Back into the shadow of the dunes

It’s really been a while since last time I was grounded, or “sanded” maybe, in Dubai. Most of the recent years were spent with my assignment in Far East, and only occasionally getting back here. Now is different, and after the month I was in Japan, now it’s time to settle a few things here, where, by the way, is home to me.

Few changes are coming up: most noticeable is the plan to relocate from my actual apartment in the DIFC district, all the way to Abu Dhabi, and shortly I will be packing and moving into the same building where I lived for seven years, starting back in 2013.

There are then a few good commitments like loosing weight and living a much more sporty life, as was before the pandemic mess, but will hold to share any comment on this till the first results are clearly visible (like, say 10kg lost).

Dubai has hit me with a few things: cost of real estate is the first one, boosted mostly by Russian capitals flowing out of the Country to avoid sanctions and risks after the invasion of Ukraine. It’s not a feeling but a clear statistic: 47% of price increase are due to a single nationality, 145 billions in US$, according to official real estate reports.

This is one of the reasons why my place is not really affordable anymore, being asked an increase way above +60%.

Second is traffic.

With the tourist booming back to the records of 2019, and the increased population, the road system is fully congested, no matter how well infrastructures have been added, improved and well maintained.

Getting Back to Downtown from the Jebel Ali Area, on the Sheik Zayed Rd. can take ages. Drivers are also adopting a quite aggressive style, making the white city a risky jungle. Only the good work on prevention, enforcement and control is maintaining an incredible low number of accidents, when compared with the volume of traffic.

The quick last one, from my very initial feelings is photography, or better, the lack of it.

The UAE have very strict traditions on the personal privacy and security, and the use of “professional cameras” is almost not allowed anywhere, unless you request a specific permit, for the single shooting.

In the past I had been approached several time by security, asking me to stop using my camera, even the film ones. You can use anytime your mobile phone, click and share with the world, but not the fantastic old Leica M7 with a good Kodak Tmax 400 film..

No comments, it’s the Country rule, and I need to stick to it, but I’m hardly missing my activity of street photography, mostly after the years spent in Asia.

As you can see in this post, all I can focus on are post-card images or details, and strictly no people, apart from myself (hopefully).

Plan is to spend a couple of month here, before a trip to Singapore and Viet Nam. Stay tuned, something can always come up!