Dubai, UAE

Arabic dancing in the desert

Trip(s) Taken August-November 2008

Dubai, Dubai, Dubai. Where do I start without being bias or prejudice? Then again, this is my travel experience I am sharing with you; I am not applying for a job at the UN so here it is.

I am not sure what the hell I expected from Dubai other than the movie like stories I heard. They built the greatest hotel in the world in water, The Burj Al Arab. Lots of money there, they said, but if you think about it, Dubai has no oil, so where is the money coming from? Then you heard the Russian mafia is in bed with the Sheiks, and all other kinds of mafia including Indian contributed to the money backed Emirate. Who cares? The point is, is it fun going there? Is it worth it?

I landed in August, peak summer. The weather was the hottest I have ever experienced in my life, with the desert fine dust in the air that gets into every orifice. Once out of customs, the outside minus the weather is clean as can be, the cars are all new, the roads are like any western country. There is a short list of things to do there, so I’ll be brief and simple.

Bur Dubai, although “Bur” means new, is the old side of Dubai, the south. Bur Juman area, I would say, begins the Sheik Zyed Road, the main and largest road that has the Emirates Towers and other popular tall buildings. Further down that road is also the Burj Khalifa, the mile high tower which is now the tallest building in the world, which was under construction when I was last there, and has opened and closed since!

The Burj Khalifa or The Mile High Tower under construction

All the talk about building the “World Islands”, “The Universe”, the what-ever-the-heck on water that costs so much money that they don’t have and can’t reproduce. I don’t know how there are pictures of these futuristic plans so well marketed and circulated that we have all seem them and take for granted that they must be an outline or skeleton of it there already. Having been there, let me tell you, the first two branches of the Palms was done, then halted because of recession and because the Sheik makes laws and changes them as he goes along: one day outsiders can buy in Dubai, the next there is an issue with it. At a few million dollars a property, rich people don’t like continuous problems.

So if you love shopping, the world’s largest mall is there, and just for suckers like you, it is pretty inside and you pay the price for the upkeep and for telling people you bought heels for $2000 that you could’ve bought in London, US or Singapore for half that price! Ok cool, so it is a great shopping place. You can also buy Chanel burkas for $5000.

The Madinat Jumeirah is nice to see, again because of its size and also it is build with a moat around it, creating a kind of Venice feel, with out door restaurants all around and the view of Burj Al Arab. See the Burj, its nice inside and worth the architectural expertise and interior design.

A stop after four-wheeling in the desert

The most fun thing to do there is to take a ride into the desert and do the tourist desert four wheeler experience that ends at night with a dancer in the tents and dinner. I never saw a desert before, the extensive sands and no greenery and no water was a thrilling feeling because you realize your only sense of strength comes from the single fact that you have a sense of direction because of the sun, nothing else like hills for landmarks or anything. At night, it is the prettiest open sky I have seen, without a tree to block vision, just dunes and endless dunes.

Its TGIT, not TGIF, becuase Thursdays are their Fridays, Sunday is their Monday

Night life is great. It is said that Dubai has the best and most expensive ladies walking around in designer clothes. And there are a lot of gorgeous Eastern European and Russian women there. New Asia is about as expensive as one can get and the place exudes money, maybe too much so for me. The Buddha Bar (seems like there is one of those in every big city) is also a nice place to go to. Other than that, the Rock Bottom in Regent Palace Hotel in Bur Juman was my favorite place, an almost American bar feel with pool table room, a laid back dining area with western food and a band and dance area. I think when I am at a place like Dubai, I go for comfort food and a safe place with like minded people and drop my sense of adventure real fast!

Sorry guys, that’s my experience. For those of you who know me well, you know shopping is like Chinese torture for me, so it makes me wonder why people will spend money flying there and staying there (which in itself isn’t cheap), just to spend more money buying stuff there!! Ok, so I don’t have money to burn so I guess in short, if you have money to use as toilet paper, no better place in the world than Dubai!

Remember, it ain’t a democracy, so if you hold a passport they think isn’t too important in the big scheme of money and power, then they can lock you up and throw away the key for the smallest thing that annoys them, and they do. So, all in all, why are you going there again? Oh me, I went for business.