Over the last few years, many of us have heard about Dubai, whether it was a sporting event, such as: The Dubai Classic golf tournament, a tennis tournament, or the world’s richest individual horse race. If not, it´s probably because you heard about one of it’s many unfathomable construction project. Since I found a great deal on a flight with Emirates Airlines, and there was a required layover at their hub in Dubai, I requested an extended layover of a couple days, so that I could see some of the madness for myself.

My flight touched down just after 5 am, and I hopped on a public bus headed for the old town portion of Dubai, Diera. After finding a very modest hotel for 200 Dirhams ($1 USD equals 3.67 Dirhams), and with only two days to see the sights, I grabbed a quick snack and hit the streets for as much sight seeing as I could squeeze in. First, I walked to the Gold Souq, known for it’s jewelry stores, and windows filled with, what else but: gold. As it was still early and Friday to boot, many of the stores were still closed, apparently Friday mornings are reserved for religious purposes. I walked along the creek and hopped on a water taxi, crossing the creek, headed for the Bur Dubai/Dubai Fort, which now functions as a museum. Unfortunately the museum was still closed due to Friday services, and according to most, it is a must do. Now realizing how large and spreadout all the significant sights are, I hopped on the Big Bus Tour, which is a double decker bus, that makes a circuit throughout Dubai, stopping at all the significant landmarks. Your 24 hour ticket allows you to hop on and off the bus, at any of it’s 20 stops. When traveling alone, the Big Bus option although not inexpensive, at 175 Dirhams, probably works out cheaper than hiring a taxi for each individual leg, but if there are a couple of people, I would suggest using other methods, such as a taxi or car rental, as many of it’s stops are at nothing more than a shopping mall. The only other advantage to the bus tour, was the information they provided on a portion of the trip.

Some of the notables sights along the route (some were stops, and many others were merely drive-bys) included:

Burj Al Arab, the only seven star hotel in the world, built in the shape of a sail of a sailboat, this hotel is placed on it’s own man-made island, includes a underwater restaurant, a helipad platform cantilevered high in the air, where Andre Agassi played tennis against Roger Feder and where Tiger Woods launched golf balls into the sea. To visit the hotel you must eat at one of its restaurant which requires a reservation and is always booked days ahead, or stay at the hotel or one of it’s sister Jumeirah hotels.

In front of the Burj Al Arab hotel, on the mainland, is the previously famed, but now overshadowed Jumeirah Beach Hotel, which is in the shape of a cresting wave. Along the bus route, you pass the construction sites of the Palm Islands and the World Islands. There are actually two Palm Island projects, where they are building man made islands off shore, which when viewing from the sky, the islands appear in the shape of a Palm Tree. The first Palm project is expected to be complete within the next year, and the second, a much larger set of islands, is still in it’s infancy of construction. The World Islands, is a set of approximately 300 man-made islands that look like the globe from the sky. Each island will only be accessible by boat and/or helicopter. The individual islands will be sold with only the infrastructure necessary for the owners to construct and grade their own project/buildings. The minimum asking price is 20 million USD for one of the islands, supposedly Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have already purchased one. These islands, Palms and World islands, are also suppose to be one of the only man-made structures visible from space. Unfortunately, at this stage in the construction, it was still much to early to witness or appreciate the projects, unless you have access to a helicopter, to view it from the air.

I than hopped off the bus, to see the much discussed Mall of Emirates, home of Ski Dubai, the current world’s largest indoor snow ski slope. The end of the mall which includes Ski Dubai, looks like an alien space ship attached to the mall, as it is finished with a stainless steel type material, soaring dozens of stories up in the air. According to my friends Tom and Charlie, whom I met back in India, it was a must do, and which would explain the ski hat and glove purchases I made back in Shenzen, China. As I got to the mall fairly late, and there was only one more Big Bus passing by for the evening, I passed on snowboarding for the day, with plans to return the following day. The mall itself was ridiculous: finished with high polished marble and shiny materials, filled with high price label stores, and packed with wall to wall of people, this mall reminded me of South Coast Plaza back home. The only indication, that reminded myself that I was in the Middle East, was the locale grab that many people wore, including many women dressed all in black from head to toe, with only a sliver of the their human flesh exposed: around their eyes, and their hands. But even than, their wrists were filled with bracelets made of gold and laddened with precious stones, while their eyes was covered by glasses made by Armani, Versace, or other high priced brands that I am not familiar with.

