DUBAI: REACHING OLD HEIGHTS

腳踏實地遊杜拜

CATHY ADAMS skips the skyscrapers for Dubai’s ground level charms

腳踏實地遊杜拜

Cathy Adams從摩天大樓走到地面，暢遊杜拜的大街小巷

It’s 1978. Dubai is a city on the verge: of rising upwards, expanding outwards and realising its ballooning bricks-andmortar ambition, swollen by oil wealth. There is just one skyscraper in the offing – the dour 149-metre, 39-storey World Trade Centre, on the Sheikh Zayed Road. If Dubai were a colour, it would be beige, much like the sand that it’s built on.

It’s the 1990s.

Dubai builds up, although in 1999 not a single building was over 200 metres tall. Developers compete to build ever more elaborate structures such as the sail-shaped Burj Al Arab, both on natural and aggressively reclaimed land. There’s a

回到1978年。當時杜正勢拜 蓄 待發，藉著石油帶來的，財富雄心勃勃的房地產業不斷膨脹，整個城市往高空發展之餘，同時向外圍擴張。不過快將落成的摩天大廈就只有一幢，那就是坐落在Sheikh Zayed Road大道界的世 貿易中心，它的外型四平八穩，樓高149米，共39層。杜假如 拜是一種顏色，當年就是一片米色，市的沙跟城 所在 茫茫 漠差不多。

踏入1990年代。

杜拜繼續大興土木，儘管到了1999年時，當地依然沒有一座大樓的樓高超過200米地。產發展商爭相建造日益複雜的，建築 例如形如帆船的Burj Al Arab帆船酒店等；而且 snag: building tall buildings on soft sand is hard. Foundations have to run some 160 metres down.

It’s 2010.

The Burj Khalifa opens with 154 floors of ambitious glassiness – the tallest building in the world, easily eclipsing Taipei’s 101. Visitors are invited to swoon over this desert city from the 148thfloor observatory, bunk up in high- end residences and the Armani Hotel, and quaff premium wines in the lexically challenged At.Mosphere bar in the floors below. In 2012, I went for lunch and all I could see was sea bisecting sand. At 122 floors up, you feel about as connected to the city as if you were transiting through the airport terminal. 不單在原有土地上施工，更大肆填海造地。問題是：在柔軟的沙土上興建高樓絕不容易。地基需打要 進地下160米深處。

時至2010年。

樓高154層的哈里發塔以一身玻璃幕牆的雄姿開幕，輕就易 將台北101的風頭搶去，成為全世界最高的。建築 遊可客 以登上位於148樓的觀景台，或是入住大樓內的豪宅和Armani Hotel酒店，俯覽全城美，景 然後到樓下的At. Mosphere酒吧暢飲頂級佳釀。2012年我曾到這裡吃午餐，放眼外望，四的周 風景無非就是被大海一分為二的沙地。在離地122層的高樓上，你對這個城市的，感覺 就跟在機場大樓過境差不多。 It’s 2018.

Dubai has roughly 150 skyscrapers, with squillions of bars, restaurants and hotel rooms lurking within – plus thousands of cranes to build even more. Whatever. I live in Hong Kong and use lifts every few hours. This time, I’m going to connect with Dubai at ground level, without getting in a single lift.

It’s a timely challenge: ground level design is very much in vogue across the Middle East. In neighbouring Abu Dhabi the spaceship-like Louvre was unveiled in late 2017; while across the border in Doha is the fortress-like IM Pei-designed Museum of Islamic Art.

