Dubai can be classified as one of the seven wonders of the engineering world, probably by the Amir of Dubai (who gave his hotel 7 stars) so when the opportunity presented itself to trek to that little desert island I was all in...then came the catch...being a South African, you need a visa, this will cost you 300 euros, which on a student budget is a bit much, almost as much as my flight....but seeing as how I already forked out the 400 Euros for the flight, I thought I might as well.
On arrival, I was in awe, completely impressed and disgusted at the chaos before me. Firstly, I hired a car, and well, everything is left-hand drive, completely opposite to us in South Africa. The drivers are impatient and well lets just say that I spent a lot of time apologizing for not taking off the split second after the traffic signal changed...I can just imagine the impatient Arab driver thinking "Bloody female driver!" With the major construction happening, roads are closed, there are detours everywhere and the traffic police are too busy to help, even though they are just standing around in the sweltering 35 degree winter heat. This resulted in me driving around for 3 hours searching for my hotel, only to find that I had passed it at least 100 times. All I can say is after that experience, I am now qualified to give guided driving tours of Dubai.
So why am I impressed? 40 years ago, Dubai was nothing more than a couple of Bedouin goat herders and today, they are building the highest building in the world, creating islands in all sorts of shapes, ski slopes in sweltering heat, and well, the list goes on. I think the Amir goes to bed at night and thinks...what is impossible to create, and then decides to create it...the latest idea is to recreate great European cities like Rome, Milan, Paris, Venice, right there in Dubai. I don't know about you, but I think I want to see the actual Rome, not some cheap Chinese (or in this case Arab) knock-off...although the latest on the flooding in Venice, that might me an alternative. So as an engineer, I thank the Amir for all the employment opportunities and I am impressed by his vision and determination.
I found Dubai to be a crazy place, that never sleeps. There are such extremes, tons of Indian labourers, leaving in almost squalor and then there are the Emiraties in their Ferrari's and over priced malls. But mostly, Dubai has no soul, its this hot as hell place, with beautiful buildings but no character. The thing that I enjoyed the most was watching the sunset on the beach, while the warm Arabian sea tickled my toes. So here surrounded by the most perverted capitalism I have ever seen, I found solace in mother nature and a perfect sunset to end a crazy week in Dubai.
On arrival, I was in awe, completely impressed and disgusted at the chaos before me. Firstly, I hired a car, and well, everything is left-hand drive, completely opposite to us in South Africa. The drivers are impatient and well lets just say that I spent a lot of time apologizing for not taking off the split second after the traffic signal changed...I can just imagine the impatient Arab driver thinking "Bloody female driver!" With the major construction happening, roads are closed, there are detours everywhere and the traffic police are too busy to help, even though they are just standing around in the sweltering 35 degree winter heat. This resulted in me driving around for 3 hours searching for my hotel, only to find that I had passed it at least 100 times. All I can say is after that experience, I am now qualified to give guided driving tours of Dubai.
So why am I impressed? 40 years ago, Dubai was nothing more than a couple of Bedouin goat herders and today, they are building the highest building in the world, creating islands in all sorts of shapes, ski slopes in sweltering heat, and well, the list goes on. I think the Amir goes to bed at night and thinks...what is impossible to create, and then decides to create it...the latest idea is to recreate great European cities like Rome, Milan, Paris, Venice, right there in Dubai. I don't know about you, but I think I want to see the actual Rome, not some cheap Chinese (or in this case Arab) knock-off...although the latest on the flooding in Venice, that might me an alternative. So as an engineer, I thank the Amir for all the employment opportunities and I am impressed by his vision and determination.
I found Dubai to be a crazy place, that never sleeps. There are such extremes, tons of Indian labourers, leaving in almost squalor and then there are the Emiraties in their Ferrari's and over priced malls. But mostly, Dubai has no soul, its this hot as hell place, with beautiful buildings but no character. The thing that I enjoyed the most was watching the sunset on the beach, while the warm Arabian sea tickled my toes. So here surrounded by the most perverted capitalism I have ever seen, I found solace in mother nature and a perfect sunset to end a crazy week in Dubai.
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