Tuesday, November 26, 2019; Dubai, United Arab Emirates
We awoke to find the lights of Dubai twinkling in the pre-dawn light. The Burj Khalifa was up until very recently the world’s tallest building. It stands out in the skyline like a needle piercing the sky. Dubai’s skyline is very modern, exceeding the architectural creativeness and versatility of Abu Dhabi, if that were possible. There is a modern cruise terminal and after we docked, a second similarly sized German cruise ship tied up.
We had a very full day with two planned excursions, as we had in Abu Dhabi. The morning excursion was a city tour featuring stops at a Mosque, along the ultramodern waterfront, a Cultural heritage center, The Dubai Museum, housed in an ancient fort, and the markets in the older central part of Dubai which included blocks of gold and jewelry dealers, blocks of spice distributors, and textile markets.
Driving around the modern waterfront is another exhibition of architectural wonders, with many structures listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. There is a museum under construction that forms an open oval.
Our first stop was a brief photo stop at the Jumeirah Mosque. It seems that throughout the UAE, there is an emphasis in portraying Islam as a peaceful and inclusive religion. Dubai will be hosting a world’s fair exposition in 2020 and its motto includes tolerance and coexistence as the world moves into the future. At the time of our visit, the Mosque was closed but its iconic architecture is echoed by other mosques throughout the city. In the residential parts of Dubai, there is a mosque every 2.5km, and building codes forbid the construction of any buildings higher than the minarets of the mosque. This is so that faithful Muslims can hear and respond to the five times daily calls to prayer. An interesting feature was there were what looked like metal benches scattered throughout the courtyards surrounding the mosque, but on closer inspection, these were retractable prayer rugs that could be pulled out to cover much of the courtyard. Another interesting feature was a small covered marble pavilion for washing worshipper’s feet. It reminded us of the water dipping stations situated outside Buddhist temples in Japan used for their cleansing rituals. We were not disappointed not to go inside- the crowds and waiting at the Abu Dhabi Sheik Zayed Mosque was just too much, and after all the cathedrals, churches and mosques we have seen on this trip, we are cathedral and mosque fatigued. We were just happy to get out of the bus to stretch our legs and walk around in the very pleasant sunny 78 degree weather.
The UAE has clearly envisioned their post oil future to rely on the entertainment and hospitality industry, creating mega-luxury resorts and entertainment facilities that surpass even Orlando, Florida. There are a number of theme parks, and the push is on to manufacture ever more man-made islands in the Persian Gulf to create ever more inviting environments to attract visitors. You may have see the satellite photos of Dubai’s artificial islands that look like a giant palm tree from space, and even a map of the Earth’s continents floating in the Persian Gulf. From ground level, these features just look like blocks of ultra modern and plush hotels, offices and condominiums.
Some of these structures were designed to reflect some of the Arab cultural icons. A cluster of buildings on the waterfront resemble the prow and sails of the trade ship that put the Emirates on the map as a trading hub on the Persian Gulf long before oil was discovered. The Burj Al Arab Hotel is the one that looks like a ship’s sail. We made a brief photo stop next to a huge waterpark. We didn’t get to get a peek inside, which is adorned with marble and 19,000 sq ft of 24kt gold leaf. We learned that it has 84 suites that start at $11,000 per night, and has a full time staff of more than 350 employees. The employees are housed in a much more modest hotel out in the suburbs of Dubai, and commute via a private shuttle. All of the non-administrative or professional employees are foreigners from places like Pakistan, India, the Philippines, and other countries. The minimum base salary for these service workers is about $500/month, but room and board is included, as well as transportation costs and healthcare. Ethnic Emirates get a minimum base salary of $5000/month, and most work for the Government or in high level administrative and managerial positions.
According to one of our guides, there are privileges associated with being an ethnically pure Emirate besides the 10x boost in minimum wage. There is an incentive to have children, but only if they are ethnically pure Emirate. Those children get a free education- that includes sending those children to US Ivy League schools if they so desire- at UAE government expense. All government positions are open only to ethnic Emirates. And healthcare is free to ethnic Emirates, even if they have to go to the US, or if they have to pay to have a specialist flown in from the USA to their country to provide care not locally available. If someone marries a foreigner, these benefits disappear.
