Dubai is one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates on the Persian Gulf. It is the most populous and second largest after Abu Dhabi. With enormous construction and development in various industries, Dubai has attracted world-wide attention through innovative real estate projects, sports events, conferences and Guinness records. It is unusual in that its population is comprised mainly of expatriates, with UAE nationals constituting the minority. The government does not allow any form of naturalization or permanent residence to expatriates, however foreigners are permitted to purchase and own property without a local partner or sponsor.
We sailed into Dubai at about noon. It was nice to see a sail in for a change. They are usually so early in the morning that I miss them. Unfortunately it was overcast and misty, so it was hard to see the buildings on the shore. We had reservations for tea at the Burj Al Arab (the sail shaped hotel), so were dressed and ready to get off the ship as soon as it was cleared. I think we were about the 5th and 6th persons to leave! We checked out the shops in the temporary terminal they've set up while they are redoing the port. It's a tent and with the downpour, was a bit flooded, but OK. I mailed several postcards from the post office there.
We met with 2 other couples and a nice lady from the ship to go to the hotel. We were able to find a van that held all of us. On the way we passed tall buildings, one after another. Some were very beautiful, many were not completed. Once near the hotel, we had to show our reservation at the gate to the island. They looked for our name on their list. You are not allowed onto the island without a reservation of some sort. We entered the huge lobby and were greeted by women handing out fresh dates. Very good. Mel and I had to ship a Fed Ex package, so went to the concierge. They were very happy to help until they asked us for our room number. They accepted the package, but weren't quite as happy to do so when they learned that we were only there for tea.
We had arrived early so we could look at the shops before eating. The jewelry shops were unreal, with HUGE pieces with HUGE stones. The people were very nice even though I think they knew we were just tourists! We did buy a couple of things in the gift shop just to remember our visit. The day we were there was the day of the huge horse race, the Dubai Gold Cup. We were able to watch people heading out for the track. The ladies had on all sorts of funny hats. Fun to watch.
We had tea on the 27th floor. The elevator was all glass on one side so we could see the water as we went up. We should have been able to see the World development, a group of man made islands in the shape of the world, but it was too overcast. Tea was delicious, starting with a slice of meat, followed by small sandwiches, cakes and scones. We each had a choice of about 30 different teas. Some sounded very exotic. I chose the Iced Lemon Tea. We were there for about 2 hours. They kept coming around to refill our plates. We certainly didn't need dinner after that feast! It was very good. Nice to take pics from the 27th floor also. Too bad it was such bad weather, but good in a way, it was also cool! We were expecting a very hot sun, instead we had cool and wet. It only rains in Dubai maybe 4 days a year. We were there for 2 of them.
We went back to the ship to change then headed out to the Gold Souk. That is the same as a market. I was expecting a "market" instead we encountered jewelry store after jewelry store FILLED with gold! Amazing to see. Who the heck buys all that stuff??? Seemed like the only people actually buying were the young women dressed in those awful burkhas. I felt like it was so demeaning to women to have to wear those things. The women had tried dressing them as much as allowed with crystals and some embroidery. They were covered from head to foot in black. Sad. We went into a number of stores looking for the perfect piece to buy as a memento. I finally found a beautiful enameled gold camel. Very nice. We were at the shops until after 9 pm. It was pouring rain when we went out to look for a cab. We had to talk to about 5 of them before we could get one willing to return us to the port. We could almost see the ship from where we were but you had to drive around, back and forth thru construction to get there. Not possible to walk. We finally just jumped into a cab before telling him where we were going, hoping he would be an honest one. He turned on his meter and off we went. Other's had told us they weren't using the meter at night. It was an interesting day.
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