Before I begin, I want to congratulate my brother, Colin, on finishing his studies at The College of New Jersey. Way to go Bro!
Now, I know that this violates the sacred order of time, and I really do want to discuss China (blocking of my blog site having prevented this when I was there), but now I want to tell you all about a place called Dubai. You've probably all heard about it before, and possess some preconceived notions: "A city of extravagance", "Arabian Las Vegas", "A place that loves to hype itself but is probably soulless". And these would not be completely wrong. But Dubai is not merely a spot for rich Europeans to party away cold winters. Behind the commercials that get shown to the Western World lies a multi-ethnic, multi-faceted city of diligent laborers and old-school merchants. And that collection of attractions and modern architecture really is awe-inspiring anyway, so come on.
First a quick note about Dubai's airline, Emirates: Damn. That's the best service that I've ever seen in economy class. After the 8 hour flight from Hong Kong, I arrived at DXB, as good-looking an airport as you would expect, and found my way to the metro station. Dubai Metro is a recent undertaking of the government, aimed at placating calls for ways alleviate frequently terrible traffic, save budget tourists from constant, large taxi fares, and lessen the city's considerable carbon footprint. One line is open thus far, the Red, which goes from the airport out and along the city's main thoroughfare, Sheikh Zayed Rd. A second line, the Green, appeared to me to be nearly completed, and should be open soon, with more lines being proposed. The metro is fancy, naturally, with a first class cabin even, and though it costs more than some of its riders are used to paying, it's still a good deal. My hotel was right by one of the stops. I got a single room in a 3 star place (north of the expensive part of the city) on Hostelworld for $50 a night. It was early in the morning, so I caught up on some sleep before starting my first day.
Now, I know that this violates the sacred order of time, and I really do want to discuss China (blocking of my blog site having prevented this when I was there), but now I want to tell you all about a place called Dubai. You've probably all heard about it before, and possess some preconceived notions: "A city of extravagance", "Arabian Las Vegas", "A place that loves to hype itself but is probably soulless". And these would not be completely wrong. But Dubai is not merely a spot for rich Europeans to party away cold winters. Behind the commercials that get shown to the Western World lies a multi-ethnic, multi-faceted city of diligent laborers and old-school merchants. And that collection of attractions and modern architecture really is awe-inspiring anyway, so come on.
First a quick note about Dubai's airline, Emirates: Damn. That's the best service that I've ever seen in economy class. After the 8 hour flight from Hong Kong, I arrived at DXB, as good-looking an airport as you would expect, and found my way to the metro station. Dubai Metro is a recent undertaking of the government, aimed at placating calls for ways alleviate frequently terrible traffic, save budget tourists from constant, large taxi fares, and lessen the city's considerable carbon footprint. One line is open thus far, the Red, which goes from the airport out and along the city's main thoroughfare, Sheikh Zayed Rd. A second line, the Green, appeared to me to be nearly completed, and should be open soon, with more lines being proposed. The metro is fancy, naturally, with a first class cabin even, and though it costs more than some of its riders are used to paying, it's still a good deal. My hotel was right by one of the stops. I got a single room in a 3 star place (north of the expensive part of the city) on Hostelworld for $50 a night. It was early in the morning, so I caught up on some sleep before starting my first day.
Deira, the section of the city containing my hotel, is seperated from most of Dubai by the Dubai Creek. A few bridges and a tunnel allow cars across, not to mention the metro, but the traditional method for crossing the Creek is by abra, small flat motorboat. I took one from Deira to Bur Dubai, the area on the southern shore, and back to somewhere further along the Deira side, each ride costing 1 dirham (pegged to the US Dollar at 27 cents). This area of Deira, away from the hotels, is filled with old souks (arab for market), and lots of "real Dubaiers," who you may be surprised to know are mostly not Emiratis but immigrants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, The Philippines, other Arab countries, Iran, and other places. The spice souk contains a bevvy of tantalizing aromas. Cinnamon is probably the easiest to recognize. The eye-popping gold souk is just shop after glistening shop. The perfume souk is another experience for the nose, though it made me wince more than once. I also visited a preserved traditional home and a school.
