First some facts:

There will be a projected 20m tourist visits into Dubai by 2015.

The new build along the waterfront will be treble the size of Hong Kong.

70% of the world’s cranes are currently working in Dubai.

 

With some trepidation, fuelled by lurid articles in the press of people being imprisoned for bringing in cold remedies, I boarded the plane on February 22nd.

An enjoyable flight- delicious meal of tilapia cooked in coconut milk with chillies, then we shuffled slowly through immigration. Our luggage was x-rayed twice but no one was stopped.

Outside to our transfer we passed electric palm trees and special waiting areas for women to greet arrivals.

Checked into our hotel and was tucked up in bed by 5am.

 

The next morning, after a breakfast of stir fried rice, porridge, eggs, hummus, salty cheese, papaya, pineapple, melons and the unfortunately named ‘foul moudammas’ we settled down for a market briefing.

From there we went to the exhibition hall where we queued up for our passes (under ‘U’ together with Uruguay and the USA) and set up our stands with the unhurried help of the laid back staff.

 

Set out to walk back to the hotel to enjoy some of the sunshine but failed to find a way of crossing the road so resorted to a taxi to Wagamamas where some noodle soup and a cold beer sustained me for long enough to have a quick swim in the roof top pool.

Resisted the seductive idea of a short nap and showered and changed and made my way downstairs to the Long Bar- so called as it is the longest bar in Dubai- to watch the Wales England match. Even more surreal as there was also a salsa class going on at the same time, just to the left of the screen…

 

Drunk with the success of the Welsh team we travelled to the restaurant, past giant billboards featuring the ruling sheiks looking out at us with quiet satisfaction at a job well done.

 

To get to The Meat Company we had to walk through a modern souk stuffed with desirable shops, all sadly passed at speed.

 

The restaurant, as it name suggests, specialised in meat, although not Welsh as it was still under an export ban. I started with a plain green salad and then went onto a Flintstonian platter of enormous beef ribs that looked yummy but were almost impossible to eat.

 

From there I went back to the hotel for just one nightcap, unlike some of my colleagues….

 

 

The following morning the show started slowly so I amused myself by reading the catalogue. Along with the usual big companies I found Nadiya Dates who stated ‘it is said that a diet of camel’s milk and dates provides sufficient nourishment for the longest journey’; whereas Novus Optimum Lab asserted that their product ‘may help stop growth of bad cells, promote bad cells’ death by apoptosis’ and, my favourite, from a Korean company which sold noisy snack products with ‘fun time pop sound’, not only that but ‘every 8 seconds’ precisely, and, what’s more, with ‘white foggy puffing’ and ‘gentle snack flying’, a truly multisensory event.

 

I met the most diverse people including someone who had been brought up in Brynsiencyn and recognised the view; the half brother of a chef we supply in Canada, and our French vanilla supplier.

 

That evening we left the show to go to the nearest hotel to meet up with the other British exhibitors prior to going to the exhibitors’ party, held, rather unprepossessingly, in the largest car park at the show.

When we got there we could not believe our eyes; in place of the warm beer and cheap white wine normally experienced in England, possibly with the odd bowl of crisps thrown in, were hundreds of tables laid with white linen with white linen draped chairs.

Around the car park was a series of cooking stations with kebabs grilling over open charcoal pits, salads, tureens of Thai curries and platters of grilled vegetables; there was even a free bar.

 

Sensibly I was one of the first people to go back to the hotel and was tucked up in bed by 11am- and wide awake by 3am, the joys of jet lag.

 

Next morning up bright and early to look round some stores, courtesy of Lee Jennings the IBW man in Dubai. Spinneys, Choitrams, Park ‘n Shop, and The Organic Store; none really did a lot for me in the way that Wholefoods or Dean and Deluca do, but interesting nonetheless.

 

Lunch was spent with our new distributors, then after a short while we left the show slightly earlier to go back to the hotel to change for the Embassy reception. With the accent on ‘slightly’ we hit major traffic problems as it took an hour to actually leave and another half hour to get back to the hotel. Lightening change and managed to get a taxi which took us to the security gate where our bags were searched and we went through the type of screen more normally found at an airport.

 
The gardens were beautiful and so we chatted and nibbled but soon left for a trip to the gold souk.

 
This was an adventure in itself; first we had to find a water taxi to take us across the creek, which we did, taking our lives into our hands as we stepped into a motorised dhow. The fare, still reasonable by our standards, cost roughly 10 times as much as a local would have paid.

 
Once on the other bank we made our fatal error- turning left instead of right. This meant we walked round in a circle to such a wide extent that the souk was actually closed when we reached it. So the evening finished with a taxi to the hotel, a cup of tea in lieu of supper, and bed.

 
Tuesday opened with a welcome breakfast; by this time I had got the idea of eating local foods out of my system and settled for my usual ‘fusion’ dish of tomato and spring onion omelette with haloumi and baked beans, followed by papaya and melon.

 
The first person I met at the show was a chef living and working in Dubai who had used Halen Môn in Amsterdam and was delighted to hear he could get it again.

 
The day passed quickly meeting and chatting to the usual diverse people- a cultured man from Iran who had read about Wales and had some questions for me; a man who imported dry goods into India and was interested that anyone would pay so much for ‘just salt’, an Executive Chef who tasted his way through all the flavours and promised to come back the next day with his sous chef to do it all again, and a man who exported to Afghanistan and loved the salts but didn’t think it was quite suitable for the troops.

 
That evening I joined our distributor for dinner on a dhow; it was tethered but still rocked gently when speed boats shot past. The evening was further enhanced by the zealous attentions of a very enthusiastic and camp waiter who brought a selection of delicious fish and shellfish dishes; luckily I had my emergency supply of Halen Môn to finish them off properly.

 
The final day of the show was exciting, meeting chefs from restaurants as varied as a soup and sandwich bar which was interested in using the salts as toppings or to finish croutons, a top chain of Japanese restaurants, and a man from the Maldives who wanted to use them on his breakfast bar cooking different kinds of eggs, from quails and gulls up to ostrich.

 
We left early, courtesy of our distributors who staffed the stand and rushed back to the hotel to get ready for the highlight of our trip- the desert safari!

We piled into the 4x4 and drove out of Dubai. After the briefing we did some dune racing, our driver being egged on by the male occupants of the car, with Laura and I hanging on literally white knuckled. A brief stop at a camel farm was followed by a cold drink whilst admiring the sunset. Then off to the Bedouin camp where we rode a camel, and then were welcomed with a spiced Arabian coffee with a date to sweeten it.

 
This was followed by a feast of grilled meats and salads and a rather good belly dancer who performed until the lights were switched off so we could all admire the stars.

 
Back to the hotel to pack and set the alarm for 4.30am as we had a transfer booked for 5.30.

The airport was a real scrum and a disappointment to me as I had hoped to do some serious shopping. In the end I grabbed some gourmet dates (but sadly no camel milk to go with them) and an Arab headdress for David. My companion suggested he could wear it for theme evenings watching Lawrence of Arabia.

 
The flight back was uneventful, which is really all one can ask of an aeroplane journey.

I look forward to going back to the Gulf States and to exploring a bit more of the culture.

As always our thanks to International Business Wales for their support, unflinching good humour and friendly company.