Tag: views

Dubai/Abu Dhabi

 

img_5296
Excess:
bold: defiant: beautiful: daring – all words that came to mind as I was shown building after building and shopping mall after shopping mall and hotel after hotel

The modern golden calf came to mind

Massive displays of wealth and people spending vast sums of money:
jewels the likes of which I have never seen before:
magnificent dresses ( can one call them that?) with price tags of $27000 plus.

A population of 2mil I am told but thousand more visiting – either to spend
money or earn it

My taxi driver was Indian – his wife and children still in India – he has worked here for 7 years, 3 more and he can get a house

While the Princes have no shortage of homes – miles and miles of ornate walls behind which they live in opulence hard to imagine.

Politics is easy – what the prince decided is law so no need for elections

And so ended a long day/ night with me asleep on a pool bench on the roof of the hotel – asleep that is from 1.30-3 am when I awake with a bump having fallen off my bench
I have a whole new respect for park bench sleepers 😳

img_5299img_5297img_5295img_5294img_5300

Don’t ask :(

img_5264

We learn fairly early in life that sometimes it’s not a good idea to ask a question
Now is one of those sometimes 😳 ie don’t ask ….
Instead of being submerged in the African bush with its smells and sounds and fast asleep
I am in the UAE – making the most of an expensive monumental “stuff up” to use the Australian expression – (no one to blame except the author) by touring Dubai and Abu Dhabi and trying not to think too much about what just happened.
And there have been some positives : from the hotel staff who despite me not booking a room offered me the use of the pool and showers; charged my phone; scanned my new tickets;
Gave me water and organised a private tour with ‘a friend’ which took in many sights and left me back at the hotel at midnight – where once again they allowed me to shower
So now that I have recovered from the shock ( well kind of) of the costs involved and the people I’ve messed around – I need to ‘fess up
It serves no one to beat myself up; I’m lucky I can cover the cost and I haven’t missed my tour date
And after being awake for almost 48 hours I shall try and sleep before my flight
Dubai/Abu Dhabi news another time