As, I caught the final bus for the night, headed towards the old town area of Dubai, we passed the skyscraper portion of the city, where the most notable project, is the construction of the Burj Dubai. Slated to be in excess of 800 meters tall, the Burj Dubai, will easily become the tallest skyscraper, crushing the current record holder, Taipei 101, which rings in at just over 500 meters.

The next morning, I hopped back on the Big Bus to complete the portions of the circuit that I did not see, the day before, and with my ski hat and glove in hand, headed back to the Mall of Emirates to do some snowboarding. Now the last time I attempted to snowboard was quite a few years ago, long enough that I don’t remember the exact year, but it had to be at least five years ago. As I stood in line and approached the counter, it reminded me of the inquisition that takes place when you check-in for your flight. They wanted to verify that you were an experienced skier or snowboarder, knew how to properly: stop, turn and to get off the ski lift. The cashier also warned that if the ski rangers noticed that you were not experienced that you would be asked to leave without any refund. Although I only had one previous snowboarding experience, I recalled that I was a quick learner, and nodded yes to each of the questions he asked, but I am pretty sure they caught on, as when they asked me for my board size, and the orientation of my footing, I drew a blank. They asked again that I was experienced to which I responded: yes, but I usually just burrow my buddy´s board and never worried about the size. I also remembered, instantly, that I was a goofy footed skateboarder as a kid, meaning that my right foot is forward. Luckily for me, they didn’t watch me trying to figure out how to put on all the snowboard apparel, and how to work the snowboard bindings/buckles.

As I made my way to the lift, my heart was racing, and my mind was thinking, what the heck did I get myself into. I didn’t care much if I got caught and got kicked out. I was more worried of what I would do, to get caught/noticed, and only hoped that it would not end in a injury of myself, or of anybody else. I watched many in front, as they instinctively approached the lifts and sat in the chair, than I mimicked the same. A couple of local brothers joined me on the lift, and we chatted on the way up. As we approached the first plateau, I tried to get off, but didn’t know how to lift the gate, by the time I asked the brothers, they said that all we had to do, was raise our arms and push up on the bar, but as they just assumed that everybody wanted to go to the top, the black diamond run, they were resting their arms on the gate, which explains why I didn’t feel any give, when I nudged up on the bar. Trying to play it cool, I just said, okay, but I will know for next time. As we approached the top, and lifted the gate, my eyes were set on the boarders in front to see how they exited the chairs, and when it was my turn, I made it about seven feet from the chair before I wiped out. I quickly jumped to me feet, pushed myself off to the side, and tried to act as casual as possible. Than, I watched everybody tackle the slopes, and tried to learn most from the lesser experienced boarders and recounted my experience years back. Luckily, I remembered about the falling leaf method, and hoped that the years of skateboarding would pay off. Seriously, while I was sitting at the top of the slope, looking down, I was not sure how I was going to get down, but the machismo in me, told me that I had to snowboard down, dead or alive, as it was that same male arrogance that got me into this mess. As I pushed off and over the edge, I took it fairly slow going left to right, than slicing back right to left. Along the way, I landed on my arse a couple of times, but by the time I got to the bottom, I actually felt more comfortable, and was sure I could tackle the intermediate slope, without making a scene. For the next hour, I probably got in over a dozen runs, and when my confidence was really high, I decided to go out with a bang and hit the high slope one last time before I called it a day. Man was that a mistake! The slope had gotten pretty icy and hard, by that time, and as I flew down and cutting back to slow down, the board came out from underneath me, and I landed firmly on my arse and made a sound that I swear could start an avalanche. I just laid there for a few seconds, and somehow jumped back up, and worked my way back down the slope, which unfortunately yielded one more fall. With my bum feeling, like there would be no more feeling: ever, I turned in my board, and hung up my gear.

