Far East via Middle East

Well, well! It would appear, unexpectedly, that mine is the first full post on this blog. Right now, I'm on the ground floor of our hostel in Little India, Singapore, exploiting the free wifi for all it's worth. The others have gone to find South Indian style chicken. I am left alone with a lot of kids watching some British TV show. Great. Britons. Real colonialists.

I don't know how the others' trip was, but I do know that THEY didn't see the tallest building in the world-- the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Ergo, my journey here was better.

It began with a 15-hour flight from San Francisco to Dubai. Before you pity me too much, know that I flew on Emirates, which is perhaps the greatest airline in the world. The amenities are second to none (although the service is probably still better on Singapore). I had a choice of literally hundreds of TV programs and movies to watch, in at least 20 different languages (as much as I was tempted to watch a Hindi film, the fact that I hadn't heard of most of the new movies was not heartening). Between three episodes of 30 Rock, a three-part series on Exploring the Universe with Stephen Hawking, a documentary on the 2008 financial crisis, The Town, and Dr. Strangelove, as well as 200 pages of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, I was well-entertained.

Sleep was harder to come by. I managed about 6 hours on the first 15-hour flight, which was a feat considering the Yemeni chap on my left who kept his arms a good five inches beyond the armrest (huge foul) and smelled strongly of dried roses, and the Madrasi woman on my right who definitely spilled water on my seat while I was in the bathroom and pointedly did not tell me about it.

But I arrived in Dubai reasonably refreshed, and after some difficulties with getting internet access and phone cards (the Dubai Airport staff are not the most well-informed), I was able to meet up with an uncle of mine who lives there. He took me to said Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world-- which at 2,700 feet blows the competition out of the water by a good 50%. It was a sight to see at night-- half a mile of incredibly graceful, spiraling terraces thrusting skyward, adorned with the most exuberant display of blinking lights. My uncle informed me that the building contained 27 swimming pools, and that the top floors were for the Sheikh of Dubai himself.

I won't wax too poetic, but the Burj Khalifa is a thing of real beauty. Similarly beautiful, however, was the food I enjoyed afterward. My uncle wanted to take me to an Awadhi restaurant-- Awadh being a region of India whose cooking is characterized by slow cooking and a very delicate use of spices. Alas, the place was closed (by this time it was half past midnight in Dubai), but we eventually found a place that served us the Indian equivalent of fajitas, served sizzling on a griddle with buttered naan on the side. Dubai, in other words, was pretty great.

The food on the planes was nothing to sneeze at either. Two solid Indian meals on the first flight, as well as a regular supply of tea, and even an unbidden slice of cheese pizza that wafted seemingly out of nowhere in the middle of the night, so common and unassuming, but no doubt a savior of sorts in an hour of need. The food on the next flight was not quite so good, but it was still Emirates!

I have said nothing so far of our day in Singapore as yet, but even as I type, Richard is preparing a missive on that topic. Suffice it to say that we did a good deal of wandering, often aimless and in circles (we forgive you, Alex ;-)), and shared some good old-fashioned bathroom talk over Asian goodies (and some wildly overpriced beverages) in a second-rate mall's food court. A jackfruit tasting was less than successful, although Richard and I found the best pearl tea (or boba tea; call it what you will) of our lives. For those who have not seen Singapore: the main attraction is solid, clean, respectable capitalism, but also admirable multiculturalism and a very steamy climate. More on all this to follow! Stay tuned!