Keen
Blog – Dubai October 2021
Dear Jen,
Everything
is new in Dubai…and that includes the taxi drivers. On arrival in Dubai
we are shown to our taxi and are greeted by Fatima. She is definitely not
strong enough to lift Mrs K’s luggage into her boot so yours truly
obliges. She jumps into the driver’s
seat and lets me shut the boot too. Mrs K provides our destination and off
we go. Fatima
has an unusual driving style in that she is gripping the steering wheel for
dear life with both hands and is sitting right up against the steering wheel. At the first right
hand bend, Fatima seems to forget where the brake pedal is until very late
which sends us into a sideways skid. We are sitting stationary, sideways
across two lanes. “I’m
sorry” she says “this is my first day and I’m a bit
nervous”. She isn’t the only one. Is that first day
as a taxi driver or first day of driving? We are not sure. We set off again and we soon get that
déjà vu feeling. ”Have
we been this way already?”, asks Mrs K.
“Yes”. At
that point, any sensible person would have jettisoned, especially after Fatima
hit the kerb a few times. But I am armed with Google maps and I assume the role of driving instructor and
navigator. We get on to the (7 lane) freeway. Fatima is more
comfortable here. She
settles into the fast lane and toddles along at 35 mph. We are getting tooted by every passing
car. Every now
and then Fatima decides to change lanes. To be fair she got the mirror-signal-manoeuvre mostly right. 2 out of 3 ain’t
bad. A bus
nearly joins us in the back of the taxi as Fatima cruises across the freeway
lanes, blissfully unaware of the chaos she is leaving in her wake. By this stage we
are in fear of our lives and Mrs K is pleading with Fatima to stay in her lane. She exits the
freeway for no particularly good reason. We are still 10km from our destination. I advise her that
we need to do a U-turn.
I omitted to mention that she might want to check her mirror
first (my mistake) and we narrowly miss a passing car. Somehow, we get back onto the freeway. Obviously, we had a
bit of trouble finding our end destination (massive understatement) but we make it in one piece. Well, in fact, we abandon the taxi once we
decide we are in walking distance. I hope Fatima made it to the end of
her first day without killing herself or anyone else.
We are here
for the week, staying with our very good friends David & Jill and our first
day treat is to go with them to the T20 World Cup match between England and
Australia at the Dubai Cricket Stadium. We are short changed because we only
get to see 32 overs – England annihilate Australia, knocking off the score of
125 in under 12 overs, including a number of massive 6’s. It was our first T20 match and I’m not
sure we will ever beat that.
Amazing.
Last time
we were here in 2010, England were playing in the T20 World Cup in West Indies
and ending up winning it.
Hopefully that’s an omen. Something else that happened back in
2010 was that I left my Nikon camera in the back of a taxi on the way to a
restaurant. It
spoiled the evening but we did end up getting it back
the next morning thanks to the hotel tracking down the driver. This time I left my phone in the back of our
taxi on the way to Heathrow.
But we managed to phone the driver before he left the airport. By the way, I’m not
the only one to forget something. Mrs K left her sunglasses at home. But she remedies
that in a fancy shop at Terminal 5. I’m a bit afraid to think about what
other things might be repeated this time, especially in relation to trips to
souks.
This
photo is looking across to the Dubai Marina from Bluewater Island. The place has
boomed over the 11 years since we were here last to celebrate our 25th
anniversary. And
it’s still going. According to Wikipedia, there are 46 new skyscapers
under construction in Dubai, which is 2nd only to Shenzhen in China.
David and
Jill have a fantastic apartment on the island. We are in touching distance of the new
wheel which only just opened a week ago. It’s about twice the size of the
London Eye.
On Sunday
we sleep in beyond a time that is polite to our hosts and set off for brunch at
the Dubai Marina which is surrounded by skyscrapers. From there we walk in the 30C heat
around the marina, stopping in one of the malls to look at the international
shopping – Waitrose and Boots and the like. I get some trainers which means I will
need to visit the gym at least once while we are here.
