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Breakfast was a smorgasbord, an intersection of Eastern, Middle Eastern and Western food. It proved to be an odd combination but each in its own right delicious and I ate until I was quiet full. Things I consumed at the Trader's Hotel Dubai: Hummus, small chocolate donut, baba ghannoush, scrambled eggs, mortadella, vegetarian curry, olive tapenade, gravlax, tiny diced pickles, mini croissant, yogurt, labna (yogurt cheese with mint and thyme, fresh fruit, fruit juice and coffee.
I got lost going to the spice market but the walk was nice after my large breakfast. In the daylight Dubai is a bit like Vegas in the daylight, gone are the lights that make the place so magical and what you are left with is the drab gray of skyscrapers or the khaki façade of the rest of Dubai. It was also drizzling. I am sure that rain was a welcome change for the two million or so residence living here but I was hoping for a little desert sun.
I wondered the old section of town around Al Hamriya, passed the Grand Mosque and along the Dubai creek. I realized that I was on the wrong side of the river for the spice market so I waited forever for a water taxi to carry me across to the opposite shore and over to the Deira Spice Souk. I wandered the covered alleyways and out toward the gold market but by the time I arrived it was nearly one and people were closing for the Middle Eastern siesta. Normally the afternoon heat was so unbearable people needed to take cover but that afternoon's rain left Dubai quite mild, cool even, as my body had become accustom to the jungle heat of Sri Lanka.
I decided that the best way to see Dubai was the metro and the best metro line was the red line from Rashidiya to Jehel Ali. By purchasing a day pass I could hope on and off as I pleased. The red line covered not only the airport but took me to all the cities of Dubai: The World Trade Center, the Emirates Towers, the Financial Center, the Dubai Mall (World's largest mall), the Burj Khalifa (World's tallest building), Dubai Internet City, Dubai Marina and all the way to the port city of Jehel Ali. The only place it did not take me was the Palm Islands and the Burj Al Arab (World's only seven-star hotel) but you could see both in the distance from the comfort of the Dubai metro, one of the world's only pilotless trains.
It was near dusk when I ended in Jehel Ali. I thought I might have been able to walk to the sea but the metro station there was parked in the middle of an industrial area and with the rain I did not want to journey out so I waited for a return train to take me back to the city center if there is such a thing in Dubai. The nice thing about pilotless trains is that if you want to be at the front of the train you can be at the front of the train. The front wind shield provides an unfettered view of the tracks and the world rapidly approaching. It made for some cool videos.
Via Metro was the only way to get to the Burj Khalifa was through the Dubai Mall. I am sure this design was intentional because only the largest mall in the world could be over shadowed by the tallest building in the world. I am sure that to the immigrants from Sri Lanka or India the Dubai Mall was a sight to be seen but really it was just an oversized version of what you would find in the States other than they did have a "Baby Dior" and a "Baby Dolce and Gabbana". You do not see that every day. Exiting the maze of the Dubai mall I finally found myself at the base of the Burj Khalifa. s*** it was tall. The buildings surrounding it were tall and the Burj Khalifa towered over them. It was impressive, a modern marvel but really once you get over it Dubai really just feels like Vegas without the sex, booze or gambling. How fun is that? I am sure that if you were really wealthy there was plenty of sex and gambling, maybe not booze as it is a Muslim country but after spending a day here I was ready to move on. The disparity of wealth depressed me. I saw a lot of Bentleys and Lamborghinis but more than that, I saw a lot of tired faces on the metro and I was tired too. I may have been ready to go home.
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