Dubai (United Arab Emirates)
11 September - 13 September 2019
At the stroke of midnight however all that anticipation and excitement floundered like the flaccid phallus of a 70 year old man that left his blue pills in the overhead baggage compartment of his last flight.
What we had been advised in the immediate aftermath of the greatest of letdowns was that for this year...just this year...Dubai had elected to for a light show, rather than its globally renowned fireworks display. What's more, that light show could not be seen from the Shangri-La Hotel, located on the opposite side of the Burj Khalifa, the focal point of NYE celebrations in Dubai.
I was livid of course. The Shangri-La had known of this for weeks. Long before I had purchased tickets for the event, and additionally, had sold the event as one of the best vantage points to witness the famous NYE fireworks and festivities of Dubai.
On returning to Belgrade I made the Shangri-La well aware of my grievances and we both settled on two free nights accommodation at the Shangri-La, at a time of my choosing, and, a dinner for two, inclusive of a bottle of wine at their iKandy outdoor restaurant/poolside bar. More than 18 months after the event we had decided to cash in our chips.
Dubai isn't a city for everyone. On my first trip to the burgeoning centre of wild ideas, grand inspiration and engineering marvel, I left feeling more bemused than anything. Admittedly that first time was in 2006, and now, 13 years later, the growth steroids consumed by the emirate has transformed it into a monolithic characterisation of what capitalism does when it runs rampant on the back of petrodollars, human exploitation...and...wild ideas. There's a lot about how the system operates that probably should have me questioning my ethics but if I did that to absolutely everything in my life then where would I be?
So really, Dubai is like a wondrous Disneyland without sinful overtones that would have align to a town such as Las Vegas. It's grand, in many ways brash, it drips with money and privilege, sucking you into its realm of both the possible and impossible. For those that love a hot dry climate, then this place has it in spade. For those that love sheesha, great cuisine, cocktails bars, shopping, exploring and about any other touristic venture you can think of, then my, this is a place for you also.
When evening descends in Dubai the night scape scene morphs into something resembling the dystopian city of LA out of Blade Runner. Not that Dubai is at all sinister or a place where you wouldn't want to spend time but there's something imposing and imperial about the long line of buildings presiding along Al Maktoum Road that both excites and imparts an atmosphere of mystery. It's enigmatic, puzzling at times but full of possibility, and to me, that a great quality for a city to have. Why wouldn't you want to go out and discover what a place such as this has to offer? A city doesn't have to be aesthetically pleasing to be engaging. I personally would rate Dubai as an attractive city, but, it has so much to keep you occupied, and sometimes that's all you need.
With all that said, having a 6 month old on your books means that you're restricted into what, where, when and how you can enjoy a place like this. On this occasion we mostly spent our time in the Shangri-La with only the odd excursion outside of the front doors. This was to be expected. Still, it doesn't diminish how I feel about Dubai now, nor will it dissuade me from making my way to this part of the world again soon. In my books, its a cool place to be for a time.
