The City of Cranes

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What a contrast to go from a place with some of the poorest people in the world to one with some of the richest. Everything is clean and neat, lots of expensive cars everywhere, but what I notice most is the quiet. It makes me realize that I had actually become a LITTLE used to the constant noise of India and reminds me how overwhelmed by it I was at the beginning. I can walk anywhere and no one approaches me. It is like a breath of fresh air. Now don't get me wrong, I loved being in India, just a huge contrast being here.

Here it is, two weeks til Christmas, but I still hadn't seen any decorations... until now. Dubai is decked out for the Christian holiday, who would have thought I'd see my first Christmas decor in the Middle East? Ha! The people here are very friendly, everyone seems very happy and content. I thought I might be a little unpopular, considering the war, but I never felt that at all. The people are very warm.

Another thing I never expected (funny our misconceptions) is that I'm FREEZING. It's about 15 degrees celcius, so about 60, but I've been over 90 for the last six weeks... brrrrrrr. I didn't realize it was ever cool here. Sunil, you tried to warn me! ... hehe (If you don't know him, Sunil is an Indian consultant at Gillette that grew up in Dubai).

I walked around the city to look at all the shops they're famous for - like the Gold Souk (Market) and along the beach. I have a picture, but it was really foggy, so couldn't really get good shots. Later I hopped on a bus - they have amazing public transportation here... they're like luxury buses and very inexpensive. I guess when the government is rich, they don't really need the people to pay much for things like that. I took the bus to the  downtown area... the amount of construction going on here is unbelievable. I had heard that Dubai was building some incredible  buildings, but I had no idea how many. I lost count at fifty skyscrapers with construction cranes on top of them. There are blocks and blocks of them ... makes New York look tiny. This is a place to be watched for in the future. They say that their oil will run out in 100 years and that they aren't waiting til then to diversify their economy. Pretty smart.  They even offer grants for people to move their businesses there. By the way, the buildings in the foggy distance in the picture are not downtown, they are another area of the city.