I spent most of Sunday centered on the Dubai Creek, a natural water inlet from the Arabian Gulf that splits Dubai in two.
I took a double-decker bus tour, a walking tour and a boat cruise.
Dubai is a fascinating place -- a desert crossroads determined to use oil money to transform itself into a jet-setting playground.
When I booked this trip last April Dubai was going gangbusters. And now, apparently, it's been hit hard by the global economic crisis.
Last week the New York Times ran an article (which I read in the Herald Tribune) detailing how foreign nationals, who had flocked to Dubai for economic opportunities, are losing their jobs and fleeing the country unable to pay their mortgages and fearing debtor's prison. They literally are abandoning their leased cars in the long-term parking lot of the airport with notes of apology.
The scale of construction going on here is mind-boggling. My tour bus spent about 20 minutes touring the Jumeirah Palm Island -- a massive man-made island in the Arabian Gulf (shaped like a Palm Tree) where 30 five-star hotels are currently under construction. What happens if you build massive tourist infrastructure and tourists stop coming?
