Dubai, United Arab Emirates,
March 25-26, 2007
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
One of the most fascinating things that I am taking away from my world experience is that we indeed live in a world of contrast. There are so many memories of happiness contrasted with sadness, richness and poorness, hot food vs. milder food. The concepts and ideas are, of course, endless. And perhaps there is no better example of contrast that leaving India and arriving in Dubai one of the seven United Arab Emirates.
I felt as though I were in a series of movies as I explored this fascinating place.
Perhaps, the first movie would have starred Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy …set on the banks of the “creek” (looked like a swiftly flowing river to me!) in “old” Dubai. Touring one of the best small museums I have ever visited in the Al Fahidi Fort, I loved seeing the reproduction of a desert dwelling complete with its “wind tower”. Barbara, our excellent port lecturer, had shown countless examples of this ingenious architectural devise that has been used for centuries to cool the buildings in this arid and hot region of the world. These square towers extend far above the highest level of the buildings and have slot openings that capture the wind and somehow send it down into the building in a cool breeze. Stepping inside the grass hut and standing under the wind tower I was amazed at the strength and coolness of that breeze being forced through the tower. When I entered the old fort I was surprised to find a very contemporary interpretive museum that explained life in the desert with ingeniously presented displays that were as informative as any I have seen. My photos of the museum look like I have captured people on the street. Soon I found myself aboard a small abra, or open air ferry-type boat that whisked me across the creek to the souks. (markets!) The first was the spice souk….the sounds, the smells, the hustle and bustle of this exciting working market sent me into a sensory overload. Cinnamon, saffron, nutmeg mixed with frankincense and dried dates tempted my pallet and simultaneously stimulated color sense as well. These small spice stalls blended flawlessly into markets selling fluorescently colored plastic pails along side Rolex watches, fruit and hand-tailored clothing. Freshly picked oranges perfectly stacked in a pyramid contrasted against the neatly displayed stuffed animals of a children’s store. Think of this with hoards of dark-skinned men gliding in and out of the crowds in their crisp white robes with black head bands over red checkered (or white!) head scarves. Women in their berkas (sp?), the full black dresses and head coverings that cover all but a small slit for their hazel-colored eyes! (Apparently, there is a new mode of this traditional dress….I saw a number of women in the souk that had a larger opening around their face. They were still “covered” but instead of black fabric, they had metal (some gold!) face “masks” that covered their noses and mouth. One of these masks was more creative than the last. I was particularly amused by one lady that was sporting a big handlebar moustache of gold under a triangular nose guard! My only regret is that I wasn’t able to photograph them….we had been warned repeatedly that we MUST NOT photograph the women of Dubai). A short walk and the spice souk became the gold souk. You have never seen so much gold in such a small space in all your life…..brassy harsh gold. This over-the-top presentation was like melting icing of an elaborately gilded wedding cake. Needless to say, I didn’t buy anything! But what a movie! Certainly an award winner for set decoration and costumes!
A short ride and my movie set changed….this time to a 21st century extravaganza that is truly indescribable. I kept thinking “unbelievable”, “unreal”, and “unimaginable”. I have never seen so many cranes in my life. High-rise after high-rise is springing from the earth as workers (making approximately $200. a month!) toil 24 hours a day seven days a week. Our guide claims that one quarter of the world’s cranes are indeed in Dubai…and I believe her. The style of the architecture is equally unimaginable. Swooping facades, shining metal, spiraling stairs, solar piercing spires and inconceivable shapes are being combined in one building…and then being repeated over and over again to form small cities within the larger city. Buildings are competing against one another to become the tallest and indeed, the actual heights of most buildings is not published because the developers are waiting to the very last minute to make the final determination of their spire or last few floors to ensure that their building is indeed THE highest. This was emphasized when I realized that the buildings surround one such soaring tower were forty stories tall themselves and looked like small low-rise buildings in comparison to the taller soaring construction.
City planning is going beyond imagination as well. We visited the sales office of The Palms where one developer is building three separate “palms” plus the World in the ocean off the coast. (I remembered seeing something about this on one of the Sunday morning talk shows not long ago…but seeing it for real drove its creativity home). These ambitious projects consist of dredging soil from the ocean floor and combining it with stones and other earth (from the desert I presume!) to form a large circular enclosure in which a stylized “island” in the form of a multi tiered palm tree resides. The truck of the tree connects the entire project to the mainland and provides a spine for mass transportation. The fronds of the tree are scheduled to provide land for single family homes, multi-family homes, low and high density living, commercial areas, and resort and spa facilities (the Atlantis hotel is well underway!) Because of the design, each home or business will have waterfront access. The sales office proudly announced that once offered the first Palm sold out in 72 hours. I can’t imagine! So, they are building two more such projects. Their “world” project is a loosely stylized map of the world of some 300 islands. You can purchase any one of these islands (97% are ready for purchase!) starting at 4 million up to 40 million dollars and then you get to develop it yourself! This project is not connected to the mainland at all and each island must provide a boat(s) to get back to shore…talking about a traffic jam! It just all seems like Disney gone mad!
