Sunday, March 14, 2010

Back in the UAE; Part Two

Have you ever been in a foreign country and absolutely craved Taco Bell? Well, it happens to me every time, in every country I’ve even been in. It’s pretty much the only American fast food I do crave, and its one of the fast food chains that tastes nearly identical to its American counterpart, no matter where you are in the world. But that’s another story.

Day two of the first weekend trip starts pretty much the same as the first one ended; with sand. Lots of it. The winds are really gusting, kicking up sand, silt, dust and Lord knows what else into the sky. The sun is out, but unseen… and this really, well, sucks. Especially considering my plan today was to venture over to the Atlantis the Palm Dubai hotel, resort, Water-park, and general monstrosity. The Palm Jumeirah is the location for Atlantis and is one of those enormous “floating” palm islands you see in the ocean north of Dubai (speak of monstrosities).

Well, given the no sun and the swirling winds nature of the day, Larry suggests we try something of an interior nature: the Dubai Mall. No, this is not the mall with the ski slope – that would be the Mall of the Emirates. And no, this is not the mall with the golf course right next to it; that would be Dubai Festival City.

This is the Dubai mall, the largest retail outlet in the entire world. Yeah, the one with a massive aquarium, full size hockey/skating rink, a giant multi-screen theater, a gold souk, over a 1,000 stores and an outdoor lake/fountain that nearly rivals that of the Bellagio. Oh, and it’s next door to the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. Yeah, when they say “go big or go home”, you know which one this city chooses.

The Dubai mall is home to what appears to be just about every major fashion brand in the world; over 5 million square feet of shopping all told. I believe some relative perspective is needed here. The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota (my old home) is spread out of over 4.2 million square feet and has 520 stores. Compare that to the 12 million+ sq ft overall size and 1,200 plus stores at the Dubai Mall and you get an idea. Oh, and for those of my friends in Ft. Lauderdale; the Galleria Mall on Sunrise is 1 million sq. ft. and has 150 stores… get the picture?


No? Alright, Here are some more mind-blowing details (or at least somewhat fascinating ones:
The Olympic-size Dubai Ice Rink can host a capacity of up to 2,000 guests, and converts into a multi-functional hall with world-class multimedia system including a 60 ft. × 30ft.m LED screen; it also houses over 1,800 pairs of skates imported from a leading manufacturer in Italy.
The movie theater? Reel Cinema is a 22 screen megaplex with more than 2,800 seats. Next door is SEGA Republic, a 76,000 sq ft indoor theme park, which features over 150 amusement games.

There are several waterfalls both outside and inside the mall. Two of them feature numerous Silver Surfer dudes diving in midair…. Surreal to say the least.

To say the most would be to mention the Book World by Kinokuniya, easily biggest freaking book store I’ve ever set foot in. It quite literally wraps ¾’s of the way around an enormous turret; take a look at the panoramic picture below to try and get an idea of what I’m talking about. Its numbers are equally impressive: Kinokuniya is a massive 68,000 square feet paragon book gallery which stocks more than a half million books and a thousand magazines in English; Arabic; Japanese; French; German and Chinese at any given time. I have friends (myself included) who can spend an entire day in Barnes and Noble. You could spend a month here.

But, I don’t. Hunger is calling, which leads me to that whole Taco Bell thing mentioned earlier. We had to eat, so we visited the “Food Court” There’s a reason that phrase is in parentheses… the total number of outlets in the food court fluctuates, but there are generally about 160 different places to eat, covering pretty much every type of food the world over. I love what the Dubai Mall website says about the food court: “Whatever the number, there are more than you'll find in any other shopping mall, and enough cholesterol suppliers to keep even the hard core hamburger junkies satisfied. Main Food Court is on the top floor, with an outdoor seating area, and the first Taco Bell in the UAE (if you haven't tried it, it's not that exciting).” AS IF!

Larry, Bernardo and I, with bellies overly full, head over to the Dubai Aquarium and Discovery Centre, which has earned the Guinness World Record for the world's "Largest Acrylic Panel" (90’ wide x 30’ m high). Its 750 mm thick acrylic viewing panel can withstand pressure of 10 million liters of water used in the aquarium, but its transparency gives visitors clear views of over 33,000 marine animals. Oh, and there’s a top part that has all fresh water attractions, and the crème de la cream; a moving tube that takes you under and through the whole attraction. Well, as long as you’re not overly claustrophobic or are paranoid about the thing leaking.

