Holy crap is this place crazy. I have had very little sleep as we flew into Dubai from Germany this morning at 6am and only got 2hrs of sleep on the plane and lost 3 hrs in the time change. I feel totally overwhelmed and a little lost but I know that will pass in a few days.....
After my dad picked us up from the airport we went back to his apartment and dropped off our bags and changed into our swimming suits and went to the beach nearby. It's a park and the entrance fee is about 15 Durhams (spelling?) which is about $5/each. There are three different crescent shaped bays with beautiful white sandy beaches (yes, with some cigarette butts and trash) but still beautiful.
We stayed there swimming and relaxing for most of the morning and came home for a much needed nap. We had lunch in the apartment and then went out for a drive to visit one of the local malls. Dubai culture seems very focused on mall life and driving in your car. There is hardly any public transit and everyone drives everywhere. The mall was JAMMED and had a range of people there...Indians, ex-pats (although very few), Filipinos, and lots of Arabs. The Arabic people were dressed so differently than I expected. Many of them looked like you or I, dressed in jeans, t-shirts and running shoes. Then the other side of the coin was present too...the girls dressed in their black abayas with varying degrees of head coverage (scarfs to eyes only showing to full scarfs over their faces). The contrasting reality was so sharp and even more, under those abayas for the girls are designer clothes, jeans, running shoes or high heels, jewellery and makeup! Unreal.
The rest of the day was spent catching up and booking a few nights at a hotel at the end of our stay to truly just chill out!
First impressions of Dubai:
1. holy big airport
2. holy crap so many people in the airport/mall
3. sand sand sand
4. cranes cranes and more cranes
5. no public transit system
6. this is a modern day Cairo...they are building the modern pyramids on the backs of the "slaves" (or laborers who come here and make about $10-20/day)
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