Day 183 – Dubai, UAE, United Arab Emirates
Back from my 4 Day Holiday on Qehsm Island with only a few Days of valid Visa left so did it quick and dirty. Changed 30 Euros, bought a Ferry ticket to Sharjah in United Arab Emirates and off to the Port. A night on the ship with a mix of other European travellers, Persians, Arabic People and Myself the last time enjoying the Persian Vibe with Chai, Mork with Berench and a Sunrise on the Persian Golf.
Immigration was relative easy because I sneaked in with the group of Travellers from Austria, Swiss and Italy who needed to go first to get their cars through customs duty. It’s a bit unfair, but I couldn’t sit there with 100 People in the Room and watching one Man handling the stamp while the other five guys watching him doing so and feeling important. They were very friendly though but I learned my Lessons the past Months.
Pedalling the first strokes in a new Country is always exciting. The contrast is very strange, knowing to be somewhere new but feeling experienced on the bike like always. Cycling between the amazing skyscrapers in Sharjah was blessing for my eyes to consume a new environment and gain some hunger for exploring.
The expected shock stayed out, surprisingly, but I got a hit by another side. Not by the big buildings or the fancy cars, No, by the amount of fat, white bellies in shorts wondering on the streets. It felt like being on a touristy beach in Thailand where People getting drunk and living there ugly site. After 4 Months in Muslim Countries I slowly adapted, not in a conservative way, but to following the convention of showing less skin because I respect the People in that Country I am Guest in.
The ride on Freeways, big City streets and floating trough the traffic was a lot of fun for the 20k to the old centre of Dubai. Here I felt immediately in my Iranian Comfortzone. The hole centre is based on wholesale businesses and the area I lived in is for all sorts of Pipes, Bathroom supplies and Handtools.
What makes this City and the old centre special is the vibrant and multiplicity of People from Asia, India, Pakistan and Africa. “You can sit on a bench and in a few minutes see half nationalities of the planet” Like Clotaire a Friend and fellow Bicycle traveller said ones.
I headed the Metro in front of my Hotel and the Metro headed me straight into the Future or called Downtown. Skyscraper left and ride and in the distance even more. Creating a scenery which looks impressive like a huge Valley in the Mountains but this here is Man made where two Generations before only Sand and maybe a Vision was. Sometimes it feels a bit unreal but this unrealness is everywhere and by loosing a reference it becomes their own reality and real for the People living in there.
Definitely inspiring to be here. It opens the View to the Future, and around the Planet.
