The visa and passport control lines are a different story. My first glimpse into a different way of doing things in this country:
Scenario 1: I come to these 4 counters set up for visas--any kind of entrance visa whether it's for work, visiting, etc. They are set up as follows: Europeans and Americans, Africans and Arabs, Pakistanis and Asians. That hierarchy is very indicative of the social classes that exist here, first of all. Second of all, there are only 2 men behind the counter, looking very tired and worse for wear. Third of all, do the math--2 visa guys x 4 counters = not enough to deal with all the lines. One of those counters unmanned happens to be the Europeans and Americans counter. We start to queue; we wait, oh, 7 minutes. A man in front of me goes up to the other counter, and asks one of the men (who has his back turned) if we can get someone to help us--he is IGNORED. Flat out denied--no response. So he leaves in a huff. One minute later, and the Europeans and Americans are being taken care of--even though people in other lines were there first. And have been waiting (like the 50 or so South Asian men waiting to get their visas to start working on all the high rises here. They have to wait by the visa counter whether their visa is found in 2 hours or 2 days--at the whim of the desk counter guys and their schedules. Uh huh).
That's not even the best story from the airport.
Scenario 2: So then I get my employment visa (a piece of paper), and I get into the line for passport control--which is quite well set up. There must be 50 counters in total, with maybe 15 passport checkers ready to check all the flights that arrived around the same time. So I get in a line. Within 5 minutes, the guy who was checking my line has disappeared--vanished. I think, ok, time for shift change. 5 minutes. 10 minutes. 15 minutes. No one says a WORD. My New Yorker attitude is starting to simmer. I am getting angry that we are not moving, that no one has taken the guy's spot, and that none of the other men "patrolling" are noticing and asking someone to get their ass over there to fill the desk. Throw me a bone.
A few times, I considered saying something...I decided against it. I didn't want to start off on the wrong foot (or in a customs office). So then our line and 2 others start sharing the remaining passport checkers--because that is SO efficient. Anyway, I get through, I get my luggage, I leave.
On the drive to the hotel, I see lots of interesting things, like enormous high rise buildings half finished, KFC written in Arabic, the 2nd biggest mall in the world-- you know, the usual. I tried to snap some photos, but the car was going to fast. I do however, have a couple of interesting photos below. Taken years apart, this can give you an idea about the insane amount of growth and development here. I will post personally snapped photos in a couple of days.
I am slightly crabby at the moment since I flicked the "Do not Disturb" switch so that I could sleep in today--it's a long weekend since today is the Prophet Muhammed's birthday--peace be upon him (you have to write that phrase after you say his name, every single time, or else you could be arrested--I'm not joking). But then the phone blared in the middle of an intense dream I was having, and the woman on the other end asked me to open the door for room service, since I had ordered a bucket of ice--oh really, I ordered that? In the middle of my REM cycle? Great, thanks for informing me, that's why I had the DO NOT DISTURB sign on, genius.
To get your awareness up, weekends here are Friday/Saturday, not Saturday/Sunday. So Sunday will now be my Monday--ugh. I will never get used to that. Sunday was by far one of my favorite days. Weeeelcome to Dubai.
Sheik Zayed Road (THE main road) Dubai 1990:
SZR Dubai 2003:
SZR Dubai (at night) 2006:
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