For a long time we had wanted to see Dubai, just for a short time, to experience what it is. It’s reputation for “everything over the top” was a bit enticing, in a curious sort of way. We had planned to just stop-over there for a day or two on the way to somewhere else. Well, while planning a trip to Myanmar, Carol managed to sell a story, about the Middle-Eastern cuisine of Dubai, to Virtuoso magazine and thus set us off on a 6 day adventure here. We flew direct from Seattle straight up over Canada, the North Pole and down over Moscow straight to Dubai on a 14 hour Emirates Airline flight. The Boeing 777 was comfortably equipped with free Internet and a large screen entertainment system with over 2000 entertainment offerings at each seat. Since Dubai is exactly 12 hours ahead of Seattle, Carol was a little confused when she went to reset her analog watch to Dubai time. There was nothing to reset. She merely had to shift her imagination from AM to PM.
For those of you who are unfamiliar, Dubai sits in the middle of the United Arab Emirates, near the tip of the Arabian Peninsula, just across from Iran. It’s just above the Tropic of Cancer, about the same latitude as Key West, Florida. Before the 1960’s, it was little more than an outpost in the desert, home to some nomadic and stationary tribes of arabs, diving for pearls, without even a paved road. THEN THEY DISCOVERED OIL! Now their main freeway has 14 lanes, 7 in each direction. Leveraging early oil revenue, the ruling Sheikh of Dubai decided to build a modern city in the desert, starting with extensive infrastructure in electricity, water and communications. His son, the current Sheikh Mohamed, expanded that vision to include a vast futuristic city where everything is either the biggest, the best or the grandest of everything. Today it’s a center for business, banking, tourism and anything else you can think of.
With 80% of the people from somewhere else, immigration is strictly controlled. Visas are required and renewed every 3 years until age 65. Then you must leave for good. No one that’s not a citizen can stay after age 65. Immigrants can not become citizens and children born here that are not descended from Emirati citizens are not granted citizenship. If you want to start a business here you must partner with an Emirati citizen and he is entitled to 52% of the profits without doing a thing. People come from over 200 countries speaking over 100 languages. The most common language, English, is the common spoken language.
The biggest mall in the world, The Dubai Mall, has more than 1200 stores on 4 floors and we got lost there several times. Thank goodness for GPS tracking or we might never have found our way out. There is a three story tall aquarium (yes, the biggest in the world) there with full size Sharks and Stingrays, among other exotic fish, swimming in it. They have a “mall taxi” inside that you can hire to take you around, and, they are currently planning a new mall 15 miles out in the desert that will be three times its size. One of the malls here has a functioning ski slope, complete with a chair lift. It snows every day in the desert here. The new largest airport in the world, here, has 6 runways. The tallest building in the world, here, is the Burj Khalifa, at 2700 feet high. That’s over a half mile up. They are planning a new one (so as to not be undone by Saudi Arabia) that will be over 3000 feet. Much of this new stuff will be built in conjunction with a World EXPO happening here in 2020.
The first of our three hotels here was a 5 star Virtuoso hotel called The Palace. It is situated right across the lake from the Burj Khalifa (that tallest building). The lake has a fabulous dancing fountain, built by the same firm that built the one at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, only, of course, this one is bigger. We could see a different show beyond our balcony, every half hour from noon to 10:00 PM, with dancing lights after dark. I’ve included some pix and a movie in the photo gallery if you would care to take a look.
Our first screw-up of the trip came right away after we arrived at the hotel. Due to some confusion in the exchange rate, I inadvertently tipped the bellman $27 when he showed us to our room. I guess we “made his day.” I just hope the maid isn’t expecting the same generosity. 😉
It took them only 6 years to build the Burj Khalifa, at a cost of $1.5 billion. On our second day here we went to the observation deck on the 148th floor. It’s a long way down from there, but the highest floor is actually the 160th. On the way up in the elevator they showed a silhouette on the walls of other world tallest structures as you reach that building’s height. They said this elevator is the fastest in the world, but that’s what they told us last year in the Taipei 101 building elevator, in Taiwan. I guess they all make a lot of “claims” but who knows what is true. They said that the elevator is so fast you can see the same sunset twice by watching it at the ground, then racing up to the top in the elevator and watching it set again from there. Hummm…….. The building has one side completely covered with lights providing stunning visual displays after dark. It can also show video making it the worlds largest TV screen at over half a mile high. (See video in photo gallery)
There is construction everywhere here, going on 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They play nice music from loud speakers along the walkways but it’s often hard to hear it because of all the construction noise going on in the background. We were told that Dubai currently uses 25% of all the world’s construction cranes. The climate here is very conducive to full time construction. There are no seasonal variations other than temperature and humidity. It almost never rains here and there are no natural disaster systems like earth quakes or hurricanes to worry about. It does get very hot in the summer but not too hot to hinder construction. However, if climate change continues as expected, some places in this part of the world may get too hot to sustain life. They don’t seem too worried about that in Dubai. The weather now (in Winter) is quite pleasant with highs of high 70’s and lows in low 60’s.
Every hotel room in Dubai has an arrow on the ceiling called “The Mecca Indicator.” It points toward Mecca, so that Muslims know which way to face when they bow to Mecca while in the room. Walking around the city we see lots of exotic people everywhere. There are lots of women here with full face covers, some with a slit for the eyes. There are separate sections in the buses for women, separate cars on the trains for women and a pink cab company for only women passengers. It’s a little difficult to eat a meal at a restaurant wearing a face covering but they do it here. It’s interesting to watch.
We’ve been trying the Middle-Eastern cooking all around town. When done well it is very good. However, it’s not a favorite of mine. The dishes are not as spicy as I like. I much prefer Thai food. On our last night in Dubai we went on a 4.5 hour “Food Marathon” walking tour around Old Dubai. A young Indian entrepreneur started a business with her sister, called Frying Pan Adventures, that takes tourists on culinary tours around Dubai. Just listening to her comedic treatment of Middle Eastern cooking was worth the price of admission. However, she went into great depth on the history, culture, ingredients and preparation of the various foods. She even taught us in great detail how to “properly” eat with our hands, as many cultures still do. We have eaten with our hands many times throughout our travels, but I’ve never known the proper technique.
I have never been a big fan of dates, but they are quite common here. There are over 50 varieties ranging from sweet to bland and hard to soft. I have to admit that they are quite tasty here. I’ll probably now see them with a new appreciation back home. We even tried a Camel Burger the other day. Yes! We had to do it. We always like to “eat local” whenever we can. It tastes a little gamy and slightly tougher than beef, but it’s pretty good.
Be sure to check out the photos and Carol’s blog below:
Carol’s blog at: http://www.travel.carolpucci.com
Later…… your favorite travelers, Tom and Carol
Dubai Photos
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