On Thursday (11/19), my brother, Erik, and I flew Emirates Airlines up to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Emirates is one of the nicest airlines I have ever flown. There are plugs for computers and all your gadgets, on demand movies and television, video games, flight status, even pay internet and telephone coverage. You could call someone in any seat on the plane and even watch the video feed from a camera mounted on the front of the plane (embedded at right). This was all in economy class. I’ve seen these services on a few other airlines and I’m sure several more have similar setups, but along with this there were no extra charges and the staff was very friend and accommodating.
In Dubai, we breezed through customs and a taxi took us to our hotel. On the way, we noted we were back in the first world, where traffic laws are obeyed, the cars are less than 10 years old, there is no incessant honking, there are no dogs and everything is fairly litter free. We were staying near the old town of Dubai, near Jumeirah Beach, at a Holiday Inn Express. There was a lot of construction going on outside and throughout much of the city.
That afternoon, we began walking towards downtown and the world’s tallest building: the brand new Burj Dubai (Tower of Dubai). On the way, we stayed true to being tourists, stopping to check out the Jumeirah Mosque. We then kept moving towards 
downtown where the skyscrapers are all clustered around one road with the Burj Dubai at the far (western) end. We made our way into them and then went into a metro station. We found the whole line was fairly incomplete, although all the future stops are listed. So we kept on walking, dodging between construction sites and making improvised street crossings. Eventually, we made it to the base of the Burj Dubai, which is an unbelievably tall building. Unfortunately, it does not open until the beginning of 2010, so we were unable to go inside. You can see that they are still putting the finishing touches on the tower and its surroundings. Next door is a large mall and at the base is a large, clear, artificial lake; complete with Vegas style water shows and probably gondola rides in the near future. Around this lake are cafes, restaurants, hotels and condos/apartments. It is an extremely nice, new area. Erik and I walked around, took lots of pictures and eventually sat down at a hookah cafe to smoke some flavored tobacco and take a break.
After admiring the Burj Dubai, which is about 1000 feet higher than the next 2 highest buildings in the world: Taipei 101 and Shanghai World Financial Center, we decided to head down to the Dubai Mall in the “new” part of town. The Dubai Mall is the largest 
mall outside of North America. Inside, there is probably every store imaginable, every type of restaurant and even an indoor ski resort among other things. We went as close as we could to the ski resort without paying. It’s pretty neat and there are other winter sports available inside like sledding and tobogganing. The prices are reasonable; about $80 with gear to ski all day. If you had to live out in the desert, that’d be fun to go to every now and then. We walked around the mall a bit and I ended up getting a haircut. We then ate some cheap dinners in the food court, which had almost every American chain you can think of. In fact, Dubai has just about everything we have in America. It feels like Las Vegas, with big hotels, wide roads, the desert landscape, expensive restaurants and the tourists and taxis. Where Las Vegas has the nightlife and casinos, Dubai makes up for it with beaches and water sports on the Persian Gulf.
We took the metro from the Dubai Mall back to our hotel, where we rested a bit, before going out to a few bars in hotels around downtown and the old town. These had been suggested to us by some friends of friends who’d been there. We met some nice expats from Europe and the Middle East, but didn’t get a full feel for Dubai until the next day.
On Friday, we dressed for the beach and headed to Dubai’s other extremely famous building: the Burj Al Arab (Tower of the Arabs) Hotel. To get into this hotel, you have to be a guest or have a reservation at one of the restaurants. We expected this and 
that we would need to be dressed better, but even so, we had our taxi drop us off at the entrance. There were plenty of tourists hanging around taking photos, while there is a water park right next door. We went up to the security gate and were told, based on what we were wearing (T-shirts, bathing suits, sandals), we could go to a certain beach restaurant inside if we had a reservation. I called the number they gave me and basically figured that with the food we’d be required to buy and us having some drinks, we’d probably end up spending about $500 between the two of us. Instead, we walked along Jumeirah Road deciding we’d find a spot on the beach nearby. We went to the hotel right next door, the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, and paid to access their beach, marina and sports complex. This place was perfect. There was a nice marina and beach with great views of the Burj Al Arab. We walked around, hung out on the beach and went swimming in the Persian Gulf having a perfect afternoon.
