Dubai from the Plane.I remember back when I first started traveling someone referred to the United Arab Emirates as the whiny Arab oil rich country. After arriving, I can see why and why not this country should be known as more than that.
I landed on a luke warm day, the sun barely coming over the horizon. Many of you know how scared deadly I am of plane rides, especially upon landing, but for some reason on this day I felt at peace. Upon landing I noticed how commercialized the country was, but in a different way. Whereas we're used to white men all over billboards or commercials, they have Arab men dressed in traditional garb selling their products to the masses. I found this to be very telling of what many of us refer to as the "global market." Travelers from all over the world centered themselves at Dubai on this day.
Words cannot express the luxury, the extravagance, the utter eccentricity of this country. Buildings with waterfalls, television shows being projected onto thinly sprayed water walls (think Disneys World of Color), marble tiles for no apparent reason, luxury cars at every turn, and of course beautiful women from all scopes of the globe. I have to also say that the Dubai International Airport (solely made for their countries flagship airlines Emirates) is THE best airlines and airport I've ever been to. The roads are clean, the people are nice, and the food is delicious.
Back to Dubai. I had the chance to meet and drink with a few wealthy Arab professionals that I met in the airport. I was able to ask them about their perceptions of America, the world economy, and their culture. Its funny to see how the American perspective, or being American, can sometimes skew your sense of what the world really is. By this I mean, its sometimes very easy to become egocentric within ones country and place, especially when you're American. It's easy to put ourselves on a pedestal, to see others as inferior. It was a very humbling experience for me to be able to talk to these men, to say the least.
I didn't spend as much time in Dubai like I wish I could've, but on the way back to the States after Bangladesh, I plan on staying in Dubai for 3 more days.
I apologize is this blog was more rambling and not structured as others, but I'm jet lagged and wanted to get something out before I fell behind on writing.
Love and miss you all,
Live from Dubai,
Sonny
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