Dubai. Desert city kicks ass.
Tuesday, April 8th, 2008My recent speech at the Lynx advertising festival and first visit to Dubai has certainly astonished my senses but definitely broadened my horizon.
What a thrill. Travelling to a city you’ve never seen. Arriving sort of clueless but leaving so highly inspired.
It is the fascination of recognizing that we are observers of a city birth. Mother Nature and Father Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum are presenting their child to the Western society which visits, adores the newborn and brings presents. A lot of foreign currency and even more interest to invest.
Arriving 2 days before the conference allowed me to hop on the city tour bus, listen to the story of Dubai’s history which was presented to me by one of the 3.2 million expatriates, a young Burmese lady to be exact whose English language skills made Roberto, who accompanied me to Dubai, ask: “what language is she speaking?”
Finally, Miss Burmese succeeded in transmitting to us the city’ most important facts, for example that filling up your car is way cheaper than yourself (one litre of water costs € 1,4, a litre of gasoline only 40 cents).
On our first evening in Dubai, we went to the Dubai World Cup and watched the horse races. While we passed a queue which without a doubt was the longest the world has ever seen, Roberto and I just walked inside. Maybe it was our fake determined look that got us into the sold-out event, but suddenly the worlds most expensive Arabian horse were walking right by and so was the first Arabian orchestra whose unusual outfit caused an immediate smile.
We loved the architecture, the food and the friendliness of our Arabian hosts. 4 times we were driven to the hotel by complete strangers, because we couldn’t get hold of a taxi or any form of available public transport.
You have just got to see the architecture of the many skyscrapers yourself. The design, the height, the majestic look – you stand in front of these buildings made of glass and steel and extraordinary features (integration of water, wind turbines and super doper future hi-technology) and you will probably be utterly amazed.
The building that I have been hearing so much about in the last 10 years, I finally saw it. The Burj Al Arab, the 7 star hotel. The only way to watch Dubai from above was investing 200 € and have dinner there. The subsequent camel milk shake in the Sky bar got us this view. Which made this investment worthwhile. And taught me once more: sometimes a bit of patience pays off and… if you really want something you get it (and I am just saying this because I had to find 10 reasons why we should be allowed to have a drink in the bar even when we were no hotel guests).
If I had to give a recommendation to a 20 year old, I would say this: study Arabian, pack your bags and move to UAE. Whether you go to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha or any other of the evolving funky places in the desert in this land far away, study, experience and co-author the look and content of an empty place on earth.
