Skyscrapers in the Sand

Thursday, January 02, 2020
Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
          Up at 4:40am. Ugh.  It wasn’t too bad though – I went to bed at a reasonable hour and slept well.  I was a bit worried when no driver was there at 5:00, or 5:15, or 5:30, but the hotel night manager got a private taxi to take me.  I half slept, half chatted with James, a Dar es Salam native.  He was very curious about jobs in the US and how much a car like his would cost there?  He also mentioned giving up driving (the government charges too much for the licenses), buying a car wash and starting his own business.  Good for him – nice entrepreneurial spirit!  He said Zanzibar is too expensive – um yeah, then don’t think about moving to the US! 
          Got to the airport on time (well, two hours early – which drives me crazy) – a long wait in a hot third world airport with no air conditioning – never fun.  On the plane, I randomly sat next to a guy from Nepal that I met on New Year’s Eve at the bar.  He works for a non-profit subsidiary of Tesla/SolarCity that does power projects in rural third world countries.   Interesting guy and fun chatting with him on the plane. 
          Landed in Dubai a little early.  Easy breezy through customs and getting a transit visa, then to the Metro to the Burj Khalifa / Dubai Mall stop.  Amazing views of the world’s tallest building which is a truly remarkable structure.  It took me forever to find the ticket window to get up to the viewing level but it was sold out for the day – boo!  I found a scalped ticket online but for $100 at 8:00pm, well past sunset, so I figured it wasn’t worth it.  Instead, I admired the views from the outside.  I watched the fountain show (think of the Bellagio in Las Vegas), then the unexpected LED light show on the entire building exterior – wow!  The display goes all the way up 140 stories and is synched to music playing in the plaza below – quite impressive!  I walked around a bit then had diner at Din Tai Fung – yes, there’s one in Dubai Mall!  Unlike the one in L.A., there was no wait here – at least at 7:00pm.  Yummy.
          After, I found a lounge at the Souk al Bahar across the way and sat on the terrace with a view of the fountains.  Watched the show a couple more times with a cocktail in hand.  An interesting place, Dubai.  Very modern but still with a traditional style and ties to its roots.  Not much “old” here but the new keeps the feel of the old without a cheesy fake feel, but rather in a way that tries to retain the genuine culture.  At lease that’s my brief impression.  Time to close the tab and hike back to the train before I get too tipsy.  Last Metro leaves at 12:30am so I will still have several hours to kill in the DBX airport.  Hopefully I’ll find a comfy place to sleep for a few hours…
          Prologue:  After a few more drinks at the bar in the Dubai airport, I found a semi-comfortable bench to catch some zzz’s.  Slept on and off for a few hours, then headed to the departure gate to board my Emirates A380.  I was in the back of the plane but had an empty middle seat next to me – yay!  It was a pretty comfy 16 hour flight (if there is such a thing) back to LA.  Slept a little and watched six movies!  Landed safe and sound and got home in time to unpack, throw in a load of laundry, check the mail and have a bite before totally crashing at 8:00pm.  Always bitter sweet returning from these epic adventures.  Nice to be home but sad the excitement and novelty of travel is over.  Well, I shouldn’t complain – I’m off for a two-week snowboard trip in less than ten days!  Time to recoup for a bit.
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2025-02-10

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