Retired & Roaming

Flying into Dubai on Emirates has the added advantage that not only are you on a first class airline that offers some of the best deals around, but also, since it opened in November 2008, the new terminal 3 is exclusively for you – and the other Emirates passengers, of course! Such was the efficiency of T3 that some 20 minutes after landing, we were in a taxi and heading off to our accommodation. This arrival was a big contrast to a couple of years previously when the queues at immigration were horrendous. The added advantage of the new T3 is that the old terminal has also become more efficient – less traffic – and so even if you are not arriving on Emirates, your arrival experience shouldn’t be too bad.

Sometime in the next couple of years, the new airport at Jebel Ali in the south-west of Dubai will open. All airlines apart from Emirates will then operate from there, while the old airport will be exclusively for Emirates flights. That move will improve efficiency even more, but for now, it’s not bad.

Destination Dubai

Dubai is absolutely not a long-term destination, unless you are working there or you have pots of money that you don’t mind spending. Even with the credit crunch, it’s a very expensive place and you’re spending money as soon as you step outside the door – taxis, coffees, cold drinks etc. That said, it’s a fascinating city, if you like cities, and it’s amazing to witness what a huge budget plus the determination to succeed can achieve.

Facts and figures for the place are staggering. For example, some 20% of the worlds cranes are reported to be there – that’s the machines, not the birds! Certainly everywhere you look there’s construction, with high-rise buildings in abundance and more seeming to appear everyday.

With such a rapid expansion and the wealth that the success of the place has brought to a lot of the residents,  the infrastructure hasn’t always kept up. The roads, for example, can be a nightmare at certain times of the day. The authorities are trying hard to address this: new roads are appearing all the time, which confuses the hell out of SatNavs, let alone the residents, and a new overground metro system is presently under construction. Scheduled to finish in mid-2010, the metro will run from the airport throughout Dubai, even to the Palm. It should make a big difference to cross-town travelling time, as long as your destination is near a station – Dubai is not a place to walk far, particularly in the summer and especially if you’re carrying luggage.

When I first went to Dubai on an overnight stop-over in the early 1990s, the airport was sleepy with a few little hotels nearby. A taxi downtown took you to the Creek area – Deira – and that was it. Deira and the old town still exist, but all around has changed so completely that it is totally unrecognisable.

There are two main areas of high-rise development – downtown near Deira and about 20 km south west at the Dubai Marina. In between, while there is a huge amount of development, it is low-rise residential. Then there are the Palms, of which only the Jumeira Palm development is well-underway, and The World, which at present is just a series of man-made islands with nothing on them.

Tallest, Grandest, Biggest

Just about every development or building seems to claim some unique reason to exist. Probably the grandest at present as well as the tallest is the Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest building at 818 metres and 162 floors. It dominates the downtown area making surrounding 50-storey buildings seem quite small. With other projects going on hold in the current world economic climate, it is now reckoned that the Burj will remain the world’s tallest until at least 2020.

I suppose you either like big cities or you don’t. For us, having spent 28 years in Hong Kong, cities do have an appeal. If you can get above them, either on nearby hills, (which you can’t in Dubai), or on the higher floors of high-rise buildings, then they can look pretty dazzling, especially at night. The first two shots in this article were taken from up near the top of the Burj Al Arab hotel, another Dubai wonder, while the third was taken in the Dubai Marina.

Burj Al Arab. This seven star hotel (burj is ‘tower’ in Arabic), that dominates the skyline along the coast between the ‘Palm’ and the ‘World’ developments, is a magnificently impressive building from the outside. It soars up over 300 metres and is designed to resemble the sail of a dhow. Inside, it is perhaps as excessive as it is impressive, but it certainly leaves you standing there with your mouth open. If you stay there, you will develop a huge hole where your wallet used to be. All rooms are suites and the most modest of them costs around US$1000 per night. Interestingly, there are people who live there permanently.

The Real World

You don’t have to mortgage your house to stay in Dubai. There are plenty of reasonably-priced hotels in which you can spend a few days comfortably and within easy reach of the malls etc. At present (Feb 2009), there are bargains to be had and if you shop around the hotel sites on the internet, US$80 per night is not unrealistic for a studio room with kitchenette . Ideally, of course, the best deal is to stay with someone you know!

Shopping

There is an abundance of shopping malls in Dubai with branches of just every fashion name you can think of as well as lower cost chain store shops. From the UK & Europe, there’s M&S and Ikea, while from Hong Kong, there’s Giordano, Bossini, G2000 and the like. The malls are huge, fiercely air-conditioned and very varied in design. Some have added extras: in the Mall of The Emirates, there’s the ski slope(!) and the Gold Class cinema, which has huge leather reclining seats into which you disappear so far that you wonder if you’ll ever emerge from them again (the staff even deliver the popcorn and drinks to your seat); in the Dubai Mall, there’s a huge aquarium. The list goes on. I think my favourite was the Madinat Mall which is single storey and Arabian in design and feel. Rather than being in a mall, it’s more like being in a market, with a good number of antique and ethnic goods.

However, given it’s reputation as a shoppers’ paradise, I personally didn’t find it that much of a bargain for non-Middle Eastern stuff. Yes, it’s cheaper than the UK, Europe and the US because there is no sales tax, but frankly Hong Kong (where there is also no sales tax) is a much better deal as well as being more varied in what’s on offer. And if you are into self-catering, the price of food in the supermarkets is horrendous.

Eating Out

Just a general comments because there’s loads on this elsewhere on the internet. In one word: expensive! There’s a huge number of restaurants serving just about every type of cuisine you can imagine. Quality varies, but the prices don’t – they are pretty much universally high. If you’re on your hols, that’s what you might expect and be happy with; if you’re R&Ring, read the reviews, take advice and choose carefully if you don’t want credit card meltdown. Having said that, if you’re into afternoon tea, one of the best deals in town is the Grosvenor House Hotel at the Palm end of the Marina. At 95 Dhirhams for a scrummy pile of sandwiches and cakes, together with your choice of tea from wide selection, it’s hard to beat. There just isn’t much of a view.

Other Stuff

The last time we were in Dubai (January 2009), it was good to see that finally there is an alternative to air-conditioned shopping malls for taking your afternoon or early evening passeggiata. Now that the part of the Dubai Marina between the Marina and the coast is pretty much finished, a stretch of shops and eateries has appeared that open onto the very wide pavement that runs along the coast side of the development. On a Saturday afternoon (Dubai’s Sunday) it was buzzing with families and couples enjoying the ambiance and cooler climate. Of course in the summer when temperatures can hit the high 40s, it may not be so popular.

It will be interesting to see how Dubai fares over the next couple of years. There are presently reports that a lot of people are leaving and many projects are going on hold. However, the perceived wisdom for people living there is to sit tight if you can and ride out the storm. It’s hard to believe that Dubai, which has certainly taken on Hong Kong’s amazing ability to re-invent itself, will not overcome the hiccup and continue to prosper.

For an R&Rer en route to somewhere more long-term, Dubai is well worth at least a couple of days, or more if you fancy dune buggying or a side trip to Abu Dhabi or Oman, both of which are also well-worth a visit.

Burj Al Arab Gallery [Click on a photo to enlarge it then use the arrows to navigate through the photos; click on any photo enlargement to return here]

 

Dubai Views Gallery