Travelogue – Issue 1 | November 2008
Sheikh Zayed Road
by Helena Axelson Fisk
Sheikh Zayed Road (SZR) is Dubai’s botoxed forehead and only toll payers are allowed. I head north towards Dubai, sticking to one of the four middle lanes while the tollgate deducts four dirham from my card as I pass through. Heavy and/or commercial traffic has been relegated to Al Khail Road and Emirates Road further inland. Seven years ago, there was no tollgate, and only one middle lane.
The extreme right is at a standstill as cars head towards Mall of the Emirates with its ski slope gleaming in the sun, or aiming to cross the bridge for Medinat Jumeirah, a traditional souq built yesterday, with underground parking, manmade canals and super deluxe hotels. The express left lane is reserved for those who can’t wait to get to their destination, be it the office or the airport. I’m flowing with those who have time to spare.
Alongside the SZR, a Metro rail is being laid on tall, thick concrete pillars. Next year, Japanese railway carriages will carry three classes of passengers—rich, poor and women with families. The poor ride buses today, with twelve seats in the front allocated to women. Once those are taken, no more women can board.
I exit the SZR towards the newly developed Downtown, where Burj Dubai looms, shadows, occupies and steals all light, air and attention. Monstrous on the ground, spiraling obscenely towards the sky, its twinkling spire is a middle finger shot out to the world; sand piling thickly on hundreds of its glass panes and windows.
About the author
Helena Axelson Fisk, editor-in-chief of the online literary magazine, Frostwriting, catapulted herself from Sweden twenty years ago and hasn’t found her way back yet. She now lives in Dubai, where she composes fiction inspired by the Middle East while listening to the music of cranes and building-waste chutes.
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