I survived New Year's Eve at Burj Khalifa. Bruised, but OK.

HOLY CRAP. I just had the worst experience.

I went to Dubai Mall for New Year's Eve. Beautiful fountain/fire show, but it was pretty crowded at the mall in anticipation of the fireworks.

Here's the bad experience part. I left the mall at 11pm, because the fireworks were scheduled for midnight, and I didn't want to fight the crowd on the metro getting home. I knew that cabs would be hard to find, so I didn't count on that option. That particular mall is about 10 miles from my house. Walking home wasn't an option either. There is a shuttle bus that goes from this mall to the metro station. It took forever to arrive to pick us up, because of traffic. Then when we got to the Metro station, it was crowded with hundred's of people waiting to see the fireworks. I just wanted to go home. But so many people were coming out of the Metro, that the police closed it to people wanting to enter.

I thought to myself, "Ok, I'll just watch the fireworks." Then hundreds of people kept pouring out of the metro station. The police were screaming at us to back up, but the crowd behind me kept shoving us forward. At one point I was behind a police barricade (Metal fencing) and a woman holding a tiny child was crushed back into the fence. I used my arms to try to take pressure off of her, it was HORRIBLE. Finally she was able to get over to my side of the fence. Then a wave of people surged forward and the fence was crushing my legs. The crowd on the other side shoved back, and I was caught on the fence. I struggled to move to the end, I knew I had to get away from those metal bars. Then the crowd behind me shoved me into a corner of the entrance to the metro. The crowd pouring out of the doors crushed me against the wall, and I couldn't breathe.

I tried not to panic. I knew that it would make me use more oxygen. I forced myself to stay calm and try to use my arms to push out and make room for me to breathe. The police were screaming at us to move away from the door, and there was no way we could move at all. One officer was completely out of control and hysterical. He was shoving us into each other and yelling "move back." I kept telling myself that I was getting enough air to survive, not to panic. I was sucked back into the crowd and tossed around some more, completely unable to control where I was going.

About 40 minutes later, the police allowed about 50 people into the Metro station. I was lucky to be one of them. It felt good just to breathe. After another half hour, they let some of us start up the escalators to the trains. I was crushed in another crowd there also, people in front couldn't go anywhere and hundreds of people behind us kept shoving into us and it was crazy. Finally, I got on the train. In twenty minutes I was at the stop closest to my house. On the way we could see all the highways blocked with traffic. It was insane. A woman on the train said she had been waiting at the mall for a taxi for three hours. She finally gave up and decided to take the Metro.

I walked the mile and a half from the Metro to home. It is a nice walk and I do it all the time. It felt good to get some fresh air. My ribs are bruised, I am sore all over, and I have a raging headache. But Damn, it is good to be home.

Next year, I am going to stay home and rent a video!!!

Happy New Year! Love, Aleta