The UAE is a weird & wonderful place. I feel it was best summed up by a heavyset (and expat heavyweight) at the Christmas party I went to upon arrival: "this place is a mixture between Las Vegas and a 3rd world country - Middle East light". Another friend of mine themed it "Faux Glam". Translation: on the one hand it's shiny and modern, luxurious and ostentatious. But scratch the surface and it's crumbling - the service is actually pretty poor (given the prices and reputation of the places) and the endless variety of different nationalities barely manage to communicate in broken English (forget Arabic!). The stores and brands on offer are such that every foreign community is catered to - indeed it would seem that in Dubai, the Britons, the Americans, the Filipinos, the Indians, and the French alike can go to their local coffee shop or grocery store. There's a Next and a Debenham's, a Chucky Cheese and an Applebee's, a Virgin Megastore and a Border's, a Boots, Pain Quotidien, Paul's, a Marks & Spencers, a Carrefour and a Geant, even a Safeway (cleverly renamed "Safestway") - a Costa, a Starbucks - a Jollibee's and even a Nando's for the South Affers amongst us. And it also seems that whatever your nationality, you have a variety of banks from home to work through/with over your stay here - so you're not just limited to HSBC, "the world's local bank"...
This exposure to convenience and abundance, consumer choice and branding, after 2 years of hiding out in Bolivia has been sort of flabbergasting. I mean not like it's anything new, but you sort of forget that there is so much to have. That fruit & vegetables are commonly flown in from around the world, that they should NOT have spots on them or be irregularly shaped. That you can always "pick up" some shoes if you forget yours on your travels...yesterday I spent about 5 hours just walking from store to store, at the Mall of the Emirates. It was both enlightening and stressful - picking up and shaking electronics to figure out what they do, getting a feel for what new media is out there, getting a feel for what "reasonable" prices are, trying on clothes at the one-stop shops that filter high-end fashion and make it available to the masses (H&M, Zara). All this in a gigantic mall, in the middle of a desert - and in close proximity of an indoor ski slope, which resembles something of a bunny hill at first glance but is actually quite substantial. I got to see the Hamburg football team, who were walking around like tourists as well - here for the game tonight against Milan. It's always funny to see a "fellow foreigner" in a far and away place, you sort of look at eachother in instant recognition, feeling like you should say "hello" for some odd reason.
Back to the general gist: everyone is here for work. Most of everything looks and feels like a hotel. It seems that construction sites pop up overnight - whether it's a real estate development project, or just a roundabout. It makes me wonder how they will fill up the seemingly endless amount of high-end accommodation. Where coastline lacks, it is resurrected from the sea. The road signs and the highways themselves are chaotic and poorly planned. The drivers are reckless, many driving racing cars or gas-guzzling SUVs (apparently, turn signals are just for the safety obsessed). The haze that hangs over the city makes it so that the skyline is rarely completely visible, which is a shame given that there are so many awe-inspiring buildings. The Burj Dubai - the world's tallest building - is still under construction. Except for the area where the migrant workers (Filipinos, Pakistanis, Indians, Sudanese, Ethiopian, Yemeni, Saudi, and I suspect the large quantity of Russians may lieve around here too) live, it's very faceless. Despite TJ and Megan's stomach infections, we managed to have some great food in these areas (namely, Ethiopian and Iranian - I'm still waiting on Pakistani and Afghani), great juices (who'd have thought avocado and honey blends are so good? - and to my great delight, fresh pomegranate is always on offer) and tea too (ah, the sweet, milkiness of Chai - with which Nick has some serious portion control issues, bless!).
