Is Dubai Artificial?

Hi everyone,

I am so excited to be back on my blog (even though I have not been away for more than a week) but I feel so awesome to be able to connect to you all through my blog!

I am finally back in Dubai, UAE.

Stayed in a hotel with my parents. Checked out this awesome new Souk, called Souk Madinat Juemirah, where a traditional Arabian souk has been re-created. ( http://www.madinatjumeirah.com/shopping/ ) While it is a spectacular experience, it is nothing compared to visiting an actual souk. This new souk experience was more like visiting a theme park. The number of people there was incredible wth so many tourists (mostly Russians). We had dinner at Times of Arabia, which was a Lebanese restaurant. The food was not so nice-- and we certainly expected greater quality being in such a high quality resort. We also had a small boat ride through the entire resort (usually, people dont get rides through the whole resort-- but our boat driver showed us everything). We saw the hotel, villas and spas. It was a great experience.

However, despite the glossy surface of the project, I felt like as if I was at some theme park, like Adventure Land at Disney Land. Whatever has been created here, is not representable of a country like UAE. The souks were immpecably clean, air conditioned, with shops like Starbucks and Cinnabon-- thats not heritage! Thats consumerism! Maybe the tourists might find this appealing, but I certainly didn't.

Despite that, we also went to City Center, the most popular mall in Dubai ( http://www.deiracitycentre.com/dcc/Index.HTML ) It gets so crowded, you literally have to shove your way round other people. If you are walking slowly, you are sure to be hit by other people on your shoulders who want to over-take you. Again, so many people, so many shops, so much emphasis on buying, buying and buying! No wonder there is another word for Dubai- Do-Buy!

I guess it may have something to do with my living in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (which by the way I love!) that has made me realize how artifical and fake Dubai looks. When I go out to Dubai, it seems like a huge theme park to me with the tallest building (soon to be built), largest shopping mall (soon to be built), the Palm Islands, the largest shopping trolley, the richest horse race, the tallest hotel etc. What is it that Dubai is trying to prove? I mean, why does Dubai want to build a proper ski-slope with real snow here?

Sometimes, the reality and fantasy merge and I dont realize whats fake and whats real anymore. So is Dubai artifical? I think, yes.

Keep in mind that I am not saying I hate Dubai-- I am just of the opinion that Dubai is all about consumerism, shopping, spending, buying and winning lotteries (where the prizes are like cars, plasma tvs, cash prizes etc) It may appeal to people, but it doesn't appeal to me-- there is a bigger world out there. I would rather be there! Maybe I can live here for a while, but I certainly will not be able to live here my whole life-- I think I would need to move on.

Hope you all are keeping well,
Mansur

(I know some of you are thinking: Mansur, if you dont like Dubai, what are you doing there? One, I am in Sharjah (next to Dubai) so I dont really live in Dubai and two, I had to return to Sharjah anyways for reasons I am not going to disclose here!)