It’s been over a week since I got back from Dubai, where I participated in the workshop “Learning from the Future”, organized by the British Council and the Young Arab Leaders.
Though it was my first time in Dubai, I didn’t get the chance to explore the city much because the workshop was quite intense. Naseem sums it up nicely, and Mais gives another great perspective on the trip.
Although Dubai had never really sparked my curiosity and never felt like my type of city, I decided to go there with an open mind and to put aside the judgments of “materialistic,” “fake,” or “soulless” until I experience it for myself.
We were staying in hotel apartments in the “old Dubai”, i.e. Bur Dubai. The workshop itself was taking place at the Sheraton Creek hotel. Now for the first couple of days, friends would text me and ask, so how do you find Dubai? And I’d say: I’m feeling absolutely nothing towards the city; nothing positive, nothing negative… just blank. Then I eventually realized that this in itself says something about it; a city that doesn’t stir any emotions in you! I wasn’t blown away by the number of cranes, the clean streets, or the glossiness, simply because there’s so much hype surrounding the city and we all know how rapidly it’s developing, it comes as no surprise.
One thing I did feel though was that the city is very safe. You don’t see police officers anywhere, but every driver tells you there are strict traffic regulations. And wherever you are, you generally feel quite safe. Even more interesting for someone coming from Amman was the lack of metal detectors and extra security at malls and hotels. I guess that as a Ammani, I had completely internalized this and gotten used to the security checks that I thought this is how it’s supposed to be everywhere.
One of the evenings, after a hectic day at the workshop, we had a free evening at the Mall of the Emirates – supposedly a “true Dubai experience”. I couldn’t get over the “whatever” feeling when I was there, but then again, I am not a fan of shopping no matter where I am. I was looking for a specific thing that is unavailable at Amman’s music stores, and one of the UAE locals in our group told me there are a couple of specialized music instrument stores at Ibn Battouta Mall. Ibn Battouta looked nice on the outside, in terms of architecture, but inside, it was just so TACKY! And I didn’t find what I needed.
Then I was told there’s a whole bunch of music stores on a street behind Ghurair City Mall. Now that was a more interesting place to hang out because it was obviously another side of Dubai – the buildings had laundry hanging out the balcony. There were Indians on bicycles, and people rushing to take the bus – no one local, as far as I could tell. In Omar Ibn Al-Khattab St., just off Fish Circle, there were all these music instrument stores. After I got what I wanted, I stood waiting for a cab. I eventually learned that this is not something you do in Dubai. You can’t just get a cab on the street. You have to call one. Cabs get their orders via a computer system, and they get penalized if they don’t accept an order. So you have all these empty taxis passing you by but declining to stop because they’re on their way to pick someone up. Occasionally you get lucky. But I didn’t wait; I saw a bus heading to Al-Karama, which, as far as I could tell, was close to where our hotel was… and I hopped in. The bus fare is 1.5 dirhams, which is less than 20 piasters. Not bad… But I didn’t get to my destination and had to stand waiting for a taxi again.
Another thing that caught my attention was that taxis are all very clean and neat. Let’s just say they don’t have the “character” of Jordanian taxis exhibited through the most random dangling items and stickers and what not.
Still, taxi drivers are apparently chatty anywhere in the world. All you have to do is ask one random question, and they tell you their life story. One driver from Bangladesh was telling us that he’s been in Dubai for ten years, and that he used to like it a lot more at first. Now he hates it. He went on and on about how there’s no identity, how it’s all about money, how he works 12 hours a day and struggles to make ends meet. Interestingly, he said what he misses the most is the feeling of being in an Islamic country… that nothing about Dubai now feels like an Islamic country.
One of the things that got me thinking was the green lawns and the flowers on the streets of Dubai. You have all these fuschia, red, and white flowers everywhere. And personally, I couldn’t help but wonder how much water is spent keeping them fresh in this desert. The UAE has one the highest per capita rates of water consumption in the world. Then again, may be I shouldn’t be commenting on this, coming from one of a country that’s on the list of the 10 poorest in water resources yet has the audacity to build yet another water park!
The workshop aside (there will be another post focused on that), I enjoyed a final evening walking along the creek, crossing to the other side on a boat, and having a nice dinner with great company.
That said, the conclusion I came to regarding Dubai is that it is not my type of city. There’s something missing there. I don’t know how to rationalize it, but I finally felt it; it is artificial.
I think I’ve managed to write a whole post without using the word “reflect” :) next attempt would be to exclude the word “interesting,” if such a thing is possible for me – and I will try that when I write my thoughts on the workshop, which was a great intense experience.
