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But back to that car, that Bentley with its digital displays, wireless headphones and no fewer than 20 speakers to pump out the music.
It even had massage machines built into the seats which, I confess, I found truly delicious.
As we slid along boulevards – the playgrounds of the rich – people stopped and stared, their heads swivelling in amazement, eyes popping, sometimes cameras flashing.
“What do other Somalis make of you and this car?” I asked.
“Oh, they are extremely happy. They congratulate me and say thank you. They say seeing me in my car makes them proud to be Somali.”
“They don’t feel jealous or disgusted?”
“Oh no. Why should they? I give them hope. I bought this car because it shows success.”
As those flashing cameras showed, the Bentley even managed to impress the ultra-wealthy residents of Dubai.
But I am not sure what it would have meant, if anything, to those Somalis I met at the port, or indeed the Somalis back home in Mogadishu, most of whom can only dream of owning a car, let alone a Bentley.
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