On Monday
morning we visit a palace - Caesar's Palace and it’s no more than 100 metres from the apartment. We sashayed into the hotel which was
very appropriate to the ambience of the place. Unfortunately, there was a hold up at
the check in desk at the pool which brought our sashaying to an abrupt halt. "What do you
mean you haven’t got my reservation?", demands Mrs K. It turns out we (royal) had booked the
wrong Monday. Thankfully
any embarrassment was avoided and we shuffled to a
shady spot next to the quiet pool with all the beautiful people.
I have a
couple of days of work from here and then we plan to visit Abu Dhabi on
Thursday. Hopefully
Fatima will not be our driver for the day.
Part 2
On Tuesday
we visited a restaurant based next to the hotel that we stayed at in 2010. It is called
Rockfish, close to the beach and looks on to the Burj Al-Arab. It is my birthday again and we enjoy a
free dessert.
The idea
behind Dubai seems to be “build it and they will come”. They have been doing that for 20
years, through thick and thin, and they are very much still at it. I was observing
that there appears to be no rail infrastructure here until I read that there is
major rail project underway to connect the 7 emirates of the UAE, built by
Etihad Rail.
On
Wednesday we visited the Burj Khalifa, or rather the Timeout Market (a kind of
up market food court) which overlooks the water at the base of the tower. If you have ever
seen the Bellagio hotel fountains in Vegas, you need to double and triple that. You can watch a
very short clip here https://youtu.be/V1j3ZojNBX0
We enjoy
some time there before sampling the delights of the Dubai Mall. Retail is
flourishing here – the place is vast and very busy. It has its own cinema, aquarium,
ice rink and waterfall.
It would be easy to get lost if you didn’t have Mrs K with you –
she can smell the shopping opportunities a mile off. David and I spend a bit of
time waiting for the girls outside shops.
On Thursday we hire a driver and make the 1 hour trip to Abu Dhabi. His credentials are checked before we set off. His name is Wasim Akram – his parents must have been cricket fans. First stop is the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. Sadly the Sheikh died before it was finished in 2007 but he would have been proud of it, I’m sure. It takes me back to our visit to the Taj Mahal, but without the romance. But this is one of the largest mosques in the world with the largest hand-woven carpet (2 billion knots) and the 3rd largest chandelier. The Grand Mosque is an amazing spectacle and any visitor to Dubai must make the journey here to see it. Taking amazing photos is easy. The girls have to cover up from head to foot and Jill is chastised for allowing a wisp of hair show from under her scarf. There are also officials on hand to make sure masks are worn at all times. We are tipped off by a guide that there can be no contact when taking photos – no hugging on camera! Otherwise, the officials will force you to delete the pictures.
Next stop is the Louvre which is a futuristic building next to the sea. It contains an eclectic mix of art and is housed in a spectacular and futuristic latticed dome of aluminium.
On the way back home, we stop at the Yas Marina F1 circuit. David manages to blag his way past the security at the gate so we can drive around the compound, sadly not on the circuit. Wasim might have enjoyed that a bit too much.
There are a couple of very touristy things to do before we leave for home. On Friday we manage to convince Mrs K to take a rib boat trip out to the Palm. As you know, she is anxious about boats generally and a high-speed trip out to sea is not high on her list of things to do. Thanks Tony, for your prompts for us to visit the diamond souk before we leave – that is not anywhere on my list.
There is quite a bit of screaming on the boat and I am not sure how much Mrs K saw as she had her eyes closed for most of it. If you want to see a 1 minute clip of the boat trip click here.
That evening, the Jumeirah Beach Resort is teeming with people and the views across to Bluewater are stunning. Mrs K looks OK too.
Our last day here and we get to sample the views from the wheel on Bluewater Island. You cannot fail to be impressed with the scale of the place.
And finally, an evening where I get to revisit my misspent youth with pool and ten pin bowling.
We fly home tomorrow morning (Sunday). It has been a great experience to be here and especially having been so well looked after by our hosts.
Thanks Jill & David
Thanks for reading. Until next time
Jeff