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the gulf in my hands – what a beautiful myth
By the end of October, I had to eventually leave Shanghai and return to Munich.
…
I was going to have some fun on the way though, so I sneaked out of the airport during my stopover in Dubai…
…and went for a little joyride in the early morning hours.
Did you notice the building on the left in the picture above?
It’s the Burj al Arab.
I was going to go in and have a 7-star cup of coffee for a gazillion dollars (or maybe an uncountabillion), but there was no way past the main gate:
So I went to the beach.
Oh, the beach…
There I was, my fingers floating through the Persian Gulf, everything darkness and silence. I could hear the ocean giggling.
Happiness.
…
There were others hanging out on the beach as well:
One thing that struck me was that the people around here seemed to be way more relaxed than I had thought:
No wonder, they were dwelling in big fat expensive villas on artificial islands – that were shaped like palm trees.
Palm islands!
My cabbie Joe from India told me that there was a large foreign community in Dubai (mostly British), and the one thing everyone seemed to care mostly about was construction:
The ones who were actually constructing those skyscrapers and heaping up those islands were from India, Pakistan and the Philippines though:
“We get treated very well around here” Joe said and smiled, “unlike the migrant workers in other Arabic countries.”
…
Currently, everyone was busy constructing the Burj Dubai:
…the tallest building in history.
This was what I had come here for in the first place, and I found it absolutely worth it, because it was just magnificent:
I circled around the building in a photographing frenzy, until I noticed that there was one thing I liked even better than the building itself.
…there is a myth going around the migrant workers of Dubai…
“You see, it was very hard for the government to find someone who was willing to operate a crane on top of that building” Joe told me, “but then a guy from the Phillipines agreed to do it.”
I looked up at the peak of the Burj Dubai 800 meters above:
“That guy must be crazy” I said.
“Well, you know, they say he is getting a villa for this” Joe laughed, “a villa on one of the palm islands!”
Soundtrack: 央金兰泽 (Yangjin Lanze) – “遇上你是我的缘” （”Yushang Ni Shi Wo De Yuan”)
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November 7th, 2009 at 14:58
wow … amazing pictures … and a nice little story … thanks a lot for sharing all that on the web!
November 8th, 2009 at 09:37
i can't see the pictures. damn the sencorship. i will imagine they are very good as always. :)
November 8th, 2009 at 09:48
stephan: always doing my best!
ZMH: maybe you can 翻墙？
November 8th, 2009 at 12:55
In Dubai, their economics need to be diversified at home and worldwide in order to mantain their high level of living before they suck out all their oil !
November 8th, 2009 at 13:16
Wow! that a great post! Because i'm a civil engineer, i know what mean to construct a building such as it. Great! Yeah, i'd like to gaze on it!
It will be delightful, if you are send me few another shots from there, i dare to ask you. )
Someday we all will have allied villa on these islands… =)
November 8th, 2009 at 15:06
schöne Bilder, wie immer :-)
Trotzdem erscheint mir diese Stadt wie eine große ( wirklich gewaltige ) Illusion. Ich finde die kleinen (und ärmeren :-)) Städte haben eine viel schönere Stimmung.
P.S Dein Video habe ich bereits 10 mal angeschaut und es macht immernoch Spaß ( tolle Musik und wunderschöne Bilder ) ;-)
November 9th, 2009 at 00:13
I'll be a volunteer to operate a crane on top of that building…
Wa O! A villa? & the view on top of 800-meters…@_@
November 9th, 2009 at 03:57
你中文果然很好！不过国庆之前墙升级了一下，我还在寻找新的方法。现在连sensorship的正确拼写有的时候都莫名其妙的会被屏蔽掉。希望尽快成功吧，哈哈。
November 9th, 2009 at 03:58
@Christoph
你中文果然很好！不过国庆之前墙升级了一下，我还在寻找新的方法。现在连sensorship的正确拼写有的时候都莫名其妙的会被屏蔽掉。希望尽快成功吧，哈哈。
November 11th, 2009 at 17:41
I was in Dubai a couple years ago when Burj Dubai was already the tallest, but still not yet certified as a building to take the official crown. Was lucky to get to Taipei 101 this summer while it was (is?) still the official "tallest building." Can't wait to revisit Dubai and go up the Burj someday!
I did a lot of interesting things in Dubai. Snowboarding indoors, then later going on a jeep ride in the desert (it was 47C during the day). Lots of Bentleys cruising the streets… DON'T cause an accident with an Emirati, because it's always your fault.
And most amazing is to visit the city museum and see what it looked like 60 or 80 years ago. A collection of huts, period. Wow!
November 16th, 2009 at 14:28
Steven: My guess is they are trying just that.
Dmitry: Oh yes, we definitely need villas on those islands!!
Manuel: Ich finde es hat alles was für sich, solange es irgendwie interessant ist. Land oder Stadt ist mir egal, hauptsache interessant!
Minye: You should have told them before! :)
ZMH: 呵呵，我还以为过了10-1他们会放松一点。。。
Dave: I'll go to the old town district next time, promise!
November 27th, 2009 at 19:05
"Dubai World" is trying just —- 'that'!
March 2nd, 2010 at 02:23
dude…….you really have travlled a lot~~ jealous……>___<
December 19th, 2010 at 16:00
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