Scenes from Dubai - City of the Jetsons by the Sea

The famous landmark of Dubai - the 7 star Burj al Arab hotel

Sunday, February 18

We spent the day with Ute and she told us a great deal about Dubai, which is where she lives,  as we settled into her Range Rover for the 1 hour drive west to Abu Dhabi.  She was delightful – has lived in Dubai for more than 20 years, is married to a local non-Emirati and has 2 boys.

The UAE was founded from 7 tribal sheikdoms only 46 years ago.  Abu Dhabi is the largest, with 85% of the land and most of the oil.  Sharjah has natural gas and Dubai's economy is more business focused.  Twenty years ago, the area we're staying in (Palm Island) and the surrounding areas weren't here - only sand and sea.

As we left our hotel and returned to the mainland off the Palm Island we drove  back around the circle protecting the “fronds” and down the trunk.  We could see the new hotels being built – a building boom has returned now that the world economy is doing better.  We are technically on the Palm Jumeirah Island, with 2 additional ones planned - one already constructed, but not developed.  When the Palm Jumeirah opened in 2007, the land sold out in less than 72 hours.  It is one of the few places that foreigners can own land in the UAE, and many English and Asians bought properties here.

Jumairah Palm island as seen from our airplane.  Our hotel is in the circle (crescent) around the palm fronds.  If the trunk is a 6 on a clock face, and the Atlantis Hotel is at the top, at 12, our hotel is a 8 o'clock.

We are looking from our balcony at the hotel swimming pool and beach, on the inner crescent.  The ends of the palm fronds are pointing toward us, with new houses being build on the very tips.  Every villa has it's own beach.

As we drove of the island and headed to Abu Dhabi, we also passed the Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR) and the Marina – great high rises designed rather fancifully. The marina was constructed 11 years ago, and there are 11 KM of waterways for the residents to use.  A new Ferris wheel is going up next to the JBR Beach, on a different man-made island, which will be the world’s largest Ferris wheel when completed.

Dubai's new Marina area

Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR) area with all the new high rise buildings - just a few years old

We passed a number of “free zones” – the internet free zone and the media free zone – areas officially endorsed by Dubai to support the respective focused businesses with reduced restrictions and incentives.  Ute says the population of UAE is around 9 million, with only 2 million Emirati citizens.  The rest of the people are foreign nationals.  Every non Erirati must register with the government every 2 years, pass a health test and drug screen to ensure, for example, no hepatits, HIV, etc, pass a background check and must earn over a certain amount of income to stay in the country.  

Metro stations for Dubai

The Metro stations are sleek and interesting looking - like space pods

Of course, the Burj Khalifa is the real monument to amazement in Dubai these days.

The sun was setting as Ute brought us back to our hotel after a long and very interesting touring day.