First Live Report

Time to blog on the return leg of my Rashidiya--Nakheel Harbour & Tower run.

I'm sitting on the Metro now traveling between MOE and Financial Center stations heading toward Rashidiya.

This is the scoop on the wifi commuting. It works perfectly on board, but it is a Du system so you must register with a Du login--Etisalat won't do. Lucky me, I happened to be carrying a spare Du mobile scratch card. For a 20 Dh card I get three hours of usage to be used within three days.

Now about the journey itself. I luckily got on the first train in the morning from Rashidiya. (My photo just taken by another passenger as I write.)

Train attendant and excited first riders (left), approach to Airport Terminal 3 station (right).

There's a lot to report on on the first trip, and its all about thrills.

When the train arrived in Rashidiya station--ten minutes late, at 6:10 am--there were cheers and applause from the platform. Nearly everyone had mobile cameras in hand snapping everything. Once on board the excitement level increased. After about a five minute wait the train started, again to applause. We were the lucky passengers on the first train.

No one cared about the rules. Passengers freely went into the gold class to snap more pictures from the picture window at the front of the train.

Women, men children all filled the gold class and women and children sections. Female train attendants walked the aisle smiling and greeting passengers. It was like this all the way as we made our way from Rashidiya to the end of the line past the Nakheel Harbour Station.

<< Burj Dubai (tower) in the early morning light.

We were accompanied by a Gulf News video reporter and cameraman who like all the giddy passengers took their own shots inside the train and through the windows.

Everyone was thrilled and there were passengers of all types on board. These included what looked like laborers, other city workers including myself, some parents with kids, locals and a variety of other nationalities.

Approach to Dubai Marina ↓



Aside from the timing, which seemed a bit off, it was a completely smooth ride. One couldn't notice the up and down movements along the tracks. It was quite easy to stay firm even when starting and stopping, and even if not holding onto hand bars.

This is it for my first on board account. Now I need to load a few pictures.

Dubai Marina & JLT skyline (left) and Mall of the Emirates station (right).