Dubai sucks. I'm definitely lonelier than I've been in a long time as the hostel is miles from town and they're rude and stupid and no one quite speaks English. I had to leave my key and I got back last night after experiencing Dubai's "night life" to find they only had four keys to a five bed room and gave mine away. They offered to open another room and I could get my stuff the next day. I was fucking pissed, and eventually got a key to another room and moved my shit out. Dubai sucks ass. I'm gonna call the airline and try to go to Jordan early. Not sure what I'm gonna do there either though, but at least I can hang out with Tamam.
So, here is Dubai - everything is far apart, and it the buses are ungodly slow. Everything's a $15 taxi ride from everything else, but that's preferable to the 2.25 hours on buses last night to get to the club (that in the end didn't exist!). 2 hours and 15 minutes! We never left the city, and there was no traffic. The bus driver did run into a restaurant and grab a drink, and we did have to change buses and wait like 1/2 an hour for the bus to leave the depot though.
Anyway, yesterday I did at least meet someone to hang out with - a Swiss girl with whom I didn't have much conversation except in short bursts. Maybe it's because we were both hot and tired though. She was smart enough to only have a layover in Dubai, not a few days. So now I'm alone. But it was definitely more fun going out with her last night, cuz nothing would have worked if I were by myself, and taxi rides are twice as much.
So, Dubai night life. Weird, by any account. First, alcohol is mostly illegal here, and all the bars/clubs are in hotels. You can't buy alcohol outside a bar. So, last night we ride our 2.5 hours to a 5 star hotel to find out that the club we wanted closed three months ago. Luckily, it is a 5-star hotel, so we go to the concierge. He informs us more about Dubai nightlife, how it's constantly changing and there are all sorts of rules. There are lots of member-only nightclubs and some couples only. He was trying to call one of those for us, but it ended up being closed. (I guess for couples only they just want equal numbers I guess, and no one hitting on anyone? I dunno.) So he called a bunch of places, and it turns out most of Dubai's nightclubs are closed on the weeekend. Well, our weekend, but most importantly Saturday night. Allow me to repeat that for effect. Most clubs are CLOSED Saturday night. So after 15-20 min, he found one for us to go go to that had a 100 AED ($28 or so) entry fee. We asked for a cheaper one. He told us about a mid-level place and we caught a cab.
Getting to the Rattle Snake was about the point when I realized Dubai can probably be fun, but only if you really do not blink at high prices. We blinked. And then blinked again. And blinked a third time to really clear our eyes of a shithole bar that looks like somewhere out of East Texas, and with a 50 AED ($14) cover, 71AED ($19) Red Bull/vodkas and no women except the band and prostitues. Blink blink. Prostitutes everywhere! This was the bar we PAID to get into... Some of them looked like men, too, which was surprising for this part of the world...the whole thing was pretty gross for a night out. Sigh. So we got drunk and listened to the band (mostly 80's covers and the women were actually pretty decent singers) and caught a 67 AED cab home at 3, at which point I found I had no room and no key.
Dubai in the daytime (becoming a long post, but I have hours to kill): The majestic city I imagined simply does not exist. First, most of the stuff they're planning is still just that - plans. Dubai holds the world record for cranes per capita. Seriously, the skyline is just yellow machines in all directions. And in the summer everything is hazy and gross, so you can't even see the tall buildings from far away, even if the coser cranes weren't in your way. Anyway, because it's all spread out, there's not really a skyline to look at per se, just a lot of tall buildings with $20 cab rides between. We did stop by the 7 star hotel last night, near the nightclub that wasn't, but they won't let you in - there are guards. You need a reservation at the spa or something at least to get in. We also went to the hugest mall I've ever been in (the one with the ski slope), and that was pretty cool (literally as well), but still far. The mall is laid out in a grid with these little circles everywhere. The coolest part is that on each of the circles, there is a coffee shop. There were maybe 50 differnt coffee shops in total. There were at least three Starbucks, and even a Seattle's Best! Also a Borders (which did not actually contain the Seattle's Best, but rather a Bucks) and they can expect a visit from me as I burn through my stack of books here. The Ski Dubai thing was pretty interesting, and the only real thing picture worthy that I've seen, but I just kept thinking of the amount of energy needed to run that in this disgusting heat. It was depressing. The kids looked like they were having fun though.
Anyway, basically Dubai is worse than I could have imagined. Not only is there nothing to do, but you have to pay $20 to get there. Hopefully I can get out before I go mad.
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