Series Dubai (gallery) (next entry =>)
I am staying in Dubai with Rae and Salma, who are the uncle and aunt of my friend LoveLove in the Philippines. We had met in email previously, but never in person; so it was quite a lot of fun to hang out together and finally put faces on the names. My friend Narayan from Vancouver, with whom I am going to be touring India, also met me in Dubai. After 3.5 months away from Vancouver its good to see him, catch up on stories and get into some new trouble of our own. Narayan's cousin Avi lives in Dubai and made a point of showing us a good time and take us partying on the town.
Dubai is a desert Oasis, located at the South-Eastern tip of the Arabian peninsula, just across the straight of Hourmouz from Iran. When I arrived, the city was engulfed in a sandstorm. We had very poor visibility and it was hard to breathe, but at least it's t-shirt weather. Compared to Iran, Dubai is very permissive: beer and alcohol are readily available, so is pork. But Dubai is a strange place, an artificial town which is becoming the focal point of the middle east. It is not supported by oil revenue like most states around here; but by commerce, international banking and tourism. Historically, the town had been a smuggling port, but when Sheikh Mohammed realized that oil would quickly run out in the Emirate he completely transformed the city.
The locals from UAE represent only 20% of the actual population; expat central if you will. The Sheikh is trying to make it into the Hong-Kong of the middle-east, but its looking more like Las Vegas: all glitter, no substance, no sensibility. Gambling is not legal here, but that's about the only substantial difference. The locals call it Paris Al-Arab — the Arab Paris; but if you have seen Paris, this is nothing like it.
While the current population is around 1 million, they are developing it to host a total of 5 million in the next 5 years, mostly through immigration (its not going to happen naturally!). The construction boom is incredible, and some of the projects are crazy: Palm Island is a land reclamation project where they are building an island in the shape of a palm tree just off the coast.
The great thing about Dubai is that it has restaurants from around the world. The food was great in Iran, but a bit lacking in variety. Also, I suspect that when I am in India I will eat more lentils than I dare to imagine. So while in Dubai I chose to indulge in Asian food: Thai, Japanese, Chinese. A taste of Vancouver, especially since I am hanging out with Narayan. Avi has a very good knowledge of the town, the cools bars and hotels. He made sure that we are thoroughly entertained, as we won't have as reliable a guide in India. I also stocked up on memory cards for my digital camera, Dubai is a tax free city, and I managed to get them 40% cheaper than in Europe. I can run a while longer before encoutering a computer with a CD burner...
Dubai (gallery) (next entry =>) United Arab Emirates Places Society First impressions Friends