Dubai
Travel Location: Dubai,United-Arab-Emirates
4.12.2007 Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Known as the City of Merchants, Dubai is the second largest of the seven Emeriates that make up the U.A.E. In the entire Gulf there is nothing quite like Dubai. Its history began in the 1830’s when the city broke away from Abu Dhabi and became a centre of commerce and trading in its own right. In fact Dubai’s wealth is founded on trade and not oil. When oil was discovered in 1966, it merely contributed to the city’s prosperity and sped up modernization.
Dubai is the leading center for business and tourism in the Middle East. It combines the timeless desert, east and west, old and new. It has all the comforts and conveniences of the modern world but tries to remain close to its heritage but has a high degree of tolerance for different lifestyles.
After being in India last week, Dubai is a culture shock. The extreme between the old and the new, the widely spread wealth versus the extremes we saw in India is startling. 80 % of the people here are guest workers from other countries mostly from India and Pakistan.
Almost everyone speaks English. The streets are clean and safe. The building boom here is impossible to describe. 25% of all the tall cranes in the world are at work here in Dubai building the smartest designed architecture I’ve seen anywhere. One building under construction and due for completion in 2009, will be the tallest building in the world and will be surrounded by eleven other skyscrapers are underway. In addition
a new World Dubai Waterfront is taking shape with a 5 billion .dollar theme park designed to attract 15 million tourists a year is also underway. A second international airport is being built. By 2010, it is estimated that both airports will have the capacity to handle 190 million passengers a year, more than the population of the UK, France and Italy combined. By 2009 the Dubai Metro system, set to be the longest unmanned rail system in the world is scheduled to begin operation. Palm shaped islands are being built out into the water to accommodate expensive waterfront residences.
A new waterfront development at one end of the city must have 3-400 tall cranes working on condos, hotels, office buildings -all architecturally exciting buildings. The instastructure of the city has been designed to support all of this. There are gardens, fountains and beautifully landscaped areas everywhere.
This morning Sallie and I passed up a tour and took the shuttle into the city to the Bur Jumaine Center which is said to be not the best but only one of the several fine shopping malls in the city. We have never been in one as well done with better shops and already under construction is one that is supposed to be not only the best but the biggest one in the world.
Dubai was originally founded on the banks of a river that is named Dubai Creek. Port Rashid is located near the mouth of this creek and contains a beautiful new passenger terminal. The largest port where most of the shipping takes place is The Jebel Ali Port about 5 miles down the beach. After lunch I took a cab through the tunnel under Dubai Creek to the old Deira area and visited the famous Gold Souk. Actually modern development began at the turn of the with heavy import-export trading, mainly in gold. What opium was to the growth of Hong Kong, gold was to Dubai. We drove along the river crossing back over on Makound Bridge ,back down along the park side of the river to the museum. Both sides of the river were beautiful with many tall buildings everywhere. The museum was well done and gave me a good picture of the early settlement of this area.
Our good friend, Steve Potts told us to make sure to visit the Burj Al Arab Hotel following his visit last year. Steve has seen a lot and he said this was the best hotel he’s ever been in. You have to be registered as a guest just to get in. It is the world’s only seven star rated hotel and it is famous for it’s shape of a sail and is located at water’s edge. Well ,we got to see it. Fortunately, Silverseas hosted a dinner dance on the top floor for their 142 Word Cruise passengers. It is some hotel and the dinner and evening lived up to its reputation. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera set right and did not get good pictures. Also, our group tried to leave at the same time as the Ruler of the U.A.E. who was there for some other event which resulted in a 30 minute wait for our buses because of security.
4.13.2007
Since our ship was leaving at 1 PM today, Sallie and I decided to get out for a long taxi ride and take some pictures. We proceeded along the waterfront from our port, past the hotel we were in last night, past the marina down to the new Dubai Waterfront, the new development, and back up by new Burj Dubai Area with the world’s tallest tower is now two thirds completed. I would not like to be working on it.
As we had lunch and sailed away we were still numb by what we had seen. It’s almost too much. To us it represents a lot of conspicuous consumption. Everyone here, including the tour guides and the twp Pakistani cab drivers I had, are extremely proud of what’s going on and proud to be a part of it. Obviously a lot of planning and a lot of money is being invested into this city in recent years. Their past success has been based on a open and free trade city. Fortunately, unlike other middle-east cities this is not based on oil as Dubai only has a couple of years supply left. For a proud American, a visit here is a humbling experience. This is one of the places that any traveler must see.
