Thanks to Al Jazeera Airlines’ price promo celebrating its first year anniversary, James and I found ourselves winging our way to Dubai last weekend. I was actually supposed to fly there, anyway, to meet some furniture supplier but with a one-way ticket costing only KD5/-, I figured it would be nice to take him along. Actually, like all promotions, there was a catch to it. Because it said “plus airport tax”, whatever that meant. The tax for flying out of Kuwait Airport was KD6/- while flying out of Dubai for the return, costed KD17/- so the total return fare was actually KD33/-. Still cheap, considering that it was just about a third of the normal fare. We had paper tickets printed out of the computer after having made the reservation a week earlier courtesy of Visa. This is what we presented along with our passports at the counter when we checked in.
A bored passenger just before the plane landed in Dubai Airport
Since it was a no-frills flight, there was no free food or drink though the crew was gracious enough to sell us snacks. We shared a tasteless cheese sandwich and a bottle of mineral water for we were quite famished, having forgotten to grab a burger at the airport due to a late check-in. I had to finish a couple of things at work before we hightailed it to the airport. It was a smooth hour-long flight which, surprisingly, wasn’t really full. We landed in Dubai past midnight, half an hour late after going around in circles. The pilot explained that there was traffic in the air though James suspected that he was a greenhorn (low budget airline kasi) and was reading the manual on how to land the plane! Good that there were no long queues at "Arrivals" so we breezed through it in a minute. Usually, the lines are so long and you’d be lucky to be out in less than an hour.
My brother and his family met us and drove us to their flat in Jebel Ali which was about 45 kilometers away. The highway which leads to Abu Dhabi looked like a huge construction worksite. Tower upon skeleton tower flashed by on both sides of the road with floodlit cranes swarming at their pinnacles. Work continued 24/7 non-stop. These were all high-end real estate properties of mixed-use residential and office blocks. Throw in a couple of huge malls as well. The present building boom, Ted told me, had barely scratched the surface. I remember once upon a time about a dozen years ago, I drove this same patch of highway to Abu Dhabi and there was nothing but desert sand and billboards after the outskirts of Sheikh Zayed Road which marked the end of Dubai. Even just a couple of years ago, the brand new Hard Rock Café was in the middle of nowhere, some 20 clicks outside the city. But now, it was surrounded by dozens of 40-storey skyscrapers and Media City which housed the headquarters of the major computer IT companies led by Microsoft.
Themes inside Ibn Battuta Mall: Tunisian, Indian and Chinese
In the two days that we were there, we actually didn’t go downtown. What we did was go malling. These were the brand-new shopping complexes where you could spend a whole day just window-shopping. First stop was Ibn Battuta Mall, a sprawling single-story edifice that was just a stone’s throw away from my brother’s house. The last time I visited him, which was two years ago, it was still being built and he pointed out that he just walked to the site since the company he was working for, Turner Associates, were the project managers. The mall was designed with a theme reflecting the travels of Ibn Batutta, the intrepid Arab explorer in the 14th century, which took him from the Andalusian Province all the way to China and Indonesia. Shoppers had to pass thru courtyards designed as Andalusia, Tunisia, Egypt, Persia, India and China with varying degrees of architectural detail and design. Each themed area had an interactive display that was quite educational since they portrayed the accomplishments of people in that particular place with emphasis on the achievements and influences of the Arabs that contributed to the advancement of civilization. Think astrolabe, algebra, armilliary sphere, and astronomy. In some ways, the mall looked quite Disneyesque and the ceiling reminded me of the Aladdin shopping complex and Caesar’s Palace in Vegas with their painted blue sky and artificial lighting. It was all very fine until you got to the end of the mall and realize that, my goodness, you had to walk all the way back again to where you parked the car!
