ABU DHABI AND DUBAI: YES, THE POLICE DO DRIVE MASERATIS

Unity Day bike ride that slowed us down ...a lot!

Today's Newspaper celebrating the 42 years of unity of the 7 Emirs

A royal family home decorated for the holiday.

I know I have been lax in writing about our two last stops. There was a reason for Abu Dhabi…I was feeling sick. So I sent Bos along with our two good friends Elaine and Jim for the long drive from port to Abu Dhabi (1-1/2 hours each way). First of all, you need to know that the Emerati countries are in competition with each other. So, with lots of oil money, the "Wizard of Oz" kind of city, only in white, shining on the hill.

Some of the opulance.

The Biggest mosque in all categories (until one of these Emirs
out does this guy in Abu Dhabi...not likely)

The "old palace".  New bigger one being
built nearby.

It was hard for the three of my traveling companions to enjoy the visit, as their guide showed up with a very small car, meant for two people, but supposedly to hold 5! Good thing I stayed on the ship! And, they added, there were no shock absorbers, as they bumped along the desert. Because Abu Dhabi is the biggest and best, it is also the capitol city of the Emerates. And the Sheik has built the biggest and best mosque of all the 7 countries, although the other sheiks are fast catching up. And because these countries are definitely sexist, women cannot enter the mosques, although some of a small room for the ladies off the balconies.

And, to confound things, it was the 2^nd   day of their founding celebration 42 years ago. So the streets were jammed with cars, animals, people and odd and assorted kinds of vehicles. So, disappointed, the three travelers turned around and spent another 1-1/2 hours getting back to the ship – where I had spent a delightful day reading my kindle in the air conditioned cabin!

But, on to Dubai. Now you all have been asking me and asking me what Dubai was like. Dubai has great press. But remember that almost all these 7 Emirates are floating in oil money. And they pay no taxes. So they live very nice lives. 

More buildings

One of the fancy monorail stations along
the middle of Dubai

The marina and MORE tall buildings

Skyline through the 'desert haze' (has the slippery look of smog.)

But first things first. Dubai is a shining city of many many skyscrapers. And, yes, the police there do drive Maseratis, Lamborghinis, and Porsches. I have never seen so many Rolls Royces in one place as in Dubai. And the city has got to be the dreamiest favorite of all architects, as the architecture of all these buildings is out of some George Jetson movie! The clean and soaring lines are not interrupted by old buildings, as the first tall building in Dubai was built in 1979. So everything is relatively young. That is certainly in contrast to most of the Middle Eastern countries.

As we rode around the city careening past buildings on every corner, our guide would say, "This is the largest shopping center in the world." Next up: "This is the tallest building in the world." "Here are some of the palaces of the Dubai royal family." You see, the Royal Families of all these Emirates have propagated extraordinarily well and there are 30 or more "Royal Palaces" for them, as well as summer, winter, and even in-between palaces also. Which brings up an interesting statistics: Only 19% of the population of the Emirates are actually Emiratis. And if you are one of them, you are living on easy street! 

You ask, who are the others then, that make up the population? Well, almost everyone we met was from some other middle eastern country: India, Pakistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt and the African countries. And, when asked why they immigrated to the UAE, their answers were all the same: no income taxes, high standard of living, and it is "safe." One waiter summed it up. He was from India and had 12 brothers and sisters. When asked why Dubai, he said, "To make money." What you don’t see though, is the temporary buildings on backlots with lots of school like busses to transport the labor force to and from their jobs. Almost all the labor force for menial or physical jobs are from other countries. And it appears Emiratis are so rich they just don’t have to work. Their "job" is shopping!!

Now, if you are an Emirati, you get, in addition to no income taxes, free education, free health care, a house plus $130,000 when you marry, and an additional $300,000 for each little baby Emirati when you start your family, Sounds too good to be true, huh?! I’m sure you are asking, how does one become an Emirati?? Well, it is nearly impossible. First of all, if you are a woman who is not an Emirati, you have to marry an Emirati. Then the woman automatically is raised up to this privileged level. However, if you are an Emirati woman and you marry a non-Emirati man, well, you get kicked out of the Emirati class.

Still, all the people we spoke with love their lives, even though they are paying for schooling, health care, housing, etc. So it is the one place in the Middle East that appears stable.

Burj Al Arab and the beach occupied by many westerers.

Some of the cars parked in front of Burj Al Arab

Lobby with decorations for Unity DAy

Interior shot

After our tour of the city, we were dropped off at the Burj Al Arab, the only 7 star hotel in the world, according to our guide. But there are so many ""onlys" in Dubai, it is hard to distinguish which are really truly "onlys"! We were fortunate enough, he told us, to have reservations on the 27th floor for high tea at precisely 1:15 p.m. (And he didn’t mean 1:16 or 1:14!). The hotel was breathtaking and filled with Asians snapping pictures. We had a special elevator to take us to the 27th floor at precisely the right time and got a panoramic view of Dubai from floor to ceiling windows surrounding the restaurant. When they said "high tea" they really meant that. It was a 7 course "dinner" really, starting with champagne, tea sandwiches, cakes, sorbet, candies, and thinly sliced tenderloin on toast. It actually took us 3 hours to complete! Just in time to be taken to the airport to fly back to the US.

