UAE

Hello, and thank you for checking in. Today is day 152. So far we have traveled 44,000 nautical miles, and boy is my rudder tired! (Sorry, just too easy…)

Yesterday we arrived in The United Arib Emirates (UAE). A nice surprise to us, while it is hot here, it is much cooler than several other places that we have been recently. Also of note is the seemingly unending luxury of our UAE destinations. From the roads, to the cars. The clothes to the buildings. This place screams Money! (The capitalization was on purpose. We’re not talking lower-case money here…) Of course, we are just here for the culture. After all, who does not like chee$e!
😉

While the UAE is made up of 7 Emirates, our visit is comprised of two ports of call. One in Abu Dabhi, and one in Dubai. The Emirates were formed in 1871. Fifty years earlier, in an attempt to discourage pirates, the UAE became a group of “independent sheikhdoms allied with the United Kingdom, which acted as their as British protectorates”.

Oil was the biggest commodity of the Emirates. Pearls were also a major commodity in Dubai, which made it the richest Emirate. But in 1930, Japan began manufacturing artificial pearls, which drove Dubai out of the pearl business. To fill the economic void, Dubai expanded their port, and their second major commodity became trade with Iran. 

In the last 20 years, believe it or not, Dubai sold all of their oil stockpiles. (The other Emirates claim to have a ~50 year supply in their reserves.) In order to remain one of the richest nations, Dubai became a world leader in business, travel, and real estate. This lead to a 20 year boom in erecting some of the most impressive buildings imaginable, resulting in a breathtaking skyline. (While I capture a handful in some of the photos below, I recommend that you check out this collection of photos.)

Some 80% of Dubai’s population is not native, and a majority is Japanese. Most of the population is Islamic, but they are really big on allowing everyone to practice the religion of their choice. All-in-all, they seemed to be a very friendly, very civilized society. Supper nice folks.

So our visit to Dubai consisted primarily of visiting the Burj Khalifa. At 163 stories, this is the world’s tallest building. Karen and I had been chasing visiting the world’s tallest building for years, but we seemed to always be at the various buildings just a few years before they were surpassed by another taller one. So over the years, we visited the second and third tallest buildings several times, but it took 23 years of chasing to finally make it to the tallest one. (FYI. Reaching this achievement gave me the same feeling that I got when I finally figured out what all of the buttons on my remote do. I think I need a rethink my bucket list.. .) Anyway, it was a great building, and was built on top of the highest end mall we’ve ever visited.

Overcrowding has become a recent issue. This is primarily due to the estimated (1 million plus) influx of Russian expats that have moved here in last 2 years. Interestingly, they are dealing with this issue by expanding their transportation infrastructure, and continuing to add addition unique skyscrapers, at a blazing-fast pace. Pretty impressive…

Afterwards, we enjoyed our city tour. We visited Burj Al Arab, the world’s only 7 star hotel, and the palace of the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Also of note was the Museum of the Future. (coolest building I ever saw!) Pretty impressive!

Yesterday, we were in the equally impressive Abu Dhabi, where we had a very unique excursion. We joined an Arabian Desert Safari Experience. I am not sure what I was thinking, but I put Karen in the passenger seat so she could get a good view of the extreme 4-wheel-drive experience. I assumed she would take some awesome videos. But it turned our she closed her eyes the whole time…

After driving around the desert for an afternoon, we went to a remote compound for an evening of desert sand surfing, camel riding, belly dances and supper. Pretty cool stuff (but I think I enjoyed it way more than punkin. What a sport!)

Unfortunately, these few days will be the end of our Middle East travels. However, we are very much looking forward to our visit to Africa. But that, my friends, is another story.

Thank you for visiting.

– Mike
“Sad stories make good books” – Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner.