2022 World Tour – Dubai
Hello from Dubai, my second stop on the trip. Below is the standard summary with a few new items:
– Cool Ranch Doritos: No
– Thai ATM Card Works: Yes
– Thai Debit Card Works: Yes when the chip is inserted into the payment machine, no if tapped
– Thai Internet Purchase Card Works: Mostly no
– USA Credit Card Works: Yes
– Worldwide Telephone/Data/SMS eSIM Works: No!
– Magic Jack Works: No!
– VPN Works: Blocked!
– COVID Compliance Chronicles: Very lax with masks inside only, no vaccine or PCR test required
– Internet Works: No! North Korea is probably better
– Drone Flights: No! Terrorism
– Ramadan Restrictions: Almost nothing
– Cost of Living: $$$$$ Zowie
So it’s only 100km away and in the same country, so why are Abu Dhabi and Dubai so different? The UAE is made up of 7 Emirates, but most of the world has only heard of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. It seems like they’re semi-autonomous, like the States within the United States. And that’s never a good thing… Just ask Lincoln or anybody who wants to get an abortion.
The biggest issue here is The Internet. In an effort to block any video and audio messaging apps in the favour of the entrenched telecoms, the government has laid down a massive Internet filter. It also blocks VPNs hard and many normal web sites are also caught up in the overarching restrictions. Not a chance in hell of ordering anything with my Thai card or using my eSIM at all. I spoke with a guy at a phone shop and he obliquely suggested a VPN to try on my phone but it didn’t work. He also said everyone does text chats on Whatsapp here, it’s the only thing that works. I contacted tech support from my Surfshark VPN, by email as their web site is completely blocked. They replied back with some config files and instructions on how to set up US_udp.ovpn with OpenVPN on my laptop (hint hint) and it works! It would be good to have this functionality built into the standard Surfshark app but I applaud their efforts to get their customers online no matter what it takes.
I also discovered that I have to insert my Thai debit card into the payment machine that they bring to your table after dinner. It requires me to choose local currency or Thai Baht and then enter my PIN for the charge, and it always goes through. If I try to tap the card on the machine using NFC, it rejects the charge, probably because it doesn’t know which currency to use. Easy workaround and I’m happy I can pay for my food and drinks.
Another big difference is a huge drop in COVID requirements. Masks only while inside, and that with about a 50% compliance rate. No need to show vaccination status or PCR test result when entering anything.
I didn’t think about the drone in Abu Dhabi but I did some research when I got here in Dubai and found that drones are completely banned, due to their use in a recent bombing by Yemeni Houthi rebels. So that’s a hard no. Too bad because there are a lot of drone-worthy locations here where it would be safe to fly.
In another banking fiasco, my US bank now requires an authorization call or SMS to my US-based Magic Jack virtual phone number. The SMSs never come through and the phone never rings but after 3 minutes a voice mail of the call is logged, in which the bank is asking me to push ‘1’ to get the code. Urgh. Magic Jack used to be good, now I think it’s gone to shit. Time to contact customer support.
One thing I need to highlight is that Ramadan started two days after my arrival. This is a lunar month of Islamic observances, including giving thanks, charity and fasting. Fasting lasts from sunup to sundown, so of course there are big meals right before and after. I’ve seen varying levels of compliance in Abu Dhabi but in Dubai it’s wide open. I suppose with so many foreigners and the impending end of COVID that a blind eye is being turned in most places. A major traffic jam appears about 15 minutes before sundown as people race to get to their favourite restaurant.
An aside: Elon just bought 9.2% of Twitter and will join the Board. This is what happens when a billionaire sells enough stock to pay $11 BILLION in taxes. He’s got a bit of spare change in his couch cushions so he decides to become Twitter’s largest shareholder and work on some improvements. Pray he does not want to improve your business. (Mangled Darth Vader reference). Future Mike says Elon is not joining the Board, which has now adopted a Poison Pill defense. I understand, this is a guy who breaks his day into 5 minute segments, he doesn’t have time for that shit, unless they bring cookies. Will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
Enough with the preliminaries, what about the next epic bus ride Mike? I’m glad you asked! I took at taxi 10km for $19 to the bus station, then got the $8 ticket to Dubai, about 100km away. Something wrong with the math here. The buses roll out every 30 minutes and I was lucky to be one of the last ones to board after waiting in a long line. The bus dumped us off at the edge of Dubai, turns out it’s the last Metro station on the line. Now, I LOVE a city with a Metro / Subway / Light Rail system. And Dubai’s is a doozy! I topped up my Metro card with about USD $13 and got on for the ride to the Al Rigga station near my hotel. When I was in Dubai in 2007, this stretch of land was hard desert and a single road went through town with cranes for new skyscrapers as far as the eye could see. Now these buildings are mostly done and the Metro line is a joy to behold – you can get pretty much anywhere you want to go. I popped up at the station and my hotel was only a block away – score! Turns out it’s also the beating heart of the city, thousands of shops, restaurants and an easy two block walk from the creek. The Ibis Al Rigga hotel is perfectly placed and has a great price for the location and the room. No vaccine or PCR test proof required to check in.
