Bur Dubai

Bur Dubai

I fly out at 2230 tonight and have the day to kill.  I headed out at 0815 and took the boat across Dubai Creek to Bur Dubai for a wander.

I made it sound easy but there was quite a wait, maybe 25 mins, for the boat to fill up.  While waiting, I noticed that not all boats are tied up at the wharf.  Also, the water in the creek is very clear.

Getting to Bur Dubai around 0900, I wandered around the historic area.  It’s recreated but it’s better than nothing.  The sunshades placed in many areas spoil the traditional atmosphere but even on a hot November day like today, they are necessary.

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After about 45 mins, I found myself at another ferry crossing back to my area.  It was a slightly longer ride in a modern boat for AED2 instead of AED1.  Best of all, there was no wait even though it was nearly empty.

Killing the day

Back at the hotel at 1010, I prepared myself for the 1200 check-out.  The front desk rang to confirm that I was leaving and kindly extended my check-out by an hour.

After check-out I had planned to kill time on my laptop in the lobby to catch up with lots of admin and writing.  It wasn’t meant to be, as the entire lobby was closed off for maintenance and changing lights in the high ceiling.

Plan B was to go to the nearest major mall, Bur Juman.  I got there by metro at 1330 and spent over 3h in there wandering and not making a single purchase.  Most importantly, I had killed time, clocked up my step count and kept cool.

I left before 1700 and got back to the hotel about 20 mins later.  I didn’t linger too long at the hotel and made my way to the airport around 1800.

Leaving Dubai

Getting to Terminal 1 of the airport at 1835, the check-in area was congested.  I joined the queue for Sichuan Airlines which opened at 1930.  Fortunately, I was amongst the first to get the counter.

Getting airside wasn’t so smooth though.  The automated passport gate rejected me (and many other people).  I think the iris scan process was very hit and miss at the arrival capture stage (he kept asking me to open my eyes wider), and also now at departure.

I had to go to a manual counter, where I was then referred to the supervisor and then back to the manual counter.  Total of four queues!

Once airside, I realised that Dubai airport had expanded considerably.  Terminal 1 is no longer connected to its concourse via an underground tunnel.  Instead, it is connected to a new D concourse which isn’t as fancy as the other ones.

The lounge where I killed time and had dinner was top notch though.  The Sichuan Airlines A330 left on time but taxied for 30 mins before getting airborne.

The dinner (hot meal and box) served appeared to have been catered from China.  There was a cold roll inside the box but crew served hot bread rolls in addition.

The crew also spooned out Laoganma chilli oil from a jar to anyone who wanted a bit of spice on their hot meal.  Chinese airlines are not big on serving wine; there’s usually a bottle of red in one aisle and a white in the other aisle.  Sichuan Airlines adopts this practice as well.

Dubai conclusion

While big fake cities aren’t my thing, it was good to see how Dubai had changed since 2003.  I enjoyed myself and it provided good contrast to the places I had visited in the two weeks before.  Variety is the spice of life!

The weather was warm to hot, with evenings pleasant but a little sticky at times.