Birth of a City...
We just left the extremely rich port of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The ship had 2 days there, but I really only had an evening and a day because of in port manning. We were settled on the Persian Gulf in the Emirate of Dubai. There are 7 Emirates and Dubai is the second largest of them. Although after all I heard on the second day from our guides, I'm surprised they didn't try and expand to become THE largest since everything there seems to be the largest in the world. The country is very rich and not on oil as I expected. 
The guide said that only 10% really comes from oil, but the main source of income is tourism and trade. He also said that in 10 – 15 years oil will not be but a fraction of a percentage of the income. Our first day there as I said was a wash. I spent the day on board occasionally looking out at the hazy city. It's situated on a stretch of desert and with all the winds the desert can be a hazy place. It can also get VERY hot here as we found out later that this was pretty much the end of their tourist season. It was a hot one out today. Whew! Not so humid though, which was very nice. It came in handy for the evening. Everyone was making their evening plans and the 3 of us stuck on board thought it might be easier than we thought to swap out with some of the musicians that had to come back and play sets in the lounges until midnight. This was not true since there was the prosperity of phones and e-mail just off in the cruise terminal and everyone wanted to take advantage of that when they got off their shifts. The frustration began. It turns out our musical director was a bit under the weather and couldn't go out so I was able to swap with him, but this left 2 others stranded. For 3 hours we tried to find a swap and we finally did. Now the obstacle was that the computers in the Cruise Director's office were down and we couldn't get to the security program. We scrambled for another hour trying to find a computer and we finally did around 10:00pm. The girls rushed to get ready to head out for the evening and we were off!! Woo hoo! Five of us crammed into a cab (illegally I might add). The cab driver seemed a bit clueless anyway and kind enough to carry five. He only knew of a few places to go out despite the fact we had a destination in mind. He just didn't know what we were talking about. This put us at a disadvantage since we didn't get out in the day and find out all the details. We took him up on one of HIS recommendations and went to this hotel with a club in the back. The club was called the Snake Bite. All the hotels along the way were very reminiscent of the hotels you might find on the strip of Las Vegas. They were all big, flashy, and expensive. I had a night view and it looked like the area was just getting built up. We plopped into this club in back that by the standards of the other hotels would be a Motel 6 with a bar in the back. Everyone was dressed up though and there WAS a dress code in place. We paid our cover, which gave us one free watered down drink. As soon as we walked in I felt the incredible sensation of lurking eyes. Yes, it was all the women in the bar. There were 3 men in the group and all of a sudden we were being watched with HUNGRY eyes. It wasn't a normal curiosity of the women for new folk walking into a club, it was a definite desire. I suddenly felt like I should be on a hook ready to be fired up on the barbeque. It was packed and suddenly I was being fondled and watched with such intensity. I looked around and noticed that the ratio was a bit off. There were more women than men in the bar. All the men were dressed mainly in suits or fancy name-brand clothing. One of our guys had a suit on (since that was all he said he brought for going out) and he was already in conversation with a woman who was stroking his hair and getting really close. Suddenly a bell went off in my head. This was no ordinary bar. This was a bar of working women. I began to chuckle. The band was great. It was a girl band and they were rockin'. The place had the atmosphere of the Coyote Ugly bar in Las Vegas. It was well themed and it had 2 levels with pool tables up top. We decided to get out of the crowded area with our watery drinks and go upstairs. As we looked down upon the crowd we noticed that this was simply a whorehouse. It was packed with prostitutes. Some tactfully dressed and others like one we were laughing at in particular just busting out of everything. The ladies in our group were feeling a little uncomfortable and we, the men folk, started to feel the watchful eyes as well. We decided to get out of there and find the club we originally wanted. We found a cabbie that would take us there. It was called Trilogy. It was situated on Jumeirah Beach in the Souk Madinat Jumeirah. There was a VIP line, limos, and plenty of people mulling around in their best. As we pulled up, it was like pulling into a castle. We managed to get through the VIP line and right up to the ticket counter where we paid our $25 entrance fee. 
