Las Vegas on Steriods

Las Vegas on Steriods


Who was it that called Dubai this?

Descending into Dubai, we passed over dune upon dunes. Tan block houses built amid the shifting sands, driveways of sand, backyards of sand, sand, sand. While I knew it was desert, I thought, somehow, there would be some green, but no, tan and brown as far as you can see.

The landing was rough. Planes have, these days, cameras both showing you where you are going (I guess on the nose cone) and a camera below the plane, showing you the ground. As we landed, we could not only feel the plane rolling from side to side but you could see the ground moving as we made a rocky landing. Sometimes, too much information is not a good thing.

We debarked feeling fuzzy and worn. Walking up the jet ramp, my hips and knees were aching.

Now, I have already posted some photos of the Dubai airport, but nothing I have posted would do it justice. We are talking Full On, Non-Stop, Gaudiness. The airport is enormous. When we arrived, it felt as if we were the only ones there, in a place built to accommodate thousands. The floors are covered in marble, giving the place a feel of a mausoleum. Grecian columns parade (yes, parade) across the expanses. As in, I counted 30 columns in a row until I couldn’t see any farther. At one point I thought that surely, there must be big mirrors because why would the breezeways be that expansive?? To get to Customs, we walked and walked and walked. Past the Wall of Water, down the massive elevators, again, past hundreds of columns more. Some columns were plain stainless steel. In other parts of the airport, the columns were a white glitter, yet somewhere else, they were a mix of shiny stainless and brushed stainless.

Everything I saw dripped $$$$.

But this was nothing compared to the actual city of Dubai. Because we had a 12 hour layover, Emirates Airline put us up at their own hotel for the night. Included was a nice buffet dinner and breakfast. Monica suggested that we do a City Tour, which was a great idea. For $30 US, or $110 dyham, we could take the 2 hour Night Time tour.

A quick pitstop in our room and we were on our way.

My first impression of Dubai is this: all of the building cranes in the world must be having a convention here. Either that or it is building code to have a crane on top of your building. There is SOOOO much major construction going on here, it’s difficult to describe. And here is where the Las Vegas on Steriods description comes in. The people of Dubai LOVE twinkle lights. They LOVE neon. They LOVE colored outdoor lighting. Every palm tree in the area is wrapped in white twinkle lights. Most of the skyscraper buildings are edged in some sort of neon (red, green, blue), just outlined. Every hotel is garish and grand and imperial and gaudy.

And sandy.

The tour drove us past a number of the big hotels, such as where you can ski inside. We didn’t stop to go in, but the place was immense. We stopped to take photos of the building that is now designated as the tallest building in the world. It, of course, has a crane on top.

Our tour guide talked about life in Dubai. Unemployment is practically non-existent. As he put it “there is too much to do here for people to not be working, plus if everyone is working, there is no time for crime or drugs or other bad habits.” He spoke at length about who can and who cannot get married here. I wasn’t listening too closely (being already married myself) but I think that a non-local woman cannot marry a local man. Homosexuality is illegal as is pre-marital sex. 20% of the residents are natives and 80% are non-natives.

We drove through the new Palms man-made island area. Classed as the “Eighth Wonder of the World” (I don’t know who came up with that - the Tourism Department of Dubai??) but one does have to agree it is pretty impressive. Hundreds of man-made islands representing the fronds of different types of palm trees.

But what I saw was this.

Block after block of new condos. In the states, we would call this track housing. Hundreds of condos and houses looking exactly the same – same color, same front door, same, same, same.

Everything is under construction. Freeways have orange cones for construction, surface streets are blocked off for construction, and the monorail system is being completed. Here is a photo of the detail of the under side of the monorail system. Pretty elaborate.

One other note: many, if not most, of the buildings were dark. So many condos and houses – all dark and empty. Who is this huge city being built for? Is there really THAT much excess oil money that it is being poured into Dubai?

And what are going to be my feelings as tomorrow, we get into the poverty of Cape Town?

For now, off to a well deserved night’s sleep.