Dubai!

It is currently 7:08AM, according to the handy Rolex clock thoughtfully erected in the middle of the café I am sitting in. According to my desktop clock, however, it is a little past 11AM—the time back home in Hong Kong. To me, it makes no difference—it really feels like it should be 3 or 4 in the morning!

Dubai International Airport feels rather classy, possibly because it is one of the cleaner and newer airports I have been to. I arrived here at around 6AM (thanks to a lengthy delay at my stopover earlier in Bangkok) and already the departure hall was bustling with motion. There are an incredible number of people here—far more, I think, than I am used to seeing at HKIA, and unlike in Hong Kong I cannot understand the tongues in which they speak. Which is quite exciting, and just the slightest bit annoying. The signs are written in beautiful calligraphic script (though thankfully almost always accompanied by English translations), making me wish I had at least some elementary understanding of Arabic. Of course, I don’t. Apart from these slight distinctions, it is really impossible to tell that I am in Dubai—as a matter of fact the first store I came across was Pinkberry, and from my vantage point I can see several Western-style restaurants, a Starbucks Coffee, and a Burger King. It is convenient, I suppose, but at the same time it feels rather a pity.

I am seated in the farthest end of the café, trying not to attract the attention of the staff (I don’t have any purchases left on the table and would really prefer not to be kicked out). There unfortunately appears to be no free Wi-Fi service here—oh, HKIA, why do other airports not follow your glorious example?—so I will try to post this online once I regain connection.