Wil’s Travel Weblog

Here’s the first batch of pictures from Dubai, in no real order.  Wish I was a better photographer…

Places/things covered: 

Jon’s house

Hatta, Oman

Various portions of Dubai

Desert outside of town

Animals

A lookout fort in Hatta, Oman.  Historically this area was a hideout for various pirates and bandits who fled inland after landing in coastal areas of Yemen, Oman, and the UAE (of course those werent countries back then – not sure what it was all called in the old days – this is not a free history lesson).  Anyway these little towers are scattered everywhere in the area in order to look out for approaching enemies.  Jon tells me in Muscat, Oman which is right on the coast they are even more prevalent – basically one on any mountain or hill of any size.

Picture of Hatta, Oman taken from a lookout fort thing.

Hatta, Oman

Historic Hatta, Oman

Hatta – cool minaret shot

Jon in front of a tower thing.  I should really find out what the actual word is for them.

Me in front of one

Jonny and the Desert Dogs

Desert dogs!

Open desert – looks boring, but when you have been in the massive industrial and commercialized areas of Dubai and then you drive 15 minutes and see this – its quite a shock.  Not to mention just the general surreality (new word!) and vastness of it all.

More desert – notice some vehicles and 4-wheelers out there “gettin it”

Dry parched land

Jon of Arabia

Gosh its hot

Camels have right of way.  Oh and whatever you do – if you hit a goat at night with your car – flee like mad.  They dont take kindly to goat killings – even if its accidental.  You not only pay for the goat (which I’m sure they overvalue just like you do your CD collection on the police report when your car is broken into), but you pay for 3 generations of the offspring that goat *could* have produced.  So one goat = 30-40 goats.  Pricey.

Some Arab kids whose mom was taking a photo, so we decided we wanted one too.  They were cute and friendly.

My new best friends – Hooper (left) and Boscoe (right).  They like me because I am home during the day and I play fetch and rub bellies.  They each sleep in their own oversize black leather chairs at night – gotta get a pic of that.  In conclusion, awesome dogs.

As Danny said in Grease: “Sandy?”

Some ridiculous number like 10% of the entire WORLD’S large construction cranes are currently in this country, which is roughly the size of Rhode Island.  Driving around I saw at least 50 (not an exaggeration – probably a conservative guess) buildings over 30 stories being built, most above 60 stories. 

The “old” downtown – these massive weird buildings are, like, so 2006.

The even bigger soon to be finished cooler downtown – about 5 miles away.  The coolest part is there is only one two lane road through the entire thing, and no room to expand that road either.

Here’s where all the folks who are building the city live.  Slight step down from the 7 star hotels and palatial palaces.

Turns out these were not Hershey’s kisses

Front entrance of Jon’s house, heretofore the Burj Al Nagel.  All the houses built here are big square structures (far larger than Jon’s of course, he aint got no oil), complete with big pillars in front and other lavish architectural features.  The homeowners associations out here are opposites of the US I bet: if it blends in, you cant build it.  If you have to wear protective eyewear just to look at it – perfect.

Side view from the interior courtyard of the Burj Al Nagel.  Notice the pool.  My new office.

That giant building that dwarfs the other giant buildings is the still under construction Burj Al Dubai.  It’s the tallest building in the world already, and is still under construction with an additional 300-400 feet yet to be added.  They wont release the final height in order to keep competing builders from announcing plans to beat it, but the word is it will be somewhere in the 2,600ft region.  That’s 1/2 mile to you and me.  The building itself is the centerpiece of a new development called Business Bay – a conglomeration of 20-30 buildings from 100-150 stories each surrounding a bay of water which will be artificially created by bringing the ocean in about 5 miles.  Because that’s how they roll over here.

The Burj Al Arab, the world’s only self-proclaimed 7 star hotel.  Stuck out on a man-made island – cheapest room is 5k/night and all rooms come with personal butler.  Jon says we might be able to get into the lobby and possibly the bar at the top, he’s got connections.

Another shot of the Burj Al Arab.  Both photos taken from the Madinat Jumeirah area – an extremely posh and high class section of town surrounding a lagoon where the rich and famous hang out.  Last week George Clooney and Leonardo DiCaprio were chillin here.

Madinat Jumeirah

 

More MJ

Inside the Madinat Jumeirah “souq”, looking up.  Souqs are like little indoor markets/malls where historically the vendors would sell traditional crafts and spices - this one is actually very new but they tried to reproduce what the ancient souq’s looked like.  Hoping to visit some actual historic and older souq’s soon, but I gotta admit this one was awfully nice inside and the detail they went to on the woodwork and such was cool.

Another MJ souq pic

This is a regulation camel along the highway.  It is in no way affiliated with Mini Camels, Inc (patent pending).

Boscoe in action galavanting across the desert – we wore those dogs out!

 

This is the national plant/shrub/tree thing of Dubai.  They range in size from medium sized shrubs like this up to larger, more tree-like things.  It’s the national plant because it can survive anywhere, and at night it comes to life and does drywall and basic carpentry.

Jon and I have been playing quite a bit of Tiger Woods 2008 on the Xbox – this predicament/bug cost him quite a few dirhams at my expense.  His Tiger was no match for my fluorescent-panted Camilo Villegas.  Thank you EA Sports and Microsoft.