"Alladin's Cave" a Dubai Travel Page by Ramonq

This is one up and coming city to watch. Dubai has literally mushroomed from the desert sands utterly astounding the rest of the world with its dizzying frenzy to modernise. From a third-rate backwater fishing village along the Persian Gulf, Dubai has been transformed into a modern cosmopolitan international playground for the vulgar noveau-riche; and a place to gawk at and shop for the ordinary tourists . Like Las Vegas, the desert city is fashioning itself as a consumerist destination for business and particularly for pleasure. It is currently one big construction site with cranes dominating the skyline and trucks hauling building materials everywhere, but as soon as the dust settles, Dubai will become a truly global city, albeit an artificial one. The city is unashamedly ambitious, constructing some of the world's superlative endeavours such as the tallest building, the largest shopping mall, largest man made island and at the same time, hosting some of the most exciting glamorous events such as the Dubai World Cup horse racing carnivale, the Dubai Formal One and even tennis and yachting tournaments attracting big name stars.

Not a bad feat considering that back in the 1970's Dubai was a one horse (or rather donkey) dusty town with nothing much to see or do except watch a falconer. How did Dubai do it? Oil for starters, and a most liberal capitalist system in the Middle East. To have not just one, or two, but three gargantuan man-made islands shaped like a palm tree, is a testament to Dubai's liberal embrace of crass commercialism. Dubai now even has a group of islands shaped like a world map and you can only appreciate this from Google Earth or from outer space.

The statistics are jaw-dropping. The world's largest shopping mall named the "Mall of Dubai" will take several days to cover. Now that's what I call shop till you drop. The tallest skyscraper, "Burj al Arab", exceeds half a kilometre high. Dubai will have the largest hotel in the world with 6000 rooms! Clearly this town has plans to become the world's number 1 tourist destination. WhenI was passing through the business district of Sheikh Sayed Rd, I was awestruck by the sight of rows of very tall skyscrapers on both sides with capricious and whimsical architecture similar to those seen in Shanghai or Qingdao. More are being built around the Marina and even more around the man made islands. One questions the sustainability of these projects, as Dubai is built on a desert with very little water. Dubai is the world's thirstiest city consuming more water per capita. Most of its water is desalinated from the sea which is very costly to maintain.

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Jumeira Mosque

Dubai culture

Who constructed this city? Thousands of migrants from the subcontinent were brought in to frenetically build Dubai's infrastructures. Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladehis make up a majority of the construction labour market. Filipinos, Chinese and Koreans service the shops and restaurants in Dubai while many European and American expats manage the service industries. Dubai is a melting pot where 60% of its population are non-Emiratis. Emiratis are a minority in their own country but the natives are very well taken care of by the Emirates government.

Because of the multi-ethnic population, Dubai has a cosmopolitan outlook. The contribution of the immigrants to the cultural milieu of Dubai is immediately felt whilst walking around the old city centre of Bur Dubai and Deira. Indian and Iranian music can be heard on the streets, Tagalog spoken around the shops, Chinese restaurants at street corner and Lebanese merchants selling gold at the souks to American expats and European tourists. It's the hodgepodge existence that makes Dubai unique in the Middle East. The Arab culture is diluted and Dubai is creating a new one. It is one big experiment in sociology and there's some friction between the conservative Islamic society and those of the muliticultural liberal secular ones. I found it strange to see women with faces covered in black veils promenading on the beach past bikini-clad sunbathing Western women.

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Clock Tower of Dubai

Exponential history

Since the dawn of civilisation from the time of the Mesopotamian and Persian empires, Dubai had been a sleepy trading seaport. It mainly traded in pearls and the port was a stopover for dhows that ply the route along the Persian Gulf. The Umayyads converted the local population into Islam. For centuries, very little progress touched the city, however, the Sultans had some power struggles with the Europeans between the 18th and 20th centuries when Dubai fell under British control. When oil was discovered in 1966 and Dubai became the seventh emirate of the newly formed UAE in 1971, the incumbent Shaikh Rashid managed to forge an agreement with the other emirates to turn Dubai into bastion of free trade while Abu Dhabi as the political nerve. Shaikh Rashid was the founder of Dubai's success and modernisation. But when his son Shaikh Maktoum took the reins of power, Dubai went on overdrive and the city was experienced an unprecedented boom and has never looked back. The transformation may be over ambitious through unbridled capitalism. But capitalism switches between bull or bear runs. The challenge is will Dubai survive a recession?