Culture Shock Again...

Thursday February 20. A bit warmer on land!

Disembarkation day.
To make it short, we were awake at 5:10 AM and sitting in our hotel having a second breakfast or an early lunch at 9:15!

It was slick as the devil, off the ship an into a new country and city. The reception and welcome to the hotel was the most sincere, genuine and friendly that we have ever gotten in all the years of travel. The lady responsible is an most delightful Indian lady

We four put our heads together and decided to explore this city as best we could in the short time we are here. We leave the hotel at 4:30 tomorrow morning to get to the airport to get our 7:30 for an 8 3/4 hour flight to Casablanca Morocco,

This is a most outstanding city, the cleanest I have ever see. Traffic is orderly, driving on the most unbelievable city road system possible. The architecture here is amazing, outstanding and beautiful. Construction is ongoing and staggering, without obstructing the flow of traffic somehow.

I believe that the lack of litter, obedient drivers and pedestrians and no doubt an orderly society is fines, and no doubt hard a hard justice system.The fine for jay walking is around $80, for turning when the light is red the fine is about $4500 if there is no accident as a result, if an accident occurs the fine is around $900. I have heard of harsh Arab punishments, like lashings etc.

Gasoline is about 35 cents a litre and the tax rate for common folk is 5%. There are a tremendous amount of foreign workers here, from India, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Kenya and a zillion other poor countries. No matter how long they work here, they can never become Dubai citizens. interesting place indeed. Lots of visitors from a vast assortment of countries, Dubai appears to be a 'Happening place' and tourist friendly. Bring money.

It seems we have been on the go since 5:10 this morning and have never stopped to catch our breath. It is now 4:30 in the afternoon, We got back from exploring about an hour ago, I have spent an hour trying to download pictures from my iPhone to the computer as well as another 58 from my camera in an attempt to have decent blog done before we go to dinner at 6:30 and I hope to shave and get a bath in the mean time. I have found that if I leave the blog until after dinner, especially on a busy day, it does not work for me, as bed beckons.

Great day today.

The view from our room.
Lobby.
No, I did not buy it!
Mosques everywhere.
See what I mean!
A Seven Star Hotel!
Typical skyline.
Three lovely ladies including our Indian Host.
Lobby again.
Just a street.
In the gold souk, which means market. There is a silver souk, a herb souk, a spice souk, a housewares souk and on it goes, the merchants are a bit aggressive  but fun to stroll through. The locals appear to buy the gold, not the tourists.

Just an interesting stroll to see how life goes here. 



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