13 May 2016 Preparation for Epic Adventure
This is me in final preparation to go on an epic adventure with my travelling companion. It has been a while. I first met her at the Intercontinental Hotel in Hong Kong back in the late 90s. I was the present the hotel gave her. Since then, she took me on several solo trips that she made but the most memorable one was South Africa in 1998. Back then, the heaviest item of her baggage was her Canon Rebel (film) with a 300 mm lens in addition to a wide angle lens and a Nokia cell phone.
I was just noticing that this trip, she travels with heavier photographic gear even though she does not have to bring rolls of film any more. In place of those canisters in which those films come, she has SD cards but also a laptop, tablet, smart phone and the number of chargers and adapters which take up so much more space and weigh so much more. Now she also takes more personal products, medication, vitamins and all. It is almost as if she could not travel light even if she tries.
It is nice to be a bear with furry pelt with no need for clothes or laundry worries. And memories are made only in the mind.
14 May 2016
3 am in the morning. My travelling companion has just danced in a samba gaffiera flash mob with her dancing friends in between dancing great dances with her partner. And her partner has just fetched us to the airport. Here is a picture of me sitting on his super sleepy bosom. Her poor partner has been rising early for work every day of the better part of this week and here he is deprived of Friday night sleep to fetch us to the airport. He is a really great guy and I know that she will miss him heaps. I will miss him too. It is always nicer and more comfortable to travel with your best mate and way more fun.
Part of this adventure for my travelling companion is reassurance that she can still things on her own. Last night, she was feeling a little apprehensive about this epic adventure. She is leaving her comfort zone for such a long time. There is comfort in familiar routines, friends, the things one is used to, knowing where and how to get oneself out of trouble should one get into it because the paths are clear and well-trodden and the tools are well used. It is different when one voluntarily put oneself into unfamiliar situations as a challenge to self. To go where one may not be able to read the street signs because it is going to be in a language whose alphabets one does not read. The general public may not speak English or any of the other four European and Asian languages that one speak.
She was telling me that as soon as the trip starts though, that apprehension would go away. She would be into it and her instincts will kick in. She will be taking it in, learning new things, and new ways that others use in these places to solve their everyday challenges. That would be fun.
Well, we are on our way. Emirates flight EK 433 to Dubai where we will arrive at midday local time. So far, we have an entire row of seats to have a good sleep and the inflight service is excellent. There is even Wi-fi on board although flying over the ocean means there is temporarily no internet. The ceiling of the plane is speckled with LEDs to create the ambiance of starry skies. Nice for inducing sleep on a 14 hour flight. In addition to USB chargers, there is a full 3 pin charger for laptops. No wonder no one can travel light any more these days. It used to be that flights are where you disconnect from the world to spend time with self. This is no longer truth. Disconnecting from the world to spend time with self is now a conscious choice that one has to make deliberately.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
The flight arrived a little early. Immigration was a breeze. One did not see a single lady immigration officer . What a vast change from the crew on board the Emirates who were multi-national. My travelling companion had a good chat in Mandarin with a stewardess from Taiwan. There are ladies in information and customer service but none were observed in 'enforcer' situations. By the time we got to the baggage collection area, our bag was already waiting. This airport is efficient!
Tourist information advised against trying to find our hotel as we had intended - using the metro and walking as the hotel is located within the maze that is the old town. A taxi was advised. My travelling companion was feeling a little apprehensive about getting into a taxi. But when she got to the taxi rank, the controller there waved here on to a pink taxi driven by a lady driver. What a great idea. Solo females are driven by other females. Our driver was a Muslim lady from Uganda who has been working in UAE for three years. She said that inhabitants of UAE pay no income tax currently although some kind of tax is contemplated for the future. And she chose UAE because it is a Muslim country and there are opportunities for improving her life.
The lady taxi driver did a great job navigating the weekend traffic jam at the maze of Deira, using her cellphone with the hotel reception to locate it.
The weather is a shock to the system. 39 deg C!! Low humidity but you can really feel that you are in the desert. Imagine a convection oven ... that would be the best description for that initial sensation. Pictures will be here when I get it off my camera. The city is basically a man made oasis along the sea shore. Every green and living object is probably planted and irrigated - just from the symmetrical look about them. It is a good exhibit of where human wrangled with nature and with sheer strength of will succeeded. Even as Dubai currently houses the tallest building in the world for now, more buildings are being built. We took an orientation tour on the metro in the evening, and an orientation tour of the paths through the maze of the old city. The maze is not as bad as the directions that were given by google maps or the folks living here. Locals here in the traditional part of Dubai are not used to giving directions was the first thought. Actually, they probably give directions the way their people interpret them best. But these directions are not user friendly to the way we are used to taking directions. Eventually, we found the path of least resistance.
During orientation, we also discover that there are special coaches in the metro specifically provided for women and young children. That is nice. In a crowded train, these coaches are the ones that are not as crowded and its users genteel. ;-)
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