Dubai

Dubai – the most luxurious place in the world. Just 50 years ago Dubai was
merely1 a small town in the middle of the desert. Today Dubai serves as the
luxurious face of the Middle East and the biggest attraction that part of the world
has to offer. Undoubtedly, we all have seen the photos of Burj Al Arab hotel, the
crescent-shaped2 skyscraper build in a man-made island. You also probably know
that Dubai is home to the world’s tallest building. That building is called the Burj
Khalifa and it stands 2,722 feet high.

Yes! I am sure you know a bit about the attractions of this amazing city but
today I would love to get the chance to tell you so much more. So here is all the
over the top wildly expensive you can find in Dubai but first a tiny history lesson.
How did Dubai go from being just a small desert town to the extravagant 3 oasis it
is today? The same way, how did all of the other United Arab Emirates’ cities
become so rich? Oil! Abu Dhabi just 90 miles from Dubai is the richest city in the
world and it sits on 10% of the entire world’s oil supply. This production of oil
launched the United Arab Emirates into the first in the world. Millions were
poured4 into Dubai and it became one of the biggest cities in the Middle East.

However, today Dubai only makes 5% of its revenue from oil because its
reserves are not nearly as lucrative 5 as some of its UAE neighbors. Dubai makes
the majority of its revenue from trade, real estate 6 and tourism. Dubai has become
the business center of the UAE since it can no longer rely on oil production alone.
But this adjustment has not discouraged this incredibly rich city from growing.
Dubai is growing in population just as much as it is growing vertically. In fact,
about ¼ of all cranks7 are located in Dubai. It seems the game plan of Dubai is just
to keep building skyscrapers.

Two of these skyscrapers are already mentioned: The Burj Khalifa and Burj
Al Arab. The Burj Khalifa is so tall in fact that at its upper floors the building can
sway several feet at the mercy 8 of the wind. The architects of this massive
building, however, did not overlook this. The Burj Khalifa was designed in such a
way that the sway would be too slow for the vestibular system in the inner ear to
even notice. That is the part of the ear which provides balance if you happen to be
unburdened9 by the interference.

The Burj Al Arab is a beautiful 5-star hotel just hundreds of feet off the land.
It is the fifth largest hotel in the world thanks to its shape. The hotel is officially
labeled as 5-star hotel but some have dubbed 10 this stunning with the highest
remark of 7-stars. This 7-star label is up for debate as the authority on the matter
of luxury hotels has not been agreed upon. 7-star or not, this hotel is truly
magnificent. If you want to spend a night in the royal suite of the Al Arab it will
cost you just over $24 000. The interior of the Burj Al Arab is adorned with
around 1 790 Square meters of 24 Carat gold reaf. But even that can touch the
glorious views of the immaculate11 city.

Along with extremely tall buildings the city is keen on building man made
islands. Both the Palm islands and the World islands are two incredibly ambitious
projects that came to fruition12 with the help of a whole lot of cash. The
construction of the Palm islands not only costs $12 Billion to build, but it also
required 94 Million cubic meters of sand. To put that into perspective, 94 Million
cubic meters of sand could fill the entire Empire State Building 2.5 times.

The World islands as in the man-made islands that mimic the shape of the
world’s land masses, took 321 Million cubic meters of sand. That also adds another
$15 Billion to the cost of the man-made islands in Dubai.

That is enough to talk about man-made islands, isn’t it? Let’s move on to
police force. Now, law enforcement is not usually something that comes to mind
when speaking in terms of luxury, but it is in sure in Dubai! As a means of wooing
the tourists, Dubai’s police force uses supercars as their patrol vehicles. This
includes cars such as the Ferrari F. F. that goes around $500 000, the Lamborghini
Aventador that goes around $400 000 and Aston Martin 1 77 which goes around
$1.79 Million. Dubai is the 8th safest city in the world. This is not all due to the
super cars of course. The UAE, in general, has rather strict laws due to the Islamic
constitutional monarchies that operate the Emirates’ government. Some Sharia
laws exist in Dubai as well. So if you are on vacation with your Mr. /Ms. check out
the Bujji Police Force, make sure the 2 of you don’t get caught smooching because
it might just get you reported. However, due to the extremely high amount of
tourism some places in Dubai are much more lenient 13. The service of alcohol, for
instance, would not be permitted in a traditional middle-eastern setting but it is in
Dubai in specific such as institutions and clubs. It is actually estimated that around
15% of Dubai’s population are Emiratis while the other 85% are from out of town.
About half of the population is composed of the workers building hundreds of
skyscrapers which does make a little bit of sense considering the whole crane
situation. Most of these workers are from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, which
brings us to the more unfortunate side of Dubai - the class divide of Dubai is quite
big. Many of the immigrant workers live and work in less than ideal conditions
while Emiratis is in the upper class foreigners are extremely attractive salaries.
There, really is not much of a middle ground between the class divide in Dubai.
However, just as any other country divided, there is always sports to bring the
people together. Well, that is the idea anyway and in this case, the sport is camel
racing. Camel racing in Dubai is almost equivalent to American football in the US
and Dubai’s twist on the sport so that instead of children jockeys they have begun
to use robots. Camel racing has a bit of a dark past. It used to be the case that small
children would be forced to ride the camels and that led to human trafficking
unless progressed areas in the Middle East it still happens. But in Dubai children
have been replaced with robots and these little bots can cost up to $10 000. Let’s
just move on from camel racing.

In the future, Dubai has some rather insane in the works. Dubai is planning
to build a completely climate-controlled area of the city that spans 4.3 miles.
Dubai’s ruler announced it; Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktourn unveiled
plans for the Mall of the World, a 48 Million square feet mall of the World. This
miniature city will have a retractable dome and will not only serve as a massive
pedestrian mall, but will contain hotels and apartments, along with roads and
parks. The massive structure will more than double the size of Monaco. The idea
starts to make sense when you consider Dubai can reach temperatures of a 115
degrees Fahrenheit regularly. Nevertheless, this idea begins to make less sense
again when you consider the cost. The cost has not been determined officially, but
estimates have been made in the $10 Billion and keep in mind: the price tag would
be much higher if the workers were not dreadfully underpaid. The dome is
planned to have a 100 hotels and service departments totaling 20 000 rooms. It
seems an audacious14 architectural feat: we have never known Dubai to aspire for
anything less.

The mega rich residents that live in Dubai do not send their paycheck to the
government in Dubai. There is no income tax. Yet another feature that makes
Dubai one of the most attractive places to stay on the planet.

So, that is the Dubai for you.

Vocabulary:
1. Merely - զուտ
2. Crescent-shaped – կիսալուսնի ձև ունեցող
3. Extravagant – շռայլ, ծախսող
4. To pour - հոսել
5. Lucrative - եկամտաբեր
6. Real estate – անշարժ գույք
7. Crank – վերամբարձ կռունկ
8. Mercy - ողորմություն
9. Unburdened – թեթևացած
10. Dub – տիտղոս տալ
11. Immaculate – անարատ
12. Fruition - իրականացում
13. Lenient - մեղմ
14. Audacious - հանդուգն