Dubai...

So as we approach Dubai the sun is rising and I am looking at the buildings. In the distance I can see the world's tallest building jutting up above everything else... I would've taken a photo but my camera was in my bag and too hard to get to and my phone died before i even left Sydney. Stupidly I had packed the phone charger in my checked baggage otherwise I could have charged it using the USB socket in my seat.

The strip of buildings alongside the runway are a mix of modern western designs and traditional arabic designs. There is maybe 2 or 3 made with glass and steel, then in the middle there is one made from sandstone or traditional methods and materials. The biggest surprise for me was that the streets appeared to be very clean and there was no grafitti to be seen.

The plane lands in Dubai at 4:40 AM local time and it is already 20 degrees outside. Luckily the terminal is all air conditioned so it's not too bad. I had no idea where i was supposed to go now, so I ask the first employee I see, if he can help me with what i need to do and where I need to go. He is very helpful and tells me I need to go to the transfer desk around the corner. I walk around the corner and see the transfer desk as well as a row of security scanners. Ah yes.... I remember now... the woman who checked me in at Sydney said I needed to collect my boarding pass from the transfer desk. It all makes sense now.

I jump in the line at the transfer counter and wait. There are about 100 people waiting in line here. Half an hour passes and I have moved about 2 feet in the cue, everybody starts getting impatient. In front of me is a South African couple that as it happens was on my flight from Sydney, they are heading back to Durban. Behind me is an elderly couple from Myanmar (not sure, I think this is what they said). They had just come from Egypt and their flight was delayed because all the baggage was n't loaded, so they missed their connecting flight. Beside our group was a Couple with a young child from Manchester. They also missed their flight to I am not sure where. While we wait we just chat about travelling, the recent cricket test series between Australia and South Africa and other general chit chat and watch thousands of people stream through the security scanners. I also talked to a young guy from Croatia, he was heading back to Australia, after 15 years. he had an Australian passport, so I guess he was a citizen at some point.

None of us really know why it's taking so long or what is going on. The man from South Africa starts wandering around trying to accelerate the process but doesn't appear to be getting anywhere. After about 2 hours waiting in line, our group nears the front of the queue. It was a good think I had 5 hours before my next flight. The couple from Manchester went first and apparently were given a free 24 hour pass in Dubai for missing their flight. Then the South Africans (and i find myself doing a Tony Greig impersonation as i write that), were apparently told they didn't need to be in this line, because I heard the guy say..."Really... you tell us this now after waiting in line for 2 hours". I don't think he was impressed. Then it was my turn. I hand over my tickets and passport information to which the woman tells me "Your flight is with FlyDubai, not Emirates. You need to go downstairs to transfer desk K. There will also be a bus to take you to the terminal". Well fly Dubai is a subsidiary of Emirates... surely it shouldn't matter but I guess that's the way it is. I feel like repeating the exact same words the South African man said, but figured, she'd heard that about 30 seconds ago and it wouldn't really achieve much, so I just roll my eyes and leave the counter.

I head over to the security gates and get my laptop out and empty my pockets, ready for the scan. I am a little worried because I have some Zyrtec in my bag. Zyrtec is for hayfever and allergies and if you don't know already, some over the counter medications are illegal in Dubai. I am too annoyed to be too concerned and i put my bag through. my personal items come out but the guy seems to be inspecting the X-ray of my bag rather closely. "Here we go" I thought to myself and I asked the attendent on my side, if there was a problem. She said, "No problem" and then my bag continued through. I collect my things and then follow the path around to a set of stairs and escalators. Dubai airport is massive and keeping with the theme of International airports I have visited, not very well signed. The signs that are there are in English, but the problem is there is not enough.

Anyway there is no other way to go so I assume this is the right way. I go upstairs and see another transfer desk but it is signed 'Transfer Desk H' I look around.... there is only access to the departure gates and shopping... there is no sign pointing to Transfer Desk K. At this point, I am really confused. I go to transfer desk H, because there is an attendent in the crowd this time to make sure that people are supposed to be in this line. She tells me I have to go downstairs to the other Transfer Desk and I explain that's just where I came from and they told me to come here. She says, "No go downstairs and to the left and then go through security to Transfer Desk K". I think ok... I will just wander around and try to find it. I go back downstairs and turn left and follow the path and then end up back at the first security scanners. I wander around and then about halfway down the path I see an opening with stairs and escalators. This must be it!

I go down and see a sign saying FlyDubai transfers this way, it looks promising. I follow the arrows and come across a huge row of security scanners and  thousands of people coming through them from the opposite direction to me. I look around and all the signs are saying 'Departure Gates K' followed by numbers. Okay this is looking good. The security scanners also have the letter K, but no sign of a transfer desk. I ask an attendant standing on my side of the security gates, "I'm looking for Transfer Desk K, Can you help me?" he tells me i need to go back upstairs to the first transfer desk. I am totally fucking confused at this point in time and haven't had a cigarette in over 17 hours, I really didn't need to deal with this shit. Fortunately, having such a long layover meant I didn't have to panic. I wandered around on this level to see if i could see the transfer desk. Nothing. No sign of it anywhere. I asked an attendant at another scanner and she tells me i need to go through these security scanners and points to the otherside of the scanners, where I see a desk in a corner leading to the outside of the airport. "I can just go through here" I ask and she says "Yes". I wait for some people to go through the medal detector then I walk [on through to the otherside.]