Whoa!! No free drinks with this one, but we later learned that this was THE place to be in Dubai tonight. The place was all decked out since this was the club's season ending party. Everyone and anyone was here. Guest DJs and everything. There was Persian music pumping in the background and the place was just alive. We walked through the front door decked out with balloons and a red carpet. As soon as we got to the main area there was the grand dance floor. It was an open space with a domed red ceiling. Stained glass windows surrounded the dome. The second level was a walkway with 5 private "bubbles." These caged glass bubbles were outfitted with couches, tables, and bottle service. To get into such a unique environment would run you about $1,000 U.S. dollars. Whoa!! The first floor was the dance floor and it was hopping. The whole place had a great vibe and it looked like we were in an old Persian castle. It was fabulous!!! We danced the night away until 3:00am having a blast and trying to blend in by singing along to the local Persian pop songs. Mind you we spoke no Arabic, but we were having a ball just trying to and cheering at all the right moments. I even got a phone number from a local guy there by the evening's end when they turned on all the lights (Muhammad). Ha ha!! We straggled back to the ship to end our evening since we had a day of touring the next day.
The next day I dragged myself out of bed in the early morning and then woke up my traveling partners (who I found out went to bed later than I did). We finally got rolling around 11:00am and were off in Dubai. We took the free shuttle to the Burjuman Mall in the center of the city. This mall was pristine beyond belief and had many a name brand like Gucci, Prada, Dolce Gabana, DKNY, Saks Fifth Avenue, Cartier, and on and on. It was so rich I felt underdressed to be there. We had a little bite to eat to satiate our stomachs and put a coating on after the bingeful drinking the night before. We took the Big Bus City Tour, which is a double decker bus that takes you to various spots around Dubai. The city tour had things like Souks (local shopping markets), museums, and points of interest on it and the beach tour had other points of interest and a tour of the development of the resorts in Dubai. We opted for the beach tour since that would take us to the famous Buraj Al Arab building.
This is a SEVEN star hotel noted for it's interesting architecture. It represents a sail and it sits on a manmade island just off the coast. You have to have a reservation for dinner 3 days in advance just to get into the place to visit (or be a guest there at $800/night minimum) and you have to be dressed in slacks, shirt, and jacket to walk the premises. The clientele is exclusive and the hotel protects the client's privacy. So we traveled on the upper deck of the bus in the open elements along the beach. The first stop was The Jumeirah Mosque. The official religion of Dubai is Islam, but other religions are welcome. This particular mosque has an open door and open mind policy, which was nice to hear. En route to the sight where we could view the famous and noted symbol of Dubai (the Burj Al Arab Hotel) we passed by the World Islands. These are manmade islands constructed to look like the globe just off the coast in the Persian Gulf. You can purchase an island for roughly $400 million dollars. The only way you can get to these islands is with your private helicopter or yacht. I made a down payment on Australia with my pocket change. Just a small $100 million. NOT!!! Evidently Rod Stewart already purchased the U.K. Island for the said $400 million. Once you own an island you can build whatever you want on it (resorts, private residences, golf club, etc.) and you're your own president of that island. Amazing. We went on to see the noted hotel and took some pictures. We also passed by the souk were dancing at just the night before. It looked even more spectacular in daylight. En route I noticed that practically every building or at least 90% of them are under construction. I've never seen a city being born like this one. They said that just 3 years ago where we were driving it was nothing but open desert. Now it's a thriving populous community with huge skyscrapers in process gracing the landscape. En route we passed by 2 sights where the "8th wonder of the world" (they proclaim) is being built. It's the Palm hotels. There are 3 sights along the coast and each one is so detailed and large. These huge resort/residences spread out into the gulf in such a way that from above they look like a palm leaf. It will be the largest resort complex in the world and manmade bunch of islands once it's completed. I couldn't believe it. 
As we traveled on down the beach several hotels and resort complexes were in the process of being built. All of them had a unique architecture and complimented the Burj Al Arab Hotel. We started heading back after seeing areas under complete construction and entered into the city area where the construction of the Burj Dubai is underway. This will be the tallest skyscraper in the world once it's completed. Around it were several other buildings that were in the process of being constructed as well. We also passed the world's largest gold and diamond park and the world's largest shopping mall with an indoor ski facility (the mall of Emirates). 
It seems like they want everything to be the world's largest here. En route back to our beginning destination we also passed Media City, which was also in the process of being built and had offices for the many TV, radio, and newspaper businesses here. Also there was internet city where IBM, Windows, Canon, and various other computer big wigs have set up camp. The city itself has some very unique and interesting architecture. It's like an open-air museum of buildings. An Architect's wet dream. We finally arrived back at the Burjuman Mall where we stayed for the rest of the evening. We wandered into stores, but I was just overwhelmed by the wealth that's here. We caught some dinner at this nice noodle place (the Noodle House) that had a great atmosphere before we headed back to the ship in a cab. The free shuttle stopped running at 5:00pm, but no worries since the cabs are required by law to use their meters. So no haggling with prices and it was fairly cheap. A mere $3 U.S. I was exhausted by the end of the day and we still had a rehearsal to get through. Wow is all that needs to be said.
