Dubai - Part 3

This week, my friends, I'm in Dubai - part of the United Arab Emirates (see previous post here).
This is my third, and final day in Dubai.  I finished my meetings in the morning and decided I would make the most of my remaining time in this amazing city.  I determined that I wouldn't stop until I saw a bit more of the city before my flight left only 15 hours from that point.  I accomplished this with a combination of fast walking, taxis and not resting in any one place for more than a few minutes.  With that game plan in mind, let me warn you - this post will be long, with lots of pictures and video.  I shall continue...

I started near the famous Burj Al Arab hotel.  This monstrosity is huge, and in the shape of a ship's sail.  It's beautiful architecture, for sure.  At night, the white portions (below) are lit in a variety of colors.  Inside, is the world's only 7-star hotel.  It's a collection of just 200 suites.  Each comes with a butler.  The cheapest room is $2,000/night (I checked).  The biggest suite is around 800 sq. ft. and only costs $20K/night.

Next, I decided to try and see something that reflected the pre-oil days of Dubai.  Something closer to the Bedouin culture.  Only a few blocks away, was the summer "majlis" of the Dubai sheik, called Majlis Ghorfat.  A majlis is the greeting area in a Arabic house.  Greeting visitors is a BIG DEAL in Arabic culture.  This was an entire building used just for this purpose, by the sheik.  It was small, as this was built back in the 1940s, before the discovery of oil in the Arabian peninsula:

Inside the small building, was the actual greeting area.  It reminded me of some scenes in Lawrence of Arabia, where this area was inside of a Bedouin tent, in the desert:

The sheik sat at the far end of this room

In the next picture, you can see the irrigation system that was developed for this site.  This type of irrigation involved small canals that moved water around an entire estate.  Basically, a hold-over from thousands of years (click to enlarge).

Next, I wanted to get closer to one of the hundreds of mosques in the city.  The Jumeirah Mosque is the ONLY one that non-Muslims can see inside.  You have to arrange a tour, and I just didn't have the time.  However, the exterior is gorgeous:

A closer look at the incredible detail of the exterior

This next picture shows one of the minarets (tower) - found with every mosque.  Most have only one.  The more important that the mosque is, the more minarets you will find.  None have more than five, which is the number on the mosque in Mecca:

These towers are used to broadcast the daily prayers to the Muslim world.  Actual "singers" used to stand at the top, to be heard by as many people as possible.  now, you'll mostly find loud speakers that broadcast the call to prayer.  Just to prove that I was there, I tried to take a picture of myself in front of the Jumeriah Mosque.  You can judge the results for yourself:

Next, I went to an area of Dubai called Bastakiya.  This area gives you a glimpse of what Dubai was like before all the crazy money...and air conditioning ; )  I wanted to see something a little more traditional in architecture:

One of the many narrow streets in Bastakyia - with a white mosque in the distance...

This is about as close as I could go to the mosque.  I just thought the architecture was beautiful, particularly with the dome rising out of the roof:

Next, one of the many narrow alley ways in old Dubai.  Exactly what you'd see out of an Indiana Jones movie ; )  One of the reasons that the buildings are so close to each other, is to provide maximum shade from the constant heat:

This next picture is quite interesting.  It shows a traditional Arabic wind tower.  Basically, this is a technical marvel from hundreds of years ago.  Any breeze or wind is captured in these towers, where moisture is collected and the air is diverted into the house, to cool things off under incredible temperatures.  This was the only means of cooling before the invention of air conditioning...

 Beautiful patterns on the side of some buildings

Can you imagine what someone with actual photography skills - Macy or David - could do in this part of town?!?!  You're stuck with me, for now.  The next picture shows a giant flag of the United Arab Emirates:

Basically, there was a big holiday on the following day.  It is called National Day and celebrates the founding of the United Arab Emirates country...only 39 years ago.  Just like the 4th of July, the citizens are very, very proud of their country.  You could see flags everywhere.  They decorated cars and boats.  It was quite patriotic.

