Dubai, October 18,2010

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Dubai, United Arab Emirates - October 18, 2010

Due to the cancelation of our visit to Nepal we flew from Chaing Mai, had a fuel stop in Bombay India and finally landed in Dubai. The total flight time was about 6 hours; fortunately we picked up 3 hours in time zones. Our first stop in Dubai was to take some pictures of the Sail Hotel then off to the Dubai Mall to take the elevator up the Tower 124 floors in 60 seconds. The Tower is the highest building in the world and can be seen from 90km away. Some of the pictures taken from the viewing gallery will give you some idea of the construction and different buildings in Dubai. If the buildings in Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo were eye-catching they are also at least in 2nd or 3rd place in comparison to those in Dubai. One thing that I can’t figure out is the malls. The Dubai Mall has 1,200 stores and the WIFI Mall that Mare and I walked around the next morning has 1,000 stores. The problem that I see is that compared to malls in Canada there are few people walking around. We have stayed at some 5 star hotels but I question that we will often ever stay at one where the rooms are as large and luxurious as those at the Raffles in Dubai.

Now for a few observations;
• Dubai has approximately 25% of the world’s building cranes
• Even though Dubai had to be bailed out of financial difficulty by Aba Dubai, there is construction everywhere.
• The local Dubai population makes up about 19% of the working population in Dubai. The rest are guest workers who need to get there work permits renewed every year. If they lose their job they have 1 month to find another. If they do not they are kicked out of the county. One side effect of this is that there is little crime since everyone is employed.
• There are no income taxes in Dubai.
• When a citizen gets married they are given a house and about $70,000 U.S. This is intended to encourage the locals to marry each other and increase their proportion of the public
• At each bus stop there are bus shelters that are air-conditioned
• A suite in the Sail Hotel costs $15,000 per night plus another $3,000 in charges.
• The most expensive drink anywhere is on they serve at the Platform Bar at the Sail Hotel, $7,500 for one of their special drinks

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Photos

Dubai Tower
At dusk; later there will be flashing lights on the Tower.

Dubai Tower
The Dubai Tower has been named after the ruler of Abua Dabi

Sail Hotel
The helicopter pad near the top of the Sail Hotel. Several famous tennis players have played a match on this pad.

Sail Hotel
The to left at the same level as the helicoptor pad is the Sky LOunge Bar overlooking the ocean