The guide said that only 10% really comes from oil, but the main source of income is tourism and trade. He also said that in 10 – 15 years oil will not be but a fraction of a percentage of the income. Our first day there as I said was a wash. I spent the day on board occasionally looking out at the hazy city. It's situated on a stretch of desert and with all the winds the desert can be a hazy place. It can also get VERY hot here as we found out later that this was pretty much the end of their tourist season. It was a hot one out today. Whew! Not so humid though, which was very nice. It came in handy for the evening. Everyone was making their evening plans and the 3 of us stuck on board thought it might be easier than we thought to swap out with some of the musicians that had to come back and play sets in the lounges until midnight. This was not true since there was the prosperity of phones and e-mail just off in the cruise terminal and everyone wanted to take advantage of that when they got off their shifts. The frustration began. It turns out our musical director was a bit under the weather and couldn't go out so I was able to swap with him, but this left 2 others stranded. For 3 hours we tried to find a swap and we finally did. Now the obstacle was that the computers in the Cruise Director's office were down and we couldn't get to the security program. We scrambled for another hour trying to find a computer and we finally did around 10:00pm. The girls rushed to get ready to head out for the evening and we were off!! Woo hoo! Five of us crammed into a cab (illegally I might add). The cab driver seemed a bit clueless anyway and kind enough to carry five. He only knew of a few places to go out despite the fact we had a destination in mind. He just didn't know what we were talking about. This put us at a disadvantage since we didn't get out in the day and find out all the details. We took him up on one of HIS recommendations and went to this hotel with a club in the back. The club was called the Snake Bite. All the hotels along the way were very reminiscent of the hotels you might find on the strip of Las Vegas. They were all big, flashy, and expensive. I had a night view and it looked like the area was just getting built up. We plopped into this club in back that by the standards of the other hotels would be a Motel 6 with a bar in the back. Everyone was dressed up though and there WAS a dress code in place. We paid our cover, which gave us one free watered down drink. As soon as we walked in I felt the incredible sensation of lurking eyes. Yes, it was all the women in the bar. There were 3 men in the group and all of a sudden we were being watched with HUNGRY eyes. It wasn't a normal curiosity of the women for new folk walking into a club, it was a definite desire. I suddenly felt like I should be on a hook ready to be fired up on the barbeque. It was packed and suddenly I was being fondled and watched with such intensity. I looked around and noticed that the ratio was a bit off. There were more women than men in the bar. All the men were dressed mainly in suits or fancy name-brand clothing. One of our guys had a suit on (since that was all he said he brought for going out) and he was already in conversation with a woman who was stroking his hair and getting really close. Suddenly a bell went off in my head. This was no ordinary bar. This was a bar of working women. I began to chuckle. The band was great. It was a girl band and they were rockin'. The place had the atmosphere of the Coyote Ugly bar in Las Vegas. It was well themed and it had 2 levels with pool tables up top. We decided to get out of the crowded area with our watery drinks and go upstairs. As we looked down upon the crowd we noticed that this was simply a whorehouse. It was packed with prostitutes. Some tactfully dressed and others like one we were laughing at in particular just busting out of everything. The ladies in our group were feeling a little uncomfortable and we, the men folk, started to feel the watchful eyes as well. We decided to get out of there and find the club we originally wanted. We found a cabbie that would take us there. It was called Trilogy. It was situated on Jumeirah Beach in the Souk Madinat Jumeirah. There was a VIP line, limos, and plenty of people mulling around in their best. As we pulled up, it was like pulling into a castle. We managed to get through the VIP line and right up to the ticket counter where we paid our $25 entrance fee. 
