Take enough long flights and you’ll eventually end up in Dubai. As Atlanta is to the USA, Dubai is to the world. A center of connections from East to West and back again, Dubai is a place many people pass through on their way to somewhere else. But as we discovered during a 4 day visit in between Turkey and Nepal, Dubai is a destination unto itself. Beaches, the world’s tallest building, desert excursions, Michelin-star restaurants, museums, and a mishmash of cultures from all over the world, Dubai is worth your time. Just make sure you have dirhams to burn and a lot of sunscreen for the moments you aren’t in arctic air-conditioned spaces.
From Fish to Fabulous
Dubai is one of seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates. Dubai’s main claim to fame to the outside world is the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. The massive construction boom that has been going on for a few decades has produced a city that seems like it came directly from a cyberpunk novel set in the desert, with the Burj as the jewel in a crown of futuristic buildings.
It wasn’t always like this. Dubai existed as a small fishing village as far back as the early 18th century. It grew over the next century to a trading outpost, taking advantage of its geographically strategic location. It did business with Iran, the UK, and other power players of the region, growing steadily all the while. But compared to places like London, Paris, and New York, it was barely a blip on the radar. By 1950, only 50,000 people lived there. Now, it’s over 3 million.
So how did Dubai end up like this? The answer isn’t just oil, as many people (including myself before visiting) believe. Today tourism, trade, and industry make up far more of Dubai’s economy while oil represents only about 1 percent of the total GDP. Much of what made Dubai the city it is today was the foresight and planning of Sheikh Rashid, who ruled Dubai from 1958 to 1990.
In 1966 oil was discovered off the coast of Dubai, and although the amount was small compared to what was discovered in neighboring Abu Dhabi, it was enough to jump start Sheikh Rashid’s development plans for the emirate. Construction accelerated, workers were shipped in, hotels were built, and in 1971 Dubai united with the other emirates to form the UAE. Time marched on, and by the 90’s oil revenue had started to be replaced with the aforementioned tourism, trade, and industry.
Of course, nothing comes for free and buildings don’t construct themselves. Part of the reason Dubai was able to bootstrap itself into global relevance was an intentional decision to import millions of migrant workers. The current demographics of the UAE and by extension Dubai are a shock, at least to me: just over 10 percent of the population are native Emiratis, and the rest are expatriates. Of those expats, almost 30 percent are from India, 12 from Pakistan, 7 from Bangladesh, 5 from the Philippines, and it goes on. This is not an accident. In order to create those massive buildings, a cheap and plentiful labor source was needed. Visas to the UAE are sold in countries like India for thousands of dollars, which upon arrival to the UAE must be paid off before making money to send home. Rent must be paid as well, and workers are essentially at the mercy of their employers. If you mess up, you get sent home in debt and worse off than when you left. This is the reality for many of these migrant workers - leave a terrible situation at home and hope your gamble to make money in Dubai pays off. For some, it does, and for others, it doesn’t. The debate over the morality of this practice rages on, and will probably continue for as long as Dubai utilizes these foreign workers.
In addition to the workers, this level of efficiency also doesn’t come with a full democracy or freedom of the press. In order for something like the Burj to be built in 6 years, red tape and long deliberations are not an option. When you come to live and work in Dubai, whether as a construction worker, a maid, a project manager, or even a VP, you understand that this is not a paradise, despite appearances from afar. This is a city where people come to make money and to spend it. It’s not perfect by a long shot, but it’s hard to argue with the results. As a New Yorker I immediately thought of the Second Avenue Subway while walking through Dubai. It was first proposed in 1920 and the first phase with just three stations was completed in 2017. This kind of project would take Dubai about 1-2 years, maximum.
Sand and Steel
But what is there to do in Dubai besides gaze upon the glory of the Burj Khalifa? As it turns out, quite a lot. Money definitely talks in Dubai, so although there are plenty of things to see for free, most tourists will find themselves spending a few dirhams in pursuit of fun. Our highest rolling moment of the trip so far was when we bought two beers for 30 dollars at a bar with a view of the light and water fountain show in front of the Burj. Alcohol comes at a premium in Dubai, so best to stay dry if you are on a budget.
The Burj Khalifa - Tallest building in the world, and not by a small margin. The Burj is 828m while the next tallest is 679m. For all those proud Americans reading this, our tallest building is One World Trade at a pitiful 541m (yes, it’s 1776 feet tall). The Burj has an impressive light show I already mentioned, but the real thrill is just spotting this monument to humanity’s ambition (and perhaps arrogance) from up close, from the plane, from the metro, from anywhere in the city. As a bonus if you look closely you can see Tom Cruise hanging out most days.
Dubai Mall - Yes, one of the top destinations here is a mall. And before you scoff at that, allow me to tell you some of the things you can do inside this shopping mall - ice skate, go to an aquarium, land a plane in a flight simulator, experience a haunted house, ride a go-kart, eat anything you can imagine, buy anything you can imagine, and of course, spend 30 dollars on two beers. It also contains some of the best people watching possible, since you will see people from every nation aimlessly wandering the air-conditioned corridors.
