Last day in the Gulf

  Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Saturday, October 18, 2003

Monday 13th Oct -continued
Get into Dubai about 2pm, where we are met by a representative from the Imperial Suites, where we are staying (yes, we succumbed again and booked accommodation through Gulf Air, which was probably just as well, as it took three tries before they found us a vacancy in one of their cheaper places (A$120 per night, which includes airport transport and breakfast).
Our hotel looks to be in a good position in the Bur Dubai area of the old town. Old Dubai is two towns: Deira to the northeast, and Dubai (also known as Bur Dubai) to the southwest. They are separated by the khor (creek), an inlet of the Gulf. Reception is pretty fancy, but our room is obviously on a floor that hasn't been renovated like the foyer, with a very stained carpet. We actually have a "suite", with a bedroom and a lounge area, but the lounge area is missing some of the furniture shown in the pictures, so it looks pretty bare. Also find that neither bedside lamp works. It also has the COLDEST air-conditioning imaginable. Take a quick trip to the roof to see the pool. We had imagined lazing up here during the heat of the day, however our hopes are soon dashed. It's quite small, with no shade anywhere, and the whole area is a great heat trap. After our hard day yesterday, and lack of sleep last night, we shower and head straight to bed for a sleep. Turn the airconditioning off, but still need to sleep under a blanket and a heavy bedspread.
Wake after a couple of hours, and head out about 6pm for some food and a quick look round. Can't believe how hot it still is - must still be about 38 degrees! Can't help ourselves, and walk almost as far as the creek, rather than stop for food when we find it. Consequently end up in an area selling material, and have to backtrack to the food area. Eat upstairs in an Indian restaurant with airconditioning, which we are desperate for at this stage. Have a very hot butter chicken, nan, aloo paratha, rice, salad, and fruit cocktail/banana milkshake - the first real food we've had all day. Then out to internet at a place that appears able to download our film and diary. Back to our room, which is still freezling. Do some washing and hang in the bathroom. Walking for day 4.5 kms.
Tuesday 14th Oct Dubai (United Arab Emirates)
Woken at 5am by the call to prayer from a very near mosque. Back to sleep for a couple of more hours. Have breakfast, then out for a "short walk". We're still having a love affair with Oman, and so far have found Dubai pretty ordinary. We want to use this stop to relax, and recover a bit. Walk as far as "the creek", and suddenly our whole outlook changes. The waterfront is fantastic. Abras (motorised boat taxis) are taking a diverse range of passengers from one side to the other, there are lots of large dhows carrying cargo from all over, there are interesting buildings along the waterfront, and a wide paved corniche to walk around.



Suddenly our "short walk" becomes somewhat longer! Walk past the Sheikh Saeed al-Maktoum House, and the Heritage and Diving Villages, stopping to see a recreation of a traditional Bedouin and coastal village life, including an interesting well and falaj system.
Walk towards the sea as far as we can go, and then see a sign pointing to a tunnel under the creek, which brings us out in Deira. Walk around the covered gold souk, and check out a possibility for a hotel tomorrow night, as our present hotel is fully booked, and we have to find somewhere else. They say to ring in the morning. Wend our way through various souks (not terribly interesting to us - just the usual stuff). End up back down at the creek, and check out all the dhows unloading at the dhow wharf. Realise that the Tourist information is not too far away in Baniyas Square so head there. We get maps and talk to a friendly African type about getting into the Burj Al Arab (Arab Tower) Hotel. He explains the need to spend at least 200 dirhams each, and turn up in appropriate gearr, politely intimating that it will need to be considerably smarter than what we are wearing, and polished shoes would probably help. We collect maps and information, then, when we are outside, he comes outside to give us a very handy public bus map.
We walk back to the dhow wharfage, walking alongside cargo stored for loading onto a 5 to 10 deep layer of ocean going dhows parked alongside. Most of them seem to be diesel powered, but have masts unstepped and laying along the length of the deck. We find the last two seats on the raised platform along the abra (ferry), on the sunny side, of course, and pay D1 for both of us. It is a very busy and interesting scene along the waterfront, and we take a lot of pictures. The tower on the waterside mosque is extremely phallic, and deserves a photo..
The ferry brings us into the money changer's souk, which is fairly new, with a wooden shade structure over, but most of the stalls are closed, as it is now the hot middle of the day. We are now up to about 11 km on our short morning walk, and are keen to get home, but head too far west in spite of seeing a building with a Rolla Residence sign across the sandy wasteland from the main street (Rolla is our street ). A lack of cross streets leads us a km to the west before we can cross to what is Rolla. It turns out that Rolla Residence is straight across the street from us. MP goes straight to the room while DP gets some provisions.
