Catching up on what I wrote prior to having internet access...
My flight over here was mostly uneventful, except that the guy next to me was obviously from a culture that isn’t big on personal space. Emirates is a pretty nice airline, though Singapore Airlines is still tops in my book. One nice touch: the ceilings have fiber optic pinprick lights that give it the appearance of looking at stars.
On the approach to Dubai I had to reset myself to “Qatar mode” – anywhere you see green, you are seeing the marks of the human touch; brown sand is the natural state.
I was supposed to get a tour of Dubai from a business partner of my neighbor, but it got cut short by my late flight on one end and the fact that his mom went to the hospital suddenly on the other end. Also, the immigration guy in my line took me to a special office, gave my passport to someone, and then left without telling me what was up, how long it would take, or who had my passport. Thanks, guys. The only cause I can think of is the Israeli passport stamp.
I did get an abridged tour because the guy dropped me off at a local mall to go wander around so I could at least see something. The highlight was seeing the hotel/tallest building on the world (depending on who you ask, because it sort of cheats with a 50m spire). It was dark, so I didn’t actually see it, but it was perhaps more impressive because what I did see were the blinking air traffic warning lights that marked it out. The lights went up into the night fog so much higher than anything else that I was duly impressed.
This was not “the” mall with the indoor ski slope, and as such it was really just a Houston Galleria with a few more burqas and a lot more money changing places.
The food court was different, however. American fast food was the order of the day, including joints that I rarely see in Texas like Hardee’s and Dunkin Donuts. Marble Slab and Cold Stone Creamery were both present. I ended up getting American fast food because they were the only places that took credit card, which I found odd given Dubai’s push to be a financial hub, its screaming commercialism, and the fact that I was in a very Western mall.
I joined several hundred people to watch the first half of the U.S./Ghana game on a big screen in the food court. When Ghana scored 5 min into the game the place erupted. I highly doubt there were more than a handful of Ghanians(?), so I can only interpret that as wanting America to lose. What I don’t know, however, is the root – were they rooting against us because it was David vs. Goliath and everyone loves an underdog, or because of politics?
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