My flight left Heathrow an hour late at 11 p.m. and we flew in darkness. When we crossed the Mediterranean onto land again we went over Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. The was a very light cloud cover and I could see glowing orange spots in the clouds under which there were the lights of cities and towns. When I was right over them, I could see through the clouds to the streets. Once we left the coast, there were no lights again. The sun rose as we approached Kuwait and the north end of the Arabian Gulf -- everybody just calls it The Gulf. All I could see was sand with no vegetation and wadis (dry river beds). Miles and miles of nothing.

 

Eventually I saw a few of the circles of crops watered by irrigation like I see flying over the western U.S.  But I couldn't see any roads approaching them. Where are the people? Then I saw two tracks of dust traveling across the desert -- vehicles that left no tracks behind them when the dust settled. There are no roads. People just drive across the sand wherever. We flew over the Gulf to Dubai and crossed directly over the city at low altitude before landing at the most modern airport I've seen.

 

Dubai was a sleepy fishing village on a stagnant creek just twenty years ago. Sheik Mo (for Muhammad) and his father had a vision and they borrowed money against the oil here to build buildings and infrastructure. You've never seen so many *new* buildings. And malls. One is 2.4 *million* square feet. Big modern cars, wide streets, malls with Chili's and Cinnabon and Timberland and Burger King. I had lunch at the food park today -- kebab, not a burger. Now oil accounts for just six percent of the GDP. The creek has been dredged and big ships dock there now to supply all the malls and bring in building materials. All the stores and duty free and tax free. And everything is "on sale." Lots of jewelery stores and fine clothing stores. There are so many skyscrapers along the main drag, they block the view of the Gulf for everybody else.

 

When I left LAX, Virgin Atlantic assured me I would have my luggage in Dubai. When I arrived, my bag did not come around the track. Seems that it was checked through to Entebbe and since it was less than 24 hours until my onward flight, they would not release it to me. The flight was an hour late leaving London. Originally, if the flight had been on time, it would have been 23 hours and 45 minutes, still under the minimum limit. So I contacted American Express because I have travel insurance through them and I have filed a claim so that I can buy a shirt and socks and such on their bill. I also have another insurance policy, so I'll file with it, too.

 

Except for a few men and a few more women in traditional Arab dress, it is difficult to tell I'm not in the mall in Glendale. And the Arab language and script. Only one in eight Dubai-ans are Arabs. All the rest are foreigners here to do the construction work. Most are from India and southeast Asia.They pay a large fee to get a job here and since they can't pay it back, they're stuck here like slaves. Only this year did the government say the contractors have to knock off for four hours in the middle of the day in July and August because so many workers were dieing of heat stroke.