View from tea table

We enjoy really great view with tea.

The four of us right before "tea"

I usually end my blog with my own personal thoughts on the entire voyage. What I learned this time, in the Middle East, is that we are so very lucky to live in this country peaceably with all the freedoms we take for granted. As a woman in the US, I don’t have to wear a burqa or have someone drive a car for me. I don’t have to find a male to accompany me to shop. And, in general, the Bedouins may like their lifestyle, living in tents in the desert. But I much prefer my warm house with air in the summer – and I don’t need to see camel races or drink camel milk to get stronger.

But I did come away with way different opinions of peoples and countries we visited. Some countries I thought I would love, I found cold and forbidding. Others, like Oman, I have a fondness in my heart for. The big question: Would I go back? Answer: Not on my life! America is really the best. We have been almost everywhere in the world now (except South America and I’m not interested in that!) and I can verify that we are so lucky we were accidentally born or landed in – our United States of America!

Fujairah. United Arab Emirates. Hmmm.

The very busy Fujairah oil port.  Over 2,000,000 L of oil loaded daily.

Many of the dozens of tankers waiting to fill up.  This the end of a pipeline
from Abu Dabhai put in to by-pass the strait of Hormuz.

Who or what is this place?  We were determined to find out today what made worth a stop on a Middle East cruise.  Just another port?  A way to prolong a cruise until we would get to Dubai?

I guess that could have been true until we met Jothe.  Jothe, of Indian extraction, has lived in the UAE(short for United Arab Emirates) for 13 years.  She is one of them, yet has a perspective as an outsider as well.  And she waxes eloquently about both the Emirates citizens as well as what it is like to live here.

First of all, UAE is one of the most liberal of the Middle Eastern countries. It was founded, or joined together, in 1971.  There are seven “states” as part of this union and each has its own “king”, called a Sultan or Emir.  And, although they are seven separate “countries”, they all hang together rather loosely.  The BIG head of the union is the Sultan of Abu Dhabi, the richest of the states.  Their riches come from oil money, although their supply of oil, according to the media, is only moderate.  It is impressive to see storage tank after storage tank with more being built.  And the tugs in the harbor are kept busy with the tankers filled with oil!  Actually, Jothe said, it is more expensive to buy bottled water than “petrol.”

Typical building decked out in flag bunting to
celebrate 42nd anniversary of national unity.

To be a citizen of the UAE has many privileges. And only 15% of the population is of that privileged class called Emiratis, or citizens.  First of all, the citizens are given a house when they get married, free, by the government.  And they also get a very large sum of money when they get married….to another Emariti.  But it doesn’t stop there.  Education for citizens and their families is free, as his healthcare.  And there are no taxes.  No wonder Emiratis love their Sultans!

The 7 Emirs posted on top of a seaside hill.

While the population is small, 8 million, 60% of it is imported workers, mostly Indian and Pakistani.  Workers are imported, only with temporary work visas, because those Emirati citizens, including kids, do not want to do the menial work like building roads, caring for yards, even working as maids for richer families.  And there are lots and lots of maids, apparently. If you are not a citizen, both your kids’ schooling and healthcare are paid for by you. And if you are not a citizen and you lose your job, you have a month to find a new job or you will have to pay a fine and/or be sent home to your original country.  It sounds somewhat like the US emigration dilemma.

Friday market

Man from Abu Dabhai

Food portion of the friday market.

To become a citizen, you can marry a Emirati citizen and live here with that person for 5 years.  Despite this, people living here are happy to be here. One big reason is, with the prevalence of oil money, no one (that means NO ONE) pays taxes.  Women can drive, a big bonus for the Middle East.  And they can vote.  They can even hold office.  For expats, non-citizens, etc, there is a mandatory single payer health insurance system.  The entire country is now covered, one way or the other, for health catastrophies.

Fancy hotel opening soon on shore

Shark roundabout centerpiece.  They have a lot of these displays

Encampment setting up at the beach for the Unity Day weekend

Opportunity stand at the beach

The ship celebrated

Man and dau

Their "Grand Canyon"

Bright new communications center

Huge new mosque under construction.

Teenyest and oldest mosque in the area from the 13th century.

Barren inland mountains and desert.

Tomorrow, in the UAE, is their sort of “4^th of July”.  We see their flags draped all over everywhere --- buildings, cars, monuments, etc. It was 42 years ago that these Emirates agreed to join together for the benefit of all 7 of them. So, if one emirate should get in financial trouble, the other swoop in and help.  We also see cars and buildings decorated with pictures of the 7 Sultans that run the country.  These Sultans are loved; they are friends to each other; they provide an incredibly good life for the people living here.  And they are progressive, with new construction covering nearly the whole country.  One thing, in particular, we noticed is the number of Muslim mosques, both existing and being built.  And there appears to be a competition of sorts among the Sultans to have the biggest and best mosque, to outdo their fellow Sultans. 

