October 26 – Dubai

It was our first full day in Dubai, one of the United Arab Emirates.  There are seven emirates comprising the UAE and Dubai is the most populous one with the largest city.  Until 1971 it was a British protectorate. In that year an act of  union was signed  and the UAE was born.

While oil revenue helped to fuel the growth here, tourism and international commerce fuel the economy now.  The various sheikhs who have ruled seem to be somewhat enlightened and have  created in Dubai one of the cleanest cities we’ve ever seen.  They have developed infrastructure, schools and medical facilities as well as a major port.  What was amazing to us is that this was all created out of desert.  The temperature in Dubai can reach  120° in the summer and even on the days we’ve been here the temperature has been 90+°.

Downtown Dubai has been reclaimed from the sea by dredging millions of tons of sand and depositing it and rocks to build up the land.  40 meter pilings are driven down to create foundations for the buildings, including the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world at not quite 830 meters (2722 ft.).  It has 163 floors and was constructed in just 6 years.  We didn’t even attempt to go to the observation platform at the top because I don’t think my heart could stand it.  Despite the fact that it’s surrounded by many tall and architecturally unique skyscrapers, it dominates the landscape.

View from our hotel balcony

Our balcony was huge!

Burj Khalifa up close

We decided to take the recommendation of the concierge in our hotel and take the HOHO bus.  The first part of the ride took us out to the Palm Jumeirah, one of the other fantastic things in Dubai.  The Palm is a manmade archipelago extending out into the Gulf.  It’s in the shape of a palm tree with a large crescent at the end to act as a breakwater.  Along the central trunk are large apartment complexes and on the various fronds are villas ranging from relatively modest ones to fantastic and extremely expensive ones.  A monorail connects the crescent and fronds to the mainland.  At the end of the trunk is the Atlantis Hotel, built like the one in the Bahamas.  It has a huge aquarium and waterpark.  Along the way to Palm Jumeirah we passed the Burj al Arab, the iconic hotel that looks like a sail.  It was one of the earliest of the fantastic buildings built here.

The Burj al Arab

 

Apartment buildings on the Palm Jumeirah

Atlantis at the end of the monorail

Dubai Skyline

As we rode along we saw many mosques.  By law there has to be a mosque at least every 550 meters so that one is readily accessible to the public.  We also passed the Mall of the Emirates  which encompasses nearly 2.5 million sq.ft. and has a ski and snowboard complex where you can ski year round.  Another small mall we passed has an ice bar that also operates year round.  IN the ice bar everything is made of ice including chairs, tables and glasses.  Remember this is in a place that has sweltering temperatures for much of the year.

We changed to a different line at the Wafi Mall and in front of the bus stop was a structure with a pyramid, obelisks and some pharaohs.  We’re back in Egypt!  Our last stop for the day was the Gold Souk in the old part of the city.  This is a covered street lined with shops selling some of the most fantastic gold jewelry, plus plenty of diamonds and other gemstones, that I’ve ever seen.  It made any place like St. Thomas pale by comparison.  We tried to figure out who buys all this stuff.  There were gold necklaces that looked like breastplates for a suit of armor.  We looked at a few things and found that the ones we were interested in were made in either India or Italy.  No thank you!  We might have bought something made in Dubai.

Egypt again?  This place is a little like Las Vegas - if you imagine it, you can build it.

The Gold Souk

 

Just a sampling of some of the more modest pieces

And a little more!

After a full day we took a taxi back to the hotel, had a couple of drinks at a bar on the rooftop and a nice dinner.  Tomorrow it’s time to pack up and head west to home.  We’re not looking forward to the long flight but we’re ready to be home.