Sylvia's Journal

It was a dusty ride out of Kabul and into Dubai. Someone other than Captain Courtney was piloting us to Dubai but the chief flight attendant and I recognized each other from my cockpit ride 6 weeks ago.

I was driven from the airport to my dayroom on Dubai Creek in a Lady Taxi (pink stripe on car) by a Sri Lankan lady all dressed in pink and white, the company uniform for female drivers. It included a white gauzy veil that was much too warm for Dubai. In her native Sri Lanka there was no veil and there was rain, lots of rain during monsoon time.

Still, she liked it here because of the money (lady fares are 20% higher than male fares). She had started out as a housemaid for an Iranian family and had decided that this was not a good form of employ. She took driving lessons and told me proudly she was licensed now. Because of her previous Iranian employer we could communicate also in broken Farsi.

I am staying in a hotel that is populated by Africans, many with small children. I am curious about why they are here. I have a small balcony with teak garden furniture that looks out over the Creek, exactly as I had hoped.

After completing my presentation for the conference I walked, in spite of the heat, along the quiet Dubai Creek. Weekend in Dubai transforms the place. Instead of the frantic activity of loading and unloading wares from everywhere on and off their boats, the dhow hands were languishing in whatever shade they could find.

I had planned to cross to the other side and eat a Lebanese lunch but the cold coconut milk, fresh from the nut, and the jumbo prawns offered by a small sidewalk cafe kept me on this side. Afterwards I made a quick stop at the spice souk where I found most shops closed for Friday prayers, except for one. I found the one spice I haven’t been able to get in Kabul, star anise, and surprised the Iranian shopkeeper with my ability to communicate with him in his native language, Farsi. It seems that if you don’t speak Arabic, Farsi can take you a long way in Dubai.

Got my middle seat changed to window – things are lightening up.