Sazz In The City: February 2018

Here's what I've learnt during my 48hrs so far in Dubai.

Its very shiny.

Its good to be an Emirati.

It's eye-wateringly expensive.

OK, OK - I've learned a bit more than that - but I am very jetlagged and I have been awake since 4am, so you'll have to give me a bit of a break! So I'm here in Dubai as part of a 10-day business trip in Asia. Its now Tuesday (I think) and my colleague and I head off to Thailand on Thursday for meetings there next week. I'm about 6 months into my new job (the last one, alas, didn't work out as the company decided to re-org everyone out - including yours truly!) and this is my first big meeting with some of the regional head honchos, so there is some degree of work pressure involved! (lest you think its all fun!)
Anyway, I've not been to the UAE before, so its fun to be able to check another country off the bucket list. I have to say its not one that's been particularly high up on my personal bucket list - given the reputation it has as basically being one giant shopping mall. Well, yes, there are a TON of ENORMOUS malls and everything is eye-squintingly shiny and ostentatious, but there is a little more to it than that, so I'm enjoying the time I've spent here so far.

Ginormous room. And with a little plaque on the ceiling pointing
to the proper direction for praying!

So I'm here with a work colleague and we traveled together from Chicago, leaving Saturday late afternoon, flying through Zurich and finally arriving in Dubai at around 9pm on Sunday night. I was sick last week and was behind on work stuff and prep for this meeting, so worked for a good portion of the flight - no Wonder Woman in-flight movie for me this time! (see? its not all glamorous!). Dubai is a 10hr time difference to Chicago, so by the time we got through the arrivals process (pretty straight forward, thanks to a Fast Track pass from Swiss Air), got a taxi and navigated our way to the hotel, it was 10pm - and I was WIDE AWAKE! Driving from the airport, got my first look at the city - there were some fun light sculptures, a dinosaur garden, plus an ENORMOUS rectangular structure I later found out is called The Frame which, like its name suggests, is a giant picture frame that you can go inside and then walk along the top arm, giving you great views of the city. Its a bit weird, but hey! why not? http://www.thedubaiframe.com/ I can only imagine the retail opportunities in the gift shop....

We arrive at our hotel and its very nice - again, fancy and rather overstated but everyone is very friendly and welcoming. http://www.hhoteldubai.com/ My room is on the 14th floor and is enormous - but it has all the essentials I need (ie a kettle and some tea). After checking-in, my colleague and I decided to decompress from the travel with a well-earned nightcap at the rooftop bar of the hotel - perched on the 40th floor, accessible by a separate entrance and elevator (manned by a fairly bored looking guy with an entirely unnecessary velvet rope). I think the velvet rope is there to stop people's wallets screaming in pain when they see the prices and making a run for the door! It was RIDICULOUSLY expensive. The kind of place where your menu choice isn't made on a "hmm...what do I fancy to eat that looks good and its reasonably healthy?" basis but rather a "holy shit - what is the least expensive thing on this menu that I'll be able to even have a shot at getting approved on my expense report?" basis. A basic burger was at least $30. The most basic chicken dish was $40. One glass of basic white wine was $20. Yikes.

So we didn't stay long at the bar after our food - it was actually surprisingly chilly. So after about a half hour or so, we headed back down the ostentatious elevator and puttered off to bed.

I did not sleep well.

I woke up coughing at 3am (have been getting over a severe sore throat and cough for the last 3 weeks) and couldn't get back to sleep again. I farted about on my phone, reading the news, and drinking tea until about 5.30am when I finally got up, got dressed and WENT TO THE GYM!!! OMG!!! I really did!!! My work colleague is a hard core exercise fiend who works out every morning, so I guess it rubbed off on me a bit - that combined with the fact that the gym had Peloton bikes!! I splurged on a Peloton for myself at home a few months ago and LOVE it (basically its a fancy-pants spinning bike with state of the art live streamed classes that you can join remotely - like Soul Cycle but without the hassle of having to go to a studio!), so it was actually fun to be in Dubai and able to log into my account and notch up a ride with my favorite instructor! (I did it again the next day too!). Feeling suitably smug, I went back to my room, showered and changed and headed down to breakfast.

YUM! It was a fantastic spread, with lots of beautifully sweet fresh fruit (I particularly loved the watermelon, cut to look like a slice of pizza), various breads and pastries, different flavors of labneh (like a yogurt spread thing), and an international array of hot foods including Western style brekkie stuff as well as Indian curries and dahl. I overindulged on various bread products (naan!) so it was just as well I'd burned a few calories earlier to compensate!

Yummy 65 degree eggs!