There wasn’t much apparent to see at the Dubai Cultural Heritage Center, aside from a replica of a Bedouin tent, and an adjacent camel enclosure with a live camel and it’s cute calf. It wasn’t so much a museum as it was a working academic facility with offices filled with secretaries and anthropologists. What we did see there was a highly peculiar Japanese behavior of mugging for photographs. There was a large group of young Japanese tourists, and for some reason, they seemed to be 80% girls, with about one guy per 6 girls, and the guys seemed to have high end camera equipment. These girls were plugging up the narrow corridors striking their cute kawaii poses for their photographers singly and in groups. It seemed they had no interest in all at what particular site they were visiting aside from its potential to achieve a new instagram breakthrough. They seemed to be on a parallel itinerary because we would run into them again, and wherever we ran into them, they were striking poses for the cameras. They had apparently not gotten the message that women must dress conservatively in Dubai. We have been reminded multiple times that to visit mosques, all women’s hair must be covered, and arms and legs are to be covered with baggy opaque clothing. Well, these Japanese girls were all dolled up like Anime characters in short skirts and tops that probably would have stirred outrage (or something else) in native Muslims, but the majority of the population of the UAE are non-Emirates. They are now from India, Pakistan, and neighboring countries, working and living in the UAE.
From the Cultural Heritage Center, we went to the Dubai Museum, housed in the Al Fahidi Fort, built in 1787. Seeing this was a striking contrast to the modern steel and glass waterfront. There were exhibits of Dubai’s earlier days as a fishing village and early trading hub. Pearl bearing oysters used to thrive in the waters off Dubai, and were a major source of economic power until the Japanese flooded the market with farmed pearls created by seeding oysters. Dubai went through some very hard times, but managed to survive because of its importance as a trade hub for both waterborne and overland trade between the Mediterranean and Indian Oceans. But when oil and gas were discovered after WWII, Dubai’s fortunes would forever change.
We took a short but pleasant boat ride across the Dubai Creek to the heart of the old commercial district filled with streets of shops in specific markets. There is a street dedicated to gold and jewelry stores called the Gold Souk. There are neighboring Souks for textiles, spices and even household utensils. There were some pretty amazing pieces of gold jewelry- some looking almost like gold chain mail dresses and vests. The gold is priced by the ounce, but there are additional charges for labor and workmanship. It was fun to look at, but hard to imagine actually spending that kind of money. But in the UAE, there are certainly individuals with crazy money. There are more Ferraris and Lamborghinis in the UAE per capita than anywhere else in the world. As we drove on a highway, one of our guides pointed out a license plate with the single digit “9” on it. He had a good laugh, because it was mounted on a modest $50,000 SUV. He said that a single digit license plate is the ultimate expression of indulgence in the UAE. These are auctioned off like Renoir paintings. He asked us to guess what a single digit vanity plate might cost and we ventured a couple hundred thousands of dollars- go big or go home, we figured. Well, we were off by a factor of 100. So we were seeing a $10 Million dollar license plate. The license plate “1” was auctioned for nearly $750 Million dollars.
The spice markets had some very interesting items, but so many of the vendors had the exact same things that they wanted to show you, like Iranian saffron, sulfur, indigo and exotic teas. Most of the vendors were Indian or Pakistani, and many were very aggressive and persistent. You felt guilty about waving them off, but never in danger because crime in Dubai is extremely rare. Our guides all said that it is safe for a single woman to wander the streets in the middle of the night, and for people to leave their cars and homes unlocked, and purses unattended. Apparently the justice system in some Muslim countries is remarkably swift and effective. You do the crime, and you will face immediate and severe punishment. No appeals, no crooked lawyers to get you off. No country club prisons, and very few repeat offenders.