Dubai’s new (low rise-ish) design statement is the jagged glass, Foster + Partners- designed d3 (Dubai Design 來到2018年。

杜拜大約有150幢摩天大樓，有無數的酒吧、餐廳和酒店客房隱藏其中；城裡還有數千架吊臂機，正在密鑼緊鼓準備興建更多摩天大樓。而我這個在香港生活的，人 大概每隔幾個小時就會搭升降機。因此這一次我決定在杜拜腳踏實地，來一趟地平面之遊，一次升降機也不搭。

這個挑戰來得正合時宜，現時於中東一帶頗流行樓層數目少的建築設計，例如在鄰近的市布城 阿 扎比，形如太空的船 羅浮宮分館剛在2017年底揭；幕 而在鄰卡國 塔爾的首府多哈，則有由貝聿銘負責設計、看上去有如一座日壘的斯伊 蘭藝術博物。館

至於杜本的拜 身 （低層數）建築代表作，當數與哈里發塔一水之隔的

CATHY ADAMS visits Dubai, the world’s tallest city, and connects with its culture at ground level Cathy Adams前往摩天大樓數目傲視全球的都市，卻決定在地面上認識當地文化

District) across the water from the Burj Khalifa. It’s part public art space, part hothouse for young Dubai designers.

I buy a takeaway coffee from Craft Cafe and wander around one crystalline Friday morning, lying on the beanbags, getting dizzy on giant spinning-top chairs and sticking customised Post-its to the wall. A few art galleries have tentatively moved into d3, including a branch of Abu Dhabi’s Art Hub, showcasing a small array of art from around the region. Next door is FBMI, an otherwise uninteresting carpet shop aside from the fact that on my visit I found it selling a Manchester City rug (the football team owned by the Abu Dhabi United Group).

In Dubai, low rise means historical, which is why my next stop is the low-slung Bastakiya neighbourhood by Dubai Creek, which dates back to the late 19th century. In a story that is familiar across Dubai, many of the blocky houses here (complete with traditional wind towers) were actually rebuilt in the 1980s.

Bastakiya, also marketed as the Al Fahidi Historical District, is home to one of the city’s quirkiest hotels: the XVA Art Hotel, a gorgeous ground floor boutique doing its best to drag visitors away from the new 356-metre Gevora Hotel (the tallest hotel in the world, naturally). Compact rooms are set around a light-filled courtyard, full of trellised vines and exotic-chic cushions. A micro art gallery separates the rooms and the cafe, hanging pieces from a rotating cast of local artists.

At the mouth of Dubai Creek is Bur Dubai, the starting point of Dubai in the early 19th century, when the Bani Yas tribe (which spawned the current ruling Maktoum family) moved from Abu Dhabi and found fresh water in the creek. Then, it was the main junction for trading, with boats from other emirates and Iran bobbing down the narrow creek. Now, it’s stuffed full of souks, tourists and creekside restaurants, where my guide unfortunately lets slip that ‘only the architecture is authentic’. Still, crossing the creek in a wooden abra boat is a breezy, pleasant enough 10 minutes.

Across the creek is traditional Deira, and, if you ignore Ramsay, Robuchon, Rhodes et al in the money-sloshed five-stars, this is where Dubai’s best ground level eats are. Helping navigate the wide boulevards studded with mosques and traditional shops is twentysomething half-Italian, half-Egyptian Stephanie, my guide on this Frying Pan Adventures food tour.

Over four hours we scarf falafel mahshi, Palestinian chicken pie, kunafa (made with cheese, ghee and noodles, and oddly delicious), Lebanese spiced dates and a pastrami-filled Egyptian pizza. Dinner of lentil soup and goat stew at Emirati restaurant Tawasol is so low-rise we’re sat cross-legged on a carpeted floor, pulling at chicken legs with greasy fingers.

Okay, okay – no surprise that old Dubai is low. Modern Dubai can do ground level, too.

Like the weekly Ripe Market, a farmers’ market in sun-licked Zabeel Park. It’s painfully trendy: there’s a little hut (Book Fiction) selling all types of cerebral nonfiction books, Airstream trailers selling empanadas and hotdogs and wooden boxes plying organic pumpkins, avocados and sourdough bread. Hearteningly, the entire spectrum of Dubai society – burqaclad Emiratis, expats wearing not much at all, families with add-on nannies – is here, browsing racks of Ukrainian cotton dresses, handmade soap from Aleppo, and buying beard oil (only joking, nobody bought that). If the Ripe Market is a sign of Dubai’s pivot from glossy high-rise restaurants and bars, then sign me up for some organic sorbet and a skinny flat white.

