Thursday, November 17, 2005
Dubai. Uneventful flight, remarkable only because I did not hear a word of Kiswahili on the flight. Arabic, of course.
Dubai is surreal. The city is large and ultra modern, with many milti-story buildings and some skyscrapers, to keep company with what is apparently the tallest building in the world. But it all looks pre-formed. The buildings are all fresh looking, lots of glass and sculpted shapes in fantastic architecture blending the very new and neuvo-arabic. But there isn't much construction going on in the city. It is as if all these buildings were suddenly dropped here, complete, like a Disney Wonderland.
Clearly it is the shopping mecca. Huge, modern malls. Lots of people shopping too - a total mix of colors, mostly swarthy but including verything from very black to the very white tourists and expats. Dress from modern casual to muslim robes, some of the muslim caps, sikh turbans, women in black with only slits to see through, others in tight jeans and tops.
Supposed to be they world's best price on anything electronic, digital or computer. But what I wanted to buy most was a Trio-650. You can get it for $299 from the manufacturer, or as low as $220 by buying on the internet. Here they want about $600 for one. Go figure!
Things got hectic before I finished all the paperwork yesterday, so I ended up with about $500 in Tanzanian schillings that I didn't have time to exchange before I left. None of the foreign exchange offices here will touch them. Not a chance that I can do any better in India or Guatemala. I can see a long struggle ahead before I recover any value from those damn shillings. And their value keeps dropping.
Dubai is surreal. The city is large and ultra modern, with many milti-story buildings and some skyscrapers, to keep company with what is apparently the tallest building in the world. But it all looks pre-formed. The buildings are all fresh looking, lots of glass and sculpted shapes in fantastic architecture blending the very new and neuvo-arabic. But there isn't much construction going on in the city. It is as if all these buildings were suddenly dropped here, complete, like a Disney Wonderland.
Clearly it is the shopping mecca. Huge, modern malls. Lots of people shopping too - a total mix of colors, mostly swarthy but including verything from very black to the very white tourists and expats. Dress from modern casual to muslim robes, some of the muslim caps, sikh turbans, women in black with only slits to see through, others in tight jeans and tops.
Supposed to be they world's best price on anything electronic, digital or computer. But what I wanted to buy most was a Trio-650. You can get it for $299 from the manufacturer, or as low as $220 by buying on the internet. Here they want about $600 for one. Go figure!
Things got hectic before I finished all the paperwork yesterday, so I ended up with about $500 in Tanzanian schillings that I didn't have time to exchange before I left. None of the foreign exchange offices here will touch them. Not a chance that I can do any better in India or Guatemala. I can see a long struggle ahead before I recover any value from those damn shillings. And their value keeps dropping.
