Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Dubai

I have been in Dubai the past few days, and thanks to Chad's dad, we have a phenominal place to stay at the Marriot Executive Apartments...a big change from the hostels...anyway, Dubai is a very unique city...they have literally built one of the biggest cities in the world from scratch...not that long ago, there wasn't anything here...now skyscrapers are everywhere....the two tallest buildings in the world are in the process of being built, a seven star hotel sparkles over the city and tourism is booming thanks to snow skiing INSIDE the second largest mall in the world (my first time skiing ever, seriously), man made islands and beaches, desert safaris (4x4'd it through the desert) and one of the biggest water parks around....if it can be made, it will be built here...construction is everywhere and it already takes a good 40 minutes to get from one side of dubai to another...the city will only get bigger

The other interesting thing about dubai besides its strategic location (4 hrs away by plane from 30% of the world's population) is the blend of people here....the city is completely westernized....they have every big american chain here...in fact, it has more "american" influence than any city I have been so far...but at the same time, I am in the middle east, and I had to worry about even getting into the country because my passport has an israeli stamp on it and there is a lot of anti-israeli sentiment here (i had no problems)....while most of the population here are foreigners, this is still an islamic country.....i think what sums this place up best are the people I have seen walking around in the full white robe (which is traditional of many middle eastern countries) with baseball caps....that right there shows the blend of cultures here....in a time when there is so much turmoil in the middle east, i can't help but wonder if a place like dubai will one day be ready to step up and use its newfound power to help promote peace....they have a lot invested it being friends with the world so stability in the middle east will be important to them....enough politics...happy thanksgiving to everyone!

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