After a mid-day rest, we walk to the bus station about 4.30, which should give plenty of time to get the #8 bus to Jumeirah Beach before sunset. We have a moment of indecision regarding proper seating, as there is a ladies' section in the front of the bus. Initially DP sits in this, with MP further back, but it becomes obvious that escorting males can sit up the front too. On the way, we pass a number of landmarks, including the ship-like Customs building, some good mosques, some beach parks and the Emirates towers off to the left.
The sun seems to be setting remarkably quickly, so we get some shots of the tower from the bus, then get off the bus before the hotels to walk/run down to the beach to catch the sunset. Unfortunately there is a lot of haze, and the sun just peters out, rather than sets, but we get a look at the very good sandy beach and the late afternoon beachgoers. Wakling along the beach, we take a number of photos of the two hotels and the offshore restaurant before we have to cut inland around the high security fence. We decide it's OK to go inside the Jumeira Beach Hotel, which is designed as a cresting wave, so we brush ourselves up a bit, MP takes the backpack, and we front in to have a look at the foyer area, and get as close to the Burj al Arab tower as possible. The foyer is pretty flash, as is the mezzanine level, but there is no way out into the open air to look at the tower. In the lift lobby, there is a group of young girls going up, so DP quizzes them about viewing levels, and goes up with them, and the camera, while MP retreats to the street and waits a long while for her,
DP eventually finds the 25th viewing level, takes shots of the tower and the Beach Hotel atrium, then goes to the basement and walks past the guests only sign to get out to the pool area for some closer shots of the tower. Back outside, we walk past an artificial hill, which turns out to be Wild Wadi, a water fun park, to the car entrance and bridge to the Burj al Arab hotel, to get more shots of the tower, which is now being lit by vari-coloured spotlights.


From further along, we can't easily get down to the beach for more side-on photos (this is definitely the best, sail-like aspect), so call it a night and cross the road to catch a bus. The first bus stop, where they are still paving the footpath, looks a little too new, so we walk back to in front of the hotel where people are waiting. The #8 bus looks like it is not going to stop until we flag it down, but we get on for another D2 ride back the same way.
Back at the hotel, DP decides she will go and upload her travelpod, so MP comes too to load the photos onto a CD. The initial cost of the CD was supposed to be D20, but by the time the operator had done most of the work to unload 3 SD cards and transfer it to CD it got up to D50 ($A20, a fair bit, but still worthwhile for photos from PICT 2173.JPG to PICT2459.JPG, ie. 286 images). DP was not ready to upload travelpod, but internetted while MP walked a long way to find an ATM to take out Dh800, the biggest fastcash amount, so we could check the exchange rate through our national bank account..
By the time we got back to the room it was 11.30, pretty late for us, so we hit the sack in our still cold room. Once again, have missed out on our day of rest. Walked 14 kms.
Wed 15 Oct Dubai
Up reasonably early for our second included breakfast. with roughly the same buffet. The chicken sausages are starting to wear a bit thin, and the coffee is even harder to get. Booked a room by phone at the Al Khayyam Hotel on the Deira side, explaining that we wouldn't be there till after 12.. With that achieved, we could relax, with DP doing the diary, and MP packing. We were unable to get through to Huw and Mary in Abu Dhabi on the phone.
MP was keen to walk all the way via the pearling museum, rather than risk getting wet getting the bags onto an Abra across the creek, but we compromised with a bus, once we worked out which direction to catch it. The bags were a bit of a worry, but didn't raise any objection from the driver. We sat opposite the centre door to reduce congestion and ensure a clean exit, and it was certainly cooler and quicker than the alternatives.
Being now familiar with the Gold Souk area, we went straight to the hotel, booked in, and up to the room in the basic, semi-automatic lift. The room was another suite (Dh180 versus Dh160 quoted for a room,), not so grand, but much more comfortable, with all the needed items such as A/C, fans, fridge, TV and sitting room, and an external balcony as well. After settling in, we headed out towards the familiar internet, but got sidetracked by a Heritage house museum which we stumbled upon. It was quite well done, and nice and cool, more from the A/C than the architecture. From here we walked past rows of moored dhows to the first abra station. We are now abra experts, and get the favoured stern, shady side seats, get sucked into taking more dhow and mosque shots, and get out at the now familiar money changers' souk, and walk directly to the internet.
After uploading travelpod, we are ready to head back to the hotel, but find an interesting souk area which leads us to the creek, but not the abra station. We are directed back into the souk to find the exit to the abra station, forgetting that there are two, and the westernmost is for the upstream destination. We are now sweating on a short walk from the deira abra station, and are pissed off when the abra goes straight past to the upstream wharf, doubling the distance back to our hotel.