So today (Monday) was a free day before our meeting was due to start tomorrow. We got in a day early to allow us to recover from the journey - and to give us just a bit of time to explore and see the sights! I'd booked a couple of tours for the day so that we could maximize our time in Dubai (my first time) - the first excursion was a trip to see the Burj Khalifa - the tallest building in the world!! You have to book your slot in advance (you can't just rock on up) so we'd got a 10am admission time. We took at cab from the hotel and slogged our way through the crazy Dubai traffic, and got there a bit early, so beat the crowds and went straight on up! It was very similar to the Empire State Building, the way you were herded and shepherded through the building - with exhibits as you go about how the building was constructed. If you are interested in learning more about the tallest, shiniest, pointiest building in the world, have a look here: http://www.burjkhalifa.ae/en/index.aspx http://www.burjkhalifa.ae/en/index.aspx

We had a ticket to take us to the main observation level on the 124th floor. You can go all the way up to the 160th floor, but those tickets were exorbitantly priced (more than 3 times the price!) so we were content to see the view from the 124th floor. Quite high enough, in my opinion! It was a bit busy but not too bad - there were lots of Indian visitors who, to my amusement I'm ashamed to admit, had no idea how a revolving door worked! So there were a few bottlenecks as they figured it out - but otherwise it was a remarkably fast easy glide up in the super express elevator. I can't remember exactly how many seconds it took us to go 124 floors, but I think it was about 12 or so. Crazy balls.

The view from the (almost) top was impressive - but unfortunately it was quite hazy so visibility was somewhat limited. But you could still see all the massive skyscrapers that didn't even come half way up the Burj, the rooftops of the huge malls that are littered throughout Dubai, and the massive fountains outside the Burj that (apparently) put on a show to rival the Venetian in Vegas. We could see the Palm construction but not the hotel shaped like a sail, unfortunately. The observation deck was split over two levels, with part of the lower level outside, so you could peer through the rails and look directly out. It was weird but, after about 20mins, I started to feel a bit funny - vertigo-ey and a bit queasy. I think my brain was objecting to being up that high and not in an airplane - that plus jetlag, after about half an hour, it was definitely time to head back down. To refresh and recover, we found a lovely little café by the fake lake, where we sat and had coffee and fruit juice (again, costing about $20 each!) before we walked back through one of the malls, found the taxi rank and headed back to the hotel.

The Burj is not a modest building.

Its very high up. Oooerr.

There's a TON of construction still going on

Its too high!!!

The view from the 124th floor, looking up at the
very top of the building, all 160 stories.

Fake lake with fab fountain show

Finally figured out a camera angle to get the whole
thing in!!

Cool wall sculptures in the mall

Tall. Shiny. And not in the least phallic.

The second tour of the day was a few hours later, picking us up at around 3pm from the hotel - and I'd booked us a desert Jeep safari tour! It turns out that the tourist company is owned by a cousin of one of the (many) Princes - but despite that, these guys knew what they were doing as we had an excellent time!! Here are the details of the tour we went on: https://www.platinum-heritage.com/heritage-collection-desert-safari/heritage-desert-safari

Deserted!!

Experience the most awarded Desert Safari in Dubai. Take a step back in time and experience Dubai as it was 50 years ago. Your professional guide will escort you on a fascinating Dubai desert safari in a museum quality, vintage 1950’s Land Rover. Recognised by the prestigious World Travel Awards as The Middle East’s Leading Desert Safari and the Number 1 Desert Safari in Dubai on TripAdvisor.

These Series 1 Land Rovers were extensively used in the 1950’s and since then have become part of the UAE history. No other vehicle offers a more authentic desert safari experience to spot exotic local wildlife within the pristine Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve.

Not quite deserted desert.... if you look carefully
on the ridge of the hill, you'll see some Arabian
onyx!

Watch the sun drop under the horizon as you watch a falcon soar around you. Your Bedouin camp, lit with the gentle flames of traditional lamps is nestled inside a private Royal desert retreat. We will demonstrate cultural activities such as henna tattoos, music, dance and bread and Arabic coffee making before enjoying a scrumptious dinner under the stars. History comes to life in this once in a lifetime desert safari in Dubai.

