Larceny
trumps lust n’ liquor in the Vegas of the Middle East
On
our first night in Dubai I was stuffed with great food, lulled by the warm
sunset framing the Palm Jumeirah skyline underlined by the aqua shoreline of the
Persian Gulf, and numbed by many cocktails. In my semi-trashed cab ride back to
the hotel, the Pakistani driver dispensed his quips about Dubai. One stayed
with me: “nobody is ‘from’ here, even the locals. It’s a city of wealth,
temptation and excess. And it’s great fun, opportunities abound.” Thus began our
trip to Dubai.
Did
I have a good time? Darn right I did. It would be difficult to have a bad time in this city of dazzling buildings, fast growth, and pervasive luxury. But
it didn’t take me long to agree with the driver’s view that this was the Las
Vegas of the Middle East. To enjoy it, you just roll with that and forsake trying
to attain deep understanding or meaning, because either the sand storms or piles of
money obscure it from easy view.
But
who am I to offer some curmudgeonly thoughts? We
were there precisely for Dubai’s sensory pleasures. While there was no sinning,
as such, looking back at our four days in this fabulous jewel of a city, it
does make you think of the deadly sins, viz:
Gluttony
First
night in town. Many restaurant choices. We ended up in The Cheescake Factory
for the first time. They subsequently rolled us out of the eatery and bowled us
toward our hotel. We are fans of the wide breadth of food choices we experienced in
Dubai. I could not imagine that one day I would feast on a delectable Philly Cheese
steak sandwich on the edge of the desert in the Persian Gulf. And Dubai boasts a Denny’s or three, which is
always a plus for me thanks to my adoration of a good heart stopper breakfast.
Lust
Not
surprisingly, there is a lack of overt lust here. On the outside, Dubai is tourist-oriented and multicultural, sure, but on the inside I was aware it is wise to respect local traditions, including the clothes you wear. Especially
the ladies in my posse.
Greed
Gold
sports cars, ultra-deluxe hotels, private offshore islands and rumors of Richard
Branson sightings, skyscrapers adorned with all the world’s great brands in huge
letters—it was hard to escape the pervasive commerce and smell of money floating around in
the warm, humid air. Mostly I felt the impact of our wallets being effortlessly
vacuumed due to the expensive prices. Dubai ain’t cheap. On the other hand,
frolicking at the Wild Wadi water park was a great time, as was seeing the Atlantis
Hotel on Palm Jumeirah.
Pride
World-record
breaking skyscrapers, mega malls and seven-star hotels. Digging canals in the desert. Making petite island paradises with massive land reclamation projects. Dubai wants to
make a statement to the world!
On day two, we
descended from Burj Khalifa to the world’s largest mall, the Dubai Mall,
bursting with superlatives. The view from the Burj Khalifa was terrific of
course and lots of desert out there, waiting for more development. The vanguard
of global capitalism was well represented in the Dubai Mall. True to form, we
enjoyed the Aquarium the most.
Wrath
Old
Dubai, the souks where the host of cultures collide. The street touts didn’t
take too kindly to my needling. Nevertheless, there was nothing--and I do mean nothing--that I wanted to buy there.
Vainglory
Mall
of the Emirates (home to an indoor ski slope, Ski Dubai), has it all and more. We
boarded a double-decker bus for a daylong tour of Dubai’s main sights, for another
shot of how quickly the place has grown. First, we went out toward the
traditional parts of the old city (the Souk) but it was a tourist trap. I still
had fun sparring with the street touts. Very hot on the tour bus. The air
conditioning was underwhelming, and it got hot; 37 degrees out there. So we plugged
in the tour audio and watched the sites. Mostly amazing contemporary
architecture and everything “world’s largest.” Eight-lane highways driving at a fast clip. I had an interesting conversation with
a Nigerian guy working for the bus lines and he said he liked living in Dubai, but
it was expensive, and time went by quickly because it was all so "sleek." (What a neat word he used to capture the city's gloss.) The tourists keep coming and coming, he said.
Sloth
My
only recall of this was the remnants of our untouched breakfasts. Our hotel
room was a budget hotel apartment, just fine for our needs, but the continental
breakfasts were left mutilated on the plates in our room every day. Waste, to me,
is sloth, but...just plain inedible.
All told, we
reveled in the immensity of the city and its supersized persona. It is better than Vegas
for me, because what happened in Dubai did NOT stay in Dubai. It left
indelible memories on the Rising Family™.
