Dubai, Day Two (Part Two)

(Note: it looks like there won't be any more photos posted until I get home, because apparently between last night and this morning the government here decided that www.flickr.com is "inconsistent with the religious, cultural, political and moral values of the United Arab Emirates" and has blocked the site. Since I don't have an account on Etisalat, I can't log in to register a complaint.)

So after buying the bad batteries, we decided to hop on an abra and head back across, then catch a cab back to the hotel as both of us were starting to feel the effects of jetlag. We filed on, but just as the boat was leaving the dock all of the Arab and Indian guys hopped off, leaving us and a group of about 8 other tourists.

As we motored away the operator asked us to pay. Instead of the usual 1/2 dihram, he asked for $30 (US). "What? Why?" we asked. "For the tour," he said, pointing at the other occupants of the boat. Apparently we had unknowingly jumped on a boat that was doing a tour of the creek instead of just going from point A to point B. Nice of him to let us know after we had pushed away.

We told him we didn't want to go on the tour, so if he could just drop us off at the next abra loading spot, that would be great. He apparently decided not to do that, and continued to motor up the creek, giving the worst "tour" I've ever been on. As we passed by the Sheraton (with the giant sign saying Sheraton) he'd say, "there's the Sheraton." Let's just say I didn't get much of an appreciation for Dubai from our tour guide.

So the tour finally ends (we went up one side of the creek and back down the other) and the guy asks for our money. He's already willing to come down in cost and asks for "20." I give him 20 dirhams and he says "no, 20 dollars." I tell him he's crazy, I'm not going to pay $20 for a lousy tour that I didn't know I was going to be forced to go on. I give him the 20 dirhams and he asks for more. I dig around in my pocket, avoiding the 100 dirham note I have, find a 5 dirham and give it to him, telling him "that's all I have" as we exit the boat.

And that's how we got a $30 tour for 25 dirhams ($6.81) for the two of us. And I have to tell you, I still feel like we got ripped off.

After a quick nap at the hotel to ward off jetlag we set out for dinner. Under instructions to find someplace not too far away I settled for Spectrum On One at the Fairmont Hotel. I figured we'd go with a hotel restaurant since they are pretty much the only places allowed to serve alcohol and I was looking forward to a glass of wine with dinner. It's got a pretty cool gimmick -- six separate kitchens: Indian, Chinese/Thai, Arabian, Japanese, European, and a raw bar. It has a full menu from each to choose from.

My dad and I, perhaps overwhelmed by our choices, went the easy route. I chose the Arabian mixed grill, which offered six different kinds of meat, and he chose the special Turkish mixed grill, which offered six other kinds of meat (though unfortunately one was kidney). So, a dozen different preparations of beef, lamb, and chicken!

Unfortunately, since today is the Muslim New Year, all restaurants were dry last night so we didn't get any wine to go with our meat bonanza. On the plus side, we unknowingly lucked into some sort of early bird special, which offered a 41% discount off the bill if we left the table by 8:30. Our server notified us of that about 8:20 when we were deciding not to have any dessert, so we waddled out of the restaurant at 8:28 more than happy with our cheap meat feast.