Out and About in Dubai

In the week that I’ve been here, there have definitely been some adjusting to a new way of life:

(1) Apartment furnishings - or lack thereof. The weird thing about many Dubai apartments is that they are not furnished with white goods - we had to buy our own fridge, oven, and washer/dryer. And don’t even get me started on the dishwasher. In the States, it is the owner’s responsibility to provide at least the oven and fridge to the tenants. But apparently that is not the case in Dubai. Considering the amount of new apartments that flood the market each day, that’s a lot of white goods that need to be purchased by us tenants. And what am I going to do when I move? Take these appliances with me??? Maybe that is the norm here but it seems rather ridiculous to me.

(2) Cell Phone Charges. Perhaps because up to recently, there was only ONE mobile provider, so there was no competition, and thus no such thing as rollover minutes nor free nights and weekends. It’s basically pay-as-you-go! However, airtime is charged by the second so that’s one piece of good news. As I know only one person in Dubai, my recharge purchases should be infrequent for now. In case you wanted to know, airtime charge is 30 fils (or 8 cents) per minute. Not too bad I guess - especially if it’s charged per second.

(3) Roundabouts. I can’t even navigate Columbus Circle in New York and that has traffic lights! DB yells at the people who go through roundabouts all wrong - sadly, I am afraid I might be one of those people. Haven’t gotten behind the wheel of a car here yet but roundabouts is one thing I am not looking forward to.

(4) Camels. Every time I see one, I feel the need to scream out “Camel!” I saw my first couple (more like 30!) when we went to Babs al Shams which is located in the middle of the desert so no unusual sightings there. But imagine my surprise when I walked down the steps of my apartment complex and saw one standing on the beach at the end of my street. At first I thought it was a statue or something but then it moved! And then I noticed another one lying down next to it. Damn I wish I had my camera. It was sunset too so would’ve been a great shot.

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Well I finally made it to Dubai after a 2-1/2 months separation from hubby. Now we can finally begin our newlywed life having barely seen each other since the wedding.

I arrived last Friday morning after a 12-1/2 hour direct flight from NYC on Emirates Air. There were tons of movies on the plane so I basically had myself a movie marathon of sequels: Oceans 13, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Shrek 3, Spider-Man 3… The food was okay, the wine service was a bit lacking, but the plane was 30% full so I was able to get a window seat. Not much of a view until we started our descent over Iran and then it was a striking view of the dessert. I couldn’t help it - I took out my camera and took pictures out of the plane window. Of course, the images I took don’t do justice to the expanse of dessert landscape and sand dunes:

DB picked me up from the airport and drove to our new apartment in Dubai Marina. Our unit is on the 35th floor and has a great view of the Marina and a partial view of the beach and the Arabian Sea! Our complex has 6 pools and is a stone’s throw from the beach. Once all the construction is finished around us, there should be tons of shops and restaurants within striking distance. The Starbucks alongside my building looks like it’s just about to open up. And yes, there are many other US chains here as well: Pizza Hut, Domino’s, Papa John’s, Baskin Robbins, Dunkin Donuts, Haagen Daaz, Burger King, Johnny Rockets…

More Dubai observations to come later. Right now, here is a quick re-cap of my last week. DB took me to Bab Al Shams for the weekend which was really nice. We had dinner in a huge outdoor desert setting with the usual belly dancers, but also camel and horse shows. Lots of camels! We also enjoyed a spa day of massages and facials. I spent the rest of the week unpacking, checking out the pool and the beach (more camels!), and eating in a lot of restaurants.

Our internet and cable was finally set up today (hurray!) and we are now watching Mission Impossible 3 on Showtime with Arabic subtitles. I miss Ugly Betty.

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