Dubai: Travel guide, prices and free housing · 2026

RravikJun 18, 2009Read

I WILL WAIT A LITTLE LONGER, AND THEN I WILL PREPARE TO SET OFF! "The sun goes to the West And those who do not know That everything in this life Has a source Run after it. The sun goes to the West But to be born again, It rushes to the East, To the East!" I.V. Talkov Since circumstances have turned out such that I do not have the technical ability to finish this piece on the day of my return to Chelyabinsk, as I had envisioned in October, I am faced with a certain task: what will the ending be if my six-month journey to South Africa is not yet over? The answer was found quickly, and it turned out to be extremely simple! And even pleasant. Do you know what I came up with?! I decided this: I will just dream! I have good intuition. I will imagine for myself what and how things will be for me here, and everything will come true! I will spend the last month of my short, six-month life in South Africa in a similar way to the previous five. I will try to live a full life. If circumstances form a favorable chain, and I find a travel companion from old friends or new ones, we will still go to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. I would like to, of course! Maybe I'll buy myself a new camera. I will quit my job. There is not much left—I will live perfectly well without it. On Sundays, I will go for walks in the city, and I want to go to the University at least two more times. I will definitely sunbathe on the beach and take more than one walk along the mountains and the edge of the ocean waters. I will try to spend more time with friends. Once every week or two, as usual, I will go to the cinema. I will climb Table Mountain one more time when the clouds are not covering its peak. I will still have the opportunity to choose gifts for my family and buy the ones I like. What else will I fill my free time with if there is any left? Anything! THIS IS CAPE TOWN—A CITY OF CELEBRATION! I will say goodbye to it by visiting the places I want to. On March 20, 2009, I will board a flight from Cape Town to Dubai. It will soar into the sky, rising above the city. Above the Cape that I have come to love, with its center, the Waterfront, Sea Point and Clifton, mountains upon mountains, rivers, ponds, and the ocean. With cute road forks and the sandy yellowness of the earth. We will soar high, but the visibility will still be excellent. I will say goodbye. How to name the main feeling that I will have there, in the plane taking off over Cape Town? It will be STRANGE for me to leave this earthly paradise. But I will clearly understand: staying would have been even stranger for me. I will wave goodbye. And a tear will roll down my cheek. It will decide to stay here, like a piece of me. After all, I lived here. Loved. And felt many other things! And now, with all of this: with the friends left behind and the various people I interacted with; with specific places and the sensations they evoked in me—I am saying goodbye to all of this at once. I said goodbye, I felt longing—and FORWARD! I will turn my head and continue to look only in the direction of our heavenly liner's flight, all the way to Dubai. I will enjoy the view of the deserts from the porthole windows and the luxury of the city of stay again. A few hours at the airport—and back into the sky. Now heading towards our capital, the most beautiful in the world, on the Dubai-Moscow flight! We will be met by the always welcoming Domodedovo airport, and the faces of my countrymen will bring me joy (after Africa, any Russian is a countryman, regardless of whether you are from Kaliningrad or Sakhalin). A cozy bus will take me to the metro. And from there—to Zhenya and Yulka, my friends. I will stay with them for three or four days. And then home—to Chelyabinsk! During these first days of returning to Russia, I will certainly meet a conductor, or a salesperson, or... a customs officer who will definitely yell at me, growl menacingly, or scold me for no reason, which will finally sober me up and remind me that I am

RravikJun 15, 2009Read

CHAPTER ONE. BEFORE I KNEW… "Do not pity the dead. Pity the living, and above all, those who live without love." J.K. Rowling. September 22, 2008. Hello, everyone! Glad to see those who are glad to see me! "So THAT'S IT: It doesn't get to me! It never gets to me, if ANYTHING," as the song goes. I would never advise my friend Uncle Tyoma to come to South Africa — to Cape Town. He would die here. From delight. Because the mountains here are just... wow!!! "Lion’s Head" (670 meters), the mountain on the left with the peak. To the right of Lion’s Head is Signal Hill (350 meters), which got its name from the cannon standing at its foot, firing from Monday to Friday at noon. Table Mountain (1086 meters), from the center to the right — a dozen mountain peaks called the "Twelve Apostles." Their height is about a kilometer. It is 18:30 local time now. That means it's 8:30 PM in Moscow and 10:30 PM in Chelyabinsk. The day is hot, the night is very cold — such is, apparently, the South African spring. They say it's the height of summer here in December and January. Today we had a walking tour of Cape Town and a meeting with the program organizers. Everything went interestingly. The only thing that was a bit stressful: my head was spinning because I had to force it to work wildly all the time, trying to understand what was being said. Sometimes I succeeded. No, of course, I understand — the guides talk a bit too much, and the SASTC people (organizers) too, but still — when will I finally start speaking English normally?! A personal thank you to Mr. Dragunkin — a mega-guy, whose audio course helped me master at least some grammar. Thanks to him, I understand a little and even speak. If I happen (actually) to understand what is being said to me, or what I am being asked, and manage to answer myself, even if relatively primitively, BUT I succeed — it's pleasant. People! If you are planning to go to Africa or any other English-speaking country in the near future — don't be as lazy as I am. Learn English! Well, and how did I get here, and in general? I'm walking around today and thinking, "What was I waiting for so long? Why didn't I come here sooner? It's stunning here!" If anyone doesn't know — Cape Town was founded about 350 years ago. The first settlements, it's not hard to guess — were built by Europeans. The Dutch, the British, and maybe someone else (too lazy to look at the guidebook again, I read it about a month and a half ago and didn't even finish it). It must be precisely why it looks a bit like a modern English city (especially with its churches and left-hand traffic). It reminds me a bit of Europe, with its good roads. Also, South Africa is very similar to Russia (strangely enough). Especially to "seaside" Russia. And another feeling... as if you are at home. And this is tens of thousands of kilometers from Chelyabinsk! And South Africa is similar to Russia in prices — well, exactly the same as ours. This is especially pleasant for me — having seen that prices in Europe and the USA are very different from ours, they are even significantly more expensive than Moscow ones, let alone Chelyabinsk. The city of Cape Town is located at the foot of the 1086-meter ↑ "Table Mountain". I flew with Emirates airlines with a layover in Dubai. I liked the flight. These airlines are, of course, not British, but very, very decent. On the display, I read: flight time — five hours to Dubai; and another ten — to Cape Town. The distance, if you add up both flights, judging by the display, came to about 50,000 kilometers. The altitude was about 11,400 meters, and we reached speeds of up to 930 km/h. For those who don't know much about this — that's a lot, high, and fast. However, large Boeings always fly with such indicators. I spent the night at Dubai airport (in my opinion, it's not as luxurious as in Moscow or London, but still "up to standard"). And you can get enough sleep on the soft benches, especially considering that I only had carry-on lugga