The Wonders of Dubai

[Dillagii]

dill...

Nothing wrong with it, but it's just not going to be everyone's cup of tea. For many (myself included) I much prefer to go somewhere that showcases its culture and history, and has nature and natural beauty. Modern and new and extravagent projects will surely appeal to many (obviously Vegas and Disney are hugely popular tourist destinations), but it just depends on your cup of tea.

I'd also venture to say that Abu Dhabi will give Dubai a serious run for its money. The things that Abu Dhabi is planning are much more interesting, to me at least. I guess Abu Dhabi is planning to do it more with a focus on culture (new and old), building some very impressive museums and entertainment complexes. Also, Abu Dhabi has a lot more money than Dubai (and a lot more oil).

But I'd much rather go to India 10x than go to Dubai (or for that matter, Abu Dhabi) once.

I like natural beauty and all but I am crazy on downtowns/sky scrapers. Maybe because I grew up in a place surrounded by natural beauty and didnt had a chance to experience the downtown life. Different choices, I guess.

[Popeye_Card]

dill...

Nothing wrong with it, but it's just not going to be everyone's cup of tea. For many (myself included) I much prefer to go somewhere that showcases its culture and history, and has nature and natural beauty. Modern and new and extravagent projects will surely appeal to many (obviously Vegas and Disney are hugely popular tourist destinations), but it just depends on your cup of tea.

I'd also venture to say that Abu Dhabi will give Dubai a serious run for its money. The things that Abu Dhabi is planning are much more interesting, to me at least. I guess Abu Dhabi is planning to do it more with a focus on culture (new and old), building some very impressive museums and entertainment complexes. Also, Abu Dhabi has a lot more money than Dubai (and a lot more oil).

But I'd much rather go to India 10x than go to Dubai (or for that matter, Abu Dhabi) once.

I like natural beauty and all but I am crazy on downtowns/sky scrapers. Maybe because I grew up in a place surrounded by natural beauty and didnt had a chance to experience the downtown life. Different choices, I guess.

I love downtown areas, but something about a 1.5 mile tall skyscraper strikes me as overkill and a waste of resources in a location like that. It's one thing to build a "vertical city". It's another thing when it's mostly just going to be a vacation condo for people, not a live/work environment.

[Dillagii]

dill...

Nothing wrong with it, but it's just not going to be everyone's cup of tea. For many (myself included) I much prefer to go somewhere that showcases its culture and history, and has nature and natural beauty. Modern and new and extravagent projects will surely appeal to many (obviously Vegas and Disney are hugely popular tourist destinations), but it just depends on your cup of tea.

I'd also venture to say that Abu Dhabi will give Dubai a serious run for its money. The things that Abu Dhabi is planning are much more interesting, to me at least. I guess Abu Dhabi is planning to do it more with a focus on culture (new and old), building some very impressive museums and entertainment complexes. Also, Abu Dhabi has a lot more money than Dubai (and a lot more oil).

But I'd much rather go to India 10x than go to Dubai (or for that matter, Abu Dhabi) once.

I like natural beauty and all but I am crazy on downtowns/sky scrapers. Maybe because I grew up in a place surrounded by natural beauty and didnt had a chance to experience the downtown life. Different choices, I guess.

I love downtown areas, but something about a 1.5 mile tall skyscraper strikes me as overkill and a waste of resources in a location like that. It's one thing to build a "vertical city". It's another thing when it's mostly just going to be a vacation condo for people, not a live/work environment.

I somewhat agree that it's an overkill. But still I would love to experience it.

[Popeye_Card]

I somewhat agree that it's an overkill. But still I would love to experience it.

I admit, it's pretty cool from a "look what we're able to do now" aspect.

But that is a sh*t ton of steel that it's going to take (among other materials). There's only so much steel in the world, and that is going to really jack up the price of steel globably. Which is going to inflate the cost of every construction project everywhere. Just so that some rich people can have some cool condos.

The water thing is a concern for me as well. That's a lot of energy and expense that goes to waste just transporting (or generating) that much fresh water to a place that has very little of it's own.

[TheoSqua]

dill...

Nothing wrong with it, but it's just not going to be everyone's cup of tea. For many (myself included) I much prefer to go somewhere that showcases its culture and history, and has nature and natural beauty. Modern and new and extravagent projects will surely appeal to many (obviously Vegas and Disney are hugely popular tourist destinations), but it just depends on your cup of tea.

I'd also venture to say that Abu Dhabi will give Dubai a serious run for its money. The things that Abu Dhabi is planning are much more interesting, to me at least. I guess Abu Dhabi is planning to do it more with a focus on culture (new and old), building some very impressive museums and entertainment complexes. Also, Abu Dhabi has a lot more money than Dubai (and a lot more oil).

But I'd much rather go to India 10x than go to Dubai (or for that matter, Abu Dhabi) once.

Aren't Abu Dhabi and Dubai only like 100 miles from eachother? It seems to me like that's a close enough proximity that the two will likely compliment eachother in tourism. ie a dude from France wants to vacation, having the option of going and spending 3-4 days looking at stuff that's of interest in Abu Dhabi and then taking a train and checking out Dubai for 3-4 days will likely be more of an advantage to both destinations because it will give better odds of the person deciding to vacation in that area than going to a completely different tourism destination.