When evening began to fall, Erik and I decided to go have some drinks and checkout the outdoor bar at the end of the marina break wall. We were among the first people to arrive and proceeded to enjoy some drinks and the great views. While hanging out, it seemed a steady stream of people kept showing up; more and more well dressed, with some buying VIP tables. Eventually, the place became packed, full of nice, good looking, well-dressed people, while Erik and I were definitely the most underdressed. 
We began talking to some and started sharing a table with a group of British expats. (Almost everyone was a British expat.) Most people were in their mid-twenties to mid-thirties and all very friendly. They informed Erik and I, that in the UAE, Friday and Saturday are the weekend days, while Sunday is like Monday and the beginning of the work week. We had not idea that we were hanging out on a day like Saturday. In Dubai, the big thing to do, is go to a hotel buffet with a group of friends and hang out all afternoon. These buffets include all you can eat food and all you can drink for a fixed price. Most people had spent all afternoon at some hotel buffet and had just come out there when they shut down for the day. They said, usually it isn’t so easy to get out to this particular bar, so Erik and I were especially lucky to get in T-shirts, shorts and sandals. We learned all kinds of information about Dubai from these British expats, who told us the city was was a lot more happening 
before the economic downturn and that there were probably 3 times as many people living and working there. Most had been there for over 3 years, and said they never see young Americans there; only people over 50 on vacation. They said, the professionals working there are mostly British, with some other Europeans and Aussies & Kiwis sprinkled in between. They attributed the distance and a fear of the Middle East to the lack of resident Americans.
Erik and I might have stayed longer if we were prepared and had been dressed a little better. Anyway, we were already going to be late for a birthday party we were invited to by a couple of English girls I had met in Thailand, who I’ve kept in touch with over Facebook. We cabbed it back to the hotel, cleaned up, and went to meet them out at the party at yet another hotel buffet in the old town. Here, again, everyone was friendly, cool and mostly British, not to mention the food was excellent. We had a great time. Once the buffet and open bar closed, we moved on to some famous multi-club spot in Dubai and proceeded to enjoy ourselves as we stayed up fairly late.
The next day (Saturday), waking up late, Erik and I decided to check out a famous buffet near the racing club of Dubai. We spent much of the day over in this outdoor mall-like area. That evening, we met up with a couple guys from Tyrolit, who my dad had put us in touch with. They took us to dinner out at the Atlantis Hotel on Palm Island.
Palm Island is a whole lot bigger than I expected. I thought it would be like an exclusive, gated neighborhood, with hotels on the outermost breakwater. In fact, it is much larger; a whole town, with apartment buildings, store, restaurants, police and fire stations; everything a city needs. A four lane tunnel lead out from the mainland and everything, as expected, is as modern as can be. The Atlantis hotel looks just like the one in the Bahamas, except there is no casino there. Gambling is strictly prohibited in the UAE, and I was surprised that not even one hotel in Dubai had one. We ate another nice meal out at the Atlantis and talked some business about Dubai and the Middle East. Erik had an early flight out Sunday, so we decided to call it a night after dinner.
Erik flew out the next morning, while I left Dubai later that evening. Dubai is truly a fascinating city, which has captured the imagination of the world with its unique building projects and heavy self-promotion. It is worth a look and a lot of fun, but being brand new, with all the foreigners and comforts of the U.S.A., it makes it hard to find a unique character or culture.
Leaving Dubai, I flew back to Florida to spend Thanksgiving with my immediate family. We relaxed, ate some good food and caught some fish. The Saturday after Thanksgiving, I went back to Ohio for my 10 year high school reunion. It was great to see old friends and classmates. However, Facebook has taken some of the novelty and suspense out of such reunions. Nevertheless, it was still a fun and interesting time. Finishing out my year of travels, I’ll be stopping in Atlanta this weekend (12/3), then am headed to Costa Rica, Panama and Columbia before Christmas and New Years in South Florida. I should be posting about Costa Rica towards the end of next week.
