First Dubai Report

“Dubai wants a demo immediately” said one of the managers when she popped by my cube. The project I’ve been working on for over a year seemed to be heading nowhere. Yet this is a refreshing change of pace for a product that has no signed customers. The most I had hoped for was a demo in the nearby potential clients premises in Bukit Jalil, but Dubai? Wow, things are looking up for this once ill-fated project.

Of course immediately wasn’t immediate, one week of late nights was essential to ‘polish’ up the product before the demo. But I don’t mind sweating it out for my first overseas business trip in 4 years.

Emirates Airlines

Our demo team were booked on a non-stop Emirates flight from KUL to DXB economy class. The flight was mostly like any other flight, but the flight attendants were something else. Most national airlines cabin crews in Asia are hired to reflect the local ethnicities. Emirates on the other hand employs everyone regardless of ethnicity or nationality. They can range from Australian to African, Korean to Brazilian, but there must always be one Arab to keep things grounded, so to speak.

The lunch meal I had on-board was mostly like any other airline meal. You have your bun and butter, appetizer, main course, dessert. Emirates throws in cheese and crackers and a mini chocolate bar. But wait, this airline gives you real cutlery in economy class, not those unmanageable plastic knives and sporks. Good too, if your neighbours kid get a little too annoying, try jabbing him with your metal fork.

The City of Dubai

Terminal 3 or whatever labyrinth of airport I had walked through was massive, impressive but hard on the old legs. I was sure I had walked a kilometre before I came to the exit. There we were picked up by our Dubai attaché, Usama, an Arab of French nationality who has worked in the Dubai corporate offices for a year and a half.

The atmosphere of Dubai struck me the second I put my foot out the departure hall doors. Dubai is hot and very humid, but more on that later. Despite Usama's lack of parking/driving skills, we made it safely out of the parking lot, and were soon whizzing along the wide highways around the futuristic airport terminals. Two things he pointed out, an unfinished airport terminal, another victim of the much publicised Dubai financial crisis and soon to be opened Green Metro line.

Each metro station looks sci-fi inspired and is air conditioned from top to toe, right down to the pedestrian bridge across the street from the station. Usama said the irony is that everyone drives; the trains are for poor people. And in my head: And tourists of course.


Usama brought us to the company offices in Dubai Airport Free Zone, one of the many free zones where foreign companies flock to. Companies like mine leverage on the benefits of these free zones, often making Dubai their business centre in the Arab world. And they fill them up with expats like Usama.

Dubai Weather: Indoors and Outdoors

Dubai is unlike most deserts; it is hot and has practically 90% humidity all year long. With this humidity, the nights are not much cooler, drops only a few degrees. If you Malaysians think our climate is uncomfortable, think again. Dubai is situated on the edge of the Persian Gulf, and all that evaporated seawater is the source of this sauna like conditions. In my mid-August trip, I faced temperatures of up to 38 degrees C. Usama said it’s worst in July when 48 degrees highs are observed. There is a law in Dubai that if temperatures exceed 50 degrees, a holiday will be declared. So it's no wonder there’s a nationwide conspiracy theory that the government intentionally adjusts the readings so that’s it’s always below 50.

You can’t live in Dubai without air-cond, especially in the summer. When I walked out of that airport, I walked no further than 50 feet under the shade before I started sweating. Or was it sweat? There’s so much water in the air, maybe it condensed on my clothes, mmm.

The weather in the air conditioned spaces is completely the opposite. I worked for a semiconductor plant, where the product line air is supposed to be dry (<10% humidity), but knowing Malaysia, this standard is hardly kept. On the other hand, Dubai’s air cond in the hotels, offices and malls are incredibly dry. Their dehumidifiers must be top notch.

To explain what I mean, I offer this scenario. I was outside Dubai Mall taking pictures of Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, and I was immersed in sweat after 5 minutes out in the hot sun. I sluggishly dragged my now drenched jeans to the entrance of the mall for relief. The driest of dry air came gushing out to greet me and, in within 10 seconds, I was bone dry. So remember, when in Dubai, prepare for the two extreme climates, indoors and outdoors.

The Population of Dubai

Dubai is a city of transients. Actual Emirati citizens account for only maybe 5% of all the people you see. The bulk of the population are Indians and Pakistanis who work in low paying jobs like construction, security etc. Filipinas take up service jobs like waitressing, hoteling and domestic help. The Arabs you do see are most probably expats along with other expats from Europe, America and Asia.

