Today we went to the Mall of the Emirates. It was enormous, cyclopean even. This is the mall you might have heard of, it has the indoor skiing facility, which is actually pretty impressive. If you are ever home sick in Dubai, come to this place and you’ll forget all of your cares.
Yesterday Meredith and I spent 6 grueling hours slogging in the streets of Deira, a section in northeastern Dubai, which pretty much looked like Devon Avenue on every steroid you could find. There were about 6 cell phone stores on every block, 10 sandal shops on every block, and every person on the street was trying to get me to buy “Copy Rolex” and “Copy handbags”. For the most part they ignored Meredith.
By contrast, this Mall of the Emirates was paradise. There were multiple food courts even. I spent a good 45 minutes reading in the Barns and Noble—American to the core, I know. Speaking of Americans, this seems to be where they all are. I sort of wanted to gag.
We met our friend Suleiman, who met us outside of the Skiing area. He was dressed in his nice Arabic white robe-thing, and at that point I think people noticed that we were kind of cool because we knew an actual Emirate. Keep in mind, the Emirates only comprise about 15% of the population of the U.A.E. and with all of the tourists and others, we were looking pretty badass. At this point we now had a car to get around in as well.
After eating at an Arabic fast-food joint called Beirut, we hit the road and set out for parts unknown. Suleiman is not from Dubai, so he was exploring as much as we were. Most of the guys we know live between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, so they don’t come here that often, just as Chicagoans are not commonly seen in Milwaukee.
We had a good time, there’s a bunch of pictures, etc. All I can say is that if you like shopping, this is the place to be. That’s about all there is to do by my estimation.
We drove around and tried to get into the big fancy 7 star hotel, but we didn’t make reservations a day in advance (lesson learned) so we headed to the mall next door which looked like some of desert castle; thin El Cid. That was nice, bought some post cards, drank some coffee, then we took off.
We drove around some more, saw some stuff, took some pictures and ended up at another mall. At this mall we met Sulaimon’s friend Omar. This mall was nice, for a mall. I got a haircut in this place, and gave a Dirham to a couple of little girls who were buying candy. I thought they were cute and funny; I think they thought I was insane, but my money was good so they took it.
After this mall we went to a super nice Indian restaurant. There was a live Sitar band rockin’ it on a stage and we had a really good time. The conversation was really great, though I think Meredith and I did most of the talking. We bitched about Pres Bush and the general ignorance and poverty of America. We talked about the fact that their growth and the changes that are happening, politically and socially, in the U.A.E are extremely good things for the Islamic world. They have the ability to hold onto their religious and social customs, yet they also have a lot of access to other countries and cultures, which opens their minds, and build global bridges. I really like these guys.
Now we’re in the hotel. My dad just arrived, which is great. The airline—uh-British Airways? —lost his luggage, but luckily my sis had package of drawers for him to wear. The hotel staff refused to give us a cot. It was really shady, but they were adamant. So, here is my big angry dis: the Al Bustan hotel on Al Nahda road in Al Quassai, Dubai is shite. Screw them and the crappy mall they rode in on.
There’s a lot more to say, but that’s enough for now.