Sunday, November 28, 2021:
Exploring Dubai and Doing the Tourist Thing: Dubai Museum, Dubai Mall, Fountains, Ride up Burj-al-Khalifa, Dinner at New Shanghai Restaurant
Salaam Aleikum from Dubai!
We took it easy this morning. After all, we were on holiday! Arising at leisure in the Ayub household, we took showers, dressed for a day of sight-seeing and went downstairs for breakfast. Our hostess Naazli was out shopping but Seema, her maid, took care of us. Breakfast was omlettes with buttered toast and good decaff coffee. Armed with this meal, we were ready to face the day. Naazli arrived on cue and offered to drive us to the nearest Metro station so that we could begin our day of sight-seeing with a visit to the Dubai Museum.
Our First Ride on Dubai’s Metro:
I used Lonely Planet online to access tourist information about Dubai and having found out about opening hours for the Dubai Museum (which I decided would be our first port of call), I made one mistake. I did not check the website of the Museum itself. Hence, there was a disappointment in store. But I am rushing forward. First, the metro ride…
Few cities have as plush a metro system as Dubai does. It is quick, soundless, spotless. We bought our tickets on the ground level concourse from Mashreq Station (which serves the Ayub residence at Al-Barsha) and took the escalator up to the platforms. We jumped into the last car as the train was already on the platform and ready to depart in a few seconds. We were very pleased to find seats and, as the stations passed by, we received out first sights of a city that is starting to show evidence of urban sprawl. It was only as we were alighting that we realized that we had jumped into the Gold Star car—where fares are double. Hence, the luxury of our ride (the other cars were packed). Indeed, with all the expat laborers that crowd Dubai today, the metro is a God-sent and used by everyone. Hence, it can get very crowded indeed. Luckily, we escaped getting fined and decided to be less impulsive in the future!
We had to change lines before we found a connecting train to take us to our destination. Once we arrived at the station, we had a good 15 minute (hot and bewildering) walk to the waterfront to arrive at Dubai Museum which I had visited a few years ago and found fascinating. Llew had never been to it and, on my recommendation, was eager to explore it. To our utter disappointment, however, it was shut, long-term, for renovation! This was where looking at the Museum’s website would have been useful!!! Anyway, we had no choice as the neighboring Wind Towers Museum (which I had also visited and found fascinating) also seemed closed. We had plans to meet a friend of Llew’s called Ruquaiyah and coordinating our meeting with her, later in the day, proved challenging as we did not have the museum exploration to eat into our time. Having Shahab’s phone with us was a real boon and we managed to coordinate.
Off to Dubai Mall:
Not to be daunted, we told her that we would meet her for lunch at Dubai Mall as that spot was convenient for her. Accordingly, we retraced our footsteps to the Metro station again and rode it to the Burj-al-Khalifa/Dubai Mall station. Llew was keen to take a ride up in the tallest building in the world (at least at this time!). I, having done it a few years ago, decided not to do it again. Hence, our plan was that Llew would go out in search of a ticket first before we explored the Mall. Fortunately, the two attractions are literally side-by-side.
It was another long and crazy walk from the metro station to Dubai Mall. It seemed to us as if we had walked for miles along pedestrian flyovers skimming over the streets below on which traffic whizzed by. These walkways are shaded and air-conditioned—and so very pleasant—but you have to be in good walking condition to use them. Eventually, after what seemed like ages of walking, we arrived at the entrance of the Mall and went in search of tickets for the Burj (as we were simply unable to navigate their website to buy tickets).
Llew was able to get a ticket for 6.30 pm that evening. He would have liked to get one earlier—this would have allowed him to see the city while there was still daylight and as twilight fell upon the desert. But, despite the pandemic, Dubai is buzzing with tourist influx (thanks to the Expo) and it was actually difficult to get the time slot he wanted. Still, we had the rest of the day to while away at the Mall (although shopping was the last thing on our minds).
Exploring Dubai Mall and Lunch at Carluccio’s:
With our ticket in hand, we were able to make contact with Rukaiyah who arrived as planned. We spent the next hour desultorily walking through the Mall after our reunion with Rukaiyah. She had visited us in Connecticut, at least 20 years ago—so it was a personal meeting after ages. I was keen for Llew to see the various features of the mall: its ice rink (if you can believe it) at which there were scores of people enjoying themselves; the indoor waterfall that gushes down the sides of the building; the interesting sculptures—not to mention the first views one gets of the Burj-al-Khalifa, currently the tallest building in the world that soars like a spindly spike into the sky and is beautifully lit at night. It is surrounded by the famed Fountains that play a sound and light spectacle at night.
Hunger pangs called urgently and I was keen to eat in some of the British food chains that I do not find in the US (or India)—Carluccio’s, for instance, which is my Number One Italian chain in the UK. It was started by an Italian named Antonio Carluccio who made Britain his adopted home. I have been watching one of his TV shows on You Tube called Two Greedy Italians. Together with Gennaro Contraldo, his closest friend, he has toured Italy in search of the cooking of the nonnas! There used to be a Carluccio’s in Farringdon, not far from where I lived in London, and I had grown very fond of the chain that serves really good Italian food. Fortunately, my companions, Llew and Ruquaiya fell in line with my suggestion and we sat ourselves down in the restaurant to enjoy wonderful overflowing platters of pasta. Mine was the rigatoni with prawns and pistachio which contained semi-dried tomatoes. It was very good indeed to sink my teeth into the comforts of pasta, but it was much too large a portion and I had to leave a little bit behind—not the prawns, naturally!
