Sunday 16 August 2009

Its not the heat, its the humidity.  This place seems to take that statement to the next level.  Every time i ve stepped outside it feels like I'm being hit with a sleedgehammer of heat but every time we go back inside the air conditioning chills to the bone and I find myaelf hopping back and forth trying to equalise my core.
the city seems to be a theme park for adults. This is what you get with most unlimited money and no oversight to drag back the excessive imagination of the architects.  Fake islands, huge buildings, cheap cars and cheap petrol to fuel them.  And according to our tour guide there's no crime, no pollution, no drugs.  Well, no worries then!  Its hard to accept that taxis are just about the only transport available to us tourists..  they're not that expensive but it certainly adds up and whilst everything is somewhat subsidised by the royal family's vast wealth on th whole things are a lot cheaper than they could be and we're not even residents or ...citizens. 
The social mores are interesting, I'm paranoid about offending the morality police who I've been told lurk around every corner but I haven't managed to offend anyone other than my travelling partner and I rarely go a day without doing that anyway.  As part of the jetlag push our local friend, the second of the nightmare of ravens I've known, took us out to an authentic arabic restaurant (id be very surprised to find an inauthentic one in the UAE) followed by an expat filled beer barn celebrating all that is obnoxious about the international subculture.  A lot more enjoyable than I ever thought it would be.  Well, I think it cured the jetlag anyway although it can always come back to bite you.  A bit more sensible on the second day, heat hadn't alleviated at all but at least we saw some things we came to see ...

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