FAREWELL TO DUBAI

On Sunday morning in Dubai we went looking for a Methodist Church and thought we had found one.  Their theme was “Open doors.  Open minds.”  I knew something was amiss without “Open hearts.”  It was Jumeirah Mosque!  They open this Mosque to non Muslims, but then claimed all Mosques are open to anyone who follows the rules and customs.  I thought that perhaps this one was built just for tourist education, but it is a very active Mosque and has this special educational mission three days per week.  The presentation was good and again, our experience of the Moslem people has been wonderful. 

We had purchased Big Bus tickets so we saw much of Dubai, including the Palm, a wonderful extension into the ocean that is largely residential and everyone lives on a canal with a beach.  I put $ 20 down on a place.  We saw the beautiful Atlantis on the Palm Hotel and it is one beautiful building.  We then hit the Dubai Mall.  Mall of the Emirates had 450 shops, but this one had 1200.  1100 of them were restaurants and all closed until 7 p.m. for Ramadan.  We went hungry until dinner.  We could not go up to the 127^th floor viewing deck of Burj Khalifa until evening, so missed being on top of the tallest building in the world.  Note the striking divers into the waterfall. I wanted to join them. We saved the rest of the bus tour until Monday, but that was not to be.  Marilyn became very ill in the night and we went to the American Hospital not far away only to discover she has stones floating about various parts of her body and will probably need surgery upon our return.  We feared missing our flight and financing surgery here with questionable insurance.  She has prescriptions so we plan to get on the flight and see a doctor upon our arrival in Omaha.   We are lounging around the room today, catching up on sleep, packing and using room service awaiting our departure on Emirate Airlines Tuesday morning. Those who have been following our journey have to know what an unbelievable trip it has been and we are grateful for the way it fell together so beautifully.  The stones were polite to await the end of our journey.  Thanks to all who have shown interest in the wandering Scahills.

Joe

SATURDAY IN DUBAI

Friday is the Sabbath and Saturday the other day of Islamic week-ends.  Union Station for the Metro is right behind our hotel, so we took it to Mall of the Emirates.  What a beautiful train (both subway and above ground)!  I had already been warned that my #1 dream for Dubai was crushed:  the ski slope was closed during Ramadan.  So, we settled for pictures of the winter wonderland in the Mall, with 120 degrees outside. 

From the Mall we took a cab to our next destination.  We had 1 p.m. reservations for window seats on the 27^th floor of the Burj al Arab hotel for High Tea.  We have now moved into a higher echelon on the social scale, so you, our family and friends, will just have to put up with it!   We had all of the tea, juice and coffee we wanted, plus five courses of sandwiches, cakes, desserts and several things I would not know how to name!  They even acknowledged our 32^nd anniversary (Aug. 31) with a special cake and a rose for Marilyn. That’s it Marilyn: anniversary celebration accomplished!  The view was great and the setting exquisite.  The concession to Ramadan was no alcohol and no piano player.  Shucks, I wanted to hear the pianist!  We then took a cab back to the Mall and boarded the Metro again for the return trip to our hotel.  Being a week-end day, it was quite busy and we had to stand both coming and going.  We are settling in for the evening, feeling no need to find more food today.  Oh yes, I am getting in a swim each day at the hotel pool.  One does not feel the heat in the water which is somehow kept at a perfect temperature. 

Our worry about having a good time during Ramadan has completely disappeared.  We hope to learn even more about Islam but our experience of the people has been grand. We have bus tour tickets for Sunday and Monday and will have opportunity to report on more of audacious, lavish Dubai! 

Joe

SAND DUNE SAFARI

What do two Christians do on the Islamic Sabbath during Ramadan in Dubai??  Go to the desert, of course.  They had the Safari on this Sabbath day but eliminated the belly dancer and alcohol. Shucks, I was looking forward to the belly dancer.  We had a lazy day and a nice lunch before departure to the desert. 

First we had a daredevil ride through the sandunes in our four-wheel dunebuggy with a wild driver and about 30 other buggies.  Great fun!

Then we visited the camels, and yes, Marilyn loves even ugly, nasty animals! 

Then we went on a camel ride!  Great fun!

Sand boarding is my latest sport.  I got to the bottom before falling!

