More adventures

Last week (27 October), we took the one-hour flight ($130 return with FlyDubai) to Dubai where Pat & friend Betty were attending a Learning Disability Conference. Dubai used to be something of a role model for Doha & its buildings & society are a foretaste of what Qatar may look like in a few years time.
The global recession has badly hurt Dubai & most construction has slowed down or halted altogether. Property prices have plummeted & the future remains uncertain. Were it not for the continuing wealth of Abu Dhabi (which supplies 90% of the oil revenue), the United Arab Emirates & Dubai in particular would be in a very sorry state.

Meanwhile the Dubai metro has recently opened (September 2009) & the world’s tallest building (Burj Dubai) at 818 metres (compare the CN Tower at 553 m.) has just been completed.

The metro is a driverless system running at an average speed of over 40 km an hour. There will be 29 stations eventually but several are still under construction. Although there is a “Gold Class Cabin” (with “wide leather seats, exclusive lighting & design, & a panoramic view from the front of the train”) & a “Women & Children Cabin”, the metro is proving to be something of a class leveler, with Emirati in thobes or abayas rubbing shoulders with workers & ex-pats alike. It is cheap (less than $2 & as little as 60 cents) & extremely comfortable.

We travelled by metro on Wednesday evening to the Dubai Mall to eat (Italian) & watch the astonishing fountains & music display. It was quite breath-taking & certainly a sight not to be missed. Here is a short sample:

Roger managed a morning of birding with a local birder & drove out of Dubai through Al-Ain (near the Oman border) to Green Mubazzarah Park (near Jebel Hafeet).
It was a great opportunity to find some birds that never show up in Qatar & also to take a trip into the nearby dunes, looking for (& finding) the Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse. Just one of fifteen species to add to his “life list”.

On our second day, Pat found time to go skiing. The ski “resort”, inside the Mall of the Emirates, has real snow, manufactured each night & groomed every morning. Coats & skis are included in the two-hour package (about $40) & it was another memorable moment in this desert utopia.

We flew back to Doha on Thursday night, just in time to see three movies at the first Doha Tribeca International Film Festival on Friday. The festival was created by Robert De Niro & is intended to make Qatar the film capital of the Arabian Gulf (if not the Middle East). Each film was only $3 & we managed to survive until the evening but gave up on the fourth which didn’t start until 11h.15. The films we saw: “Road, Movie” (very good Indian film by director Dev Benegal who was in attendance), “London River” (outstanding movie brilliantly acted by Brenda Blethyn & Sotigui Kouyaté) & “The Greatest” (slightly unconvincing movie with Pierce Brosnan & Susan Sarandon).

We would have gone to more movies but Saturday was semi-final day of the Sony-Ericsson Women’s Tennis tournament, with Venus Williams playing (& beating) Jelena Jankovic & Serena Williams playing Caroline Wozniacki (who retired hurt). Some good tennis & a relaxing day at the end of a hectic week.