Round the World

On June 11th I was in Agra to see the Taj Mahal- the most famous landmark in all of India. As usual I spent some time (and too much money) in an internet café nearby. I was at the cafe till about 1:30 in the morning when they finally kicked me out. It was only a short two blocks to the hostel so I figured it would be OK to walk in the very deserted streets. However, after being chased by street dogs in Mumbai in 2004 I have had a bit of a fear of them. So I picked up a brick for protection and walked back to the hostel.

At that hour the outer gate was locked of course and no matter how much I knocked and yelled, I could not rouse the owners, but did a good job of alerting all the dogs in the area to my presence and a chorus of barking accompanied my pleas.

After a few minutes I decided to just climb the gate and go to my room. No sooner did I step on top of the gate than the massive German Shepard guarding the hostel came running from inside, letting me know that getting down was not an option. I realized at that moment just how bad it must have looked, a stranger in the middle of the night trying to climb a locked gate with a brick in his hand. So I tried yelling louder from the top of the gate and banged on the metal with my brick, still to no avail.

Frustrated, I jumped back into the street to try and get some help. I has seen a few people sitting down on a bench down the block and hoped that they would be friendly. Turns out there were about 5 Tourist Police officers there in the shadows and one on the roof of a building across the street. Again I thought about just how bad the seen looked and wondered why the hell that had not arrested me for an attempted break-in. Not sure what they would have done in a real break in attempt, but I tried not to worry about that.

I approached the officers and with my best smile I said “Hello, could you help me please?” The officer looked at me strangely and gestured suspiciously to the brick in my hand. I hastily dropped the brick and tried to explain "Dogs, dogs, I don't like the bad dogs.” I have no idea if the message came across but he seemed to accept my explanation.

They spoke very little English and, of course and I have no Hindi to speak of so I showed them my room key and first tried to convince them that I was legit, and not a drunken or drugged tourist. One officer asked if I was "together", so I gathered he meant sober. I insisted "no beer" and tried to get him to smell my breath, which did not go over well. I must have seemed harmless enough, however as two officers accompanied me back to the gate and tried making some noise, only managing to bring back the German Shepard. One officer suggested that I climb the fence again and I just pointed to the dog inside. He then broke off a very small and inadequate branch from a nearby tree for me to protect myself which I just stared at.

I had the number of the hostel in my Lonely Planet guide and pulled it out imploring one of the officers to try and call. He agreed and after the third try he started speaking in Hindi into his mobile and a few minutes later the owner came out ,unlocked the gate and with a look of death in my direction ushered me to my room. I sheepishly went to my room and tried to get some sleep which did not really happen as the air conditioning unit in my room only succeeded in making it miserably hot AND humid as opposed to just miserably hot.

It was dawn before I passed out and managed somehow to get 2 hours of rest before the room became too hot again and I was forced back out. I did spend the next few bleary-eyed hours at the Taj Mahal- which does live up to its reputation as the most beautiful building in the world, so I can’t complain too much.

If I thought I knew what Hot was from Thailand I had no idea what the true definition of the word is till I came here to the Arabian Desert in the beginning of summer. Its only 41 degrees C (105 F) right now, but yesterday it was 46C (114 F) while I was walking around and touring the city, and that’s too damn hot. The locals here have told me that this is nothing and that July and August are when it really gets hot and I will be in Qatar from the 21st to the 24th of July, can’t wait for that!

I also have finally caught my first cold of the trip plus contracted a poison-ivy like rash on my foot, so yesterday I spent the day in a daze from the benadryl for my foot, sinutab for the cold and the oppressive heat. Wandering around the bazaars and alley ways of old town Dubai in a decongestant fog and surrounded by women in full head dress and men in the white Arabian robes was quite a surreal experience.

So what is Dubai like you might ask? Well for one it is very expensive compared to SE Asia, and like three cities all in one. The most interesting is the old restored historic neighborhoods which are the stereotypical Arabian markets full of spices, fish, fruits and nuts, then of course the Gold Souk which is like Jewelers Row in Philadelphia multiplied by a million.

The second city is a fairly typical modern city with commercial districts, many high rise buildings built in the 70's bland style and squares and city parks. Then there is the new and (mostly under construction) futuristic Dubai which is being fueled by the unlimited wealth of the Royal family.

The most impressive of these projects that are complete include the massive twin towers of the World Trade center, much more modern looking than the towers were in NY and the worlds tallest and only 6 star hotel the Burj- al- Arab which is built in the shape of a sail and where you have to pay $20 just to walk in the lobby, which was out of my budget. Then there is the Mall of the Emirates which is the largest mall in the world (of course) and includes an indoor SKI RESORT! Yes, I saw it with my own eyes, in the middle of the friggin desert here you can go skiing on a few small hills inside a mall on real snow; it boggles the mind.

Even more mind boggling are the about 20 massive construction projects all in the works simultaneously. They include the Burj Dubai (soon to be the worlds tallest building by some 500 feet) and not one, but three man made island archipelagos in the shape of palm trees which are being built solely for luxury home and resort development. There is also an archipelago being constructed as a map of the world also for the same purpose 4Km off the coast. Then there is the underwater hotel and the "Dubai Marina" complex which includes 40 high rises along the beach all being built at once and a massive marina complex being created that will be bigger than the downtown of the old dubai. This is just a tiny fraction of the projects going on right now, it is like nothing this world has ever seen, and in the words of the tourist brochure, "It is amazing to see what unlimited money and imagination combined can create"

The excesses of the wealthy in the US pale in comparison to what is going on here, it is truly amazing.