OPPOSITES attract
Dubai is a shopper’s paradise with an even more appealing flipside: its earthy, Bedouin roots that contrast with the ostentatious malls and Las Vegas-style nightlife, writes Roz Lawlor.
WISDOM IN the Western world is not divulging your PIN number to anyone. But it pays to go with the flow in a Bedouin camp in the United Arab Emirates.
Near Dubai’s border with Oman, I’d decided to buy a piece of artwork. I didn’t have enough dirhams but was assured MasterCard would be just fine. Trouble was, we had to walk to the far corner of the camp, where I handed over my credit card to the robed chap. He climbed on a stool and felt around for the eftpos terminal on the carpeted roof of the tent, swiped my card and held the machine as high as he could to catch a signal.
‘‘PIN please?’’ Considering he was still in possession of my card from his lofty vantage point, for a split-second I hesitated. How would I explain this back home if it all turned to camel custard? But he punched it in, efficiently climbed back down and handed back my card. And away I went, another happy Dubai consumer.
Never mind the beautiful game; Dubai’s national sport should be shopping. Whether you’re in the desert or the city, the possibilities seem endless. Dubai has the highest per-capita rate of malls in the world, and with no tax to pay while bending the plastic in the United Arab Emirates, the deals and variety stretch into the horizon. Add to that the eternally appealing air-conditioning and impeccably maintained toilets in these famous malls, and it can be hard to resist not completely giving yourself over to consumerism for a few days. Especially when you can alleviate any materialistic guilt by taking time to appreciate the amazing add-ons, such as the aquarium and ice-skating rink at The Dubai Mall, the indoor ski slope at Mall of the Emirates, and the Egyptian pyramids and sphinx and pharaoh statues at Wafi.
But while the national sport officially should be shopping, the other national symbols are wonderfully rustic: the national animal is the camel and the national tree is the date palm, reminding us that the built-up Dubai of today is a relatively new phenomenon. Oil was only discovered in 1966, and while it has helped greatly in diversifying the economy (the rulers ensured the new wealth was invested in building world-class infrastructure), oil only accounts for 7 per cent of GDP today. The discovery of oil was a welcome relief after the collapse of the local pearl industry in the 1930s, after the Depression and Japan’s cultivation of pearls.
Shopping aside, to appreciate the contrast between Dubai’s man-made and natural charms, you don’t have to venture far, which is ironic in a place that relishes reclaiming land to build hotels on islands shaped like palms or a map of the world. Despite the sandy base, a lot of the city is now irrigated green lawns and parks, thanks to an ambitious vision of harnessing desalinated seawater.
The irrigation also helps the city stay lush with the ubiquitous date palm. These trees look even more appealing at night, many lit up with hundreds of little lightbulbs in the central city. In fact, taking a tour of the city by night is one of the best ways to appreciate the architectural delights of Dubai, not just the commercial buildings, malls and hotels but also the homes.
The versatile date is still a staple of human and animal diets, its palm fronds are used for making boats, baskets and traditional
How would I explain this back home if it all turned to camel custard?
buildings, and its bark is used for ropes, mattresses and camel saddles.
You can take a night tour and day tours with the Big Bus Tours company. Buy a 24-hour or 48-hour pass from one of the many kiosks dotted around the city and off you go, hopping on and off at the many stops on the city (red) and beach (blue) routes. Many of the malls are on these routes, as are Children’s City and the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.
With the pass comes the chance to explore the more traditional side of life in the UAE: a serene ride down Dubai Creek on a dhow, a traditional Arabian vessel. Many dhows are still used to transport goods around the Arabian Gulf and as far as north Africa, as Dubai is a trading hub not just in the glass towers but on the waterways. A little further on the bus route are several souks (markets) that specialise in textiles, gold and spices; and of course the usual tourist stopoffs, such as Dubai Fort and Museum, and the historic village around Sheikh Saeed Al Maktoum’s house, complete with diving centre.
Even better is organising a sunset tour to a Bedouin camp with one of three four-wheel-drive tourism companies permitted to operate in the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve. My PINdivulging desert experience was courtesy of Arabian Adventures, and is a great way to get out of the city for a glimpse of what life was like when tents were more common than skyscrapers.
Okay, so we didn’t travel by camel to the camp, rather we slip-slided over the dunes in fourwheel-drives. That in itself was worth the journey - such fun that you almost can’t believe the driver gets paid to do this.
The camp had its own flavour of UAE commercialism, so visitors can use a Western-style toilet, buy a photo of themselves with a camel; buy beautiful personalised sand art in a jar or be adorned with henna paint. After dinner, the lights go out and everyone is instructed to lie on carpets in the middle of the campsite. The reason? Five minutes of total silence, to appreciate the stars in the desert. You couldn’t do that in downtown Dubai.
It doesn’t take so long to get home – via a back road to the city, mercifully not the dunes on a full belly – so you feel slightly sheepish, realising you weren’t as far from civilisation as you thought. But the desert adventure is a refreshing antidote to the 21st-century, big-is-best mentality of Dubai.
Before you know it, you’re slipping back into the city way of life, where traditional garb such as the men’s white full-body robe and the women’s black robes that only leave the eyes exposed go hand in hand with cellphones, credit cards, shopping bags and skyscrapers. I had breakfast one morning in my hotel revelling in the wonderful juxtaposition of a teenager impeccably dressed in traditional white robes topped off with a gangsta-style cap perched sideways on his head.
It all seems to harmoniously blend in Dubai, the crossroads of
old and new, East and West, Islam and Christianity, expats and Arabs. About 75 per cent of Dubai’s population are foreignborn, and there is a strong legacy of religious tolerance. The crime rate is very low and I felt safe as a Western woman alone, even at 11pm as I tried to find my hotel. After asking an Indian family on the street for help, they took me to their nearby hotel, whose bellboy happily walked me a few blocks back to my own lodgings. The