Soooo a general overview:
The last couple weeks in Kampala before going home were nuts. One of my projects ("SaveMoRe") is set to roll out on Feb 1 (well... it's looking like it will be Feb 8 now), so I had to get a whooooole buncha logistical business ironed out before going home for 3 weeks. Then again it's not like I was going home for 3 weeks of "vacation" - I spent a good deal of the first week and last week home working. Buuuut at least I was at home! Letting my Mom make me more steak than I've consumed in the last few months total. And pancakes. Wait a second... 3 weeks at home and I only had pancakes ONCE?? What the hell? Those of you who have had the honor of consuming my mother's pancakes will understand.
So other than the sorrowful lack of pancakeage, home was awesome. I spent the first week at my parents' house in Southern California, then a couple days in LA with DT and Dave, then a few more days in the Bay Area, and finally another week at home. It was fantastic to see the people and places I've been missing (oh Bay Area cafe culture... how you have spoiled me), though maybe not as "relaxing" as I'd hoped. Just being around the family had enough of a calming effect to make it allll worthwhile.
The trip back to Uganda was interesting. I had a 12-hour layover in Dubai between 15- and 8-hour legs of my journey. I arrived at 8pm, so I figured I'd venture out into the town for a few hours for some dinner and quasi-sight-seeing, then find somewhere to crash out in the airport. On the way out of the airport, I asked about 5 different Emirates Airlines staff if there was a lounge or somewhere that I could pass out for a few hours when I returned. Nada. Oh well, I'd just have to find myself a square of carpet somewhere.
It took me about an hour to actually make it out of the airport, not because of long lines or anything, but just because sometimes things that should take a normal person a short amount of time take me much longer. I finally found the metro station (fyi: best to follow the signs that say "metro" rather than trust your "instincts"), and made 2 instantsuperbestfriends. Well, one was, I think, some sort of employee of the metro system 'cause he (saw me looking confused and) asked where I was going, then told me where I should go and how I should get there. The other was the lady on the other side of the ticket counter. But I'm sure we're superbestfriends because she gave me an M&M. I metroed into town and discovered two things about Dubai:
1. The ENTIRE damn place is under construction. Seriously... it's absurd. It looks like they're trying to build Manhattan overnight!
2. Dubai brings new meaning to "not a pedestrian-friendly city". I mean, it brings a new type of meaning to it. Kampala is quite pedestrian-unfriendly, but just because drivers seem to get a kick out of mirror-grazing pedestrians and the "sidewalk" (read: dirt next to the road) is chalk full of gigantic holes for streetlights that were never installed. In Dubai, however, there just isn't anywhere to BE a pedestrian. It's bizarre! The city (what little of it I saw) seems to be designed with the assumption that everyone will use a car to get everywhere... there was not even a way to walk from one building to the building next to it.
Also I'm pretty sure I saw more dollar-value in cars in the 4 hours I was in Dubai city than in the 3 months I've been in Uganda.
I found the tallest building in the world! It was actually bizarrely hard to find. I kept just looking up figuring I'd see it from anywhere, but there are so many damn skyscrapers in Dubai that I couldn't find it (Mom- I thought of you asking a couple of cops where the Twin Towers were when we were in New York (rest of world: this was pre-2001.... the cops just looked at her and said "uh... look up"; we've given her shit about this ever since)).
It's really really really tall.
Then I walked around a mall for the last 30 minutes it was open. Learned what "Starbucks" looks like in Arabic. Saw an indoor ice-skating rink in the middle of the Arabian desert (didn't get to the mall with the indoor ski slope - next time!). Theeeen I wandered off in search of food and found an awesome little cafe nestled between 2 skyscrapers, in which I ate some chicken shishsomething and futzed around on the internet/read for a few hours, enjoying the Arabic being spoken around me. Did I mention I'm a sucker for cafe culture?
Finally I decided I should head back to the airport before I was too tired to be rational.
I found a hotel and asked how to get back (figuring I'd just take a taxi since the metro was closed, but hoping there would be a bus). They told me they actually had a free shuttle that would arrive in about 30 minutes. Sweet! I settled into a couch and proceeded to people-watch the rrrrrrridiculous crowd of young Dubaians (or probably not... apparently 80% of Dubai's population are non-native) filter into the hotel's hopping club. Apparently the shuttle was running late, so they wound up calling a hotel car to take me. Rad!
Back to the airport around 2am (flight at 8:30). TIRED. Airport was CROWDED. Asked several more Emirates employees about a lounge to sleep in. Nothing nothing. Found an Emirates cafeteria thingy in which passengers with 6+ hour layovers eat free. Rad. Ate lots of mac&cheese and mousse-on-bananas. Why didn't they tell me about this place? Good thing I stumbled upon it! REEEEEALLY TIRED. Found a fairly loungey chair. Not very comfortable but managed to pass out for about an hour and a half. Woke up fidgety and REALLY REALLY TIRED. After several minutes of shifting around and annoying everyone else on the row of connected chairs, I moved to the nice tile floor. Ugh. Passed out for another 1.5ish hours. Finally gave up and went to find my gate. Time passed somehow. MISERABLY TIRED. At the gate ran into an acquaintance from Kampala, looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. She'd arrived around the same time as me on Emirates. Why did she seem so rested?
Because apparently if you have a layover of over 8 hours in Dubai, Emirates will put you up in a hotel FOR FREE including 3 meals FOR FREE and a city tour FOR FREE.
BUT YOU HAVE TO ASK ABOUT IT BEFOREHAND.
Why the CRAP do they offer this if they're not going to TELL anybody? ARGH.
Aaaaanyway, it's back to the Kampala-grind. A few photos from Dubai:
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| Dubai |
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