One area that’s always been low-rise is Al Quoz – which has had a short life as an industrial hub and a much longer one as a tourism destination. Today, its Alserkal Avenue has been described bossily as Dubai’s most hipster neighbourhood, which is frighteningly true: coffee joint Wild & The Moon advertises ‘gluten-free’ and ‘no additives’ on the door, while The Flipside sells vinyl records – including Egyptian jazz and the Ghost In The Shell soundtrack – for you to test out on in-res turntables. d3（即Dubai Design District 杜拜區設）計。這裡由Foster+ Partners建築師事務所一手設計，有參差不平的玻璃外牆，既是公共藝術空間，同時也是栽培年輕杜拜設計師的搖籃。

一個風和日麗的周五早我上， 到Craf t Cafe咖啡買店 了杯咖啡，然後在這裡到處閒逛。意我隨 地倚在豆袋梳化上，或坐在特大的旋轉椅上，一直轉到頭昏眼花為止，然後在便條紙上寫點感想再貼在牆。上 目前有已幾家藝廊進駐d3試業，其中一家是阿布扎比Art Hub的分店，陳列小量來自區內的藝術品。隔壁的FBMI是間乏善可陳的地氈，店但我參觀時發現竟然有曼城足球會的毛毯出售隊是（球 班主 阿布扎比聯合集團）。

在杜，拜低矮的樓房意味著歷史悠久，因此我的下一站是位於杜拜河畔、非常貼「地」的巴斯塔基區亞 。這個舊區歷的 史可追溯到19世紀，末 但區內那些方方正正的房屋有（附 極具代表性的煙囱狀風塔）卻大都是在1980年代重建而成的，情況就跟杜拜其他地方大同小異。

巴斯塔基亞雖然被重新裝成「阿法赫蒂歷史城區」，但亦擁有一家風格新穎奇特而小巧精緻的精品酒店XVA Art Hotel。酒店就只有地面的一層，卻大有將客人樓從高米356 的Gevora Hotel酒店（自然是全球最高酒店）拉過來的勢。頭 設備齊全的客房散佈於光線充足的大院落四周，院隨內 處可見攀藤架漂和 亮的民族風靠墊。客與房咖啡館之間隔著一家小型藝廊，裡面輪流掛出當地不同藝術家的作品。

布爾杜拜位於杜拜河口，是19世初紀杜拜發的 源地；當年Bani Yas部落（現時掌權的Maktoum家族即源出於這部落）從阿布扎比移居此地，條在這 河裡找淡。到 水這裡後來成為主要貿易樞紐，酋其他 長國和伊朗前商來的 船在狹窄的河道上川流不息。杜現時 拜河一帶滿佈露天市場和河畔餐廳遊， 客熙來攘往。我的導遊一不小心說溜了嘴：「這裡只有建築物是正宗本地產物。」話雖如此，坐在當地的abra木船上渡河，沿途清風送爽，讓我享受了非常悠閒寫意的十分鐘。

河的對是滿岸 充 傳統風情的德拉區，假如撇開那些由Gordon Ramsay、Joël Robuchon、Gary Rhodes等名廚主理的昂貴星級食府不算，杜全 拜好最 的地面餐廳可說盡在其中。20多歲的意混埃 血姑娘Stephanie領著我在滿佈清真和統寺 傳 商舖的通衢大道之間穿梭遊走，她是我這趟Frying Pan Adventures美食團的導遊。

接著的四小時，我們不顧態儀 地一起大啖falafel mahshi炸鷹嘴豆球、巴勒斯坦雞批、出奇地好糕吃的 點kunafa（用芝士、酥油和麵條製成）、加了香料的黎巴方棗子和以煙熏牛肉做餡料的埃及薄餅。晚餐在阿聯酋菜館Tawasol品扁嚐豆湯和燜羊肉，

DUBAI HAS ROUGHLY 150 SKYSCRAPERS AND THOUSANDS OF CRANES TO BUILD EVEN MORE杜拜約有150幢摩天大樓，還有數千架吊臂機以便興建更多摩天大樓