the return - part 2

So where were we: oh yes, the alarm has gone off, it is 5am, we are heading for the airport, it is dark, raining and we are a tad weary, but in high spirits as we are about to escape drowning Dubai or are we?

Today there are 4 flights to Kabul, Ariana Air at 6.30, Pamir Air at 7.00, Kam Air (our flight) at 7.30 and UN at 11am.

We are all checked in, our bags are taken, we go through passport control, man asks where, when, how, why (he knows who), stamps the passport and we are in Terminal 2 departure lounge. Now I don't know if I have explained that Dubai has two terminals, Terminal one is for all legit airlines and terminal two is for dodgy airlines to dodgy places. The only flights from terminal two go to locations in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.

The Ariana flight goes around 7.30 and we all wait. This is normal: flights to Kabul NEVER leave on time!! However, we wait, and we wait and eventually the Ariana flight returns and its passengers are back in Departures. As you can imagine it is getting a little busy now and no-one is telling us what is going on!! We are on the phone to Kabul and it is snowing heavily and visibility is very poor. I expect that few of you have flown to Kabul, but it is surrounded by mountains and two years ago an Ariana flight flew into a mountain in poor visibility, so to be honest, we are not too distressed that we are safely on the ground.

Meanwhile, your intrepid blogger has to finish the 2007 accounts. So I spend a large part of the day sitting on the floor in a corner by a pillar (next to the lady with screaming baby and noisy toddler) where there is a socket to charge my trusty Acer, with spreadsheets on display, and mobile phone clamped to my ear trying to talk my Afghan team through budget allocations. I seriously do not recommend this as a method for closing the year end accounts, but hey, needs must as they say. Finally, they stop ringing and either can't hear me or it's sorted!

Eventually at around 3pm we are told the flights are all cancelled and we have to return through immigration, re-enter Dubai, pick up our bags and wait for a bus to a hotel to stay overnight.

Now this may sound pretty straightforward, except there are 4 flights with 4 different airlines, (not forgetting that announcements for Pamir and Kam Air sound remarkably similar over a PA system), no staff from any of the airlines and lots of potential to get us all mixed up. I will cut a long story shorter here by telling you it took a long time but eventually a Kam Air man came and collected our passports for our exit stamps to be cancelled and we were taken 20 at a time back through immigration and then came the wait for our bags. We eventually left the airport about 6pm and huddled outside on the kerb (just above the waterline) for the bus to arrive. It did, but there was not enough room for all and so me, Matthew and the Kam Air rep ended up in a taxi.

At last we were on way to the hotel, after all we have been up since 5am and spent the day in the airport. Surely things could not go wrong now!! That was until we told the taxi driver where we wanted to go. The hotel is in Sharjah (the next state) but only about 30mins taxi ride. However, according to the taxi driver Sharjah is even more flooded than Dubai and he refused to go there. After a long shouting match between the rep and the driver, which involves a supervisor coming to sort it out, we head for Sharjah.

As predicted by our driver, as we approach Sharjah the water gets deeper, the traffic slower and he becomes more edgy. In fact, he gets to the point where he turns the car round and heads back to Dubai!!! The rep taps him on the shoulder which causes all verbal hell to break loose and the driver calling his supervisor claiming he has been assaulted. Meanwhile we are looking at the water which has now reached the height of the doors. Traffic is stationary, the sky is now dark and we have absolutely no idea where we are, all we know is we slept on a plane two nights ago for a few hours, we got up at 5am today and we are now sitting in a taxi with a sulking driver who refuses to go further and claims he has be assaulted, surrounded by knee deep water!!!! After much to-ing and fro-ing and radio calls to base, the driver is calmed and we turn around again and head for Sharjah. After 3 hours we get to the hotel and walk knee deep in water carrying our bags into the hotel which has water lapping at the top step of the entrance but not quite coming in. It is late, nothing else to report except we are told to be in reception next morning at 4.30am for the whole procedure to start again. Could it get worse? Wait and see.