Today is Friday, which means that a lot of things are closed in Dubai. I have been here for a few days, and am really suffering from jetlag. For one thing, it was a long trip: I travelled from Panama to Caracas, Frankfurt, and London, where I spent the night; then the next day was a direct British Airways flight to Dubai. But, it's also ten hours of difference to Panama.

A couple of interesting notes about the flights: there were a lot of obviously Middle Eastern people on the flights from Panama all the way to Frankfurt. I spoke with one of them who said that a lot of people won't fly through the US anymore because of the possibility of being detained with no recourse, just because of appearance.

Another interesting conversation I had was on the Frankfurt to London leg, with a German fellow involved with taking care of radioactive waste from power generation stations. He said although they are packaging all the waste, they still haven't decided what to do with it, so it is simply being stored for right now. I asked him if he knew anything about the use of DU bullets in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it was obvious that he wasn't aware of it.

I have met with some people here who are involved with Linux. There is some acceptance of Linux, but I get the idea that it really hasn't taken off here yet. Sunday I should be speaking at one of the Linux Users Groups here in Dubai, which should be interesting. I hope to post some comments about that meeting later.

As for Dubai, it is incredible. It's my first time anywhere in the Middle East, and Dubai is definitely a gem of a place to start. It's the most modern city I've ever visited. There is obviously a lot of money here, and from what I've been told it's not from oil; it's all from commerce, which has mushroomed here because of the favorable laws and regulations. Of course Dubai is located strategically also. So, although Panama is an important trade center where one can get things cheaply, Dubai is beyond comparison in this regard.

The cultural mix is amazing too. English is the preferred language, as a majority of the people here are in fact from India. Arabic is spoken, but more people speak English and most people don't speak Arabic. At the hotel where I am staying, the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, you can see people wearing clothes of all styles, and there is no leering evident by anyone despite the obvious cultural variations. So, acceptance seems to be the rule. The beach is beautiful white sand, and the hotel premisis is absolutely gorgeous. To give you an idea of the size of the resorts here, there are 10,000 people employed by Jumeirah Beach Resort LLC here in Dubai.



The temperature is hotter than Panama, which coupled with jetlag limits my energy. It's over 40, and the humidity is over 50%; but I am going to drag myself to the gold souk (market) this afternoon.