Dubai - Anyone who’s flown into Dubai by day sitting at a window seat will appreciate the spectacle of the city skyline rising up as you descend over the desert.
Sadly, many who arrive from South Africa see nothing more of this amazing city. For them, Dubai is simply a transit hub where they wander through duty-free with no idea of what they’re missing beyond the airport.
What hit a group of journalists as we waited at the luggage carousel on a recent visit to Dubai was: Where were all those other passengers who’d been on the fully booked Boeing 777 Emirates flight from Joburg? Clearly they were on their way elsewhere.
Dubai is the second city of the seven-member United Arab Emirates (UAE). What became apparent during our few days there was a story of ambitious and explosive record-setting growth.
l Emirates Airline flew its first routes in 1985. Thirty years later it transports 49.3 million passengers a year from an airport that was the subject of a National Geographic documentary series, Ultimate Airport Dubai, aired on DStv. According to Dubai Airport, 53 percent of these passengers are connecting, and the rest are origin and destination visitors.
l Dubai is the world’s fastest-growing city, according to The Rough Guide to Dubai by Gavin Thomas, “having metamorphosed from a small Gulf trading centre” into “one of the world’s most spectacular and futuristic urban destinations”.
On the drive from the airport into central Dubai along the 12-lane Sheikh Zayed Road – named after the first UAE president and the main road cutting a swathe through the desert, linking cities in the UAE – one cannot but be amazed by the skyscrapers lining it, from sandy-coloured Arabian-style buildings to those clad in glass, shining like tinfoil in the sun.
Dubai’s modern reputation is built on these supersize buildings. It’s listed third behind Hong Kong and New York as the city with the most skyscrapers and is a model of a modern marvel: an ever-transforming trade and tourism city on the site of what was once a trade route stop for caravans in the Arabian desert, and a Persian Gulf fishing port.
We dropped off fellow journalists at the Double Tree Al Barsha near the Mall of the Emirates (famously, with an indoor Ski Dubai facility), enjoyed an evening function with Hilton Hotel executives in the gardens of the elegant 54-storey Conrad Dubai near the Dubai World Trade Centre, and drove out to The Palm Jumeirah, home of the Waldorf Astoria where, after a guided tour – during which there was plenty of oohing and aahing at the fixtures and furnishings and many cellphone selfies – we sat down to a sumptuous lunch.
Hilton Worldwide runs more than 4 200 hotels in 93 countries, from the Waldorf Astoria, Conrad and Double Tree to Canopy neighbourhood hotels, Curio independent hotels, Embassy Suites, Hilton Garden Inn and Hampton Inns. With 1 350 projects in the pipeline, representing close to a quarter of a million rooms due to enter the market worldwide, it clearly wants to hold on to its position as largest hotel company in the world with new destinations, brands and technology.
The Emir of Dubai is Sheikh Mohammed, the vice-president and prime minister of the UAE. Now 66, he is credited with continuing the bold development legacy of Sheikh Maktoum, eldest son of Sheikh Rashid, regarded as the father of modern Dubai.
This Dubai is a global city of our time and a testament to what can be achieved when there is no limit to a city’s ambition or leaders with a determination to make change a reality and, obviously, with the wherewithal to do so.
When it comes to records, nothing can surpass the extraordinary Burj Khalifa, at 828m the world’s tallest man-made structure, which opened in January 2010. It’s the city’s number one tourist destination but, more than that, it’s a statement that Dubai truly is a world city. If you don’t experience vertigo, buy a ticket (125 UAE dirham or about R420) and take the lift, which zips up at 10m a second, to the observation deck on floor 124 to marvel at the view of the skyscrapers far below.
Below it, and outside the Dubai Mall, are the Burj Khalifa dancing fountains that shoot jets of water up to 50 storeys high – that’s the height of Joburg’s Carlton Centre – and has lights so bright at night they’re apparently visible from space. Check performance times so as not to be disappointed.
Even if you have no intention of shopping, it’s worth spending time in the enormous Dubai Mall, home to the Dubai Aquarium, which has a giant public viewing pane to watch the fish in the 10-million litre tank. Apart from offering the world’s largest collection of fashion brands under one roof, including all the elite houses, the mall has an Olympic-sized ice rink, Sega entertainment area and KidZania (a mini city for children), 22 cinemas, about 150 restaurants and coffee shops, and a diverse programme of events.
It would be unfair to the city to visit it without making time for the historic part around the Creek – what a friend living there calls “the real Dubai” – the site of early settlement around which the modern Dubai has emerged.
Our visit started on the southern side of the Creek at Al Bastakiya, a preserved heritage area that includes the Dubai Museum in the Al Fahidi fort dating from 1799. We strolled through tiny alleyways between housing with distinctive “air-conditioning” wind towers dating back from the early 1900s.
Then it was down to the water’s edge to hop on an abra, an inexpensive water taxi that travels back and forth across the Creek all day and night. Ours was sadly a time-constrained visit as some in the party had to leave for the airport, but it was enough to get a sense of the activities that continue to this day, along with the wooden dhows full of goods and the maze of souks (markets) in the Deira district.
A visit to the intimate women’s museum – set up by Rafia Ghubash, a leading woman in the UAE, who spoke to us – gave insight into the role of women in the UAE and the history of the area before we walked through the Gold Souk, with its impressive window displays of extravagant dowrie pieces.
As I settled in my seat for the eight-hour flight home that night, I greeted the woman from Joburg sitting next to me. She’d been in Dubai for a conference. She told me about the lovely hotel where they had stayed, but it seems they barely got beyond the conference room and Dubai Mall. She can say she’s been to Dubai, but if she’s reading this she may realise – like all who simply pass through – what a wonderful opportunity slipped through her fingers.
Ras Al Khaimah
During the visit to Dubai, our media group had the opportunity to travel by bus about an hour through the desert to the most northern emirate in the UAE, Ras Al Khaimah.
Whereas South African road-trippers are used to seeing cattle, sheep and goats grazing, here it was camels and goats galore we passed.
After stopping to admire the facilities at the palatial Waldorf Astoria Ras Al Khaimah – winner of a 2015 TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Award for top hotels in the UAE – it was off to the Hilton Ras Al Khaimah hotel and spa for a relaxed afternoon.
After an al fresco lunch, which included giant prawns on the braai, there was the choice of visiting the fantastic spa for a relaxing-sounding afternoon of pampering, or going down to the private beach to try out some of the water sports on offer.
Val Boje, Saturday Star