DUBAI …. CAMELS TO FERRARIS

So here we are after traveling north overnight through the Gulf of Oman and west into the Persian Gulf. We made it to Dubai.

All these countries in the Middle East seem to have some very strange land boundaries …. But evidently up until the last 100 years these countries had no boarders. Eventually the land was divided into countries based on clans … so no wonder why there are constant land disputes in this part of the world.

Dubai has a coastline that is covered with sand …the opposite of Oman …. that was covered in rock. And today Dubai has managed to take that sandy desert and build a sprawling city … 1500 square miles ( About the size of Rhode Island ) and an extra 88 square miles that they added … reclaiming land from the sea.

The Climate … like Oman … is tropical hot desert …. what you would expect … the air is dry and there can be some strong winds. ( Called Shamal Winds ) … the surrounding areas of Dubai are still desert and have some of the biggest red sand dunes in the world. … The only down side … the wind tends to kick up the sand creating a haze over Dubai.

We have been to Dubai twice before … 2012 and 2013 … and both times we loved it. So we were anxious to see how it changed after 10 years.

Dubai is another one of these “LAS VEGAS ON STEROIDS” cities …. but much more tastefully developed … a country, a city and capital all in one. The city is pristine …. everything new, modern and clean.

Dubai is part of the United Arabic Emirates (UAE) a federation of 7 Arab countries. It is the most populated country of the 7 with 3M people… I throw the Emirates word around like I know what I am talking about but actually I have no idea what it means.

What is an “Emirate” anyway? Turns out it is a territory ruled by an “emir” … an “emir” is a title used by a monarch or a high ranking officeholder in the Muslim world. So basically an Emirate is a political-religious unit … typically Islamic. Each of the 7 countries in the UAE have “emirs” and are considered an “Emirate” with Abu Dhabi as its capital. ( That is certainly a tongue Twister of vowels … A’s, E’s, I,’s U’s…. they must like words that start with Vowels )

The United Arab Emirates was formed to protect their resources after gaining independence from Britain in 1968. … ( Just like Mighty Malaysia did when forming the Malaysian Federation after breaking from the Brits 🦸). So Dec 2’nd 1971 the UAE was formed … now their “Independence Day” … the day Dubai raised their new Flag.

Dubai rules as an “absolute monarchy” by the Al Maktoum family since 1833 … five generations. Each generation has shaped the vision of what Dubai is today but the fourth Sheik … Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum ( 1912 to 1990 ) is credited as the architect of modern Dubai.

Dubai started as a small fishing village 5000 years ago … over time it became a regional hub for trading. In 1901, the second generation sheikh ( his name is too long to type ) introduced free trade … no taxation on imports or exports … merchants were given parcels of land with protection … and Dubai became a “port of preference.”

Dubai built an industry trading gold, spices and pearls ….The pearl industry was a major source of wealth. But by the end of the 1930’s Japan introduced “cultured pearls” wiping out Dubai’s Pearl business. The loss of the pearl trade … coupled with the Great depression … the country went into a tailspin. Many people left …the population in 1950 was at 50,000.

So 1959 was the beginning of the “REBIRTH” of Dubai. Sheikh Rashid ( I am calling him by his first name now) hired a British architect to create Dubais first master plan. By 1961 they had electricity, telephone networks, water pipelines and storage tanks. In 1968 … this vast desert country had a reliable supply of piped water. They developed roads and an airport. “Oil” was then discovered 60 miles offshore … this money was a “game changer” … accelerating the infrastructure plans for Dubai. People were brought in from all over the world … particularly Southeast Asia and China. The city’s population grew by 300% and Dubai was on its way again.

In 2004, Dubai became the financial Center for the Middle East, Arica and Southeast Asia. The economy diversified from oil to “Service and Tourism” and still continues to this day as one of the top traders of gold ( $32.8B ).

