dubai and the beginning of ghana

after a sleepless overnight flight from bangkok to dubai, i floated through the dubai airport with ease and was in utter delight at how user-friendly this place was. the customs people were smiling (i don't think i've ever seen a customs person smile before, in any country), the information desk was helpful and called my hotel to tell them i was coming, and the taxi drivers were so civilized (such a welcome change from asia where they run over one another trying to get your attention).

i had one night in dubai, so i sprung for a fancy hotel. i let go of $5 and $10 rooms back in thailand after losing sleep due to a very noisy rat who apparently found something in my toiletry case tasty. i arrived at the sheraton and they actually let me check in at 7:30am for no additional fee, again, something i've never seen before. i guess when a place gets 40% of its income from tourism, they attempt to make everyone want to come back for more. after a short nap, i decide to hit the streets. i put on long pants and a modest black t-shirt, but i still look a bit trampy compared to the traditional black dress the local women wear. whatever. i let my instincts guide me around the streets. it's hot. incredibly hot. i'm feeling lightheaded and weak. i ask myself when the last time i ate a meal was. it was last night's dinner in bangkok with abina, where we got a little tipsy on wine (good wine is not easy to find in thailand and i was really excited). huh. maybe i should have eaten more solid food. oh well, i keep walking. i'm not really getting anywhere, and i'm feeling increasingly ill. i decide i need to eat. the only place i passed was a baskin robbins. considering what happened to my digestion the last time i ate ice cream, i decide this is not the best option. so i walk back to the hotel wondering why i'm so nauseous. then it hits me. THOSE DAMN MALERIA PILLS I STARTED TAKING YESTERDAY. it's all coming back to me now, my upper east side medical doctor warning me of the various side effects of the cheaper medication i opted for: anxiety attacks, lightheadedness, vertigo, etc. (i wasn't going to take anything, but when i told my dad he looked really scared and told me he trusted i would do what was best. i pictured calling home to him from africa with the news that i had malaria: nightmare! the whole "hey, i broke my knee surfing" was bad enough, so i spent $100 on the pills.) i ate some food and felt better. during the meal i looked at the map and realized my hotel was not in walking distance of anything. i also realized i hadn't slept more than 9 hours in the past 42 hours. so, i resigned myself to being a tourist and signed up for a 6 hour city tour. being carted around on an air-conditioned bus while someone tells me what to look at sounded pretty damn good.

i don't feel that i have enough experience to say anything valid about this city. i was really only outdoors for about 2 hours total. but, from my limited time, i would say if you mixed wall-street with the desert, threw in some forward-thinking architects and tons of people with disposable income, you'd get something like dubai. i've never seen anything like it before. in fact, i actually, at one point, had to ask myself "should i go camel-riding, skiing or to the beach now?"

i went to bed at 11pm when the tour was over. i crashed into my bed, luckily remembering to stop at the front desk to tell them i needed a 4am wake-up call so i could make it to the airport in time for my flight to ghana.

here's a small piece of advice for travelers: if you are about to board a 8 hour flight and want to get a little shut-eye, skip coffee in dubai. i have no idea what they put in the stuff, but i wouldn't be surprised if it was crack. if, however, 10 hours of in-flight tetris sounds good to you, by all means, have a double. like i did. then, have some free wine at 8am thinking, incorrectly, that it might knock you out. man, i can be a moron sometimes. it was 10 hours because we had "technical difficulties" before take off. lovely.

so, my hotel in ghana was set up to pick me up at the airport, but alas... they were not there. i used someone's phone to call (again, for a dollar) and she said she forgot. he'd be there in 30 minutes. i gave her a piece of my mind. i believe i uttered phrases along the lines of: "do you know how long i've been traveling and how tired i am?" and "in my country, this kind of behavior is incredibly unprofessional and plain rude. i wonder if i even want to stay at your stupid hotel." the poor woman had to take all my anger at the many, many airport pickups gone wrong in the past 3 months. but when my driver, Prince, showed up, i couldn't be mad at him. not with that smile and friendly-manner. plus, i was happy to observe the airport people doing their thing. when i met the swiss woman who owns and runs the hotel, we hugged and apologized to each other. now we're great friends.

if i had more time on this computer i would write about how i can't stop smiling in this country. the people, the food, the smells, the music, everything makes me smile. and everyone smiles back. maybe it's because everywhere i go men tell me i'm beautiful and ask me to go out with them tonight, or marry them. maybe i'm smiling because my sister is joining me in 2 hours. yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!! speaking of which, i should get going. the airport is a bit of a trek from where i am.

thanks for reading. if you've made it this far you obviously care about me a little bit. i appreciate it. and i'm looking forward to coming home in 2 weeks time. (sort of).