Imagine if you will, a place that is the EXACT opposite of Cape Town. You could probably describe Dubai to a tee if you read the past four blog entries, and create a list of things about Cape Town, and then jot down their antonyms. Just about the only thing that is the same is that both places are inhabited by Homo Sapiens. But even there, the types of Homo Sapiens are a bit different too.
For your convienence, I've taken the liberty to list some pairings:
Cape Town : Dubai
- Surrounded by mountains : Surrounded by sand
- Pleasant coastal weather : Hot and muggy
- Fresh & clear cloud speckled skies : Hazy brown cloudless skies
- Cold ocean waves crashing against powdery white sand and boulders : Warm placid Persian Gulf waters lapping upon manmade beaches from jetskis and power yachts
- CRAZY Cheap : CRAZY, CRAZY expensive (Think Vegas pricing)
- Quaint local restaurants serving delicious food : Big Box chain restaurants serving average big box food (at previously mentioned CRAZY prices)
- Drive on the left : Drive on the right
- Nature made attractions : Man-made attractions
- A remote outpost at the tip of a continent : The center axle of worldwide travel
You really do have to applaud the brain trust that figured out how to convert dinosaur juice (oil) in to a hive of activity in the middle of a barren wasteland of desert - and to do so before it runs out. Granted, I wonder if the dinosaurs would cringe at the fact that humans decided to build a ski resort in this desert. By the time they're done sucking the ground dry (and have successfully switched over to renewable energy), they will have created a gold mine - but instead of mining the earth, they'll be mining people's pocket books. Economic genius really.
Dubai is a city doing its best to reach for the skies and with the amount of tower cranes strewn across the horizon, the race rages on. I would hate to be an architect in this town, always trying to make your building stand out. Most buildings are nondescript beige straight things with some manner of alternating siding to try and blend in the compulsory balconies. Because there is only so much they can do with the building itself, the main difference are the “hats” or "hairdos" they set upon the tops.
 |
| Fairly typical Dubai panorama... A signature building (that twisty thing), a bunch of other taupe (we think there must be some kind of cultural thing that every building is beige) buildings competing to be the tallest, a couple new buildings going up, and a harbor full of yachts. Our hotel, the Marriott is the relatively "diminutive" one (52 stories) the third from the left. Notice the tops... |
 |
| Various head-dressings: Crowns, Bishop Hats, Butch Cuts, Mullets, Mohawks, Feathers, Spires, Knights Helmets, and our building must have been Jewish (bottom right)...it's adorned with a Yarmulke |
 |
| But this one was the oddest one of them all. I wonder if the architect suffered an aneurysm in the final stages of design and scribbled an outhouse to adorn this skyscraper. |
In my humble opinion, I’m not entirely sure what the appeal of Dubai is, especially for Americans. It’s basically Vegas without the casinos and the dam tour. Moreover, Vegas actually seems quaint and compact compared to Dubai. To put it in perspective, to travel from the Atlantis resort for an afternoon waterpark adventure at the end of the palm, to the Burj Khalifa, is a 45 minute taxi drive on highways that will set you back $70. Is it worth visiting? I suppose if you were passing through on a layover to somewhere else on your bucket list, it’s probably worth a couple nights just to say you’ve been there, but I certainly wouldn’t make a special trip. Save some dollars and indulge yourself in Vegas. Am I glad we visited? Yes. It was a scratch to itch, and if we didn't pause to take a look around, I would have always wondered...
A photo tour...
We looked up the top 17 (not sure why it is 17, not 15, or 20) things to do in Dubai as reported by the tourism bureau, and in our three days here, we ticked off most (or at least variants of most - because 7 of them are to go shopping in different places). Here is a brief photo tour:
 |
| Our 52 story hotel dwarfed by it's neighbors. |
 |
| Our first stop was the Dubai Mall, largest mall on the planet. Yep, it's pretty big. Took us 30 minutes to find the food court. |
 |
| This is a scale model of the next tallest thing to be built in Dubai. Might be worth checking out in a decade or so. |
 |
| It's pretty clear that they only install something if its the biggest thing you can buy. This wall of 4K screens was GI-normous. |
 |
| There is an aquarium with one of the largest fishtank in the world in the middle of the mall. |
 |
| You walk through the tank in a cool tunnel. |
 |
| Just outside the mall is this really tall building. I think it's called the Burj Khalifa. It's shockingly tall. We watched the fountain show in the lake in front of it. And no, we did not go to the top. That would have set us back $500, and when you're travelling the world for a year, we have to pick our battles. Considering 3 of 5 of us are afraid of heights.... |
 |
| Only in Dubai (or Vegas probably) where money goes to be burned.... This was a store that sold cereal. That's it, cereal. Standard, store bought cereal. But pretty much every version you could think of. But here is the thing, you can chose as many as you want and mix them together! And, they give you milk too. All that for a measly $7. Sign us up! Two bowls please. And make that to go. |
 |
| Comes in a nice designer take away bag with custom milk bottles of course. But no spoons! Ah ha... Where's the spoon? |
Aquaventure at the Atlantis
Where do you go to stay cool (besides the mall) when you're in a desert? That's right, a waterpark. We spent a full day at Aquaventure at the Atlantis and that was super fun. It's massive. There were plenty of slides, but our collective favorite thing was the "lazy" river, which was anything but lazy.
 |
| The river incorporated super fun rapids that went under walkways and around tight corners. |
 |
| Increasing elevation is necessary to create rapids - Innertube escalators! |
 |
| Bryce and Zane played in this elaborate play structure with some seriously fun water slides. |
 |
| Had to study the map to make sure we got our bearings. Fortunately it was off season, so the crowds were tolerable. I can't imagine what it would be like in busy times. |
 |
| Our first, and likely only, dip in the Persian Gulf. It's like bath water warm. |
 |
| These little fish actually were attracted to moving feet. Odd really. |
 |
| if you squint, the Burj is in their heart. I'm not sure if it's industrial air pollution, or just from dust, but the air was quite brown during our stay. I don't think it's dust as it wasn't terribly windy. |
 |
| Atlantis hotel after dark |
 |
| It's really a testament to human ingenuity.... If there ain't enough nature made shoreline, make it yourself. I guess if you build some dikes and throw some sand in there, you can build a small city. |
 |
| Night time view from the top of our hotel. |
Our final day was at another Mall, the Mall of the Emirates, the home of the indoor ski slope. It's really quite spectacular. Again, no, we did not take out a second mortgage for two hours of sliding down 300 vertical feet of man made snow. We're in Japan in early March. We'll plan for some real snow!
 |
| Final couple hours at the pool before we head out. |
 |
| Apparently Dubai is keeping some of our old 90s chain restaurants relevant. |
I'll give Dubai one thing, it is phenomenal people watching territory. Between the malls, the waterpark, and just wandering around, you see all manner of odd behavior from people all around the world. It truly is a smorgasbord of different cultures all out to have a good time.
One thing is for darn sure, Americans (and by Americans, I mean me), sure do appreciate a little personal space, and it would seem other countries have a different view on the matter. We were coming back on the train this afternoon and it was largely empty. I found a quiet spot towards the front where I could stretch out and relax. One stop later, three gentlemen board and take residence right next to me. Mind you, the train is nearly empty. One more stop later, another person gets on and quite literally steps on my foot and puts his phone right next to my face. Not kidding, I could see the hairs on his knuckles. Again, empty train. It was so absurd, I just stood there laughing internally and loving the moment.
 |
| You can barely make out the brim of my hat. Zane was even taken aback by this curious behavior. |
Next stop.... Perth, Australia. Good-day mates!
No comments:
Post a Comment