Greetings from Dubai.
Holy crap. Not that big of a deal so far…except it’s freakin insane. So yes, it’s actually a big deal here. Trying to actually get the grasp of what’s going on here in terms of construction, massiveness, sprawl, amount of people, or maybe the amount of “Americanization” even in an area of the world where I’d not expect to see this. I’m kinda obsessed with how much American shit is here. Fast food, automobiles, clothing, music, faux culture… In a few days or so I’m getting out of Dubai and heading into the deserts of the rest of United Arab Emirates and Oman and see some sand dunes, sheppards, hawk trainers, a non mall souk, off roading in a 4×4, kids with guns, you know, the normal day-to-day gnarly stuff. Papa Persia told me directly via Melika to stay out of Kish (Iran) so I might take his word. Unless I have an Iranian entourage that will take care of me.
This place is CRAZY - did I say that already? It’s literally the most hypocritical, kinda ridiculous but awesome, playground for the wealthiest people (Arabs) on the planet - which doesn’t necessarily make it cool…but keeps it interesting I walked around all day today, went to the beautiful beach, walked some more to the souk (but it was a wack souk - not authentic at all), stumbled upon some horrific boat show in the marina and saw what I thought was the most expensive superyachts - the yachts in the marina here had price tags of upwards of 50,000,000 Euro., crazy hotels ($700 a night??) the most expensive cars zipping up and down Jumeirah Beach Rd., the most expensive this, the most expensive that - whatever - mean while, the Mosques are blaring prayer - contrasting the new Puff Diddy/Mariah Carey songs coming out of these super wealthy prince-like kids’ Mercedes Benz with 20 inch “dubs.” Such a shock for that reason alone. Pizza Hut here, McDonalds here, K.F.C. inside a Starbucks inside a T.G.I.Fridays over there (nah, kidding). I swear that where I am is a mix of Newport Beach mixed with Miami mixed with Beverly Hills mixed with old Iranian and Saudi oil money mixed with tons of German tourists mixed with Las Vegas mixed with the Upper West side snobbery mixed with Disneyland and a sprinkle/dash/pinch of slave like workers from Bangladesh, India and Malaysia. I must say, this city/country’s people have been very welcoming and very warm and open. But I’m starting to think that with a overall population made up of 80% of ex-pats, along with countless amounts of tourists, we (they) have completely tarnished what U.A.E. once had - culture wise. From what some neo-local’s have said, the U.A.E. is doing a good job of weening itself off of it’s oil money and instead opting for other means of capital. And in fact, the U.A.E. wants Dubai to be THE world hub, not A world hub - which makes sense that all this construction is happening not now, but right now.
p.s. There’s a Tony Roma’s rib joint here. Not sure why that’s so funny to me, but it is.
p.p.s. There’s also a freakin ski slope in a mall. You can pay to ski, in the desert, in a mall. Not weird at all.
p.p.p.s. Dubai’s customs was a breeze. Don’t even worry about it.
p.p.p.p.s. T.G.I.Fridays here are called Where It’s Always Friday - I think because of the “God” in T.G.I.F.
Sorry, I’m so crazy over the Americana awfulness here.
I guess that’s really it for today. Kinda soaking it all in. Another update tomorrow with nicer pictures and not so much American shit to look at.
TAGS:
India,
Iran,
kids,
Las Vegas,
Malaysia,
mariah carey,
Mosque,
Music,
NSA,
Pizza,
war
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