Next was the henna design.  Marilyn has a hand design and I now have a spider on my arm!

Then we had a delicious barbeque at the camp in the desert while watching he sun go down.  Beautiful!  We sat on ground-level cushions and low tables.  Nice effect, until you had to get up that is!  Our speedy driver got us back to the hotel in good time and it was a great second day in the desert of the United Arab Emirate.

Tomorrow is another day in Dubai.  Stay tuned.

Joe

 

ON TO DUBAI

We did not exactly choose to spend 5 days in Dubai.  Our friends who invited us to Oman were on holiday in the good old USA and we had lunch with them before our departure.  Changing international flights is both expensive and cumbersome, so since we were passing through Dubai, we decided to just stay here for 5 nights.  We were a bit nervous since our stay is during Ramadan, but convinced that we could and would make the most of it!  We got a late check-out from the hotel and then used the computer room for a couple of hours before taking the shuttle to the airport for our 7 p.m. overnight flight  arriving at 5 a.m.  We hired a car, considered more secure than a taxi and arrived at the Radisson Blu,Dubai Deira Creek.  The rate was so reasonable that we were sure it would be an older hotel, but behold, it is a first class place with 6 restaurants and shops with lovely jewelry starting at $ 2,000.  Marilyn did not get any!  Every room has a balcony facing the Dubai Creek, quite a water passageway opening into the Arabian Gulf.  After some needed sleep we reviewed our information about Dubai and made a list of things to do, with skiing indoors at Mall of the Emirates a high priority.  We found a reservation woman who helped us set up our whole 5 days, so we are off and running.  Our first night was on the Al Mansour Dhow with a sumptuous traditional Iftar buffet while cruising on the Dubai Creek for two hours. Delightful!  Pretty good start for two kids from Nebraska!  Tomorrow is another special event, but you will have to have patience to learn all about it!

Joe

A NEBRASKA CONNECTION

Many of you reading this know Doug and Anne Kallesen of Columbus, Nebraska, both active in United Methodist concerns for some years.  Their daughter Kristin has lived in South Africa for 15 years and owns her own landscaping company.  Through Doug we contacted her and arranged for dinner together on our last night in South Africa.  What a delightful evening! Always great to connect with Nebraskans. We speak the same language!
Joe

Johannesburg Tour

It is interesting that after 3 stops in Joburg that it was a part of the Zimbabwe extension so we finally got to tour the city. We went through downtown and again our guide was sure that we saw the good, the bad and the ugly. South Africa has received about 3 million Zimbabwean refugees, with a good share of them in Johannesburg, putting a strain on jobs and the economy.

We went to the Apartheid Museum. This became an emotional experience for me. For shock effect, your ticket said whether you were white or non-white, determining which door you could use. 20 years ago my new friend Larry Johnson (retired pastor from North Carolina) and I could not have entered through the same door, nor could the women pictured. We were a group of 10, 5 white and 5 black. How I wish more of life was like that. Apartheid was instituted in 1948 because segregation had failed. It was far more brutal to "put them in their place". The prime minister declared that apartheid was to produce good neighbors. Right. The battle for freedom was a long and costly one. I knew of Mandela's imprisonment, but I learned of his colleagues who suffered the same fate. I also learned that Mandela had advocated violence as a young man, part of the reason for his imprisonment. He is now the George Washington of South Africa, beloved by most, even in the white community. We then went to Soweto, a suburb where blacks were assigned living space, and toured Mandela's home there.

Following our very good day tour, we took all of our new friends to the airport to head home while we headed back to our new second home, The Airport Grand Hotel. Read the next blog for the wonderful evening we experienced on our last night in South Africa.

Joe

VICTORIA FALLS, Part 2: THE REAL FALLS!

It has been a dream of mine for years to see Victoria Falls.  It was even grander than I imagined.  We viewed it from several vantage points as it is very wide and you walk about two miles in the process of seeing it in all its grandeur.  We saw some faint rainbows, but this was the best one, and I need this for my Rainbow blog!

After seeing the Falls on Monday morning we did a shopping stop and then headed to the airport to return to Johannesburg and our home away from home:  The Airport Grand. 

Joe Scahill