Super-metropolis on the making

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A fifth of the world tower cranes are on this piece of land. It's mind blowing and inspiring at the same time to see this pace and rhythm of construction. Las Vegas, Miami and Disneyworld together don't come close to the size and grandeur of what's been built here. To give you an idea of the work we stayed a night on Downtown Dubai with a friend of a friend, which just happened to be managing a 1 Billion dollars health care project, all paid by the Ruler of Dubai. Projects like that and more abound. From the tallest building tower in the world, 92nd floor build so far with an expected 160 to be built, to the 3 Palms projects, called the 8 th wonder of the world, or the biggest shopping mall of the world complete with its indoor skiing. Plus there are plans for a man made snow ski station 4 months a year on the nearby barren mountains and even a first ever Middle Eastern space port. Notice how everything in this city is about comparative adjectives.
Having a drink one of the waterfront Jumeirah resorts you can really appreciate the polish lines and gorgeous curves of the Burj Al Arab, to me still the most impressive icon of this city on the making. Yes, we did enquire on having a drink but for 250 dirham's minimum per person you get the point about the 7 stars thing. David and Berta you should had hit this place on your honeymooners trip if you were seeking modern architecture, the imagination of it would have blown you away.
They must love their rulers here, democratically elected or not, photos of them are everywhere on cars, walls, business, restaurants, etc… Apparently having an Emirates passport is like hitting the jackpot on benefits and all.
In the other hand of this blinding landscape you have the 1300 dirham Channel sun glasses Stans prostitutes waiting in the lobby for the elevators to come down to collect them while their local arab or high flying westerner customer advances into their suites discretely. Or how discretely on the outskirts of the city you see labor sleeping camps, where thousands of minibuses efficiently move in and out around the clock to the construction sites. It’s heartbreaking to see their faces on them minibuses coming back from a hard day or night at work to their small concrete cubes. Riding in silence, sleeping with dust on their faces. Mostly Banglahs, Indians, Pakistanis, Lankans and in the service restaurant sector mostly Filipino women.
Arab bling, they do love here their Cayennes, Lexus, and big Infinity's white SUV, not to mention the usual Ferrari or Lamborghini. There was this white guy doing a test drive with a brand new Murcielago in the middle of the city and the Clutch was smelling all over the block. Can’t blame him, I’ve never try one myself and driving in Dubai or the main highway is not a relaxing experience. They are either honking between massive traffic jams or honking and flashing the long lights to drive vehicles out of the fast lane. Little that I knew it would be a piece of cake comparing to our next destinations. Needless to say tI did not see any Hybrids. In this part of the world the only need for conservation is water. Electricity and gas is so cheap for the locals it seems the last thing they would bother with is Solar panel installations or cogenaration units. Clean water generation is apparently receiving a massive amount of money for very expensive and technologically advance water desalinization plants with GE's help. Coming back to car oil consumption is funny that Chevrolet of all car makers would have the only add across the highway I saw announcing their model to be the most economical gas consumption model on the road on its class, what? why would they export such a model to this market and sell primarily the big gas guzzlers beasts in the US? The oil doesn’t come cheap there nowadays and should have been phased out by alternative fuels by now
Construction of the Palms have altered not only the coastline, in Palm shape dough!, but the water clarity and bleaching and large grass spots topping local underwater life out of Dubai. Government and Constructors say is temporary... My close friend Adel, the reason why we were here, is starting to run a Diving operation and a Marine biology center where all this and more could be study catalog and protected for the future. He is based North of the City, in Ras Al Khaimah, closer to Oman's Musandan Peninsula, where spectacular diving can be found. We went to see his spooner boat Lejaine at the dock and it is a beauty! a pity we couldn't enjoyed it while on town but it needed some last minute repairs. To add insult to the injury the weather was the worse in the year, it rained through most days, and the crew dedicated themselves to treasure hunting (wreak exploration), so no time to baby seat me for an hour of fun dive on the rain with zero visibility. With them apart from the Musandan and also Dubai chartered night tours on the Lejaine through the city's waterfront and skyline there are quite some artificial reefs to check and I must say Adel and his friend Chantal are excellent scuba teachers, look them up at http://www.arabiandiver.com . ( so now Adel after all this sweat talk start thinking on the works for Roz and I, wink, wink)
