Dubai

Dubai, Dubai, Dubai. They say Dubai is a city of contrast and I could not agree more. For my first day here I kept thinking, "It must really suck to have the best thing about your city be the airport." Which, in Dubai's case, does not mean much because Dubai International Airport is really cool. Cooler than many cities, in fact. But, I do not think that is what Dubai is going for; "Come to DBX, Stay in DBX, Leave from DBX" is not exactly "I Love New York." Still, I really hated the city at first.

I really cannot even put all my thoughts together on this city. It is bizzar here. Everything about it contradicts everything else. The city is bankrupt, but the public does not know. It seems like half of the buildings are still under construction and many have stagnant machinary sitting atop it. The city is prime for growth but there is no money. Sidewalks are unfinished. The construction workers appear to NEVER do anything other than sit around. In progress are three enormous projects: One, the Burg Dubai, which is/will be the tallest building in the world. I saw this thing, it is huge. And that is coming from somebody that has seen the Sears Tower all his life. This is easily the most complete of the three. Two, "The Lagoons," which is going to be a private community of the fantastically wealthy on a series of man-made lagoons, creating "an eternally romantic setting." Three, Dubailand. Yes, that atrocious name is going to be twice the size of Disney World in Orlando and be similar in that it will be family-orientated but disimilar in that they do not have Disney characters. Dubailand is in the end of its first stage, 2005-2010, and should be completed by 2015. Yep, you read that right.

Dubai, despite its location, is astoundingly green in color, because the city of 1.2 million consumes more than 250 millions gallons of water a day, or 208 gallons/person/day (Americans "only" consume 159 gallons a day). There are several water parks, countless fountains, and no regulation on water usage.

I have come to think of Dubai as high risk, high reward. The city is still young. In 25 years it will be completely different.

It seems that when people have an idea, they just act on it, and leave out that crucial step of critical thought. For example, there is a store I have passed many times that sells nothing but chair wheels, except most look decades old. How does that store seem like a good idea? "But that is just one store, a small sole proprietorship," you say. Well, the city itself opened a new Metro system on 09/09/09. The Metro is supposed to be a city transportation system, like the CTA in Chicago or the Tube in London, but it is more like the country-to-country trains in Europe. It seems to be great if you take it from one end to the other or your destination happens to be right next to a stop, but otherwise you are screwed because the other forms of transportation are unreliable (bus), expensive (taxi), infeasible (walking, because of the heat).

I am getting kicked out of the Internet cafe. More to come about Dubai (maybe).