Morocco, West Africa, Mozambique

**Note that this post is being written in January 2015, although it concerns events that took place in June of 2008. It always bothered me that I never quite finished my blog, especially being that I was so close to completing it, so I decided I had better finish it before the memories faded. Looking at all the pictures I chose for this post a few years ago--last time I unsuccessfully tried to finish this project (but made some progress)--the memories came flooding back, along with the pertinent reasons for choosing each photo and the vignette that goes with each. Please enjoy.**

My final bonus stop on my journey was a 2-day stint in the city of Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. It is one of 7 Emirates, the other well-known one being Abu Dhabi. The reason I ended up here is that the cheapest flight I found back to the US from Joburg was on Air Dubai (I think it might be called "Fly Dubai" now), with its hub in Dubai. It was possible for me to take a layover in Dubai of up to several days without paying any additional fees for my ticket. Essentially, a free trip to Dubai.

Below is a picture of the inside of the plane's cabin on the flight from Joburg to Dubai. The flight was the fanciest I've ever been on. In addition to cool night-sky lights on the ceiling, each seat had the most comprehensive entertainment system I've ever seen, with literally hundreds of albums and movies to choose from on-demand. Being that it was 2008, this was fairly new to me.

A shop in Dubai. "Texas" with Arabic script seemed an interesting juxtaposition.

Here is a hotel front in Dubai.

A construction company in Dubai with an interesting name.

The 3 photos below are from the world's first indoor ski area, "Ski Dubai." It is located inside of a huge mall, The Mall of the Emirates.

Here is an outdoor view of Ski Dubai projecting from the top of the mall.

This is a typical outdoor scene from Dubai. A parking area on top of the mall where "Ski Dubai" is. I found the outdoor environment in Dubai to be very barren and stale, even harsh. Lots of concrete and openness. Almost no one seems to walk anywhere, everyone drives (a lot of people take cabs or have their own drivers) and it seems that most of life is spent indoors. The biggest recreational activity seems to be going to the city's many malls, The Mall of the Emirates being the most popular at the time I visited.

Here is another shot showing the Mall of the Emirates' interior featuring an escalator-like moving ramp. Pretty fun to ride.

Here is a statue that caught my eye from one of the stores in the mall.

Here is the food court at the Mall of the Emirates where I ate dinner the night I visited. Lots of American franchises and lots of stuff that wasn't, too.

The queue for the taxi at the mall after dinner to get a ride home. Taxis were the most common form of public transportation that I experienced. I was told that waiting in this line, which took over an hour, was a very common and classic quotidian experience of daily life in Dubai.

Here is the YHA youth hostel where I stayed for 2 nights in Dubai. It was the only "affordable" option I could find in the whole city, and believe me I looked. Not that I had much time to change hotels, being there for only 2 nights, but both days I was walking around I went in to many small, hole-in-the-wall places around the city to inquire as to their prices, more for curiosity's sake, and found nothing under $75 a night. My YHA room, on the other hand, albeit a shared dorm, came in at around $37 a night (if memory serves). Not bad for Dubai, but I had been accustomed on my trip to paying $5-$10 a night for a place to sleep so it came as something of a shock to me (and my budget).

Some nice fig trees planted by the road. The one saving grace, to me, of outdoor Dubai was all of the beautiful fig trees that were planted throughout the city. They all seemed to be equipped with nets to catch the fruit before it fell to the ground. Someone I asked about this told me that the fruit was donated to the poor.

Here is a close-up of the figs in the nets.

Here is one of Dubai's most famous buildings. It is known as the Burj Al-Arab, meaning "Tower of the Arabs," and was designed to look like the sail of a dhow. Although technically a 5-star hotel, it is unofficially known as the world's only 7-star hotel. Built on an artificial island constructed just off of Dubai's shore, it is accessed via private bridge. At the time of my visit, it cost $75 just to go inside and have a look around (I believe the fee also included tea). I have heard it now costs $100.