We settle in for our afternoon kip, but wake a bit late for our expedition to the Emirates Twin Towers. We have selected buses 10 or 91 as the best candidates but they are pretty scarce, and when one finally arrives, we are directed to the #9 bus, which takes another 15 minutes. It is coming on dark when we get the #9, and negotiate a trip to the Emirates Towers. The bus route number appears on a number of roads in the towers area, and it is hard to see how we can catch a return bus, but we hang in until we are on the service road beside the main 8 lane freeway. When we get off we look at the timetable information at the bus stop, and it seems to confirm that there is a #9 bus returning to the Gold Souk, so looks like we are on a circular route, and can expect any #9 bus to get us home. It is now quite late, and there aren't many buses left.
We walk up the road past the twin towers, taking photos of a variety of flash buildings and architectural features, noticing #10 and #91 buses roaring past on the freeway and understanding why they were not the bus of choice. After passing a right turn from the service road, we decided not to keep walking, but return to a known #9 stop, and wait for some time till it arrived. The bus route includes the Al Satwa bus station, which is right in the middle of a very busy Subcontinent (mainly Indian) market and commercial area which we should have photographed as a contrast to the sterility of the Trade centre and hotel zone. The ride back has its moments, as the bus driver is not in a good mood, but we arrive ok at the gold souk depot. We were planning on checking the minibus area for Abu Dhabi buses, but are too tired, and the area looks deserted, so head back to the hotel. MP has a pretty good sleep, but DP wakes a few times, and is woken again at 5am by not only the call to prayer, but the whole one hour prayer session, which is broadcast by loud-speaker from the next-door mosque. Walking 10kms.
Thursday 16 October Dubai - Abu Dhabi
DP manages to get through to Abu Dhabi on the phone, for Dh3.6, and we advise we will be getting a minibus about 11 am She then heads out for food while MP packs. Breakfast of French bread and banana is pretty good. We then check out, walk through the gold souk to the minibus stand to find all the Abu Dhabi buses leave from Bur Dubai, so catch the #8 bus, with the bags, once again without problems. The Abu Dhabi stand takes a bit of finding, but the taxi men are helpful again. It is now 10.45 am, and the front bus in the Abu Dhabi line looks pretty empty, so we are reluctant to get on, but the driver says it will leave at 11, and stows our bags up front. Tickets are purchased at the office, which at first appears to have black glass, and only a money and ticket slot, but there is a visible ticket man next door and we get two singles for Dh33 each, first world prices (which could have something to do with the fact that we're going to another Emirate, so the bus is not allowed to pick up passengers for the return trip - he has to return empty!)
The bus fills quickly, and leaves right on 11. We have seats just behind the driver and pretty good views, so take a few photos of landmarks on the way out. as the route is straight past the Emirates Twin Towers, and not too far from the Burj Al Arab. From this vantage, the comparison with the Jumeira Beach Hotel is more striking, as we know the latter is at least 25 floors, and the Burj towers (pun sort of intended) over it.
There is a major power station and industrial complex at Jebel Ali, and warehouses and factories of a whole range of European and American heavy hitters along the way, set in wide expanses of flattened desert.
The road is good, 4 lanes with trucks on the inside, then 120 km per hour speed limited traffic, then the 150 to 200 km per hour hoons on the outside. All the road is expensively fenced, and has tall light towers every 50 metres, and is heavily planted on each side with local scrubby trees and palms, some of which are pretty recent. There are real sand dunes in the distance and occasional towns. We have a 3rd world incident when one passenger wants to get off at one of these, but there is a continuous man-proof fence along the road. He gets back in, and we continue to the edge of the town, where a panel of fence has been removed.
Closer to Abu Dhabi, we can see extensive waterways to the north, but only through the screen of trees, and it is not obvious when we cross the bridge onto the Abu Dhabi island proper. There is a massive grey mosque on the left which turns out to be still under construction. The bulbous domes are more Indian than Islamic, but quite attractive. We have no idea where we are when the bus stops at the minibus depot, but by the size of the high rise towers, and the attached bus station, we must be reasonably close to downtown.
