Thursday, July 29, 2004
July in Dubai
What is it in Dubai in July?
Well, there is this well-known event called the Dubai Summer Surprises or DSS when countless fun activities, promotions, and sales happen all over the city. DSS I believe, is an offshoot of the Dubai Shopping Festival or DSF that happens in mid-January to mid-February of every year for if DSF is for the spring season, DSS obviously is for the summer season (for winter it is Ramadan and Christmas). It's a three month event created to entice, invite, and attract foreigners to come and shop in Dubai especially during this time when business sales plummet dramatically because throngs of Europeans or other expatriates go on a vacation exodus to their much cooler continents to let the month pass.
Why leave Dubai in July? Just two words: The Heat and that is in capital H!
No make those many words: infernal, sweltering, scorching, dehydrating, physically debilitating, nerve-wracking, intolerable, mind-boggling, and torrential-sweat-factory kind of heat.
You may say I am over reacting here and hyping up things about the heat in Dubai. Honestly, how I wish I am. Being used to the heat in the Philippines, my country with a tropical climate could just be the North Pole compared to this place. However, having lived here for close to three years now, I have grown accustomed to the heat or should I say fairly adjusted to it like most residents here. Yet no matter how hard we try to tolerate the weather, you'd still hear us complain.
It is like this. July is the hottest month of the year here, or the whole of the Middle East for that matter. The heat would slowly start building up from May, then June, and then culminate in July. During this month, the normal temperature everyday would be somewhere between 42 to 46 degrees Celsius and that is the climate still being friendly. On a not so nice day, the mercury can rise from 48 to 50 degrees Celsius! Can you imagine that?! (I've heard that in some parts of Saudi Arabia it can go up to 55 degrees Celsius! Now that is something I have no plans of experiencing. Not in this lifetime; I hope). Funny thing about it is that even with these ungodly and insane temperatures, it has never been called a heatwave. It's just, well, just a normal occurrence of hot temperature, that's all. If this kind of weather transpires in other countries, not only will it be called a heatwave but could be coined as a full scale natural disaster or calamity as well (I am thinking the exact opposite of the movie "Day After Tomorrow"), something that would require dramatic public actions in all forms. In Europe last year, the temperature rose to just 37 degrees and it was already a heatwave for the Europeans, sweeping the continent killing a great number of people. In the Philippines where the climate normally ranges from 24 to 34 degrees Celsius, the hottest temperature ever recorded I believe is the same: 37 degrees Celsius, not termed as a heatwave but hot just the same. So, imagine how it would feel if you set up the temperature ten to thirteen notches higher.
The heat here is just so inconceivable that when you go outside you are literally baked under the sun like clay or fish set out to dry. Need your newly washed clothes dry in an hour? No problem. Once you hang it outside, it might even take less than that. Want to bask in the sun to get a tan? Good luck. The sunburn you'll get might lead to skin cancer. A person doesn't have to exercise to sweat profusely. Standing a few minutes outside will do. It is as if the rays of the sun are hundreds of needles and pins carelessly and forcefully darting to you from everywhere, piercing through your clothes and pricking your skin, releasing all the water you have in your body in a second -- instant effortless weight loss. The whole place becomes one big microwave oven and the people are the food being cooked and heated up. I haven't tried it yet but it seems with this kind of heat, one can actually fry an egg on the hood of a car. You can add bacon and toast to go along with that if you want to. With this kind of warmth, things just melt easily-- ice, chocolate, whatever. Even a person feels like melting and you would know how an ice cream feels. And mind you, touching any metal exposed under the sun for a long time, just like the hood of a car, will seriously burn and sear you.
Maybe the wind can help? Forget the wind for it is not helpful either. The wind here can be likened to the spewing gust of air coming out of the engine of a running bus or even perhaps the breath of a yawning dragon. Feeling the wind is like adding salt to an open wound. Furthermore, the air is so thick with humidity like a heavy cloak wrapped around you and weighing you down, makes you hard to breathe and move around. So, in this situation, you are advised to always lug a bottle of water with you to protect yourself from dehydration.