The next mall we visited was the Mall of the Emirates, a sprawling multilevel structure with two huge anchor stores of Harvey Nichols and Carrefour. Its biggest draw, however, was the 22,000sqm. indoor ski slope covered with real snow. It had a ski lift that brings you 60 meters up where you could ski down the 400-meter long slope. One could also snowboard, toboggan or simply just roll around and play in the snow. Entrance costs about $40/- for two hours and includes equipment and clothing. The temperature is constantly maintained at minus 2 degrees. What's quite amazing about it is that you feel you're in Alpine territory, forgetting the fact that it's sweltering hot in the desert outside! Even the cafes had names that would be right at home in Switzerland: St. Moritz Cafe and Avalanche Cafe. Though we didn't go in, we had fun watching all the action through the clear glass wall that separates it from the pedestrian walkways of the mall. Aside from the 400 retailers, there were also 14 cinemas, a 500-seat theater/art gallery, and a two-level games and entertainment area. Adjacent to the complex was the big, 400-room, 5-star Kempinsky Hotel which had a tall, lavishly-designed lobby.
Inside the ski dome with real snow; Relaxing at the Kempinsky lobby; Saks Fifth Avenue in Burjuman
After visiting Burj Al-Arab, the world’s only 7-star hotel, we went to Souq Madinat Jumeirah, the shopping mall which was part of the Madinat Jumeirah Resort Hotel. A large man-made lagoon surrounding the place was lined with meandering pathways dotted with cafes and restaurants. Guests of the hotel were ferried to the shopping complex by water taxis, small boats called Abra. The design was classical Arabic complete with water towers and cantilevered balconies which were shaded by innumerable date palm trees. In the center of the complex was an open-air auditorium where concerts and other performances are regularly held. It was obviously popular with shoppers and tourists alike because the crowds were large and Starbucks made a roaring business in the patio.
Mercato Mall, with its 90-odd stores and outlets makes you feel as though you stepped into Renaissance Italy with the décor patterned after the small piazzas found in Bologna, Florence and Venice. Beautifully-painted murals adorned the walls and a large glass roof covered a good part of the indoor courtyard bringing in a flood of natural light throughout the day. One thing I liked about it was that it had a branch of Spinney’s, the retail mart which had a section selling all kinds of pork products – ham, bacon, chops, coldcuts - the whole works including canned spam and sausages. Needless to say, we loaded up on the stuff to take back home since they weren't available in Kuwait.
Souq Madinat Jumeirah and the lagoon; Abra water taxi; At night with the floodlit Burj Al-Arab Hotel in the background
Wafi City is a luxurious mall with about 200 elegant shops and has an Egyptian motif. The most striking feature was the huge stained glass pyramid on the roof depicting life during Pharaonic times. Adjacent to the mall was a big spa and restaurant guarded by an obelisk and ram-headed sphinxes reminiscent of the Karnak temple in Luxor. Planet Hollywood was located nearby while a towering 5-star hotel in the shape of a pyramid was being built within the vicinity. The place will definitely be more interesting to visit in the future.
Burjuman, one of the first shopping malls in Dubai, had been extended and now housed a branch of plushy Saks Fifth Avenue plus 300 numerous other stores. Comprised of four floors, it looks quite compact until you try to walk around the whole place - then your weary feet will tell you just how big the place is. With its recent upgrade, it is still a must-see place to visit.
You can admire the stained glass pyramid in Wafi City or have a taste of Italy in Mercato Mall
Other malls are in the works such as the one in Festival City and Dubai Mall which will be part of the Burj Dubai Downtown development project whose iconic skyscraper - the Burj Dubai - will be the tallest in the world, topping up not less than 800 meters. Burj, by the way, is Arabic for tower. Both are now undergoing construction and will be open in two years’ time. Then there is the impressively-planned Bawadi City which will be the largest hospitality and leisure development in the world stretching over 10 kms.And so the list goes on and on with each mind-boggling project topping the last one. Nobody knows when all these mega-projects will end. Perhaps, never. For as long as there are petro dollars flowing into this oasis in the middle of the desert bounded by the Arabian Sea, futuristic state-of-the-art structures will continue to be built.
Jimi Hendrix with his air guitar; Burj Dubai will be the tallest building in the world soon; Some last-minute shopping for the wife at the airport Duty Free
After flying back to Kuwait - also at midnight - we picked up the car in the long-term parking lot and drove home in silence. Sleepy and tired but in good spirits. Somehow, the highway looked dark and quiet - we missed the dazzling floodlights and towering construction cranes of Dubai. Well, we'll be back......another airline promo might be in the works soon.
