a few hours in dubai

well I have a layover of eight hours in Dubai airport, and they have a very modern business center, so thought a few words on Dubai might be in order.

emirates is a very nice airline. they provide you with hot towels, a menu, individual video screens, option of viewing the front or bottom camera of the airplane ( which means you can see what the pilot sees as he lands the plane) and the meal is good. the seat was ample and there was enough legroom. and if you are staying more than four hours in the airport they give you a free meal. not bad for economy class. lots of staff too.

this is a very modern airport. it is quite comfortable temperature wise inside, although outside it was 30 degrees at 6 in the morning. when we arrived we passed a departure lounge. most of the people were wearing white. the men in those long white cotton robes with head pieces like you see in pictures of Arab men, and the ladies in the equivalent. there were some women wearing black, but most were in white . aside from that first departure lounge, I was surprised at how few of the visitors or staff appear to be Arab.

The bathroom was quite a shock . after spending several hours on the airplane there was some urgency in going to the bathroom, and it was modern, and clean, but the facilities were the same hole in the floor we had encountered in Istanbul. a nice fixture, with hose for your convenience, but no seat.

the duty free shopping is better here than any other place I have been. Electronics and gold appear to be the most popular, but the food section also gets quite a bit of action. the guy ahead of me in the checkout was buying lots of Kraft singles and processed spread. I expect the electronics are a good bargain, but did not know of anything I should be buying; and even at duty free prices the gold jewelry was still expensive. So I bought some books, postcards and chocolate.

I have four more hours here. spent a lot of time cooling my heels at the airport in Frankfurt as well. I'll be very glad to stretch out in a bed Johannesburg.