Debbie Goes to Dubai: Lets go for a ride to Dubai Womens College...

The best way to learn the city is to drive it. I am used to mountains and the Great Salt Lake to keep me going the right direction in Utah. In Dubai, you have the sea side or desert side, but it is still easy to get lost. We have a "Garmin" that is semi useful, but the programmed navigators can't pronounce the Arabian words or names, which means they either spell out the word or mispronounce it so badly you cannot understand what they are saying until it is too late. Actually, it is very funny but sometimes we are tempted to toss it out the window and navigate on our own. Has anyone, besides me, been angry at their "Garmin"?
I was feeling adventurous today, so I decided to drive the 28 miles and pick up Jeff from his second work office located at Dubai Women's College which is very close to the next Emirate, Sharijah. There are so many interesting things to see along the way I thought I would write about it.
Yeah, I was so proud of myself for finding the entrance to Sheik Zayed Highway, but then soon realized I was going the wrong direction. Instead of going north, I went south and ended up at the Dubai Marina. The Dubai Marina is amazing and it will be our new home in the future. You can get a high rise apartment that overlooks the sea, marina or both. The beach is very close and there are too many shops, restaurants and stores to mention within walking distance. It will be completely different than what we are used to living in Utah and we have decided that we want to live as different as possible here, especially now that we have the opportunity. Why not !
The picture below is of a small section of the Dubai Marina skyscrapers. Note the high rise on the left that is in the process of being completed . It is an architectural wonder and twists. So cool !

Finally, was able to find the correct ramp and got the car turned around. I am going the right direction now. Here we go....

Dubai is a long city and as you travel on the Sheik Zayed Highway to the North, you pass through the downtown business district, between rows and rows of skyscrapers. It is breath taking ! The buildings are all shapes and sizes, each different and unique. Reminds me a little of Dr. Seuss land, buildings you would only dream of but never build. When you travel through this stretch of road the first, second and third time, you are in awe and can't help but crank your neck to see everything around you or look up to see the full length of the buildings.
Dubai is a desert, but sometimes it is hard to tell . In some places along the highway, there are stretches of green grass and flowers. Wow, flowers - I am certain a lot of water is used to keep the grass green and flowers in bloom, but it is beautiful.

Don't tell my husband I was driving and taking pictures at the same time....shh, its a secret.

Dubai has a new sophisticated elevated rail line called the Metro (you can see a station in the above picture - right corner)) - and guess what, they have eliminated the drivers. The cars are high speed and driven by computers ! There are several options for the rider, pay more and sit in first class car or if you are a women and don't want to ride with the men, there is a women only car, or you can pay the regular fare and sit with the masses .

Besides the elevated rail, there is an extensive bus service that runs all over the city. The royal family did not like the thought of people waiting for the bus in the hot sun and replaced benches with air conditioned, glass, waiting stations. You see the air conditioned stations everywhere and I have seen a lot of them on my way to the college. After I took the picture, I could not resist and decided to step inside. They are better than I expected - so clean you could eat off the seats. I promise I won't, but notice at how clean it is on the street around waiting station ... spotless, no trash.

See the picture below.

Guess what I saw - flamingos ! I went around the block, did a U turn, twice and pulled off the busy road, trying to get a good picture. Those darn birds would not look up, no matter how much noise I made, jumping up and down clapping my hands. They must be used to crazy women, jumping up and down flapping their arms. Hopefully, next time I will be able to get a better picture. But have you ever seen pink flamingos just hanging out ? For me, it has only been at a zoo.

I drove through five tunnels on my way to the College like the one in the picture below - love them! The city planner made good use of the space and have tunnels running all over, or should I say, under the city. Each of the tunnels are different, artistic and beautifully lined with colored tile, depicting Arabic symbols, words and sites around the city. Notice again, the clean streets.

White buses transporting labor workers are a common sight on the roads and highways of Dubai and the employers of these laborers spend a great deal of time transporting workers to and from their jobs 24/7. See picture below. The employer is the sponsor of their Visa and have a hold on the employee while they work in the UAE. If the workers wants to leave the employer, it needs to be approved with an official letter releasing them to work for someone else, if not, home they go. Many of the laborers live in labour camps or lower income housing, a lot of times provided by the employer. They could sleep up to 6 people in a room, with kitchen and bathroom areas being shared by many more people. It sounds pretty bad to most of us, but I keep being told that it is so much better than what they have at home. But it is still hard to identify with, isnt it?!

Then I happened upon a burned out worker bus abandoned in a sandy lot along side the road I was traveling. I could not resist, which meant quick lane changes to get the picture. I hope all the workers made it out safely.

Still driving and taking pictures ...Jeff must not know...

I have seen my fair share of food delivery motorcyclists today -speeding and weaving in and out of lanes on busy highways and roads. They are crazy men on motorcycles ! If you order 25 or more dirhams worth of food ( @ $7.00 US dollars), food can be delivered from most of the restaurants to any location in the city. They deliver to beaches, into the malls, your home...anywhere. A few days ago while at the beach, I witnessed such a delivery. A motorcyclist rode his bike on to the sand to deliver coffee and breakfast from Caribou Coffee to a group of four women that had just completed their yoga class. What a life.

The motorcyclists are notorious for passing between cars on the highway going at a high rate of speed, which happened to me today and it scared me to death. The motorcycles and taxi's seem to have a love/ hate relationship and it is terrifying to witness, but I am certain both of them were trained at the same school of "nonsense" driving. Good gracious!

The sun was starting to set when I came around a corner and right in front of me was a portion of the Dubai downtown district skyline - beautiful. What a site to see, the Burj Khalifa and surrounding skyline. It is astonishing to think that the other skyscrapers in the picture are 50, 60, 80 stories high, but they look miniature, tiny, in comparison to the 160 story Burj Khalifa.