salmiddleeast

[salmiddleeast]

The “beach” is hideously commercial area with lots of booths trying to sell you real estate (maybe for crypto)

[salmiddleeast]

What to expect?

#dubai

Dressed for the trip ...

Liveried chauffeur taking me to airport in black Merc limousine (included in Emirates ticket). Nice.

#Ilikeemirates

Emirates lounge is definitely a cut above the others: Moët, Veuve Cliquot, confit salmon, tasty middle eastern nibbles, super cakes, ... white gloved waiters

#IlikeEmirates

Almost a cabin to yourself, high-end noise-cancelling headphones, loads of chargers, 1900 films (of which 135 are latest), in-flight Wifi, large+iPad+iPhone screens, extensive cocktail menu (with Old Fashioned) and a top-deck bar !

#IlikeEmirates

159€ to go to the top of Burj Khalifa! No thanks ...

but people are forming large queues to pay

Crazy architecture... feels like Disneyland

Mostly it feels like a city made for robots ...

Not for families to live, eat, bring up children, grow old (you see very few elderly people) ...

But for robots (and humanoid shopping automata) it's probably lovely 😄

SHOPPING!!! (and olympic ice skating and aquarium and dental clinic and trampoline park and cinemas and driving school and hundreds of beauty treatments)

They also have Waitrose, Boots, WH Smith's, etc ... also UK plugs (but do drive on the right)

This is the only thing with the beautiful calligraphy (the only art museum is closed) ... but it is amazing

2/3 of the population are an unbanked underclass army of menial workers (drivers, cleaners, gardeners, waiters, cooks, ...) who typically come from India/Pakistan to serve all the white/local people - that's why everything is spotless

Fanastic choice in the female dress shops: black, black ... or ... black?

The men can look super sleek and elegant in their crisp white robes ... sometimes worn even by the traffic wallah

There is lush greenery and beautiful flower beds everywhere ... facilitated by water being pumped everywhere across what was desert

The ultimate show is when the Burj Khalifa (largest building in the world) flares up with an amazing light show, surrounded by a spectacle of water fountains

(best watch from terrace of TimeOut market with great barbecue and craft ale in hand)

See Tom Cruise doing his stunts there

The beach is a horrid commercial area full of people trying to sell you real estate ... but you do get elegant coffee