Back from Dubai

It's a great and strange place. Great because of the huge, modern buildings, and the many hundreds of cranes sprouting from the numerous construction sites. Strange, because in the end it's in the desert, with an unusual mix of arabic and western cultures. You see many men walking around in long white robes, with head coverings of white or white/red checked, sometimes accompanied by women in tip to toe black. At the same time, the office areas are full of western suits of both the male and female variety. The hotel was announced as "dry" in that no alcohol was permitted. The biggest mall (Dubai Mall) also proudly labels itself the same way. There is another mall next door for those who want a drink with dinner.

There is clearly a lot of money around the place. Lots of Hummers, Mercs, Porsches, Ferraris, etc. But the bulk of the population is actually low-paid imported labour from India, Bangladesh, Philippines, etc. In fact I remember seeing a statistic saying that the expats comprised 70 or 80% of the population (I think that's what the number was, but whatever it was it was very high). The population declined by around 15% when the crisis hit, with many of the expats losing their jobs and being packed off home.

The new tower is tall - very tall. Stupidly tall, in fact. And because they are worried about someone else building a taller building, they have a backup plan to add more height to it - just in case.

I'll probably get back there again, hopefully with a camera next time.