Final Dubai Post

There's some more photos I might post, but I wanted to post some final, less serious words on the dubai experience as well. Right now I'm in india, the power is out again but I'm at an internet cafe with a generator.. so the photos will have to wait.

First, thanks to jerome and amy for putting me up for 10 days, I had a good time.

We covered, quite literally, almost every neighborhood in the city on bmx while I was there. Given that the city is pretty big, that's a huge success. Dubai is THE land of curbs and gibs. There are some streets with a gib wallride off of every driveway. I saw hundreds of street gaps - where the sidewalk slants up, then a curb, then a car-width alley, then another curb. And dubai is also the land of wedges - if they want some decorative architecture, the wedge is their go-to.

Apart from all the serious talk of slave labor - see below if you are interested - there is also a lot of seriously funny shit that goes on there. My favorite is the security guards. First some background knowledge. The thing with dubai is that since most of the population is low paid immigrants, it sets up a kind of caste system - with the emiratis and the white people at the top. What this means is that all the security guards are either indian or philopino. The lower class. This causes some rather strange results for two tall white kids riding bmx. And add into it the cultural differences and.. when a security guard approaches us, half the time they are giggling, or even outright laughing. As if they were in elementary school and someone were tickling them with a feather. They may not say anything. And if they do, they are scared of us. They feel uncomfortable being the lower class confronting what they assume is the ruling class - us. Just because we are white. So when they do finally kick us out, it's not "get the hell out of here" but rather something like, "Oh hello.. Um. Well. I'm not [giggle] so sure [giggle] that it is the best idea to do that here. [giggle] Maybe, if you don't mind, you could go somewhere else for a bit?" And we get such a kick out of it we have a hard time feeling bad about it. And I would say overall most of the security guards just watch us and don't even bother kicking us out - or they'll only try once but then say "fuck it" and let us be.

Other funny things about dubai. When we went street riding we would sometimes take a cab to get to the farther points. To do this you must order a "big taxi" - a minivan. But it is not a "large" taxi - they won't know taht word. And then, there's the fact that they have no addresses there.. everything is by landmarks. So every time I hear jerome call for a taxi, I hear this: "Hello. Yes, I need a big taxi. A BIG taxi. Yes. I live in Al Nahda 2 by the NMC specialty hostpital. THE NMC SPECIALTY HOSIPTAL. Ok, so after you pass the hospital, you'll see the Karachi Darbar on the corner. The KARACHI DARBAR. Turn right at the Karachi Darbar, then pull over into the first bus stop. The bus stop. Ya. That's my building." That is an address in dubai. It's funny everytime.

There is a plethora of children's underwear that people leave in the sand fields between buildings. No one knows what the deal with that is.

Indians aren't afraid to stare at you. They just straight up stare, even if you look back at them. That's just normal for them, even just on the metro. For minutes. Super uncomfortable sometimes being a westerner with western feelings and habits. Being tall, white, and riding a bmx bike can easily attract a crowd which lasts for 10 minutes or more. But ridinbg it's not like the US - they smile and laugh and are amazed, a quite positive vibe.

The guava juice is the best fruit drink I've ever had in my entire life. Not bad at $3USD for a 2 liter.

"Downtown dubai" is like downtown chicago - but if chicago were dropped into the middle of the desert, spread out along a ridiculous freeway, and then with half the roads literally unfinished so that it is impossible to go anywhere in some places. If I had a dollar for every step I took carrying my bike through the sand..

Crossing roads in dubai can be deathdefying. The only others you will see riding bikes are indian delivery riders - all riding bikes with a double top tube. You are instantly friends with all of them for being white and riding, and getting a smile and a wave is pretty easy to do.

All of dubai is a desert - most of it uncultivated. There are insane golden sanddunes covering much of the south. I took a drive to see it.

There's lots more about dubai too, but that is probably the most interesting stuff. The internet cafe is shutting down, I think the guy doesn't want to pay to run the generator anymore. I'm going to make my way back to the apartment in the pitch black.. I hope to post some thoughts on india soon. A short summary: sketchy as fuck. But the yoga has been fun with this small, old funny german guy.