Dubai - Al Bastakiya

The Old City is Way More Interesting
There is a tiny part of Dubai which wasn't razed for modernity's sake.  Al Bastakiya sits along a large creek that cuts in from the sea.  It dates back to the 19th century and was, up until the 1960s, how most people here lived.   The government had already knocked down a sizable portion of it when an English architect, who was living in one of the houses, asked Prince Charles to chat with the UAE royalty about it.  Chuck somehow convinced them to save some of it for historical purposes.

Dubai - First Impressions

Setting Down in the Desert

In just a few hours I flew from one of the oldest cities in the world to one of the newest.  The Dubai airport is enormous, the reception hall alone could accommodate a hundred football fields.  If Pablo Escobar were an architect he'd create an airport like this.  It's ancient Rome by way of Vegas: high ceilings, marble floors, large faux marble columns.  White on white to the 3rd power.  Even the customs officer was dressed in white.  He wore a bright white sheet and a matching white hat curled at the sides.  He looked like a cowboy as imagined by Georgio Armani.