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Net Gains (July 10, 96)
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My next stop was Dubai, not the real Dubai, but a cyberspace - wallah Dubai on the Internet The welcome page had welcome news - this designers of this site were wise enough to cut down on graphics taking into consideration that a lot of people don't have dedicated leased lines (because junta generally uses a dial - up connection instead). They've also taken care to keep a "navigator panel" on the left of the page, so that moving through the various related pages at this site becomes much easier. Www.dubai.com was set up with the aim of giving away information about Dubai to people on the net, and also allowing business related pages to be put up on the server (providing the much needed revenue !)
The navigator panel has hyperlinks (words you can click on to jump to a related page ), that are broadly divided into "Contents" and "Information". News, Tourism, Events, Sports, and Business fall under the classification of Contents, while Information basically has pages put up by advertisers on the site.
To be clued in on what exactly was happening in Dubai, I made a quick stopover at the News section. The news was divided into news of the day, and news from archives of the previous months, sorted in reverse date order. Seeing nothing too spectacular, or frightening here, I clicked on "Events" in the navigator panel. The events were presented by category (exhibitions, sports) and by date (monthwise). There was a Dhow Sailing Race, Formula 4 Powerboat Race, and a Laser Sailing event, all of which I would be missing, by virtue of my short stay in Dubai. So much for that.
I finally turned to the Tourism section to find out what other options I had besides shopping and window shopping. This web - page laid to rest my fears that I'd probably be bored in Dubai. Listed on the page were ways and means I had to spend my time ( and a helluva lot of Dhirams too) in Dubai. I could go on a Dhow cruise, or Sand - Dune Driving, Wadi Driving, or go on a Desert Safari complete with staying in a tent and eating a traditional Arab barbecue under the stars. Listed were also sights I could see ( the Dubai Museum wasn't listed, even though a trip there is out of this world). There was a mention of a popular way to cross the creek in Dubai - by using an abra - a traditional water taxi : cheap, but a bit scary, the way those guys navigate the waters. But, travelling by abra is something everyone visiting Dubai has to do at least once during their stay there. I did. And lived to tell the tale.
Thanks to the Net, in the span of an hour, I had a whole lot of information about a place I earlier knew zilch about. And I could have a wonderful stay, knowing what lay in store for me. Fly buy Dubai. If not in reality, use the Net instead - it's a lot of fun !