We landed in Dubai after a gruelling 14.5 hour flight. The Crystal rep was there to greet us and quickly whisk us away. Our hotel is in the Marina area, a good 40 minute drive from the airport and the traffic is heavy getting there.
First impressions include impressive skylines book-ending the city, and fancy cars on parade. We get to the hotel at around 9 pm and quickly go out in search of something to eat.
The marina encompasses a long, busy boardwalk flanked by restaurants and stores, high end hotels, Turkish ice cream vendors, even a small fairground; carousel, stuffed animals and all.
We are in a strangely surreal place, exotic and familiar at the same time; the never-ending, slow-moving lineup of super cars reminds us of South Beach in Florida, the Tim Hortons makes us feel at home, but the majority of people around us wear traditional dishdash and abayas and hang out in outdoor lounges smoking shishas and drinking tea.
Not surprisingly, Blake's nose leads us to Five Guys; the burgers taste exactly like the ones in Vancouver. We walk along for a while longer and finally, around midnight, make our way back to the hotel; a nice long soak in the bathtub soothes some of the travel soreness away.
Our suite at the Ritz Carlton has got to be 1800 sq ft. It is "yuge", it has an enormous bathroom including a shower room, three balconies, a living room, a powder room and two large flat screens. Too bad we won't be spending much time here. The hotel is right on the waterfront and has a lovely pool and beach. Won't be spending much time there either.
Dubai Day 2
9 am and after a nice breakfast we go on a tour of the "Old City" arranged by Crystal with four other tourmates. Truth is, there is not much that is old in Dubai, at least not very old. Despite a history of habitation going back five thousand years, Dubai is a new city. Building only started in earnest in the 70s and, except for a tiny enclave of 200 year old houses and a fort (which are now a small tourist attraction and museum resembling a small version of Pirates of the Caribbean), which were saved from demolition through the timely intervention of a British architect and the Prince of Wales, this city is new.
The skylines are amazing; 250 skyscrapers where the only building guidelines seem to be: go tall and go crazy. It seems like nobody wants to build a "normal" building, each one attempting to outdo the one next door.
The skylines are amazing; 250 skyscrapers where the only building guidelines seem to be: go tall and go crazy. It seems like nobody wants to build a "normal" building, each one attempting to outdo the one next door.
Dubai is a progressive muslim community which seems to be looking for its identity. Like a teenager, full of energy, boastfulness and ambition, it has no real historic or cultural grounding. With an economy mainly based on free trade supporting a population of 1.2 million, only 200,000 are "locals", citizens of the UAE. The rest are all part of a multi-national workforce who keeps the whole place going.
A quick visit to the Gold and Spice markets rounds out our morning tour and we're back at the hotel for Blake's requisite workout. At 6 pm we set off for another tour, this one a night-time safari through Arabian Adventures. Bochari is our tour guide and after picking up a couple of German free-lance photographers we make our way to the Dubai Desert Conservation reserve.
This is cool. Safari is a bit too lofty a description for this tour but it is nonetheless a cool thing to do. First, we drive through the reserve on a four-by-four with searchlights sweeping the landscape, looking for the tell-tale sign of eyes reflecting the light. We are pretty successful and end up spotting a few gazelle, an oryx that appears to be pregnant, and a handful of scurrying desert mice. We then go off on foot with black-light flashlights carefully searching for scorpions. After a while we come across a nice-looking one who puts up with our probing lights for a while and finally takes off. To cap the evening off, we are treated to a light Arabian meal and stargazing. All in all, nicely done.
Dubai is interesting, bustling, attracts a tremendous number of international businesses and even boasts having the tallest building in the world (the Burj Al Khalifa), and a mall where you can can ski indoors but, despite the eagerness to grow its tourism industry, it'a hard to justify a visit other than as a stopping point on the way to somewhere else.
Tomorrow we leave for the Seychelles.
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