I had a
break from blogging and London life and explored United Arab Emirates (UAE) for
a week. It is worth boring you with my reflection on the tour. I would also like
to give you some travel tips if you decide to visit UAE. You will notice, I am
not saying Dubai which is almost synonymous to UAE We often forget other six sovereign
Emirates that makes the UAE, namely Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaima (RAK),
Ajman, Fujairah and Umm al-Quwain.
The UAE
has the seventh largest oil reserve in the world. We are talking about around
1.4 million Emiratis, 16.6% of the UAE’s total population enjoying the benefit
of seventh largest oil reserves in the world. That explains the stupendous
amount of capitalist luxury the Sheikh’s has created for them and their
partners in the West who has provided them with the skills and strategy as the
‘development gurus’. Let us not forget the blood and sweat of South Asians,
Philipinos and other millions of human beings working in inhumane conditions to
create this so-called heaven on the earth.
I was
puzzled and am still to understand the Emiratis. Are they visionaries with
great business minds or are they just lazy landlords that happen to be
co-incidentally blessed with natural resources which later transformed their
economy to attract mass tourism though the economy is still heavily reliant on
natural resources.
In the late
1960s, the British Government realised it would no longer be sustainable to
keep British troops guarding the ‘trucial sheikhdoms’ (peaceful existence with
some sort of truce between the quarrelling Sheikhs). The then British Prime Minister Herald Wilson
and consequently Edward Heath paved the way for the Sheikhs to initiate their
own unions and refused the Sheikhs’ pleas to remain there at their expense. Qatar
and Bahrain became independent without joining the seven Emirates that agreed
to form a union guided by a constitution. I saw ‘Long live the Union’ photos in
many places in my trip and it seem the Union is stronger than ever.
So
without spilling a drop of blood the UAE became an ‘independent’ state in
December 1971. In the last 45 years they
have remained loyal to their Western allies and have offered air base to US and
the France, supporting both the Iraq invasion of 2003 and the Gulf War against
Saddam Hussein. The Arab Spring could not weather out the Emirati Royal sands
and the Princes remain in their palaces and cruising in their Hummers, Mercedes
and mistresses.
The Royals
Sheikh
Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the Ruler of Dubai and the Prime Minister of
UAE has 23 officially acknowledged children through his senior and junior
wives, nine sons and fourteen daughters, of whom many are married into other
Middle East royal families. He is also a recognised poet and one morning my
only wife showed me an article in The Khaleej Times with news of his book
launch. The book of his tweets - called ‘Glimpses of Mohammed Bin Rashid Al
Maktoum Tweets’ - is touted as revealing an “authentic style of thinking”, and
marking out a vision for the future.
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| Photo Credit: Apsana Haque |
Hire a Car
Hiring
a car from Dubai airport is a wise decision as it allows you immense freedom to
roam around and parking is thousand times better than the UK, as someone said
it is ‘kullu -free’, meaning all free. The biggest mall of the world Dubai Mall
has free parking. I noticed that conversationally the words ‘too much’ are of
saying ‘many’. So when I enquired for a petrol station I was told I need to go
through the roundabout and then I will find ‘too much’ petrol stations. Driving
on the left with traffic on the right took me roughly half an hour to get used
to.
Hiring
a car also means UAE being a small country as a whole, is pretty much within 3
hours driving distances with petrol cheaper than water. The satellite navigation
that I hired was very useful though it did not recognise every single
destination but only the key points of attraction. One thing to note in hiring
a car though – do it online in advance to get a good deal and be aware of the hidden
costs which are called ‘extras’ once you
reach there, i.e. Salim (road tax) tolls, etc.
Stay outside Dubai to see Dubai
I
stayed in Ras al-Khaimah, a 60 minute drive from Dubai through Sheikh Mohammed
bin Zayed Road. You will find good hotels there and I believe it is much better
than being in Dubai. The car gives you the freedom to not eat in the in-house
expensive hotel restaurants and explore local restaurants with a wide range of
cuisines to choose from. If you are obsessed with your regular type of food and
not wishing to explore outside of this, just go to any shopping mall food court
where all options are there, from Burger King to Indian curries.
I
became fond of Chinese and Filipino food whilst there but particularly liked
going to the top end of Ras al-Khaimah where there were arrays of restaurants
literally picking fish from the sea and frying it for you. I found most of the
restaurants in the street very clean and hygienic as the authorities are very
strict.
Do Some Wise Shopping
My
philosophy is only shop if you find good quality products with a cheaper price
brand or not. I found Pierre Cardin throughout UAE giving 75% to 90% discount.
It is worth buying.
Be wary
of gold souks and other souks where your hustling skill is pre-requisite to a
good deal.
I did
not waste money on getting on top of Burj al-Khalifa and many other
skyscrapers, instead spent money on driving through the desert and experiencing
some fantastic water sports such as jet skiing, parasailing, etc.
Money Transfer
Using
your credit or debit cards abroad means a two-fold change: a non-sterling usage
fee and a cash withdrawal fee etc. I’d recommend you take cash in pound
sterling with you and exchange it anywhere outside Dubai International Airport.
Exchange rates in London or even in Heathrow Airport are a rip off.
Interestingly, if you shop around do some bargaining at some exchange shops you
will get good rate and even a waiver of the fees they talk about. The only
difficulty is if you find a Chinese cashier whose poker face is sometimes hard
to read.
