Post First Brush...

Dubai – The City of Gold ! Finally landed at the airport >> Dubai International Airport or DXB. Foreign land. The first breath. Smelling the air, a ‘new air’, I was feeling like a foreign creature landing on a new planet. That feeling was strengthened by the marvelous sight of huge construction everywhere, in all possible shapes and heights…with the golden dust settling all over. (That was actually dust, construction dust, and lotsa sand in the air!)The airport itself is a huge place and after meandering through three floors of labyrinth, we reached the Immigration Check counter. All along the way were several duty free shops…yess, the charm of Duty Free lurks everywhere and then finally made our way outta airport after almost an hour and a half.

There we met our SPJain guy who had come to receive us. On our way back…we got a glimpse of this city. The first thing that I noticed were right there on the roads – Cars n Cars n Cars…lotsa cars of all possible brands in the world !!! You name it and you have it on the road in Dubai.In a short drive of 40 mins from Airport to Al Barsha ( our refuge for the next 6 months), I saw Toyotas (the most common here, even the taxis here are Camry and Corolla), Nissans (again plenty of them), BMWs, Hondas, Porsches, Ferraris, Pontiacs, Mercedes (ohh…those twin seaters SLK 350 are a beauty to die for), GMCs, Land Rovers, Prados,Lexus, Infinitys,Lincoln, Fords, VolksWagen, Mazdas, Peugeots, Opels, Audis…(ohh yes how could I forget the awesome Audi TT Coupe’), and the list just goes on and on and on…

The second thing that hit me was the speed. Driving at 100-120 kmph was normal and the major roads were with 12 lanes .Throughout the trip I felt I was on Express Highway!!! Apart from this what hit me were the buildings, especially the Emirates Hotel Tower and the most coveted Burj-Al-Arab on Sheikh Zayed Road. It was like a mirage (well atleast it was happening in an apt geographical location), coz just a couple of months back some one had forwarded a presentation on Burj-Al-Arab and I never thought that I‘ll be seeing that in brick and mortar within six months! It is an architectural wonder with its unique shell structure and an ostentatious entry fee of 200 Dirhams (which is roughly Rs. 2500)

In around 40 minutes, we ‘pit stopped’ at the coveted Green Villa in Al Barsha. This Green Villa happened to be the only entity closest (resemblance) to the green environment. The locality was an upcoming one and boasted of one of the best bungalows in town (undoubtedly), but invariably it kept reminding me of the life in the desert! Till now this is my closest brush with it…

Hoping to experience it more and in a true sense in this part of the world very soon.