.

We had booked two tours – a three hour one starting at 10am and a three hour dinner cruise on a dhow with a pick-up of 7.00pm.

Mahmoud , Egyption

Our driver, Mohommad, and the “disability helper”, Harry, arrived with a photo of John and found us easily and right on time (10.00am).

Mohommed, Pakistani, the driver

We got to their van – a Toyota Coaster or maybe a big Hilux (about 8 or 10 seats), and they opened the rear to reveal a full complement of seats with no room for me. And, yes, John had advised them of his needs, even sending dimensions and photos.

Harry, Indian, helper

So they removed one seat and piled it upside down on another seat, produced a portable ramp (about 2 metre in length) to give John access through the rear door. The gradient was about one in four or five – not good for many, but ok for John.

Many of you will now be horrified to learn that there was no way to tie the chair down and no seat belt for John.

John shrugged and off we went on what we expected to be a three-hour tour.

Our guide, Mahmoud, was picked up at the entrance to the port – just why security allow only two employees of a tour vehicle to enter remains a mystery.

We all introduced ourselves and we discovered that our Guide, Mahmoud, is Egyptian, has a degree in Archaeology, our driver, Mohommad, is Pakistani with a diploma in Chemical Engineering, and the disability helper, Harry, is Indian with unknown qualifications (we guess none at all).

All three were consummate hosts and we all got on very well for the whole day.

The port is about 35 kms from the city proper but we didn’t head directly there.

Mosque

Our first stop was at the Jumeirah Mosque, just for a photo.

Burj Al Arab

Next was a photo op of the Burj Al Arab, a grand hotel with no single rooms, just suites, with the cheapest being $5,000 per night in the off-season. High Tea is about $220 per head.

We didn’t enquire about wheelchair access.

Next we were driven through the entrance (with security) and around the driveway of a luxury hotel, the name of which we missed. But just look at some of the 20 or so golden horses along the driveway. And the fountain is not bad either.

Interchange

As I’m sure lots of you know, Dubai was just a village from the late 18^th century until Sheik Khalifa convinced the separate emirate states to formally co-operate and take advantage of their oil riches. Much of Dubai is built on reclaimed land and the rest on sand.

We were informed that at one time 25% of all the construction cranes in the world were in Dubai doing their stuff.

The money, of course, came from oil. But now, oil and gas comprise just 3% of the Emirate’s income.

One of the most exclusive developments is the palm shaped series of raised areas. The piece d’resistance of this area is the Atlantis the Palm.

Let’s hope it doesn’t suffer the same fate as its original namesake.

Dubai Mall is reputedly the largest in the world and it’s adjacent to the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa (burj means tower).

The lobby of the Mall looks like this.

And just beyond the entry is the huge aquarium.

Up in the lift ground to level 124 of the Burj Khalifa in 60 seconds.

The view from Level 124 and 125, which we also visited, was stunning, if somewhat spoilt by the sand haze, which is apparently always present when the wind is blowing from the desert.

Adjacent to the Mall and the Burj Khalifa is an artificial lake where a fountain display is shown every half hour. Set to music, it is quite beautiful. It runs for about four minutes and attracts large crowds.

We were told the jets can be projected to the height of a 50 storey building.

Candylicious

Back to the van passing the largest candy store in the world, Candylicious.

The Dubai Museum is housed in an old fort and it houses exhibits depicting life in the Dubai area when it was a pearling centre and also a centre for trade.

We spent about 30 minutes there but could easily have spent a few hours.

Real women in museum

A panorama inside museum

Our final stop before returning to the ship was the Gold Souk (souk means market) where there were maybe a hundred shops selling gold jewellery.

(photos of gold souk).

The Souk was on the Creek which is an older part of town where the not-so-well-off live.

We were dropped back at the ship at about 4.00pm – so a six hour tour instead of three hours. Cool, we thought.

We had a bit of a rest and were waiting in the terminal at 7.00pm when Mohommad and Harry turned up on time to take us to our dinner cruise on a dhow on the Creek (actually an inlet).

It took a forty minutes or so drive to get to the marina area.

We sensed there was drama when the man in uniform from the dhow was seen pointing at the portable ramp carried in the van and phone calls were made.

Off we went to the dhow with Harry carrying the ramp.

Dhow

The entry onto the dhow was via a moveable five steps device, which was moved away and replaced by the ramp. 

A one-in-two gradient is too much even for this intrepid couple. And to make it worse, there was a 100ml step up at the top of the ramp, followed by a 100ml step down just 100ml later.

Offers were made to push John up, carry John up, and, most bizarrely of all, to get John and chair onto the ramp (which folded longitudinally) and then lift the lower end to level it out.

John politely declined all of these offers, pointing out the dangers to all concerned.

Mohommad phoned the tour company and John accepted apologies and offered a full refund and a trip to the Dubai Mall to see the fountain again (this time lit up, of course) and the laser show on the Burj Khalifa.

That was accepted and off we went.

Another phone call, this time from the manager of the tour company, who very politely informed John that the morning tour had been the wrong one (we suspected as much) and that it should have been three hours and that what we’d paid did not include admission to venues, amounting to some $140 (again, we had suspected this).

John struck a deal that the $170 we had paid for the dinner be just waived and it be declared all square. The manager agreed but said he now owed us $40 USD, so John got him to agree to give Harry and Mohommad $20 each (we had already tipped them at the end of the other tour).

The night fountain show and the laser show were probably better than our dhow cruise and dinner – so it all ended with our being happy.  However, the company’s administrative systems left much to be desired.

Marg had a snack at the Mall while John videoed the events.

Here is a taste of the laser show.

We were dropped back at the ship at about 11.00pm, exhausted, hungry and happy. Up to the bistro and something to eat and off to bed.

Day two in Dubai was spent trying to get free wi-fi in the terminal, but giving up and just relaxing on board. Oh, yes we did buy a couple of cheap souvenirs – a fridge magnet and a mug.

Many of our new friends had different experiences in Dubai and some did some interesting tours including camel rides and desert drives.

This last picture is for Bruce, showing cars in port - imagine the dust getting into them before the customer picks one up.

So why didn’t we like it – or more to the point, why would we not go back?

Basically, we think the culture and economic system is unfair to the poorer people and overly panders to the very rich.

Government revenue is raised not by income tax, but lots of user pays, which like a GST or VAT, disproportionally disadvantages the poor.

The political system is autocratic and, although seemingly benign or even benevolent at the moment, may not be when the ruler changes. Autocrats can always change the approach to things like health care and education (both good at the moment). With no public dissent allowed, this may be difficult to resist without violence.

Our inconsistency is that we love NYC which in many ways also is not a poor person’s paradise, and the US political system is also biased towards the rich. But we will willingly visit NYC over and over.

And finally, the weather in Dubai is just too hot.