After two weeks in Tanzania, no place (with the possible exception of Las Vegas) could have provided a more stark contrast than Dubai, where we spent 3 days last week. Since we were only there a short time, we focused on the touristy side of the city -- all shiny and new and a complete spectacle. The amount of construction throughout the city is staggering, with each new building bigger and more lavish than the last. The largest mall in the world (Dubai Mall) just opened, and construction has already begun on another mall that will be even larger. While construction of the Burj Dubai, which will be the world's tallest building at over 800 meters when it opens in 2009, continues, plans have already been finalized for the new Al Burj building, which will be more than 1km high! Also, work has begun to build the world's biggest airport, even though they just completed a sparkling new terminal at the current airport. Another spectacle was the series of man-made islands, built in the shape of a palm tree and another set of islands built in the shape of the world map. As Pallavi commented, 'you can just see the money oozing all over the city'. Here are a few pictures -- the two of us outside the Burj Al Arab hotel (the world's only 7-star hotel), Pallavi with the menu at Asha Bhosle's restaurant, me with the indoor ski resort in the background, a view of the construction of the Burj Dubai tower from our hotel balcony, a random Tushar look-alike (not as good as the one in Florence) in the mall, and Pallavi with the Burj Al Arab hotel in the background.
It was a fun 3 days, and we look forward to returning to Dubai in 10-15 years to see the NEW world's tallest building at 3km+ in height and the world's NEW largest mall, large enough to include the world's NEW largest airport and a series of man-made islands in the shape of the solar system....built to scale.
