Daniele Somenzi's United Arab Emirates

2002 United Arab Emirates posted by somenzi daniele [26/03/2007 18:29] Me from Fiumicino and Vanni from Malpensa, both with Lufthansa to Frankfurt. He nearly misses the plane but then luckily I find him at Frankfurt; I didn't much fancy going to Dubai for 4 days alone. After about 6 hours of flight with an Airbus 340 we land at Dubai, and there a strange thing happens to us: as soon as we come out, at 8 in the evening, from the air-conditioned airport, a slap of humid heat hits us. We got a shock, a good 39 degrees, dressed in long trousers, five seconds and we were sweating. Unbelievable, it was June. I don't understand how the workers manage to work outdoors during the day with 50 and more degrees. We hire a small car and immediately air conditioning full blast, we reach the Holiday Inn in the centre of Dubai and off to bed.

The next day we discover that the city is very modern and we set off to tour the small country with its river, or rather an inlet of the sea, since rivers are out of the question as there are no mountains nearby but only sand dunes. Vanni and I take the chance to do a tourist boat trip; while we were sailing those 3 km, a multitude of little taxi boats passed full of people, from one side of the bank to the other, evidently labourers and general workers going to or returning from their jobs.

The sea of the gulf has lukewarm water, like broth for cooking pasta. I don't think corals can live in such a warm sea.

After breakfast at the Holiday Inn, we dive into the pool which is right on the top floor of the building; Vanni, I don't know how, had a bottle of champagne with him, though it wasn't the moment to drink it; rather than waste it, he downed it, maybe a gift from Lufthansa.

We then set off on the 4-day tour of the emirates, passing among a multitude of skyscrapers; who knows who will live in them, since there are really few people.

Heading north, we drive along a modern free motorway, very beautiful for a few km, but then it becomes an ordinary road; here nothing beautiful, even ugly houses, certainly the sheikhs don't come to these parts. Km after km and towards evening we look for accommodation, and we find it, bungalows with air conditioning with parking next to the room, a mini apartment, a bit pricey, too bad it was located right next to a fish-processing factory and the bad smell was far from pleasant. The next day we're off from there, and we moved to the other side of the peninsula where I swam in the sea, an ordinary beach with a sea like at Forte dei Marmi, the only difference being the temperature is notably higher.

Then drive and drive, we enter a city that has one characteristic: it's devoid of road signs, so I had to orient myself by the sun; it was afternoon and knowing the sun set in the direction of Dubai, I did nothing but follow the largest road going that way, and I got it right. 5 camels were strolling along the edges of the road where we had parked to stretch our legs, and they were the occasion for some filming and photos, with the sand dunes as a backdrop.

Abu Dhabi, the capital, we reached the next day, also stopping for a look at the most famous hotel, called The Sail, shortly after a large avenue with skyscrapers on both sides.

The motorway from Dubai to Abu Dhabi has 4 lanes in each direction and is deserted; every now and then some sheikh in his Ferrari flashes past at 200 km an hour.

Vanni was looking for the toilets at a service station and, following a gentleman, believing he was also heading there, he realises very soon instead that he was going into a place of prayer, given the hundreds of pairs of shoes on the ground.

The Lufthansa flight from Abu Dhabi bound for Frankfurt takes us back to Europe, arriving the next morning.