Which it did! Two days before we arrived, apparently water was gushing out of the tank. Don’t believe me, here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nSVfMplwC4


We leave the aquarium, exit the mall and cross the exterior bridge to take in the one and only (the cliché really fits here) Burj Khalifa. Here’s what wikipedia has to say about this soaring tower: Burj Khalifa (Arabic: برج خليفة‎ "Khalifa Tower"), known as Burj Dubai prior to its inauguration, is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and the tallest man-made structure ever built, at 828 m (2,717 ft). Construction began on 21 September 2004, with the exterior of the structure completed on 1 October 2009. The building officially opened on 4 January 2010. The building is part of the 2 km2 (490-acre) flagship development called Downtown Burj Khalifa at the "First Interchange" along Sheikh Zayed Road, near Dubai's main business district.

Given the dusty, sandy, crappy nature of the day, the Burj is shrouded in a haze that makes taking pictures hardly ideal, but it’s still impressive to stand at the base and try to take it all in without requiring a chiropractor afterwards. I’m pretty sure most of my friends know that on any given day, I’ll be the first person to stand in a ridiculously long line (unless it’s freezing cold in Chicago Jenna!) to get to the top of anything. However, the visibility is nil, and they’re not letting anyone up today anyways... my curious nature wonders why... You see, it seems just last week the elevator broke and 15 people were trapped for 45 minutes on the 124th floor. Yep, both the Burj Khalifa and the Dubai Mall Aquarium (separated by about a football filed) both broke. From what I heard, visitors on the observation deck a half-mile-high heard a loud boom, then saw dust that looked like smoke seeping through a crack in an elevator door. One of the people actually trapped in the elevator said that the lights went off and the car began to fall before the brakes kicked in. Yeah, you read that right.

People, that’s 1,600 feet in the air. If it was me, I would probably be thinking, “when the hell is Keanu gonna rescue me?”

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Back in the U.S.S.R. Wait, no, I mean UAE.

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

While I hardly agree, I’m referring of course to the introduction of Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice“(I say of course, but it’s not like I knew before I looked it up). After successfully penning Sense and Sensibility, she had to start writing again… so, why not commence with that line?

I too need to start writing again; what with being back in the United Arab Emirates and my many loyal followers interested in my whereabouts and doings… all 15 of you (and yes, that includes my family, who are biologically contracted to at least feint interest)…

…. and now that I have gone and compared myself to one of the most widely read and most beloved writers in English literature, the rest of this dribble should no doubt be as worthy as a third elbow and equally disappointing. Nevertheless, here goes… I arrived back in the UAE on a Wednesday night, after leaving the States on a Tuesday afternoon, after finding out I would be doing all of this on a Sunday evening. At the very least, I now do not feel the need to fulfill my daily obligation of answering the query: “Hey! When are you going back to Al Ain?” There just isn’t many things worse than having to answer (or in this case, not be able to answer) the same question over and over by well-meaning friends, family and colleagues. Well, yeah, I guess polio and perhaps being eaten by sharks whilst kite-boarding (sorry Howard Shafer), but I digress. It’s just annoying but you feel bad because everyone means so well. Anyways…

If you have the option to fly over to Dubai, or say Tokyo, Beijing or especially Australia, can I make a pertinent suggestion to you? DO NOT book a coach seat between two people on Delta. You will not sleep, you will not be comfortable and you will not be happy for say… 16 hours straight. There, I said it.
Okay, so most of what I do during the week is not really that exciting, and it definitely does not make for great copy, so instead I’ll do what I usually do and alk about the road-trips we take on the weekends. Larry is back with me over here and we have a presentation to give to a prospective client in the northeastern part of UAE, Ras al-Khaimah (also known as RAK). Therefore we decide to trek north and engage in some regional exploration and research. Oh yeah.

First stop: Hatta Fort Hotel Dubai. The lodge here has garnered a reputation for excellent service and as a tranquil escape from the chaos that is Dubai. Felt like a bit of an oversell to me; I mean, the setting is decent, perched high over the town with a decent view of the Hajar mountain range as a backdrop. The hotel features 80 acres of manicured gardens, quite a lot of turfed areas (the green on grey contrast is striking), and two large pools; one cut into and under a dining facility, the other with a large rock- outcropping serving as the kids slide. However, the most unique feature of the hotel is not the clay pigeon shooting range (okay, that’s pretty cool), it must be the 9 hole “mountain” golf course. The terrain is quite varied with numerous elevation changes… although I couldn’t figure out if the ‘greens’ were rock, sand, clay, or a combination thereof.