Though it was my first time in Dubai, I didn’t get the chance to explore the city much because the workshop was quite intense. Naseem sums it up nicely, and Mais gives another great perspective on the trip.
Although Dubai had never really sparked my curiosity and never felt like my type of city, I decided to go there with an open mind and to put aside the judgments of “materialistic,” “fake,” or “soulless” until I experience it for myself.
We were staying in hotel apartments in the “old Dubai”, i.e. Bur Dubai. The workshop itself was taking place at the Sheraton Creek hotel. Now for the first couple of days, friends would text me and ask, so how do you find Dubai? And I’d say: I’m feeling absolutely nothing towards the city; nothing positive, nothing negative… just blank. Then I eventually realized that this in itself says something about it; a city that doesn’t stir any emotions in you! I wasn’t blown away by the number of cranes, the clean streets, or the glossiness, simply because there’s so much hype surrounding the city and we all know how rapidly it’s developing, it comes as no surprise.
One thing I did feel though was that the city is very safe. You don’t see police officers anywhere, but every driver tells you there are strict traffic regulations. And wherever you are, you generally feel quite safe. Even more interesting for someone coming from Amman was the lack of metal detectors and extra security at malls and hotels. I guess that as a Ammani, I had completely internalized this and gotten used to the security checks that I thought this is how it’s supposed to be everywhere.
One of the evenings, after a hectic day at the workshop, we had a free evening at the Mall of the Emirates – supposedly a “true Dubai experience”. I couldn’t get over the “whatever” feeling when I was there, but then again, I am not a fan of shopping no matter where I am. I was looking for a specific thing that is unavailable at Amman’s music stores, and one of the UAE locals in our group told me there are a couple of specialized music instrument stores at Ibn Battouta Mall. Ibn Battouta looked nice on the outside, in terms of architecture, but inside, it was just so TACKY! And I didn’t find what I needed.
Then I was told there’s a whole bunch of music stores on a street behind Ghurair City Mall. Now that was a more interesting place to hang out because it was obviously another side of Dubai – the buildings had laundry hanging out the balcony. There were Indians on bicycles, and people rushing to take the bus – no one local, as far as I could tell. In Omar Ibn Al-Khattab St., just off Fish Circle, there were all these music instrument stores. After I got what I wanted, I stood waiting for a cab. I eventually learned that this is not something you do in Dubai. You can’t just get a cab on the street. You have to call one. Cabs get their orders via a computer system, and they get penalized if they don’t accept an order. So you have all these empty taxis passing you by but declining to stop because they’re on their way to pick someone up. Occasionally you get lucky. But I didn’t wait; I saw a bus heading to Al-Karama, which, as far as I could tell, was close to where our hotel was… and I hopped in. The bus fare is 1.5 dirhams, which is less than 20 piasters. Not bad… But I didn’t get to my destination and had to stand waiting for a taxi again.
Another thing that caught my attention was that taxis are all very clean and neat. Let’s just say they don’t have the “character” of Jordanian taxis exhibited through the most random dangling items and stickers and what not.
Still, taxi drivers are apparently chatty anywhere in the world. All you have to do is ask one random question, and they tell you their life story. One driver from Bangladesh was telling us that he’s been in Dubai for ten years, and that he used to like it a lot more at first. Now he hates it. He went on and on about how there’s no identity, how it’s all about money, how he works 12 hours a day and struggles to make ends meet. Interestingly, he said what he misses the most is the feeling of being in an Islamic country… that nothing about Dubai now feels like an Islamic country.
One of the things that got me thinking was the green lawns and the flowers on the streets of Dubai. You have all these fuschia, red, and white flowers everywhere. And personally, I couldn’t help but wonder how much water is spent keeping them fresh in this desert. The UAE has one the highest per capita rates of water consumption in the world. Then again, may be I shouldn’t be commenting on this, coming from one of a country that’s on the list of the 10 poorest in water resources yet has the audacity to build yet another water park!
The workshop aside (there will be another post focused on that), I enjoyed a final evening walking along the creek, crossing to the other side on a boat, and having a nice dinner with great company.
That said, the conclusion I came to regarding Dubai is that it is not my type of city. There’s something missing there. I don’t know how to rationalize it, but I finally felt it; it is artificial.
I think I’ve managed to write a whole post without using the word “reflect” :) next attempt would be to exclude the word “interesting,” if such a thing is possible for me – and I will try that when I write my thoughts on the workshop, which was a great intense experience.
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