"Holy shit" I think to myself. Can this fucking desk be any harder to find. but the sign says 'Transfer Desk K'. I waited in line, there was only me and 2 other people. This desk also only had Emirates signage and I chuckled to myself as I half expected to be told I need to be somewhere else. I hand the guy my ticket and passport and it seems like he really doesn't want to be there. I make a joke.. "Wow... I thought it was hot in Australia" he laughs. He asks if I have checked baggage, I hand him the boarding pass from my original flight and say "I was told it would be automatically checked over to the new flight". he does his think and hands me back my documents and then points me through the exit doors.

I board a mini bus which is full of Eastern Europeans and we head off to Terminal 3. We seemed to drive for about 15 mins and at one point left the airport onto a highway. As we reentered the airport, it was the first time I felt like I was somewhere unfamiliar. There were armed soldiers, Saudi royalty driving around in Jeeps. People in traditional Muslim garb everywhere I looked. I felt like I'd entered Al Qaida headquarters or something. We arrive at Terminal 3. Wow...!!!. The main terminal of Dubai airport could be included in the term "Oasis in the Desert". Terminal 3 however was more like... "Hey, we live in the desert so what do you expect". There was no WiFi, the terminal had old painted stone walls and was fairly dirty. The seats were not comfortable, It was as basic as you would expect. It had most of the facilities you would require in an airport but it was just noisy, dirty and filled with sinister looking characters. I lined up for yet another security scan. In the line merging with my line from the outside, was a line of men and women dressed in traditional garb. I (almost cheekily) stopped and gestured for a muslim woman to go first, she smiled and politely declined and i went through. The first thing i see is a room with a sign saying 'Smokers Lounge'. Maybe this is the oasis in the desert after all. There were no monitors in this terminal, no clocks, no nothing. I looked at my boarding pass. Gate F-6. I look at the signs, it was the closet set of seats to where i had entered. Ok...sorted... now time for a much needed cigarette.

I go in the smokers lounge... it was like I was an american or something. Everybody just stared. I asked to borrow someones lighter as mine fell through the cracks at the last security check. I decide to stand in the corner and keep to myself while I smoke my cigarette. Some more people entered and I quickly realised that it didn't matter who you were, everybody stared at you as you walked through the doors.  I ended up talking to a guy who came in and stood beside me. He told me he was flying to some tiny little country in Africa somewhere near Somalia and then he may go to South Africa. I could see he had a laptop so I asked him if he was going there for work to which he replied "Yes". He spoke english very well but had an Eastern European accent but I didn't ask too much. We finished our cigarettes and wished each other luck and then walked out.

I had no idea what the time was as my phone had died half a day ago and there were no monitors or clocks in the terminal. I was sort of glad too have wasted a little bit of time running around in circles in the main terminal. At least my wait here would not be so long. I sit and wait.... Some guy with a trolley of luggage and shitty op shop looking clothes with white leather dress shoes came and asked me "Are you going to Kyiv" I said "No". I'm not sure what his accent was but it was an angry sounding accent and he certainly didn't understand manners. He asked "Where are you going?". I said "I'm going to Romania.. Bucharest". He said "Is near Kyiv, right?". I said "Not really" and then tried to ignore him by walking off for another cigarette. I came back and sat in the same seat in the corner of 2 rows of chairs. I wanted to update the blog, but there was no WiFi in this terminal so I just had to sit there bored. I was really tired and all I wanted to do was sleep. I was afraid if i slept I might miss the call to bored my flight. the weird 'Kyiv' guy came back and sat in the chair near mine. I avoided eye contact and watched the TV mounted on a pole. It had a recording of some American news program. It was probably that mornings show recorded and replayed there at a coinciding time. There was alot of stuff being mentioned about Lance Armstrong appearing on Oprah and trying to reclaim his Tour De France titles. I wasn't paying much attention as I was too busy looking around.

Buses full of traditionally dressed muslims were being ferried from the terminal to various flights.The buses were'nt normal buses. They were more like glass cages. They had no seats, just poles and hanging hand grips. I guess it makes sense when you need to fill them with hundreds of people at a time and baggage. This terminal was extremely busy with people coming and going and as it is a lot smaller then the main terminal it seemed more crowded. I went to the toilet. I walked into the wrong entrance and saw women standing at the hand basins. "What are women doing in the mens toilet?" I thought to myself and as usual the answer could be found in the question itself. It was the womens toilet. i quickly 'about face' and walk around the corner. This time I pay attention to the sign on the wall that shows a man. "Shit... i hope noone reports me" I think. I was expecting armed soldiers in the terminal after what i had seen on the drive in, but surprisingly I didn't see any. Just regular security personnell. I smoked another cigarette and returned to the same seat. I snuck a look at the guy opposite me's watch. The good thing about Romanians is they love watches and most of them have one. It was 8:40 AM. My flight should be boarding soon as it was supposed to leave at 9:30AM. I sit and wait and an hour passes. "What the fuck is going on?" i wondered.

I waited some more and then 'Mr Kyiv' was excited as some girl came running over to the attendents asking if she had missed the flight to Kyiv. They tell her "No"and to just wait in this area. It turns out "Mr Kyiv' was just concerned he was in the wrong place and hoping that he would find someone else going there. Half an hour passes and they start to bored the Kyiv flight. Everybody lines up. 5 minutes later, they announce my flight is boarding and we all make way for the gate entrance. I wonder what some of these Romanians are thinking when they see me... Why is he coming to Romania? We don't want tourists?. I don't know...the truth is... they probably weren't thinking anything.