Dubai, UAE, Country 16, Stop 41

Oct 22

Today we travel from Amman to Dubai and Jack and I are under the weather. Basically we are just hanging in until we get to our Airbnb in Dubai. We are staying at the City Premiere Marina in a two bedroom apartment with a kitchen and washing machine and we have very little planned. We want to see a few sites, but mainly recover from Egypt and Jordan and being on the go for two straight weeks. Dmitri has work to do, Mia and I want to get caught up with blog/vlog, and Jack hasn't done any academic work in a bit. When we land in Dubai, we are given PCR tests and it is about the most efficient testing system we have ever seen. Which is good. Jack and I pretty much go to bed right after arriving at our apartment, while Dmitri and Mia walk to a nearby store to pick up some breakfast foods.

***Dmitri: Dubai is a Disneyland of privilege and excess. The bling has bling on it. The wealth flowing through this place is as attractive as it is gross. I’m not sure if I should condemn it or embrace it, and by the end of our time here I feel like I’ve done a little bit of both.

As a main example, this place is expanding and adding beach resorts. Yet the money powering it all is from oil, which is in turn causing sea levels to rise. So, those same resorts are likely going to be destroyed by the very thing that made them.

I don’t ever see a local working. Not ever. Every Uber driver, shopkeeper or general worker is from India, Bangladesh or Nepal. I think the locals have jobs, but never anything so common as public-facing service. We see them in their flowing white gowns in the Mall, and that’s about it. It’s so science fiction.

On a brighter note, the skyscrapers here are outstanding. Mia described it as equal parts Las Vegas, Tokyo and Blade Runner, which is about right. I saw maybe 200 skyscrapers and I don’t think any of them were traditional rectangles. Pieces of them are cantilevered out. There are holes through the middle. Giant terraces stick out from the tops. Curves abound everywhere--along their sides and at the tops. From our walks down the Marina, we see zero boring buildings, and it’s a delight to just sit on our balcony and watch the area flow. The boats cruise up the man-made channel by countless restaurants, malls and shops, while the buildings give it all a surreal backdrop. Hell, even the call to prayer here is nice. Whereas Turkey, Egypt and Jordan seemed to go out of their way to find the croakiest, try-hardingest, warbliest old men to belt it out five times a day, Dubai has gone another way. Here the muezzin sings out a gentle and melodic call. It’s soothing where the others have been hectoring. I actually stay outside on the balcony to enjoy it as ambience. And it’s not so damn loud here, so at 5am it doesn’t hit us inside our refuge. Apparently, Dubai got the memo.

Food and drink are expensive here, but for some reason the lodging is not. Apartment style flats are common and cheaper than our rent in LA. We stay in maybe the biggest place we ever have, and it’s reasonable. They also upgraded us to a larger unit, no doubt because occupancy is low everywhere. Covid giveth and taketh, so we may as well do some takething ourselves.***

Oct 23

I am feeling well enough to do laundry and it makes me VERY happy. After that, I nap again. Jack sleeps most of the day. Dubai in an air conditioned place with a comfy bed is a good place to be sick. Later I overdo a bit when I walk with Mia and Dmitri to the Dubai Marina Mall, but it's worth it!

Oct 24

It's Mia's 19th birthday!!! Happy birthday to Mia!

Jack is still not up for much and Dmitri heads to the gym while Mia and I head to the Coffee Club at the Marina Mall for breakfast.

Take a look at the guy in the back right of the photo. We're not in Kansas any more...

We have a nice, chill day and then head to the Dubai Mall for some walking around, a movie, and a birthday dinner. The Dubai Mall is the largest mall in the world. And right next to it is the tallest building in the world.

A fountain in Dubai Mall

Ice rink in the mall!

***Jack: The Dubai mall was massive, the architecture and shops were nothing like I'd ever seen in any other place.***

And oh my goodness, do they have high-end shops! There is a whole floor for luxury kid stuff--Burberry, Baby Dior, Roberto Cavelli Jr, Versace for Kids. If you want to spend money and a lot of it, this is the place for you. I lose count of how many women I see walking around with gift bags from Hermes. There is quite a bit of gawking. After walking for a bit, we head to the movie theatre.

***Dmitri: After more than a year of anticipation, I get to see Dune. I could have watched it a week ago on my laptop, but I know it’s going to be a big-screen epic. And, after having been literally at the filming site of Wadi Rum in Jordan, I know the vistas are massive and need the scale of a big screen. Does Dubai have a big screen? Big enough. The Dubai Mall, of course, being the monstrosity that it is, has a great cineplex inside. You know, a few floors over the ice rink. They serve 10 different flavors of popcorn, and to my delight, flavored steamed corn. This means we can eat intense flavors and feel like gluttons while not being terribly unhealthy. I ruin this instantly by also eating a ton of caramel popcorn. Whatever, I’m super excited for the movie and for once, high expectations don’t lead to disappointment. Dune is possibly my favorite novel (it could be The Years of Rice and Salt or LOTR, I’m not sure!), and although I actually liked the David Lynch version, this was just miles and miles better in every way. I recognized areas of Wadi Rum, but it just added to the experience rather than punctuating my suspension of disbelief. The capper, though, was that the protagonists of the story are white visitors to an Arab planet. And, uh, yeah, that’s basically us for the past few weeks and us in Dubai. Anyway, there is a nerdgasm and I am now re-reading the books.***

Menu at the movies in the Dubai Mall

***Mia-- It was my birthday, but we went to see Dune for Dad. I didn't mind, because I love Zendaya, and also it was great to see Dad nerding out and enjoying something that much.***

After the movie, we head to a restaurant called Tulum.

