Has it really been one week ago since Lisa and I left early Monday morning?  Part of me thinks that time just flies, and the other part of me feels like it has been so long ago.  In no particular order, here are some trip notes from our first week on our big summer vacation.

• Left behind, involuntary: the charger cord to my new Android phone, left behind at our New York hotel.  Didn’t realize it until we were at JFK and I was looking for it to plug in.  The good news is that we do have an extra cord that I can plug into a USB socket.  The bad news is that the cord I lost was especially for my new phone and it was a quick charger, meaning it could juice up an empty phone in under two hours.  Now it takes quite a bit longer to charge up my phone.
• Left behind, voluntary and with regret:  (1) my good camera – figured I cut weight and just use my new Android phone, but I miss the features of my camera like the powerful zoom and the ability to take pictures in all types of conditions.  My smartphone is good, but not good enough.  (2) my running shoes – again, in order to cut weight, I left behind my running shoes.  Not that I would do a bunch of running, but at least I could give my feet a rest with a different pair of shoes and I’d be able to do more of a workout or even some running.  (3) a string backpack – I brought my new day pack, but sometimes I’d rather have something really really light like my string backpack that every business seems to give away at community events and what not.  I have ten of them at home so I have little excuse for not bringing one.
• The smoking Europeans:   Nope, not talking about hot Italian women, I’m talking about the smoking in outdoor public spaces that is difficult to escape.  Twice we have had a lovely meal in an outdoor patio, and then while we are eating our neighbors light up and it just so happens that the wind direction that day is targeted right for us.  So tonight we ate inside the restaurant where smoking is not allowed.
• Tiny coffee:   yep, like a little shot of coffee in a teeny, tiny cup.
• Coke and other beverage sticker shock:  a small plastic bottle of coke runs around 3 Euro, which is about $3.60.  This price applies in both restaurants, fast food joints and in convenience stores.  Conversely, Lisa has had glasses of wine that go anywhere from 3.50 Euro to 4.50 Euro – that’s super cheap, yet it is not cheaply made wine!
• Paid water:  I haven’t quite figured out how to order tap water.  I thought the secret word was “Still Water,” so the waiter will just bring me a bottle of regular water instead of fizzy or bubbly water.  Next time I will just ask for any water that is free / gratis and hope for the best.

• Free water:  it has been pretty hot here and Lisa and I have done our fair share of sweating, especially with all the humidity and strong sunshine.  In every Italian town we’ve been to, a total of seven, everyone of them has a public water spigot that you can fill up your water bottle for free.  I’m not talking about a drinking fountain, but an actual spigot pipe in some town square or populated area where the water is free AND clean.  At first we were a little suspect, but we gave into thirst and (knock on wood) so far have had no negative post-water consumption issues.

• Mosquitoes:  I have around ten bites, and Lisa over twice that amount.  They just love us.  We have repellent, but after slathering sun screen all over our arms and legs, we have been too lazy to apply our bug spray.  That will change tomorrow however because we will be going to Venice for a few days, and we hear that they have a lot of mosquitoes!
• Gelato:  we’ve had a cup every day and have tried different flavors.  They are literally on every corner and they all look like high quality, specially gelato shops.  And here’s your frozen dairy dessert lesson for the day …
  • ice cream:  usually frozen (hard), made with no less than 10% milk fat,
  • gelato:  usually made with whole milk and no cream and no eggs, consistency is more like soft serve

• Gelato sizing:  a small cup runs around 2 Euros, but when you see the size of the cup, you think “that’s pretty big!”  Well, here’s some news.  That “small cup” that looks big is actually a small cup because they hide the bottom of the cup halfway up.  I found out the hard way when I was eating my gelato and I finished faster than I should have.  Upon investigation, it was because of that false bottom!
• Fill er’ up:  let’s talk about to-go (or as they call it here, “takeaway) cups of beverages.  In the States, when you order a large drink, you expect a drink to be filled up to the very top and then a nice lid placed over it for you “to-go.”  But here, they will only fill it up to about one inch from the top.  You’ll get a straw but no lid, and no discount for that empty space where you hope actual beverage product should be.  Oh, and here there is no such thing as a Super Size Large.
• Photos:  too many thus far, and so hard to delete them because they are all “great” shots because everywhere we have been to has been worthy of photo keepsakes.  From food porn, architecture, natural landscapes and everything in between, we have not been able to say “NO” when it comes to taking pictures – except in some churches that explicitly state no cameras or photographs.  There is beauty everywhere and we just want to capture it all.  So yeah, we have a problem and it is not going away anytime soon!  But at least we don’t have any annoying selfie sticks!  Just random selfie shots at odd angles, we can live with that.

• And that does it for this first edition of trip notes where I comment, muse and complain about anything that comes to mind, now it is time for bed because I need the sleep!