Jaded? Gosh, I hope not. Because there are definitely a whole host of more genuine "down to earth" activities (Entire days can be spent wandering around Deira or Bur Dubai, the workers' areas, where you'll hear, see and smell everything - here, temples and mosques and cultures melt together. There is also a great deal of off-roading and camping in and around the UAE, for example in neighboring Oman, which is safe, beautiful and cheap. Oman itself is much lower key and much more genuine - here you feel that there truly are "locals" and not just transient individuals. Dune-buggying is also pretty freaking cool, if you can stomach the ups & downs! The camel races in Abu Dhabi are also super interesting - where they use robotic jockeys following a big human rights scandal a few years back, when the international media revealed that small children were being used as jockeys. N.B.: under Islamic law betting is not allowed, so the end goal are "prizes". Loans are also considered illegal, something which greatly complicates Islamic banking. I need to learn more about that). And the flashy, "Vegas-y" stuff is fun too. Just yesterday I walked - *GASP*, walked! that's something few dare to do here, not least because of the sticky whether - to the Atlantis hotel (a pretty ridiculous place), so that I could have a peek at their Aquarium. They actually have a whale shark stuck inside that thing. It's sad and impressive at the same time. This hotel was really the only thing that truly felt like Vegas - the coastline outside was just fantastic. I'll have to head over at sundown soon. We also when for several yummy - but pricey - cocktails at the Burj al Arab, the world's only 7 star hotel. At the sky bar there is actually a "minimum consumption" rule - and of course the menu was full of amazing drinks, all conjured up by what was called a "professional mixologist". There were a few for over $3,000. I can't get my head around that, try as I may. The cheapest ones went for about AED 100, or around about $30. Given the prices, the decor was pretty random - a digital theme, with computer boards for walls, blinking and flashing like it's Y2k (come to think of it, it was probably planned and built in Y2k). I certinaly enjoyed observing the high powered dinner dates going on around us...big hair, loafers and jetset handbags. So FABULOUS!
It's also worth a mention that New Year's Eve was canceled at the request of Sheikh Mo, out of respect for the Palestinians being killed in Gaza. The radio stations were also unplugged for a few days, so we listened to alot of classical music instead of the usual pop-y stuff from the Virgin airwaves (or BBC if we're feeling intellectually curious). It's also worth a mention that Duty Free is the salvation of nearly all non-Emiratees - alcohol licenses are difficult to obtain in Dubai, so most people drive to across the border to Umm Al Qwayn (different Emirates have different alcohol regulations) to stock up. We went on the day before New Year's and the rush was shocking - had I been able to take my camera in, I would have, but alas - no recording devices are allowed. Needless to say there were many locals on shopping sprees. In a similar vein: every campsite we've set up has been conveniently located and visited by a group of locals hoping to join in on the festivities - no doubt curious to see what that alcohol thing is all about. Or at least, what the hell is it that we do in the desert?
I've been able to get some interesting perspectives on this place, thanks to contacts across a whole host of occupations and reasons for being here. This begins of course with Nick's circle of friends, rugby friends and coworkers. Tonie -Nick's maverick photographer buddy, and his girlfirend Emmanuelle - French journalist at Gulf News - have been super fun and helpful so far in terms of gaining local knowledge. Gabriel was in town visiting his fam (his dad is an architect in Sharjah) and interestingly his family's New Year's celebrations - an Assyrian party at a big hotel - were postponed until the following day, also due to Gaza. I'm trying to train (and by trying, I mean thinking about it more than actually doing it) for the 10km run part of the Dubai Marathon on the 16th of January. So the other day went for a run with a Japanese woman I'd met on our group New Year's Eve desert camping trip, who teaches at the Japanese highschool. From the sound of it the Japanese community, true to form, is tight-knit very supportive from within - she gave me some good tips on where to buy the pickled ume I so miss snacking on, and of course on where to get an authentic bowl of udon. This weekend we'll drive over to Abu Dhabi to visit Mr. and Mrs. Jones, both former teachers of mine from my time in Paris. They currently run the international school there. From the sound of it I'll also be here when two friends pass through on business from London - Laura for Dubai Art and Maria for the World Future Energy Summit. Yep, because I have such fabulous friends...
Recap: Dubai is the honey pot of the middle east. Nobody here seems to love it. Everyone's here to get forward in life in some shape or form, and few plan to stay here forever. My only real complaint would be that the public transport is crap (even the doorman says so - and if Abdul says so, it MUST be true). The buses are cheap, yes - but the coverage is limited, they pass only very 60 minutes in most places, the stops are quite spread out, and they are never on time. This is due to change though, with the rail system being put in place. Another interesting current event over here is that the Gulf Cooperation Council (UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, and Kuwait) is building up to a currency union. When we were in Muscat (Oman) the GCC was meeting, in order to further these discussions.
I think the biggest question on everybody's mind concerns sustainability - those that live here normally finish their conversations on the topic with a shaking of the head and a line like, "here today, gone tomorrow". And it's true that much of the planning seems so short term. Environmentally speaking I would say - admittedly, knowing very little about the technical side of things - that despite the forums on energy & climate change, the green marketing campaigns I see splashed here and there, and of course the region's deep entrenchment in the oil industry...it doesn't seem like there's much of a carbon footprint mentality.
Click here for my photos from the UAE
Click here for my photos from Oman
