Economics, Politics

Dubai has reinvented itself, and today only 20% of economic production comes from oil. Trading, manufacturing and services, particularly tourism, account for the rest. Dubai’s dry dock is the largest in the world, and loading cranes dot the Dubai “creek”, a stumpy waterway. In spite of the economic inroads, however, women are still second-class citizens. This is a big step up from Afghanistan.

Anyway, to put it plainly, this is the land of themed shopping malls. I dedicated my last day in Dubai to retail therapy.

First stop, the mall beneath the Emirates Towers. I had attempted to dress nicely today, knowing I was in a world of serious shoppers with serious money. But there was no way I could live up to the standards beneath the Emirates Towers. I ignored the designer boutiques (I’d only embarrass myself) and took shelter in a Starbucks, where, flustered amidst the bold and the beautiful, I bought the most expensive frapuccino of my life and promptly became ill.

I staggered off to the gold souk to redeem myself. Apparently, Dubai has the best gold prices in the world, and the gold souk is no tourist trap. It’s where people go to haggle over $20,000 sets of wedding jewelry. I love these dowry pieces of intricate gold, but didn’t have $20k to spare, so settled for smaller, more modest, earrings and a necklace in reddish 22k. And yes, the price was surprisingly good, even though my bargaining went something like this:

Me: Er, I’ve been told I need to bargain with you.
Gold seller: No, you don’t.
Me: No, I think I do.
Gold seller: No, really, you don’t.
Me (weakly): Is that your best price?
Gold seller: This is my best price.
Me: Okaaaay then.
Gold seller, five minutes later, as he’s writing my receipt and after I have given no further argument, and he realizes I truly am as pathetic at bargaining as I appear (sighing): I’ll take $20 off.

I wore the gold out of the souk, and emboldened by my new look, charged off to the Ibn Battuta mall. Ibn Battuta was a famous Arab explorer, and the mall is themed after his travels. It’s HUGE. Imagine Epcot center. Now imagine it entirely enclosed and air conditioned, and one big shopping mall, and you have some idea of the scale of this place. I entered in China, bought a silk wrap in Persia, and had a Starbucks tea in India.

Another taxi ride took me to the souk Maderat Jameira. This is a modern mall designed to look like an old souk, with high, wood-beamed ceilings and incense wafting on the air. It sits on the water between splendid hotels and has a view of the Crowne Plaza’s famous sail-shaped hotel. In order to give you a better picture of just how much money flows through this place, in one of the shops they were selling a necklace containing a single 794-karat amethyst. The scary thing is they tried to sell it to me. I credit the new gold bling I wore.

In a further bid to build tourism, Dubai is in the process of building an amusement park: Dubai Land. If the malls, museums, and sheer glitz is anything to go by, Dubai will give Disneyland a run for its money.

http://adventurersclub.blogspot.com