The buzz of Dubai reached our ears last year some time and by January of this year Andy and I had both brought up that we would like to visit. We almost scheduled a full week in Dubai in January but then couldn’t fit it in. When I suddenly had had my fill of travel in China and exclaimed to Andy that I wanted to go to one of those huts in the ocean somewhere, he managed to come up with not only the Maldives as our vacation destination but also scheduled our flights so we could spend a total of about 48 hours in Dubai.
We caught a 6:15 AM flight out of Shanghai which required us to get up “in the threes”, 3:15 AM to be exact. I was in a daze on the way to and at the airport. Around boarding time, I started to notice many of the male passengers dressed in Arab attire. Their presence caused me to think about my partially adopted, media-induced stereotypes I was trying to remove with this trip. I also hoped to remove some of my ignorance of the Arab culture. I was reminded of a Rotary-sponsored Group Study Exchange trip I went on in 2005 to Buenos Aires when my Argentine host father explained why Rotary had paid to send a group of five of us half way around the world just to learn about their culture. Mind you, he was speaking in Spanish, so this is what I thought he said, “War begins with hatred. Hatred stems from fear. Fear begins with the unknown. Rotary is trying to break the cycle early by sending you and others to other countries to get to know other cultures and share this with people from your home country.” The moment that he said that is stuck in my mind and I often recall it when my being wants to fear the unknown.
It was a ten hour flight from Shanghai to Dubai on my new favorite airline, Emirates. Even though we were flying coach, each seat had an individual play-on-demand television where you could watch movies and television (over 500 stations to choose from) including a rewind and fast-forward feature, listen to music, view concerts and play games. There were even multi-player games such as Battleship, Checkers and Chess. Andy and I played many of the multi-player games and despite the fact that Andy “hates” to play games he beat me at almost everything except chess which he didn’t know the rules of. I also watched the Simpsons, North by Northwest, The Nanny Diaries and more. Ten hours flew by, literally.
The Dubai airport had a diversity of people. We saw many saris, burkas and men clothed in white cloaks with scarves which I just looked up the name for, ghutras. Dubai probably beats the Hong Kong airport as the airport I have seen with the greatest diversity of people.
We checked into our airport and had to wait for our room to be ready. I was starving so in the meantime ordered some food from the little cafe near the lobby. The waitress brought me two very interesting dishes. One was an avocado and grapefruit salad and the other was a sandwich with cucumber, olive, feta cheese in pita bread. All that with a Starbucks coffee. I was thrilled.
After moving into our room, we walked around the streets near our hotel. We stumbled upon an Arabic market for tourists and purchased some colorful table-runners and wall hangings from India. I wished I had looked up how to bargain in Dubai because I was feeling my way through the negotiation on the price. I knew what I had paid for something similar in India but had no idea how the price would be different in Dubai. We have become so accustomed to China that it was strange having to figure out how to bargain, how to cross streets, etc. in Dubai.
We meandered into an art district housed in a rebuilt complex of Arab-looking buildings. We stumbled upon this alley that had loads (too much British language influence in the Maldives) of sad stories about women in Iraq. We also learned about how the wind tunnels created in the towers of the local buildings (see picture at top of entry) act as natural air conditioners for these ancient style buildings.
That night we took a river cruise which was pretty lame since we were comparing it to similar cruises we had taken on the Huang Pu back in Shanghai. It was a little unnerving in the way that there were not a lot of rules imposed on the guests on the riverboat so when it was time to eat dinner, everyone got up and went to the back of the boat and you could literally feel the boat listing to the buffet side making it feel like it could tip over. This stressed me out a little bit but I decided to hope that the river boat company had been giving the tours long enough without tragedy that they knew what they were doing. There were other times on the trip when I noticed a similar lack of instructions or suggested way of doing things that would exist in the US or China.
With the very long day, we thought we could sleep in the following day, but the four-hour time difference had us up at 7 AM. I went to the gym and then we ordered breakfast in the room. We took a taxi to the Emirates Mall which we had heard was incredible. At the mall there were all sorts of shops that I would have gone crazy at if I were going to be living in China a lot longer. Since I will be moving home in May, I can purchase many of the things then and refrained from most purchases. I did have way too much fun at the Clarks shoe store since they have both cute, comfortable styles and British sizes which equate to half European sizes (what I need).
Dubai is a great place to buy gold and Andy surprised me by wanting to buy me a gold ring that I had described to him the day before for our anniversary. We found a great store and a ring with a unique style. It turns out you can bargain on the price of jewelry in a nice store as well. I think I did a better job bargaining on the ring then the fabric items the day before, but who knows.