Humble Lodgings

On the first day, after returning from the office, the demo team proceeded to check in at Le Meridien, a typical business hotel, but without complimentary wi-fi, what nerve. Anyway we were on Malaysia time and it’s close to 10pm, so we had our dinner at an Irish pub because other restaurants were closed for Ramadan, except a café adjacent to the lobby area which was temporarily partitioned off from prying eyes but open nonetheless.

While perusing the menu, what caught our eye was a ‘Contains Pork’ indicator next to some menu items. I guess the Arabs are not so anal about the same utensils being handled for pork, halal restaurants etc.

The next day, breakfast came. It was the most scrumptious breakfast I’ve had in recent memory. It was 5.30 am Dubai time, but for us it’s 9.30 KL time. The highlight of this hotel’s breakfast was clearly the pastries and the made-to-order eggs and other dishes. The rest of the buffet spread was definitively second-rate. I ate so much, I couldn’t eat fruits.

Demo in the Desert

The client’s premises are located in another free zone within Dubai but farther away from the downtown and the posh coastal hotels and condos. It’s near an exotic sounding township called Arabian Ranches. Travelling to this site so deep in the desert, we saw some of the more ambitious residential townships laying half constructed in the hot desert sun. Among these delayed projects include the unbuilt Universal Studios Dubai. Usama had an interesting quip: “They build so much; they forgot to find the people to stay in them. Everything on this side of the highway is desert, forgotten.” Yeah, concentrate on the palm islands, no one likes the desert.

Ramadhan in Dubai

First of all, the greeting here is Ramadan Kareem, not Ramadan Mubarak as is usually said back home. Another big difference is the reduction of working hours. During Ramadan, a normal 9 to 5 day will now be 10 to 4 without lunch, yes it covers non-Muslims too.

According to law, all restaurants are barred from serving food for dine-in. Big fast food outlets only open for take away. Subway was closed, but even the chips normally displayed on racks behind the counter had to be concealed from public view. Supermarkets and shops are open till midnight, but there are no Ramadan Bazaars here.

It seems that a special license is required to open for dine-in during the day, and even that, it must be cordoned off from Muslims just like in the hotel. It’s not all that bad for non-Muslims. All hotels seem to have one or two restaurants open, and cafeteria of the free zone offices are also open.

So it was after the demo, and we wanted to celebrate our success in the Dubai Mall, just under the shadow of Burj Khalifah, the tallest tower in the world. Our hunger was growing. We skipped lunch because we had to follow the client’s schedule, but all the restaurants seemed closed. We entered a shop selling dates, and bought a few. We started eating them when the Filipino saleslady came around. “No you cannot eat, it’s the rule here, there’s a 500 dirham fine.”

“You must hide, come to the back of the shop, don’t let the security guard see.” Needless to say, we were shocked. No one told us about this law on public eating and drinking, not even in your car. All the state backed Ramadan laws seem to coerce non-Muslims to fast alongside Muslims. If Malaysia were an Islamic country, and our constitution gone, I guess some quarters would see nothing wrong of dictating one religion’s law over another.

Dubai Mall

They say it the largest mall in the world (on basis of total area), and yep, it’s about the size of 2 Berjaya Times Squares including all the deserted upper floors. Among its standout attractions are the Dubai Fountain, a ripoff the Las Vegas’s Fountains of Bellagio, an Aquarium, Kidzania, a Sega Republic indoor theme park, an ice rink and The Gold Souk.

The Gold Souk is noteworthy not because it is imitates a real gold souk, or traditional Arab market, but because it’s designed with maze-like alleyways, ornate courtyards and the fact that more than ¾ the jewellery shops are boarded up. It’s like the only section of the mall that is deserted probably as a result of the financial crisis.

Finally, after 14 hours of state sponsored fasting (OK I drank water, arrest me), we found an Arabian restaurant to have our iftar meal. We ordered the iftar set meal thinking we would get the most authentic Arabian experience. Boy, did that plan backfire, I was full on the appetizer alone. They say Ramadan is the most wasteful time of the year, and I got to see it first-hand.

Check out more pictures I took of Dubai.

And a video of the Dubai fountains, apparently the shows are only a few minutes long.

To my second report.