First days in Dubai

My first few days in Dubai were rather adventurous.

On my first day, after getting dressed up and ready I went down to my hotel lobby to find out that it was raining. And it hardly rains in Dubai. I considered myself lucky but little did I know what was in store for me. Not only it was wet but it was also pretty cold.

I had arranged a private taxi to take me to office. But things got delayed due to rain and I reached office an hour late. Oh well, it’s my first day and it will only be orientation so I guess there’s not much to be worried about. I got that right. It turned out to be a slow day, at least in terms of productivity. A co-worker was kind enough to give me a ride back to my hotel.

End of day 1: Nice and easy.

Day 2 was declared a holiday because someone important was visiting Dubai and the government preferred everyone to stay indoors. So I got a bonus day off. Or shall we call it a welcome day off. (off topic - that’s still better than blocking the roads unannounced and letting people getting stuck for hours in traffic and no consideration for emergency vehicles.)

Dubai was treating me fairly well so far.

Day 3. It was still raining. It has never rained that much in Dubai. Driver again came late and I was again late at work, but again I took advantage of being a new hire. After getting off another co-worker offered me to drop me near my hotel. I gladly accepted the offer thinking I would take a bus home. No problem, I thought. So he dropped me near Bur Dubai at a bus stop and my adventure of finding the right bus that goes my hotel started. At that time I was hardly familiar with Dubai roads and neighborhoods, and on top of that it was windy, extremely cold, and the rain was pouring like anything. Under such circumstances, boarding the right bus was a task that required more luck than anything else. The bus routes and numbers affixed on the bus stand didn’t help a lot, neither did the people standing there. I was only able to figure out this much that my destination was not too far away and if I take the right bus I could reach there. But the right bus was not coming. All the buses that stopped were of different routes than what I had decided would take me to my hotel. After a rather long and painful wait, during which I don’t know how I managed to keep myself unfrozen, I boarded the bus nervously with my fingers crossed. After a while I felt I was near my hotel and should get off the bus immediately. Luckily the bus was near a stop (unlike Karachi, the bus only stops at designated bus stops and you cannot bang on the door twice to stop the bus anywhere you want) so I was off the bus within a minute.

I had no idea where I was. The place looked completely unfamiliar to me. Anyway, I started walking towards the direction my internal compass told me to, but realized soon that this technique will not work for too long. So I decided to get human help and asked someone the directions to my hotel. He looked at me from head to toe and informed me that it is going to be a 15 minute walk. 15 minutes, No problem! At least I will be home after that. So I happily followed the directions and made it to my hotel. Turns out I wasn’t way off. I made it quite close to where I wanted to go. Not bad considering it was only my third day in Dubai, and I’ve been lost much worse before. End of day 3.

Day 4 started off well as I made it to work in time, but dilemma of how to get home was still there. This time I decided to take the bus from the bus stop right in front of my office. I knew I had to go to Bur Dubai area and it turns out that every bus that passes from there goes to Bur Dubai. Cool. Why didn’t I know this before. But the problem was that none of the buses stopped at the stop. They were already so full that there was no more room for passengers. Anyway, after a long wait the bus did come, and an hour and a half later I at the Bur Dubai main bus station. There was another 15 minute walk to my hotel which I did using my internal compass and human help both. Plus I had obtained a couple of maps (I love maps, by the way) which helped me in navigating my way.

Over the next few days I optimized my commutes back to home. On a lucky I day I was able to find private buses and vans which enabled me to reach home in less than an hour, while on other days it took as long as a couple of hours. I guess that’s Dubai. So unpredictable.

Until I have my own car the number one problem for me is going to be moving around in Dubai, specially to and from work.