Next we visited the food court which was hands down the best mall food court I have ever seen. It had every kind of food from the American chain Chili’s to the Lebanese restaurant we chose to eat at. Despite having a large area for seats in the middle of all of the restaurants like a normal food court, each seating area was designated for the closest restaurant and had unique table dressings and waiters. We had more amazing hummus as well as kebabs and a sandwich of some sort. The drinks were also worthy of mentioning. Being a Muslim country, most people do not drink and therefore most restaurants do not serve alcohol (liquor licenses are VERY expensive). Instead, they have robust drink menus full of all different sorts of juice mixtures and non-alcoholic concoctions. I fell in love with the mint-infused limeade and Andy had a tasty mango juice which he said was like eating two or three whole mangos it was so thick. We left the food court completely stuffed.
The shopping and food was both amazing but the truly incredible part of this mall was the ski slope attached to the far end of the mall…mind you, this is the middle of the desert. According to Andy, it was much better than the one in Shanghai as it had real snow, a nice ski lift and even a toboggan ride. What a great way for non-shoppers to pass the time at the mall.
We spent that afternoon and evening on a desert tour. We were picked up in a Land Cruiser and drove about 40 minutes to the Arabian desert and immediately started using the 4×4 capabilities of the vehicle. Andy had told me that he heard that they try and freak you out on these tours so I was prepared but the British/Indian family with us did not seem quite as prepared. We were all troopers though as our crazy (no really he was good) driver followed a caravan of SUVs all over the sand dunes in the desert. I was proud to be from Idaho and therefore experienced in being a passenger while 4-bying. It was clear that the driver knew what he was doing and we had roll bars if the car did roll, so I felt mostly ready to enjoy the ride even though I do admit to having a bit of a knot in my stomach. More than anything else, it felt like a roller coaster ride. Afterwards, all of the SUVs stopped at a place where we spent the evening riding a camel, smoking a hookah (flavored tobacco in a water pipe where the water is used to remove the carcinogens from smoke), eating more good food, dressing up like Arabs and both watching and participating in belly dancing. Later we were dropped back off at our hotel and took a taxi back to the airport.
After our experience flying into and out of Dubai, I will forever think of the airport for its strange flight times and Duty Free shopping experience. I thought for sure that with our 2:15 AM flight leaving Dubai that the airport would be completely shut down. I could not have been more wrong. We quickly realized we were not the only flight leaving at such an ungodly hour and I immediately snapped out of my post-midnight slumber when I saw the enormous Duty Free area with all sorts of fun items to peruse. I probably tried on 100 pairs of sunglasses before a found an almost perfect pair to buy for wear in the Maldives. I also looked at stores selling Arab items, books, electronics…you name it, they had it at Duty Free. I made it to the gate just before our plane left for Colombo, Sri Lanka and then onto Male, Maldives.
After a wonderful week in the Maldives which Andy will write about in a separate blog entry, we stopped over in Dubai one more time for a 13-hour lay-over. We had a little less energy for the city this time around and we could not find a locker to store our carry-on bags, so we decided upon doing a city tour and then going to a movie at one of the malls. I will now share some information we learned about Dubai on they city tour and on wikipedia.
Dubai is one of the seven emirates in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Dubai city is the main city in the emirate. It is located in the Arabian peninsula on the Persian Gulf. Up until the formation of the UAE in 1971, Great Britain was a protector of Dubai. The currency used in Dubai is the dirham and while we visited was about 1/3 of the value of a USD.
Despite what we thought, less than ten percent of the economy of the region is from oil and instead Dubai has chosen to focus on tourism and free trade as their main revenue generator for the country. In fact, tourism accounts for more than 50% of Dubai’s GDP and they expect more than 3 million tourists in 2010.
Only 20% of Dubai’s people are native to the area leaving a whopping 80% of expats filling out the population portfolio. The ratio of men to women is 3:1.
The ruler of Dubai is Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (by the way “bin” means son of) and his family seemed to own half of all of the important buildings in town including the Grand Hyatt, other hotels, palaces, etc. Usually when we see palaces there are stories of how the family used to live in the palace a long time ago. It is strange to think that this family is one of the few who still lives in modern-day palaces.
The Jumeriah Mosque is the only mosque in town open to non-Muslims who can visit on Tuesdays and ask any question they want. The motto of the mosque is “open hearts, open minds.” We met a guy who went to the mosque and he said a women asked the very question I wanted to know the answer to, “why do some men wear white ghutras (scarves) and others wear red and white checkered?” The answer was that is simply a matter of preference. I dig the red and whites personally.