Today Dubai has 3M people but only 15% are natives … the rest are expats … mostly Indian along with Pakistani and Chinese. Arabic is still considered the national language though most speak English. The official state religion is Muslim practiced by 56% of the residents but the country is very excepting of other religions … encouraging places of worship.

Dubai like Singapore has some strict laws … a big part of the reason it is so clean. ( Even a cigarette butt … big fine … and repeat offenders get deported ). The Police Force was founded in 1956 and is under direct command of the Sheik. Criticism of the royal family, local laws or culture result in big penalties. Alcohol consumption … though legal … is regulated. The Police operate with a fleet of exotic cars …. ( What can I say … Only in Dubai ) … and they have one of the lowest violent crime rates in the world … ranked the 5’th safest.

But even with “some” strict laws … Dubai is known as “gangster paradise” for White Collar Crimes … Property tax was eliminated in 2003 making it very attractive for foreign investments …. Coupled with money laundering by major crime syndicates due to “lax” legislation or enforcement. The money contributes to Dubai’s prosperity … so rumor has it they turn a “blind eye.” And with the gold in the souks ( souk is a marketplace )… it is an attractive destination to launder “dirty money.”( Sounds like a best seller Hollywood Movie )

So Dubai really came into its own as a global destination in the early 2000’s. The Burj Khalifa … a half mile high building … the tallest in the world … became the corner stone around which everything took off. The design was inspired by the desert flower … the Hymenocallis.

With 140 floors “The Burj” took 6 years to complete and opened in 2010. It has the fastest and longest elevator in the world.

The “Burj” was designed to draw people from all over … making Dubai the BIGGEST AND THE BESTEST … THE SHOPPING MECCA AND ENTERTAINMENT CAPITAL OF THE WORLD. The Mall of the Emirates opened with the worlds largest indoor ski slope … “Ski Dubai”

… and the “Mall of Dubai” followed … opening in 2009 … the 5’th largest retail mall in the world … but the largest shopping entertainment venue …

with an aquarium housing 33,000 sea creatures and the worlds’ largest viewing glass along with an Olympic size Skating Rink. Today the shopping malls have over 750K tourists per week.

Dubai has the second most luxury hotels in the world ( Behind London ) but they have the only 7 star hotel.

The Burj Al Arab … built on an artificial island in 1999 …. It was designed to resemble a sail of a ship with a helipad on top. It is one of the tallest hotels in the world (690’) . Burj Al Arab is a 7 star hotel … repeatedly voted as the world’s most luxurious hotel and with that …one of the most expensive.

And then there is the Atlantis with underwater Hotel Rooms …. Sits at the end of Palm Island …. 3 Artificial islands created in the expansion of Dubai’s footprint … started in 2001 and completed in 2007.

And in 2021 Dubai broke another record building the worlds’ deepest swimming pool … 197’ Depth … designed for divers … holding 14 million liters of water … the volume of 6 Olympic Size Swimming Pools.

And lets not forget the Dubai Miracle Garden that opened in 2013 … the world largest natural flower garden with over 50 million flowers and 250 million plants. Retreated waste water is used to irrigate the plants.

So you get the idea … it goes on and on …. THE BIGGEST AND THE BESTEST.

And as you would expect … lots of fancy cars to go along with it.

They have also poured tons into the infrastructure to support all of this. They have over 70 Desalination Plants for water and a world class transportation system.

Dubai Metro Tram … one of the first “ground level” power supply tram networks in the world

And then there is the Airport … the world’s busiest for international travel …. 600,00 flights per week … 100 million passengers per year.

We could not believe the amount of change in 10 years … today Dubai is reaping the benefits of their vision … less then 1% of their GDP comes from oil …. most is Touism … it is the 4’th most visited city in the world …. and the shopping capital of the Middle East.

Dubai is now focused on moving to solar energy …. a natural fit for a piece of land in the desert with plenty of sun. The “World of Dubai” has changed with lighting speed … they leapfroged a few eras …. From a small fishing village to the fastest growing city in the world …

---

NEXT STOP …. SEYCHELLES AFRICA DAY 140