Picked up some cash at an ATM, got some drinks and snacks to tide me over during the daytime of Ramadan fasting.
The next morning I jumped on the Metro and rode down to the Burj Khalifa station. This is the tallest building in the world, listed at 829.8m / 2,722′. Of course they have several observation platforms so I checked on the prices and just walked away. I didn’t know if over USD $200 it was the price or the altitude! Not that I would get too close to the glass wall anyway so no big loss for me. I took a picture for free from ground level outside.
The only Tesla showroom in the region is located right across the street so I popped in and had a nice chat with the staff about Tesla and EVs in the Middle East. They said Teslas are selling well here, gas is about USD $4/gallon so even the residents in oil-rich countries are being pushed to EVs. UAE people are always on the lookout for the latest trendy thing so that helps too, I saw dozens of Teslas on the road, far more than any of the more exotic cars I was expecting to see here. I’ve also seen hundreds of electric standup boards and electric bicycles and a few depots for electric scooter rentals like Lime.
I took the long long ~1km aircon walkway into the Dubai Mall, one of the dozens of massive malls here. It’s simply too big to imagine, much less walk around. I was so tired from walking that I settled on Wendy’s for lunch, looking forward to a huge Frosty but when it came out it was the smallest I’ve ever seen, so I ordered an emergency backup Frosty too. There are over 1,000 people in this food court, not so much Ramadan fasting.
To wrap up my day of EV goodness I took a taxi to the local Rimac dealership, the first time I’d be able to see one in person. This is the fastest and most powerful EV in the world with 1914 horsepower. They’re based in Croatia and I applied to be a software developer for them a couple of years ago. Turns out the “dealership” is a couple of guys with an Ikea table in a startup incubator space and no cars. They’re working on a “marketplace” for EVs in the region, but you wouldn’t know that from their web site. Dress for the job you want? These guys built a web site for the company that they want.
I went back to the hotel area on the Metro then down to the Dubai creek and got on a dhow for the ride across to the old souk. On my trip in 2007 the boats were wobbly and wooden with diesel engines and you tossed a coin in a cardboard box to pay your fare. This boat was stable and plastic and had a Metro card reader so you just tap to pay your fare. Ah progress. I wandered around the souk and on the way back home I got one of the original wood dhows and the cardboard box. Ok, still some throwback to the good ole days.
I booked my next hotel in Muscat Oman for April 12 – 20 and slept hard after a 13,000 step day.
The next few days were taking the Metro to the usual places around town, plus several private hotel beaches. You pay to get in, then you get a towel and a lounge chair under an umbrella, beach & ocean, freshwater pools, drinks and snacks. When the sun goes down they offer an Iftar after-sundown dinner, looking out across the water while a cool breeze blows past. I did this a couple of times in Dubai proper, then over to the next emirate called Sharjah. Sharjah is much more conservative so daytime drinks and food were limited.
I also did the “Ultimate” ticket for the aquarium inside the Dubai Mall which included a full tour, glass-bottom boat, penguin encounter and fish feeding. I hate zoos but I have to say the design and execution of this aquarium is simply outstanding with 10 million gallons of pristine imported ocean water.
I did my first load of laundry at the hotel for the whopping price of USD $19 and as bonus I lost two shirts but gained 3 pairs of ladies’ jeans. Took them a while to figure that out.
My plague is still firmly rooted in my sinuses so I did a rapid test to be sure, still negative. Stabbing pain has built up in my right side when I blow my nose, sneeze or try to not sneeze. I walked to Subway for a bag of lunch and dinner and stayed in for the day to drug myself and catch up on things.
Congrats to SpaceX for the launch and docking of the Axiom-1 mission to the International Space Station! Tesla also had the Cyber Rodeo party at the opening of the Gigafactory in Austin. With Berlin and Austin now shipping vehicles, that’s another million cars a year on the road. Check out the stock price in 12 months if you dare.
My friend Gary asked for advice about visiting Istanbul so I scrolled back to my Facebook post from January 2016 to find it. I spent the afternoon re-reading all of my travel posts, feeling nostalgic while seeing the images and remembrances in my mind of all of those places. Sadly I also re-experienced the failing health and passing of my father, luckily with Sue there to bring our family together.
Final UAE thoughts: While Abu Dhabi feels sterile and spread-out and new-construction, Dubai feels like a thriving city with the sights and smells of the old world mixed with the bajillion monies of the new. If I really wanted a change of pace, I could live here except I would have to hack the crap out of the Internet nightmare. Tesla – are you hiring here?
Next stop – Muscat, Oman. And the clusterfuck that is FlyDubai.