Our morning tour ended at the Souks and we got back to the ship with time for a quick lunch in the buffet and then back out to the terminal for our next excursion, which was a 4WD Desert Adventure and Oasis Dinner. We were picked up in 4WD Toyota Land Cruisers. These were smaller than the Ford Expeditions we had been in recently for the Abu Dhabi Camel Caravan experience. A tiny Ukrainian-New-Jersey woman hopped into the shotgun seat, leaving us and another couple in their late 60’s to sort out the back. There was supposed to be 6 passengers in each vehicle, but because the Ukrainian woman was single, we got to leave the cruise port with only 5 passengers and our driver/guide. Unlike the Abu Dhabi excursion, we only had to drive 40 minutes to get to where the desert dunes and camels were. We had an excellent guide who was born in Pakistan, but has worked in UAE for 19 years. His English was excellent, and he gave us a tremendous insight into the sociopolitical oddities of life in the UAE.
Our guide had done this tour with many traveling celebrities including Martha Stewart and Selena Gomez. He had a nice selfie on his phone of him posing with Selena Gomez. He said that Martha Stewart was charming, gracious and even pretended to like his cooking. We did learn that he has 3 young children and has been married 10 years in an arranged marriage after a prior failed non-arranged “love” relationship.
As we drove out of Dubai, we saw a huge mountain rising out of the desert. It looked almost as odd as Uluru (Ayers’ Rock) in the middle of the Australian outback. As unbelievable as it may seem, it is entirely a landfill with construction debris and garbage. There seemed to be an endless line of huge heavy trucks winding up the road to its summit and back down. We weren’t sure he wasn’t joking until the freeway exit sign clearly pointed out the landfill. So perhaps the mystery of Ayers’ Rock has been at long last solved- landfill for the long lost advanced civilization of Australia’s outback.
Our destination was an entertainment facility adjacent to a large nature preserve with populations of endangered oryx and gazelles. After turning off the road and into the preserve, our guide got out and let the air out of the Land Rover’s tires to reduce the pressure to 15psi. Then we headed out over the sand dunes for a wild roller coaster ride for about a half hour. We had spotted some gazelle resting under some brush, but we were hanging on for dear life and unable to get any wildlife pictures as the Land Cruiser kept pace with about 25 other Land Cruisers with passengers from our ship and other hotels around Dubai. We made two stops- one to take pictures of the dunes, and a second one to watch the sunset over the dunes and have a soft drink. Then we reached the “desert camp”. About a dozen camels were waiting outside the facility, which featured a central stage surrounded by low tables, a bar and several buffet tables.
Janet and I mounted up on a camel for a brief ride around the parking lot- just a few minutes. The saddles on these camels were vastly better than the Abu Dhabi ones, so the experience was not nearly as uncomfortable for Ben as had been the Abu Dhabi one. But as brief as the ride was, it was good and plenty for Ben. We are now experienced camel riders.
The dinner program included beer/wine/soft drinks, a buffet dinner featuring middle eastern fare (grilled chicken, beef kabobs, rice, etc) and entertainment consisting of a twirling male dancer, a belly dancer, and a fire dancer who put on a show very much like the Samoan fire dancers at a Hawaiian Luau. The whole affair actually was exactly like an Arabian Luau. The performances were good, and the food was plentiful and tasty, but we had to sit Arabian style on very low tables and pillows. This was difficult and uncomfortable for many cruise ship passengers. But the weather was perfect and there wasn’t a single fly or mosquito to be seen in the desert night.
We got back to the ship in time for a local folkloric show brought onto the ship. This featured a pair of twirling male dancers, accompanied by 4 female belly dancers. The twirling male dancers put on a show very much like the one we had watched in the desert oasis. At one point in the performance, the dancers flick on LED lights embedded in their twirling skirts, creating a wild light show as part of their dance performances. The ladies did a great job with several numbers, including a solo by one of the dancers. They also came down into the audience and got audience members involved in the dancing. It was an excellent program, and we were glad we made it back in time to watch it.
We finished our evening sitting on the promenade deck using the cruise terminal’s free wifi to download email. For some reason, Ben’s photostream for this trip stopped uploading properly. We may have to wait until we have a better internet connection to resume uploading photos from this trip.
Tomorrow is a day at sea, and another formal night. We have taken on new passengers in Dubai, so there will be another champagne waterfall, and it appears that a new progressive trivia will start tomorrow as well. So we’ll have a busy day at sea as we head back through the Strait of Hormuz and out into the Arabian Sea.
