Dubai

The temperature is hovering around 100 degrees at 9:00 a.m. and the air is hazy and gray. White cars, trucks, SUV's sit in the traffic, air conditioning going full blast, endlessly idling, waiting for a space, any space to move into. Last night at the airport, we got a pink cab...our fearless driver, wearing a pink hijab wheeled the vehicle around as aggressively as possible, "You've got to drive like a man here!" she said as she veered into the next lane, cutting off the driver beside us. The passenger yelled at her out of the window. Our driver said proudly, "He's afraid." Richard told her she could drive a cab anywhere in the world - New York, say....or Bangkok. She turned around and smiling broadly and said "Thank you!"

300 pink cabs are operating in Dubai. The number has grown substantially since 2007 when the business began as a women-only service. Conservative women were loathe to ride alone in a cab driven by a man. Pink taxis were very popular to transport women back and forth around Dubai and became particularly popular as a means of mall transport. Now, anyone can use a pink cab and they're in the general queue at the airport. 

After settling into our hotel, we walked in the cool, night air (95 degrees) to the shopping center where I found one suitable long tunic top to get me to Terhan where I'll purchase a manteau, which by all accounts is the most comfortable garment conforming to the strict dress code, and wearable in the heat in Iran. Tourist information advises that these garments are popular with Western women who buy them to wear as opera coats - a piece of clothing sure to be useful in Fallbrook. 

Out the hotel window, thousands of sat dishes cover the roofs. You can fry an egg on the sidewalk and if you wish you don't have to use an ordinary egg - you can purchase French eggs from chickens raised in deep litter. Ooh-la-la. If you're in a hurry you can use jumbo quail eggs and get the job done fast. We went grocery trolling in the Hyper Panda which occupies a huge space in the Dubai Festival Mall and faces an enormous, very busy IKEA. 

To accompany the eggs "a la sidewalk" a person might want guacamole. You can buy avocados from Kenya or from California.

 

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