Dubai houses the tallest man-made structure in the world, the Burj Dubai. When it is completed in 2009, it will be 2,864 feet tall. The tour guide mentioned that they will leave an unfinished floor and the cranes on top of the building in case someone builds a taller building, they can continue construction on the Burj Dubai so it will remain the tallest. At 160 floors, it seems that it will be hard to beat, but you never know. You can apparently see the building from 60 miles away. Three thousand workers have been working around the clock on a 24/7 rotation to build the building. When installed, the elevators in the building will move at 40 mph. The building will house the first Giorgio Armani Hotel at the top as well as residential suites. The residential towers sold out within eight hours. Eventually the 124th floor will house an observation deck. Below the Burj Dubai is the Dubai Mall which, once completed at the end of this year will be the largest in the world only to be surpassed in the future by the Mall of Arabia also in Dubai.
The big rage in Dubai at the moment is building man-made islands in the shape of various things. One of the most famous is the World archipelago of 300 islands in the shape of a world map. It is being built primarily using sand dredged from the sea. According to the tour guide it will be 9km x 7 km and is already 40% purchased. Owners include Angelina Jolie (Utopia island), Rod Stewart (England) and many others. Another famous man-made island chain off the coast is the Palm Deira where Angelina Jolie, Tom Cruise are both owners on the island.
The Burj Al Arab building is also built on a man-made island and is in the shape of a billowing sail filled in the direction of the sea (Arabian Gulf). The building is the tallest hotel in the world (this will be surpassed soon by another hotel in Dubai) and has a self-proclaimed seven-star rating. There are 202 suites in the hotel ranging from 176 m^2 to much bigger. The smallest suite is $3000 USD a night while the grand suite is $30,000 USD per night. VIPs are picked up at the airport in a helicopter limos and other important people in one of the hotel’s 14 Rolls Royce limos. Just to enter the building to look around, you must pay $150 USD and must reserve one month in advance. Once inside, a cup of tea costs $107 USD…better be damn good tea. Many things in the building are actually made of gold including door handles, etc. You may have seen an ad where Roger Federer and Andre Agassi were playing tennis on a helipad in the sky. This took place at the top of the Burj Al Arab.
There are over 50 shopping malls in Dubai…In Dubai, there is a lot to do…and a lot to buy…
They will start construction soon on the Hydropolis, the first under water hotel. Interestingly, when Dubai says they will deliver a construction project on a certain date, they actually do. This is a great link to all of the project in progress and future projects. According to the tour guide, all of the currently completed and in progress buildings are only ten percent of the vision for Dubai.
Dubai is building the largest airport in the world which will soon surpass Hong Kong’s. It is building itself up to be the undeniable hub of the Middle East and the world.
Dubai’s answer to DisneyLand is Dubailand currently under construction. It will be larger than Disney World in Florida and has DreamWorks characters like Shrek and a 6-flags amusement park.
As you can ascertain, Dubai is very much into the biggest, tallest, fastest, longest, etc. of everything. This gives attention to the city and attracts tourists. We would describe it as the non-alcoholic, non-gaming version of Vegas. It is really a great family destination.
Some more random facts on Dubai:
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- They house the 2nd tallest flag pole in the world and it is gold-plated
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- The colors on the UAE flag represent: red=security; green=prosperity; white=peace; black=long-lived natural resources
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- They change the color of the flowers every four months even though the old flowers were still alive and looked nice (the tour guide says they just like to spend money)
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- 80-90% of their drinking water is desalinated from the ocean
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- Water is more expensive than oil
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- Cars cost 20% less due to no import taxes and there are SO many nice cars in Dubai
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- As of 2002, expats can own land in Dubai…this has caused the pace of building to increase dramatically in the city
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- Every 200 – 500 meters there is a mosque
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- Since it is an “open country” there is also a Catholic church and Hindu temple donated by the ruler of Dubai
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- On Mondays, the Jumeirah Beach Park only allows women and children under 5 years of age
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- They are building a Metro system that will have the longest driver-less train in the world. The Metro will be able to transport 600,000 passengers a day.
That is all of my fun facts. As you can see, it is definitely an up-and-coming city and hub of the world. I actually think it would be a nice place to live as well. Diversity is a way of life and is more-or-less accepted.
After our city tour, we went to the City Center Shopping mall and saw the movie, “Fools Gold.” It was timely after having left the beach only that morning and it was actually a pretty good movie that both Andy and I enjoyed. We hadn’t been to a movie in a theatre since the last Harry Potter movie, our only time to the theatre in Shanghai.
In summary, Dubai was great and I think it was so awesome to be able to see the good side of the Middle East up close and personal. It is not all car bombs and hijacking and terrorist attacks. Dubai is an up-and-coming city that you will definitely hear more about in the future. We hope to go back in 10-15 years where we expect to hardly recognize the place.
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