In the afternoon, I joined an excursion group, for a trip to the desert, for: some dune bashing, riding in a land cruiser, as the driver smashes through, on and over sand dunes; one run on a snowboard down a sand dune, and a cultural dinner show, highlighted by a belly dancer, who funny enough was from Russia. My excursion mates was the Saeed family: mom, dad, grandma, daughter and son. Yaya the son, sat next to me, and we talked about what he liked, was looking forward to, this afternoon, and kids stuff in general. Than when the dune bashing started, Yaya, closed his eyes, grabbed my hand, squeezed it for dear life, and started saying something over and over again, which his mother translated for me: I want it to stop, I want it to stop. Strangely enough, his family just smiled, with his sister giggling, and mostly just ignored his cries for help, as they just wanted to enjoy the rest of the ride. Eventually, Yaya made it through the ride, but let’s just say that, Yaya held my hand more than any girl has in a long time.

Between the various activities, the father was able to give me some information about Dubai and the UAE. The Saeed family, originally from Pakistan, has now been living in Abu Dhabi for the last few years. Mr Saeed works for an engineering company as a Project Manager, and almost lit up, when he found out that I am a civil engineer. With little knowledge of my resume and experience, he asked me if I was interested in relocating to the UAE, as his company has plenty of opportunities. The rest of the afternoon, he and I spoke about a wide range of subjects, but I was interested most in what he thought about living in the area, the craziness in the volume of construction and the madness in the size of each project. He explained to me, that the UAE shares it’s wealth and distributes it’s income from petroleum and natural gas between the seven states. In the case of Dubai, there is actually little income generated from petroleum and natural gas, as they only produce a little excess beyond what their population uses. Whereas, Abu Dhabi, is not only the financial heart of the UAE, but also the petroleum and natural gas generating machine. As the wealth gets distributes to each country, each country further distributes it to their citizens. Of Dubai’s 1.3 million residence, only 20 percent of them are ethnically from Dubai, and are the only ones allowed to share in the distribution of wealth. As a result, these Dubaians, receive periodical checks in excess of a million dollars, for doing nothing else than breathing. The Shiek of Dubai, also instituted other incentives for the males to keep the blood pure, so that they will marry a Dubaian women and raise a family, by giving them free housing when they got married, and some extra cash to celebrate the nuptials and more when they have a child. The free housing, was amazing, looked more like an upscale apartment complex, with it´s multiple floors, and it´s volume, than an individual unit for one family to live in. With money literally to burn, the government even sells raffle tickets, where they raffle of luxury cars, such as: Lexus, BMWs and other SUVs, every month.

According to Saeed, Dubai realizing that the oil well eventually will run dry, and with the hoards of incoming money, Dubai has set for itself the goal of becoming the world’s number one tourist destination of the rich and absurdly wealthy. So in an effort to attract and accommodate that clientele, the aforementioned projects, along with many others are being built. As we speak, there are numerous construction projects under way, that well redefine the world’s largest, biggest, tallest…, including: the world’s tallest hotel, currently the Al Arab Burjab, to be broken by another one in Dubai; the world’s largest mall, with the world’s largest indoor ski slope (Dubai land Ski Dome) which will be twice the size of the current record holder, Ski Dubai. The world’s largest airport is also being constructed in Dubai, it is estimated to be twice the size of Hong Kong, not the airport, but twice the size of the island of Hong Kong! Than there is Dubai World, an amusement park and entertainment complex, basically Disney World on crack. Again estimated to be two times bigger than the current record holder. There is a Hydropolis, an underwater hotel, that was designed and initially constructed in Germany, than will be taken apart and reconstructed in the waters off Dubai. Other projects, include: Dubai Sports City, Dubai Science World, Marina Dubai… It is said that more than 25% of all the world´s construction cranes are currently in Dubai, seriously, if you can dream it, they will build it. They don’t just want to break the record, they want to obliterate it, and establish the fact that the record will stand for sometime, if not forever.

Liking the numbers side of the projects, I could never find out the budget: proposed or actual for any of these projects. Supposedly there is bank financing behind these projects, but I really have a hard time believing that these project are in the black, or will be in anytime soon, and therefore any banking institution willing to front the cash. My theory, based on what Saeed told me, is that they are just using their free money, while they have it, than when the money printing machine of Abu Dhabi runs dry, they well just write off the construction costs, and the only monthly expenditures they will have to worry about is the overhead. If you think about it, it´s probably not much different than some of the development companies back home, that originated from historical farmlands, with minimal or no land cost basis.

Having seen plenty of Dubai in just two days, I was off the next morning, finally for South America.

Source: Memoirs of a Lemming blog.