[clement]

I love downtown areas, but something about a 1.5 mile tall skyscraper strikes me as overkill and a waste of resources in a location like that. It's one thing to build a "vertical city". It's another thing when it's mostly just going to be a vacation condo for people, not a live/work environment.

The thing I dislike about Dubai is that there is no downtown area. It's just random skyscrapers sticking up here there and soon everywhere. Some of them are indeed very impressive architecturally. But you can't walk anywhere in the city. So you can only experience these skyscrapers from your car, driving from one to the other. And many of them you can't even go into unless you are a guest in the hotel. The main road through Dubai is not a road, it's a freeway. And it's a fully congested freeway. There aren't sidewalks, there aren't places to walk except in shopping centers.

The only exception is the old part of the city, with the spice, gold, and other souks and where you have the river and the boats/river taxis that take you to and fro. If not for that part of Dubai, I wouldn't have found anything to do there that I found really memorable. Some nice shopping malls, sure, but that you can find pretty much every major international city.

The food in Dubai is also stupendous.

The beaches are very blah though.

[Cole Burns]

I somewhat agree that it's an overkill. But still I would love to experience it.

I admit, it's pretty cool from a "look what we're able to do now" aspect.

It's like the tower of Babel.

Beware God's Wrath!!!

[clement]

dill...

Nothing wrong with it, but it's just not going to be everyone's cup of tea. For many (myself included) I much prefer to go somewhere that showcases its culture and history, and has nature and natural beauty. Modern and new and extravagent projects will surely appeal to many (obviously Vegas and Disney are hugely popular tourist destinations), but it just depends on your cup of tea.

I'd also venture to say that Abu Dhabi will give Dubai a serious run for its money. The things that Abu Dhabi is planning are much more interesting, to me at least. I guess Abu Dhabi is planning to do it more with a focus on culture (new and old), building some very impressive museums and entertainment complexes. Also, Abu Dhabi has a lot more money than Dubai (and a lot more oil).

But I'd much rather go to India 10x than go to Dubai (or for that matter, Abu Dhabi) once.

Aren't Abu Dhabi and Dubai only like 100 miles from eachother? It seems to me like that's a close enough proximity that the two will likely compliment eachother in tourism. ie a dude from France wants to vacation, having the option of going and spending 3-4 days looking at stuff that's of interest in Abu Dhabi and then taking a train and checking out Dubai for 3-4 days will likely be more of an advantage to both destinations because it will give better odds of the person deciding to vacation in that area than going to a completely different tourism destination.

Absolutely you are correct. In fact, that is much of Abu Dhabi's tourism strategy since they got into this game later than Dubai, and because they are a somewhat more conservative city (thus they don't wanna go the route of nightclubs, drinking, and debauchery). So they want to differentiate by creating an island with a Louvre, a Guggenheim, and a state-of-the-art opera house. And the two cities are only about 60 miles apart (about an hour drive, when traffic isn't terrible).

[phins]

dill...

Nothing wrong with it, but it's just not going to be everyone's cup of tea. For many (myself included) I much prefer to go somewhere that showcases its culture and history, and has nature and natural beauty. Modern and new and extravagent projects will surely appeal to many (obviously Vegas and Disney are hugely popular tourist destinations), but it just depends on your cup of tea.

I'd also venture to say that Abu Dhabi will give Dubai a serious run for its money. The things that Abu Dhabi is planning are much more interesting, to me at least. I guess Abu Dhabi is planning to do it more with a focus on culture (new and old), building some very impressive museums and entertainment complexes. Also, Abu Dhabi has a lot more money than Dubai (and a lot more oil).

But I'd much rather go to India 10x than go to Dubai (or for that matter, Abu Dhabi) once.

Aren't Abu Dhabi and Dubai only like 100 miles from eachother? It seems to me like that's a close enough proximity that the two will likely compliment eachother in tourism. ie a dude from France wants to vacation, having the option of going and spending 3-4 days looking at stuff that's of interest in Abu Dhabi and then taking a train and checking out Dubai for 3-4 days will likely be more of an advantage to both destinations because it will give better odds of the person deciding to vacation in that area than going to a completely different tourism destination.

Absolutely you are correct. In fact, that is much of Abu Dhabi's tourism strategy since they got into this game later than Dubai, and because they are a somewhat more conservative city (thus they don't wanna go the route of nightclubs, drinking, and debauchery). So they want to differentiate by creating an island with a Louvre, a Guggenheim, and a state-of-the-art opera house. And the two cities are only about 60 miles apart (about an hour drive, when traffic isn't terrible).

Dubai is like two cities...one has the night clubs, etc. but there isn't much debauchery from people on the outside. Many people still tend to look down upon that, and most people respect that in public.

The other side is the traditional type of Middle East city, where women don't wear shorts etc. and there are repercussions if you do.

[jim]

I don't understand who is going to go to Dubai. They talk about it as a global travel destination, yet I just don't see Americans and Europeans going. Am I off base here?