Okay so Lindy walked into our office (which has been re-located to the Madinat Jumeirah Arena) and claimed to have been watching folks ice skating just across the way. I ran out with my camera to see a crazy Winter Wonderland (or so it's labelled) across from me. There is an outdoor skating rink and lots of fake snow, a christmas tree and big snow scape mural.
My question here is why doesn't Dubai want to be Dubai?
When I think the middle east I think sand dunes, camels, bedouins, Arabic, marketplaces and beautiful carpets. What you actually get here though is a simulation of what it's like to be anywhere but here.
You have to drive for an hour to hit sand dunes. I've been told that if I was driving between Dubai and Abu Dhabi I would have an excellent chance of seeing a camel and perhaps some bedouins (before I died in some freak car accident because the drivers are INSANE here). There are marketplaces (souks) and I've seen lots of carpets but they just seem out of place in Europe of the East. As for Arabic I hear it all the time but now nearly as often as I hear English or Hindi or French. I just don't get it.
I think Dubai should embrace it's weirdness and it's desert location and be proud of what it is.
Just an opinion from a lowly Canadian.
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