Speaking of water, it comes out of the faucet hot as boiling water that has simmered down for a few minutes. Taking a bath or shower is like being in a hot spring or spa. It is better to collect the hot water in a big container to cool it down. And you truly need to take a shower more than once a day to cool you down. (Reality check: There are some foreigners here who don't regularly clean themselves up even with this heat and I am absolutely puzzled as to how they can stand it. Yikes!).
The meaning of thirst, dehydration, and heat fatigue assumes new levels here during this time. It is simply unfriendly. So, to live with the heat, you have to do things to bear with it. July in Dubai turns into a month for light colored clothes, heavy use of air conditioners and endlessly giving thanks and praise to its inventor, staying indoors more often at home or in malls, drinking more volumes of water and other liquids, and is known to be a time for taking countless paracetamol tablets to fight endless attacks of headaches and migraines. For the past couple of years now, I have suffered from migraines relentlessly during this period, as if I am being punished by the Devil himself.
Well, July in Dubai is hell for me. Everything about the place becomes dry, lifeless, and uninspiring. Even my moods, feelings, everything about me even up to my bones become the same -- dull, boring, and waterless. It is the month I want to get over with right away. It is the one month in the year I wish never existed; the one month I wish I was back home where I could experience rain.
July in Dubai is when I wish it is July in Manila. How I miss seeing the sky slowly darken with storm clouds, be filled with lightning and thunder, then freshen the air with the sweet smell and sound of approaching rain, and in one glorious moment heave and open up letting the rain drops hurtle to the earth to release the world from the punishing heat. And as the downpour bathes the cheering world, every pitter-patter and single drop of rain becomes a piece of heaven on earth. The world then turns magnificently new as she is suddenly cloaked in a surface of glistening silver; time stands still as the worries, miseries, and heartaches of the day are washed away.
Everything about the rain, seeing it, feeling it on your skin, and how it magically changes the world around you, is just pure poetry. It is this poetry I sorely miss and piously wish for to occur here; if it could be possible. But I wish for it nonetheless -- the beauty of the rain.
What is it in Dubai in July?
The heat, DSS, and the fervent wish for rain of a sentimental fool like me.
Well, there is this well-known event called the Dubai Summer Surprises or DSS when countless fun activities, promotions, and sales happen all over the city. DSS I believe, is an offshoot of the Dubai Shopping Festival or DSF that happens in mid-January to mid-February of every year for if DSF is for the spring season, DSS obviously is for the summer season (for winter it is Ramadan and Christmas). It's a three month event created to entice, invite, and attract foreigners to come and shop in Dubai especially during this time when business sales plummet dramatically because throngs of Europeans or other expatriates go on a vacation exodus to their much cooler continents to let the month pass.
Why leave Dubai in July? Just two words: The Heat and that is in capital H!
No make those many words: infernal, sweltering, scorching, dehydrating, physically debilitating, nerve-wracking, intolerable, mind-boggling, and torrential-sweat-factory kind of heat.
You may say I am over reacting here and hyping up things about the heat in Dubai. Honestly, how I wish I am. Being used to the heat in the Philippines, my country with a tropical climate could just be the North Pole compared to this place. However, having lived here for close to three years now, I have grown accustomed to the heat or should I say fairly adjusted to it like most residents here. Yet no matter how hard we try to tolerate the weather, you'd still hear us complain.
It is like this. July is the hottest month of the year here, or the whole of the Middle East for that matter. The heat would slowly start building up from May, then June, and then culminate in July. During this month, the normal temperature everyday would be somewhere between 42 to 46 degrees Celsius and that is the climate still being friendly. On a not so nice day, the mercury can rise from 48 to 50 degrees Celsius! Can you imagine that?! (I've heard that in some parts of Saudi Arabia it can go up to 55 degrees Celsius! Now that is something I have no plans of experiencing. Not in this lifetime; I hope). Funny thing about it is that even with these ungodly and insane temperatures, it has never been called a heatwave. It's just, well, just a normal occurrence of hot temperature, that's all. If this kind of weather transpires in other countries, not only will it be called a heatwave but could be coined as a full scale natural disaster or calamity as well (I am thinking the exact opposite of the movie "Day After Tomorrow"), something that would require dramatic public actions in all forms. In Europe last year, the temperature rose to just 37 degrees and it was already a heatwave for the Europeans, sweeping the continent killing a great number of people. In the Philippines where the climate normally ranges from 24 to 34 degrees Celsius, the hottest temperature ever recorded I believe is the same: 37 degrees Celsius, not termed as a heatwave but hot just the same. So, imagine how it would feel if you set up the temperature ten to thirteen notches higher.