On our time here we enjoyed many dinners out but I would distinctly point out Lebanese food, especially a little tiny local place in Ras Al Khaimah we tried the first day. The salad so fresh, the cucumbers delicious, I thought I would never said that, and the Hummus, oh my god the Hummus is so freaking tasty... that plus all the lamb sausages and some other meat and poultry on the grill were superb. A feast for 3 for around $25 dollars, not bad. Other night we dine out Lebanese on the Marina Beach Club in Dubai by the beach with the beautiful people but still couldn't beat that first impression left by the small dingy place.
We rented a car one day to check out Oman’s northern peninsula. My idea since I couldn’t see one more Mall, poor Roz went with it because otherwise I would have been out of it. We got very cheap rentals sorted out through Adel from the local Impala rentals shop run by the helpful Ms Iman. Surprisingly only takes 4 to 5 hours to get to Khasab (end of the road) and back to Ras. Costs involve are the tedious border crossings and the inexplicable Visa charges, 40 Dirhams here, 160 omani dirhams there. Not much but thanks to it we run out of local money like always and it was weekend (Thursday) so nothing was open and we had to settle for a small bottle and hummus. The caretaker of the only cafe open in oman tried to explained us how good everything else on the menu is, he just didn't know who he was dealing with despite our Westerner looks. The highway and towns automatically become spotless after the border crossing. Everything is neat and tidy. You can find two or three old beach forts, a few small towns with Palm farms and excellent beaches. The scenery is unique with the sometimes turquoise sea in one side and the towering cliffs in the other. All in all there was not much to do that day anyways and we had been advised that but I just had to see it! The water was freezing due to the weather so no swimming and it was too late to book a diving tour within a local Omani shop. I tried to extend the road fun into the inland back roads through the mountains, where the real adventure is, but the previous rains had make the dirt roads not negotiable with a full size car and really didn't want to spend the night stuck in a puddle, so yes rent a 4X4 instead. Almost in any bookstore you will find an off-road guide for Oman and the Emirates with very good details.
Back in Ras that last night we stumbled into Arabic music night on the Golf Club's bar with belly dancer and all. The lady was very pretty and really knew how to move her hips and move the music with them in prefect tempo but we were greatly surprised again by the Lebanese band and singer afterwards. The rhythms and the drum beat sort of started creating drum and base loops that took me far away or maybe it was the mojitos, but it reinforced the idea to me and Roz that nights like this with local scene and culture, are far more rewarding that bling bling and posh spice clubs. The singer and the band kept the crowd cheering and clapping and dancing till 2:00am. Just what the doctor recommended for the diving and off-roading blues. The only blank on the night was each time that Lord of Arabia came to order a beer and impose himself and the back of his local head piece two inches from my face. My friend, to defuse the situation, did tell me that private space is something that is not taken too much into consideration by the locals. The amount of composure that they need to carry themselves around that way must bring serious neck stress, maybe is a good business to consider getting into.
Giving the Lebanese food, the singers, the musicians and the improv audience dancing I think Lebano must be a place I would definitely love. Unfortunately a bunch of fundamentalists, jumpy and shady neighbors, religious and political zealots are making sure the country literally disintegrates, maybe the UN can save the situation? That would be too good to be true.
Now for a short epilogue the Emirates is a country that has a lot to offer if you have the means. For us it was great to re-unite with our long time friend and catch up, with Jameson’s help, and see through his eyes Dubai and the enterprise he has embarked himself on.

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Photos

Dubai's Skyline
Couldn't get half in! We have a tiny kodak

Flooding in Ras
That caused our taxi to breakdown

Burj Dubai
Only 70+ floors to go

Mosque in front of the house
The prayers were very relaxing, even at 5:00 am.

Comments

[Mary]

lilly and the red vest
It's nice to see Lilly still rules Adel's world. I can't wait to call him and make fun of that vest he is wearing! Enjoy Kerala, if you pass through Trichur send a blessing for my dad. Miss you both. happy new year!

[Laura & Jason Davenport]

Thanks For Sharing
...all good stuff guys..thanks for sharing! Can't wait for further updates! San Francisco is missing you!! Happy New Year!

[Chris]

Damn! That´s a nice looking vest Adel´s got on. :-) Dubai looks even more spectacular than expected. Just realized there´s a second page on this thing. Refer to the first comment. Later.