My second day I went to look around Downtown Dubai, which is not a traditional district of the city but rather the name for the development area that contains the city's star attraction, the Burj Khalifa. I walked around the outside of the Burj, which of course has tight security given the nature of the tower. The Burj (Arabic for tower) is an astounding 828m (more than half a mile) tall, but my brain didn't seem to believe it. When I looked up from the base, it's like my mind said, "Nothing can be that big. It must be curled over your head, making it seem really tall." I bought my ticket to go up to the viewing platform ($30), even though they were sold out until 9pm trips. I then toured around the Dubai Mall, the largest mall in the world (by total space, it's behind several others in retail space). They have a indoor waterfall, an aquarium with the largest acrylic panel in the world (this city loves superlatives doesn't it), a Sega video games theme park, 22 screen movie theater, and ice skating rink. I indulged myself in that last one for a good 1.5 hours. I had been avoiding American food like the plague over this entire trip, so I decided that it would be okay if I got dinner at Johnny Rockets just this once. My time to go up the Burj came, and once I was past a few displays about its design, I was in the world's fastest elevator (59ft/s). You only get to go up 452m, probably because the top of the building is sometimes in the clouds. I liked that the viewing area is outdoors (tallest such in the world).
My third day began with a trip to the beach. Dubai has much beach space, though a fair amount seems to be privately owned. The beach was in a park and cost 5 dirham ($1.40) to access. There were 3 beaches to choose from, each with palm trees, several umbrella-like structures, fine white sand, and clear water. We (those of us using the hotel's free transport) stayed for 4hrs. The park had lost of other nice features like beach volleyball and soccer set-ups, grassy areas, playgrounds and a nightly carnival for kids. In the evening I went to Bur Dubai, just south of the creek, to see more locals, like kids playing pick-up cricket games, parents shopping for groceries, and mosque-goers on their way to pray.
My fourth day I went to look at New Dubai, the area on the southern stretch of beach that was absolutely nothing just a decade or so ago. It's now packed with skyscrapers, just like most of the city, and shopping. I checked out the Dubai Marina, which had very few boats, so I guess most of the winter crowd packed them up in the last month or two. One section of so many towers that I can't remember how many, right along the Marina, has an elevated walk to give the residents somewhere nice to hang out, and create more retail space for them. I then went to the famous Palm Jumeira, one of a number of artificial island projects in the city, but the only one that is developed. It was created by dumping sand in the ocean and dredging, and the island looks like a palm tree with a circle around its outside (the break-wall, which has several gaps in it). I took the monorail which goes right up the trunk and across to the top of the break-wall, where Atlantis is. The fronds are lined with houses, though they are tighter together than I would have expected for the level of luxury that living here is supposed to represent. Atlantis is the only five star resort on the Palm, which I'm told is short of developers' expectations. The Atlantis itself is very luxurious though, and it has a water park, which I skipped, and an aquarium that I walked around (it's not cheap though). The centerpiece of the aquarium is a gigantic tank that is crowded with fish, rays, sharks, just an immense number of swimmers (several thousand fish I would guess). I caught the monorail, metro, and taxi back to a mall near Deira that shows outdoor movies for free (it was The Mexican starring Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts).
My last day, I took metro out to Jumeira, just north of New Dubai, and I went to Wild Wadi Waterpark. The park is a blast, with two permanent waves, two raft slides, one tall speed slide, kids area and wave pool. There's also a long tube ride where you get shot uphill by high-powered water at numerous spots and there are a number of forks, so you can ride it up to 14 different ways. The park is also in the shadow of the Burj al-Arab, which is the sail-shaped hotel that used to be the city's chief symbol before the towering Burj Khalifa opened. Even though it's a great time, I can't endorse the water park on value though; at $70 per ticket, it's overpriced. I walked over to the nearby Madinat Jumeira, a shopping/staying venue that inspires thoughts of Venice with its canals. It also offers great views of the Burj al-Arab. The Burj al_Arab itself is on an artificial island, and off limits to anyone who doesn't have a reservation to either sleep or eat there. I hailed a cab and went to the Mall of the Emirates, home of the world famous Ski Dubai. The slope is not particularly steep, but it's not just a bunny hill either. Locals mostly just sit and watch through the windows, while tourists and Euros take on the slopes. Experts are said to get bored quickly, so I left this one alone, though the snow is of very good quality because of how cold they keep the place. The whole section of the mall has a winter theme to it, and a huge arcade. I walked through the Arabian-themed part as well before heading back on the metro. I was back at the airport the next morning for my flight to Amman. The airport is very nice, and very top-end, but guess what? At the other end of town the government is building the largest airport in the world, able to handle 160million passengers per year! It's also a far more expensive project than the Burj Khalifa, costing some dozens of billions of dollars.
So that's Dubai in a not-too expensive nutshell. As for food, shawarma is available from 3pm to 1 or 2am, but I tried to not repeat cuisines. Lots of types are available, and I had food from: India, the Philipines, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Afgahnistan, China, Sri Lanka, America, and Turkey. I give Sri Lankan food a tip of the cap. I'm in Jordan now, more about that later though.
Facebook says this link should work for pics even if you don't have an account. Somebody let me know. Pictures
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