Dispatches from Araby Part 2

Dubai, 7:00p.m.

Of the gladdest moments in human life, methinks, is the departure upon a distant journey into unknown lands. Shaking off with one mighty effort the fetters of Habit, the leaden weight of Routine, the cloak of many Cares and the slavery of Home, one feels once more happy. The blood flows with the fast circulation of childhood... A journey, in fact, appeals to Imagination, to Memory, to Hope, -the three sister graces of our moral being.

- Sir Richard Francis Burton, 1856

At the busines distric of Dubai along the Sheik Zayed Road

There is something surreal in the flashy, spanking new buildings and infrastructures that dot this desert country. Like mirages that shimmer and threaten to disappear when you touch it, the tall, glass and steel buildings mesmerize and tantalize. Everywhere constructions are going on, a mad rush to build the biggest, the tallest, the fanciest. The intricate yet efficient roadways remind me of the wooden lattice archways so common in traditional Arabic dwelling places. Dubai has a feverish feel to it, like being kissed by the sun too long and too often. It is a throbbing sea of humanity. It is a heady cocktail of clashing cultures, the sophisticated and the ancient. The kandura-clad men, the women disguised in black abayas, the Indians in their saris and kurtas, the expats in their business suits, and the scantily clad tourists mingle seemingly oblivious to the irony of their existence, and only add to the arabesque atmosphere. I am drawn to it, but at the same time I want to observe it from a safe distance fearing I will be sucked into its vortex and never to be seen again.

Al Seef Mall, with small blue and white mosque in foreground

It is my 5^th day here, and already I am affected by this beguiling emirate, for it is charming and audacious. But I haven’t explored all of Dubai. I feel there is so much more to see, hear, taste, and feel, and my days here will not be enough. But one thing I will definitely valiantly try to imbibe is the various food offerings available. Lebanese, Persian, Indian, Western, Arabian: these are a few of gustatory delights and gastronomic fares available. For I believe that Clinton Palanca was right when he pontificated about traveling. He advises, “"The best and only way to appreciate and understand a city is to sit, stroll, or simply live and allow the city to come to you, not through your mind but through your senses; not through your action but by the city's own volition, alighting on you almost imperceptibly as you sit perfectly still...Then you eat. If you have chosen wisely, and if it's a chef who knows what he is doing, you will be doing nothing less than eating a distillation of the city, its culture, its inhabitants; its very soul.”

At a spanking new mall where they built an artificial canal around the perimeter where one can take gondola rides. Surreal. Adding to the surreality of the experience is the fact that the place where this mall is standing on was a bone-dry desert once upon a time.