Dubai: hot, hot, hot; and a little bit about Egypt

Dubai = Sodom and Gomorrah, well, that was what we thought of it. Hotter than hell, humid to add to our woes, soulless, a testament to man's greed, vanity and seemingingly endless and ever-ridiculous quest for one-upmanship.
1.4 million people: 20% Emiriati's, 80% ex-pat, 50% of whom are Indians and Pakistanis. Just offshore from the mainland, 3 ever increasingly larger residential developments have been built upon 'palm' shaped islands reclaimed from the sea [probably best viewed from a helicopter Ñ check out Google Earth]. They plan on building an even bigger one soon. Because they can. There's also a map of the world made from reclaimed land, again best viewed from the air ƒ because they can. Amongst the myriad amounts of statistic, facts and figures given during our bus tour was the sobering information that the Indian and Pakistani workers are bussed in from the outer city to the construction sites. They earn about $US450 per month, apparently slightly more than they would in similar jobs back home. They sign 3-year contracts. They live 4 men to a room, and it's airconditioned [woohoo, woopiedoo!]. Try the concept of virtual slave labour and maybe we might be getting closer to the truth. There's perhaps a true underclass here, the ex-pat workers in the construction, hotels [lots of Phillipino's and Indian'/Pakistanis here] and other menial jobs. The so-called 'poor' Emirati's have been allocated free housing by the powers that be, not just for the immediate family, but also grandparents, etc, etc ƒ the 'free' housing we saw were quite big, seemed very neat, nice homes, nothing like public housing we're accustomed to seeing in Australia. Emiriati's get free education, health, and pay no personal income tax. Fuel is about 50c/litre. Interesting that we're here during Ramadan, the implications for us being no food/drink outlets or cafes open during the daylight hours, so we had to find food and bottled water in a supermarket to take back with us, to be eaten/drunk in private [ie, no public consumption of food and drink allowed in the hours between sunrise and sunset during Ramadan]. Apparently this also means that many businesses close during the day, music isn't played anywhere, which doesn't give a true picture of the vibrant activity of normal day-to-day life here [and in Zanzibar and Egypt].
Back to one-upmanship ƒ the royal palaces are huge; we saw one that looked like it could sit anywhere in the French countryside and not look out of place: manicured lawns, hundreds of peacocks wandering outside along the tree-lined drives to massive gates ƒ sigh!
In Dubai here we have the world's tallest residential building [because they can]; the world's tallest commercial office building [because they can]; the world's tallest luxury hotel [because they can]; the world's biggest marina [because they can]. They want to build the world's tallest shopping centre [because they can] and the world's biggest airport, with 6 runways [because they can]. They are expecting 300 million people to go through this airport, even though they currently are expanding an already huge airport, which we saw.
With all the new residential and commercial buildings going up,
we wonder who is actually going to live in them; who could possibly afford them in the first place? How is all the office space going to be filled? Just what is being generated here to justify so much construction? We were told one of the palm island developments sold out completely in 70 minutes, with prices beginning at US$1 million plus! It just boggles the mind, the sheer scale and vision of it all.
In the to the 60's it was a small fishing and pearling town. With the discovery of oil massive income has been generated. With a small population, to build this city huge amounts of ex-pats have been brought in to provide accounting, engineering, educational, medical, etc expertise; they are paid really well, and in turn generate needs in education, health care, accommodation, leisure, etc. A never-ending circle. This is the place to make money if you aren't already thinking about heading west for the mining boom in Western Australia!
There are so many diversions for the wealthy and the ex-pats: luxury hotels, marina, huge shopping complexes, an indoor ski slope; they want to build a Dubailand, a mixture between Disneyland and god knows what; they also want to build an F1-land as well. We visited a 6-storey shop totally devoted to electronics, and by what we saw, there is no shortage of money here!
We thought back to the squalid poverty we witnessed in Kenya and thought "che?". We thought much of the world's poverty could be solved if just a fraction of the wealth here could be diverted to humanitarian use rather than for the pleasures of the idle rich. It's obscene.
You can tell we aren't a big fan for this place. Yes, one can admire the architecture and town planning, the foresight and vision seen here made real on a grand scale. If they aren't happy with the way something is turning out Ñ ie, a building or a piece of highway Ñ they just tear it down or rip it up and start again! Yes, one can admire the original culture of the place, and see how that has been preserved Ñ the Dubai Museum was great, and definitely recommended. Yes, we can have fun by visiting the spice and gold souks, be harrassed by hawkers [all Indian/Pakistani] trying to sell you copies of exclusive brand watches and handbags ƒ but there is something troubling here. Scratch the surface and questions about priorities need to be answered.
