Dubai on AED 3.50 a day
Trip Start
Nov 30, 2007
1
7
34
Trip End
Jan 17, 2008
Dubai,
United Arab Emirates
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
The post was entitled Dubai on AED 3.50 a day, and comprised three portions:
1). Dubai on AED 700 a day, in which I described how my wallet was stolen, while getting onto a crowded bus, with everything in it. Because of my stupidity that morning (my money belt broke the night before), this resulted in the loss of both credit cards and my bank card. Also AED 700 and a decent hunk of Western money, as well. Highlights included a detailed playback of the theft, and self-cursing.
2). Dubai on AED 3.50 a day, in which I detailed noticing my wallet missing on the bus, introduced a new character in the form of the Dubai Police, and covered the police investigation, and the subsequent journey back to my hotel with the AED 3.50 (about 97 cents) change I had -- the change from buying the bus ticket
Photo op on Sheik Zayed Road median.
. Highlights included detaining an entire bus of Emiraitis (or rather, guest workers, since no locals would ever take the bus), and the description of jaywalking across the 8 lane Sheik Zayed road (to get the bus back to my hotel). 3). Dubai on AED 250 a day, in which I delved into the intracies of bureaucracy around these parts, as I attempt to call and get my cards turned off and emergency replacements issued. The highlights here included the rustic phone system which sells prepaird cards of AED 20, only to charge 2.50 a minute for overseas, which left me trying to resolve my problems in 8 minute phone calls to a faceless bureaucracy.
The post ended on a hopeful note, with both cards cancelled, and the promise of a new Mastercard in 3 days.
As I said, it was well-written, not dashed off in a few minutes in an internet cafe that's cheap, but bends you over if you go even one second past the hour.
I hope I get it back.
I hope I get a lot of things back, I guess.
To serve and protect.
The frustrating parts of this are:
1). I haven't really had anybody sympathetic, other than the police and one guy from the bus. Which is sort of frustrating, you know?
2). The pickpocket took the cash, and I don't think he's used anything else; neither credit card was touched when I called (and it was hours later; he could have bought a thousand dollars of electronics and a flight to Zambia by then). I'm not happy about losing the cash, but it's not that big a deal -- ask me about the time I lost $100 down a Chinese train toilet. The thing that's killing me is not having a credit card or any way to get any more money. (I'm hoping to get some wired from home).
3). The fact that I have enough money; I've got plenty to pay for my current expenses, and if I trusted internet cafes, I'd check my bank account balance, just to make me cry. It's just sitting locked behind numbers halfway around the world. If I was here and legitimately broke, it would be one thing, but in theory I'm not -- this is the gulf between theory, and practise, I guess.
4). I've become a lot more suspicious of everybody and everything, which I guess is wise, but is still paying a bit of a psychic toll, you know?
Anyways, I'm trying to keep my spirits up, and hopefully I'll be back in the flow within a few days. In the meantime, I'm seeing parts of Dubai that most tourists never see, for sure.
Al Hamdulillah,
Kevin :)
