City of Cranes

Took a 1 hr flight from Bodrum to Istanbul, then took a 4hr flight from Istanbul to Dubai after a 6 hour wait in Istanbul, which thanks to the HSBC VIP lounge went by very fast,- arrived in Dubai at 12:35am. Kent, an old univeristy friend, was there to pick us up and before we knew it we were cruising down Sheikh Layed Road.

When one thinks of Dubai, the Palms and the World projects are first on peoples mind. However, that is just the tip of the ice berg. Dubai is like no other place we have ever been. It is the fastest growing city in the world with a current population of 3 million but its goal is to have 9 million by the year 2010. The temperature is close to unbearable - mid 40's with at least 80% humidity, and this isn't even the summer. We have been told by several expats that they don't go out in the summer as it is just to damn hot and humid - certaintly understandable. The heat of the summer no doubt contributes to the large number of opulent malls that provides a safe haven for air conditioning and an escape from the relentless heat. The malls here are incredible, they have every store you can imagine, every type of food in the food courts and last but not least, the Mall of Emirates even has a 300,000 square foot ski resort - no shit, you can go skiing in the desert. We did not opt for the chance to go skiing as we are enjoying the warm weather of our travels, although it was funny watching people snow board, skiing and riding chairlifts only minutes after sweating buckets walking from the car to the mall entrance!

The United Emirates consists of (7) Emirates, of which Dubai is the 2nd largest in land area and oil revenue, the honor goes to Abu Dhabi. With the real possibility of running out of oil in 20 years, the Sheikh is making a serious effort in spending the mass amounts of oil revenue to invest in an alternative revenue source - that source is high end tourism along with financial centres. The money here oozes here like the oil flows up from the ground. Each Emirate is no doubt trying to out due each other and they themselves are only concerned with building the biggest and most lavish buildings and projects the world has ever seen. It is estimated that 30% of all the cranes in the world are presently in Dubai - some will tell you its even higher - 40%. Everywhere you look there are 100's of cranes, with sky scrapers, villas, malls, hotels etc being built. The air is filled with a fine layer of dust as a result of the continous contruction around the clock which is just a reminder that one needs to head to the mall to have their car washed by the imported Bangladeshi as they shop away. Pictures cannot capture the building craze, its just incredible. Dubai itself is hard to explain as there is really no "downtown" centre like a Mid-town. The Emirate is very spread out, making getting around difficult without catching a taxi, or having a wonderful friend to drive you around. As mentioned before the Palms and World project may be the most familiar to most, but here is a list of just some of the current projects underway:

Burj Dubai - the tallest office tower in the world.
Dubai Festival City - estimated investment $6 billion resort style city.
Dubia Int'l Financial Centre - estimated investment $3 billion
Dubai Marina - estimated investment $4 billion (high rises and villas)
Dubai Land estimated investment $6 billion (World's Largest Theme Park)
Dubai Mall estimated investment $7 billion
Dubai Techno Park estimated investment $40 billion
Palms estimated investment $3 billion
The World estimated investment $2 billion

As previously mentioned, the heat is just incredible. Luckily enough Kent's apartment/palace was awesome and we made the most of his pool - albeit with the coolers on. Yes that's right -in order to make the pools bearable to swim in, they pump cool water into the pools to offset the effect of the heated water from the sun! Being able to spend time with a "local/expat" was great as it really allowed us to see and experience Dubai. It was good to hear and see that Expats are expats wherever you go, and the issues in one country seem to be somewhat familiar in another.

Citizens of the UAE are certainly unique, besides the men wearing the Khandura and Agal and the women wearing the black abaya, they are a spoiled bunch. You will not see any Emiratees lifting a finger in the service industry and few will expect any job beneath management - sound familiar for those Expats out there! In addition, they receive free education anywhere they choose to attend and upon getting married they receive a house - not a bad deal. Of course with the construction boom combined with the need for someone to lift the forks and knives and service the All Mighty there are ten's of thousands of immigrants from Bangladesh and the Philippines to fullfil those unwanted jobs. Reports estimate that up to 90 percent of the country's 1.7 million workers are migrants.

Depending where you happen to be, especially down at the Creek, you could easily become confused as to whether your in Dubai or Bangladesh. The Creek is the live blood of the "Old Dubai" - full of souks selling textiles, carpets, jewerly etc. With all this multicultarism comes the benefit of good food - yes the food at the 5* hotel buffets and mall food courts are to die for. Whether your craving Thai, Indian, Lebanese etc... every type of food is avaliable. Thanks to an awesome buffet that Kent took us to on our first morning, we quickly got our Asian fix dealt with. The unfortunate part of the imported labour force is the fact that these labourers work in extremely harsh conditions and make next to nothing. The workers whom work all day in the relentless heat make a pitiful US $165 per month - no kidding, the headline of one of the newspapers while we were there was an article discussing the fact that contracts were actually for US $220 but were not being fullfilled and instead were only paying US $165. Who knows where these people stay for that price.

After taking in the great food and driving around the construction sites we headed down to The Creek - "Old Dubai" where we took a ride down the Creek in an Abra. The Creek is full of life with Dhows (big wooden boats), taxis and other means of water transportation. That night Kent initiated the new "Lawson" Shisha that was bought in Turkey. Thanks Kent, and I promise to buy some better charcoal the next time we puff away!!

Having seen the sights and sounds of Dubai we decided to get a wee bite more adventurous and go 4x4 in the desert. Jumping into a Toyota 4X4 we headed out to the Red Dunes, about a 30min drive. Not sure what we were thinking, but the description 4x4 certainly was a lot different than what we had planned for. The driver asked us if we were ready for some skiing, we laughed out loud - but that would end quickly. After stopping to deflate the tires we headed out to the dunes were the driver drove up 40 foot dunes like a bat out of hell and then slide sideways all the way down. Next came the 100mph approach up the hill where only the horizon was visible and then we would drop straight down. The question as to whether the vechile would be rolled was "IF" but how "Many Times". Needless to say, Isabel was freaked out and uttered "This is the worst day of my life" - Oops maybe we should not have done this! Next came Isabel's lunch and well the ride was almost over... Needless to say, it was a lot of fun for some and hellish for others!! If you like thrill seeking adventure this was certainly it - afterwards we watched the sun go down and headed for dinner in a tent like atomsphere as the belly dancer strudded her stuff....

Driving in the desert was an experience but driving anywhere in Dubai is a thrilling if not deadly experience in itself. The speed limit is 120km, but if you travel at this speed two things are guaranteed - you will be passed as though you are standing still and secondly, the speedometer will start beeping. Yes, in order to try and stop people from going 200km/hr all cars in Dubai and fitted with a device that sets off an alarm when the speedometer reaches 120km/hr. We are glad to say we survived both the sand and the paved stuff..

Dubai was certaintly much more strict/conservative with regards to the practice of Islam in comparison to the other Muslim countries we have visited. Alcohol could not be bought easily in Dubai, and in fact the best place to purchase it was at the Duty Free in the airport. Overall, we found the Emiratees to be very polite and friendly and many laughs were shared by all.

Well we are now off to Egypt and would like to send a big Thanks to Kent and his family for their open arms and allowing us to hang out in their Palace/Pad. Much appreciated and we will miss the space and free internet....

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