Dubai - Day 3

Monday, Feb 11 – getting around
08:45Am
We have learned from the experiences of our 2 days here. It’s time to leave the hotel early after a quick breakfast. The wait ain’t so bad today.
09:30 AM
Get started by uploading the activities of Day 1 on the internet to my blog. I’ve discarded the Formal suit routine to go in for a normal formal dressing. My goatee has also vanished. I’m trying to turn over a new leaf. JM continues to rib me over the last nights sleep disaster. All I can say is that I had one beer too many and coupled with a tiring day - resulted in a system crash. The good part being that I slept on my bed and not in somebody elses, Just kidding.
I look around - and evaluate the other stalls around us. Oh - there’s one petite Korean babe bang opposite, there’s another one diagonally away and of course - we do have an Indian in the adjoining booth. 3 cute women - and me - the married man - quite off the market for sometime now!
Ironically - i never wear my wedding band when I’m in Delhi. Supriya is always joshing me about it. But here - I haven’t taken it off - even slept with it last night.
01:00PM
Lunchtime. Well I’ve been exploring the cafe here. We’re bang in the middle of 2 of them. They charge 5 star rates and the food quality is just about average. I stick to stuff that i will not get in
India - the juicy beef burger. Yeah yeah - i’m a hindu - and it’s a poor cow and all that. But I have learned the benefits of being omnivorous - one never goes hungry or abegging for choice. So it’s a beef burger for me and a chicken one for JM. Add to that a couple of cokes. This is the staple diet for the duration of the exhibition.
06:00 PM
The exhibition ends and we exit - trying to find a cab. This is the beginning of the nightmare on Dubai streets. There are cabs - but you cannot see them, call them, hail them , stop them. The
only alternative is to walk to a distant parking lot “F” and stand in a queue for one. We see the daunting length of the queue and like true Indians - shy away. The queue ahead of us is a minimum of 100 taxi commuters long.
We start walking at about 6:25 and are doing so till half past 7. No taxi in sight. We head in the general direction of the hotel and hope to mind solace in the way. The formal shoes are killing me. JM has also slowed down. Our heavy working bags on the shoulder - this salesman style walking isn’t doing much good. Finally - I’m in the middle of an intersection - when JM calls ,
stops me - I turn around and there is an empty cab coming our way. This guy is toast - we literally step into the middle of the road ad block his way. He stops and relents. We get in without saying another word - close the door and THEN tell him to take us to our destination . he ain’t too happy about ie - but what the heck!!
08:45PM
We change into comfy keds and jeans and make our way out. Yes - we’re tired - but there’s still some spark left. So we ask the Gateman - if he can direct us to a good eating joint. He give us directions to a local KFC. We look at each other - a lil disturbed - he is a SARDAR after all!
We trudge down to the general location and eat a fairly disappointing meal - it’s not filling and the price ain’t worth it. Another long trek, a lil extra to a taxi driver and we find ourselves at the City Centre Mall in Deira. Now - this is a mall!!
My eyes are all around - it’s the DUBAI that we’ve heard about since childhood. Shops and shoppers galore. We’re not in the shopping mood - so we go in to watch a film.
We get the 10PM tickets for CLOVERFIELD. One kewl film - I’ll catch it again when and IF it gets to India. One thing I can say is that INDIAN cinema seats are quite better and comfy as compared to the ones in Dubai.
That said - I kinda like the trust that people have here. Yes - maybe the CCTV is on and someone is always monitoring it. Maybe the threat of chopped hands keeps people from shoplifting. But it’s nice to be able to walk into any shop and walk out without being gazed at in a suspicious manner.
11:40PM
We’re done with the film ad enter into the queue for the TAXI. This is a much faster queues - even though it’s longer. We head back to the hotel and I drop JM off to the room before proceeding for a whiff of Dubai Nightlife.
12:15 AM
Technically this is Day 4 - but we’ll stay on Day 3 for a while. So I head down to the Indian Nightclub on the ground floor - it’s called Mehfil. Reminds me the Mumbai Dance bars - cos that’s exactly the atmosphere they have here. Here’s the scene - 6 girls sitting on a stage, they start dancing to a number as their name is called out. They’re all Indian with names like Priya, Sunita, Mahek, Maahi but they’re wearing clothes which are sexy but fully covered. There’s a hint of cleavage in a few places - but nothing beyond that. You can’ touche them, call them, talk to them.... just watch them. It’s the height of hypocris where you take pleasure from watching a woman dance and want to exploit her - but its all in the mind. They would sit with their legs covered as if a skin display would offend ones morals. The men who wished to spend some money would call the local manager and he would give them to the girl in question.
I sipped my Heineken and watched things unfold :-)
yes - that’s all I did
I exited after a couple of beers and went to an Afro Night club thereafter. This was more like it.
But only Blacks - no white, no browns! They were givin me weird kinda looks so i didn’t overstay the welcome.
I finally landed up in Bed at 3 in the morning having made the most use of Day 3 to cheer myself
in Dubai