It's been a little while now since I spent a week in Dubai within the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Originally Dubai was my pre-designated hotspot for sights and inspiration. A city built seemingly overnight on the watch-clock of a hoard of immigrant workers. A modernized desert oasis conjured through international investment and a strong vision for a unique future. Dubai is a city that redefines what is possible, but more recently, stands as an example of why you shouldn't bite off more than you can chew. It's hard not to overshadow the infrastructural successes of Dubai by the overwhelming blundering of their economy which seemed to be based more on promises than anything else. One media release seemed to sum it up best when it referred to Dubai as a "monument to vanity and greed'. And there is no better example of this than the megaproject called Dubai World. The project, which begun with millions and millions of tonnes of sand being dredged from the ocean floor to in-fill land mass above sea level - essentially creating ocean-front property overnight - had to be stopped indefinetly after it was announced that they could not keep up with payments on some $22billion of debt accumulated throughout the project.
I can admit that I was certainly caught up in the "hype" of Dubai. At the end of the day the city didn't leave an impression of a fairytale desert city turned modern wonder but more of an image of a city that threw caution into the wind in pursuit of materialistic fame. When you get accustomed to the lavish face-lifted image (which still is very nice and on its own level, very impressive) that Dubai has developed, you can start to notice that the city lacks a soul - its void of a core culture. With the population being made up of a patchwork of Arab nationals and foreign workers, there isn't much existing to bring everyone together to build a strong cultural foundation. The foreign workers are lured there by fantasies of becoming rich and leading better lives, which most of the time I'm sure end up more untrue than otherwise. And the nationals seem content with riding the along with the tourist boom and cashing in some cows. With more shopping malls and hotels per square kilometer than probably anywhere else in the world, Dubai has built itself up as a city of transition. Like an eastern-set Las Vegas, people come to work, and play but never intend to linger too long.
Altogether it was a good trip, though. To finally see a place which you've heard so much about is always rewarding in its own way. It was good to float along the cityscape in Dubai's version of the Skytrain and take in the reality of the place. Although the city was less impressive as a whole than I imagined, there is still one aspect I can respect - the ability to have a vision aimed at creating something greater than exists today. At the end of a week it was easy for me to pack my bag with some lessons and fly forward into what awaited next.
Future Travels:
-India: Round 2 - Mumbai, Corbett Tiger Reserve
Lessons Learned:
-"Objects may appear larger than they are"
-Don't cash money out and put it in your wallet for the day. Carry it elsewhere, lest you lose it.
On the mind:
-Reality vs. Fiction
-What makes a great city great
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