As ever, there's lots to like about the place, and because it's me looking at this, there's lots that is just plain wrong.
I never felt that Dubai had a soul, all these collections of skyscrapers, some dirty and unfinished, some gleaming with Victoria Beckham as their star neighbour; there is no true heart or centre to Dubai and the unfinished feel everywhere makes it feel like it's a transitory camp. Oh I know you will say how negative, but it's the reality: cranes and dump trucks with piles of sand and brick are literally everywhere. Each clump of buildings is miles away from each other. The only area that feels finished is old Dubai by the creek.
If you have money of course, the shops and hotels are second to none, but for the average Joe, you come to look at what you cannot have in these malls, as most of the stuff at your level you already can get at home and you simply cannot afford what is different here. Many of the stores are the same as North America. If you are just Mr. Average on your holidays, then Dubai gets perplexing. The metro is nice but you still have to cab it for miles to get places after the metro ride, as a pedestrian you are viewed as vermin on 2 legs and taxis will literally try and knock you off your feet. Even the Road and Transport authority allows works to just cut off huge areas of sidewalk with no warning, no alternative route, forcing you to dodge traffic. That is not tourist friendly. It is otherwise safe and clean however.
As much as I can admire 16 year old brats driving at 300 Kmh down streets in a Ferrari.... I do admire more the old Dubai, the Dubai that made it Dubai before the copies and competitions with western sky scrapers took off. Only around 10% of the people here are Emirati, the rest all immigrants, mostly Pakistan, India and the annoying expat British people who think they are oil sheiks as they have an overvalued condo and a Ford Focus in the sun.
Dubai will never go back to what it was, but if any of the Sheiks making decisions are reading this, drop me a line, I can help. Your city needs to find it's soul, not imitate a thousand others or pretend to be Las Vegas...
That said, it's a miracle it became so big in no time at all, they have some great human built features. But with no soul, you have to concur: Dubai runs solely on hype.
Building below is one of the condos on hold.
The best part of Dubai is the old Dubai - The tower below is the old air conditioning, they call it a wind tower, it forces a breeze through the house no matter what direction the wind is in.
In old Dubai, you find the gold and spice souks I went to already.
It is much more like any Arab town you may visit.
But here too whacky buildings appear... One here looks like a slider phone. Which do you prefer? Old or new?
Yes, I did go here for lunch....
Driving on to the Jumeirah Palm Island - "The Palm"
This is the outer crescent that encloses the palm fronds, they are lettered for address, they have mono-design condos all the way up the central trunk near the monorail line. Some of the top fronds are not fully built and the Trump tower and another big hotel are on hold.... Even though they have monorail stations, they are victims of the Dubai over build... Since I wasn't going to fly over, I thought I would go on the island instead...
This is how I arrived... Oh, I wish. Nope, this was a ride I had decided finally to catch since I wasn't getting the sea plane as the visibility was poor. However this was the last flight of the day, and this was my last day...So no helicopter or sea plane I guess - this is what I get for dragging my feet.
This is Atlantis, the hotel at the top of the palm crescent.
The taxi driver told me to lie to get in, which we did, but when he dropped me off in the lobby, I chickened out. In Dubai, I'm not sure if kicking you out is the worst they can do....You have to be a guest to enter, they just ask you if you are and we said yes...
So I went to the public side, of shops and their aquarium. A 35 dollar aquarium ticket...
Tiny shrimp in the middle of the pic, can you see him?
Giant groupers are friendly if you ever see them when diving, they come up to you like a dog.
I love clown fish. They remind me of work :)
Nobu is a famous restaurant by one of those new celebrity chefs, of which there seems to be thousand nowadays.
Look what hotel is in the distance from this one...
Monorail back down the palm to the shore...
This section of buildings runs in front of the Dubai Marina area.
By Dubai Mall again. It was nearly 40 bucks cab fare from the monorail at The Palm to the Metro station to head back to the hotel, the Metro is at the mall...
And the giant mall aquarium again...
And the Burj Khalifa at night...
So at midnight I flew out of the crazy Dubai airport, which is awful frankly... And off to New Delhi.
I am so tired, not tired of travel, just tired from heat and endless walking... I need a good sleep.....
- BlogPressed from my iPad. Click on picture for larger image and gallery.
