It took me few hours to leave Oman and reach the United Arab Emirates. The border was easy, and the customs and immigration didn’t cost me a dime. After more driving, I reach Abu Dhabi, my first destination in the country. It is a big change to be here compared to Muscat.
The city is huge and very modern. I didn’t see skyscrapers in a while, and it would be easy to think I am back in the U.S. There’s also the incredible Zayed Mosque, which they just finished.
I drive around the city for a little bit and find a construction site on one of these pieces of land reclaimed to the water. I decide to camp there, since it’s already close to midnight. It is still very hot, and it’s not very easy to sleep.
The following morning I get to the Pakistani embassy as soon as I wake up. After few hours there, I am left with very little hope. I was able to see the consular officer, and he agreed to send my request to Karachi, but thinks there are very few chances for me to get the visa. Later, I stop at the newspaper to have lunch with a friend from the U.S. and at 3 p.m. I am driving toward Dubai.
It’s a short distance, two hours of driving and I see the first skyscrapers of the city. Dubai is even more impressing than Abu Dhabi. Everything here is huge and the city is difficult to navigate. Few days later, I am able to download some maps for my GPS. But the cities changes everyday and the GPS can’t keep up.
For a week I will stay with some friends from the Americas, Guillermo and Luis, who work at Gulf News, an English-language newspaper.
There are a lot of places to go at night and have drinks, and I find myself going out every night with them. Bars are usually in hotels, sometimes in malls. During the day, I do some shopping to replace the items damaged during the trip. Food is great also, with a lot of options including Afghan, Chinese, Filipino and Indian food. Money is spent fast here.
I get a small point-and-shoot camera which will make it easier to take pictures in cities or places where a big camera attract too much attention. I also get a laptop, a small Vaio netbook, a lot smaller than the one I previously had. I was under the impression that electronic items would be cheap in Dubai, but prices are a bit higher than in the U.S. On the other hand, I try to find a deep-cycle battery to replace my old one without success.
I also take advantage of the internet connection at my friend’s house, and research what will be the next steps of my trip. Unfortunately, I can’t say it is looking good.
The Pakistan option looks like it is a no-go. I believe there are no boats going directly from Iran to India. The border crossings between Georgia/Russia and Azerbaijan/Russia are currently closed. I am now looking into going Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan-Russia. But I will need to get to Tehran to arrange these visas. I will also give another try to the Pakistan visa while I am there, but I think that will become the one visa I couldn’t get during the trip.
I spend time in the huge malls one can find everywhere in the city. No place I saw reminds me more of Las Vegas.
On Sunday I arrange the details for the ferry crossing to Iran. For around US$700 I will be able to sail with the truck from Dubai to Bandar Abbas overnight on Tuesday.
There’s no way of getting money from the outside once in the country, so I try to get the maximum of U.S. dollars and also get Iranian rials. The cash takes a lot of space, as one dollar equals 10,000 rials.
The loading of the truck will begin in few hours now, and I am on my way to the port.
