Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha

I am a little more than halfway through our version of Spring Break, spent in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Doha. (I did not notice the prevalence of “D” names till now!) Hmm, we began with Abu Dhabi, where we attended a conference the national research center was putting on- a venue for academics to present their papers on Education, political reform, religion, the economy- and how they all are establishing the Gulf’s position between Conservatism and Change. (If you’re interested in the conference itself, please let me know and we’ll discuss.) We had the evenings free, and the highlight was going to the Seven Star Emirates Palace Hotel. The scale of this place was amazing. It literally could be a palace. We walked around inside for a little while, and then blended in with some guests and headed out to the back of the hotel. There they had the hotel’s private beach, swimming pools, fountains, and acres and acres of landscaped walking paths along the ocean. I think we walked for two hours, just exploring and playing. It was pretty dark at one point, and we stumbled upon some camels! Evidently the hotel has a “Bedouin experience” set up, with camel rides, coffee, handcrafts for sale- the works. We got as close as we would dare to the camels, rested on the floor couches, and enjoyed the evening “Bedouin style” for a brief couple minutes. What we only realized on our way back was that there were also two guys there, sleeping and I guess watching over all the stuff!

After 3 days of the conference, we took the short bus ride to Dubai, and had 2 days on our own to see the city. The first night we toured around the Creek, a sort of river that travels through the city. Its only sort of a river because it flows from the ocean and is salt water. I had a wonderful night on a dinner cruise that traveled from the ocean to the end of it. Plus, we had the best seat on the boat- the top deck, right up front- seeing everything and sometimes forgetting the boat was even there! So, the rumors are true, shopping is in charge in Dubai- and their malls prove it. There are two main ones, and innumerable smaller ones. The Ibn Batuta mall is adorned with architecture from all the places that Ibn Batuta (the best of the Arabian explorers) visited: China, India, Egypt, Persia, Tunisia, and Andalusia. I have to say that I didn’t really check out many of the stores, shopping not being my thing- but they had museum-like exhibits to look at, including a pretty cool hands on Astronomy section.

Are you ready for the highlight? Ready, ready? So guess what- I went skiing, in Dubai! They built an indoor ski slope at the Mall of the Emirates, one that maintains their -3 degree temperature even when its 150 degrees outside in summer! It was fantastic, they did a great job making it feel like a real mountain, halfway up the ski lift makes a 60 or so degree left turn (right where the “lodge” is, complete with bathrooms, and a place to sit inside or outside and enjoy hot chocolate, snacks, etc right there on the mountain!) and after the left turn you only see the ski lift above you, the run (with a width similar to runs on actual ski mountains) and people skiing below you. It is split up into several mini-runs with different difficulty levels; green near the bottom, blue farther up, and a “black” to the right side of the lodge that while short, had a very thin layer of snow over a steep surface. The snow itself was great, all manmade of course, but the feel was right. (A little dry to keep the runs fast, the type of snow that doesn’t make quality snowballs unfortunately!) One of the highlights was seeing people from the Middle East enjoy snow for the first time. There were women there in the winter outfits they give you and their head scarves, men wearing turbans- both of which helped to keep them warm- and everyone was having a great time. There were even people, both tourists and presumably people from Dubai, who had brought not only their own skiing outfits but their own skis or snowboard as well! Perhaps some of these people have a season pass! They even have a snowboarding night once a week where they open up all the jumps and the quarter pipe so the younger hipper crowd can go wild. As for ski lifts, there were three options- in the middle was a normal ski lift that either dropped you off halfway or all the way at the top- normal except for the fact it was attached to the roof instead of having the poles down to the ground, imagine that! For the beginners area, they had a moving walkway like thing that you just slid yourself onto, and it would ferry you up the beginners part of the hill. Thirdly, there was a system normally used for long flat traverses- the one where there is a long stick attached to the moving line which you put between your legs and sit on the round part at the end. It certainly was a more challenging way to get to the top, the turn in the middle was the hardest part. They also had a snow play area at the bottom for those who really couldn’t bring themselves to try skiing for the first time- where they had ice slides, open areas for snow angels, snowball fights, and general fun. We got two hours to enjoy ourselves, and it flew by, if you are ever in Dubai- this place is unbelievable.

I am in the airport now, about to leave Doha. We only had a quick trip here, 2 days which was just enough time to see Education City (where Carnegie Mellon has a campus!) and Al Jazeera network (and pretty much everything else there was to see in Doha, they are in the process of constructing a myriad of museums and other things for visitors, but as of now its…simple.) Plus, of the 5 colleges at Education City, our group happened to take our tour with CMU, and I got to see Jarrod Mock, a friend of mine who I have known for 5 years, we haven’t seen each other since graduation, and what do you know, we met up in Qatar! Doha actually has the nicest Souk (more or less a traditional market) that I have seen here in the gulf, and I have been to 7 in as many distinct regions now.

Now that my tour of some Gulf countries is complete, I can honestly say that while I think Dubai is pretty cool, I still prefer Oman because of the friendly people, the dramatic scenery, and the unabashed and genuine hold on tradition there.