Next on the itinerary, Hatta and the wadi pools. My last time here in the UAE, I missed out on a tour of these areas by a week, but Larry really enjoyed it, so we come back. Joining is Carlos from Kobi Karp Architects. If you look at the accompanying map below, you may notice that Al Ain is semi-surrounded by its neighbor to the east, the Sultanate of Oman. So, technically, you have to leave the UAE to get to Hatta, which is in the UAE; this only makes sense if you actually make the journey.
Hatta is somewhat situated between two vertical masses, the Jebel Hafit to the west and the Hajar mountain range to the east. In pretty much every direction, you see unfolding layers of peaks protruding through an abundant atmospheric haze. (Sorry, overdid it on that one). Anyway, all these mountains funnel occasional rainfalls down through a wadi (a valley or mostly-dry riverbed) that during peak storm events creates some serious flooding and some very cool rock formations. The other reason numerous people – local and expatriate alike – trek to this area is the clean and cool pools that from between the rocks. Actually this is the main reason.

Larry and I waste no time climbing to the peaks and jumping off. It’s only about 20 foot (7m) jump, but how often do you get to do this in a vast desert? Check the hand-held video I took with my underwater camera that attaches this blog. Fun. The locals get a kick out of watching us jump, dive and flip off the rocks (okay, perhaps I’m the only one silly and crazy enough to perform the latter two), but I have no doubt they engage in similar behavior as soon as we foreigners are out of eyesight.
We hop back in our always serviceable Toyota Prada and continue due north to RAK. Ras al-Khaimah (Arabic: رأس الخيمة‎, rās al-Khaymah, literally "The Top of the Tent"), formerly known as Julfar, is one of the emirates of the United Arab Emirates (UAE); it is located in the northern part of the UAE bordering Oman. If you look at the map above, you’ll see it directly north of Al Ain (spelled Al Ayn on the map). It is an industrial city with many quarries and cement factories, and really until you approach the coast, not very scenic at all. But before arriving at the coast, we stop outside the city at the Al Wadi Banyan Tree Resort and Spa.
Some immediate thoughts come to mind with one glance at the Banyan Tree website: their resorts are located in some of the most striking, faraway and wonderful places around the globe. The images provided showcase their locations, facilities and services that could easily fill those ubiquitous exotic screen savers that your coworkers without fail, love to display (guilty as charged). If it is top notch resort and spa services you seek, and a veritable bounty of eye candy that you covet, these are the places. Of course, the one overriding caveat is that they will most likely consume your entire bonus. Bonuses… remember those things?

Unfortunately the Al Wadi Banyan Tree Resort and Spa, located just 30 or so minutes south of RAK, has just opened, has a way to go, and was experienced on a dreadfully windy day. Although, to be frank, not even the sand in your teeth, detracted from the notion that this particular resort might be the weakest in the Banyan Tree portfolio in regards to appearance, comfort and mystique. This is most likely one of those resorts that looks absolutely stunning on the website and brochures (and it does make for some striking photos), but ultimately fails to live up to its billing and portrayal. The surrounding views aren’t the greatest, there does not exist a tremendous number of things to do, and I cannot imagine ladies getting dressed up for dinner only to be buffeted by swirling winds of sand on your walk from your villa to the dining areas. Nope.

Larry, Carlos and I head back north to the RAK coast, where we actually were earlier in the day, and make our way to the Cove Rotana Ras al-Khaimah. The Cove is comprised of a main hotel, several restaurants and lounges all situated at the top of hill (or more likely a huge stabilized sand dune) overlooking Arabic villas weaved together by a waterway, or aha, cove if you will, and beyond that a vast stretch of beach. This is not an altogether bad idea, and I think executed quite well.

The main resort hotel features a large with infinity edge pool overlooking the cove villas Watch as the next few shots progress through the night. The pool, pooldeck and background take on a completely different atmosphere! Thank you D90 (more on that later) Thus concludes day one of our first road trip, and I must say, it was quite fun. Other than the obvious reasons, the overriding ‘fun’ factor is my new Nikon D90 camera. It simply takes shots I could never quite capture with my traditional point and shoot cameras; particularly in regards to night shots. Thank you Bobby, Blake, Andrew & Marla; your advice was much appreciated. And as always, much more of these pictures can be found on my Facebook page: Middle East Journey Take #5.