Not only did we have to deal with Ramadan, which wasn't too troubling, the main debilitating problem was the heat combined with humidity. On Sheryl's birthday we walked maybe 1.5 kms to a local shopping centre, our sunglasses and camera lenses completely fogging up within 3 paces of the hotel's front door! By the time we made a few unscheduled directionally challenged diversions, and reached the shopping mall, we [particularly Pier] were covered in sweat, our tops sticking to us; it took Pier over an hour to cool down in the mall! It felt like being in a sauna. There was nowhere to buy a cold drink, and even if we could, we would have to find some quiet corner somewhere and sneakily take in some liquids. Thankfully there weren't many shoppers, so the deception was easy. A birthday call received from grandson Lockie was heaven sent for Sheryl; and just on 1pm, as the shops were closing for an afternoon break, Sheryl found a new watch as a birthday present. Happy Birthday to Sheryl! Meanwhile the rest of the group were visiting probably the biggest shopping mall here, The Emirates Mall [with the ski slope], then going for a dune bash. We met up with the rest of the group upon their return from the dune bash, and shared with them a birthday cake that had been kindly presented to Sheryl the afternoon before by the management, which was great, a lovely gesture on their part. We were too hot and bothered to go out for dinner so instead we had room service delivered, so a nice, quiet, personal dinner, no stress, no pressure to do this, do that, or be anywhere in particular.
The 15th saw us take a bus tour around the city, with the facts'n'figures commentary I've told you about. The city mainly treeless, except for the occasional planting here and there, some bits off main roads that are drip-irrigated, some roundabouts; all you experience is dry, hot, humid city with lots of shops and residential buildings, apartments, office towers [some of which are spectacular, but had to time to stop and view as we were on a schedule], the palaces, hotels, etc, etc, as well as the well-known only 7-star hotel in the world, the Burj Al Arab [we had enough time to suck in as much cool air-cnditioned air as possible, stop for 10 minutes, take a few photos, brave the intense heat that caused the sand to burn the soles of Sheryl's feet and to dip her toes in really warm water ƒ not very refreshing. There were a few hardy souls swimming, whether or not they were enjoying any coolness is debatable]; we drove along some long, straight roads, bordered by villas, apartments and shops, with the sight of air-conditioned bus-stops every kilometer or so causing us to wish maybe they'd do the same back home [especially in summer, ha, ha]. These bus-stops are a big incentive by the powers to get people moving on public transport. We visited the Dubai Museum for under an hour, then back to our hotel to refresh ourselves, and to change. That evening we went on a dinner cruise of Dubai Creek, in one of the many restaurant vessels plying their trade. Perhaps due to Ramadan, and maybe due to the heat, we were the biggest group on board, with perhaps another 20 or so other souls feasting on lovely, beautifully presented food. The restaurant part was downstairs, air-conditioned, while up top was the upper deck, with a roof but sides open, with tables set there too. It was too hot and humid to spend much time up there to enjoy the sights of the towers and other brightly lit restaurant vessels on the Creek. There was not much you could see through the windows below because the windows were covered in condensation on the outside due to the air-conditioning inside! The food was great [as it has been all trip] and it was another 'experience'. Once the trip was over it was time to head back to our hotel, to pack for tomorrow as we depart for the airport for our flight to Cairo, for the beginning of our week in Egypt.
So, in short, you can tell we weren't all that impressed by Dubai. Maybe if it was in the cooler part of the year, December to February, when the temperatures are around the mid-20s; maybe if it wasn't Ramadan, maybe if the wealth and excesses weren't so in your face, then perhaps we might have enjoyed walking around the city, shopping, admiring the architecture and the progress this place is bursting with; maybe if it was cool enough to sit on a ritzy hotel's rooftop restaurant with views over the city and the sea for Sheryl's birthday, then perhaps we would've had a far more memorable celebration. But, for all this, the facts'n'figures we were given, plus with what was before our eyes, the looks on our porters and waiting staff, the looks on the faces of the Indian/Pakistani workers in the buses that passed us during our stay, we can't help feel there is a soulessness about this city. Absolutely excellent if you are young, or a young couple, footloose and fancy free with skills that you can sell for a great salary and benefits, plus the fact that Dubai is an ideal stepping point for Africa, Asia and Europe, then go for it.
For us, this transition from nature and warm smiles and welcomes to high tech megacity just didn't cut it. We felt that perhaps we should've ended the trip there in Zanzibar, with the warm breezes off the sea and the big smile of Juma welcoming us fresh in our memories.
The next post will be of our time in Egypt, but probably won't be posted before our return to Melbourne. Please excuse Pier's probable errors of fact here and there in this post. It was so difficult to remember much more, especially after a week or so has passed.
Our flight into Cairo was with Emirates, which was great, lovely food, and we watched "I Am Legend" on the inflight movie. The flight was only 4 hours or so. I'll give you a short rundown about our first few days here. Once through Cairo airport we were collected by a bus, motored into central Cairo to the Hilton Hotel, where we had a short break before walking over to the Cairo Museum. Wow, what a place; the highlight being the upper floor, where the relics of Tutankanem's tomb were displayed, wow! We drove to our hotel [The Flamenco] for the night, the Flamenco, based in the high class residential/diplomatic area of Zamalek Island. To bed early as we had to get up at 2am for our flight to Aswan the following morning, in order to join our cruise ship [the Nile Ritz], cruising the Nile for the next 3 days. We visited the High Dam at Aswan, and a number of temples: Philae, 2 temples at Kom Ombo, the Necropolis of Thebes, Valley of the Kings, temple of Queen Hatshepsut and the Colossi of Memnon. Just about everywhere were hordes of tourists! On our last day at Luxor we took a balloon ride, taking off from the cane fields on the fertile plain between the Nile and the Valley of the Kings, wow!