Small trip, big thoughts

Sometimes you’re up, sometimes you’re down, when you find that you’re down, just look around…

I was really getting into climbing lately. Doing 6c’s and practicing one 7a+ where I was getting further every week. As a stable part of UAE climbing community I’ve been given a chance to set up one route in The Wall. “Awesome. That would be my first route ever” I thanked to Feras and directly next Friday I spent 4 hours hanging on the sun and creating the green-hold monster. Because I didn’t have enough time I only hastily finished the last part and I tried to climb it for the first time next Monday. And exactly there above the overhang it was a bit harder than I thought. Motivated by others watching my first ascent of my route, I pulled hard on a small piece with my left hand and after a light crack in the finger I fell down. A typical climbing finger injury…stretched or partially ruptured tendon or ligaments and my days of climbing were over for a couple of weeks.

No climbing, no kiting also because no wind these days and I was getting restless. Tidy up the apartment, go shopping food supply, play some Magic Online are all important things, but not a proper replacement. And what to do at the weekend? Even bigger problem! OK then, let’s take the Metro and do Downtown and Dubai Mall, make some pictures and explore Dubai itself.

Weird, but you agree with me. If you live in one place, you always want to go outside saying that you can see the local stuff always. But after some time you realize that you didn’t go J

I like and admire the will and determination of the sheikhs to use all the oil money for being independent on them one day by trying to built an international commercial, business, tourist and transport hub. But their bad luck is that they have to build it from scratch and they don’t know how to build anything else than a mosque or villa. They want to change that fact by sending Emiratis abroad to gain experience and learn that there is more than one world. “I used public transport for a first time in my life. I’m so proud of myself” said in and interview one Emirati woman sent to Paris. But it will definitely take time ;)

The sheikhs have only a vision. So they pay foreign companies with know-how to make their vision come true. And new companies are founded with local top management to keep an eye on the vision and top level decisions, expats to do the thinking and cheap Indian labor to do the work. Sometimes not all the visions are technically possible!! But that is not what sheikhs want to hear. “What the heck! It’s not worth the hustle. In three years I’m gone anyway” says fixed contact bound expat engineer and makes it nice on the paper, but knowing that it will cause problems sooner or later. And everybody is happy J For now.

So a lot of beautiful projects with smaller or bigger flaws are created, like that there is not enough electricity to power up the lights, there are not enough access routes causing everyday traffic jams, sewerage network in underdesigned causing that the whole development stinks like shit or that your stay five minutes in the line for a ticket and five minutes to get to the train through counters.

Like almost everything here, the new Dubai metro finished on September has several superlatives. It is a longest metro built in one go, first metro in middle east region or the longest computer operated metro. So that beautiful sunny Friday afternoon I walked through a sandy construction site to the nearest metro station: Nakheel Harbour & Tower. Just for info, Nakheel is the biggest government connected Dubai property developer and Nakheel tower is the new projected highest building in the world surrounded by a brand new harbour of course. Nothing of that has even started. Sheikhs vision is wider than I thought J

I bought pre-paid ticket to avoid at least one queue and joined several tens of Indian and Pakistani families going to Mall of Emirates. I don’t know if the Metro was planned for people going to work from overcrowded and permanently jammed old town, for tourists to see all the Dubai prides or just to be the first who has done it…I don’t know, but the majority of passengers are Indians who have been given a cheap way to travel longer distances and enjoy the life more. Enjoying life in this case means going to a different mall or restaurant. A lot of passengers these days are also curious people willing to only experience this miracle for one day instead of taking the car. I was probably from a small third group using it for reason. I didn’t want to stay jammed in the center. Time will tell, after they finish all the stations and the second line, how many people are really using it.

It was for a first time I used it during the day. I have to say that I enjoyed it. I had time to see all the buildings and things from the flying fish’s view, because I didn’t have to pay attention to the steering wheel. I gained a better picture of what Dubai has, like all the villa and industrial areas hidden behind billboards. When walking to the mall I made some pictures of Burj Dubai and I actually for the first time in a year was closer to that 800m tower and could confirm that it is really high J The biggest mall in the world was as I expected. Huge building with tons of luxurious and expensive shops with basically no goods for me. No outdoor, no fantasy, no kites. I felt bored as fish in the big aquarium in the center.

But there were plenty of people walking around with bags full of clothes, just walking there because didn’t figure out anything better to do during the weekend or eating in one of several food courts. Weird was that they didn’t look bored as me. They liked that!

“Excuse me. Where is the bus stop to the Metro station? I don’t want to walk there again” I asked a Filipino receptionist. “Walking!!...” she replied in disbelief as she didn’t know what it was. After 10 minutes I found the bus, after 15 minutes the bus came and after 20 minutes we reached the metro, 1.5 kilometers further from the place where I asked for directions. “Damn…I could have been here twice already!!” I swore.

It was dark already when I was heading back. Seeing only street lights going to infinity, people going to have a nice dinner after whole day of resting at the pool or laughing while carrying bags full of new souvenirs, I thought about one thing. I can very well make the best of all the opportunities and options UAE offers to make myself happy and satisfied, but the way how I do it…”I somehow feel that I don’t fit here!”