The heat here is just so inconceivable that when you go outside you are literally baked under the sun like clay or fish set out to dry. Need your newly washed clothes dry in an hour? No problem. Once you hang it outside, it might even take less than that. Want to bask in the sun to get a tan? Good luck. The sunburn you'll get might lead to skin cancer. A person doesn't have to exercise to sweat profusely. Standing a few minutes outside will do. It is as if the rays of the sun are hundreds of needles and pins carelessly and forcefully darting to you from everywhere, piercing through your clothes and pricking your skin, releasing all the water you have in your body in a second -- instant effortless weight loss. The whole place becomes one big microwave oven and the people are the food being cooked and heated up. I haven't tried it yet but it seems with this kind of heat, one can actually fry an egg on the hood of a car. You can add bacon and toast to go along with that if you want to. With this kind of warmth, things just melt easily-- ice, chocolate, whatever. Even a person feels like melting and you would know how an ice cream feels. And mind you, touching any metal exposed under the sun for a long time, just like the hood of a car, will seriously burn and sear you.
Maybe the wind can help? Forget the wind for it is not helpful either. The wind here can be likened to the spewing gust of air coming out of the engine of a running bus or even perhaps the breath of a yawning dragon. Feeling the wind is like adding salt to an open wound. Furthermore, the air is so thick with humidity like a heavy cloak wrapped around you and weighing you down, makes you hard to breathe and move around. So, in this situation, you are advised to always lug a bottle of water with you to protect yourself from dehydration.
Speaking of water, it comes out of the faucet hot as boiling water that has simmered down for a few minutes. Taking a bath or shower is like being in a hot spring or spa. It is better to collect the hot water in a big container to cool it down. And you truly need to take a shower more than once a day to cool you down. (Reality check: There are some foreigners here who don't regularly clean themselves up even with this heat and I am absolutely puzzled as to how they can stand it. Yikes!).
The meaning of thirst, dehydration, and heat fatigue assumes new levels here during this time. It is simply unfriendly. So, to live with the heat, you have to do things to bear with it. July in Dubai turns into a month for light colored clothes, heavy use of air conditioners and endlessly giving thanks and praise to its inventor, staying indoors more often at home or in malls, drinking more volumes of water and other liquids, and is known to be a time for taking countless paracetamol tablets to fight endless attacks of headaches and migraines. For the past couple of years now, I have suffered from migraines relentlessly during this period, as if I am being punished by the Devil himself.
Well, July in Dubai is hell for me. Everything about the place becomes dry, lifeless, and uninspiring. Even my moods, feelings, everything about me even up to my bones become the same -- dull, boring, and waterless. It is the month I want to get over with right away. It is the one month in the year I wish never existed; the one month I wish I was back home where I could experience rain.
July in Dubai is when I wish it is July in Manila. How I miss seeing the sky slowly darken with storm clouds, be filled with lightning and thunder, then freshen the air with the sweet smell and sound of approaching rain, and in one glorious moment heave and open up letting the rain drops hurtle to the earth to release the world from the punishing heat. And as the downpour bathes the cheering world, every pitter-patter and single drop of rain becomes a piece of heaven on earth. The world then turns magnificently new as she is suddenly cloaked in a surface of glistening silver; time stands still as the worries, miseries, and heartaches of the day are washed away.
Everything about the rain, seeing it, feeling it on your skin, and how it magically changes the world around you, is just pure poetry. It is this poetry I sorely miss and piously wish for to occur here; if it could be possible. But I wish for it nonetheless -- the beauty of the rain.
What is it in Dubai in July?
The heat, DSS, and the fervent wish for rain of a sentimental fool like me.