Old Dubai/Dubai Creek/Gold Souk - This is where you go to get a glimpse of a more chaotic Dubai, something a bit closer to the past and connected to the old roots of a fishing village and trading post. You can start by walking to the piers and catching a ride on a rickety abra that will cost you about 1 dollar. For those counting, that means you could get 30 ferry rides for two beers. Cross the creek to the Old Souk, and leisurely make your way to the Gold Souk, exploring the Spice Souk, the Perfume Souk, and any other Souk that strikes your fancy. Maybe skip the Plastic Couch Cover Souk if you are short on time. You’ll be immediately marked as a tourist and heckled/wooed from various merchants selling a variety of odds and ends. I got a lot of “Holas” and “Italiano!” but my favorite was “Hey, Jack Sparrow, come here!” Buy something if you want, but be sure to at least attempt to haggle, and end your evening with a meal at one of the various hole in the wall Indian restaurants that you can find in the many side alleys leading off from the main souk.
Palm Jumeirah - Dubai is sometimes a bit over the top with its construction projects, and the Palm Jumeirah may be the most over the top project in all of Dubai (for now). The Palm Jumeirah is an artificial island in the shape of a giant palm tree. It’s roughly 5km by 5km, about 10k people live there, and it has its own monorail. Of course, the main draw is seeing it from the air, but visiting it in person is worth your time, if only to marvel at how such a thing can even exist. You can visit the beach, go to a waterpark, and if you are really adventurous like us you can walk into a 5 star hotel like you own the place and wander around until someone very politely kicks you out.
Sand Dunes - I hesitate to fully recommend this activity, but if you go into it knowing what you’ll get, it’s still fun. You’ll get picked up at your accommodation by a driver and unceremoniously be packed into an SUV with other tourists. You’ll drive out of the city and for me, this is almost worth the price of admission to see how quickly Dubai goes from concrete and glass to sand dunes. Once you reach the biggest dunes, near the border with Oman, the driver will stop at a gas station, let some air out of the tires, and gun it up the nearest dune. This is by far the most fun you’ll have on this tour. After twenty minutes or so of “dune bashing”, you’ll stop at a dune crest, where you can watch the sunset and ride a sandboard down a dune. You’ll notice hordes of tourists all around you on different dunes, and little eddies of empty water bottles and trash caught up in the depressions in the sand. If you’re lucky, your driver will choose to pee with the SUV door blocking your line of sight. It’s a tourist trap, but if you’ve never seen a real sand dune it’s worth the trip.
The Human Element
This is anything but a comprehensive list of activities and sights to see. We only had four days, and this is a city of over 3 million people. The other much more exciting thing we got to experience in Dubai was the hospitality of people who lived there, in particular the parents of a good friend of mine, Afsana and Goulam. I had met them several times in passing at the hockey rink, as they watched their son Ali play. In fact, I saw them so frequently I assumed they must live in NYC, but it turns out they make their home in Dubai. So when we made plans to spend a few days in Dubai they very graciously offered for us to stay with them, on very short notice.
In between our expeditions across the city we would have breakfast with Afsana and Goulam, and chat in the evenings. We were even invited to a dinner party with their friends, where we got to meet a fascinating group of people from many different countries who all choose to live and work in Dubai. During our time together we got to know more about Afsana and Goulam.
Afsana and Laura had several conversations about the non-profit Afsana founded and runs, which is based in Madagascar and is called Wings of Change. Both Afsana and Goulam were born in Madagascar, so they retain a strong connection to that country. Wings of Change does a lot, but in a nutshell it serves underprivileged youth from the local community in Nosy Be by training them in English language skills as well as tourism development and the hotel industry. In a city like Dubai, where everyone seems to come from somewhere else, we saw firsthand how important it was to maintain connections with your country of origin.
Goulam gave us a great rundown on why he and Afsana chose to move to Dubai 20 years ago, and why he thinks the city will continue to grow and prosper. I think the easiest way to understand these things is to show and not tell, and this is exactly what he did one evening when he handed us a small book. It was a reproduction of the very first telephone book for the city of Dubai. It was from 1961, and there were only a few hundred subscribers in the entire city. For comparison, New York City’s first telephone book came out in 1877. We leafed through that small book, then looked out the window. Skyscrapers dominate the horizon wherever you look in Dubai, lighting up the night sky for miles along the coast. Planes land constantly at DBX, the busiest international airport in the world. The Dubai Metro, built in 3 years and finished in 2009, runs along the track in the distance past a superhighway that didn’t exist at all when I was born. Whatever your opinion of Dubai, the enormity and sheer audacity of what has been done here in a few decades is undeniable. To go from a fishing village to a megalopolis in less than one generation is unheard of, and that little phone book shows how quickly things can change.
In the end, we were both very glad we chose to spend some time in Dubai instead of immediately transiting to Nepal. Seeing the city itself was a delight, but as always, getting to know the people was the true highlight.
Fascinating! Dubai sounds and looks in your photos like Las Vegas on steroids!