(17) Dubai: a huge Shopping Mall

4 - 7 February 2013, Iran, United Arab Emirates

On the evening of 4 February I embarked on a night ferry from Bandar Abbas - South Iran - to Sharjah - in the United Arab Emirates.

Landscape of Dubai from the ferry

Before leaving Iran I tried a silly experiment. In Iran – as elsewhere - the first question posed to foreigners is about their nationality. Europeans are usually well considered in Iran and they are normally warmly welcomed.

Before leaving Iran I wanted to test the normal people's reaction to a citizen of an enemy of their government: Israel - whose citizens cannot even entry the country.

I did it at the port of Bandar-Abbas. And the reaction was firstly an awkward and stiff smile and then they told me “ohhh.. good! Please show me your passport”. In that moment I found out that these people were from the security of the port – but without uniform. After explaining my dummy experiment they let me go without much inquiries but then I realised that it was probably not the smartest thing to do in Iran.

Finally I caught the ferry crowded by Iranians living in Dubai and Arabs coming back from Iran with full shopping bags.

In the morning I woke up early to enjoy sunrise and the view of the nearing landscape of Sharjah and Dubai composed of a multitude of Skyscrapers and huge cranes at construction sites.

On the ferry to Dubai

Comparing to cheap, small scale and comfortable Iran, the UAE boasts tall skyscrapers, immense shopping malls, hotels, high technology everywhere and a melting pot of people from different cultures. All of this immersed in a thriving business environment.

The emirates is a country where contrasts are evident. Women are not obliged to cover their head. So you can see an Arab woman with a black veil covering her body completely beside a Western girl with a mini skirt and with a tight dress.

And apparently it works without many frictions. Indians, Arabs, Westerners, Africans, Asians, Filipinos, Bangladeshis all with their own strong tradition and culture can live together in the same city because – as they say - “everybody is there just to make business”.

And the distance from Iran seems much longer than a night on a ferry. In Iran the feeling is of being at the extreme periphery of the world where people feel isolated and excluded. On the other hand Dubai is a big metropolis such as New York or London. Coming from Iran to Dubai was thus like coming from the last corner on earth to its real core.

In Dubai you can ski inside a supermarket!

Dubai and Sharjah are part of the United Arab Emirates. The UAE owes its huge wealth to its world's seventh-largest oil reserve. Since 1962 the Emirates' society and economy have been transformed by directing oil revenues into healthcare, education and the national infrastructure. The result is clear: the UAE is nowadays an extremely rich and developed country.

Tired by the travel and congestion problems, deafening noises, dazing lights and the shopping frenzy, I felt stressed and nauseated and realised that this was exactly the kind of place I wanted to escape.

Even though I appreciated some aspects of organisation and civilisation I was glad to stay in this big shopping mall for only two days.

After more than 6000 kilometers overland and satisfied that I could travel at least from Turin to Dubai without flying, on Thursday 7 February in the early morning I caught a low-cost flight from Sharjah airport that in few hours brought me to New Delhi!