I bought my ticket online for this event ages ago--before I even arrived in Dubai. The race track is in the middle of the desert, ergo I figured I'd pick up my ticket the day of the race, because who has the time to go all the way into the middle of the desert twice in one week? Lots of other people had this idea as well, so that when we finally go through the hour of traffic to get to the racetrack, there was a line over an HOUR long to get our passes to enter the gates.
Why was it such a long line? Because there were only TWO, count them, ONE-TWO, women checking people's reservations and handing out passes. Is that a joke? Am I on Punk'd? Are there secret cameras capturing my every word, counting how many expletives I splutter as I stand in a parking lot full of dust and rocks, waiting to pick up a ticket that I should have been able to pick up in about 5 minutes?
Sadly, none of the above are true. The best part of the entire "queue-ing" experience (there were a lot of Brits around, and they all say queue, not line) was that, once we got into the little tent where the women would consult a list of about 20 pages of confirmation numbers, people started to get rowdy. Like, NYC-style belligerent when disatisifed with the littlest of things--I thought there might be a mini-riot and papers would go flying. At the height of the mutterings and complaining, one of the ticket-checkers says: "You need to be patient, you could have picked up your ticket before today but everyone always comes to pick up their passes the day of the race. It happens every year."
It happens every year? You mean to tell me that this heinous line situation, hours and hours long, in the sun, in the dust, everyone dressed to the nines and wearing the craziest hats I've ever seen (pics below) has happened before? AND NOTHING HAS CHANGED? As I learned, this is a typical Dubai experience--you can't really ask the question "BUT, WHY?" in an exasperated voice here--because there will be not be a single, even remotely sufficient, answer.
After that, we waited in a few more mile-long lines--I will spare you the details. Once we got to "International Village", or rather a Texas-state-fair-replica adjacent to the race track, we only stayed for about an hour. We saw one of the seven races--it lasted about 2 minutes. I ate a not-quite-cooked-enough chicken quesadilla and a diet Pepsi. There was nothing except food and beverage stands in the entire place. Except some fireworks, and a large TV screen. Lame.
All in all, huge letdown. Granted, I wasn't in the grandstand, but if I had to wait in line for that as well, I would have been just as disappointed. I've never ever seen such a poorly planned and executed event of that scale and magnitude--it really makes me appreciate how much planning and foresight does go into things in the US, even though at times it might seem like a circus.
Other things I have learned about in the last week:
-Every single car in Dubai has a buzzer that goes off every time you go above 120 km/hr, since that is the speed limit. So it keeps beeping until you reduce your speed--for the record, more annoying than any blinker or car horn you have ever heard.
-When one of the 5 times to pray/day happens to be when a Muslim is in a mall, well, everyone just goes to the top floor, takes off their shoes, and starts praying. There like rows of people in the aisles of the mall, sitting on prayer rugs for awhile--and you have to walk around the other side until they're finished. I wanted to take a picture but really thought it disrespectful.
-A glass of regular champagne costs $30. A beer costs around $10-$15. A mixed drink costs $15.
-Prostitutes are everywhere. Ev-er-y-where.
Photodocumentation of some of this week's sights below:
High rises in downtown Dubai
A little blurry--part of Dubai Media City @ night
On the way, sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic: a once-a-year event has it's own permanent sign--which you think would indicate their level of reverence and therefore consideration when planning--GUESS NOT
One of the better hat sightings of the evenings
Gone in a flash!
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