Skiing in Dubai
Burj al Arab in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
After a day’s rest at Jen’s place in Bahrain, Zib and I flew on Gulf Air from Manama, Bahrain to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. One thing we were unprepared for was the prayer on the speakers before taking off from Manama. How come nobody warned us about this? Obviously this is a cultural thing which was totally fine and given that we had more flights something we had to take in stride. Still, I like to think that the plane’s flight is in the hands of the pilot. However, following the prayer, the flight crew went through the emergency instructions which culminated with the steward saying:
… and we’ll be coming through the cabin with drinks and a light snack once we reach our cruising altitude. in sh’allah.
In Arabic, in sh’allah means god willing. This is obviously in stark contrast to flights in the west where most passengers are likely saying a quiet prayer and having some sort of “god willing” moment of thought as we take off… but it is all kept to themselves. I found it fascinating that the close association of the faith with the culture keeps our mortality in the open. I don’t think this perspective is any better or worse than hiding our impermanence, but it was definitely worth the price of admission to gain this insight.
Landing in Dubai, we made our way through the opulent and deservedly famous Dubai International Airport. The heat of Bahrain prepared us for the midday swelter of Dubai in July. On our agenda for the day and the evening was to get to the Mall of the Emirates and see the world famous Ski Dubai. Walking through the Mall of the Emirates was far different than walking through a mall in the States. Because it is so hot outside, families will come to stroll through the mall in Dubai. And the mall is so huge, it is a much different experience compared to strolling through an American mall. Plus, there is a grocery store attached. I have yet to see this innovation in the States but think it is a pretty cool idea. Why not get ALL your stuff in one stop? Perhaps I’ll learn that this innovation in fact exists in the States, but I don’t recall having seen this set up before. Once we found the indoor ski slope, we made our way to the Friday’s restaurant and watched Emirati families enjoying the synthetic winter-wonderland while eating our American-styled food. It’s funny that I have to travel to the other side of the planet to eat at a Friday’s for the first time since high school.
Ski Dubai from the viewing window in the mall at the bottom of the slope.
The grocery store attached to the mall.
The next day we explored the old city of Dubai and learned quite a bit about the history and recent economic and population booms of this once quaint creekside village. I was also captivated by the large structures used to catch wind and funnel it through the structure to keep the occupants cool in the summer heat. Such architecture has been used in the gulf for hundreds of years! It would be great to see the use of some of these tried and true technologies – evolved out of necessity over hundreds of years – being increasingly incorporated into modern construction.
The streets of Dubai Souk emptied out in the midday heat.
Zib and I standing in the middle of one of the streets in Dubai Souk during the midday emptiness.
The next day we took a bus from Dubai to Muscat, Oman. While riding the bus, we were able to see the expanding limits of the city of Dubai. The construction (and the current level of development in the city) gave me the impression that Dubai felt like 10 Phoenix, Arizonas. Dubai is massive. But this rapid growth is coming at a high cost in human labor and rights. While we were there, we saw many news articles on the new laws in Dubai that prohibit construction companies from making their employees work in the middle of the afternoon heat in the summer. Many of the stories in the paper showed the rampant violation of this law by the construction companies. These stories really hit home as our bus traversed the web-like network of roads passing through the outskirts of Dubai. It was here where we could see the squalid conditions of the laborers – mostly men from Pakistan and Bangladesh. Those jobs looked back-breaking and the condition of their housing was deplorable from a distance. Perhaps things are better up close, but I doubt it.
Construction outside Dubai as we sped past in our bus to Muscat, Oman.
