My latest overseas assignment brought me to Dubai. I was there to cover an international airport conference, with focus mainly on the Malaysian airport operator.
The 4-day event had daily events to attend so we only had some hours in between to do other stuff. the ladies preferred shopping hence we spent a lot of time at the Souqs (Arabic for markets). we were mainly at this Naif Souq, which was famous for its fabrics and textiles. Meena Bazaar, another souq, was pretty nice as it was located next to the Dubai Creek. we saw several abras (water taxis) ferrying people on the creek.
Some of us wanted to check out the malls as we have heard so much about it. we went to two of the biggest and newest malls in town - Emirates Mall and Ibn Battuta. The latter is comprised of six different malls connected to one another. it was pretty cool. at one area, i felt i was in China, at another i was in India and another i was back to Persia. the interiors were done superbly. i was so impressed at the amount of money, efforts and ideas involved in the setting up of the place. it got me thinking ... geez, are people have such short attention span that they have to constantly be bombarded with something new?
some things were cheaper than Malaysia, some were not. i found a Nine West bag for Dir89, which was selling about RM150 in Malaysia (1Dir = RM0.98). cost of living overall was more expensive because food and transport were pricey. a normal meal cost about Dir10 to Dir15. i bought a number of shawls. they were cheap when i managed to bargain. i was quite silly in the beginning because i didn't bargain hard enough. i learned after that :)
During one of the formal dinners, we had the privilege of trying on riding a camel. i didn't like it very much because it didn't feel very steady but i guess i can now put a tick on my list.
There were more foreigners in Dubai than the locals. the service sector was predominantly foreigners. Indian and Pakistanis taxi drivers, Filipino waiters and waitresses, African shop assistants, etc ... we were in this shop called Pulwanis and the shopkeepers could speak Malay but they have never been to Malaysia! they even had a picture of Pak Lah as well as Malaysian newspaper clippings on the wall.
The city, divided into old and new town, has different sights. the older version of Dubai looked like Masjid Jamek in Malaysia. The new version is like our KLCC area. but of course, the size is manifold bigger.
Drivers drive quite crazily. our first driver wasn't familiar with the roads so he simply turned and went about as he liked. at one point, he was driving at the opposite direction of the road. you can imagine the relief when we were told we got a new driver after that ;)
There were more men on the street especially in the evening. women generally have to be accompanied by their husbands or male family members - this is according to one of my fellow reporters. locals didn't seem to be very polite. the foreigners were not rude but they were not entirely friendly either.
It seems contradictory to me when i see the religious practices at one end, and belly dancing a popular form of entertainment at the other. one of my friends said it's like Muslims being kiasu. hm ... i got to see a belly dancing performance and it was pretty cool. the dancer could really shake her bon-bon :D
I'm not sure if i would ever fork out money on my own and see Dubai again although i would like to experience the dessert. if i turned out to be rich, maybe i would :)