But this is not a place where you will hear of an overthrow from within.  I guess it goes to prove if you take care of your people, as a leader you will have a long and profitable life!  And there are lessons to be learned, I think, from how people live happily with their families and friends in the UAW

Muscat …. not Muskrat

 Kathy was not feeling well enough to go to shore today.  So you will have to put up with my writing for this post.  We took off from the pier before most of the buses to beat the crowds to the first big sight…the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque.  On the way we saw a awful lot of very neat, tidy, clean and well ordered buildings.  Numerous ministries of this, that and the other, all clean fresh and beautifully landscaped in one area.  There were also museums, various schools (both public and private) as well as a fabulous Opera House for performing arts and cultural ceremonial preservation; in another area near-by.  There were also usual commercial shopping areas with many familiar names like Lulu. 

Down near the water and beach there was a stretch for embassy row, but today there were some VIPs in the area so the police were restricting access. I was disappointed because I wanted to see if the American embassy looked like an out of place fortress as it does in so many places we’ve been. (They often as not look like prisons with all the barbed wire and high walls). The hotel area was not far from the embassies and near the beach.

Opeera house

All this super nice, clean, neat building is new since the sultan over threw his father in 1970.  Even with the discovery of oil in 1962, the old sultan did not do much for his country, but sit in his palace and recluse away.  Qaboos, as we said, has shown himself to be an oil fired terror at building, based on his plans for a big future.  What we saw in Salalah was the active construction starting phase with all the dirt and unfinished buildings and we see here vision largely done.  And the result is good.

By the way, all this neatness is not without a significant amount of government input; both money and many rules.  No residential buildings shall be taller than 3 stories; commercial buildings are limited to 9 stories and ALL exteriors must be white (except I note, mosques and royal property). This whiteness gives a vision of a sea of white buildings when one approaches the port.  This is supposed to be to prevent visual “pollution” , preserve a cultural norm and save energy (makes sense).

The beach did have people out enjoying the ocean….not many, but a whole lot more than the zero we saw in Salalah.  Not surprising that the hotel area is close to the water.  It is rather clear that Qaboos and his advisors are planning for that time when oil runs out.  They know that to fall back on the traditional trade in dates, mother of pearl and fish won’t hack it . They are obviously aiming at the tourist trade. They have a special school for hospitality management and related subjects.  In fact that is where our guide for today is doing his post-grad work.

Women's area

That huge carpet and chandeliers
in the men's section

Holy cow!  The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque is a stunner!  The outside is lovely and surrounded by beautiful gardens with fountains and running water as well as golf-green like grassy area.  It also has a generous car park with trees shading almost every space; cars don’t get hot. The women’s area has a very large, hand woven rug from Iran and 4 Swarovski Crystal chandeliers and 2 TV monitors on the wall so they can see the Imam. That’s all beautiful, when you are a man you get much more!

Some statistics for the men’s prayer room (hall is a better word).  It’s huge. Nearly 300ft x 300 ft (1 football field by 1 football field).  It has 36 Swarovski crystal chandeliers; 35 the same size as the 4 in the women’s area and one outsized one in the middle.  The big one is nearly 120ft tall, under an ornate dome, has 110 light bulbs and weighs 18,000 pounds.  This is the 2^nd largest single piece (was 1^st till the one recently done for Dubai) hand woven oriental rug on the floor.  It covers the whole area and was woven in Iran by 600 women AND it outweighs the big chandelier at over 48,000 pounds.

When asked about the cost of this magnificent project we were told that is unknown as all the money came from the Sultan's own pocket and one does not tell of the cost of their charitable work.

Our guide was very anxious to explain the rituals and actually “prayed” one of the shorter prayers for us.  The way he held his eyes half shut and sort of sang the prayer made me think that this comes from having been required to memorize it from  5 years old.  He then told us about all that memorization and when asked he said that children did not come to the mosque until 10 or older so as to not break the concentration of prayer.

The walk to the 'covered' parking lot.

We did ask about his family.  He has 8 sisters and 4 brothers, but his father has only the one wife for all those. He also told us about the rules for choosing a wife; it’s the same as the other places around here…no surprise. If you choose to marry a second wife, the first wife has to agree.  And if the first wife doesn’t want the second wife to live with them, the husband has to build the second wife a home as nice as the first wie’s home.  Also, whatever presents he gets for Wife #1, he has to also get for Wife # 2.  With the ability to have 4 wives, this could be an expensive proposition.

Sultan's yacht

Bos in front of Sultan's office

One last item.  We see lots of men wearing the mussars, those little embroidered caps, and the turbans. Yossef pointed out that the turban goes over the mussar and is wrapped on in a specific way.  He then demonstrated the wrap for us.  Certainly more complicated than tying a tie. We then learned that all the public sector employees are required to wear the white dishdash and a specific patterned turban done just so.  Also the school kids do this too.  He wasn’t sure what the specific rules of dress for the girls/women are, but they also are uniform.