Next, I headed over to Dubai Creek.  This was really the birthplace of Dubai, as the traders from around the world would bring their goods from the Gulf to this inland waterway.  In the 1800's, the ruling sheik declared Dubai a tax-free zone and the trade business exploded from there.  Most of the goods coming into Dubai arrive via ship, through the creek.  The water also divides old Dubai from new Dubai, so there are lots of water taxis across the creek.  Many tourist boats are also docked there:

I shot this video while waiting to board one of the smaller water taxis:

This is a shot of the southern Dubai skyline, from the middle of the creek (click to enlarge):

Here's a video clip of what the activity is like on the water (notice the flags on all the boats):

And just to prove I was there, I asked a German tourist to take my picture (yeah, I'm holding a briefcase, for heaven's sake):

I made it to the other side, heading towards an older part of the city.  Right off the dock, I found the spice market.  This is something I've wanted to see for a long time.  Markets are called souqs (pronounced "sook").  This was the entrance to the Spice Souq:

Notice all the flags, for the holiday

This is where I wish my camera could have recorded the smell, as well as the visuals.  You couldn't imagine how many different fragrances were there.  One of the most popular, is frankincense.  It's used as incense, particularly to ward off the devil, according to Islamic tradition.  We know it mostly as part of the Christmas story.

The rest of that market had plenty of items besides just spice.  I tried to shoot some video as I walked through one of the narrow alleys.  I think I scared the tourist in front of me:

Rounding a corner, I found a surreal scene:

I was tempted to buy a white robe, or a "Dishdashah".  In the summer, they are almost always white - to help against the sunlight.  They looked rather cool.  Literally.

My next stop was the Gold Souq.  I can't even begin to tell you how many gold and jewelry stores were in a few short blocks:

You have to understand one thing.  Dubai is very safe.  This is probably a result of Sharia law, and little tolerance for crime - perhaps a holdover from the tribal days.  There wasn't much of any security in this area, and the shops didn't have concrete or bars in their windows.  It was amazing how much gold was actually here:

 Just a ring that was about 3 ft. high...solid gold.

I thought these gold armbands/wristbands were actually cool...

It just went on..and on.  While walking near the Gold Souq, I heard the call to prayer from a nearby mosque:

Not too many people stopped in the streets - I suppose that business was more important.  Islamic law provides an exception to the five daily prayers, if you're busy ; )

From here, a friend from the local AMD office drove me out to the largest (as in "can be seen from space") artificial islands ever created.  It's called Palm Island and has the shape of the palm tree:

On one of the outer palms, you'll find the Atlantis Resort.  Anyone that has been to the Bahamas, has seen the original Atlantis.  Only this was even bigger:

This should give you an appreciation of the size of the entire Palm ; )  Inside the lobby, you'll find this:

A two-story glass sculpture from Chihuly (one of my favorite artists).  In addition, inside the hotel, you'll find a tiny little aquarium:

Outside of the Atlantis' front door, is the Persian Gulf:

I wanted to see a much better beach, having heard so much about the white sand beaches of the area.  My friend drover me over to the Jumeriah Beach Resort area:

It was very late in the day, so not many people were actually on the beach.  Instead, they were at a wonderful collection of outdoor restaurants, facing the beach:

I actually took the time to stop...and watch a sunset.  I can tell you that it's been quite a while since I've done that:

With just a couple of hours left in Dubai, I ran over to the other large mall - the Emirates Mall.  This is the second largest in Dubai.  The only thing I wanted to see was this:

Yeah.  There's a SKI RUN INSIDE THE MALL.  The weather may be 120 degrees outside, but inside, you can ride a bobsled or ski down the hill ; )

I finished the day at a Moroccan restaurant, with fantastic food.  I really renewed my appreciate for Lebanese, Arabic and Moroccan cuisine on this trip ; )  The view from the restaurant was of the Burj Al Arab hotel...where I started my day:

What a full-circle of a day, no?  That's it for now.  I have lots of notes about Arabic culture and impressions of Islam.  If you want to hear more, let me know.  I'm sorry if this post was so long.  I jammed quite a bit into a single day...