I took a trip to Dubai as we had three days of holidays at the beginning of Ramasan. My friend had left for Canada on the 11^th and I’m alone for a month now.

The Kabul airport is improving - renovations have started everywhere. The car parks have been structured and rebuilt, the check-in area and customs clearance are taking up a modern and clean shape.

And Kam Air flights seem to be on time now! To and fro we came and left on time.

It's good to see such progress.

Nowadays such a trip to a new place is no challenge. You get on a plane, you land, you board a taxi which brings you to your hotel. Places like Dubai are so globally adapted that everything seems familiar – same brands, same things, same everything like in other big cities. They even have a Bread Talk here! Globalisation – love it or hate it.

But one thing is for sure – Dubai does not by far compare to Singapore. Less sophisticated, no local culture, too many foreigners. This whole place is run by them: Indians and Filippinos mainly. No need to speak Arabic here – Tagalog, Hindi and English are the linga franca.

No, Dubai is not for me … Even the shopping is not that fantastic, the malls in Singapore are nicer.

Getting around is a challenge: far too few taxis, no underground system and as a visitor one can’t really figure out the bus system either. Transport-wise I was lucky, though: my first ride away from the hotel I hitched a ride with two other people who had been waiting for a cab for almost an hour – insane!! So that was for free because the loud-mouth Pakistani who was a member of the car-pool didn’t let me pay for my share – well: suit yourself! And then I discovered a free shuttle bus service from my hotel directly to one of the biggest malls.

It was incredibly hot: 45C !! How do people cope? I was told in summer it hits the mid-50s …

Then I was supposed to meet Murtaza and his wife … the guy has turned very insecure and confused it seemed to me. When we met for dinner he had postponed me twice during the day already and was late then. He had made no plan were to go, so we ended up eating in a food-court in a shopping mall near-by. Could have figured that out by myself!! Then we thought of getting a drink down town – here again he didn’t have a plan on where to go … so we just ended up driving to Sheik Sahid Road – the main boulevard with hotels, malls and office towers. We looked around Dubai Marina but couldn’t find a place which served alcohol – so I said ‘never mind, drop me back at the hotel’.

But shopping-wise it wasn’t too bad: I found everything I was looking for, including nice shoes and Indian jewelry. The hotel was very passable indeed, too, with a clean room, a small swimming pool on the roof and friendly service.

So on average the trip was worth it – for the goal I came here for: shopping and better than sitting around in Kabul alone.

When I came back to Kabul, I was glad to be back. Strange how a place becomes familiar, close to your heart - home even.