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THINK TALK: Notes from Dubai

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MATARAM, North Cotabato (MindaNews / March 23) – I had the opportunity to join the Dubai tour from March 15-21, 2023. I love this experience because it’s both educational and fun.

Instructive, as Dubai has a lot to learn, especially how its ruler, Sheik Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, transformed the barren land Become the fastest growing city in the world today. And fun, because sure, there’s plenty to enjoy in a city full of structures, places and events that can only be described in superlatives.

In the early 1960s, Dubai was little more than a desert, but its rulers changed the face of the place with astonishing speed. He made Dubai one of the best cities in the world. Now Dubai is so popular that some foreigners consider it a country unto itself.

Dubai is just one of seven emirates (small kingdoms) that united to form the United Arab Emirates in 1971. Each emirate has an autonomous government. The seven emirates are: Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Dubai, Fujairah, Sharjah and a seventh emirate, Ras Al Khaimah, which opted to join the federation a year later. Bahrain and Qatar did not join the federation when they were invited.

Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates. It is the largest emirate by land area and the wealthiest within it, but Dubai is the fastest growing city in the world.

Dubai is said to be the largest construction site in the world. There’s a local saying: “Don’t sleep eight hours in Dubai because tomorrow you’ll be lost.” Dubai loves to be number one in everything. It has Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world (152 floors); Dubai Photo Frame, the tallest and largest photo frame in the world; Global Village, the most beautiful shopping mall in the world; Dubai Mall, the largest shopping mall in the world; Museum of the Future, Earth The most beautiful buildings in the world; Burj Al Arab, the only seven-star hotel in the world, Palm Jumeirah, the largest artificial island in the world, and many more that can only be described as superlative.

We stayed at the Royal Continental Hotel, a 4 star hotel conveniently located between Dubai International Airport and Downtown Dubai. We first visited the global village where we had dinner. Inside these malls are landmark buildings representing different countries of the world. So, there are Egyptian architecture, Pakistani architecture, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) architecture, etc. Each representative country has a presentation of its famous products and delicacies. We (my wife and I) opted for Thai food which was lined up along the wide magical fountain, in majestic colors at night.

On the second day, we visited the famous Dubai Photo Frame, which is the largest and tallest photo frame in the world. It is 150.24 meters high (equivalent to a 45-story building) and 95.53 meters wide.

In 2013, Dubai’s absolute ruler, Sheik Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, issued an invitation to bid for unique designs to add to Dubai’s ever-growing number of skyscrapers.

Renowned Spanish architect Fernando Donis responded. He said: “Your Majesty, this is already the tallest building. Perhaps what you need is a unique rectangular building, so there is a bridge connecting the two vertical structures. The lower bottom of the rectangle can be used as the ground floor and basement.” Architecture Designer Donis’ entry was the winning bid and he was paid $100,000 for his design.

Next, we visited the oldest village in the city. The houses were apparently renovated without altering the architectural design in order to bring more aesthetic value to visitors.

Around noon, we took the motor bank and crossed the Dubai Creek (a wide river) to the flea market where you can buy gold, dates, ready-to-wear, and pretty much everything you see in Divisoria, Metro Manila. Here you’ll find a spice called saffron, the world’s most expensive spice that Dubai imports from Argentina, Brazil and Iran.

We had lunch at the Hyatt Jumeirah and then went on an adventure called “Desert Safari” in the desert. Here we had an experience of a lifetime.

I was amazed by the driving skills of the Bangladeshi driver, who roared through the high and low dunes, and through the steep sides of the dunes, making us feel like we would fall on the side. We’ve had enough of the adrenaline rush as the vehicle climbed up and down, banked sideways, skidded sideways like a drifter and spun around. But Dubai is such a wealthy city that the government can afford to risk tourism and money buying these luxury vehicles.

There were six of us (three couples) in one car. All three ladies were laughing and yelling while we (three males) remained silent and calm the whole time. Later, we had a good debate about who was more afraid: the silent one, or the loud one. You are the judge!

In the evening, we had dinner in a fenced structure in the middle of the desert, which they called “the camp”. At dinner we were treated to fire and belly dancers performing on the high clearing in the middle of the camp.