It is ridiculously priced, even for Dubai, but we are celebrating Mia's birthday. The view is spectacular, as we overlook the fountains in front of the Burj Khalifa.

And we are very amused by the purse stand they bring for us.

Apparently, having a pedestal for your purse is a thing here in Dubai. However, most women are carrying handbags in the $1,000+ (at the VERY least!!) range. So it's pretty funny when they bring a stand for Mia's Not A Bag:

After dinner, we go to Chocomelt and have this truly decadent dessert.

I think Mia has had a great birthday! We head back to the apartment and her phone starts buzzing with birthday wishes from the US.

***Mia-- 10/10 day! I turned 19 in DUBAI! Is my life real?***

Oct 25

Mia has found a Caribou Coffee and we walk across the bridge in the direction of JBR (the local beach). Although we like Caribou Coffee, it's not as nice of a walk or an area as our few favorite coffee places at the Dubai Marina Mall. In particular, Coffee Club has this Ruby Latte which is DELISH!!! We also see something called a Spanish latte, which is made with condensed milk. We make a daily habit of walking along the marina to get coffee. It's lovely before the sun comes up and it gets too hot.

***Mia-- Every coffee place in Dubai has oat milk. Score!!***

We have a chill day today and stay inside during the heat of the day. In the evening, we go on a yacht for a boat ride around the marina and by the Blue Waters area with Dubai Eye, and out in the direction of the Burj Al Arab. The Dubai skyline is pretty amazing and we were awed by the architecture. The air was the absolute perfect temperature.

Blue Waters and the Dubai Eye

Burj Al Arab

Oct 26

We head back to the Dubai Mall. Dmitri and Mia head up in the Burj Khalifa while Jack and I wander the mall. Then we all meet up for dinner at Jack's new favorite restaurant, Wagamama, and a boat ride around the fountains.

***Dmitri: We get to visit the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. It’s difficult to convey the scale of this thing, and it’s hard to capture it on film as well. When we are below it, the slow pan up to the top is hard to do. You really need to be far away, and to crane your neck into an uncomfortable spot. One thing struck me when I was reading about it: you can see the sunset from the bottom, then go to the top and see it again because it’s high enough that you see farther around the curve of the Earth.

Since Jack and Cindy aren’t great with heights, Mia and I go up. We fork out the extra money to go as far up as we can, which is the 148th floor. It’s crazy that there is such a thing. It’s spectacular, and there is a sort of VIP lounge area up there which we get expedited to and which isn’t crowded at all. The views from inside are amazing. We can see all the way down the coast to the Marina, and out to all of the world islands and the Palm. It’s mid-afternoon and hazy, but it’s fine.

Then we walk out on to the outdoor observation area, which is glassed in but has small horizontal openings to let in air and vertigo. It takes a while to acclimate to the height, but eventually we relax enough to look out and down and take the requisite pictures and selfies. The area around the Burj is packed with skyscrapers and the Dubai Mall and its lake, so there’s a lot to see, and boy is it far down there. It’s not that people look like ants from this high up. It’s that we can’t really see people at all. Cars and small buildings look like ants.

We head down to the regular observation levels on 124, which are crowded and have a gift shop and a video floor to simulate walking on a glass platform over the Burj. Thankfully it’s not too realistic or I’d lose it. I buy a token Burj card guard for poker and we head out. We were up there for an hour, but it didn’t feel like it. What a great experience.***

Oct 27

We've settled into a routine where we all have our hang out spots in the apartment. It's a luxury to be able to do laundry when we want, keep food in the fridge, and just be for a few days.

Tonight, Dmitri, Mia and I head out on a walk to the Blue Waters area. We walk through JBR until we get to the sand and then we walk along the beach, dipping our toes and wading into the Persian Gulf. The Blue Waters area is this funky area with lots of shops and restaurants and we enjoy walking around, enjoying the view and eating dinner.

Oct 28

We are all loving Dubai and really hate to leave. We like the rhythm of our days here, we like the location of our apartment, and we like having a gym in the building. We aren't quite ready to be on the go again so soon. Today is laundry, packing up, eating up the rest of the food in the fridge. We have negative PCR tests so we can go to Nepal. Also today is spent in large part planning out Sri Lanka for after Nepal. One thing we tried to avoid pre-covid was all the planning done while mid-trip. We had booked a lot of things so we wouldn't have to spend hours and hours researching places and making reservations. Well, since we often don't know where we are going as we wait to see which countries will let us in, there is quite a bit of planning to be done. Such is life.

***Dmitri: This is about the most first-world problem one can have, but it really is still a hassle. I spend about half of my free time trip planning, no matter where we are.***

***Mia: Not to sound ungrateful, but traveling this much for this long can be kinda tiring at times, and I've started to really appreciate finding a routine to make myself feel more sane. Going to the gym in the morning, followed by some sightseeing activity in the afternoon, then working on my vlogs in the evening is my usual routine if it fits the schedule. If I don't give myself some type of structure then I feel that being on this trip can get overwhelming. Dubai was a great place to settle into a routine like this and feel like a normal person for a bit. It's just the little things like recognizing the workers at the coffee shop, gym, etc. and having some minor sense of familiarity rather than seeing new faces all day every day (which is fun but can feel kinda isolating at times). Then, of course, I get antsy and can't wait to get to our next destination, but it's nice to "settle" when we're in one city for 4+ days.***

Oct 29

One last walk to the Dubai Marina Mall for a Ruby Latte and we head to the airport for our flight to Kathmandu.

From down the hall in a certain light this looked like a Yeti vacuuming...