Needless to say, I didn't have the cash to visit, so I just took pictures from the outside. However, a friend of mine who was also a former Peace Corps Volunteer in Mozambique had a great story about visiting the inside. He was also curious to see the inside and short on funds. The hotel is a favorite of Chinese businessmen, and as my friend is of Asian descent, he was able to look the part and sneak his way inside by pretending to be part of a group of Chinese businessmen who were entering the hotel. He told me that the view of the interior was impressive indeed and well worth the experience, if one has the resourcefulness to make it happen.

Another view of the Burj Al-Arab's top.

Dubai beachfront view, just down the way from the Burj Al-Arab.

Construction in downtown Dubai, a common sight.

Here is the waterfront in the old part of the city, the part that was a fishing village before the 1950's. I thought it was quaint and attractive after all of the miles of open concrete I had been looking at in modern Dubai.

Another shot of the old town waterfront, showing the docks and all of the goods being loaded and unloaded. This old-school commerce of trading goods reminded me of the ancient trading routes that Arab cultures used to operate all over the Middle East and Africa. Modern Dubai can be seen rising in the background.

A narrow walking street between two buildings in the old part of Dubai. I visited this part of town as part of a bus tour that I took of the city. It was a double-decker bus modeled after those employed for touristic purposes in London, and had an all-day hop-on hop-off policy. Also located in this part of the city was the very interesting museum of the history of the city of Dubai. Seeing the aerial photos from the 1950's when the town was only a small fishing village really gave a startling perspective on just how rapid of an ascent Dubai has had on the world stage.

Here is a picture of a scene from a video that was showing in the museum. The video was about lifeways of Bedouin tribespeople who were the original inhabitants of the land around Dubai. There was a whole scene showing one of the Bedouin's most well-known ceremonies, called the "Sword Dance." What really struck me were the musical instruments they were playing. I had just spent the better part of 6 months wandering around West Africa and learning about its history and culture, and one of the biggest revelations for me was how connected Arabic culture and West African culture were, especially before European colonialism. And here were images of Bedouin tribesmen participating in the Sword Dance and playing what looked just like small dununs from Guinea or Mali. They even held them sideways. Instead of an iron bell, the left hand kept the time with two small cymbals, one on top of the other, like an ancient mini hi-hat.

More instruments that the Bedouin used that looked very similar to ones used in West Africa, especially the one on the left, which resembles a koni.

This instrument looks almost exactly like a kora. In fact, I would say it is a kora. Even more interesting to me, as the kora was not developed until perhaps the 16th century (or so I understand).

Here is the aforementioned tourbus, modeled after London's famous double-decker buses.

A view from the upper deck of the bus, riding around in Old Dubai.

A beautiful mosque façade in Old Dubai.

An interesting sky bridge.

On my last day in Dubai, after checking out the historic old town, I spent some time in the neighborhoods surrounding it. This is where the immigrant laborers mainly live. The truth is that native Emiratis comprise less than a fifth of the city's population, the rest being made up of expats of one type or another. The majority of these people are South Asian laborers, especially Indians. The neighborhoods I saw reflected this cultural heritage, as well as the relative poverty of its blue-collar inhabitants, the real workers of Dubai.

Below is a construction project that I thought looked interesting.

In this photo, workers' lunches are laid out waiting for break time while working on the construction project shown above.

I liked this street sign.

In my journey, I didn't see much proselytization in the Muslim world. This sign was therefore a bit of a novelty to me, reminding me almost of something Christianity might produce.

South Asian street food.

Don't they mean "Salon?"

I liked this neon sign.

A mosque in the South Asian neighborhood.

These were what the keyboards looked like in the Arab world. I also wanted to post a picture of one in my blog entry about Morocco, but neglected to do so; here is my make-up opportunity.

The airport in Dubai. I loved the palm trees surrounding the walkway. Nice touch.

Me at the end of my journey, along with my trusty n'goni.

The flight from Dubai to North America was quite an interesting one. I got to see parts of Iran from the air. I can't remember, but I think this may be an Iranian city.