On our third day, we stopped by the Zabel Mosque and then headed towards the magnificent palace facade of Dubai’s absolute ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. We can only see the beautiful exterior of the ruler’s palace because no one is allowed to enter except those invited by the emir himself. The palace sits on 17 hectares of land, which is also the palatial home of Sheikh Maktoum’s children. Sheikh Mohammed bin Al Maktoum also happens to be the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, and the current president is Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He succeeds his brother Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The Burj Khalifa is named after him. “Burj” means “tower” in Arabic. Asked by voters of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum why the tallest building in the world is not named after his family, he replied: “Great buildings It should be named after a great man.”

Our next destination is the “Burj Khalifa”, which is the tallest building in the world with 152 floors, but it is currently only open to the 125th floor. Construction began on the building in 2004 and opened to the public in 2010. It has several high-speed elevators, but the two elevators that take guests to the 124th and 125th floors are the fastest single elevators in the world.

We went to the “Museum of the Future”, the most beautiful building on earth. As the name suggests, it contains futuristic plans and designs of buildings, structures and urban planning not found anywhere in the world.

In the afternoon we visited the “Burj Al-Arab”, the first seven-star hotel in the world, and probably the only one of its kind. I asked our tour guide who was a frequent visitor to the most expensive hotel in the world. “Wealthy businessmen used to be the majority of guests at this hotel before the pandemic,” he replied. He went on to say that the smallest room in this hotel is 100m² (10m x 10m) at $2,000 per night and the largest room is 660m² (22m x 30m) at $28,000 (P1.5M) per night .

Then, we took a train to visit Palm Jumeirah, the largest artificial island in the world. Jumeira is Arabic and means beautiful. Palm Jumeirah means beautiful palm trees. It is so named because it looks like a beautiful palm from an aerial view. There are also two luxury hotels on the island, Atlantis and Royal Atlantis Hotels, which are also known as 7-star hotels. The Dubai government spent $12B for the entire island reclamation project.

We had a state-of-the-art dinner on a luxury yacht in Dubai Marina, the largest marina in the world. We have dinner on the yacht. As it sailed around Dubai Marina, there were dancers, who I assumed to be Nigerians from their appearance, performing their native dances.

On the fourth day, we visited the next emirate, Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. It is the largest and wealthiest of the seven federal emirates. Abu Dhabi is ruled by the Zayed Al-Nahyan family, while Dubai is ruled by the Rashid Al-Maktoum family. The UAE and its sub-emirates are ruled by kind, far-sighted and strong-willed monarchs who want only the best for their people.

While in Abu Dhabi, we visited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, the largest mosque in the United Arab Emirates. It cost $545 million to build and took 11 years to complete. The mosque has 82 domes of various sizes, and the chapel can accommodate 41,000 believers. The carpet in the hall is the largest single piece of uncut carpet in the world. It measures 5,627 square meters, weighs around 35 tons and is made from wool from New Zealand.

There is a shopping mall in the basement of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.

Our fifth and final day in Dubai was a day off. Time to pack and repack clothes, organize and rearrange purchases for people in the family, and check and inspect things to make sure nothing is missing. We also take “memories” home with us.

Finally, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this shopping tip. In most countries, we imagine a flea market as the place where you go to buy the cheapest stuff. Yes, but not in Dubai. I suspect travel agencies are ruining the flea market by charging their partner stores more commissions based on the number of tourists they bring.

When you are in Dubai, tell your guide to take you to the “Green House” or “Day to Day” mall. The commodity prices in these shopping malls are relatively cheap. At the flea market, they sell dates for Dh90 a kilo when the first tourists arrive. When you’re leaving, they’re on sale for Dh25-20 per kilo. At the Green House and Day to Day malls, you can buy a kilo of dates for just AED 11.

Well, Dubai is not a Divisoria as far as shopping goes. But, putting aside the price of merchandise and other goods, Dubai is simply paradise for luxury tourists!

Dubai, goodbye for now. We will see you again.

(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Maugan P. Mosaid has a doctorate in rural development. He is a planning consultant and teaches statistics and research methods in graduate school. He can be reached at mauganmosaid6@gmail.com).



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