Producers' Dispatches From The Front | In Search Of Al Qaeda | FRONTLINE

FRONTLINE

D I S P A T C H E S

+ "Faces at a Dubai Mall"

15 August, Dubai, U.A.E.
from Marcela Gaviria

We arrive at 6:30 a.m. in Dubai to face 120-degree temperature. After a stressful evening trying to fix a series of mishaps, and then a seven-hour flight, we stumble into our hotel rooms and I fall asleep rather quickly. I get woken up by a Canadian lieutenant who tells me that we will be picked up at midnight and driven to some undisclosed location and then placed on a fast boat that will catch up with the HMCS Algonquin, a Canadian destroyer in the Gulf of Oman.

I'm exhausted, suffering from severe jet lag, heat exhaustion, lack of sleep and too much to do. It may be five or six nights before I get a decent night's rest.




	A woman lifts her veil to sip coffee in a Starbucks in central Dubai. (Photo by Scott Anger)

We've spent most of the day at the City Centre Mall looking for clothes for Martin, who has lost his luggage, and for dimmers for Scott. The mall looks like it could be any mall in any American suburb. There is a Starbucks. A Hugo Boss. A Benetton. A Cartier shop. A Blockbuster Video. But the faces at the mall are as diverse as they come -- women fully covered in black veils, Arab men in long white robes with traditional red and white khafiyas, Pakistani men in their shalwar kameez, Western tourists in tiny shorts and tank tops. What strikes me is how clearly defined the social structure seems to be. Filipinos serve food and are salesmen. Pakistanis drive the cabs.

Got to run. The Canadians have arrived in the lobby. Left the blow dryer behind.

< previous dispatch + next dispatch >

London
(Aug. 13-14)

+ Zubaydah Is Dead
13 August, London

+ Armchair Jihadists
14 August, London

Gulf of Oman
(Aug. 15-21)

+ Faces at a Dubai Mall
15 August, Dubai, U.A.E.

+ HMCS Algonquin
16 August, somewhere in the Gulf of Oman

+ On Board the Algonquin
17-18 August, somewhere in the Gulf of Oman

+ Like an Elephant Chasing a Mouse
17-18 August, Gulf of Oman

+ Dubai to Karachi
20 August

+ A Firehose of Information
20-21 August, Dubai - Muscat - Chennai