The Hollowed Dubai

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Hallowed or hollowed, Dubai is a fascinating place. For better or for worse depends on the lens from which you dissect it. Anthropologically, sure they've managed to prosper in an inhospitable desert for centuries. Economically, you literally watch it grow before  your very eyes -- it's a booming economy. Sociologically, it is somewhat (in my mind) ridiculous. For example, you are given money by the government if you are an Emirate person; they pay for your education, your wedding and all your healthcare. However, if you are a non-Emirate person, you get no such benefits. That makes sense, until you think about the thousands of non-ethnic Emirate people that have lived in the Emirates for generations. If you are African, Indian or Philipino decent, no such luck for you! Take it one step further, if an Emirate man wants to marry a non-Emirate person, they still get all their government money. But if you are an Emirate woman who marries a non-Emirate man, game over.

Another thing to note, if like me you enjoy going to countries to learn about the local culture etc., you can only find that in Dubai if you have loads, and loads and loads of money. Ana and my penny-pinching trip afforded us two glimpses of an actual Emirate person, both of which were at the airport. Other than that, we were surrounded by the people mentioned above. Our tour operator, taxi drivers, shop keepers, restauranteurs and more were ALL foreigners. This baffled me, so much so that while we were on a "tour" around Dubai, I asked any social structure question I could think of! And well, in the interim I took a few good photos as well! (see above)

Stop 1: The Creek. A glimpse of where the moderately extremely wealthy dock their yachts.

Stop 2: Dubai Museum. The museum was much less than we were used to in D.C. In and out in 15 minutes, and that's with staging the perfect photos. It was fascinating to see how the people developed the area, what they cultivated and traded and how they lived before the oil boom.

Stop 3: Jumeriah Mosque. Located in a swanky part of town (and that's saying something for Dubai), it is the only mosque open to non-muslims. Of course, not while we were there.

Stop 4: Burj al Arab. Just for a photo op, we didn't want to pay the request $100  minimum for a drink in order to go in. The next hotel over, we also got a glimpse of how the Emirate live ... via the cars they had parked out front. Alas, we didn't have the minimum to enter there either!

<Drive By> Atlantis. He wanted to take us to see the amazing Atlantis. Both of us said, meh, we don't care. So we gratefully quickly drove through one of the many man-made Palm Islands, which is where I also learned they're busy making an island shaped like the universe, where everyone has beach-front property.

<Drive By 2 > King and Prince's Palaces. Ah, the life ...

Stop 5: Burj Khalifa. Well, a view of it from the mall.

Afterward, we asked to be dropped of at the old market instead of the hotel, that way we could go straight to the gold and spice souks without paying a taxi. We took the water taxi over and from there, another adventure began!