Dubai book-ended our trip to Europe, so we enjoyed a couple of days on the way there and on the way home. Despite doing and seeing lots of thing while we were there, I actually ended up with only a handful of photos. There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, we were visiting family, and as such we ended up just enjoying the time together rather than rushing around and seeing the sights, and with our 15-month old nephew in the mix, our hands were kept pretty full chasing him around. Another reason is that it was hellishly hot. I mean, I like the heat, but when it's 44 degrees with 80% humidity, it kind of saps you. So we spent a lot of our time indoors in malls and anywhere else airconditioned. When you stepped outside, the camera instantly fogged up and you spent the next 5 minutes wiping it dry and letting it get acclimatised, during which time you had started to burn in the sun and were soaking in sweat. Nuff said. It was also Ramadan on our first two days, and I was being extra careful to be respectful and not appear too touristy, in-your-face 'look at me I'm a Westerner' kind of thing.
And lastly, I got a cold. Which brings me to the photo that best sums up Dubai for me as well as the fact that I quite like the look of the photo. I was given a cold by someone on our plane trip, and on our second day it had it's claws sunk firmly into me and I was feeling pretty rotten. But seeing as we were in Dubai I decided to soldier on and enjoy what it had to offer and wanted to envelop myself in this strange new environment and culture. We headed into Bur Dubai, the old town, to take a boat across Dubai Creek (which is really a big river) and see the gold souk. Hm, nothing more likely to tempt a girl than the promise of all that glitters, even when she's sick. The added complication is that the old town area is even more traditional, so I had to cover neck to toe (tourists aren't expected to wear head scarfs). Oh, and another complication is that because it was Ramadan, noone is allowed to eat or drink in public. So there we were, walking through old Dubai, me head to toe in cotton and linen, it's about 48 degrees and 90% humidity, I'm feeling very sick and faint, and I can't have any water.
Needless to say I didn't last very long. I pulled the boys aside and murmured something about needing to sit down so we went into one of the gold shops for a bit of a look. And hallelujah, it was air-conditioned. But it clearly wasn't enough because after 2 minutes of looking around I felt an urgent need to lie on the ground, and my husband took one look at my white face and sat me down. The men behind the counter instantly recognised that I was struggling and immediately gave me a glass of water. I felt awful, there they were fasting all day every day and I a silly white girl couldn't hack it. I didn't want to be disrespectful and drink in front of them, but they were very supportive, and even dashed across the road to get me a juice. As soon as the cold water and sugar hit my bloodstream I started to feel so much better, but we decided that we should head straight home and get me some sudafed!
But anyway, back to the photo. We were on the boat back across the creek, and it was full of local men going about their business. They all stared at me, this (now very pale and washed out) young white girl with her camera. So I started taking snaps, because I realised in all of the drama I had hardly taken any. The creek was fascinating, it was flanked on both sides by so many beautiful old buildings and mosques, nothing like the high rises down the main drag, but smaller and more beautiful, slightly delapidated and worn out. It seemed such a stark contrast to the massive super-modern high rises in the new area. Along one bank of the creek were a collection of old boats, and it was only when we got close that I realised that these were people's houses, that entire huge families lived on them. Here we were, in Dubai - like Disneyland on crack - and there was such a huge contrast between the haves and the have nots. The boat in the photo caught my eye as it was the most brightly coloured boat in the flotilla, and seemed so beautiful despite looking like it was crumbling apart.
Later that night we managed to get tickets to the Burj Khalifa - the tallest building in the world - through my brother-in-law's boss's brother who was on the board. Ah Dubai, where you really need to know someone in high places! We took the lift to the viewing area on the 124th floor (of 200 storeys) and looked down on Dubai as if we were looking down from a plane. The height was incredible. Here we were in this amazing building, replete with all manner of beautiful modern embellishments, and I thought back to the boat. What a contrast indeed.
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