Arrival at Dubai

Really tired and seemed to have to walk for miles. The hotel driver reckoned it was a very busy airport. Well, not when I was there. Really slow moving. We walked and walked and walked and finally came to Passport Control. A bunch of guys in white suits hanging around. 2 or 3 at a time. Not many people waiting for them which was good, but just seemed, after all that walking and 10 hours on a plane that they could have moved their butts a bit more. Finally got to talk to a guy, he told me he was taking my photo, chatted with me, and stamped my passport. Then I walked some more, sent my hand luggage through an xray machine (didn't even have to take out my netbook and didn't take off my waist bag), walked through there and then went and picked up my luggage. Thinking about it now, they probably xrayed the bags while I was walking and walking and if there had been anything suspect, I would have been stopped. Just thought of that now. Makes a lot of sense and much easier on the passengers.

Average hotel. Got taken from the airport to the hotel, guys to carry my bags, checked in and here I am. Tried to have a shower but couldn't work it out, so had a bath. Can't get the tv to work, it seems to stay on DVD the whole time. Don't even know if it's day out there yet or not. Just peeped behind the blind and it is just starting to become day. Still thinking of a nanna nap, but not really sure.

When I was sitting in the van from the hotel, while we were still at the airport, I noticed a whole heap of women in pink. The cars they were getting in and out of had pink roofs as well. I asked the driver, and apparently they are taxis for women and families only. What a great idea. He also reckon that Dubai is 80% of the people who live in Dubai are expatriates. The driver himself was from India and sent money home to his family. Says that he couldn't afford for his family to live there. Also,apparently when he turns 54 he will have to return to India, or if he loses his job and doesn't get one within a month. I wonder what it would be like to go back to a country that you've not lived in for 20+ years, and to start over again at an age when most people are thinking of retiring.

Interesting.

Just took a couple of photos from my window. I think the nanna nap is not going to happen yet. I've started to revive.

Posted my writing from the airport on Blogger. I did a preview of it to see how it looked, and in the top corner it usually says “Preview”, well in this instance it had some very interesting Arabic characters. I'm assuming it meant “Preview” in Arabic.

I've just taken some photos. One is the lovely looking cups they have here in my hotel room. Lovely to look at, but very difficult to hold. Three are the view from my hotel window, and the last one is Nescafe coffee in English and Arabic. Hopefully you can see the Arabic writing.

 

I'm about to get dressed and go check out the hotel and see what is around here.

Madeleine

Thursday, 13 December 2012