We wanna be a part of it - Dubai, Dubai!

After being "home in Europe" for a while we were more than excited to go on with our further travels. We were happy and excited on our flight over from Switzerland. A lot of work was completed - I had been working with insurance administration and accounting and BC had been on work in Norway. We found this part of our Tour The World especially interesting and exciting since none of us had been in the Middle East or Asia before.




Then I suddenly felt very small and a little insecure sitting in my seat glancing at the arabic letters on the screen in front of me. For a second something started to scream inside me: take me back home to Europe...Can I do this? Is this safe? Will the arabic women spyt on me like the rumours say? Will they tolerate a blond western woman like me? And will I be able to tolerate them?...I had a lot of questions going on in my head and a strike of insecure in my heart. But with having an expert on cultural matters sitting by my side, I soon got enough knowledge about the Arabian culture to step down the flight in Dubai with an open mind...and almost without fear.




We were totally amazed! What an impressive city! And hyper-modern! I thought we had come to the wrong place at first, could this be Arabia? A muslim country?

In 1972, Sheik Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the father of the current ruler of Dubai, Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, decided to build a huge new port at Jebel Ali. This was the start of this super-fast growing city.

Dubai has a tiny indigenous population of only 200,000 but is one of the world's fastest growing cities, and in a few years intends to complete two of the world's biggest shopping malls and the biggest residential tower - the Burj Dubai, half a kilometre high. The city currently attracts 6 million tourists per year!




Dubai has changed from an economy based on oil and trade to a centre for the service industries of tourism, trade, professional and financial services. This transition has included a rise in property construction and a massive production of large-scale buildings in the past years.




So what about New York? New York fades totally in the shadows of these enormous skyshrapers in Dubai. You remember the song from Sinatra - New York - the city that doesn't sleep....? Well, it definitely sleep a little bit more than Dubai!

Dubai is an investors dream; it's tax-free, has low inflation, a high standard of living combined with low cost. Socially, Dubai is a city at peace, with a low crime rate and very different communities happily coexisting. Moreover, a large bulk of its
investment property comes at a reasonable price.

And, happy news to those who consider moving to Dubai: The property market is five times cheaper than London!

A persistent rumour suggests that Dubai envisages a bid to host the 2016 Olympics. Any bid would be a serious contender. For Dubai, money is no object.




In Dubai we got to meet one of the many new inhabitants that have taken the oppurtunity to come to this melting point. Ian, who is from Scottland, works in the construction business and has got a golden chance to be a part of Dubai's large-scale buldings production. We were lucky to meet Ian through Couchsurfing, and he offered us to stay with him in his awesome apartment on the 11th floor. It really couldn't be any better! The apartment had excellent view over Dubai and we had a great time with our host. One day he took us up to the rooftop of the neighbour building. Yooooohhhoooo!!!



The seven-star (self-announced) Burj Al Arab hotel, the tallest freestanding
hotel in the world. Beautiful building. We wanted to visit the hotel, just to have a cup of tea (we asume a dinner would cost ua a fortune!) and gave them a call to book a table. We were quite disappointed to hear that they didn't have any tables available in months....!



Dubaian buffet with good friends: Bjørn Christian, Hossam from Egypt(friend from Salzburg International Preparatory School), Benjamin from Germany - recently moved to Dubai(friend from Mannheim University), Ian (our CS host in Dubai) and I.




We also checked out the nightlife in Dubai, which didn't surprice us with any new elements. A disco is quite the same as a disco elsewhere in the world. We thought the arabian discos were a little bit different. No, wrong again.
Cars are relatively cheap in Dubai. Here are some nice ones lined up in front of the disco.



As though Ians apartment didn't give us view enough. BC up in a balloon with the best possible view over Dubai.




Dubai had showed me that I was wrong having all these presumptions about their culture and way of living. I thought they generally were far more conservative and strict. I found that they treated me, as a blond western girl, with respect and dignity.

Nowadays it seems to be fewer obstacles for arabian women to make a career. It was astonishing to read about arabian businesswomen in the magazines. Previously a woman could only run a business if she had a male collegue or sponsor. This woman on the front took over her fathers business - the story impressed me:) Things have definitly changed!