A visit to the world’s tallest hotel, the Burj Al Arab…also built out in the ocean and connected by a bridge …gave me a chance to see the Palms and the World from atop the hotel. The plan made sense once I saw it from that perspective. (I had a memorable “tea” atop that hotel and I will not tell how much I paid for it!) The madness continues. We heard of plans for a huge underwater hotel, for a 900 acre amusement park in the desert and for a new airport that will be the largest and busiest in the world (double Atlanta’s Hartsfield!) We saw the indoor snow slope…yes, Dubai has a huge fully working snow resort incased in metal and standing in the middle of the dessert…I saw it with my own eyes! Amazing! It just goes on and on!
Movie # 3….I was a busy boy in Dubai!!!!.....Arabian Nights: An evening Safari with Camel Ride and Barbecue complete with belly dancers and shisha (the famous Arabian water pipe). My travel agent is a Virtuosi travel agent which means that I get several “perks” along the trip….Dubai was one of those days and our night in the desert was one I will never forget. From sliding over, under and around the sand in fast moving range rovers to riding the camel (almost falling off…I was scared to death!) to eating while perched on layer after layer of Persian carpets piled high on the sand to enjoying the moves of a very sensuous belly dancer…it was truly like something you would see in the movies. I even got a henna tattoo that may take months to fade! What fun!!!!
If all this wasn’t enough…the best was saved for last. I got to see my good friend Becky Ward. Becky is a managing principal of TVS & A, a large Architectural and Interiors firm based in Atlanta. She and her colleagues are doing over 40 buildings for one developer and Becky, and her colleagues, are completing the corporate offices. She comes to Dubai regularly and as it so happened was here at the same time I was. We were able to meet in her 35 floor suite which provided yet another view of the building frenzy and then we enjoyed a delicious dinner together before I sailed for Oman later that night….I made the ship with 10 minutes to spare! Phew!
So, Dubai, like so many other places, gave me yet another chapter in my book of CONTRASTS…..I am just not sure that there will ever be a more colorful example. I am overwhelmed trying to describe it….what an amazing place!!!!
March 25-26, 2007
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
One of the most fascinating things that I am taking away from my world experience is that we indeed live in a world of contrast. There are so many memories of happiness contrasted with sadness, richness and poorness, hot food vs. milder food. The concepts and ideas are, of course, endless. And perhaps there is no better example of contrast that leaving India and arriving in Dubai one of the seven United Arab Emirates.
I felt as though I were in a series of movies as I explored this fascinating place.
Perhaps, the first movie would have starred Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy …set on the banks of the “creek” (looked like a swiftly flowing river to me!) in “old” Dubai. Touring one of the best small museums I have ever visited in the Al Fahidi Fort, I loved seeing the reproduction of a desert dwelling complete with its “wind tower”. Barbara, our excellent port lecturer, had shown countless examples of this ingenious architectural devise that has been used for centuries to cool the buildings in this arid and hot region of the world. These square towers extend far above the highest level of the buildings and have slot openings that capture the wind and somehow send it down into the building in a cool breeze. Stepping inside the grass hut and standing under the wind tower I was amazed at the strength and coolness of that breeze being forced through the tower. When I entered the old fort I was surprised to find a very contemporary interpretive museum that explained life in the desert with ingeniously presented displays that were as informative as any I have seen. My photos of the museum look like I have captured people on the street. Soon I found myself aboard a small abra, or open air ferry-type boat that whisked me across the creek to the souks. (markets!) The first was the spice souk….the sounds, the smells, the hustle and bustle of this exciting working market sent me into a sensory overload. Cinnamon, saffron, nutmeg mixed with frankincense and dried dates tempted my pallet and simultaneously stimulated color sense as well. These small spice stalls blended flawlessly into markets selling fluorescently colored plastic pails along side Rolex watches, fruit and hand-tailored clothing. Freshly picked oranges perfectly stacked in a pyramid contrasted against the neatly displayed stuffed animals of a children’s store. Think of this with hoards of dark-skinned men gliding in and out of the crowds in their crisp white robes with black head bands over red checkered (or white!) head scarves. Women in their berkas (sp?), the full black dresses and head coverings that cover all but a small slit for their hazel-colored eyes! (Apparently, there is a new mode of this traditional dress….I saw a number of women in the souk that had a larger opening around their face. They were still “covered” but instead of black fabric, they had metal (some gold!) face “masks” that covered their noses and mouth. One of these masks was more creative than the last. I was particularly amused by one lady that was sporting a big handlebar moustache of gold under a triangular nose guard! My only regret is that I wasn’t able to photograph them….we had been warned repeatedly that we MUST NOT photograph the women of Dubai). A short walk and the spice souk became the gold souk. You have never seen so much gold in such a small space in all your life…..brassy harsh gold. This over-the-top presentation was like melting icing of an elaborately gilded wedding cake. Needless to say, I didn’t buy anything! But what a movie! Certainly an award winner for set decoration and costumes!
