Bustling, materialistic metropolis - DUBAI

We flew in over arid mountain ranges and sand… and more sand and then squared off settlements with a few flat-roofed dwellings. Then suddenly Dubai came into view with its high rise buildings and innumerable half-finished ones topped by cranes (25% of the world’s cranes are in Dubai!). There are road works everywhere too, so taxis seem to backtrack and go around in circles to get you anywhere. There is a ‘waterway’, the Creek (which is being extended all the time), running through the city and the gardens are spectacular (plenty of desalinated water – it tastes good too!) It is a very clean city with very little crime. It feels very first world.
Our friends have a lovely villa – fully air-conditioned, year round -but temperatures are very pleasant in the few 'winter' months. The garden is small, but there’s room to sit outside and many bulbuls, sparrows and parakeets crowd the feeders they have out there. Their roof has a spectacular view of the silver and blue skyscrapers. Some of their friends live happily in high-rise apartment buildings.
As there are mosques all around, one hears the calls to prayer, loud and clear, five times a day – but it’s short – some are more melodious than others! Sandy and I visited one of the biggest. Our guide was informative and the building itself is hugely impressive (literally and figuratively).
On Sunday I also went to St. Mary’s, Sandy’s Catholic church. It seemed pretty full to me, but she says it is much fuller on Fridays, as that is ‘Sunday’ in Dubai! It is also a beautiful and very well-maintained building. A visiting Indian preacher gave very good sermon – on Rockefeller becoming a Christian on his deathbed, at 50. He then went on to live another 48 fruitful years!
About 80-90% of Dubains are ex-pats; taxi drivers are mostly Indian or Pakistani (Sri Lankan too?), shop assistants, domestic helpers, waiters/waitresses, seem to be mostly Phillipinos and then there are a vast number of professional people from around the world working there. Nobody pays taxes! Sandy and Roger use taxis to get around, as their Zim drivers’ licences are not accepted. They would have to do 100 lessons at high expense to get legal ones. Most professional people have their own cars. The driving is quite hectic!
Shopping is a huge part of the Dubai experience – shops stay open till 10 pm (except during Ramadan). The Dubai Shopping Festival was on while I was there. The malls are imaginatively designed and vast. One can get exercise and window-shop at the same time and also find anything and everything you want (what a treat!). One can also go on bus tours, which include stop offs at souks (Arabian type markets, gold, textile), the museum (which is excellent) and a boat trip on the Creek (it used to be more of a little creek before it was dredged and widened a few years ago). Then you can do the desert experience; dune bashing in a 4X4, a camel ride, desert sunset, a meal and Arabian dance show in a tent, henna painting - we didn't do this, but perhaps a not so tourisy one would have been good e.g. without hair-raising ride and henna painting?! There are also beaches, but didn’t feel a need to go there (surprise, surprise!).
There are loads of fantastic restaurants in malls and also in magnificent themed hotels.


On the last day Sandy and I met up with another ex Mauritian friend at a Lebanese one with a view of the ski resort inside the MOE (Mall of Emirates)! We also saw a movie, The Kite Runner, in that centre.



I hope you feel as if you have been able to experience a little of Dubai with me!

SHOPPING ADVENTURES

Seychelle Rupee 1 = South African R1, about SR15 = 1 GBP, SR7.5 = $1

First, to market – take a clothes peg for the nose if you’re squeamish about fishy smells. Fish of all shapes and sizes are laid out on concrete slabs, and men are noisily selling them. If you’re buying, glistening eyes say ‘I’m fresh’, dry and sunken, ‘I’m not very’. Egrets strut confidently about in the blood and gore - they get fishy bits for free. Buy locally grown lettuces and bananas here, as you won’t find these in the supermarkets –this is income for people who grow these at home. There’s nothing for less than SR10 usually –‘yay’ days occasionally e.g. avocados for SR5s each. It’s a tourist attraction and one day Miss Intercontinental contestants, complete with sashes, added a touch of glamour, skirting around the veggie bits in their stilettos and mini-skirts.

Then the hunt is on: SMB, Docklands, Supasave, Freshcut, Timoljees and finally little shops near home: For cheese (please oh please let me find cheese this week, any cheese – ah look there’s some, one large lonely wedge looking forlornly out through the glass of the empty cabinet, pleading ‘Please buy me’ - I don’t think so – at SR249 per kg); milk (forget about fresh, there isn’t any ever and I won’t complain if I can’t find my favourite, just as long as I can find some milk other than tins of sweetened condensed milk), but no, there’s none, not even powdered. I find something called Dairy Whitener at a little shop at the garage, but before I am forced to use this, Dudley phones and has found a shop with some boxes of long-life – quick, buy 6 boxes please; instant coffee, only one shop has a few bottles of one brand only – 200g for SR145. We’ll wait at that price; bacon – forget green or smoked, back or streaky, forget price even, if I can just find some bacon – oh lovely shop nearby, he has two packets of bacon cubes left - too bad they’re R99 per kg (do pigs know just how precious they have become?); razorblades, still none anywhere – it’s been months since I’ve seen these (perhaps I’m looking in the wrong places). Luckily we still have a few and my legs aren’t very hairy.

Last stop on the way home; Randolph’s fruit stall on Beau Vallon beach. It’s a delight; he always has bananas, paw-paws, mangos and coconuts and other times he has pineapples, grenadillas, avocados, as well as other unusual local fruits.

One can get locally grown fruit and vegetables at the market and supermarkets, but most have been imported; iceberg lettuce SR75, grapes SR120 per kg, over-waxed apples SR80 per kg.

Thoughts on days when there are happy surprises; ‘Shitake mushrooms – let’s give them a try as they are reasonably priced’; ‘yay, mince and chicken pieces today (too bad there’s no ham again)’; ‘Ah Dudley’s favourite Viennas – not in hotel quantities today, so let’s get some of those’; ‘rocket salad again at Timoljees – must be their ‘speciality’; “Yipee, it pays to empty the whole freezer and find the last vanilla icecream at the bottom – so grateful for our little shop.’

All we want is one simple ball of string to tie meat onto the rotisserie – easy to find, right? Nope, no-one sells anything other than the raffia/nylon type. Other things - to name but a few -that have run out at various times; bottled water (La Digue on a very hot day), coke, sprite, yoghurt (and one hardly ever sees plain), butter.

Be grateful - 8 years ago was far worse; the only cereal, Cornflakes, the only toothpaste, Colgate!
Desperate plight calls for desperate measures. One of the young pilot’s wives coming in was worried she wouldn’t find wine gums - her passion. So she wore a trench coat in which she had secreted 80 rolls. She drew attention, wearing a coat in this heat and was searched and made to disgorge all the sweets into the tray. She was mortified, but allowed to repack her coat with them. So now she happily sucks her soothing wine gums as she shops.