In Dubai

Well, I've arrived safe and sound in Dubai.  KLM is a nice airline to fly.  Decent food, decent entertainment with freedom of choice and timing, not too uncomfortable, pleasant flight attendants...  It was very satisfactory.  Northwest from Boston wasn't too bad either, although I spent most of the time sleeping.  No choices in entertainment there :P.  Oh, and no free newspapers, which KLM did have.  But they didn't charge for alcohol, unlike American on the flight from Tokyo to Chicago!  I couldn't believe it.  Of course, I'm not drinking now anyway, until this cold clears up for real.

Dubai looks interesting.  A large metropolis, under development.  It reminds me more of Tokyo than anywhere else I can think of, partially the style of the buildings, partially the spread of it all.  Not that much like Seoul, strangely.  Of course, there are areas that also remind me of bits of India, smaller, dusty, rundown concrete buildings for residence or shops.  And the signs everywhere are in Arabic, which is new to me.  That contributes to reminding me of Arabic neighborhoods in cities like Paris.  I look forward to seeing more of it tomorrow.  In the meantime, it's time to get washed up and to bed.