The positive about Manama airport is that it is very compact. There’s no need for sprint-jog across the airport to get to gate for boarding after waking up in the airport hotel. There were like only 20+ gates in total from what I could see, unless there’s another terminal.

Arrived in Dubai and checked into the Shangri-La. A member of the original Sharjah group had booked the hotel ages ago, and I had matched because hotel research wasn’t high on my priority, and it is more convenient logistically to stay with / near someone in a group outing, as long as I get along with the person. And it’s not like I can match with HV. 

One of the gym group who lives in Dubai said Shangri La was really far and asked me to stay in “downtown Dubai” instead. It had been years since I’ve been to Dubai, so I looked up “downtown Dubai” in Marriott, and sent her a list, and she said only a few of them were recognisably downtown, and in any case, the rates were really high by then. Higher than Shangri-La’s. I said I’ll keep the booking anyway, because I’ve never stayed in a Shangri-La, and may never well do so again. She responded, “You are too funnnyyyy”. I’m not sure why she found it so funny, because it is true… life can be so unpredictable. I could lose my job and lose my relative economic stability; I could be knocked down by a bus tomorrow, or get a terminal illness; war could break out… who knows. And hence I might as well seize the day, and live as best as I can.

I like the little details like the receptionist saying “Welcome home”, although I’ve never been to a Shangri-La, and the way the curtains open when you come in. Although I don’t know how to close the curtains, which would be a problem without my eye mask, and not a huge fan of the room decor, nor the faint whiff of incense in the corridors, although I think that is to cater to the Arab taste / culture. They have an outdoor pool, which I used briefly in the afternoon.

I met HV and AP for lunch and dinner. Even though our hotels are not far apart as the crow flies, the pedestrian-unfriendly streets, and the baking heat, just wasn’t conducive to walking all the way. So I got a travel card and travelled like a local on the metro and bus, part of the way, although I also did an extraordinary amount of walking by local standards.

I spent most of the day in the Dubai Mall / Burj Khalifa area. And in the evening, I watched a fountain show outside the Burj Khalifa. Even though Dubai is lot more built up, and has more amenities than when I had been here maybe ~10 years ago, I still don’t like it. Okay to visit for a functional reason (work, Hyrox), but I’d prefer not to spend much time here. It feels just so plastic, and I generally don’t like the way women are treated like chattel in the rich Arab world. I am also very uncomfortable with the stark differences between the “haves” and “have nots” – the Emiratis, and to some extent expat foreigners vs, by contrast, the almost sub-human working class foreigners. I guess because my mum used to be a foreign worker in the Middle East, albeit in Saudi Arabia.