Here are some random thoughts and observations after our first thirty hours here in Dubai:

• Jet lag:  Dubai is 11 hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time.  To make it easier, I use a rough estimate of 12 hours so whatever time it is here, I just reverse the AM or PM.  Therefore, when we landed at 11am, it was 11pm back home.  During our fourteen hour flight, we received intermittent sleep of around three total hours.  So we were definitely tired when we landed, but we were determined to see the day through.  After checking into our hotel, we did some sightseeing and ate a late lunch, but we definitely hit the wall around 4:00pm.  We managed to stay up until 8:30pm and then went to bed.  We woke up this morning at 6:30am, so we managed a good ten hours of sleep to get us acclimated to our new wake/sleep schedule.  After today’s adventures, we seemed to have adjusted pretty well.
• Here’s a description from one of our guidebooks that seems fairly accurate:
  

  “Dubai is one of those places that polarizes opinion:  if you don’t enjoy a sanitized, somewhat artificial environment of the idea of whiling away hours hunting bargains or chasing a golf ball, Dubai may not be the place for you.  But those who appreciate extraordinary architecture, exceptional hospitality and bewildering choice of recreation will find Dubai more than meets their expectations.”

  For our travels, Lisa and I always find fun and adventure wherever we go and it is always fascinating to just take public transportation, walk around and people watch.  We have really enjoyed our first two days and we have only scratched the surface of what there is to do.

• People –  so many nationalities here, including scores and scores of Filipinos.  I counted over ten Filipino restaurants, and that doesn’t include the chains of Chow King and Jollibee.
• Malls – some of the largest malls in the world are located here.  We’ve been to two so far, each boasting over 300 stores, and those aren’t even the big ones.  The malls here also want you to shop.  In the States, malls encourage lounging by putting in chairs and comfy sitting areas.  Here, the only areas you’ll find seats is in the food court.  Walk around the rest of the mall, and the only other seats belong to restaurants.  Even the bookstore had no chairs!
• Cars cars cars everywhere.  There is traffic at all hours, but it flows pretty well.  There’s also a lot of pedestrians, and while there are some pedestrian overpass bridges to get people across major thoroughfares, I’m not a huge fan of their cross walks because they seem so complicated.  It’s a little hard to explain, but basically if you want to cross the street, you’ll have to travel through at least four different crosswalks to get there.



• No dog sightings yet – stray or domesticated.  However, we have seen plenty of stray cats just hanging out.
• Weather – so far, temperatures in the mid-eighties with some clouds.  Apparently just a few days ago the city was overcome with rain storms that produced flooding and over 3,500 auto accidents related to rain.  Guess we timed it just right this time around.
• Nightlife – people are out out out at night.  Picnicking and playing in the park, window shopping (there are many stores from restaurants to pharmacies to general merchandise stores that are open 24 hours), eating, malling and going out, the streets are teeming with locals and tourists and it gives the city a buzzing vibe of activity.
• Fliers – people line the sidewalks passing out promotional flier for just about everything:  restaurant specials, phone plans, salon services, even personal loans.
• Money exchange – at least one on every corner it seems, especially for very well populated areas.
• Our hotel room has an arrow on the ceiling pointing to the direction of Mecca
• Word play.  A store will advertise their ‘Timings.”  (open hours)  A clothing store will have “Trial Rooms” (fitting rooms).  Restrooms are often just “Toilets.”



• Despite being a multicultural city, Dubai has open discrimination, prominently on display for employment ads. Here is one that was just posted out on a restaurant.  Our tour book states that “the open discrimination you’ll see in job ads is often reflected in pay.  A European can expect to earn more than a Filipino or Indian doing the same job.”



• Costs – we expected it to be a little expensive, and that certainly is the case.  The exchange rate is 3.65 Dirhams to every dollar.  To make it easier, we just think that 7 Dirhams = 2 bucks.  Eating out has been the biggest expense, and many places do not accept credit cards, they only want cash.  Unfortunately I didn’t plan on this too well because I didn’t bring enough cash to exchange.
• To save on some money, I bought the ‘Entertainer,’ an app that costs $110 US, but will basically give us two-for-one discounts to restaurants and attractions, including admission to the Wild Wadi water park and a Desert Safari tour that we’ll take tomorrow.
• Movie theaters have reserved seating here, which is just beginning to take hold in Portland.  What was most cool was the fact that they have a screening for Wrestlemania for next Sunday in one of their auditoriums, yes!





• Poor planning:  Dubai uses the British 3 pin plug and I didn’t bring an adapter.  So far we have been able to get by with a USB cord charging from the TV, but it has to be turned on to charge the electronics, even when we are sleeping (simple cure – we just turned down the brightness and contrast level to zero)
• Finally, the hardest part so far hasn’t been the jet lag or the language barrier (ha, there is none!), it has been the fact that we can’t hold hands or kiss in public.  To be respectful to the Islamic traditions, we are reminded often that we should not engage in any public displays of affection — even holding hands is frowned upon.



• That’s all for now, I’ll have more random thoughts in future posts, now it is time for bed!