Dubai

Dubai. Do buy. I flew home from Dubai with $75 worth of spices from Iran. At least that’s where I was told they were from. Who knows? Maybe there’s a Costco behind the Old Spice Souk? I don’t think so. The smell of the fresh ground cinnamon was enough to convince me otherwise. In the market the shopkeepers are salesmen who let you sample most of their fine wares; Fresh red peppercorns, soft and sweet; Whole dried figs that look unedible but are truly wonderful; The saffron is handled with care like fine jewelry.

Now I have all of the ground and unground spices that I need in order to make the ultimate curry and some memorable desserts. I stocked up on cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, saffron, dried red, green white and black peppercorns, tea, chocolate, nutmeg, turmeric, whole dried vanilla beans, coriander, and cayenne. I'm probably forgetting a few.

Speaking of cayenne, there’s no shortage of exotic race cars in these parts. On the road I’ve seen many Lamborghinis, Porches, Ferraris, Audis, BMWs and Mercedes.

Besides visiting the Old Souk I went skiing at the world’s largest shopping mall, The Mall of the Emirates. It was about $70 for two hours. They provide everything except a hat and gloves but I was too cheap to buy them so I went commando. I remember being on the chairlift and saying to myself, “This if F@#%ing crazy!” It was great to get a few turns in but after less than two hours I had had enough. I’ve never gone skiing in October so that was cool.

Since I was on the Middle East leg of my Trader Vic’s World Tour I went and investigated the one in the spectacular Jumeirah Madinat Hotel. Twice. The posh hotel has its own canal where the restaurant tables spill out onto the winding sidewalks. The moody Arabian themed hotel resembles an old souk with its labyrinth maze of shops and restaurants.

Trader Vic’s is a Polynesian themed Tiki restaurant that has been serving gourmet food and drinks since 1935. It’s owner is the inventor of the famous drink, the Mai Tai. It is only here that you can have a real one in its unadulterated form. I always sit at the bar and as usual I got along well with the bartender. He even gave me the exact recipe for two of their drinks, Trader Vic’s Navy Grog and a gin based drink called the Pogo Stick! This is quite the accomplishment as their bartending guide has long since been out of print and free copies cannot be found on the internet. Many of the recipes are still shrouded in secrecy. After a Mai Tai, a Tiki Puka Puka, and a Samoan fog cutter I was happy to exit without being a zombie. During my flight out of London I stocked up on rum so that I can try out my new stolen recipes with a bottle of 8 year old dark Bacardi and a potent 56% Navy rum. They don't call it grog for nothing.

Other stops in Dubai included the fun 360 degree club at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel. It’s a circular open-air bar that is reached by a half-mile walkway that curves out onto the water. At the top of the hotel is another open-air bar where I had a drink called a Mosquito. It’s like the rum and mint based mojito but is made with Scotch and a touch of peach to go with the mint. Heavenly. It cost 70 Dirhams plus a 10 Dirham tip which comes to ... caluclating ... $20! Well, it sure was good.

A more impressive roof-top bar is at The One and only Royal Mirage in Jumeirah. Yes, that’s the real name of the hotel. This and the Jumeirah Madinat are two of the most impressive hotels I have ever seen in terms of interior design and architecture.

Dubai for me felt like a mix between LA and Vegas but with a touch of the tropics. It is more spread out than I expected. The Burj Al Arab, Dubai’s landmark and according to their marketing, the world’s only seven star hotel, was impressive but I thought it would be taller. You cannot just walk in there. If you are not a guest at the hotel you have to book in advance to eat in one of their restaurants.

I wanted to go to Hydropolis. It is (again) the world’s largest underwater hotel. The lobby and guest rooms are below sea level but like most major construction projects here has come to a halt when the value of oil crashed. I think Dubai’s national bird might be changed to the construction crane as they have 25% of the world’s supply here. Most are currently hibernating.

The Burj Dubai is still under construction and is rumoured to be (again) the world’s tallest building at 165 floors! I still don’t know what Burj means. One of the reasons I went to the roof-top bars was to get a view of the man-made islands that comprise The World, the Palm Jumeirah, and the Palm Deira but they are actually not visible from there. It is better to look at them using satellite view at Google Maps.

Another interesting aspect of the United Arab Emirates is that only about 30% of the people there are locals. The rest are foreigners that mostly work in the service, engineering, and banking industries. Most locals have high-paid government jobs where they easily earn as much as $10,000 per month! One my cab drivers joked that they don’t change tires here, they change cars. He did not laugh as he said this so I’m not sure if he was joking or not. They hand out a lot of radar camera speeding tickets here but if you’re a local then you'll probably have a friend who knows somebody in the transportation department so you can easily get them deleted.

I found the women wearing the traditional black dress with only their eyes veiled to be kind of scary. I thought there were Ninjas at my resort. It was funny to see one of them showing their ID to the person behind the check-in counter at the airport. “Yeah, it’s me. Can’t you tell?”

My trip was grueling and demanding. From day one it was like the photographic equivalent of the Amazing Race but I feel fortunate to have seen so many different areas of the Emirates and with so much variety and to have two days off being dazed off in Dubai was a special way to close it.

Sunset Camel Ride through the Desert of Al Ain, UAE

Trader Vic's - Al Ain, UAE

Kuwait City and Old Souq

Arabian Ruminations

Arabian Ruminations

1) They have IKEA here. They sell all the same crap except for Swedish Meatballs.
2) Turkey bacon and beef bacon cannot replace real bacon.
3) Drinking in Kuwait is illegal. Mocktails are king. Coffee is a sport.
4) Top secret. Salalah in Oman has some of the best undiscovered scuba diving in the world.
5) If you are a local you are above the law.
6) Speeding is expected.
7) The other night I celebrated Oktoberfest in a Muslim country while listening to a live band playing Pink Floyd and ABBA.
8) Camel tastes pretty good actually.
9) Arabic coffee isn’t my cup of tea. Looks like tea too.
10) I keep thinking that the women wearing the black traditional dress are Ninjas.
11) It is funny when these women show somebody their ID. Yeah, it's me. Can't you tell?