2006/07/21

I'm Back!

I got back to Al Ain last night after five weeks in the US. Had a really strange experience returning home last night. At the Dubai airport, I was allowed to completely bypass the customs/security (i.e. my bags were not x-rayed, I still had to get my passport stamped), which had never happened before. But then on the taxi ride to Al Ain, the police had a road block set up just across the Abu Dhabi border. All of the passenger cars were allowed to pass without stopping, but my taxi had to wait for about 5 minutes, then the police wanted to see my passport (the didn't ask the driver for anything). I've never seen or heard of them questioning a passenger like that.

3 comments:

nzm said...

The non-xray of bags is common nowadays - they only pull certain people over to the x-ray machine. A year or so ago, everyone had to put their bags through.

But your special treatment in the taxi is strange!

Welcome back!

Marcus Aurelius said...

That checkpoint is often times there. It was explained to me they are looking for cars coming from Fujairah loaded with "Christian beverages".

I recall having to stop at that one once or twice.

Nice not having to go through the X-Ray machine at the airport. I never had that kind of treatment.

Arabized said...

When leaving to the US, my brother and I noticed a bag in the middle of the pathway, unattended. It freaked us out. Nobody was near it. My brother didnt want me to sit anywhere remotely near it, so we talked to an aiport offical. The guy seemed so unphased by it.
He was like ok, thanks, and nods his head.

what the heck? We were the only ones freaked out. oh well :/

They stopped me at the checkpoint once, I think they thought I was driving underage. Its not so strange that they stopped you, I've seen it happen a few times.