Although its our first time and we have only two days, our introduction to this slightly mysterious and intimidating desert metropolis is made so pleasant by the hospitality of Ian and Jodie. We are about to see that yes, there is a lot of sand in the desert, but a lot of water too, in this old port. A lot of people too - more than 2 million in this hyper modern, eruption of a city that has embraced consumerism like it invented it.
Although I'm told summer here will melt glass and evaporate the beer from capped stubbies, it is mild to warm as we wander around today. Delightful weather, in fact.
We walk along Dubai Creek, a short tidal ingress of the bay, which is criss-crossed by Abras, ancient covered timber boats which putter across packed with passengers. Or not, if you charter one, as Ian does for us to poke around the creek as a spoilt party of six.
The creek is lined with big old timber traders, which move goods around the gulf. We see fridges, washing machines and other stuff ready to be loaded on these beautiful old timber craft to make the slow passage across the Persian Gulf to Iran and ports beyond. In the sky above, jets lift people and goods up from Dubai airport every minute or so for slicker, speedier transit. It's a curious world where both conveyances can turn a buck.
We meander through the reconstructed old Dubai village, with hawkers inviting us to buy tourist tat. The crowd is a shuffling mix of us, Indian, Pakistan and Philippine expat workers and the very occasional emirati.
After an Indian feast we make our way to Dubai Mall. The children are on separate missions. Cait's is to shop during the Dubai shopping festival and Hugh's is to spot super cars. Both are successful and eerily convergent when we see that spending more than $A100ish puts you in the running to win a Lamborghini! We have not seen the car exotica that surrounds us anywhere else, including Monaco. There is a veritable car park of bling here.
And the mall is something else. We see every specialty shop known to capitalism, an ice rink, a four storey aquarium and more. We have seen queues for entry to only three spectacles in our travels - to Gaudi's Masterpiece the Sagrida Familia Cathedral, to the Picasso Museum and here, at Victoria's Secret, the lingerie shop sale. Think about that.
The buildings around the mall include the world's tallest and a host of uber new, tall groovy towers. The high rise architects have been let out to play in Dubai and it makes for an interesting skyscape. After the kids have run us ragged with their gendered obsessions, we head home via a sandy sunset viewing spot for the city. It is spectacular. We clown around pretending to lean on the Burj Khalifa.
No comments:
Post a Comment