It was great fun! We drove for about an hour outside of Dubai to a place called Murquab, so it was fun to escape the craziness of the city for a while. En route, we passed a TON of camels being trained for racing - when they race the camels, they actually have little robots with electronic whips mounted onto the camels in place of human riders (no joke!). Previously young kids were used as the jockeys but after a few instances where they fell off and got trampled to death, it was outlawed in UAE hence the tech solution instead! We also passed the Dubai Camel Hospital - its a serious business out here!! Also, other tidbits I learned about life in the UAE - if you are an Emirati citizen, then you receive big dolloping handouts from the government. You get free housing, free healthcare and $50,000 a year for doing nothing! For each child you have, you get another $50K!! You are free to marry whoever you like (and up to 4 wives) BUT if you marry a non UAE citizen, then you lose all the government benefits. They really want you to keep it in the UAE family.

The beautifully desolate Desert reserve.

When we got to Murquab, we transferred out of our transit van (there were 8 of us) and decamped into these very cool vintage Jeeps! There was some initial confusion as our guide thought we'd signed up for the camel version of the tour (we hadn't) but before too long, we were given souvenir water bottles, a canvas bag to keep them in, plus a headscarf which our guide expertly tied around our heads to provide shade and shelter from the sun and sand. We looked COOL. We hopped into the jeeps and were taken into the Desert Preserve for about an hour to explore and see if we could see any desert wildlife. Almost immediately we saw some Arabian Onyx - massive antelopey animals with the very distinctive long curved horns. Just beautiful. We saw some smaller antelopes too (can't remember their name) so we checked that off the list almost immediately!! We drove around the dunes for a while (sticking on the "road" as they want to preserve the dunes) and stopped for a few minutes to get out and take pictures. We'd been advised to wear closed shoes, preferably sneakers - and I think this was because those are the shoes that allow you to collect maximum sand inside them in the shortest period of time. All that lovely expensive mesh type fabric that lets sweat out and air in when you are running is just a perfect sieve for Dubai sand! I had to empty them multiple times - and when I got back to the hotel room later that night, even then I left a little pile of sand by the bed when I took my shoes off!! Presumably the hotel cleaning staff is used to it.....

Mysterious desert graffiti

After about 20mins wandering around taking pics, it was time to hop back into the jeeps and head over to the next item on the agenda - Falconry!! There were loads of cushions and mats all set out on the sand (again, very well organized) and, as we filed in, we were given a nice chilled glass of sparkling apple juice (obviously no alcohol). As we sipped on our drink, this Australian chap (who's name I cant remember) who talked to us about the art and practice of falconry - how its been a practice in the UAE for hundreds of years and was used by the Bedouin for hunting. How a relationship with a peregrine falcon is based solely on food. No food, no relationship (sounds like one of my ex's). You don't have falcons as pets! And also the origin of the expression "out of sight, out of mind" - its from when you stick the little hood on the falcon's head - basically it immediately puts them in a "powersave" mode!

The display was very impressive - the falcon trainer had some bait on the end of a long rope so swung it round his head for the falcon to try and catch. This bird was fast as hell!! After a few swoops, the trainer allowed the bird to catch it - and the show was over. But it was cool while it lasted. By the time it was over, the sun had set (rather unemphatically, if truth be told) and it was on to the next part of the tour - heading to a "traditional" desert compound where we were to be served dinner and entertained with traditional dancing, music and demonstrations of henna painting, coffee making and bread making. It was all very well done - very well organized and the food was plentiful and delicious. As we arrived in the compound, we were handed a tiny cup of coffee and some dates - a traditional Emirati welcome. Over the course of the evening, we were served multiple courses of food - starting first with some delicious lentil soup, with a nice cumin spice flavor - and providing some very welcome warmth! After the sun had set, it got cold! (well, durrr). Then there was a platter of various salads and breads and dips, followed by more food - some very delicious slow-braised lamb, chicken kebabs and lamb rice. There was dessert (in the desert!) but by that stage, I was completely stuffed, so instead found a spot by the bonfire to sit and toast, while watching the traditional display of um... rifle dancing.

My colleague and I both got little henna tattoos - and then spent the rest of the evening trying not to smudge them before they were fully dry! Right at the end of the evening, when dinner was over and the dancing was done, they turned out all the lights for a few minutes, so that we could all gaze upwards and look at the stars. It was a lovely way to finish the evening. Then, it was back to the jeeps and a transfer back to our van, before driving back into the city. As with all journeys, it didn't seem to take as long to drive back (weird that, right?) so we were back at the hotel by just after 10pm. It was a great day - tomorrow, our work meeting was due to start, so it was definitely nice to get some R&R in beforehand.

My final take on Dubai - its not a place that has ever been on my bucket list to come and visit but I'm glad I got to see it and its been a fun experience. There's a little video below that the tour company made during our visit (see if you can spot me!), so I hope you enjoy watching it and get a feel of the desert too!!

Next stop, Thailand and Phuket!!