After lunch, we continued our exploration of Dubai Mall. What I find fascinating about this place (even though I was not into the shopping part of it) was its design and its contents. There are literally hundreds of shops here. There are the big designer names like Hermes and Ferragamo and the small boutique shops. There are also stores that represent retailing in every part of the world. If you are in the US, you will find US chains, of course, such as Victoria’s Secret and Ann Taylor. If you are in Europe, you will find names such as Petit Bateau and Furla. If you are in Asia, you will find Asian chains such as Mumuso and Kenzo. But here, in Dubai, you will find them ALL. It is truly stunning! Should you have pockets deep enough, you can buy anything you choose to have at Dubai Mall—a one-stop shop for every item under the sun. Yes, there are also the UK departmental stores such as Marks and Spencer and UK supermarkets such as Waitrose—places where I renew my retail energy! But there are also unique, one-of-a-kind shops such as the Turkish sweets and desserts shop that sells nothing but Turkish delight, bakhlava and other sticky treats in a store called Hakkizad Hazzif Mustafa which was established in 1864 in Istabul. Its Dubai Mall branch is manned by Turks who wear the clothing of the year of its founding: long impeccable white coats with red fez hats that have a tassel dangling from them. They go about their work with starched precision and I found the entire place amazing. Plus, they were the only store to give out freebies and we enjoyed a tasting of flavored nuts, caramel-coated pecans and bits of hazelnut-studded, rose-flavored Turkish delight or what is known as halva in the Middle East. It is the common end to a meal in this part of the world.
Llew Rides Up the Burj-Al-Khalifa:
It was almost 6.00 pm by then and time for Llew to get into the line for his ride up the Burj. I was tired and conscious of tight feet by this time and decided to stay in the Food Court with a cold Coke to re-charge my batteries as he went ahead with his excursion. With my Coke in hand, I found a seat, sipped it slowly and then, if you can believe it, I put my head down on the table and actually had a good 20-minute nap! By the time I awoke, utterly refreshed, I was being asked by a young man if he could join me at my table as he had a plate of food in his hand and was looking for somewhere to sit. I told him he was welcome and we started a conversation, He happened to be from Myanmar and had been in Dubai for three months as he had been laid off when the pandemic began and Dubai closed down.
Llew joined us back about fifteen minutes later saying that he was not too impressed by his ride up. Yes, it was high and yes, the lights from up there were good…but he was not swept off his feet, let’s say. He was glad, however, that he had undertaken the journey and could say, ‘Been There, Done That’.
Dinner at New Shanghai Restaurant at Dubai Mall:
By this time, it was almost 7.30 pm and we had plans to meet a bunch of Llew’s former colleagues with whom he had worked in Dubai, many years ago. The venue decided upon was New Shanghai Restaurant which is also in the Mall. It was nice to taste another cuisine after Arabic (Lebanese) and Italian. That’s another one of the great advantages of being in Dubai—it is the crossroads of the world as East and West seem to coalesce here quite effortlessly. You can get almost every cuisine that your heart would desire in the very tiny square footage of this emirate.
We found New Shanghai and, upon entering, discovered that two of Llew’s friends, Zafar and Majid, were already seated inside. After a lovely hearty reunion with him—they had not seen each other for almost 30 years or maybe more—we settled down to nibble on salted edamame. Zafar knew the restaurant and its menu well and did most of the ordering. We were joined just a little later by Shahab and Naazli who then became part of the reminiscing that went on around our table. Llew was definitely in his element as he walked down Memory Lane with old friends who were with him in the infancy of his banking career. All of them have gone on to meet with enormous success in various parts of the world, although, somehow, coincidentally, they all returned to Dubai where they are now heavily involved in financial investments of all kinds.
Dinner was a great variety of Chinese dishes with chicken, seafood, noodles, fried rice, etc. brought in generous platters to the table to be eaten family style. We ate our fill and finally left to go and see the famous fountains.
The Fountain Show at Dubai Mall:
After we made our way out of the Mall and on to the open area outside, we realized just how crowded Dubai is at this time. The place was filled with a sea of people waiting to see the show begin. The fountains play every 15 minutes in a sound and light spectacle that brings music and color to the scene. Llew and the others went ahead while I waited at the Five Guys Burgers place as I had an appointment to meet a young man name Ashwin, brother of my friend Karina, who would be handing over some items for me to take back to her in Bombay. After we connected on time, we too made our way to the fountains. The show was brief with a very modern song playing on the system as the fountains gushed up ever higher. Before we knew it, it was over.
The group then reconnected with me at Five Guys where we actually took pictures of the five guys in our group just under the sign! A few minutes later, after they were introduced to Ashwin, we all parted and went our different ways. Zafar hoped to meet us again and told us that he would try to see us at the Expo tomorrow. As it turns out, in 2002, I had taught Zafar’s daughter, Ridda, who was a student at NYU’s Stern School of Business. She was keen to meet me and hoped to make plans with me tomorrow. I was delighted to be able to meet her again, although I could not quite recognize her name. I hoped that meeting her would jog my memory a bit.
Dinner done, we said goodbye to our friends and piled back in Shahab’s car for our return to his home. It was late at night, after 11.00 pm by the time we arrived home and so we went straight up to bed.
Until tomorrow, kuda hafiz…
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