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Published: March 29th 2014
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'Last year Dubai discovered it didn't have any birds', says Zein. 'So they introduced a new bird from Pakistan.'
Zein is my son in law. He is from Syria. It's the first time we meet.
Together with my daughter Majorie and my wife Linda we eat falafel at a little restaurant at Jumeira Beach Residence, one of the newest projects in Dubai.
'Is that the one?', I ask, pointing to a brownish bird which is hanging around near the restaurant.
'Exactly.'
'We have them also in Thailand' I say. 'It's a Myna. One of the most invasive birdspecies in the world. Once you have them, you'll never get rid of them.'
Who cares?, I think. Dubai is not the place where you come to spot birds. Here you are to be amazed by the highest buildings in the world, the biggest shopping malls, the most precious hotels, the most fantastic, the fastest, the craziest... A world in a desert. Like Las Vegas. But unlike Las Vegas you will not find gambling halls and beer isn't the usual drink. It is not childish either.
Still my daughter and my son in law like to show
us some nature this week. They know we are nature lovers.
Burj Khalifa When we stroll along the sand colored buildings luxurious cars fill the streets. How can the police catch those fast monsters? Quite easy. Their cars are even faster. The police has parked their Bugatti's, Mc Larens and Ferrari's carelessly along the road, as were it a warning.
'Building the city started in 1997', tells Zein, while we make a boattrip across Dubai Marina and along the coast. Amazing buildings, designed by top architects from all over the world, form the skyline: the strangely twisted Infinity Tower, the Burj al Arab, known as the only seven stars hotel in the world, the bombastic Atlantis hotel. And in the far end is always Burj Khalifa, the highest building in the world.
When we have dinner that night at the foot of Burj Khalifa I get the idea I am on another planet. Any moment loudspeakers will tell, that all people born on an odd date have to enter the building to get a brain chip implantation. Or something.
Dubai Mall We walk across Dubai Mall, the biggest in the world. Inside is an
enormous aquarium (I guess the biggest of the universe), where people swim in between sharks. There is a 155 million years old dino, which came all the way from Wyoming (USA). There is a skate rink. Skating in the desert! Everyday 750,000 people visit Dubai Mall. In 2012 65,000,000 people or so. More visitors than in all USA. They come from everywhere. To buy, to spend money or to work. So many people and no one feels at home. No one, but the 17 %!E(MISSING)mirates themselves with their spotless white dishdashes and on their head a keffiyeh, which is held in place by a black agal.
Not everything is big But not everything is big. Like the Souk Madina with its little shops and restaurants. Or Fahidi at Bur Dubai, where we took a cup of coffee in the charming Art Hotel. Or the Dubai Old Souk along the Creek, where we visit The House of Sheikh Saeed ben Rashid and al Maktoum with its old maps, old texts and black and white pictures of the Dubai of 50 years ago.
After crossing the Creek we arrive at Deira Grand Souk, full of colorful spices. At
the Kuwait Road in the Mankhool area we have dinner in an Indian restaurant with Roopesh, editor of Emirates 24/7 for which my daughter is working. Finally we have a big glass of Heineken beer.
Medieval science in the Ibn Batuta Mall Though smaller than Dubai mall the Ibn Batuta Mall is still substantial. It is called after Ibn Battuta, who lived in the 14th century and who is considered as one of the greatest travelers of all time.
Several medieval scientists of the Arabic world present themselves in the mall. Like Abbas ibn Firnas. He lived in the 9th century. It is said that he covered himself with feathers and a couple of wings. And that he flew a considerable distance, faster than a phoenix. Unfortunately he did not know that birds usually land on their tail, tells Maqqari in 1632. So he forgot to take one. 'His back was very much hurt', writes al Maqqari.
Or Abu al-Qasim al Zahrawi. In the west we call him Albucasis. The father of modern surgery. He wrote the Kitab al Tasrif, a 30 volumes encyclopedia and indentified the hereditary nature of hemophilia. Like all other physicians his
knowledge was based on the ancients. But he added new insights, says al Zahrawi himself.
Or al Jazari, who invented the elephant clock in the 12th century, an early example of multiculturalism. The elephant represents India and Africa, the dragon China, the phoenix comes from ancient Egypt and the waterwork from Greece. The turban represents the Islamic culture. The hours were adjusted to the length of the day. In the Ibn Batuta mall is a replica. Here its is called the U.N. clock.
Or Mariam 'Al-Astrolabya' Al Ijliya, the woman who lived in the 10th century in Aleppo and designed beautiful astrolabes. The moslims used them to find the direction to Mecca and to asses the prayer times and when to start the Ramadan.
Or Ibn al Haytham. We call him Alhazen, the father of modern optics. In medieval Europe he was called Ptolemaeus secundus. He influenced people like Roger Bacon and Averroes.
I mention these scientists, because we don't know them so well in the west. We tend to forget them in spite of them being the treasurers of knowledge of the ancients and in some cases extenders of this knowledge.
The desert
But we came for nature. Is there any nature around Dubai? 'There is', say Majorie and Zein.
When we leave Dubai we are surrounded by a beautiful desert with orange colored sand, acacia's and dollarplants. We like the desert because of the quietness. We like to discover plants and animals, which find ways to survive in these barren surroundings.
'Hey, this car is also of the 'Arabian nights' company', I say pointing to another 4w car on the road. 'And there is another one.' More and more 4w cars join in on our way to the desert. When we arrive about 50 4w cars of 'Arabian nights' stand in a row with snarling engines, ready to discover the secrets of the desert. And Arabian nights is not the only company.
After kick off the drivers drive as Schumachers of the desert across the dunes, which is very nice when you are a lover of roller coasters, but not the best way to study tiny beetles.
We conclude our expedition in the camp of Arabian nights with BBQ, a belly dancer (I guess she came from Poland) and a derwisj dancer who, once in extasis, switched
colorful lights on his robe on, so that he looked like a turning Christmas tree.
Finally nature Our trip to Jabel Hafeet near Al Ain the border of Oman was a better match for our feelings of nature. We found fossilized corals, which showed it was once covered by a sea, probably the Thetys sea. The mountain range stretches all the way along the coast of the UAE to Oman. Also Wadi Kob near Al Manama is part of the range. It has coffee brown rocks, sometimes greenish, often in horizontal sediment layers. Now and then the layers stand vertical or are completely distorted, showing the force with which the Afro-Arabian plate is pushed against the Eurasian plate.
As a consequence the Red Sea is becoming wider and the separation between the Arabic peninsula and Iran is becoming smaller. Meanwhile the Jabel Hafeet mountain range arises, while in Iran the Zapos mountains are formed. The Jabel Hafeet is world's finest and most extensive surface exposure of the oceanic crust and upper mantle, I read on Internet. The combination is called ophiolite.
Majorie and Zein had more plans to show us nature. Like the sanctuary for birds
not far from Dubai and a kayak tour across the mangroves. Unfortunately we had to go home again.
In the plane back to Thailand we realized that Dubai and surroundings has more nature than we thought. Once we will come back.
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