I'm posting two blogs right now. Obviously, I forgot to post yesterday's after I wrote it - I do recall practically falling off my chair as I was so sleepy.
This is Tuesday night and the party is over. We will be leaving for the airport at 7:00 a.m. and I, for one, am not looking forward to the 14 1/2 hour direct non-stop flight to Toronto. I'm wishing now that we could go straight home when arriving in Toronto but suitable connections to Regina could not be made so we have to spend the night in TO. Kids, we'll be at the Days Inn (airport).
Anyway, this morning we hopped on the metro to the Al Rigga district (an outstanding item on our to do list) and had breakfast at one of the many cafes. As well, Ralph wanted to go to the clock tower there. We walked and walked and walked and window shopped and did this, that and the other thing. The rest of the day was spent souvenir shopping for the family and clothes shopping for our grandchildren - poor little things, they are so deprived, they have hardly no clothes! Anyway, I enjoyed every minute of it. We went for supper about 6:30, again to the Al Rigga district after which we partook in all of the festivities going on in the streets for the Dubai Shopping Festival - parades, acts, entertainment, fireworks, etc., etc.
You see and hear all the great and good things about Dubai and we saw them all, but there's a dark side. All the luxury and the beauty and the buildings were built on the backs of others (cheap off-shore labour), mainly Pakistanies, Filipinos, Sri Lankans, Africans, Indians. Labour legislation in Dubai is practically non existent. For all the hardships that these off-shore labourers have in this country, they're still better off here than they would be at home. All the service sector employees - restaurant staff, hotel staff etc., that we met, were all extremely friendly, approachable and hard-working, mostly Filipino ladies.
There will be one more blog entry after this one.
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Ya, I've seen a documentary or two on the cheap labour they brought in and "exploited" to build Dubai. Sad, but you are probably right, they probably have more opportunity than back at home.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you're aware of (and commented on) that side of Dubai, though.