Dubai - Still Interesting

Dubai is a 'world hub' as Sheik Mohamed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the zillionaire Ruler of Dubai, puts it.

Realising that oil isn't forever, the Sheik set out to make Dubai a hub for everything so that when the oil runs out in the Abu Dhabi Emirate, from which Dubai inherits much of its wealth, it won't revert to the Bedouin past.

You see, Dubai doesn't have oil. It has a large airport, world class medical centres, world class conference facilities, numerous five star hotels, and is a relatively cheap tourist Mecca. Add to that the tallest building on earth, a huge mall that includes a fully functional ski slope and you'll see that Dubai is exciting and different.

When we lived at nearby Al Ain from 2005 to 2008, Dubai was a mess of cranes and construction machinery - and dust from the nearby sand dunes. Now, the highway overpasses, many of the buildings and a modern sky rail are all up and running. The dust is still ever present.

The concrete stanchions and walls of the highways are nicely decorated with a variety of inexpensive designs. None of the bland 'just concrete' we see in Australian cities.

There is a new port building near which our cruise liner, the Sapphire Princess moored.

We took a tour to the Burj Khalifa building which had not then been completed when we returned to Australia. From the top we got a very nice 360 degrees view of Dubai.

In the Emirates Mall, we saw the expat workers from the Philippines and elsewhere, the expensive Gucci, Victoria's Secret and other outlets and smelled the scent of oud as we passed by the traditional perfume shops.

We saw the Emirati women clothed in black from head to toe, the men in their dish-dashas. The brown skinned children with bright brown eyes and black hair doing what kids everywhere do.

The trip brought back many happy memories of those numerous times we visited Dubai when 'home' was just 130 km down the road. The comfort of our unimaginably big mansion; the man who looked after our garden and washed our cars for a pittance. The heat emanating from the concrete. The easy life of an expat.

I expect that in time most of the people in the world will visit Dubai as it's centrally located and now a waypoint for many aviation and shipping companies. If you haven't been there yet, add it to your must see travel plan.

Robin