Dubai – New Dubai - Flickr Slideshow

Dubai – Old Dubai and The Creek - Flickr Slideshow

Dubai – People on Our Trip - Flickr Slideshow

Dubai – Hotels and Hotel Decor - Flickr Slideshow

Animoto Video:

Related posts:

1. Dubai – The Old, The New, and The Trip – In Rants
2. Our Trip to Karachi, Pakistan
3. Our November ’09 Trip to Southern California

So what was my impression in our short, two-day sojourn through this parched land of mega skyscrapers? Well let’s just say that my expectations weren’t that high so they were in fact, exceeded. Gaudi decided to build the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, which is truly a wonder not only because it’s beautiful but also because  of the sheer gall that anyone could ever even contemplate such a project. Maybe the same will be said about some of the “projects” in Dubai someday? Then again…maybe not. It’s not that I don’t believe Dubai is impressive in many ways. Some of the architecture is quite interesting simply because in a wealthy autocracy there are no limits as to what can be done and no committees and hoops for architects to jump through, and plenty of cheap labor that can work all the time – Oh, I mean only when the temperature is “below 50 degrees celcius”. It’s more like Sheik says “Jump” and they do.

Abandon Car in Dubai

Well as we all know, there was a little too much jumping in Dubai, which resulted in its current bankrupt state. What would have been the Burj Dubai is now the Burj Khalifa thanks to the head of Abu Dhabi who bailed the builders out so it could be finished. Was it worth it? I kind of think so. After all, even the Empire State building was in debt and not full when it was finally finished. And we couldn’t imagine life without it now.  The Burj Khalifa is a wildly impressive structure that can be seen from just about anywhere miles away. It gives the illusion that you’re quite close when in fact you could be very far away from it. Despite how much our friend Savio wanted us to visit the “top” (the observation deck is on the 124th floor of 160 habitable floors. There are another 46 floors that can only be used for maintenance because of the building’s telescopic shape), we decided not to because of rumored 2 1/2 hour lines and 2 straight hazy days.

What about The Palm? Well, let’s just say that with the Burj Khalifa, they got it right. The Palm? A monorail that is not connected to the rest of Dubai’s metro that only has one stop at the end (Atlantis)? I guess it’s smart that they built that because of all the poor people who visit (or live in) Dubai who can’t afford a taxi out to the very reasonably priced Atlantis resort would be able to take the monorail? And what about the fact that there’s no way back to the “mainland” from the crescents on the sides except for the main truck of The Palm. Well, I guess this makes sense because people would naturally want to drive back through the trunk to see all of the individually unique condos and homes built along the way (not a single one alike)… The Palm? Really?

My Dooby Dislikes:

• Just about everything is new
• Too much shopping
• Alcohol is only permitted in hotel restaurants (unless snuck in)
• Droves of ex-pats tending to congregate together  – I would to!
• The existence of The Palm
• The Fake Twin Chrysler Buildings
• Draconian measures to keep people from speeding

My Dooby Likes:

• The Burj Khalifa
• Many other fascinating buildings architecturally
• The Dubai Creek
• The fact that you can send an SMS to extend your parking
• The climate – in January!
• The fact that it’s situated in a great part of the world for traveling
• Cool arab design elements everywhere
• The male swarth factor is off the charts
• Very cool (surprisingly not all tacky) luxury hotels with fantastic decor
• The wind tunnel cooling system in the museum area
• The Lebanese food
• Wafi Gourmet’s dates
• Cool lunar desert landscape to play in (see us dune-buggy riding in the photos)
• Everything, and I mean everything, is clean
• Lamcy Plaza
• Beautiful Mosques
• Hilla, Ankur, and Eric (how cool they are in every way)

So, I think that all in all, there are more Dooby Likes than Dooby Dislikes. This will make Adi very happy

But what is my absolute favorite thing about Dubai?

This cool Costa Coffee Cup, bought at Dubai Airport.

I bought a cup of coffee when transiting in Dubai on the way to Karachi at Costa Coffee in the airport. Despite the beginning of my jet lag I noticed that the cup has one of the coolest designs I’d ever seen, a fact that I’m sure went unnoticed by Senor Khalifa. This cup has wavy ridges built into it so that the coffee drinker does not burn her hands AND doesn’t have to put on one of those “jackets” since it’s built into the cup. Efficient. Cool. Environmental. (I know some will disagree with that but what the heck) Cost Effective? I don’t know. But regardless, it’s cool. So the design of this cup is my absolute favorite thing about Dubai.

Oh wait a minute…. Isn’t Costa Coffee a British chain?

Thanks for reading: Dubai – The Old, The New, and The Trip – in Rants. Now check out Dubai – The Old, The New, and The Trip – in Photos!

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The Cloverfield

Adi and I had a fantastic trip with our son Romeo on our trip to Washington DC and Virginia Beach. We owe a big thanks to Marc and Narges for letting us travel in style in their BMW and for being able to use their Garmin GPS device to navigate through the highways in Virginia Beach and the roundabouts in DC.

Romeo was not happy at first being in his crate in the back seat of the car but he did get used to it. After 20 minutes of whimpering, he fell asleep thanks to the doggy-sedative we gave him. He seemed to enjoy walking around on the grass at the rest areas but didn’t seem to do his business until we arrived at our destinations.

We had a short and quick visit with Xerxes and Eric. Above you’ll see their apartment building. We were very comfortable on their sofa bed in their very nicely-sized one-bedroom apartment in the Columbia Heights area of DC. Luckily we found a parking space right next to the building. We had a nice dinner and yogurt afterwards (of course) and then a great breakfast at “The Diner” the next morning before we left for our traffic-filled day.

The second leg of the journey was by far the least pleasant because of the traffic. It seemed to be endless rows of cars but I guess that’s to be expected for the day before July 4th. We left DC at 12:30 and arrived in Chesapeake at 7:30, which was about 2 hours longer than we expected it would take. But we enjoyed Jim’s and Sandy’s great hospitality and our cute little apartment behind their house. Thank you Nicole for letting us stay in our place.

It was so great to finally meet Angell and Makala. It was all “happening so fast” as Patty would say so I didn’t take as many photos of Makala as I would have liked to. We really enjoyed their hospitality and had a great swim at their pool on July 4th. That evening we had dinner at a seafood restaurant on the beach and I was naughty and enjoyed a completely fried meal: seafood combo. Here is the highlight quote from Patty (before ordering her meal):

“Is this fish fresh or is it from Costco?”

On Sunday July 5th, we took a trip to Williamsburg but unfortunately, most of the experience looked like this:

Rain

However, we managed to have a great time visiting anyway, even if it was just chatting in the car or taking a shuttle bus to a place to have lunch in Williamsburg. So much for Scattered showers!

Here are some photos from our trip:

Now if you’ve got something to say, don’t reply to the e-mail, leave me a comment!

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