There is a pay phone, but only for cards, so DP tries to look lost enough for someone to offer help, but we are unable to beg, or borrow or a phone call, so buy a Dh28 phone card to ring Huw and Mary, to get the address so we can direct a taxi. (We first met Huw and Mary in Kathmandu in 2001 , when all the Royal Family was killed. They were on the Gulf Air flight that landed in the middle of the curfew, dropped off all its passengers, and then took off straight away without picking up any of the new passengers who were trying to flee Kathmandu at the time.) At Dh5 the taxi was pretty reasonable, and delivered us right to the door to a welcome break from travel and a reintroduction to western style living. Spend afternoon catching up with Huw and Mary, and exchanging travel stories. Huw is a Canadian medico (ex England), and is enjoying working here. Gets lots of holidays, which enables them to travel a lot around the region.
They live just near the Corniche, about two kms from the centre of Abu Dhabi, so later we go out for a walk along the Corniche to find the city centre. Back for dinner, and more conversation. Huw has lots of reference books on the area, which we find very interesting. Walking 6kms
Friday 17th October Abu Dhabi-Al Ain-Abu Dhabi
As today is Friday, the second day of the weekend here, Huw is not working, so we all to to Al Ain for the day. It is about a 2-hour drive along a tree-lined freeway to to Al Ain, and as we get closer, the through road drops into a void below every cross road, and the voids are decorated with plants, flowers fountains and waterfalls. At freeway speed you have to be quick to appreciate them. As we get closer to Al Ain, the big mountain and sandhills beyond start to dominate the landscape. Some of the sand dunes close to the road are impressive.
The town is a lot bigger than we expected, with tree lined streets, parks, and major buildings. The silhouette sculpture of HRH on one of the roundabouts is a recognisable likeness.
We stop at the museum to find it is just closing, so visit the adjacent animal souk, which has dozens of old trucks lined up in industrial buildings. Each truck has a number of goats and/or sheep penned up in it. It looks like a swap meet where everyone loads his truck and heads for the market, but closer inspection shows a lot of flat and half buried tyres. The trucks are long dead, and just used as elevated goat pens. Maybe it is easier to appraise a goat when it is presented at eye level. One of the locals insists on a photo with MP and the two ladies. I suspect he would have preferred one without MP.
Back in the Nissan, we headed out of town to Jebel Hafit, a 1160-high limestone mountain. up a brand new highway, across a very narrow ridge and up to a big parking area formed by cutting a big chunk out of the mountain top. The parking area was completely surrounded by a flash spiked fence, so photos of the mountain, surrounding desert, green irrigated patches and the town itself were taken through, or over this fence. No provision for adventurous spirits climbing to the summit. The only entertainment available here was doing donuts, as marks on the hectare of brick paving show. HRH's summer?? palace is just before the top, and there is a hotel on a point below it. We went in for a look at the vine draped atrium, but decided on lunch at the Hilton down in town, which has a discount for card holders.
At the Hilton, we had multiple nachos nibbles, drinks and North American sized snacks, including "chip butties", and "special chip butties". NZ was playing Canada in the Worlld cup on the big screen, so we hung in until the Canadians present could have the full disappointment, but the match was a lot closer than the 68 to 6 score indicated, with the Canadians standing up well in the forward struggle.
After lunch, we returned to the museum, but headed into the extensive palm planted oasis, where a falaj system was being used to irrigate sections of the grove by opening or closing rock and earth dams. We emerged from the oasis at a new palace museum, and took a long walk through the collection of traditional meeting rooms, residences, cooking areas and rogues galleries of all the past and present royal family. An interesting collection of faces and photographs, plus a gallery of portraits of HRH, which looked like either very well drafted paintings, or painting over a photo template. From here, we walked around the oasis loking for an active falaj washing place, which we couldn't find, then back past the mosque and the livestock. By this time everyone is feeling pretty weary, as it has been another 37 degree day. The drive back was unremarkable apart from extreme speeds in the outside lane, and the lack of interest by the numerous traffic patrols. The island nature of the place is more obvious having loked at the coffee table books, and you can see the watch tower which used to be in the middle of the ford.
Back for a light supper, reading of historic books on the area in Huw's collection, and off to bed for a good sleep. Walking for day 8 kms.
Saturday 18th October Abu Dhabi
Finally we have our day of rest! Huw has to work, and Mary goes off for an early 10 km run (she's running in a marathon relay next weekend). When she comes back we go for a leisurely breakfast as La Brioche (could easily be in Paris already), then back to apartment to read, do washing, get diary up to date, talk etc. Later in day Dianne goes with Mary to supermarket in a very large, very modern, shopping centre. Good view from here, across the marina and harbour to the main business area.
Huw back from work just after 4pm, and he and Muray watch the South African versus England rugby match.
WE'RE NOW UP TO DATE WITH OUR DIARY FOR FIRST TIME - WE'RE FLYING TO PARIS TONIGHT, AND TO CUBA TWO DAYS LATER