I’m an hour into a four-hour stopover at Dubai International Airport, after a six hour flight from Birmingham, en route to South Africa. When I set off, England were comfortably placed at 130 for 2 on the third day of the third cricket Test against Pakistan. By the time I landed we'd collapsed to 221 for 9. Hmmm.... From here it’s another seven hours to Johannesburg and then an hour’s hop to my initial destination at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein. I'll find lots more to say about that in the next few days, I guess - but basically I'm combining a conference on the legacy of the reformer John Calvin (on whom see my blog to celebrate his 500th birthday last year, at http://petewilcoxblogspot.blogspot.com/2009/07/calvins-500th-anniversary.html) with a visit to the Diocese of Matlosane, which is partnered with our own Diocese of Lichfield.
This is my third visit to Dubai, but I’ve yet to get out of the airport. But then, the airport is vast: a city in itself. It must surely have taken over from Singapore as the air-gateway to the southern hemisphere and the east. When I was last here, in 2008, it was a building site. Planes had to land about a mile from the main terminal, and everything depended on shuttle-buses.
This is my third visit to Dubai, but I’ve yet to get out of the airport. But then, the airport is vast: a city in itself. It must surely have taken over from Singapore as the air-gateway to the southern hemisphere and the east. When I was last here, in 2008, it was a building site. Planes had to land about a mile from the main terminal, and everything depended on shuttle-buses.
Now it’s state of the art and huge – 200+ departure gates, to all kinds of exotic des
tinations in China and the Far East, Australia and New Zealand, all parts of Africa and the Indian sub-continent… all those cities we’ve heard of, but wil almost certainly never go to… Hyderabad, Dar es Salaam, Osaka, Jakarta. As a result, the aiport is just a great place to people-watch. Every skin colour and ethnic group passes by and every imaginable language can be heard. The facilities are terrific – not least, laptop charging points here there and everywhere, with free wifi (or weefee as I discovered recently it is pronounced in France).
I’m flying with Emirates. Very comfy for a long haul. The journey today took us east from Birmingham over the North Sea, across the Baltic and over Poland, then turning south over Hungary and then Turkey, Iraq and Iran, to the Arabian Peninsula… Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Dubai.
Flying over Iraq felt odd – not just because of the recent history (and the withdrawal of the last US combat troops just this week), but because of all the ancient (and for me, especially the biblical background). We flew over the River Tigris, which gets a mention in Genesis 2. Modern day Iraq is ancient Ur of the Chaldees, and Babylon – and of course Babel, which brings us back to this amazing multi-cultural, multi-lingual airport!
tinations in China and the Far East, Australia and New Zealand, all parts of Africa and the Indian sub-continent… all those cities we’ve heard of, but wil almost certainly never go to… Hyderabad, Dar es Salaam, Osaka, Jakarta. As a result, the aiport is just a great place to people-watch. Every skin colour and ethnic group passes by and every imaginable language can be heard. The facilities are terrific – not least, laptop charging points here there and everywhere, with free wifi (or weefee as I discovered recently it is pronounced in France).I’m flying with Emirates. Very comfy for a long haul. The journey today took us east from Birmingham over the North Sea, across the Baltic and over Poland, then turning south over Hungary and then Turkey, Iraq and Iran, to the Arabian Peninsula… Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Dubai.
Flying over Iraq felt odd – not just because of the recent history (and the withdrawal of the last US combat troops just this week), but because of all the ancient (and for me, especially the biblical background). We flew over the River Tigris, which gets a mention in Genesis 2. Modern day Iraq is ancient Ur of the Chaldees, and Babylon – and of course Babel, which brings us back to this amazing multi-cultural, multi-lingual airport!
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