Hi guys,
Sorry for delay in blog posting but family issues and alcohol had combined forces to keep me off-line.
The skinny:
Dubai is the main city of the United Arab Emirates, which have been around for less time than I have, joining in 1971, with Abu Dhabi and 5 other emirates in the area.
It is always warm and sunny, but people spend almost all of there time getting out of air conditioned luxury cars to enter air conditioned luxury buildings so it doesn't have a huge impact...except for me...I've been working on my suntan.
The local economy is worth about 47 Billion US per year, of which less than 3% comes from petroleum revenues. The make most of their cash from the Jebel Ali Free Zone, which allows no restrictions on labour import or capital export...kind of like a huge duty free store.
The population has skyrocketed in recent years...refer to the below timeline:
1955 - 20 000 population
1965 - 60 000
1975 - 183 000
1985 - 370 000
1995 - 674 000
2005 - 1.2 million
Currently there are 1 073 000 men and 349 000 women...mainly due to the influx of male labourers from India, Pakistan & Bangladesh to cope with the massive construction occuring in Dubai. Less than 17% of the population are "locals" (ie UAE Nationals), but they are easily recognisable by their local dress, the "dish-dash", a long white night-shirt with headdress.
You can pretty much do anything you want in Dubai as long as you don't hassle the locals, there is a mandantory 3 day jail term for drunkeness. I tried hard, but remained arrest free :)
Dee & Stu's wedding was great, held at the luxurious Mina Al Salaam hotel complex that is so sprawlingly (nice word D...changing an adverb to an adjective at the drop of a hat) big that the staff drive you around in boats (they have sea turtles and huge fish ion the man-made lagoon...it's pretty spectacular. Dad couldn't make it, but via the worders of modern technology, was able to give a speech on the big TV screen at the reception.
Dubai is a nice place to live, especially if you are alocal, as all of the hard work and low paying jobs are filled by Indians, Pakistanis, or Bangladeshis. (Kind of like how the Australians rely on the hard working expats from Canada to get the job done)!
The whole place is under construction, something like 17% of the worlds large building cranes are in Dubai. To cope with the deminishing land availabilty (and because they think it's cool), they are making alot of artificial islands to build on. (The most famous ofwhich is probably the 7 star Burj al-Arab hotel...you know the one, Andre Agassi played tennis on there helipad). There is also some insanely over the top residential projects, the biggest being The Palms and The World...mansions are only accessable via boat or helicopter...all of the residence own both.
This is my first time in the Middle East, and the transition was pretty easy...other the the preponderance of guys wearing dish-dashes and smoking Sheesha pipes...it is kinda like Melbourne. (or any other western city...I am hoping to get much more of a feel for tradional Middle eastern culture when I am in Jordan)
Bro and I were lucky enough to enjoy the hospitality of Dee & Stu's friend Ali. His pad was great, kinda like "Melrose Place", swimming pool, nice courtyard garden, 3 satelite dishes and about 3000 channels, house keeper etc. What made it best was the unmatchable hospitality Ali showed me, including my first (but not last, Sheesha pipe). Like every other westerner, I like the apple flavoured tobacco best.
Next post will be from Cairo...hopefully with photos attached.
Sorry for delay in blog posting but family issues and alcohol had combined forces to keep me off-line.
The skinny:
Dubai is the main city of the United Arab Emirates, which have been around for less time than I have, joining in 1971, with Abu Dhabi and 5 other emirates in the area.
It is always warm and sunny, but people spend almost all of there time getting out of air conditioned luxury cars to enter air conditioned luxury buildings so it doesn't have a huge impact...except for me...I've been working on my suntan.
The local economy is worth about 47 Billion US per year, of which less than 3% comes from petroleum revenues. The make most of their cash from the Jebel Ali Free Zone, which allows no restrictions on labour import or capital export...kind of like a huge duty free store.
The population has skyrocketed in recent years...refer to the below timeline:
1955 - 20 000 population
1965 - 60 000
1975 - 183 000
1985 - 370 000
1995 - 674 000
2005 - 1.2 million
Currently there are 1 073 000 men and 349 000 women...mainly due to the influx of male labourers from India, Pakistan & Bangladesh to cope with the massive construction occuring in Dubai. Less than 17% of the population are "locals" (ie UAE Nationals), but they are easily recognisable by their local dress, the "dish-dash", a long white night-shirt with headdress.
You can pretty much do anything you want in Dubai as long as you don't hassle the locals, there is a mandantory 3 day jail term for drunkeness. I tried hard, but remained arrest free :)
Dee & Stu's wedding was great, held at the luxurious Mina Al Salaam hotel complex that is so sprawlingly (nice word D...changing an adverb to an adjective at the drop of a hat) big that the staff drive you around in boats (they have sea turtles and huge fish ion the man-made lagoon...it's pretty spectacular. Dad couldn't make it, but via the worders of modern technology, was able to give a speech on the big TV screen at the reception.
Dubai is a nice place to live, especially if you are alocal, as all of the hard work and low paying jobs are filled by Indians, Pakistanis, or Bangladeshis. (Kind of like how the Australians rely on the hard working expats from Canada to get the job done)!
The whole place is under construction, something like 17% of the worlds large building cranes are in Dubai. To cope with the deminishing land availabilty (and because they think it's cool), they are making alot of artificial islands to build on. (The most famous ofwhich is probably the 7 star Burj al-Arab hotel...you know the one, Andre Agassi played tennis on there helipad). There is also some insanely over the top residential projects, the biggest being The Palms and The World...mansions are only accessable via boat or helicopter...all of the residence own both.
This is my first time in the Middle East, and the transition was pretty easy...other the the preponderance of guys wearing dish-dashes and smoking Sheesha pipes...it is kinda like Melbourne. (or any other western city...I am hoping to get much more of a feel for tradional Middle eastern culture when I am in Jordan)
Bro and I were lucky enough to enjoy the hospitality of Dee & Stu's friend Ali. His pad was great, kinda like "Melrose Place", swimming pool, nice courtyard garden, 3 satelite dishes and about 3000 channels, house keeper etc. What made it best was the unmatchable hospitality Ali showed me, including my first (but not last, Sheesha pipe). Like every other westerner, I like the apple flavoured tobacco best.
Next post will be from Cairo...hopefully with photos attached.
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