Whoa!! No free drinks with this one, but we later learned that this was THE place to be in Dubai tonight. The place was all decked out since this was the club's season ending party. Everyone and anyone was here. Guest DJs and everything. There was Persian music pumping in the background and the place was just alive. We walked through the front door decked out with balloons and a red carpet. As soon as we got to the main area there was the grand dance floor. It was an open space with a domed red ceiling. Stained glass windows surrounded the dome. The second level was a walkway with 5 private "bubbles." These caged glass bubbles were outfitted with couches, tables, and bottle service. To get into such a unique environment would run you about $1,000 U.S. dollars. Whoa!! The first floor was the dance floor and it was hopping. The whole place had a great vibe and it looked like we were in an old Persian castle. It was fabulous!!! We danced the night away until 3:00am having a blast and trying to blend in by singing along to the local Persian pop songs. Mind you we spoke no Arabic, but we were having a ball just trying to and cheering at all the right moments. I even got a phone number from a local guy there by the evening's end when they turned on all the lights (Muhammad). Ha ha!! We straggled back to the ship to end our evening since we had a day of touring the next day. The next day I dragged myself out of bed in the early morning and then woke up my traveling partners (who I found out went to bed later than I did). We finally got rolling around 11:00am and were off in Dubai. We took the free shuttle to the Burjuman Mall in the center of the city. This mall was pristine beyond belief and had many a name brand like Gucci, Prada, Dolce Gabana, DKNY, Saks Fifth Avenue, Cartier, and on and on. It was so rich I felt underdressed to be there. We had a little bite to eat to satiate our stomachs and put a coating on after the bingeful drinking the night before. We took the Big Bus City Tour, which is a double decker bus that takes you to various spots around Dubai. The city tour had things like Souks (local shopping markets), museums, and points of interest on it and the beach tour had other points of interest and a tour of the development of the resorts in Dubai. We opted for the beach tour since that would take us to the famous Buraj Al Arab building.
This is a SEVEN star hotel noted for it's interesting architecture. It represents a sail and it sits on a manmade island just off the coast. You have to have a reservation for dinner 3 days in advance just to get into the place to visit (or be a guest there at $800/night minimum) and you have to be dressed in slacks, shirt, and jacket to walk the premises. The clientele is exclusive and the hotel protects the client's privacy. So we traveled on the upper deck of the bus in the open elements along the beach. The first stop was The Jumeirah Mosque. The official religion of Dubai is Islam, but other religions are welcome. This particular mosque has an open door and open mind policy, which was nice to hear. En route to the sight where we could view the famous and noted symbol of Dubai (the Burj Al Arab Hotel) we passed by the World Islands. These are manmade islands constructed to look like the globe just off the coast in the Persian Gulf. You can purchase an island for roughly $400 million dollars. The only way you can get to these islands is with your private helicopter or yacht. I made a down payment on Australia with my pocket change. Just a small $100 million. NOT!!! Evidently Rod Stewart already purchased the U.K. Island for the said $400 million. Once you own an island you can build whatever you want on it (resorts, private residences, golf club, etc.) and you're your own president of that island. Amazing. We went on to see the noted hotel and took some pictures. We also passed by the souk were dancing at just the night before. It looked even more spectacular in daylight. En route I noticed that practically every building or at least 90% of them are under construction. I've never seen a city being born like this one. They said that just 3 years ago where we were driving it was nothing but open desert. Now it's a thriving populous community with huge skyscrapers in process gracing the landscape. En route we passed by 2 sights where the "8th wonder of the world" (they proclaim) is being built. It's the Palm hotels. There are 3 sights along the coast and each one is so detailed and large. These huge resort/residences spread out into the gulf in such a way that from above they look like a palm leaf. It will be the largest resort complex in the world and manmade bunch of islands once it's completed. I couldn't believe it. 
As we traveled on down the beach several hotels and resort complexes were in the process of being built. All of them had a unique architecture and complimented the Burj Al Arab Hotel. We started heading back after seeing areas under complete construction and entered into the city area where the construction of the Burj Dubai is underway. This will be the tallest skyscraper in the world once it's completed. Around it were several other buildings that were in the process of being constructed as well. We also passed the world's largest gold and diamond park and the world's largest shopping mall with an indoor ski facility (the mall of Emirates). 
It seems like they want everything to be the world's largest here. En route back to our beginning destination we also passed Media City, which was also in the process of being built and had offices for the many TV, radio, and newspaper businesses here. Also there was internet city where IBM, Windows, Canon, and various other computer big wigs have set up camp. The city itself has some very unique and interesting architecture. It's like an open-air museum of buildings. An Architect's wet dream. We finally arrived back at the Burjuman Mall where we stayed for the rest of the evening. We wandered into stores, but I was just overwhelmed by the wealth that's here. We caught some dinner at this nice noodle place (the Noodle House) that had a great atmosphere before we headed back to the ship in a cab. The free shuttle stopped running at 5:00pm, but no worries since the cabs are required by law to use their meters. So no haggling with prices and it was fairly cheap. A mere $3 U.S. I was exhausted by the end of the day and we still had a rehearsal to get through. Wow is all that needs to be said.
posted by Chris | 8:52 AM
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