A short ride and my movie set changed….this time to a 21st century extravaganza that is truly indescribable. I kept thinking “unbelievable”, “unreal”, and “unimaginable”. I have never seen so many cranes in my life. High-rise after high-rise is springing from the earth as workers (making approximately $200. a month!) toil 24 hours a day seven days a week. Our guide claims that one quarter of the world’s cranes are indeed in Dubai…and I believe her. The style of the architecture is equally unimaginable. Swooping facades, shining metal, spiraling stairs, solar piercing spires and inconceivable shapes are being combined in one building…and then being repeated over and over again to form small cities within the larger city. Buildings are competing against one another to become the tallest and indeed, the actual heights of most buildings is not published because the developers are waiting to the very last minute to make the final determination of their spire or last few floors to ensure that their building is indeed THE highest. This was emphasized when I realized that the buildings surround one such soaring tower were forty stories tall themselves and looked like small low-rise buildings in comparison to the taller soaring construction.
City planning is going beyond imagination as well. We visited the sales office of The Palms where one developer is building three separate “palms” plus the World in the ocean off the coast. (I remembered seeing something about this on one of the Sunday morning talk shows not long ago…but seeing it for real drove its creativity home). These ambitious projects consist of dredging soil from the ocean floor and combining it with stones and other earth (from the desert I presume!) to form a large circular enclosure in which a stylized “island” in the form of a multi tiered palm tree resides. The truck of the tree connects the entire project to the mainland and provides a spine for mass transportation. The fronds of the tree are scheduled to provide land for single family homes, multi-family homes, low and high density living, commercial areas, and resort and spa facilities (the Atlantis hotel is well underway!) Because of the design, each home or business will have waterfront access. The sales office proudly announced that once offered the first Palm sold out in 72 hours. I can’t imagine! So, they are building two more such projects. Their “world” project is a loosely stylized map of the world of some 300 islands. You can purchase any one of these islands (97% are ready for purchase!) starting at 4 million up to 40 million dollars and then you get to develop it yourself! This project is not connected to the mainland at all and each island must provide a boat(s) to get back to shore…talking about a traffic jam! It just all seems like Disney gone mad!
A visit to the world’s tallest hotel, the Burj Al Arab…also built out in the ocean and connected by a bridge …gave me a chance to see the Palms and the World from atop the hotel. The plan made sense once I saw it from that perspective. (I had a memorable “tea” atop that hotel and I will not tell how much I paid for it!) The madness continues. We heard of plans for a huge underwater hotel, for a 900 acre amusement park in the desert and for a new airport that will be the largest and busiest in the world (double Atlanta’s Hartsfield!) We saw the indoor snow slope…yes, Dubai has a huge fully working snow resort incased in metal and standing in the middle of the dessert…I saw it with my own eyes! Amazing! It just goes on and on!
Movie # 3….I was a busy boy in Dubai!!!!.....Arabian Nights: An evening Safari with Camel Ride and Barbecue complete with belly dancers and shisha (the famous Arabian water pipe). My travel agent is a Virtuosi travel agent which means that I get several “perks” along the trip….Dubai was one of those days and our night in the desert was one I will never forget. From sliding over, under and around the sand in fast moving range rovers to riding the camel (almost falling off…I was scared to death!) to eating while perched on layer after layer of Persian carpets piled high on the sand to enjoying the moves of a very sensuous belly dancer…it was truly like something you would see in the movies. I even got a henna tattoo that may take months to fade! What fun!!!!
If all this wasn’t enough…the best was saved for last. I got to see my good friend Becky Ward. Becky is a managing principal of TVS & A, a large Architectural and Interiors firm based in Atlanta. She and her colleagues are doing over 40 buildings for one developer and Becky, and her colleagues, are completing the corporate offices. She comes to Dubai regularly and as it so happened was here at the same time I was. We were able to meet in her 35 floor suite which provided yet another view of the building frenzy and then we enjoyed a delicious dinner together before I sailed for Oman later that night….I made the ship with 10 minutes to spare! Phew!
So, Dubai, like so many other places, gave me yet another chapter in my book of CONTRASTS…..I am just not sure that there will ever be a more colorful example. I am overwhelmed trying to describe it….what an amazing place!!!!
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